The EVSC administration building in Downtown Evansville.
SHARE By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press Starting this school year, Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. students will spend less time taking tests, and the new platform will provide "strong data" for teachers. Katie Minihan, EVSC associate superintendent for strategy and accountability, said the switch to Northwest Evaluation Association, NWEA, is an exciting and positive change for K-10 students and educators. NWEA is a nonprofit based out of Portland, Oregon. EVSC School Board members learned more about the new assessment platform during a presentation earlier this week from Minihan and Zak Tanner, EVSC director of assessment. The department worked to evaluate where the district has redundancies in assessments, what student data information is provided and any gaps or lack in data. "After an extensive and exhaustive search, we're making some changes around assessment," Minihan said. "We really have been thinking about it the past couple of years." Tanner said NWEA will serve as the primary assessment product. "What we're hopefully trying to move toward with NWEA is a consolidation of a lot of the assessments we have been doing into one product, Tanner said. "And aligning that product to K-10 students." Despite EVSC officials constantly evaluating assessment platforms, Minihan said it's likely been more than a decade since a "change of this magnitude" has occurred. The switch to NWEA won't cost the EVSC anything. Minihan said assessments are funded by the state. Other than mandatory statewide assessments, most EVSC students now will only take NWEA. However, Minihan said certain circumstances may require a student to also take, for example, a special education assessment. Part of the decision-making process, Tanner said, was to gather feedback on current and potential new tests from a group of educators representing all grades and attendance districts. NWEA's reading assessment was piloted in K2 classrooms in Cedar Hill and Lodge community schools, and Fairlawn and Highland elementary schools. Overall, Tanner said comments were positive, with teacher "likes" including the ability to administer the test to all students at the same time, and scores can be compared across grade levels with useful data. A dislike was that the test may be too long, especially for kindergartners. Tanner said students can pause the test and complete it the following day. Other school districts that use NWEA reported the test helps prepare students for ISTEP because it's given on a computer. Minihan said it was important to choose an assessment that covers a variety of purposes so educators could "reinvest some time in teaching and learning." Officials said NWEA was the choice because it's a time saver, provides quick student growth information and is computer adaptive. Through the program's computer adaptive tests, students are assessed at their skill level. If a student gets a question correct, a more difficult question follows to meet the student's skill level. However, if a student gets a question wrong, the next question is less difficult. "One of the best parts about it is it will give student growth information," Minihan said. "So now teachers can set growth goals for students and measure them. Are we making a difference? Are they making the gains we expect?" This level of data has not been available before, officials said. "NWEA shifts the instructional conversation from identifying student deficits to establishing student strengths," Minihan said. "While challenging the top performers and not overwhelming students whose skills are below grade level." ELKO Two cannabis-consulting businesses have opened in Elko since January. These companies assist patients by pairing them with qualified physicians to assess their medical needs and, ideally, help them qualify for the states medical marijuana card. The first agency in town was Cannabis Consulting Group LLC. The business is located at 1250 Lamoille Highway No. 416. Green Acres Consulting opened a few months later. Their office is located at 469 Idaho St. Both businesses aim to educate the community about medical marijuana usage and the law. They also assist patients in obtaining a medical marijuana card, which allows a regulated amount of legal marijuana to be purchased or grown for the patients own medicinal purposes. Both agencies provide the services of a state-licensed physician. Cannabis Consulting brings in a doctor once a month to see patients and Green Acres Consulting uses Skype to connect the patient with a doctor in Reno. According to Tiffanie Huffman, owner of Green Acres Consulting, in the past local people had to travel to Reno or Las Vegas to meet with a physician who would prescribe medical marijuana for recognized illnesses. Huffman claims that no local doctors have been willing to prescribe the drug to their patients for reasons that are not completely clear. Now, patients can consult a prescribing doctor without leaving town. Once prescribed, the consultants help the patient fill out and submit the paperwork necessary to obtain a card. They still must purchase their medical marijuana supplies in Incline Village, Sparks, Reno or Las Vegas where the only dispensaries are located in Nevada. Terra White, owner of Cannabis Consulting LLC, explained that a great deal of complexity comes into play because statutes often change. Both agencies help the patient deal with the difficulties inherent in the system. Current records show that there are 239 Elko County residents who are legally registered and use a state-issued medical marijuana card. The dispensary Sierra Wellness Connections website states that Nevadans diagnosed with a chronic or debilitating medical condition, as defined by NRS 453A.050, and seeking a registry identification card for the medical use of marijuana must apply through the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. Some of the qualifying conditions include cancer, glaucoma, post-traumatic stress disorder and others listed on the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health website. SHARE By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com @zach_osowski INDIANAPOLIS The 2016-17 school year was supposed to be the last year for ISTEP testing, but a panel tasked with picking a replacement has doubts about how possible that is. The panel, established by the Indiana General Assembly to create a new statewide test, has held three meetings, and members still aren't sure what kind of test they want to consider. Testing experts have told the committee building a test can take up to two years, which has some members wondering if they need to push back the ISTEP's demise. After a disastrous 2015 ISTEP which included low test scores across the board and several months of delays in scores lawmakers spent much of the 2016 session working to eliminate some of the fallout. With parents, teachers and school officials crying for a new test, Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, authored a bill to eliminate ISTEP after the 2017 Spring test. Behning said during the most recent meeting that he didn't want to rush into a new test and didn't think the panel had enough time to create a new test that was going to work. He floated the idea of keeping the current test and look at pilot test options to see how they work. The committee is supposed to have a decision ready to go before the General Assembly when they return to work in 2017. Also in the sights of lawmakers is a possible expansion of the state's pilot pre-K program. The program is currently only available in five Indiana counties, including Vanderburgh and is geared toward low-income families who might otherwise be unable to afford pre-K. Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg and State Superintendent Glenda Ritz have released a plan for fully funded statewide pre-K as early as 2020. Gov. Mike Pence, before he became Donald Trump's running mate, expressed interest in getting Federal money to expand the pre-K program. That expansion though wouldn't be nearly as big, or expensive, as the Gregg plan. Pence's gubernatorial replacement, Eric Holcomb, said he is for pre-K expansion as long as it can be done in a responsible manner. SHARE Wendy MacNamara By Richard Gootee of the Courier and Press State Rep. Wendy McNamara announced plans Friday to propose a bill next year that would make it a felony to threaten a specific law enforcement agency and other emergency personnel. McNamara, a Republican who represents portions of Vanderburgh and Posey counties, said she chose to make her intentions known now in response to recent national shootings of instead of closer to the 2017 legislative session. She referenced the shootings of police officers in Dallas and Louisiana as reasons behind her proposal, and also mentioned the Thursday night shooting of two police officers in San Diego, California. "(This) is very real issue that is affecting us immediately today in our community. If the only thing that comes out of this conversation today is the message to Hoosiers to help support our law enforcement -- because there are people who wish to do them harm I hope that that's the message that they get," McNamara said. Her Friday news conference was attended by both Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin and Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nicholas Hermann. Both men said they support the proposal. In his own remarks, Bolin thanked McNamara for supporting he and his officers. He called those in law enforcement, "overwhelming a group of people who want to help people, want to make change and want to help protect their communities." "To see some of these senseless attacks that are happening just because somebody is wearing a uniform, or just because of the job that they do... it really is disheartening. I hate it for our officers." Bolin said. "I hate it for the family of officers who are worrying when husband, or mom or dad is walking out the door and putting on the uniform. To have a state legislator step up and be willing to do something about this and try to help, I really appreciate it." If passed, the law would apply to all threats toward police, though McNamara said the legislation is especially targeted at people who make threats online and on social media. She said the impetus for the bill came because a friend who is an Evansville police officer showed her threats made on social media that specifically targeted the Evansville Police Department the day after the sniper attack on police in Dallas. Currently, the state's intimidation statute does not cover threats made toward a group or organization just individuals, she said. "I couldn't sit on the sidelines while our law enforcement officers were being threatened. I'm (proposing) two bills for this upcoming year that will protect those who serve and protect us," McNamara said. "I'm not naive (enough) to believe that merely having these on the books will deter those who wish to do our police officers harm from doing so, but it will give our prosecutors tools to deal with the very real situations of criminal gang activity and threats made to our officers." A second bill McNamara told reporters about on Friday is a planned proposal allowing authorities to seize property or assets from anyone convicted of organized criminal activity. Both McNamara and Hermann acknowledged that the bill dealing with threats could be scrutinized on the grounds of free speech if it is considered by lawmakers next year. "I would suspect that your average, everyday person understands and gets that there is point in which your free speech ends and somebody else's rights begin," McNamara said. President Barack Obama is seeking $1.1 billion to fight the opioid epidemic by expanding treatment options for addiction. (Photo: File photo) SHARE By Richard Gootee of the Courier and Press The number of Evansville deaths blamed on heroin has likely doubled from last year's total, and five months still remain 2016. The latest two happened in the same Evansville home earlier this week, authorities believe. The bodies of Christopher L. Alvey, 33, and Cory M. Keown, 34, were discovered by a family member in a home in the 700 block of Bennighof Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, according to an Evansville Police Department report. They were both pronounced dead at the scene. The two deaths are likely the 12th and 13th fatal overdoses attributed to heroin in Vanderburgh County so far this year, according to Steve Lockyear, the county's chief deputy coroner. Lockyear said the county has had nine confirmed heroin-related deaths this year. He also suspects the drug caused two other recent fatalities, though the official causes of those deaths have yet to be confirmed. Last year, there were six fatal heroin overdoses in Vanderbugh County and two in neighboring Warrick County. For the first part of this decade, Southwestern Indiana largely was unaffected by the resurgence of heroin that had started to affect much of the country. According to Wednesday's report, there was a woman asleep inside the home which is listed as Keown's residence when police arrived. Investigators wrote that they believe all three people were involved in the use of narcotics Tuesday night. When asked if he was surprised by the number of deaths this year on Friday, Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nicholas Hermann said he feared that it is still just the start of the problem, referencing the high number of heroin deaths that other parts of Indiana have been dealing with for several years. Hermann's office hosted a symposium on the effects of heroin use and prescription opioid abuse earlier this year. Lockyear was one of the speakers at that April event. On Friday, Lockyear called the emerging local heroin problem "just terrible," though he said several groups are already working toward solutions to curb heroin use. "It's going to take a full community effort to combat this," he said. "It's going to (have to) come from treatment to education to law enforcement. And everybody, I think, everyone, has been quickly on board with this ... it's not something that is simply being ignored." A group searches through brush for Aleah Beckerle. The 19-year-old severely disabled Evansville woman has been missing since July 17. (Photo: Screenshot / Jeff Walker ) By Jessie Higgins of the Courier and Press The sight of the search party that gathered Saturday morning to look for a missing Evansville woman was overwhelming for the woman's mother and grandmother. By 8 a.m., more than 50 people were signed up to help search for Aleah Beckerle. The 19-year-old severely disabled Evansville woman has been missing since July 17. The search was hosted by the Texas EquuSearch group, a nonprofit that specializes in organizing search parties for missing people across the country. "We feel like everyone in this room loves Aleah," Lydia LaRue, Aleah's grandmother, said as she gazed around the search party staging area Saturday at Delaware Elementary. "It's fantastic that all these people came together to find Aleah," she said. "We've got to have her back." The search was scheduled to continue until dark Saturday and resume Sunday morning. This is the second weekend the EquuSearch group has hosted formal searches. They arrived in Evansville last week after a community member requested their help. Before they arrived, friends and family had gathered in small, somewhat disorganized groups to look for Aleah, said Linda Brown, the community member who called EquuSearch. "Now we have professionals here," Brown said. "I knew they were the best, and we need the best." Last week, the group broke out areas around Evansville to concentrate the search. "We create search areas based on the ease getting to from the place they were last seen," said David Rader, the group's search organizer. "There are so many factors. I'm trying to sit here and think like a killer and it's hard. I'm not wired that way." Before the search could begin, the volunteers had to be instructed in the most effective way to search. Trash bags must be looked through, rolled carpets unrolled, disturbed ground examined. "We're teaching people how to search properly," he said. "It's not how much ground you can cover, but how thoroughly you can cover it." The search team was looking for a body. That does not mean Aleah is dead, Rader said. "I have to look for a body," he said. "My job is to look for a body while the police continue their investigation. Every day we don't find her is a good day because there is hope that may be she is alive out there." Beckerle's mother, Cara Beckerle, reported her missing July 17. She last saw her wearing a black T-shirt with the words "Dance Theater" written on it. She is bi-racial, 4 feet 10 inches tall, and weights 95 pounds. She has brown eyes and brown hair, cut in a short pixie-style. Anyone who wishes to volunteer to search for Aleah on Sunday should report to the Delaware Elementary gymnasium, at 700 N Garvin St. at 8 a.m. "We want people talking about her," LaRue, Aleah's grandmother, said. "We want people to look for her. We've got to have her back." From across the volunteer registration table, Aleah's mother, Cara Beckerle, nodded. "I want her back," Cara said in a soft voice. "Maybe we'll find her today." Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, addressed the members of the American Legislative Exchange Council on Friday, July 29, 2016, at their annual meeting in Indianapolis. (Photo: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar) SHARE By James Briggs, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network First, Gov. Mike Pence returned home to Indiana from the national campaign trail. Then he came home to his base. Pence on Friday addressed a room full of kindred spirits at the American Legislative Exchange Council. The free-market policy group concluded its three-day annual meeting at the JW Marriott in Downtown Indianapolis. "You are the model for Washington, D.C., after this election," Pence told the room, which largely consisted of state lawmakers and business leaders. "You truly are." Pence spoke for about 20 minutes, five minutes longer than planned, praising the virtues of conservative governance, criticizing this week's Democratic National Convention and making the case for why Republican Donald Trump should be the next president. Pence, Trump's vice presidential nominee, said conservatives should rally behind Trump because ideological control of the Supreme Court is at stake. The president for the next four years could determine the court's makeup for the next four decades, he said. "I would say to all of you, for the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of the sanctity of life, for the sake of our Second Amendment and all of our God-given liberties, we must assure the next president making appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States of America is president Donald Trump," Pence said to loud applause. Most of Pence's speech, though, focused on ALEC's bread and butter: state government. ALEC drafts model legislation and influences policy in statehouses across the country. Pence joked that he was "for ALEC before it was cool." Pence held up Indiana as a model for conservative state leadership, touting job growth and tax cuts during his term as governor. In Indiana, he said, "nearly $3.5 billion in tax relief has been enacted in just the last 4 years." "I know what it's like when you have strong, common-sense conservative leadership in a state legislature," Pence added. Pence also turned to the Democratic convention, which wrapped up Thursday in Philadelphia. After noting he "was a little bit nervous coming out on that stage" for his own convention speech in Cleveland, Pence said he was unmoved by what he heard in Philadelphia. "What we heard was more of the same," Pence said. "What I heard was a commitment to more taxes, more regulation, more government, more of the same failed policies that landed our national government $19 trillion in debt." The ALEC speech wasn't Pence's only appearance during his hours-long stay in Indiana. Earlier Friday, Pence addressed American Bikers Aimed Toward Education before hopping on a motorcycle and riding with the group in its annual Governors Motorcycle Ride. The event benefits the Indiana National Guard Relief Fund. Before riding, he offered brief remarks to the bikers who showed up for a steamy 130-mile trip in mid-80-degree weather. Pence said the annual ride gave him an excuse to get on a bike again when he became governor in 2013. "I took up motorcycle riding again four years ago," he said. "After I became governor, I told my wife it was actually required in the constitution." Pence during his remarks offered condolences to the colleagues and families of two San Diego police officers who were shot Thursday after a routine traffic stop. One died and one was injured. "The truth of the matter is that this is a very challenging time in the life of law enforcement in this country," Pence said. ABATE advocates for motorcycle safety and legislation. It has more than 2,000 members, according to its website. Pence went from the ABATE ride to the Marriott, where he was the final big-name speaker of the week for ALEC. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry spoke Wednesday at ALEC. U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita also addressed the group Friday. Pence's break from campaigning didn't last long. He was scheduled to leave Indianapolis shortly after his ALEC speech for a campaign stop in Lima, Ohio. But before returning to national politics, Pence reveled in talking state politics, saying he came to "say thank you for the work all of you have done in state legislatures." He urged those in attendance to use the November election to make the federal government reflect conservative state governments such as Indiana's. "We have a choice in this election today to turn our ship in the state and national level to the direction so many conservative-led states have chosen to go," Pence said. SHARE By Thomas B. Langhorne of the Courier and Press Rep. Larry Bucshon had a problem with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but he wasn't getting into specifics at first when asked Friday about Trump. Bucshon, also a Republican and the 8th district's representative in Congress since 2011, began by talking about Trump's bluster. "I'm going to vote for Donald Trump because he's a Republican," Bucshon said after an appearance at the Evansville Country Club. "I have some broad disagreements with some of the statements that he's made in the past. I'm hopeful that he'll focus on what his thoughts are about the future of America, stay away from political rhetoric that's divisive and move forward and I have confidence he'll do that." Noting that he backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for the GOP's presidential nomination, Bucshon called on Trump to look ahead. Unlike most Republican Party officials and officeholders, the brash real estate mogul has forcefully reminded voters about 1990s-era controversies involving Democrat Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. Bucshon didn't mention Trump's forays into the Clintons' political past, but he left little doubt about his sentiments. "These type of elections are about the future. Let's try to avoid the past as much as we can," Bucshon said. "Of course, people have records, both in business and, in Mrs. Clinton's case, on the political side. That will be part of the discussion, but the people I talk to in the district want to hear a message about what your plans are for the future." Then, in response to a question, Bucshon got specific about his beef with Trump. "When you start talking about having a religious test for people to come to the United States, that's against the Constitution. This country was founded on religious freedom," he said. "That was an unfortunate discussion that (Trump) brought up." In December Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," but his position has shifted somewhat. In June he said he would like to ban people who come to the United States from nations and regions that export terrorism. He dropped his earlier call for what critics say would be a religious test. "When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe, or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats," Trump said in June. Trump said his ban "will be lifted when we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into our country." The Republican presidential nominee is not the only American politician to advocate blocking migration for national security reasons. In perhaps the most well-known example, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt suspended naturalization proceedings for German, Japanese and Italian settlers the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Roosevelt made constitutional arguments for suspending naturalization proceedings from nations hostile to U.S. interests. Just this past January, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul called for a travel ban from "high-risk" countries. Bucshon thinks Trump went too far. "I do support looking at people coming from the war-torn areas of Syria and northern Iraq and making sure that they're properly vetted before they're allowed to enter the United States, but I disagree with (Trump's) statements as it relates to a religious test," the 8th district congressman said. "It's a security test. It has nothing to do with religion. This country's founding principles are based on people's ability to practice the religion that they believe in." Trump has done at least one thing Bucshon likes: He picked Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to be his running mate. Pence served in Congress with Bucshon for two years before being elected governor in 2012. Pence's conservatism and knowledge of foreign affairs should benefit Trump, Bucshon said. But he said the Republican team has to keep reminding voters that they are the change agents this year. "You'll find on both sides of the aisle, the American people are nervous," Bucshon said. SHARE By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press Ashley Johnson-Farmer said it's inspiring to see so many students benefit from Hangers. Last school year Hangers, the nonprofit Evansville Area Council PTA clothing and hygiene resource for EVSC K-12 students, clothed more than 2,500 students. About halfway through the summer, Hangers Executive Director Barry Jones had already received more than 350 applications for the 2016-17 school year. Johnson-Farmer, a Springleaf Financial centralized titles department manager, wanted to help. During three weeks in July, Springleaf Financial employees collected clothes, hygiene products and school supplies for Hangers. Friday morning, volunteer employees loaded a truck with more than 25 "large" boxes of items. "We try, in our department, to organize something each month to help (the community)," Johnson-Farmer said. "Sometimes we can get the whole company involved, like this. It's a good cause everybody can get behind." Hangers also received a $2,500 corporate donation. Giving back to the community is part of Springleaf's motto, according to Johnson-Farmer. "We care a lot about Evansville," she aid. "Evansville is good to us. A lot of people employed by Springleaf here in Evansville go to our school system." Natalie Jones, North Junior High School eighth grade English teacher, was present Friday to accept the donations. Jones, who is married to the clothing bank's executive director, said it's obvious when students aren't being cared for properly. "Community support is invaluable," she said. "This is just a small part of one larger organization, about 18 people, that pulled this together. So many children will benefit from this year, and hopefully have a great school year." Hangers is located at AIS-Diamond, 2319 Stringtown Road, entrance off Wedeking Avenue. Hangers will start accepting donations Aug. 15, or drop off clothes at any Pearl Cleaners location for delivery. The clothing bank is available to any K-12 EVSC and Signature School student. Kids, who may visit once a year, must be referred by the school principal or nurse, Jones said, from August through the second week of May. SHARE The great drama of the Democratic National Convention was whether the party could unite its factions behind Hillary Clinton. That question appears to be settled now. In a bracing, historic speech that called upon Americans to "decide whether we're going to work together so we can all rise together," Clinton was cheered raucously on Thursday night by a massive, diverse crowd of delegates that, as the week started, was struggling to rise above her bruising primary against Bernie Sanders. Many wept as she appeared. Chants of "Hil-la-ry!" filled the arena. In any other year, the prospect of electing the first female president in U.S. history might have been unifying enough. But this year's presidential race has been tinged with more unsettling questions. Polarization, globalism, demographic change and a host of other stresses have left many Americans vulnerable and uncertain. Within her party, Clinton was bitterly challenged by Sanders supporters demanding economic and social justice. Clinton did right by them in her speech, promising to pursue their demands for fairer wages, more equitable taxes, more affordable tuition and tougher regulation of Wall Street. But she also wisely reached out to moderates regardless of party, and to working-class voters "from Indian country to coal country." Many have gravitated toward Trump out of a feeling of abandonment in the new world order. She promised opportunity and jobs. As for Trump himself, Clinton was magnificent in her rebuttal of his opportunistic message of fear, racism, xenophobia and authoritarianism. "This is what Donald Trump doesn't get," she said, quoting the 19th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville. "America is great because America is good." Predictably, Trump heckled on Twitter, fuming that she failed to say the words "radical Islam." "Donald Trump says, and this is a quote, 'I know more about ISIS than the generals do,'" the former secretary of state told her supporters. "No, Donald. You don't." Clinton picked up where President Barack Obama left off on Wednesday, reminding in his own speech for the ages that "democracy works, America, but we've got to want it." "Our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order," the president said. "We don't look to be ruled." He, of course, was the more eloquent. Like Clinton herself, her delivery was less show pony than workhorse. But workhorses can make history, too. This editorial first appeared in The Sacramento (California) Bee. Editors Note: This is Part Two in a three-part Elko Daily Free Press series. Next week: The social impact. MARIANNE KOBAK McKOWN mkobak@elkodaily.com ELKO In November voters will decide if marijuana will be legalized for recreational use, but even if the law passes that doesnt mean a pot shop will open on every corner. The proposed law would regulate and tax cannabis for people 21 and older. Proponents refer to it as the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol, but the green leaf would have a lot more restrictions on it than beer, wine or liquor in Nevada. The initiatives preamble states marijuana should be legalized in the interest of public health and safety and in order to better focus state and local law enforcement resources on crimes involving violence and personal property. It continues saying the cultivation and sale of marijuana should be taken from the domain of criminals and be regulated under a controlled system. The debate over the proposed law is whether it would actually accomplish its goals. If Question 2 is passed, it would become effective Jan. 1, but the state Department of Taxation would have 12 months after that date to adopt all the regulations necessary to implement the new law. These provisions include everything from the procedures for issuing licenses for marijuana businesses to establishing a fair market value of the drug. Proponents of the law say it will be an economic boon for the state. Las Vegas-based RCG Economics and the Marijuana Policy Group released a report, which projects nearly $400 million in sales in 2018 and an average of $1.1 billion in total economic activity between 2018 and 2024. The groups project annual sales of adult-use of marijuana at $393 million in 2018 and rising to $485 million by 2024. The groups also say legalizing the drug would create about 3,300 direct jobs and 6,200 jobs supported. The report also predicts more than $60 million in excise and sales tax revenue annually. Four states Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon as well as the District of Columbia already legalized recreational cannabis. Colorado led the way when it legalized the drug in 2012. In 2015, Time magazine reported Colorado was receiving more revenue from weed than it was alcohol. In Colorado, medical marijuana sales are taxed at 2.9 percent, retail marijuana special sales tax is 10 percent and marijuana excise tax is 15 percent, along with licensing fees. These taxes dont include local government taxes. In 2015, Colorado collected more than $85.2 million in tax revenue from marijuana alone, according to proponents of Nevadas Question 2. Nevadans voted to legalize medical marijuana in 2000 and the state taxes the drug at 2 percent. If Question 2 passes, the drug would have an excise tax of 15 percent for wholesale. This tax would be on top of any general state and local sales and use taxes that could apply to retail sales. Joe Brezny, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol told NBC News 4 in May that all of the revenue would go to Nevadas school system. However, the proposed law states the excise tax would first be spent on the costs to regulate the drug and then any remaining money would be deposited to the credit of the State Distributive School Account in the states general fund. Nevadans for Responsible Drug Policy say the proposed law will require the Department of Taxation to be radically transformed into a massive bureaucracy and become the single most powerful agency in state government. The duties of the Nevada Department of Taxation under the initiative are unprecedented and would overwhelm the department as currently constituted, said Jim Hartman, a spokesman for the group. He said the taxes generated by marijuana sales under the initiative would be totally consumed by the bureaucratic costs of legal pot administration run by state government. Assemblyman John Ellison, R-Elko, said he was for medical marijuana but completely against the recreational use of the drug. He said he voted against recreational use at the legislative level. Theres a difference between medical purposes and medical marijuana versus recreational, he said. The problem you see right now is, you see businesses and companies saying how do we control this because marijuana stays in the system a lot longer than alcohol. Ellison said he was OK with medical marijuana because it helps patients with their quality of life, but he thinks recreational use can lead to abuse of the drug. If Question 2 is approved, it will not change drug policies from employers. Many companies, including Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick Gold Corp., already have policies that do not allow for the use of marijuana. Newmont said its policy ensures a substance-free workplace. Components of the policy include pre-employment drug and alcohol screens as well as random workplace screens, the company stated. In addition, screening occurs for reasonable suspicion and post-incident situations. Newmont also already prohibits any drug or alcohol use in the workplace regardless if medically authorized marijuana is involved. Who would be able to have marijuana? According to Question 2, the regulations set by the Department of Taxation must not prohibit the operation of marijuana establishments. In Colorado, cities and counties can decide if the drug should be grown or sold locally. The proposed law in Nevada doesnt give the same opportunity to local governments. Cities and counties in Nevada wont be able to set moratoriums like they can for medical marijuana establishments. However, the law does not prohibit local government from adopting and enforcing local marijuana control measures through zoning and land use. People 21 and older will be able to purchase weed and those who do not live within 25 miles of a retail marijuana store will be allowed to grow up to six plants in an enclosed, locked area. However, property owners may prohibit or restrict how marijuana is used in their buildings, including whether people can smoke or possess the plant. If the law goes into effect, the Department of Taxation will have to start receiving applications in 2018. However, businesses with medical marijuana certificates will be the first to get a shot at the recreational licenses. According to Question 2, for 18 months after the Department of Taxation begins receiving applications, it shall only accept applications for licenses for retail marijuana stores, marijuana product manufacturing facilities and marijuana cultivation facilities from people who already have the medical pot certificate. Marijuana establishments will have restrictions on where they can be located. The properties cant be within 1,000 feet of a school nor within 300 feet of a community facility. These facilities include day care centers, public parks, pools or playgrounds anywhere else that has a primary purpose to provide recreational opportunities for children. Churches and other religious purpose buildings are also included as a community facility. The number of marijuana retail stores also will be determined by county. A county with a population greater than 700,000 would be allowed 80 licenses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Elko Countys population estimate is a little more than 51,000. If Question 2 is passed, counties with a population less than 55,000 would be allowed two licensed weed stores. The proposed law does allow county governments to request the Department of Taxation allow additional stores beyond the allowed amount. The fees for a marijuana business would be more than a normal business license. Each applicant for a marijuana establishment license would pay a one-time application fee of $5,000. The initial issuance of a license for a retail weed store would be $20,000 and the annual renewal license would be $6,600. People who own marijuana establishments could only allow people 21 or older to be in the business. They would also have to run criminal background checks on employees or volunteers to make sure none have been convicted of an excluded felony offense. The great big-band music of the late 1930s and 40s will be celebrated at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Friday, Aug. 5, with a visit by the renowned Glenn Miller Orchestra. Under the baton of Music Director/vocalist Nick Hilscher, the 18-member group will perform selections from the vast Glenn Miller Orchestra library including its biggest hits: Moonlight Serenade, A String of Pearls, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Pennsylvania 6-5000, At Last, Tuxedo Junction, In The Mood, Stardust and Rhapsody in Blue, as well as modern selections arranged and performed in the Miller style. US and Cuba talk about mutual economic compensation Cuban and US officials are meeting in Washington for the second round of talks on mutual compensations. Cuban specialists and representatives of the US departments of State, Justice and the Treasury will address economic compensation options in tune with the demands issued by each side. The US is claiming compensations for US companies nationalized by the Cuban government after 1959, while Cuba demands compensations for the damage inflicted by the embargo imposed by Washington since 1962 up to date, whose cost is considered to have climbed to 121 billion dollars. The meeting, taking place Thursday and Friday, follows a first informative session held in Havana on December 8, 2015. This first bilateral contact allowed the exchange on pending compensations; Cuba in particular issued its demands to the US government for human and economic damage recognized by local courts. 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 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 Section of GAP closed during bridge work "The last time the bridges were re-decked was in 1995. They have become almost unsafe to be used," said Lindsay Baer. Boo! What are the scariest spots in Lake County? The old courthouse. A tea room in Mount Dora. Lake County has several places that are thought to be haunted. Police baton used against journalists (video) The journalists covering the clashes between the police and demonstrators in Sari Tagh became victims. When the police threw explosives in the direction of the citizens, the journalist and the cameraman of A1+ were also injured. Then they were subjected to an attack; they were removed from the cars with the use of batons, their press passes were stripped off. Journalist of A1+ Robert Ananyan was taken to Grigor Lusavorich medical center. Journalists of Azatutyun media outlet Karlen Aslanyan and Hovhannes Movsisyan were attacked by the persons in civilian clothes in Sari Tagh. As a result of the incident the work of Azatutyun was hindered; live streaming was stopped from Sari Tagh. In Sari Tagh while covering the clashes between the police and the public, journalist of 1.am Mariam Grigoryan received injury in the foot as a result of explosive. Cameraman Davit Harutyunyan was brutally beaten by the policemen, his camera was broken, as a result of an explosion he was injured in the leg. In Sari Tagh the journalist and cameraman of Civilnet media outlet received injuries as a result of an explosion. While covering the events in Sari Tagh, correspondent of Armenia TV Aghvan Asoyan and cameraman Albert Galstyan were beaten. Cameraman of Lragir.am Marut Vanyan was hit by a police baton; at present he is in Grigor Lusavorich medical center. His camera was broken by the policemen in civilian clothes. The cameraman of the Russian Life TV was wounded. The cameraman of Panorama.am Hovik Grigoryan was affected as a result of an explosion. Updated Photo by 1in.am 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. From a public relations point of view, the Governments last-minute postponement of a decision on Hinkley Point nuclear power station was an unmitigated disaster. As pens were poised over contracts, with the Champagne on ice, it gave an impression of hopeless confusion and dithering in Whitehall while infuriating the French and Chinese, who were led to believe this was a done deal. Yet appearances aside, doesnt it make perfect sense for Theresa Mays incoming administration to take a cool look at the project before committing taxpayers and energy consumers to its eye-watering, multi-billion-pound price tag? From a public relations point of view, the Governments last-minute postponement of a decision on Hinkley Point nuclear power station was an unmitigated disaster. Pictured: An artist's sketch One word of warning. For well over 20 years, as old nuclear and coal-fired power stations faced decommissioning, politicians of all parties have disastrously failed to come up with a coherent energy strategy to meet our increasing needs. So if Mrs May should reject Hinkley Point in the autumn, it is imperative that she produces a realistic Plan B, ready for immediate action. Meanwhile, she must press ahead with ending uncertainty over other projects such as HS2, the northern powerhouse and runway capacity in the South-East. For decades, prime ministers have prioritised spin over substance, avoiding hard choices that might damage their image. If Mrs May gets the PR wrong, but the decisions right, this paper will be the first to congratulate her. Doesnt it make perfect sense for Theresa Mays incoming administration to take a cool look at the project before committing taxpayers and energy consumers to its eye-watering, multi-billion-pound price tag? Were better off out Anyone who still doubts the economic wisdom of Brexit should study yesterdays oh-so-revealing trade figures for 2015 from the Office for National Statistics. For they confirm a long-running trend which has seen Britain become less reliant on the statist EU, as our exporters exploit lucrative markets elsewhere. Indeed, exports to our partners last year shrank to a paltry 12 per cent of our national output. Yet for the sake of this fraction of our economy, every business has had to bear the full weight of Brussels regulation (thats not to mention the social burden of uncontrollable immigration). Indeed, with the UK a substantial net importer from the EU particularly Germany a picture emerges of a relationship failing to deliver the benefits promised by starry-eyed europhiles. Meanwhile, an in-house watchdog has launched a lacerating attack on the International Monetary Funds senior staff over their calamitous misjudgments in pursuing a love affair with the euro, which has condemned much of the continent to economic sclerosis. These are the experts, remember, who with our stagnating partners repeatedly lectured us about the folly of Brexit. Yes, there may be a temporary economic price for the turbulence of reclaiming our independence. But the long-term prospects for this country look ten times healthier than for those locked in the EU. Banished: 6bn bags In a resounding triumph for the Mails Banish the Bags campaign, the first official figures since the introduction of 5p-a-bag charges show a phenomenal 85 per cent drop in the numbers handed out by supermarkets and large stores. That means some six billion fewer single-use plastic bags to scar the landscape, pollute streets and rivers and kill wildlife and fish in the seas. The first official figures since the introduction of 5p-a-bag charges show a phenomenal 85 per cent drop in the numbers handed out by supermarkets and large stores This paper knows better than to expect credit from environmentalists on the Left, who talk big about their green credentials while achieving nothing. Armenia on the brink of police state: Heritage Party Statement by Heritage Party In the most egregious campaign of human rights violations since the falsification of elections and referenda, the ruling regime has rounded up and physically attacked hundreds of citizens, including journalists, for exercising their constitutional right of assembly. Many of the late-night arrests were conducted by plain-clothes policemen with the application of unprecedented violence. Among those arrested were Heritage leaders Armen Martirosyan, Hovsep Khurshudyan, Susanna Muradyan, and Davit Sanasaryan. Their whereabouts are unknown. We demand the release of all political prisoners and the resignation of this administration, which has proved to have nothing in common with the civilized world and much in parallel with Yanukovich and other despotic, totalitarian regimes around the world. Without protection of civil and human rights, both within the country and by the international community, the opportunities for discourse and justice will vanish, and our promising new republic will risk spiraling unpredictably into formless chaos. We suggest that all political forces and civil society stand together for the purpose of establishing, in short order, a constitutional state based on free and fair elections and a fundamental respect for the dignity of each and every citizen. Raffi K. Hovannisian 30 July 2016 Yerevan By my estimate, only three politicians have made a genuine, enduring difference to Britain in the past 50 years. Perhaps its not surprising that they have very contrasting characteristics. First, there was Roy Jenkins, Labours Home Secretary in the Sixties. He was regarded as the father of the Permissive Society legalising homosexuality, abolishing hanging, ending censorship, reforming abortion and divorce laws. Then there was Edward Heath, the Tory prime minister in the Seventies who negotiated Britains entry into the nascent European Union (then misleadingly known as the Common Market). Heath was a disagreeable man and failed in countless areas, but there is no doubt that getting the UK joined to other European countries was a major achievement albeit with detrimental consequences. Scroll down for video Farage, who has announced his resignation as the leader of Ukip, has never even been an MP. Yet his political legacy will be far more profound than that of most prime ministers Third was Margaret Thatcher, the greatest prime minister of the post-war period. She destroyed the power of the over-mighty trade unions, yanked the economy off its knees and restored national pride. Were still benefiting from her foresight and bravery. Now, in the aftermath of Brexit, we can add Nigel Farage as a fourth change-maker (to use the buzzword employed this week by Bill Clinton about his wife Hillary). Farage, who has announced his resignation as the leader of Ukip, has never even been an MP. Yet his political legacy will be far more profound than that of most prime ministers. I believe future historians will consider him as significant as Roy Jenkins and a bigger figure than Heath. Consider the facts: David Cameron would never have called a referendum on Britains EU membership but for Farage and the fear of losing votes to Ukip. The ineluctable fact is that Farage has changed history. One day, there may even be a statue of Farage. I very much doubt there will be one of David Cameron or Tony Blair. Of course, the MEP is widely hated. I admit that I once called him a notorious loudmouth. The truth is that the liberal elite (who, by nature, are slavishly Europhile) have always tried to depict him as a buffoon. But that was a fatal mistake. For Farage is motivated by deeply patriotic values that struck a chord with a majority of the British people. David Cameron would never have called a referendum on Britains EU membership but for Farage and the fear of losing votes to Ukip. Peter Oborne Though Farage enjoys a joke and a pint (rather like Ken Clarke on the other side of the European divide), he is a serious politician. He did not just lead a revolt against Brussels. He was also the leader of a parallel insurgency against the arrogant elite of Westminster. When he first emerged as a national figure, more than ten years ago, Britain was governed by a cosy cartel. Labour and the Tories may have been separate parties, but they had both been hijacked by a modernising clique who shared many of the same values and beliefs. Peter Mandelson for Labour and George Osborne for the Tories were the high priests of these modernisers. For them, politics was a game, played for the benefit of a social and economic elite. Both men seemed to disdain the views of voters. Indeed, together with a group of London-based strategists, they ignored the vast majority of the population and concentrated their efforts on wooing a very small number of voters in key marginal constituencies. As a result, millions of people from the West Country to Middle England and Labours traditional Northern heartlands and Scotland were left feeling disenfranchised. Labours betrayal of its Scottish voters was duly exploited by the SNP. It won 56 out of 59 seats north of the border at last years General Election, leaving Labour with just one MP (losing 40). Millions of people from the West Country to Middle England and Labours traditional Northern heartlands and Scotland were left feeling disenfranchised Apart from this damage done by the Tory and Labour modernisers, they also clamped down on political debate. Fresh thinking was sneered at. Justified fears about levels of immigration were denounced as racist. The idea that Britain should leave the EU was unthinkable. Into this gap stepped Nigel Farage. Ignored by most media, he was forced to resort to old- fashioned methods of electioneering that were despised by the modernisers of both parties who relied on slick PR spivs and meretricious campaign techniques. He addressed public meetings; he knocked on doors; he wore out his brogues pounding the pavements. By doing so, he met voters and listened to their concerns. He addressed public meetings; he knocked on doors; he wore out his brogues pounding the pavements. By doing so, he met voters and listened to their concerns. Peter Oborne This meant that he was able to build a political personality that was a complete contrast to those cocooned in the Westminster bubble. He spoke a language that people could understand. Crucially, he also worked very hard. For example, I remember dining with him in London ten years ago. He had just travelled from the Midlands, where he had addressed a public meeting, and was due to get up at 5am the next morning to go door-knocking in the West Country. Such a schedule meant that over time, Mr Farage set himself up as a one-man opposition to the Blairites and Cameroons and their almost-interchangeable policies. Not surprisingly, he won swathes of votes in working-class Labour areas and Tory shires where people felt ignored. In the 2014 European elections, Ukip won most votes leaving Labour in second place and the Tories trailing in third. In last years General Election, Ukip got 12.6 per cent of votes (a total of 3,880,000). This success acted as a springboard for the Leave campaigners in last months EU referendum. Even those who despised Farage and voted for the UK to stay in the EU are, I believe, also in his debt. For, thanks to him, we witnessed a triumph for democracy after a deeply worryingly period when it seemed that countless people had despaired of politics and were no longer participating in elections. Nigel Farage may be standing down as Ukip leader, but make no mistake, hell remain a champion of the British people and do everything to ensure that Brexit means Brexit. I predict the coup against Corbyn will fail The attempted coup against Jeremy Corbyn seems destined to fail. Indeed, it looks as if he will entrench his position as Labour leader and score an even more decisive victory in the forthcoming leadership election than he did last year when he won by a landslide with 59 per cent of the votes. This will pose a dichotomy for his enemies in the parliamentary party. They will have no mandate to challenge the result. Equally, after such disloyalty, surely they wont be able to pledge support for Corbyn? It looks as if he will entrench his position as Labour leader and score an even more decisive victory in the forthcoming leadership election than he did last year when he won by a landslide with 59 per cent of the votes But if Labour MPs refuse to serve him, they will plunge the party into the gravest crisis in its history, dwarfing even the historic split of 1931 when Ramsay MacDonalds Labour broke in two over austerity cuts. In all likelihood, the Labour Party as we know it will not survive if that happens. For his part, I believe Corbyn should rise to the challenge by being more radical and incisive in his attacks on the Tory government. I mentioned this to him when I met him this week urging him to be more clinical in his critique of its foreign policies. He agreed that the dismissal of Hilary Benn as shadow foreign secretary (who embarrassingly opposed him over intervention in the Syrian civil war) would allow him more freedom to speak up for Palestinian rights. Corbyn told me that he plans to ask searching questions about the Governments relations with Saudi Arabia. He will also support families of British military victims of the Iraq war if they mount a private prosecution against Tony Blair and others. This is a refreshing approach, because for far too long there has been an unspoken consensus over foreign policy between the two main parties (i.e. pro-EU, pro-meddling in the Middle East), which, I believe, has been profoundly damaging to Britain. You don't need to have How much do you know about the birds and the bees? According to statistics, probably not as much as you should. By expert's estimates, approximately half of all pregnancies in Australia each year are unplanned, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that people are engaging in activities without realising they could end up knocked up. FEMAIL spoke to Sydney-based Dr Natasha Andreadis, a certified reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, about strange ways you can fall pregnant. Knocked up: FEMAIL spoke to Dr Natasha Andreadis about ways people didn't realise that they could get pregnant CONTRACEPTION ISN'T 100 PER CENT EFFECTIVE Despite what many people believe, no form of contraception is 100 per cent effective. Pills can be missed, condoms can break, IUDs can dislodge, all potentially causing insemination. 'Often people arent using contraception properly,' Dr Andreadis explained. 'Don't be too relaxed about it, nothing is 100 per cent.' Many types of the pill, for example, stop being effective if they're not taken at the same time every day. Condoms can be accidentally torn if they're opened too quickly, or with your mouth instead of your fingers. The morning after pill isn't completely effective either, and neither are other forms of contraception like IUDs or hormonal implants. There are things you can do to protect yourself as much as possible however. Dr Andreadis suggests setting an alarm on your phone if taking the pill, and remembering that things like antibiotics can make it less effective as well. One of the common causes of unplanned pregnancy is incorrect use of condoms, so learn how to put them on properly. The NSW Government has a handy guide that shows exactly how. Protect yourself: Contraception is never 100 per cent effective, and there is always a chance of falling pregnant PENETRATION NOT REQUIRED Contrary to what your sex ed teacher may have told you, abstinence isn't an entirely effective method to prevent pregnancy-that is, if you're still engaging in some forms of sexual activity. If engaging in anal sex, particularly unprotected anal sex, semen can easily get around the vaginal opening and vulva, which can result in pregnancy. Essentially having semen anywhere near the vulva can cause a woman to fall pregnant, Dr Andreadis confirms. Whilst it's rare, and the circumstances would have to be right, this means that a woman could fall pregnant from digital finger stimulation if the fingers had an semen on them. It also means that if 'dry humping' with a partner who ejaculates, the semen could soak through underwear and result in pregnancy. Careful: You can get pregnant even if you're not having penetrative sex with a male partner, as semen just needs to be around the vagina INCORRECT INFERTILITY You can even fall pregnant if you've been deemed infertile or told you can't have children anymore according to Dr Andreadis. 'If you have a blocked tubes you can still fall pregnant,' she said. 'Ive seen people who have been told theyve got early menopause then fall pregnant.' Even if you've had tubal ligation or your partner has had a vasectomy, you can fall pregnant, as neither of the procedures are fault free. Vasectomies in particular aren't immediately effective, so people can fall into the trap of thinking other protection isn't needed straight away. Baby on board: Even if you've had your tubes tied, or your partner has had a vasectomy, you can still fall pregnant OLD WIVES TALES Women often fall pregnant because of urban myths about preventing pregnancy, for example believe that they can't fall pregnant whilst breastfeeding. Another common misconception is that women can't fall pregnant whilst they are having their period, but this too is incorrect. Dr Andreadis said that the most important thing to minimise the chance of falling pregnant unexpectedly was to educate yourself, but that nothing is guaranteed. Patients suffering a leukaemia relapse have been handed a death sentence by an NHS decision to deny funding for a second lifesaving stem cell transplant if their first one fails. In a joint letter to the Department of Health, some of the leading names in British medicine and the world-famous Anthony Nolan Trust have rallied against the new guidance, issued this month. They claim that 20 people each year, and at least 22 current patients who have survived a first transplant before experiencing a relapse of their disease after at least 12 months, will succumb to cancer without access to a treatment that could cure them. Emily Wellfare, pictured, is one leukaemia patient who required a second stem cell transplant and was told it was the 'only thing that would save her life' Without a second transplant, the small percentage of patients considered suitable for one will die of their underlying disease, said Professor David Marks, former president of the British Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation and one of 18,000 signatories, including dozens of specialists in blood disease, to a letter handed last week to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The treatment, which offers the best chance of survival to these patients, is given routinely in the US and Europe, and Prof Marks, director of the Bristol Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, says: I know of no other first-world country where people with a 30 per cent chance of a cure are denied a transplant. Before 2013, patients in the UK eligible for a second transplant received one, but in that year NHS England (NHSE) began evaluating whether repeat transplants should continue to be funded. For the past three years, doctors have had to submit individual funding requests. Some have been turned down, and NHSE has since declared second transplants not currently affordable. Henny Braund, chief executive officer of British transplant charity the Anthony Nolan Trust, which co-ordinated the petition and is asking the public to write to their MPs, says: This is a step backwards for patients. A transplant costs between 50,000 and 120,000, but the cost of caring for one patient refused a transplant in the past few years was 130,000 for the year they survived, and for another patient who survived three years it was 160,000. Of those who do get a second transplant, one in three survive at least five years, and many are young people leading fulfilling lives and making a contribution to society. Denying those patients a chance of life amounts to a death sentence. Ms Wellfare, pictured before her diagnosis, had her first transplant in February 2014, only for disease to return after two years in remission One of those presenting the protest petition last week was acute myeloid leukaemia sufferer Emily Wellfare, who was told in December she would die if she did not get a second transplant. She said: My consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital told me it would be the only thing that could save my life. 'He mentioned he would have to apply for funding, and it never occurred to me it could be refused. In February the 25-year-old from Eastbourne was given the shocking news that the application had been refused. My doctors said the hospital was going to give me the transplant anyway. 'I am so grateful they fought so hard for me, but I want to know why the NHS thought my life wasnt worth fighting for, added Emily. She was in the second year of a law degree course when she started suffering from incessant coughs and colds in early 2012. In April that year she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. After chemotherapy, Emily spent a year in remission before discovering at her routine one-year check-up that her leukaemia had returned. She was told she would need a transplant of stem cells a procedure once called a bone-marrow transplant. Cells, taken from a donor, grow in the bloodstream and make healthy blood cells to replace a patients own damaged ones. Emily had her first transplant in February 2014, following three more rounds of chemotherapy. After nearly two further years in remission, it was discovered at the end of last year that Emilys cancer had returned again. Since having her second transplant on March 14, Emily has been well but has to take steroids, antibacterial and anti-fungal drugs and immuno-suppressants. Emily was luckier than another patient, a 21-year-old from Nottingham, who was rejected for a second transplant. Dr Jenny Byrne, honorary consultant haematologist at the citys university hospital trust, said: It was extremely disappointing and frustrating, given that we have plenty of patients in Nottingham who have had second transplants and are long-term survivors, fit and well and cured. A spokesman for NHS England said: The procedure isnt being funded this year because its low clinical benefit and high cost meant that it compared poorly with other new treatments which have been considered for funding this year. He added that individual funding requests would be considered where exceptional need and benefit could be provided, and the policy would be reconsidered in 2017. However, Dr Byrne said: It is not true to say that individual funding requests for transplants are getting consideration because they are routinely screened out by administrators who claim the cases are not sufficiently unique, and it is impossible to demonstrate the level of exceptionality that is called for. A Department of Health spokesperson said: Funding decisions around treatments such as these are rightly for NHS England. We have referred the decision to them. Naked Attraction Monday, Channel 4 Rating: Saddam Goes To Hollywood Sunday, Channel 4 Rating: I happened to watch Naked Attraction, the new dating show featuring contestants stripped bare, with my father, aged 93. I was there, he was there, it was there. Its just how it worked out. It was not the best idea. He is my father. Plus, I am prim, the sort of person who still gets undressed under a towel on the beach. Sometimes two. It doesnt matter if the show is good or bad, interesting or dull, as were just meant to talk about it the next day while heartily moralising about new lows and cheap titillation and whats that sound? He was initially dumbfounded. Is this allowed? Yes, Dad. Seems to be. How is it allowed? I dont know, Dad. That one is circumcised? Cuppa tea, Dad? Shall we do the online shopping? Every few years Channel 4 behaves like the child who has just learned a dirty word and wants to blurt it out at the family table. It will describe programmes like this (see also: Sex Box) as de-stigmatising and it may employ some evolutionary science (Back in the day we would have picked someone based on primal instinct, so thats what we are trying in the 21st century) but its basically all about viewer reaction. It doesnt matter if the show is good or bad, interesting or dull, as were just meant to talk about it the next day while heartily moralising about new lows and cheap titillation and whats that sound? Is it the bottom of the barrel being scraped? In this sense, its a job well done. I imagine whoever commissioned it at Channel 4 still cant sit for lunch in the canteen without having to get up every other minute to receive high-fives. The first contestant was Aina, who stood in front of six opaque screens which were raised to show all the men naked from the waist down. He is circumcised. All right, Dad. Why is this allowed? Still dont know, Dad. What are those elephant ears? Its a tattoo, Dad. Why? Dont know, Dad. What do you need this week? Washing-up liquid? Aina ogled the bodies in detail. Aina ogled the bodies as if this was the meat counter in Asda and she was deciding what to have for dinner which, I suppose, is exactly what she was doing, in a way. She was complimentary about a bottom: Firm, juicy, nice. Once she had eliminated all but two of the men she then had to appear naked herself, by which time the evolutionary science had scarpered. Nope, cant get you out of this one, it said, before disappearing. Aina chose Matty, who had a prosthetic leg and the elephant tattoo which had a trunk in situ, so to speak. I asked: is this television Dumbo-ing down? My father laughed (and has adjusted his will accordingly, one hopes). The second contestant was Mal, a bisexual woman, so it was three men and three women behind the screens. Why are there women? asked my father. Shes bisexual, Dad. He said his first memory of television is Sylvia Peters, the BBC continuity announcer, who went on to open a dress shop in Wimbledon. I dont know if she was bisexual. Mal chose Rebecca because those who arent eliminated early are revealed in full and those eyes are to die for. Not convinced you have to get naked to show your eyes but there you are. The couples went on dates and were interviewed a few weeks later. Both sets are still together, which is no surprise, given that what they have in common is a willingness to appear starkers on television. Weirdly, the show itself ultimately came over all coy as it did not ask how the primal instinct had played out; it did not ask the couples 1) have you had sex? and 2) was it any good? Still, my father was impressed by the end. Where do I sign up? he said. A couple of years ago, 35 rusted reels of film were discovered in a garage in Surrey. The film was Clash Of Loyalties, a drama about the rise of Iraq against British colonial rule in the 1920s which had been commissioned by Saddam Hussein in 1981. Saddam Goes To Hollywood was a documentary that reunited many of those involved. And it was a riot. The star was Oliver Reed, who arrived in Baghdad as his own weapon of mass destruction. He drank daiquiris for breakfast and champagne for lunch and Remy Martin from a bucket in the evenings while Josephine, his 17-year-old girlfriend, hid in the hotel reading The Canterbury Tales (she had her A-levels coming up). The filming did not go smoothly. The extras ran the wrong way. Iraqi actors and crew who were there one day werent the next as theyd been called to the front to fight Iran. The stunt director did a midnight flit when the horses hed been promised never materialised. The film was dispatched to London and edited and, according to the producer, it was terrible, terrible, terrible. But Saddam adored it and sent everyone a gold watch with his face embossed on it. When Event asked me to pick my own interviewer, I wanted to choose someone who knew me well who would get me but also someone who had a sense of perspective and distance. After much deliberation, I chose my 17-year-old self, Susan Perkins, to be in charge of the grilling, with mixed results Hi Susan Its Sue now. Susan sounds like the spinster in a Jane Austen novel who sits dribbling into her own bosom at a tea dance. I have to say, youve not aged well. What are those things hanging off your face? Jowls. Is it going to be like this for the entire interview? Sue Perkins at university (left), and Sue today (right). Sue writes: I wanted to choose someone who knew me well who would get me but also someone who had a sense of perspective and distance. After much deliberation, I chose my 17-year-old self... Why the hair? What about it? Its like an aging cockerel. Says you with the mullet Fair enough. OK shall we get on? Youve written a book. Yes. Its called Spectacles and its about my life so far. Did you put in a chapter about the all-night foam party in Epsom? No I didnt. I left that out. Shame. That was one hell of a night, right up to the point the police arrived. So youre doing a tour to coincide with the paperback launch? Yes. Says here in the bumf you intend to live to the age of 92, so this shows your half-time hurrah? Ninety-two was just a ballpark figure. Ive been eating a lot of blueberries since then, which are a superfood, so I have revised my life expectancy upwards to the region of 125. Also, Ive got a mate who deals chia seeds, so that figure could go even higher. What life lessons have you learnt in the first half of your existence? Life lessons? Are you nuts? This is me youre talking to. I dunno, I thought you might have changed. Do you still drink two-litre bottles of cider in car parks? No. Then you have changed. What would you do again differently? Id think less and do more. What on earth does that mean? I worry a lot. I analyse and over-empathise and generally spend a lot of time in my head. I rage and rail at the state of things all while sitting at my desk. Well, for the next half of my life Im going to try to be a little more present in the world. Im going to start volunteering and joining community groups and making an all-round bloody nuisance of myself. Whats left on the bucket list? Oh, Id like to swim with orangutans, cuddle a waterfall, stand under a dolphin the usual stuff. When were you last naked in public? Ive never been naked in public. Come on! This is me youre talking to 'I worry a lot. I analyse and over-empathise and generally spend a lot of time in my head. I rage and rail at the state of things all while sitting at my desk. Well, for the next half of my life Im going to try to be a little more present in the world' OK. I did a lot of drunken mooning in my 20s but my buttocks dont get much of a public airing now Im in my 40s. As I get more addled, Im expecting a nudity renaissance in my 70s and 80s. Watch out Oxford Street around about 2045 Youre going on tour how will you deal with heckling? I dont tend to get heckled because I dont do provocative stuff that gets peoples backs up. You dont tend to get an emotive response to material about Victoria sponges. Unless youre at the WI. Then it can really kick off. Ah yes Victoria sponges. Apparently you do a show about cake? What do you mean, apparently. I dunno, Ive not seen it. Im in 1987, remember? Wow, youre really going with this conceit, good for you. Lets not get too detailed though. Its like the plot of Terminator. You dont want to analyse the past-present thing too closely else it falls apart. I hear you. So, The Great British Bake Off. Is there a baking pun the BBC just wont allow you to use because its too rude? I remember an extended riff about an Iced Hungarian Ring a couple of series ago that for some inexplicable reason didnt make the edit. I would say that about a tenth of our silliness ends up on the show. Those poor bakers, however, are hit with the full avalanche of our double entendres. Snog, marry, avoid: Paul, Mary and Mel Well, Ive already snogged them all so thats done. Plus I think my marriage to Mel in Las Vegas is still legal. Theres going to be a special Christmas GBBO this year for the first time. Whose house would you most like to be invited around to for Christmas dinner Mels, Pauls or Marys? Mel, Paul and Mary and I all live together anyway. Didnt you know? Well probably do Christmas the way weve always done it, sitting around stuffing the turkey, washing Pauls cranberries and listening to Napalm Deaths album Scum (Marys favourite, shes totally into grindcore). Sue writes: Mel, Paul and Mary and I all live together anyway. Didnt you know? Well probably do Christmas the way weve always done it, sitting around stuffing the turkey, washing Pauls cranberries and listening to Napalm Deaths album Scum (Marys favourite, shes totally into grindcore) So, back to the tour everyone gets a copy of your book with their ticket, dont they? Absolutely. And youll be doing signings post-show. What are you most scared of seeing/getting from your audience? I get an awful lot of miscellaneous baked goods wrapped in tin foil handed to me at signings which is simultaneously exciting and unnerving. Theres always some rummaging in a bag and then a flash of silver. Inside the foil there will be a soft, brown, sweet thing, which gets forcibly pressed into my hand. Then theyll ramp up the pressure by explaining that the sweet, brown thing has been made by their great-grandmother no less. And if that wasnt stressful enough, I get asked if I mind being filmed eating it so they can show their great-grandmother what I thought. So? So I eat it, because Ive been well brought up and dont want to be rude, while doing a running commentary on the taste and crumb-structure. Arent there some serious health and safety issues there? Yes. But Ive found that investing in some heavy-duty probiotics helps. All tours have a rider what are you demanding on yours? My chosen rider is Frankie Dettori. He has to come with me to all gigs and sit next to a plate of egg-and-cress sandwiches and a bottle of Fanta. What are your plans postgig? Hitting nightclubs and strip clubs a la Justin Bieber? Brace yourself, because there wont be a cup of cocoa safe in the NW postcode of London. Do you have any pre-gig rituals? I do a lot of pacing and a lot of jumping up and down on the spot. I kiss the tattoo on the inside of my wrist three times then cross myself on the forehead. Just before I walk on stage I have an urge to make a run for it, so I repeat a mantra that the wonderful comedy actress Geraldine McNulty uses, which goes Why do I do it? Because I enjoy it. Why do I do it? Because I enjoy it. Why do I Then a burly stagehand intervenes and pushes me on stage and all is well. What about groupies? What about them? Mmm. Didnt think so. [Awkward silence] Did you hold anything back when writing the book? Ive tried to get a balance between being really open and honest about my life while protecting the people Im closest to. Its an emotional book because Im an emotional person, but Im very aware that its just my side of the story, so Ive been careful not to impinge on anyone elses feelings. Sue with her partner Anna Richardson When you write a memoir, youre essentially editing your own past. You pick the moments that are going to make the best story for the reader, with all the highs and lows and twists and turns that entails. Whats your writing space like? Incredibly messy. My desk looks like those desks in the movies where the bad guys have come in looking for something and turned the place over. There are piles of papers and books and old coffee cups as far as the eye can see. But its weird despite the chaos, I always know where everything is. As a huge Game Of Thrones fan whats the nerdiest thing youve ever done? Ive spent far too long marveling over the construction detail of Brienne of Tarths sword Oathkeeper. It has a golden lions head on the pommel you know How long do you think youd last in Westeros? About 15 minutes. There arent a lot of glasses-wearers in Kings Landing. They dont last long. Describe a typical evening at home. I work too much, so by the time evening comes all Im good for is slumping in front of a box set. Ive just finished Bloodline Season 2, which I can thoroughly recommend, and am now beginning the latest Orange Is The New Black. Oh, and Transparent. I love that show. Its so wistful and curious and sure of itself. A work of genius. In the ad breaks Ill scour the websites of every animal rescue centre in the UK looking at pictures of dogs that I would like to adopt. Im a sucker for anything manky with a tragic backstory and an underbite. Do you make yourself laugh? Constantly. Its making other people laugh that has presented me with the most serious challenges. When did you last belly laugh? This morning. I sent an ex of mine an enormous oil painting of me as a housewarming gift. It was one of the most elaborate and time-consuming practical jokes Ive ever done. Who else makes you giggle? Mel, obviously. Likewise, all my close mates. In terms of other performers Im always drawn to Stewart Lee, Bridget Christie, The League of Gentlemen, Julia Davis and anything by Tina Fey, Amy Pohler, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Fieg and Armando Iannucci. And I roar at People Just Do Nothing on BBC3. Also, no list of comedy greats would be complete without the much-missed titans of titter, Victoria Wood and Caroline Aherne. They defined the comedy landscape for me as I was growing up. Do you Google yourself? Never. Googling yourself is like staring at a flame and then putting your hand in it. What do you think of selfies? I dont mind them. I dont get this Im not having a selfie taken attitude. Performers only get to do their showing off because the public pay to see them. To deny your audience a photo, whatever the format, seems a little rude to me Okay so Sue says she married Mel in Las Vegas... it's a joke! Have you ever asked to take one? No. Never. Ive never thought of that before. Even though I dont mind having one taken I always feel awkward about demanding one of someone else. What profession other than your own would you like to try and why? I would have loved to have been science-minded enough to be in the caring profession either as a doctor or nurse or vet. But without a biology O-level it turns out youre just a well-intentioned buffoon wielding a hypodermic. What does the future hold? More travel, I hope. More exposure to unusual and wonderful cultures across the world. Im planning a big trip up/down the Ganges river in the autumn, which I think, in among the fun, will be very challenging and thought-provoking. Also, Ive really enjoyed the experience of writing the book and Id love to have the time to do more. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Weve prepared an Iced Hungarian Ring I dont suppose you want to make a quick comment about it? Listen, were out of time. But well, I dont suppose youve got any advice for me? What? Im not going to give you advice. You know youre not going to take it. Sue book Spectacles is available on audiobook. Sue Perkins Live! in Spectacles will be touring throughout September I might do Since when have you ever taken advice? Try me. All right. Here goes. Tip Number 1: Dont waste time looking over your shoulder have the confidence to believe that whats ahead is even better than whats been. Tip Number 2: Dont try and make jokes with a large lady called Marlene at US Customs at LAX airport, 2003. Trust me, her cavity search is not the punchline youre looking for. Tip Number 3: A man from television will approach you asking if youd like to voice a primetime show featuring an animatronic hare. Say no. Just say no. Cool, I can do all that OK. One last question. Tell me a secret. This is between us, right? I dont want to be accused of insider dealing. Of course. Go on When you get to the year 2016, remember, whatever you do make sure youve changed your pounds into euros before the banks close on June 23. Sue Perkins Live! in Spectacles will be touring throughout September. See sueperkinslive.com for details From The Dick Van Dyke Show to Diagnosis: Murder, from a famously dodgy London accent in Mary Poppins to Night At The Museum, Dick Van Dyke has been a star for nearly 70 years. But his life hasnt been practically perfect in every way he has battled alcoholism and suffered the tragic deaths of his first wife and long-term partner. Now 90, he married second wife Arlene Silver, 45 years his junior, in 2012. For some reason, my hair curled as soon as I arrived in London to start filming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and few of the English crew even recognised me. In fact, as the films opening racetrack scene was shot, the assistant director walked through a crowd of extras, handing out flags they were supposed to wave as the cars passed, and he gave one to me, too. But Im in the movie, I said. Not yet, mate, he replied. But you will be if you wave that pennant when the camera is pointed at you. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a movie that I repeatedly turned down. The movies producer, Albert Cubby Broccoli, known for his tight-fisted control of the James Bond movie franchise, desperately wanted to re-team Julie Andrews and me after the success wed enjoyed with Mary Poppins. Dick Van Dyke writes: I will never forget the moment I read the script for Mary Poppins. I put it down, turned to Margie and told her that it was sensational. Walt Disney offered me the role of Bert the chimney sweep, opposite Julie Andrews, who had been cast as the practically perfect nanny Mary Poppins. She was a lady first and foremost, but she also had a great, whimsical sense of humour. I never once saw her get angry about anything or utter a single complaint I liked to joke that I kept in shape to avoid assisted living, but I maintained a pace that would have had people half my age hiring an assistant, writes Dick Van Dyke I cant speak for Julies reasons, but both of us turned him down. I thought the script had too many holes and unanswered questions. However, each time I said no, Cubby came back with more money. Im talking serious money more than seven figures, which in those days was mind-boggling, plus a percentage of the back end, which I never counted on. So I finally agreed. I made one last stipulation. I didnt want to reprise my English accent, which Id struggled with in Mary Poppins. Not a problem. My character was suddenly an eccentric American inventor. Spanning ten months, production was headquartered in England but also touched down in Bavaria and the South of France. As we shuttled between London and the South of France, Margie [Van Dykes first wife] suffered health problems. A local doctor surmised she might have cervical cancer. She took the kids back home to California and underwent a series of medical tests. When I told Cubby that I needed to go home and be with my wife while she had more examinations, he understood and wished me well. I was gone only a few days. Margies tests came back negative and I jetted back to Europe, only to have my agent inform me that Cubby had docked me $80,000 for missing work. Furious, I didnt want to talk to him after that, which wasnt good since I was already unimpressed with the director, Ken Hughes. Quite simply, I thought he was wrong for the picture. One day I heard him grouse that he had to rewrite Roald Dahls script. Who rewrote Roald Dahl? I know the film is beloved by many but for me it lacked the magic of Mary Poppins, which its producer had hoped to emulate. I will never forget the moment I read the script for Mary Poppins. I put it down, turned to Margie and told her that it was sensational. Walt Disney offered me the role of Bert the chimney sweep, opposite Julie Andrews, who had been cast as the practically perfect nanny Mary Poppins. She was a lady first and foremost, but she also had a great, whimsical sense of humour. I never once saw her get angry about anything or utter a single complaint. Dick with first wife Margie. Dick writes: My wife didnt like Hollywood, or its stars, but she made an exception when, in 1972, we were invited to dinner cooked by Frank Sinatra Before agreeing to do the film, she had balked at the romantic ballad, Through The Eyes Of Love, asking Walt to replace it with something else, and the Sherman Brothers came back with A Spoonful Of Sugar, one of the all-time great fixes. Only one thing surpassed Julies spot-on instincts, and that was her voice. It scared me to death. It could have been used to tune a piano. She was pitch-perfect and I never was. Recording with her was a challenge. There was a lot of hanging around in the air on high wires as lights were adjusted, cameras changed and retakes done while we were supposed to be floating high above the floor. A couple of times we broke for lunch and the crew started to leave, forgetting that Julie, the kids, Ed and I were all strapped into wires and hanging 30 feet above the ground. I yelled: Guys, dont forget about us! All of us knew the movie was special. When it opened at the end of August 1964 with a star-studded premiere at Graumans Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, there was a standing ovation. Mary Poppins and The Dick Van Dyke Show are the two projects from my 60-plus years in showbusiness that will go on entertaining future generations. The only career strategy I had in the early days was simply to feed my family and keep a roof over their heads. I went where the jobs were. In 1963 that was to Bye Bye Birdie, where I was partnered with Psycho star Janet Leigh a real doll, fun on and off camera. One afternoon, Janet was carping that she wasnt getting the screen time she had been led to believe before shooting began. We stepped inside the soundstage. The films young star, Ann-Margret, was sitting on director George Sidneys lap. I think were in trouble, Janet, I said. Janet was livid. Shed had no idea that Ann-Margrets part was going to be so all-consuming and hers would be so minor. WHY AL PACINO SPENT TWO DAYS IGNORING ME Warren Beatty has a hearing problem. Like many successful visionaries, he hears only what he wants to hear. So when I told him I had read the part he had in mind for me in Dick Tracy and did not think I could do anything with it, he said: Oh Jesus, youre leaving me up in the air. Later I realised he had already cast the part in his head. It was a fait accompli. He had already cast his girlfriend at the time, Madonna (below with Beatty). I spent only three days working on the film. For the two days Al Pacino and I worked together, he never spoke to me. After a while, I got it. Al was a method actor and always in his role. But the moment Warren said Cut!, he stuck out his hand and said: Dick, how are you? How have you been? I never understood what I was doing there until I asked Warren why he wanted me. We needed someone who was a good guy because of the twist at the end. I wanted someone nobody would ever suspect. I guess it worked. The movie won three Academy Awards. Advertisement When the movie wrapped, George Sidney held a party at his Beverly Hills mansion and thanked everyone. Paul Lynde, my co-star, leaned in, holding his wine glass as if he were going to say something similar. He didnt. Ann-Margret, he said, I just want you to know that Im the only one at this table who doesnt want to screw you. Another movie I had a lot of fun on was What A Way To Go in 1963, with Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin. I had a scene with Dean. As we worked, I thought, there is no way they can use this footage. The man is smashed. True to form, Dean drank on the set while entertaining beautiful women who came to visit him. One day it was Ursula Andress; the next day it was some other babe. He seemed to treat every hour as if it were happy hour. But when I saw him on screen, I couldnt tell he was drunk and neither could anyone else. My wife didnt like Hollywood, or its stars, but she made an exception when, in 1972, we were invited to dinner cooked by Frank Sinatra. It was an evening of food, booze, stories and laughs everything except the one thing Margie wanted: to hear the famous Sinatra voice. With Frank it clearly did not work that way. He did what he wanted to do, and that night he wanted to cook pasta, tomato sauce and garlic bread, and afterwards watch us bite into his own chocolate cake. He did not want to sing. I understood. There was also something I did not want to do. Few people would have guessed. I had a problem with alcohol. In August 1972 I knew that the time had come to deal with it. Somewhere along the line I progressed from being just a party drinker to where Id run a race with Margie each night to see if I could get drunk before she could get dinner on the table. I never saw myself as an alcoholic but I went to hospital for treatment. I was placed in the psych ward with other alcoholics and drug addicts. We were separated from those with serious emotional problems but we heard them. Some were having fits and throwing up from withdrawals, others agonising through the DTs. I had no such side-effects. After three weeks I was sober for the first time in nearly 15 years. On my last day, Margie came to pick me up. However, after a few minutes, the counsellor came in and said that Margie was taking over my room. She just checked herself in, he said. It turned out Margie had a problem with Librium. Shed been taking the drug for anxiety and depression and become hooked. I had no idea. We were quite a pair a drunk and an addict. I fell off the wagon several times, while Margie preferred the solitude of our ranch in the desert. By 1975 I found myself talking about my ups and downs to my agents secretary, Michelle Triola. She was easy to talk to, she understood me. At the time, Michelle was suing actor Lee Marvin, with whom she had a six-year relationship. I was drawn into a relationship. I was involved with a woman other than my wife. It was unbelievable. I was writhing in guilt. By 1976 I had to do something. I needed to be honest. After many emotional but productive talks, Margie and I agreed to do what we had been doing for years: live our separate lives, or more accurately, live our lives separately. But it wasnt until 1981 that we made it permanent. I was still battling to stay sober. All of a sudden I lost my taste and tolerance for alcohol. We were making dinner one night and after taking a sip of wine, I put the glass down and said: Boy, thats making me ill. From then on, my desire to drink vanished. I liked to joke that I kept in shape to avoid assisted living, but I maintained a pace that would have had people half my age hiring an assistant. I did a number of television specials and TV detective movies and I put my limbs to work again in 2005 on the Ben Stiller movie Night At The Museum. After I did a dance scene, Ben began referring to me as Dorian Van Dyke. Tragically, while I remained healthy, those closest to me were not so fortunate. In 2007, Margie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was deeply affected. Even though we were long divorced, with her death I lost a part of myself. A year later, more heartbreaking news: Michelles doctor found a spot on her lung. She spent her last week in a coma. Her doctor said she could still hear, so I sang and talked to her until the hospice nurses told me she was gone. Dick Van Dyke with second wife, Arlene. In his memoir, the Hollywood legend looks back on his life as one of 'magnificent indulgence' Dick Van Dyke pictured with his brother Jerry Dick Van Dyke as a sad clown in a scene from the film 'The Comic', 1969 These tragedies had followed the devastating loss, in 1987, of my first grandchild Jessica, daughter of my son Chris. She had died aged 13 from Reyes syndrome, a rare disease connected to the taking of aspirin for viral infections. That loss destroyed everyone and changed our lives for ever. To add to this, my brother Jerry had a problem with his kidneys and needed a transplant. While he was on the waiting list, I changed my will to say he could have mine if I died before he received one. I thought that was pretty considerate, big brotherly and reflective of the type of person I try to be, and so did he. In fact, Jerry called me every single day. What a guy, right? Then, as soon as I answered the phone, he said: Oh, youre still alive. My life has been a magnificent indulgence. Ive been able to do what I love and share it. Who would want to quit? 'Its rather like the curates egg, says my friend breezily, upon hearing I was off to Morito Hackney for lunch. My heart sinks. So its rubbish, rotten, fetid and rank, I say, a seething sulphurous canker on the otherwise flawless visage of Mediterranean good taste? He looks perplexed. And his tone takes on the gentle timbre of quiet pity. Not quite, old bean. I mean its good in parts. You know, that old Punch cartoon, where the nervous curate is breakfasting with the bishop. Im afraid youve got a bad egg, Mr Jones, says the big man. Despite some fine dishes, we left sated, rather than wowed, sporting a smile rather than grin. Perhaps Im being unfair. Theres certainly much of the menu left to explore. And its still early days for Morito To which the poor curate, desperate to curry favour, replies, Oh no, my Lord, I assure you parts of it are excellent. Good in parts, he repeats, soothingly, while patting my shoulder, and smiling indulgently. But that, I splutter, in a fit of indignant, spittle-flecked rage, is the whole bloody point. You cant have a boiled bloody egg thats good in parts, you dribbling imbecile. Its a polite way of saying its bloody inedible. You can argue all you want about modern usage, and how the term has evolved, but it hasnt. At all. Talking of which, I continue, my goat now most truly got, I bet youre the sort of cocksure flibbertigibbet who believes that Up to a point, Lord Copper means you sort of agree with something. Rather than being a diplomatically pragmatic way of saying your all-powerful boss is plain wrong And I look up, to draw breath. My friend is long gone. Morito Hackney is the second child of the glorious Moro (the first, Morito, also much loved, sits next door to its parent in Exmouth Market), still one of the great London restaurants. Morito Hackney is the second child of the glorious Moro (the first, Morito, also much loved, sits next door to its parent in Exmouth Market), still one of the great London restaurants Sam and Sam Clark introduced us, nearly 20 years back, to the saffron-cinnamon link, that exotic blending of Arab and Hispanic, the crossroads of North Africa and Spain. Very Moorish. In both senses (if not spellings) of the word. Flatbread, falafel and flame-grilled lamb; omelettes stuffed with pine nuts; fried spiced chickpeas and steaming fish tagines. Here, though, the menu ventures further still, taking in the Levant. Greece and Crete (where head chef Marianna Leivaditaki grew up) too. There may be a smattering of Spanish classics padron peppers, pan con tomate and croquetas but they play strictly supporting roles. And while Moritos heart lies in the eastern Mediterranean, its feet are very much in Hackney. With a concrete floor, open kitchen, exposed ducts, industrial furniture, hirsute staff and acres of tattooed flesh, its an instant Hackney Restaurant Bingo full house. But service is sweet and efficient, theres space to stretch and gossip without fear of being overheard, and the room is flooded with light and heighted expectation. And we start well with dukkah, originally a parsimonious Egyptian blend of hazelnuts, salt and toasted spices. With a concrete floor, open kitchen, exposed ducts, industrial furniture, hirsute staff and acres of tattooed flesh, its an instant Hackney Restaurant Bingo full house Sprinkled over hot, charred flatbread, its splendidly simple, yet unequivocally exotic. Dakos, the Cretan equivalent of Tuscan panzanella, uses brittle barley rusk instead of country bread. But its clean, lithe and sprightly, with good tomatoes and a generous glug of vinegar. Anchovies and olives, with their solemn depth, ensure things dont get too over excited. While a blob of fresh cheese embraces all in a tartly milky embrace. Morito 195 Hackney Rd, London, E2 moritohackneyroad.co.uk 020 7613 0754 Advertisement More real Greek than Real Greek. Lamb chops, just pink and drenched in an anchovy and paprika butter, are hewn from a serious bleater. Moro are masters of grilling meat, and this is no exception. Tortilla is old school, a thickly satisfying yellow-green wodge of easily transportable stodge. It reminds me of childhood Spanish picnics. But fried rabbit is haphazardly hewn. With what seems like a machete, rather than a knife. Some nuggets are battered bone. A shame, because the sweetish coating clings lovingly to succulent, just chewy bunny. And moscatel vinegar keeps heaviness at bay. Bottarga (cured grey mullet roe) comes with rock samphire. The soft, unsalty one. Yet the roe, which should possess a subtle, yet intensely profound depth, is wan and waxy. The samphire adds little, save verdant colour. A dish that reads well, but tastes of drab disappointment. And one that rather discolours lunch. Because despite some fine dishes, we left sated, rather than wowed, sporting a smile rather than grin. Perhaps Im being unfair. Theres certainly much of the menu left to explore. And its still early days. But when it comes to those pioneering Clarks, we expect great things. Morito Hackney is mainly decent, rather than thrillingly great. So definitely not a curates egg. Rather very good. Albeit in parts. Lunch for two: 60 FOUR MORE TO TRY Terrific food from east of the Med THE PALOMAR LONDON thepalomar.co.uk Modern Israeli food with Levantine flavours. Theres Challah bread, jospered aubergine, shakshukit and Jerusalem-style polenta. OLIVE TREE BRASSERIE PRESTON olivetreebrasserie.co.uk Greek classics but also meli feta (honey-drizzled feta), beef stifado and arni kleftico. AL WAHA LONDON alwaharestaurant.com Old-school Lebanese. Kibbeh is tender, bread freshly made, the kidneys, sweetbreads and basturma as fine as youd find in Beirut. ALLA TURCA GLASGOW allaturca.co.uk Most households are suffering from broadband blindness not knowing what speed of internet connection they should be getting or even how much they are paying for it. Research for The Mail on Sunday, carried out by broadband provider Hyperoptic, found that three in five households do not know what speed they are meant to be getting from their provider. Also, a remarkable three quarters of the 3,000 householders questioned do not know how much they are paying for broadband. Half have never swapped provider. One monthly package: Research found that nearly nine in ten households get broadband as part of a bundle With the revamped Ofcom code of practice on meeting promised broadband speeds now a year old, consumers are being urged to improve their grasp of broadband and switch if their provider literally does not come up to speed. The code of practice, which most broadband companies abide by, allows customers to escape from broadband contracts if they have not got the minimum guaranteed connection speed. Broadband speed is crucial for many homes affecting how fast a film can be downloaded or how many people can connect to the internet at once. Hyperoptics research found that since nearly nine in ten households get broadband as part of a bundle where they pay for their internet connection, home phone line and television in one monthly package few know how much the broadband element costs. Steve Holford, chief customer officer at Hyperoptic, says: As well as being potentially short-changed by opting for a bundle, there is also a risk of wastage two in five Britons dont use their landline, despite paying for it each month. Some 59 per cent of households do not know when their broadband contract is up for renewal. Ewan Taylor-Gibson, broadband expert at comparison website uSwitch, says: Contracts are getting shorter and more are now 12 months in duration rather than the previous 18 to 24-month deals. Many people will be out of contract and will be able to switch easily if they are not happy with their speed or service. If they are in contract the penalty for switching can sometimes be as much as the monthly cost of the contract. Even so it may well be worth switching. Fibre diet Broadband originally used the copper wire that connected a home phone to an exchange normally a green box in a nearby road and millions of properties are still connected this way. Nowadays more than 80 per cent of homes have access to new-style fibre networks that are up to three times faster. But just one in three homes make use of them. This is largely because of the higher monthly bills. Aiming high: Only Virgin Media has its own fibre optic network - this goes into homes via a coaxial cable, allowing speeds of up to 152 Megabits per second Sky, Plusnet and TalkTalk provide a fibre connection by piggybacking on Openreachs fibre optic network, as does BT, which owns Openreach. Of the big players only Virgin Media has its own fibre optic network. This goes into homes via a coaxial cable, allowing speeds of up to 152 Megabits per second. This compares with a speed of 50Mbps from BTs standard service. But even these higher speeds are outpaced by a new wave of so-called fibre-to-home providers. These are small players such as Direct Save Telecom, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic itself but they offer blisteringly fast speeds, such as 1,000Mbps. Not all areas have access to the fibre optic network that will make this possible, however. Rural areas are least likely to be covered although even some pockets of London and other cities are overlooked. Taylor-Gibson says: This can be for commercial reasons or because of access digging up certain roads may make it difficult. A Government-backed scheme promises to increase fibre optic coverage to 95 per cent of the country by the end of next year. 'I RELIED ON COSTA'S WI-FI TO WORK... AS MY FAMILY PLAYED GAMES' Connected: Lisa Pattenden now enjoys faster broadband Social media consultant Lisa Pattenden was at her wits end with her broadband, which she said felt slower than dial-up. Lisa, 48, lives in the Royal Docks area of East London with her train driver husband Colin, 42, and 18-year-old son, Shane. She says: Colin and Shane both love gaming, which was slowing down the broadband so much I couldnt work online at the same time. Arguments invariably ensued, which often resulted in me being relegated to the local Costa coffee shop to do my work. Thankfully, Lisa spotted a flyer from Hyperoptic offering a faster broadband speed. She says: Since the company installs services based on demand I started rallying my neighbours in the development we live in. I found I wasnt the only person fed up with slow broadband and I got more than 20 to sign up. She says: Family life is now much happier even though I see less of Colin and Shane because of their gaming. Speed The average broadband speed in the UK is 28Mbps fast enough for normal usage with superfast broadband defined as over 30Mbps. But buyers need to be aware that most providers advertise up to rather than guaranteed speeds. To be entitled to promote these headline rates just one in ten customers must be able to achieve the up to speed consistently. Consumer group Which? is pressing for companies to be required to state a more realistic average speed. Up to speed: Buyers need to be aware that most providers advertise up to rather than guaranteed speeds As soon as that aggravating buffering icon appears during a programme on internet TV, it signals the connection is under pressure. This happens at peak periods such as in the evening when more households are sitting down to do online shopping, watch Netflix or play online computing games. If buffering happens regularly and the speed does not consistently meet the level promised in a contract, the code of practice allows customers to ask for bills to be reduced or to exit the contract early without penalty. Hindering home sales Fast broadband speeds are high on many home purchasers wish lists so patchy performance can hamper a sale. A spokeswoman for website Rightmove, which provides a broadband speed checker alongside each property that it lists, says: Broadband speeds are high on the wishlists of househunters. How fast is the service? You can test your broadband speed by logging on to your suppliers website or using a comparison website such as broadband.co.uk, uSwitch and broadbandchoices. The websites also tell you the best broadband provider for your postcode. If the service is not providing its promised speed, contact your supplier. No broadband For those without access to residential broadband, one option is mobile broadband. A dongle can connect 3G or 4G phones to your computer or tablet. But in reality if broadband is poor in an area then mobile data may also be limited. Those ignored by big broadband players can club together to do their own thing. Bad signal: In reality if broadband is poor in an area then mobile data may also be limited Broadband for the Rural North was launched in 2011 and now covers areas of Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire. It has 1,500 customers and is non-profit making. It costs 150 to connect, then 30 a month. Alternatively, you could try enlisting the support of neighbours and then approach firms such as Hyperoptic and Gigaclear, which will consider your custom. Best deals Of the deals available, uSwitch says the best basic option is from TalkTalk. It provides free unlimited broadband for 12 months and then 7.50 a month thereafter. Line rental is 17.70 a month, but speed is a modest 17Mbps. For faster speeds, uSwitch recommends Plusnets Unlimited Fibre Broadband and Phone Line, with a speed of 38Mbps for those with access to a fibre network. The 18-month contract is free for six months and then 14.99 a month. Monthly line rental is 16.99. Tea is far more than a refreshing drink for Nirmal Sethia it is a divine gift of life. Inspired by his late wife Chitra, who died just over five years ago, the owner of Newby Teas has amassed a collection of some 1,700 rare and valuable tea-related items worth up to an astonishing 160 million. Sethia says: Tea is like a beautiful woman not to be recognised for its appearance but valued for its character. It should be treated with respect and dignity. Tea is a mark of civilisation. Among his prized possessions is a silver teapot with a wooden handle engraved N a bachelor teapot used by Admiral Horatio Nelson. It is now worth up to 200,000. Delicious: Nirmal Sethia believes that tea is a 'divine gift from mother nature' Sethia says: Nelson appears to have drunk his tea exactly as one should he did not have time for milk and sugar. Maybe, the character and power of tea helped him be victorious at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 against the French and Spanish. The 74-year-old began his love affair with tea at the age of 14 when he quit school in London to become a tea trader. Within a couple of years his expert nose for discovering the best teas in the world had been recognised and he had bought his own plantation in Assam, India. From a base in Calcutta he started selling top quality tea to Irish importers. He says: Tea is a divine gift from mother nature and the second most popular drink after water. It saddens me that in this modern age the quality of tea being sold has gone down rather than up with tea bags sometimes including stale sweepings and dust. Unfortunately there is a tendency to focus more on marketing than what is inside the packaging. I run the only company that stores tea in a humidity and temperature controlled environment this is essential for top quality tea. Sethia believes tea is such a precious elixir that consumers should be prepared to pay extra for the treat rather than just being lured in by price. Newby Teas tea bags cost about 40p each compared to other high street brands that can cost as little as 3p. High tea: From a base in Calcutta, Nirmal Sethia started selling top quality tea to Irish importers His collection dates back as far as 3,000 BC with pots once used for brews by the Indus Valley civilisation in India. Tea was first introduced by Chinese emperor Shen Nung after leaves from a camellia sinensis tree blew into his drink of boiled water in around 2,737 BC. It did not become a national drink in China until the Tang Dynasty between 618 and 907AD. The British had to wait until the 17th Century to enjoy a fresh cup of tea a treat only the wealthiest could afford. But it was in the Victorian era, when the Chinese tea monopoly was broken by cheaper tea exports from India, that it became the countrys national drink. Sethia owns priceless Chinese cups where tea was often sipped from small bowls rather than handled mugs. A rare 15th Century Ming Dynasty cup similar to one in his private collection sold for a record-breaking 27 million in 2014. He also owns a silver and enamel Faberge tea caddy from the early 20th Century. It could have been used by the Romanov royal family and is worth up to 800,000. First brew: Tea was first introduced by Chinese emperor Shen Nung after leaves from a camellia sinensis tree blew into his drink of boiled water in around 2,737 BC Among the most historic teapots in Sethias Chitra collection is a silver gilt monkey trinkspiel that was made in Germany around 1600, now valued at 750,000. It was the inspiration for a celebrated porcelain monkey teapot design made by potter Meissen just over a century later that now commands a price of 10,000. In the collection is also a 19th Century 12-piece tea service made by French porcelain manufacturer Sevres and painted by Antoine Beranger. It was presented to the Duchess de Berry by King of France Louis XVIII who paid 9,650 francs for the tea set. It is now worth up to 3 million. Other teapots in the collection that belonged to the rich and famous include a late 18th Century silver teapot and stand given to Lady Churchill on her wedding by Winston Churchills wartime office. Sethia admits he has a weakness for the modern jewel-encrusted teapots he has designed in honour of his wife. His favourite is a moon teapot, worth 1 million. He says: It is decorated with a scene of the moon over the ocean that I had made in Italy four years ago in memory of Chitra. Five gems in Nirmal Sethia's tea chest Admiral Horatio Nelsons bachelor teapot Made in England between 1799-1802 A small silver teapot engraved with an N for Nelson. A bachelor teapot, it was designed to hold the ideal amount of tea for one person and believed to have been used when on ship and at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson appears drank his tea exactly as one should, according to Nirmal - with no milk or sugar Cobra teapot Cobra teapot inspired and designed by Nirmal Cobra teapot Made in Italy 2014 Inspired and designed by Nirmal Sethia in recognition of the mythological story of the Hindu god Shiva. Decorated with a cobra that forms the base and handle. A second cobra rises out of the lid to form a finial. The pot is encrusted with yellow diamonds and it is also made of gold, silver, rubies and lapis lazuli. Faberge silver and enamel tea caddy Made in Russia, c1910 Made by the famous Russian artist jeweller Faberge who was the official goldsmith of the Russian court. With its floral motifs, it was decorated in the Russian art nouveau Stil Moderne style. Less than a decade after it was made, the Russian Revolution brought an abrupt end to the Romanov dynasty and to the House of Faberge. This Faberge silver and enamel tea caddy could have been used by the Romanov royal family Sevres porcelain tea service Made in France 1816 A 12-piece service made by the porcelain manufacturer Sevres and hand painted by artist Antoine Beranger. The tea service was purchased by King Louis XVIII for 9,650 francs and presented as a New Years gift to the Duchess de Berry. This tea service was hand painted by artist Antoine Beranger British exporters selling to China will face the longest wait for payment, according to new research. The findings come as Britain hopes to secure its own independent trade deal with Beijing as part of its plans for a post-Brexit economy. The tardiness of Chinese companies in paying up was matched only by those in Greece, with firms in Italy also close to the top ranking for slow payment. Late to the table: Tardiness of Chinese companies in paying up was matched only by those in Greece, with firms in Italy also close to the top ranking for slow payment The research from the worlds largest trade credit insurance company, Euler Hermes, found that Chinese firms took an average of 88 days to pay bills in 2015, a figure beaten only by Greece and matched by Italy. However, the groups forecasts predict that Chinese firms will take even longer in 2016, with average bills taking 92 days, while Greek businesses will manage to cut their payment waiting time to 89 days. Italian firms are expected to take an average of 86 days to pay this year. The findings emerged from the survey of 27,300 companies around the world, analysing the gap between when a company delivers its goods or services and when it gets paid for them a measure known as days sales outstanding. Slow payment by customers is a particular problem for smaller firms, which may lack reserves to cope with late payers. It is a bugbear frequently cited by small firms supplying larger companies. The global average has remained steady at 64 days, but this varies markedly between countries, with the differences getting more pronounced, according to Euler Hermes. Quids not in: Research from the worlds largest trade credit insurance company, Euler Hermes, found that Chinese firms took an average of 88 days to pay bills in 2015 Over recent years, it has found the gap widening, with payment delays declining in developed economies, and appearing to get longer in emerging markets. Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Euler Hermes, said: The global stability in days sales outstanding hides two trends. In 2010 companies in emerging economies took an average four days longer to pay bills than firms in advanced economies. In 2015 that gap had widened to nine days. In 2016 we expect that gap to extend to 12 days. Tried to take her own life on July 5 at Fort Leavenworth military prison Manning was told inquiry stemmed from her suicide attempt, lawyer said Army private, 28, is under investigation for three 'administrative offenses' US soldier and Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning could be punished for trying to take her own life in prison, her lawyers said on Thursday. The Army private, 28, was notified by the Army on Thursday that she was under investigation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Manning was hospitalized for 24 hours after trying to take her own life on July 5 at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she is serving a 35-year sentence. The notice of the investigation makes no explicit mention of a failed suicide but Manning was told the inquiry stemmed from the attempt, ACLU staff lawyer Chase Strangio said. Chelsea Manning (pictured in an earlier photo), 28, was notified by the Army on Thursday that she was under investigation after attempting suicide in prison, according to the ACLU 'While Chelsea is suffering the darkest depression she has experienced since her arrest, the government is taking actions to punish her for that pain,' Strangio added in a statement. Manning, who was born male but revealed after being convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman, remains despondent over the Army's continued denial of appropriate health care for her, the ACLU said. The group denounced the latest disciplinary action as 'unconscionable'. 'It is deeply troubling that Chelsea is now being subjected to an investigation and possible punishment for her attempt to take her life, Strangio said. 'The government has long been aware of Chelsea's distress associated with the denial of medical care related to her gender transition and yet delayed and denied the treatment recognized as necessary.' Pentagon and Army officials did not immediately reply to Reuters' requests for comment. Manning dictated the Army notice of investigation over the phone to one of her supporters and the ACLU posted it online. Manning was hospitalized for 24 hours after trying to take her own life on July 5 at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (pictured) The circumstances of Manning's suicide attempt have not been disclosed, but the ACLU said it occurred in her cell and that she lost consciousness. Manning has since been returned to confinement at the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, where she remains in a medical observation unit, Strangio said. The notice lists three 'administrative offenses' for which Manning is under investigation: 'resisting the force cell move team,' 'prohibited property,' and 'conduct which threatens.' Manning has yet to respond to the charges, Strangio said. If convicted, she could face punishment including indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification into maximum security and an additional nine years in medium security, the ACLU said. Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, was sentenced in 2013 to 35 years in prison after a military court conviction of providing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks. The case ranked as the biggest breach of classified materials in US history. Among the files Manning leaked in 2010 was a video of a US Apache helicopter firing on suspected Iraqi insurgents in 2007, an attack that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. Manning has appealed the criminal case, arguing that her sentence was 'grossly unfair' and that her actions were those of a naive, troubled soldier who aimed to reveal the toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Marine Corps jet crashed in the California desert killing the pilot. Witnesses have said how the plane appeared to break apart in midair during a dive. The F/A-18C warplane went down around 10:30 p.m. Thursday during a training mission at Twentynine Palms, according to a statement from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the aircraft's San Diego-area base. According to a Marine who spoke to the Washington Post and who witnessed the crash, the F/A-18 was in a dive preparing to drop ordnance on a simulated target when the aircraft broke apart in midair and erupted into a fireball. The bases civilian air rescue immediately responded to the crash site a strip of canyon roughly 10 miles south of I-40 called Gays Pass T he F/A-18C went down around 10:30 p.m. Thursday during a training mission, file photo The sprawling Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center is located at Twentynine Palms, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. The aircraft, from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing out of Miramar, California was supporting a Marine infantry company participating in a training segment called the Air Assault Course. The 36-hour course involves a Marine unit helicoptering into a simulated objective, where the Marines are then tasked to defend it. The Air Assault Course is a component of a larger training evolution that takes place over the course of a month at Twentynine Palms, said the Marine, who was participating in the exercise and watched the aircraft explode. The pilot, also from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing was not immediately identified. He had flown from Miramar to Twentynine Palms to support the training mission, said Capt. Kurt Stahl, a spokesman for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. 'We all feel like we lost a member of our family here today,' he said. The cause of the crash was under investigation. The nature of the training mission was not specified. The F/A-18C is a twin-engine fighter-attack aircraft capable of multiple types of missions. Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the head of Marine Aviation, told reporters on Friday that he did not have any details about the crash, adding that his thoughts and prayers are with the family of the Hornet pilot. Budget cuts, problems getting spare parts and other issues have sharply reduced the number of training hours that Marine Corps pilots are flying. Davis said he is 'not happy and not satisfied' with the amount of flight hours that all Marine pilots are getting. In 2015, only F-35 pilots got the flight hours they needed, he said. When asked if the reduced flying hours put Marine Corps pilots' lives at risk, Davis replied, 'I do not think we're unsafe, but we're not as proficient as we should be.' Ideally, F/A-18 pilots should be flying for 16.2 hours per month. Last summer, F/A-18 pilots hit their 'low ebb' of 8.8 flight hours per month per pilot, which was 'unacceptable,' he said. The sprawling Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center is located at Twentynine Palms, pictured This latest death comes in the wake of a June 2 crash that killed Marine Blue Angles pilot Capt. Jeff Kuss while he was practicing for an air show in Smyrna, Tennessee. CNN reported in June that a series of recent military crashes were costing lives and billions of dollars after a MH-60S helicopter crashed in the James River in Virginia during training and two F-16C fighter jets collided in the skies over Georgia. In the first crash, the helicopter crew was rescued, and in the second the two South Carolina Air National Guard pilots safely ejected. Two Navy fighters, F/A-18F Super Hornets, collided off the North Carolina coast in May, and a fishing boat rescued all four crew members. Testifying before Congress in March, Marine Corps Gen. John Paxton blamed cut budgets and aging fleets, strained by lengthy conflicts, for the increasing rate of crashes 'If you don't have the money and you don't have the parts and you don't have the maintenance, then you fly less,' Paxton told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Black Lives Matter activists protested the arrest of an anti-violence advocate on Friday who was taken into custody while videotaping officers frisking a handcuffed motorist. Maurice Crawley was standing across the street from a traffic stop in Syracuse, New York, streaming the video live on his Facebook page on Thursday, when one of the officers threatened to throw him in jail if he said 'one word'. 'Hey, say one word, your a** is going to jail, just so you know,' the cop said. 'I didn't hear you. Say it again, officer. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you,' Crawley shouted back across the street. Scroll down for video Footage shows a police officer walking towards a man who was filming a traffic stop in Syracuse, New York The officer then put on a pair of black gloves, strode across the street and placed Crawley under arrest while swearing at him and threatening to beat him if he moves. At one point, the activist was heard telling the officer he had a defibrillator on his chest, to which the cop replied: 'I don't give a f*** what you got'. Crawley, the officer and the motorist are all black. Crawley, a well-known local advocate against gun violence, pleaded not guilty Friday in Syracuse City Court to charges of obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. He was released on his own recognizance. His attorney wasn't available for comment. Crawley was met with loud cheers from about two dozen Black Lives Matter protesters as he walked out of the Onondaga County Justice Center late Friday morning after spending the night in jail. 'He was within his legal rights, yet he was thrown to the ground. We need this to stop,' said Herve Comeau, the Black Lives Matter organizer. Moments before arresting Maurice Crawley, the cop shouted: 'say one word, your a** is going to jail' The short video started when Crawley began filming a driver being frisked by police during a traffic stop At the start of the nearly four-minute video, Crawley can be heard saying he decided to go live to 'see what's going on with these boys, make sure they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing.' Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the arrest. At the start of the nearly four-minute video showing a white officer and a black officer arresting a motorist, Crawley can be heard saying he decided to go live to 'see what's going on with these boys, make sure they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing'. A few seconds later, Crawley zooms in on the black officer handcuffing and searching the man who had been in a car the officers pulled over. Indigenous Australian journalist Stan Grant delivered a passionate and teary eyed speech on Friday, as he accepted an honourary degree from the University of New South Wales. He opened by discussing the speech he had intended to give - a positive, inclusive speech about Australia - one 'rational and measured', according to a transcript published by the Sydney Morning Herald. 'I cannot give that speech, it is best saved for another day,' he said. 'That speech would have come from my head, but I wish to speak from my heart.' Scroll down for video Indigenous Australian journalist and news anchor Stan Grant gave an impassioned speech on Friday while accepting an honourary degree from the University of New South Wales The 52-year-old instead turned to the recent release of footage from the Don Dale Correctional Facility in the Northern Territory, which saw young boys behind bars be tear gassed, hooded, stripped naked and beaten. 'This week, Australia is a boy in a hood in a cell,' he said. 'This week, Australia is aboriginal boys tear gassed, locked down and beaten.' He said he had struggled all week to 'contain a pulsing rage', for what he had seen. 'I have moved from boiling anger to simmering resentment but the feeling has not passed nor do I wish it to,' he said. Footage shown on Four Corners earlier this week showed horrifying conditions in a youth detention facility in the Northern Territory Inmate Dylan Voller was shown shackled to a chair and hooded by corrections officers Mr Grant told the audience the boys he saw on the screen looked like his sons - who he said he could see begin to question their place in Australia as they watched the horrific scenes unfurl on their TV. The former CNN anchor spoke of how the footage also caused memories of his father and grandfather's own struggles to resurface within himself. He recalled the 'broken bones, stab wounds and dark ink jail tattoos' of his father and a story of his maternal grandfather, who was dragged from bed on suspicion of drinking before he was 'tied to a tree like a dog'. 'There are those who would rather I not speak of these things,' he said. 'There are those who accuse me of having a nostalgia for injustice. 'A nostalgia for injustice as if these wounds on the body and soul of my mother and father are things of memory. 'As if we choose to cling to suffering as if this injustice is a thing recalled and not a thing lived.' Mr Grant denied any Indigenous person could so much as hope for such nostalgia, considering the continued struggles of that population. 'We have no nostalgia for injustice, because we have not yet had the chance to forget.' The Don Dale Youth Detention Centre will now be the centre of a Royal Commission following the explosive report CCTV footage shown on the program also revealed children being beaten and tear gassed by guards Footage from inside the prison (pictured) also showed the young inmates receiving hefty doses of tear gas as guards laughed in the background The Four Corners report into the Don Dale youth centre revealed CCTV footage of inmates as young as 11 beaten, stripped naked and sprayed extensively with tear gas by corrections officers in 2014 and 2015. One inmate, 17-year-old Dylan Voller, was shown hooded, shackled to 'mechanical device' chair and left alone for two hours. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pledged to hold a Royal Commission into failings within the child protection and youth detention systems administered through the Northern Territory Government, and whether actions of prison officials were in breach of the human rights of the inmates. Stan Grant told the audience he had been let down by such promises before. 'Two decades ago we held a royal commission into black deaths in custody it was supposed to end the culture of incarceration,' he said. Proposed to Abbi after one month in the ICU; got married two days later Swift Myers and Abbi Ruicker, both 18, have been dating for two years A teenage boy with bone cancer married his high-school girlfriend from his hospital bed, just two days after waking up in the ICU. Swift Myers, 18, has been battling Ewing sarcoma since seventh grade. He went through six bouts of the disease, and it struck again a seventh time, leaving him unconscious in the hospital. Doctors said four times in just a week that Swift might not make it through the night. But Swift woke up after ten days and asked Abbi Ruicker, his girlfriend of almost two years, to marry him. The nursing staff at Tulsa's Saint Francis Children's Hospital planned the wedding in just two days. Their bridesmaids and groomsmen threw last-minute bachelor and bachelorette parties, and Swift and Abbi each tied the knot Sunday night in front of dozens of loving relatives and friends. Scroll down for video Swift Myers (pictured right in his hospital bed) and Abbi Ruicker (pictured left in her wedding dress), both 18, got married on Sunday at Saint Francis Children's Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma Swift (right) and Abbi (left) met at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs and have been dating for almost two years. Swift had joked about getting married before - but he meant it when he proposed last week Swift had been in the ICU for a month when he proposed to Abbi. He had joked about it before so Abbi laughed it off at first, but he assured her the next day that he had meant it, ABC News reported. He asked her to dial her father's number and asked him for his daughter's hand. 'That would be awesome, Swift. I couldn't think of a greater privilege than to have you as my son-in-law,' Abbi's father replied. Abbi filmed the conversation and later shared the video on Twitter. They began planning the ceremony in record time, with Abbi tweeting about wedding rings and finding her wedding dress. Hospital staff helped plan the ceremony in just two days after Swift (pictured with Abbi) proposed. He has had Ewing sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, since seventh grade, and had spent a month in the ICU Swift (pictured with Abbi during their wedding) had been unconscious for ten days when he woke up and asked Abbi to marry him. She thought he was joking at first, but he assured her he was serious Staff at the hospital decorated the ICU, booked a photographer and a videographer, and got a chocolate wedding cake for the ceremony. They wheeled Swift in on his hospital bed (pictured) Swift (pictured on his wedding day) said he felt nervous at first but ended up smiling through his wedding vows. He wore a red bow ties and had two red roses tucked in his shirt pocket Abbi (pictured on her wedding day with Swift) tweeted about finding her wedding dress and securing wedding bands for her and for her fiance. Their friends planned their bachelor and bachelorette parties a wedding is being planned pic.twitter.com/n5IbXO0eGt abbi myers (@a__ruickermyers) July 23, 2016 She sent out invitations but told her guests there could only be a limited amount of people as Swift remained very ill and in the ICU. Some of them gathered outside the hospital on the wedding day and waved through the window, while others watched a Facebook live stream of the ceremony. Swift tweeted not long before the ceremony that he was 'excited to see [his] beautiful bride'. Hospital staffers decorated the room, secured a chocolate wedding cake and cupcakes adorned with hearts, and found a photographer, Meagan Ready, as well as a videographer at Pen Weddings. Swift wore a red bow tie and had two red roses in his shirt pocket. He said he was nervous before staff and relatives wheeled him in on his hospital bed - but smiled both he and Abbi smiled through their wedding vows. 'I was never kidding,' Swift said before the ceremony according to the Sand Springs Leader. 'I knew we were always going to get married.' Pastor Lars Gwartney said during the ceremony, which he led: 'Can I give you some marriage advice? I learned early in you can be right or you can be married.' Guests laughed as Gwartney continued: 'Our circumstances, good or bad, don't have to define us. In the middle of tough times, in the middle of times that don't seem joyful, we can still have joy. In the middle of times that aren't peaceful, we can have peace. Joy comes in knowing that we're not alone.' Abbi said on Twitter she hoped their nuptials would raise awareness about Ewing sarcoma, a type of cancer that frequently affects adolescents and young adults. Only a limited number of people could come to the wedding in person as Swift (pictured with his bride) remained in the ICU. But some gathered outside the hospital and others watched a live stream Swift (pictured with Abbi in a Facebook shot) has been through six bouts of Ewing sarcoma and the illness has returned a seventh time, landing him in the ICU before his wedding Abbi (pictured with Swift in an earlier photo) dialed her father's phone number at Swift's request so that Swift could ask him for permission to marry her. Her father gave his enthusiastic approval The week before the wedding, doctors said four times that Swift might not make it through the night. But Swift (pictured with Abbi) woke up and asked her to marry him Pastor Lars Gwartney told Swift and Abbi (pictured) during the ceremony, which he led: 'Can I give you some marriage advice? I learned early in you can be right or you can be married' 'I was never kidding,' Swift (pictured with Abbi in a Facebook shot) said before their wedding ceremony. 'I knew we were always going to get married.' Made the decision to go public despite the terms of her settlement after Gretchen Carlson filed her lawsuit against Ailes Wrote a letter to a Fox News lawyer in late 2010 or early 2011 detailing the 20 years of sexual harassment she experienced at the hands of Ailes Luhn claims Ailes then her meet him at his hotel suite wearing a garter and pair of stockings he had asked her to buy and dance for him 'He leans over and slips me the tongue and kisses me and hands me a wad of cash,' Luhn said Claims he asked her a series of personal questions before inquiring if she could give him a ride to the airport Days later he allegedly urged her to call him if she ever had any questions Told reporter she met Roger Ailes when she was 28 and told him she was considering going into political communications like him A Fox News employee who claims she was sexually harassed by Roger Ailes for two decades is making shocking allegations about the disgraced television executive's behavior, and the lengths the network went to in order to protect their leader. Laurie Luhn spoke with Daily Intelligencer about her relationship with Ailes, and how her willingness to perform the sexual acts he demanded of her resulted in a job at Fox News and multiple promotions before ultimately causing her to suffer a mental breakdown. It was after that breakdown that Luhn, then an event planner for Fox News, decided to tell the network about what she alleges was 20 years of sexual harassment at the hands of Ailes. The network quickly responded by giving Luhn a $3.15 million payout, and making her sign an 'extensive nondisclosure provisions' that reporter Gabriel Sherman saw during the interview. Luhn made the decision to go public despite the terms of her settlement after Gretchen Carlson filed her lawsuit against Ailes, first reaching out to the lawyers conducting an internal investigation at the network and then granting her first interview. 'It was psychological torture,' said Luhn of the anguish caused as a result of Ailes' alleged harassment. As for Ailes himself, she simply said: 'Hes a predator.' Scroll down for video Laurie Luhn (pictured with journalist Bill Hemmer in a previous shot) spoke out in an interview about her relationship with Roger Ailes and said he sexually harassed her for 20 years Luhn says in the interview that she met Ailes in 1988 while working in the accounting department for the Bush campaign at their Washington DC headquarters. She was 28 at the time and made a point of introducing herself to Ailes once day, saying she wanted to go into political communications like him, and days later he allegedly urged her to call him if she ever had any questions. Luhn claims she made her first call to Ailes in 1990 when she was in danger of losing her job, and he told her to meet him at his DC office. Ailes told Luhn he did not have a position for her, she claims, and then asked her a series of personal questions before inquiring if she could give him a ride to the airport. Luhn says in the interview that she met Ailes (pictured in a file photo) in 1988 when she was 28 years old and told him she wanted to go into political communications like him They stopped for food first said Luhn, and she then took Ailes to catch his flight. 'We pull up and I say, "Thank you so much for dinner." He leans over and slips me the tongue and kisses me and hands me a wad of cash,' said Luhn, who had told Ailes she was struggling financially at the time. 'Here's to help you pay some bills," he said. It was maybe $200 or $300.' Luhn was given some work by Ailes soon after that. She says he paid her $500 a month and allegedly required her to file Freedom of Information acts on men including Paul Manafort, and Roger Stone, who are both currently working for the Donald Trump campaign. Then, on January 16, 1991, Luhn alleges that Ailes had her meet him at his hotel suite wearing a garter and pair of stockings he had asked her to buy and dance for him, which he filmed with a video camera. 'Laurie, if you're gonna be my girl, my eyes and ears, if you are going to be someone I can depend on in Washington, my spy, come on, dance for me,' Ailes said to Luhn according to her claims, before then asking her to kneel in front of him and placing his hands on her temples. That is when Luhn claims Ailes began to speak in a trance-like voice, saying: 'Tell me you will do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it. At any time, at any place when I call. No matter where I call you, no matter where you are. Do you understand? You will follow orders. If I tell you to put on your uniform, what are you gonna do, Laurie? WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO, LAURIE?' After a brief pause he changed his tone, with Luhn claiming that Ailes then said: 'What are you, Laurie? Are you Roger's whore? Are you Roger's spy? Come over here.' Luhn claims she then performed oral sex on Ailes at his request, and that he later showed her the video he made of her dancing, telling her: 'I am going to put it in a safe-deposit box just so we understand each other.' Five years later the harassment became more frequent claims Luhn, who secured a job working on a public affairs program that was airing on a new cable network - Fox News. Ailes helped get her in the door, and Luhn said she loved her job with the network. The visits to hotels to meet Ailes for sex continued claims Luhn, but became a problem when her co-workers in the DC office began to question her frequent trips to New York City for work. 'No one knew what the heck she did,' said one former colleague. 'She was a "protected person" and left alone.' The trips eventually led to problems with her boss in DC, something Luhn claims Ailes dealt with by calling her to New York and telling her she was being promoted. After Ailes gave her the news she was told to call her boss from the CEO's extension, to make it clear that she was being protected by the network. Luhn claims Ailes then told her: 'Now, remember, youre Doris Day. Go put your uniform on, get over to the DoubleTree, and thank me for this.' With her new promotion came new demands by Ailes according to Luhn, who claimed she had to engage in sadomasochistic sex with another woman while Ailes took photos and starting in 2006 engage in phone sex with Ailes from her office. He stopped with the hotel sessions around this time, she claims, and gave her a new task. 'Youre going to find me Rogers Angels. Youre going to find me whores,' Ailes allegedly said to Luhn. It had been 18 years since she first introduced herself to Ailes at this point and Luhn said she was suffering emotionally and then had a mental breakdown. She was kept under Ailes' watchful eye after that, she claims, and he monitored all her correspondence while also lashing out when he learned she was taking medication for her anxiety. 'Dont take pills, and dont you ever tell that doctor about us!' Luhan said Ailes told her, referring to the psychiatrist who prescribed the drugs. 'His whole deal was they can never prove anything about you and me unless you say something. He said that to me for 20 years. Why do you think I got so messed up?' Luhn left New York eventually and spent time in California and then her home state of Texas while remaining on the payroll at Fox News. Then, sometime in late 2010 or early 2011 she wrote a letter to a Fox News lawyer detailing the 20 years of sexual harassment she experienced at the hands of Ailes. She signed a $3.15 million settlement in June 2011 and agreed to never speak about what happened - until she learned of Carlson's lawsuit. The legal and financial risks are big, but Luhn said: 'The truth shall set you free. Nothing else matters.' Her decision to break her silence could have been part of the reason Fox News and Ailes made the decision to part ways, with the disgraced CEO still managing to walk away with a $40 million settlement. Fox News did not respond to a request for comment. Mark Simmons was booked into jail on two counts of child abuse while the stepmom was booked on one count of intent to commit child abuse She allegedly cut his blistered skin and said if he did not stop crying 'he would go back outside and burn worse' The boy told officers his stepmother, Sarah Simmons, was home and knew about the incident Mark Simmons, the boy's father, admitted he'd made him stand barefoot in their backyard and that he struck him with a belt, court records show Police said they were called to Arizona burn center on July 12 where the boy was treated for burns, blisters and several The parents of a six-year-old boy have been arrested after he suffered severe burns when he was allegedly forced to stand barefoot on the hot ground for 10 minutes in 110F weather as punishment. Officers learned of the incident after they were called to The Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Center on July 12 where the boy was treated for burns, blisters and several bruises on his body, KPHO reported. Mark Simmons, the boy's father, admitted to officers during a police interview that he had punished his son by making him stand barefoot on the ground in their backyard, court records show. The boy's father, Mark Simmons (L) and his stepmother, Sarah Simmons (R) were arrested and booked into jail after authorities said the boy was forced to stand barefoot on the hot ground for 10 minutes as punishment Temperatures that day reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit, according to WREG. During the police interview, Mr Simmons also reportedly told officers he struck his son with a belt. He was was booked into jail on July 13 on two counts of child abuse. Meanwhile, the boy told officers his stepmother, Sarah Simmons, was home at the time, knew about about the incident and cut the blistered flaps of skins from the bottom of his feet, court records show. When he started crying, she allegedly told him if he did not stop 'he would go back outside and burn worse.' Mrs Simmons, 30, then reportedly attempted to to clean the burns without reporting the incident to authorities, applying bandages and using spray medication to lessen the pain. While speaking with officers, she admitted she knew about the burns but did not report the incident for about 24 hours because she feared her children would be taken away, court records show. It was not until boy's wounds became infected that the parents then decided called the fire department for medical care. Officers learned of the incident after they were called to The Arizona Burn Center at Maricopa Medical Center (pictured) on July 12 where the boy was treated for burns, blisters and several bruises on his body Mrs Simmons, who has 30 prior reports with the Department of Child Safety, also reportedly said she had not reported the incident because her husband had convinced her no one would believe her. According to court documents, the stepmother thought she met the requirements of reporting the injuries by contacting the fire department and a family friend, who is a nurse. She was taken into custody on Thursday at her home and was booked into jail on one count of intent to commit child abuse. Detectives also learned that the boy's father locked up the children in the home inside a room when they were grounded, according to KPHO. Advertisement A procession of sail boats meandered down the River Thomas today as a 12-strong fleet of yachts marked an emotional conclusion to the gruelling race round the globe. Hundreds of amateur sailors celebrated the completion of the 40,000-nautical-mile ocean race - the world's longest - by finishing under the capital's Tower Bridge. Hardy competitors had survived ferocious weather conditions - including menacing 90-foot waves and wild gusts of up to 100mph - in what organisers described as being 'an endurance test like no other'. The return of the 70-foot ships to London, where the race began last August, signalled the end of an epic marathon that has taken them through 14 ports and six continents. But their homecoming was also tinged with sadness as crews remembered the two competitors who died during the challenge, the first fatalities in the race's 20-year history. Scroll down for video London hosted the finishing parade of the Clipper Round the World Race as the 12-strong fleet of yachts completed their global journey Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames and got in spectator boats to welcome home the crews as they ended their gruelling 11-month journey around the globe London's Tower Bridge opens its gates to welcome home the 12-strong fleet of the biennial Clipper Round the World yacht race The victorious LMAX Exchange team arrive back at the dock during the final stage of the world race in London The yachts sail along the River Thames past the Shard and HMS Belfast before finishing at St Katharine Docks today Sarah Young, a 40-year-old London businesswoman was swept overboard by strong winds in the Pacific Ocean in April and later buried at sea. Her fellow crew member, Andy Ashman, a 39-year-old paramedic, died after being knocked unconscious in September. The crew of the IchorCoal wore black armbands and painted their nails blue and green in tribute to the hugely popular pair. Natasha Pettigrew, from Chiswick, west London, who joined the boat in Seattle to sail back to the capital for the last two legs, said it was a 'brilliant way' to remember their friends. 'They are still very much part of the crew and this is our way of showing that they always will be,' the 27-year-old said. Keith Ashman, Andy's brother, joined the crew off Southend Pier for the parade of sail into St Katharine Dock and through the iconic London landmark. Lizzie Tricks, 49, from Dorset, described the IchorCoal crew, skippered by Rich Gould who took over the boat three months ago, as 'like a family'. The LMAX Exchange team lights a flare as it wins the race, followed by Team Derry Londonderry Derry and Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland in third place Twelve teams celebrated the completion of the 40,000-nautical-mile ocean race - the world's longest - by sailing up the River Thames and under London's iconic Tower Bridge The crew of the IchorCoal wore black armbands and painted their nails blue and green in tribute to their crew members who died at sea The skipper of their crew, Rich Gold, is thrown into the River Thames after arriving back in London following the round the world challenge The sail boats meandered down the River Thames, culminating in Tower Bridge lifting for the teams before a prize giving ceremony on the stage at St Katharine Docks The competitors were welcomed home by friends and family as they completed their epic marathon around the world As the fleet began the final sprint home, Clipper race founder Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, 77, described the 10th edition of the biennial event as 'extremely tough'. The first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69, he said: 'The conditions encountered in the Pacific were the worst we've seen in 20 years of running the race. 'I am proud of all of the crew; they have taken on all the world's most challenging oceans and have been very resilient. They should be justly proud of themselves - whether crossing a single ocean or circumnavigating the entire planet. 'It is a remarkable achievement. The novices who set out 11 months ago have returned as seasoned sailors. 'This is the second outing of our third generation Clipper 70 fleet of ocean racers and they have proved themselves as sturdy and reliable in extreme conditions. 'In addition, the teams on this edition of the race have sailed particularly hard, which has resulted in some very fast times and tight finishes. 'It has gone down to the final sprint in this 14-race series to determine the podium and overall positions.' Derry-Londonderry-Doire won the final leg which started in Den Helder, Netherlands, while LMAX Exchange won overall - just four points ahead of second place. Harriet Wran will move into a 'dry household', after promising not to touch alcohol or drugs when she is released from jail, which is likely to be in the next two weeks. The 28-year-old was sentenced to a minimum of two years in jail after she pleaded guilty to robbery and being an accessory to murder in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, reported the Daily Telegraph. Justice Ian Harrison also sentenced Wran to one year for acting as an accessory to murder. With time already served, she will be eligible for release on August 13. Scroll down for video Harriet Wran has told the court she will move into a 'dry household', after promising not to touch alcohol or drugs when she is released from jail. She will be eligible for release on August 13 Because her sentence is above a three-year threshold, she will have to go in front of the State Parole Authority to determine if she is suitable for release. A private hearing of the case set for Friday was adjourned so reports could be prepared. A date for the hearing is expected to be set soon. Wran, the daughter of former NSW Premier Neville Wran, is due to move into her mother's house in Woollahra, in Sydney's eastern suburbs after her release. She gave sworn evidence to the court that her mother, Jill Hickson Wran, would keep their house alcohol-free. 'I can't drink,' Wran said. 'I have the most beautiful mother in the world loves and supports and cares for me.' Wran is due to move in with her mother, Jill Hickson Wran (pictured) in her house in Woollahra, in Sydney's eastern suburbs after her release from jail In court, Crown prosecutor Peter McGrath asked Wran how she would give the court an assurance that she wouldn't go back to her old friends, drinking alcohol and taking drugs. Wran said: 'I have had the benefits of two years of clean time. The only time I ever think of ice is in my dreams and those are very bad dreams.' Wran was high on ice when she went to a housing commission unit in Redfern in August 2014 with two men, who she thought were going to steal ice from another man, Daniel McNulty. Theresa May has brought an end to the controversial style of sofa government so beloved of David Cameron and Tony Blair. In a move which aides say symbolises her new approach, the cosy sofas have been pushed to the side of her No 10 study and a table installed in the centre of the room. Key meetings with ministers and advisers now take place in a more formal setting, rather than over coffee with limbs draped over the arms of chairs. Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell sits on the sofa as David Cameron speaks to President Obama. But Cameron's style of 'sofa government' has been ditched by Theresa May One aide said: This is about doing the business of government properly. In another break with the Cameron years, an extra table added to the end of the historic Cabinet table has been removed, meaning junior ministers are no longer invited. During Mr Camerons reign, seven ministers, such as Anna Soubry, were allowed to attend Cabinet to keep rising stars happy and bolster female representation. Tony Blair introduced the concept of sofa government to No10, in which key decisions were taken informally by a cabal of advisers. Theresa May is pictured at her desk in her first week as Prime Minister. She is said to be keen on more formal meetings than Cameron and Tony Blair Mr Cameron was accused by his critics of continuing the practice. Like Mr Blair, he surrounded himself with contemporaries from his days at Eton and Oxford, such as chief of staff Ed Llewellyn and university pal Lord Feldman, who was Tory party chairman. Insiders said that meetings would often consist of a group of aides perched on the armrests of the No10 settees. While the sofa meetings may be over, Mr Cameron has ensured that his old friends are not forgotten with at least 16 due to be handed gongs next month in a resignation honours list. The dangers of sofa government were laid bare by the Chilcot report into the Iraq war. Group of criminals fights against the people: human rights activist Human rights activist Artak Zeynalyan doesnt think that at night in sari Tagh policemen dealt with the demonstrators, They are not policemen; that is a gang, criminals. The events in Armenian are out of legal platform. That group, which wear police uniform, has no connection with the police, they are out of law, rules of constitution. The policeman cannot carry out his service in civilian clothes. That is a group of criminals, which fights against the people, Artak Zeynalyan told A1+. In reply to the question whether the police have a right to use explosives in a residential district, the human rights activist answered: When using special measures the police must have taken into consideration their consequences for other people and their property, but the situation, which exists in our country, can be considered uncontrollable and critical. To our remark who is responsible for the damage caused to the citizens and who the citizens can apply to, the human rights activist answered, Even if there is theoretically defense of rights in Armenia, I doubt, practically it isnt applicable, especially in case of such amount of violations of law. There is no legal means of protection of rights in Armenia, so the citizens themselves must think how they can defend their rights. To remind, this night the police used special measures in Sari Tagh, using explosives towards the peaceful demonstrators, as a result of which journalists and residents of the neighboring areas were injured. More than 100 people were detained and 60 people were taken to the medical institutions. Fifteen criminals a day go on to commit a violent attack or sex assault after being given a community punishment instead of jail. Paedophiles are among those who have gone on to carry out vile assaults after being given soft sentences. Figures released by the Government show 5,460 offenders handed a community term in 2013 committed a sexual or violent crime within 12 months of being sentenced. Thousands of violent criminals and sex offenders are being given community punishments, instead of jail terms STOCK IMAGE ONLY 1 IN 10 DEPORTEES ARE TAGGED A man wearing an electronic tagging device Fewer than one in ten foreign criminals walking Britains streets while awaiting deportation are being monitored with electronic tags. Ministers have admitted that only 492 of the 5,789 overseas offenders living in the community are being tracked. It means the authorities are not routinely keeping tabs on offenders, including violent thugs and rapists, after they have been freed from prison. Former Home Secretary Theresa May revealed the information in a letter to Home Affairs select committee chairman Keith Vaz. She also confirmed that 26 foreign criminals freed from jails by Labours then Home Secretary Charles Clarke in 2006, without being considered for deportation, have yet to be found. Advertisement It was up from 5,031 on the previous year a nine percent rise. Had these offenders been sent to jail, their crimes which could range from rape to common assault need never have happened. The revelation, in response to a freedom of information request, will cast further doubt on the effectiveness of community sentences. Punishments can include unpaid work such as removing graffiti, clearing wasteland and decorating public places as well as treatment programmes for drug addiction or mental health conditions. But around one in three adults given a community sentence re-offend within a year. According to figures for 2013, the latest year for which data is available, 35.8 per cent of 73,567 offenders went on to commit a crime again. Meanwhile, separate statistics showed that 30,891 criminals had to be tracked down and sentenced again last year for breaching their community order. Figures from the Ministry of Justice also show that almost a quarter of the 57,873 offenders given a community term last year had racked up more than 15 guilty judgments. A spokesman for the charity Victim Support said victims are entitled to expect that the sentence imposed on their offender is properly enforced. Peter Cuthbertson, of the Centre for Crime Prevention think-tank, said: Community sentences are usually a complete waste of money, and they are putting the public at very real risk. Sex, lies and a murder plot hatched in Westminster. The Thorpe affair was the trial of the century, and as John Prestons devastating new book, A Very English Scandal, sets out in forensic detail subject to a poisonous cover-up that infected nearly every corner of the British Establishment, with monstrous consequences... The darkly handsome but rather disturbed-looking young man strode into the Chelsea police station and announced that he had come to report a serious offence. Hed had homosexual relations with a prominent politician, which, back then in 1962, was a criminal offence. And as he was under 21 and a minor at the time, what had taken place was technically rape. Establishment: Cyril Smith (right) and Jeremy Thorpe on the way from Rochdale to the House of Commons, where Smith took his seat as MP for Rochdale in 1970 A detective inspector and a sergeant noted down the graphic physical details he gave when, where (at the accuseds mothers home in Surrey and in a hotel in Devon), the Vaseline and Kleenex that had been used and how he had bitten the pillow to stop himself screaming out in pain. He liked the other man, he confessed in a six-page statement, but I hated doing it. I felt sick. He handed over love letters from the politician. He was examined by a doctor, who confirmed that penetrative sex had recently taken place. Norman Scott then left the station, and the two police officers sat pondering what to do next. There was no doubt that what they had heard was evidence of a criminal offence. But the culprit named by Scott was a prominent public figure no less than the flamboyant and hugely popular Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe, an increasingly impressive figure on the political stage and, then aged 33, clearly destined for greater things. Should they delve deeper and risk infuriating a man whose friends in high places meant he wielded considerable influence? Or should they wash their hands of the whole business? Predictably enough as author John Preston writes in his book A Very English Scandal, a new and scintillating account of the Thorpe affair self-preservation won the day. They made a few cursory inquiries among police in Thorpes North Devon constituency, then sent their file to Scotland Yard. From there it was passed on to Special Branch and copied to MI5, which kept files on all MPs. Hitman's target: Norman Scott on a walk with one of his dogs Despite Thorpes homosexuality making him liable to blackmail and therefore a possible security risk, Special Branch also chose to take the path of least resistance. The file was locked in a safe in the office of an assistant commissioner. The cover-up of the bizarre and criminal antics of Thorpe had begun. For the next 18 years, Scott continued to complain about how he had been treated by Thorpe in his view hed been used and abused, then dumped, denied and denigrated. But no one was prepared to take him seriously. Politicians of all parties, including two prime ministers, knew of the accusations but did nothing. Or they sat on the knowledge and used it for their own purposes. Harold Wilson read the MI5 file on Thorpe and Scott, and was prepared to leak it to scupper a possible Liberal-Conservative coalition in 1974. Edward Heath, the Tory leader, knew all about Scotts allegations too, and it partly influenced his decision to turn down a pact with the Liberals. And when Thorpe finally did come to trial for conspiracy to murder his one-time lover, even though his guilt was obvious to most observers, the judges summing-up whitewashed him to such an extent that a jury found it impossible to convict him. More than half a century later, the knock-on effect of that scandal is still with us. That Thorpe got away with it may well have encouraged the likes of DJ Jimmy Savile and Liberal MP Cyril Smith both of whom knew him to believe that their own sexual exploitation of vulnerable young people would be brushed under the carpet. A realisation that the Establishment protected its own in cases such as Thorpes probably, in turn, fuelled the absurd recent overreaction by police investigating historic abuse accusations by liars and fantasists against the likes of Edward Heath, Leon Brittan and Cliff Richard. Thorpe, who died 18 months ago, had a lot to answer for. But it all began with a chance meeting at a country house, at which Thorpe was utterly bowled over. He spotted Scott, who worked as a groom and occasional model, leaning over a stable door, he revealed to a friend. He was simply heaven. But Scott turned out to be a rather pathetic figure Thorpe called him Poor Bunny because of his tendency to cry. He was easy prey for the suave, sly, snazzily dressed Eton and Oxford-educated MP, a man who felt he had a God-given right to get his own way. Though Thorpe was later to marry, he was an active and promiscuous homosexual an old queen, as he confessed in private who took risks in the arrogant belief that he would never be caught because no one would dare. He was a law unto himself. Scandal: The culprit named by Scott was a prominent public figure no less than the flamboyant and hugely popular Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe (pictured in 1972) Popular: Jeremy Thorpe was an increasingly impressive figure on the political stage and, then aged 33, clearly destined for greater things. Pictured, Thorpe with Jimi Hendrix For his part, the mentally unstable Scott saw Thorpe as a benefactor and meal-ticket who promised him the earth, then cast him aside. He blamed him for ruining his life, as he would tell anyone who would listen, in pubs, police stations, anywhere. Pretty soon, everyone in Westminster seemed to know about Thorpes indiscretion, but no one blabbed. Instead, they went out of their way to protect him and his secret. One of the first in the know was fellow Liberal MP Peter Bessell, because Thorpe confided in him about his illicit fling and began to use him as the go-between in increasingly desperate efforts to silence Scott and in underhand attempts to recover explicit incriminating letters from him. For help, Bessell approached George Thomas, a minister in the Home Office in Harold Wilsons Sixties government and one of Westminsters most upright figures, explaining that Thorpe was having a bit of bother with a boy. (Only after his death did it emerge that Thomas was a closet homosexual and had himself been blackmailed.) Thomas arranged for Bessell to brief the Home Secretary, Frank Soskice, who, in a nod-and-a-wink meeting, adhered to what Preston describes as the unwritten code that MPs closed ranks if there was any risk of their sexual indiscretions being revealed. Upset: For the next 18 years, Scott continued to complain about how hed been used and abused, then dumped, denied and denigrated Soskice was sympathetic and seemed to know all about Scotts allegations anyway from a brown folder on his desk. Tell him to go to hell, was his advice. Treat him rough if he makes any demands on Jeremy. And dont worry about a police inquiry. The matter appeared to be resolved, cut off at the very highest level. Thorpe was safe. He wasnt, though. His boy wouldnt go away but continued to be a pest, and the potential embarrassment was common knowledge among Liberal MPs even when they elected Thorpe party leader in 1967. There was a sticky period for Thorpe when Scott poured out his story of betrayal and abuse in person to Liberal Chief Whip David Steel in Westminster. Steels first reaction was to dismiss him as a liar, until Scott brought out letters from a bag and evidence that Thorpe had been paying him money via Bessell. Steel turned white. Could he be telling the truth after all? Another leading Liberal, Emlyn Hooson, confronted Thorpe, who admitted knowing Scott but insisted nothing sexual had gone on. Hooson was not convinced and convened an official party inquiry to nail the truth. At this point, Thorpe called on his chum Reginald Maudling, the Conservative Home Secretary. They were both members of an exclusive dining club, the Other Club, which met in the Savoy Hotel. With an endorsement of his probity from Maudling and also from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Thorpe successfully saw off the inquiry. Not for the first time, his contacts in high places had bailed him out. There was a bonus, too, when the police quizzed Scott for ten hours on suspicion of trying to blackmail Thorpe. He was eventually released, more convinced than ever that mysterious dark forces were massed against him. He was right. Oddly, one key person who remained in ignorance of Thorpes secret life was probably Caroline Allpass, the woman he married in a conscious bid to throw off his image as a bachelor in the eyes of voters. His marriage, though, increased his anxiety about the damage Scott could still do to him unless he was silenced. What if Scott took those indiscreet love letters to the newspapers? Thorpes career would be over. To Bessell, who was paying small sums of money to Scott on Thorpes behalf, he made the alarming proposition that Scott must die. It would be no worse than shooting a sick dog, he said. Lure him to the moors and break his neck, he went on to suggest, demonstrating with a jerk of his elbow how it could be done. Then dispose of the body in the fast-setting concrete of a new motorway or throw it down the shaft of a disused Cornish tin mine. The plot thickened, as Thorpe harped on increasingly to his small band of close allies about his ultimate solution. It was an astonishing situation. Here was one of the countrys top politicians, the leader of his party, actively contemplating murder, yet still those in the know didnt turn him in, while the growing circle of people who were aware of his proclivities and his predicament chose to protect him with their silence. Worry: That Thorpe got away with it may well have encouraged the likes of DJ Jimmy Savile and Liberal MP Cyril Smith to believe their own sexual exploitation of vulnerable young people would be brushed aside Trend: A realisation that the Establishment protected its own in cases such as Thorpes probably, in turn, fuelled the absurd recent overreaction by police investigating historic abuse accusations by liars and fantasists against the likes of Edward Heath, Leon Brittan and Cliff Richard The real scandal of the Thorpe debacle is how close he came to fulfilling his wish to bump off Scott. A man was found and hired to do the job for 10,000. In the event, he bungled it. In 1975, Scott was duly lured to what should have been his death on a remote hillside but his Great Dane dog, Rinka, took the bullet instead and the revolver jammed when it was turned on him. The extraordinary events exploded all over the newspapers. Now everyone was agog for Scotts story. Thorpes name couldnt be kept out of it. Surely he was now beyond the help of his Establishment friends? Indeed, those who had covered up for him in the past were now running scared. Asked by the BBC for an interview about Thorpe, George Thomas, now Speaker of the House of Commons, went into a private meltdown, terrified that the finger of blame would point at him for not having acted when he was approached on Thorpes behalf 13 years earlier, and afraid that his own secrets might come out. But as events escalated, Thorpe still had cards to play and persuaded a chum, the highly regarded editor of the Sunday Times, Harold Evans, of his innocence. I hoped and prayed he would go to prison because he had done such appalling damage. But somehow I knew the Establishment would look after their own. Norman Scott The paper ran an interview with him under the headline The lies of Norman Scott, in which he denied having slept with Scott. Scandalously, Thorpe deflected all blame for the attempt to kill his former lover on to Bessell, the sidekick who had loyally done his bidding and protected his back for so many years. Bessell hit back with a front-page story in the Daily Mail, I Told Lies to Protect Thorpe. It seemed all up for the now former leader of the Liberal Party when he was charged with conspiracy and incitement to murder, alongside three other defendants who were supposedly involved in the plot, including Bessell. But even then the Establishment came to Thorpes rescue. For this high-profile trial at the Old Bailey in 1979, with the jailing of one of the countrys leading politicians looking a certainty, the most eminent of judges might have been expected to preside. Instead, the unknown Honourable Sir Joseph Donaldson Cantley was selected. Aged 68 and no intellectual, he was also a crashing snob. He might well favour the suave and upper-class Thorpe. Scott would not be his cup of tea. So it proved. In his summing up the most notorious in British legal history, according to Preston Cantley hailed Thorpe as a national figure with a very distinguished public record while dismissing Scott as a hysterical, warped personality, accomplished sponger and very skilful at exciting and exploiting sympathy. A crook, a fraud, a sponger, a whiner, a parasite. He described Bessell, whose evidence against Thorpe was particularly damning, as a humbug and Andrew Newton, the hired hitman who had pointed the gun at Scott, as a buffoon, a perjurer, a chump. Another witness was ridiculed as the type of man whose taste ran to a cocktail bar in his living room. Anger: Thorpe, who died 18 months ago, had a lot to answer for. Pictured, paedophile presenter Jimmy Savile Dangerous: Bessell felt the same, convinced that Thorpe had been protected by an Establishment cover-up. Indisputably, he said, there was a deliberate cover-up of Jeremys relationship with Scott.' Pictured, Jimmy Savile Finally, the preposterous judge declared the evidence against Thorpe almost entirely circumstantial and Scotts claim to have had an affair with him vindictive and motivated by hate. Did this swing the jury? No one can be sure what goes on in a jury room, but it is known in this case that in an initial straw poll, six were for acquittal and six for conviction. After two days of deliberation, all 12 declared Thorpe not guilty (along with all the other defendants). So Thorpe was off the hook saved probably by his pal Frederick Elwyn Jones, the Lord Chancellor, who appointed Cantley to preside over the case. Elwyn Jones was an Establishment stalwart, writes Preston, and, it seemed, had done his old friend a favour. Norman Scott said afterwards that he always suspected Thorpe would get off, despite the evidence against him. I hoped and prayed he would go to prison because he had done such appalling damage. But somehow I knew the Establishment would look after their own. Bessell felt the same, convinced that Thorpe had been protected by an Establishment cover-up. Indisputably, he said, there was a deliberate cover-up of Jeremys relationship with Scott. 'Ministers of the Crown, branches of the security services and more than one police force knew about the cover-up and took no action to prevent it. Even so, the Establishment that protected Thorpe, turned a blind eye to his depravity and saved him from the humiliation of prison, then took its revenge on him. For the rest of his life, he was an outsider. With his acquittal, he hoped to resume his career. It didnt happen. The Queen Mother, whom he adored, snubbed him. In later life, he asked for and was denied a peerage. But thats the Establishment for you. It never forgives when someone embarrasses it. According to political insider Bernard Donoughue, who was head of the No 10 policy unit in the Seventies, it suited the Establishment for him to be found not guilty. But then he was effectively locked up in a cupboard so he couldnt say anything. It was a kind of justice, after all. But if things had been done properly, those abusers who followed in Thorpes footsteps might not have acted with such certainty that they, too, could get away with it. Australia is in the grip of a skills shortage of everything from doctors to tradesmen that is driving the cost of hiring contract workers sky high. Bricklayers are in such demand they are charging the equivalent of $2 for every brick they lay, plus costs. Foreign tradies, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and bricklayers will be welcomed by the Immigration Department because of a lack of skilled in Australia workers and a drop in apprentice training. Pay rates for Sydney brick layers have more than doubled from $850 to $2000 to lay 1000 bricks, which equals about $2 per brick, the Australian Brick and Blocklaying Training Foundation told the Immigration Department. The foundation said: 'Large residential housing development in western and southwestern Sydney are experiencing the shortage,' the Daily Telegraph reports. Employers are looking overseas as falling numbers of builders and skilled workers in the Australian market hit the industry According to Master Builders Australia, around half of the young people who begin an apprenticeship, drop out before they learn a trade. Australian technical and trade apprentices has dropped from 206,000 in 2010 to 174,900 at the end of last year. Master Builders chief executive Wilhelm Harnisch told the Daily Telegraph they found it was due to impatience with young people over how much they were earning. 'While they might not be getting much during their three-year apprenticeship, they've got to look beyond that to the money they can earn later, and the ability to run their own business.' Employers are now looking overseas looking for foreigners with qualifications to fill the void. Qualified workers can migrate to Australia without an employer sponsoring them if their skills come under the official list. The skilled occupations list has 183 jobs with construction project managers, project builders, engineering managers and mining production managers sitting at the top. Pay rates for Sydney brick layers have more than doubled from $850 to $2000 to lay 1000 bricks which equals about $2 per brick A mother and two men have been charged with the manslaughter of her toddler, after Mason Jet Lee was found dead in a house in Queensland in June. Annemaree Louise Lee, 27, from Caboolture appeared in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Saturday. Police confirmed Ms Lee will reappear in court on August 1, reported the Brisbane Times. Scroll down for video Mason Jet Lee's mother, stepfather and another man have been charged with manslaughter over the toddler's death. The 21-month-old was found dead at his stepfather's home in June The toddler's stepfather William Andrew OSullivan, 35, from Hazeldean, who was also charged with manslaughter, made a brief appearance before Chief Magistrate Ray Rinaudo on Saturday in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. He did not apply for bail and the case will return to court on August 8. A 17-year-old man from Morayfield is also due to appear in the Caboolture Magistrates Court. Moreton Police Detective Inspector Paul Schmidt said Mason is believed to have died from the blood infection peritonitis. He said the three people charged with manslaughter would have known he was unwell, and they failed to provide reasonable medical care. 'The injuries to the child would have been obvious, would have been deteriorating and would have been significant over a period of time,' the senior detective said. Moreton Police Detective Inspector Paul Schmidt said Mason (pictured) is believed to have died from the blood infection peritonitis Mason Jet Lee's body was found at a house in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, about 12.30am on June 11, with police declaring a crime scene due to suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. The 21-month-old was in the care of his stepfather Andrew O'Sullivan when he was found by paramedics in his bed. Mr O'Sullivan was arrested in June and released without charge. Police revealed the injuries found all over Mason's body were deliberate and some had been there since January. He had been dead for 'some time' before paramedics arrived and had been gravely unwell for a week beforehand, they said. Mr O'Sullivan described finding his stepson 'blue' and unresponsive in his bed after what had been a 'normal night'. The toddler's mother Ann-Marie was at a house a kilometre away when he was found dead and had not been looking after him on the day he died. There were other people in the house on the day Mason was found dead but it is not clear what their relationships to the child were. Mason Jet Lee's aunt, Shuntel, said she made the 'very hard' decision to alert authorities but she was left with no choice after she tried to help her sister, Ann-Marie Lee. Mason's aunt told A Current Affair she had reported the family to child services because the 21-month-old boy was living 'in pure filth'. Mason Jet Lee's aunt, Shuntel, said it was a 'very hard' decision to report her own sister to authorities, but she felt she had no choice because she was concerned for the boy's welfare. 'I had to take it upon myself to contact child services because nobody else would do it and it was my responsibility, and duty as an aunty,' Shuntel said. 'The way she was living in pure filth [concerned me].' Shuntel also expressed her anger at child services after they did not take any action. She claims they did nothing about Mason because they did not have an address for his mother, Ann-Marie Lee, who had been evicted from her home. 'I'm very angry that they have released this boy to the mother, who has then released him to the stepfather and now he is deceased,' Shuntel said. 'Shame on all of them, all of them. The mother and child services for not doing their job.' A Current Affair attempted to speak to Ann-Marie but was unsuccessful. Queensland's Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman announced an investigation into Mason's death in early July. 'Masons death in suspicious circumstances is a devastating tragedy and my heart goes out to this little boys family,' Ms Fentiman told Daily Mail Australia. 'I know the people of Queensland want answers. So do I. This is why Masons death will be investigated by an independent and expert review panel that will look at every detail of this case. 'I have already committed to implementing all of the expert panels recommendations in relation to this case. At this time, our immediate priority is the ongoing police homicide investigation.' Ms Fentiman said she was 'absolutely determined' to keep children safe. On Monday Moreton District Crime Group Detective Acting Inspector Ben Fadian said Mason's death was not likely to have been an accident and he was dead for 'hours' before he was found. 'Triple 0 calls were received on June 11 at around 12.30am however we believe he may have been deceased for some time before those calls,' Detective Acting Inspector Fadian said. 'He suffered extensive injuries, they were horrific and they were visible from head to toe. 'While we are awaiting a pathology report we can say Mason may have been sick or injured for up to a week before he died. The boy was being looked after at his step-father Andrew O'Sullivan's house. Police said there were others inside the house on the day he died. Mr O'Sullivan was arrested but released without charge last month Queensland Police detectives said they were 'determined' to solve the toddler's death which they described as a tragedy. Above, officers search Mr O'Sullivan's home after Mason was found there 'Some of his injuries would have included him being lethargic, vomiting, not eating his food and general unwellness,' he told a press conference. Mason's injuries would have been visible to 'anyone who saw him', he added as he said the child had been suffering injuries since January. 'There's evidence to indicate this year is when he began to sustain injuries,' Detective Acting Inspector Fadian said. 'We're appealing to anyone who may have interacted with Mason between January 1 and June 11 this year, anyone who may have interacted with his carers, who has come into contact with him. 'They may not think the information is relevant but it may be the piece of information we need to progress our investigation. 'We need to know if he was harmed, sick or injured. We believe there are people out there who have information. 'We can't say specifically what time mason died however there were a number of people inside the house,' he continued, adding that some of those there were children.' As part of the investigation officers retrieved puppies from the house in Caboolture, Queensland (above) The Detective Acting Inspector added Mason was part of a 'large' family and was known to many people in the Caboolture area. Describing the boy's death as a 'horrific tragedy', Detective Acting Inspector Fadian said he police were 'determined' to resolve the investigation. Paramedics who responded to Triple 0 calls made on the day of the boy's death were seen sobbing in the street after finding his tiny body inside. One neighbour told The Courier Mail they 'could not deal with what they had seen'. Mr O'Sullivan was released without charge after 36 hours of questioning last month. At the time he said it had been a 'normal' night and that he had given Mason a bottle before putting him to bed. The 35-year-old is expecting a baby with the infant's mother. He said he tried to perform CPR on the child after finding him unresponsive. Mr O'Sullivan told A Current Affair said he loved Mason like a son, and the toddler was always getting 'little tiny bruises'. Mr Potts, from Devon, had become engaged to an equine vet last month rock hit him in the head and shoulders and he died at the scene A former Royal Marine who recently became engaged has been killed in a climbing accident in the French Alps. Duncan Potts died on Wednesday as he climbed the Dent du Geant mountain in the Mont Blanc range near Chamonix. The 28-year-old was with friend Luke Stevens when a rock came loose in his hands and he fell around ten feet, the Telegraph reported. It hit him in the head and shoulders and despite a mountain rescue team reaching him after Mr Stevens managed to call for help, he died at the scene. Duncan Potts had recently left the Royal Marines and last month got engaged to equine vet April Lawson (pictured together) Duncan Potts, a keen climber (pictured left and right), died on Wednesday as he scaled the Dent du Geant mountain in the Mont Blanc range near Chamonix Rescuer Commandant Stephane Bozon told the newspaper the rock had been 'as big as a car boot', saying: 'It looks like he died instantly judging from the amount of blood at the scene.' The accident happened on Wednesday, the pair's first day of climbing after they left the UK on Tuesday for their four-day trip. The Foreign Office said it was providing consular assistance to his family. Mr Potts, from Coldridge in Devon, was an experienced rock climber and mountaineer, having previously undertaken Alpine expeditions including an ascent of the Matterhorn in Switzerland last summer. He had recently left the Royal Marines and last month got engaged to equine vet April Lawson, who changed her Facebook profile picture to a photo of the two of them following his death. Mr Potts' younger brother, Andy Potts, paid tribute to him on Facebook, saying: 'It's really starting to hit home how much and widely he is going to be missed. I'm still struggling to come to terms with the fact that my big brother is no longer with us. Mr Potts, from Coldridge in Devon, was an experienced rock climber and mountaineer, having previously undertaken Alpine expeditions including an ascent of the Matterhorn in Switzerland last summer 'Duncan had such an incredible group of friends and you all made his life so fun filled and special and I want to thank every one of you for being such an important part of his life.' His sister, Izzie Potts, wrote: 'All our hearts are well and truly broken without you, Duncan.' Colonel Kevin Oliver, from the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in Lympstone, Devon, paid tribute to him on behalf of the marines. He said: 'We are saddened to hear of the death of Duncan Potts, an ex member of the Royal Marines family and a mountain leader. 'We knew him as a fine young man who was a credit to the service, who left having achieved much in his career. The thoughts and sympathies of those that knew him go out to his family and friends.' Exports grew at a world-beating pace in 2015, for the first time since 2006 This is equivalent to just 12.1 per cent of the Exports to the European Union now account for just 12 per cent of Britain's economy and companies are looking elsewhere for trade. The Office for National Statistics' Pink Book which details the economy's reliance on imports and exports shows our focus on Europe has dropped steadily for the past five years. British businesses now earn 222.4billion by selling goods and services to EU countries equivalent to 12.1 per cent of total economic output. But the amount sold to nations outside the bloc is higher at 287.9billion, or 15.7 per cent of the economy. Exports to the European Union now account for just 12 per cent of Britain's economy and companies are looking elsewhere for trade The ONS also said that British exports grew at a world-beating pace in 2015 for the first time since 2006. It added: 'Within this the UK has seen increased trade activity in goods with non-EU countries, with their share exceeding that of EU countries in the last four years.' Campaigners argued that the figures showed the UK should look beyond the EU as it sought opportunities for growth. They said the country was not reliant on the bloc and could afford to be bold in the Brexit negotiations ahead. John Longworth, former head of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 'Exports to the EU represent an ever-smaller element of our economy but the benefits of Brexit are applicable to the whole of the economy. 'Brexit will allow Britain to become a great trading nation once again. We need to grasp this opportunity.' Goods exports to the EU now stand at 134billion, but we sell 151billion to the rest of the world. Britain has sold more goods outside the EU than within it for the last four years. This started in 2012 as the eurozone plunged into crisis and has never recovered. And in the services market an area where Britain is particularly strong we sell 88.9billion to Europe, but 136.6billion elsewhere. Institute of Directors economist Michael Martins said the developing world was an increasingly important market for British goods. As its consumers become richer, they get more discerning and seek out higher-quality goods and it is this area where Britain excels. Since her appointment as Prime Minister, Theresa May has repeatedly stressed that Britain remains open for business and will be more outward-looking, not less. She and fellow Cabinet ministers have been jetting across the world to talk up the nation, with new International Trade Minister Liam Fox holding talks with a host of nations about free trade deals to bring tariffs down. Since her appointment as Prime Minister, Theresa May (pictured) has repeatedly stressed that Britain remains open for business and will be more outward-looking, not less Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China and India have all expressed an interest in new partnerships. Even in America despite President Barack Obama warning before the referendum that Britain would be at the 'back of the queue' if it voted to leave the EU senior politicians are showing an interest. The Pink Book also highlights Britain's long-standing trade deficit, which shows how much more we import than export. This is a cause for concern, because net importers are more reliant on other nations and send more money to foreign countries than they earn in them. The trade deficit now stands at 38.6billion, up from 36.2billion a year earlier. And the EU sells 68.5billion more goods and services to the UK than the UK sells to it. Although the deficit is generally a problem, it has been argued European exporters' reliance on the UK makes their governments more likely to be flexible when it comes to striking a new deal. Meanwhile, it emerged that government officials or prominent business figures in 27 countries have declared a desire to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain. Out of the ten largest economies in the world, only two, France and Italy, have not yet made moves. The impact of Brexit on the UK economy is likely to be short-lived, according to the boss of Barclays. Speaking as the bank unveiled better than expected half-year profits of 2.1billion, Jes Staley stressed that they are willing to give credit to families and businesses. The CEO said: 'We're open to extend credit and we're going to do it prudently.' Why Britain, not Europe, is best place to invest By Alex Brummer, City Editor Yesterday's figures from the Office for National Statistics give the lie to claims made during the referendum campaign that separating Britain from the market of 500million people in Europe would be a calamitous mistake. The data shows that as the 19 countries of the eurozone stagnated, the UK successfully turned its attention to the rest of the world. Indeed, in each of the past four years our exports to the rest of the world have exceeded those to the much-vaunted single market. The Pink Book, which examines every aspect of our trade across the globe, says that in 2015 we sold 151billion of goods to non-EU countries far exceeding the 134billion to Europe. The still unresolved crisis in the eurozone meant that Britain's exports to the bloc fell by 3.4 per cent in 2014 and 2.7 per cent in 2015. The new figures will be grist to the mill for Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade tsar Dr Liam Fox as they seek to forge new trading arrangements with fast growing nations such as China, India and the United States. Meanwhile, Britain's status as a provider of services to both Europe and the rest of the world continues to expand exponentially. At the cutting edge of this expansion have been legal and consulting services, none of which are covered by existing trade agreements. Britain is regarded as a legal powerhouse and now hosts many of the biggest American and continental law firms who favour the fairness and incorruptibility of the English legal system. The new figures show that the current account deficit stood at 5.4 per cent last year and the governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney *pictured) has argued that this makes the UK 'dependent on the kindness of strangers' to pour money into Britain What the overall data shows is that among the non-EU countries the United States is our most important trading partner with the surplus on trade rising to 39billion last year. In contrast Britain has recorded 'persistent' trade deficits with Germany, partly fuelled by demand from UK citizens for expensive German cars. The data shows how Germany, as a country with a huge surplus in all its dealings with the rest of the world, is sucking wealth out of all of its trading partners. Some experts have voiced concerns about the increasing size of Britain's capital account deficit with the world, which is made up of our trade in goods and services as well as the income from our investments in other countries. The new figures show that the current account deficit stood at 5.4 per cent last year and the governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has argued that this makes the UK 'dependent on the kindness of strangers' to pour money into Britain. The ONS suggests it is partly a consequence of the success of the UK economy compared to our European trading partners. Investments by foreigners in Britain, particularly those from Europe, have made far fatter returns than those of UK companies in the eurozone where the economies have been slumping. The Kruetzfeldts had three children, ages 10, 12 and 18 Four family members were killed in a small-plane crash at a Northern California airport earlier this week. Family and friends identified the pilot as Daniel Kruetzfeldt; his wife, Kristin Kruetzfeldt; his mother, Mary Chandler; and his stepfather, Claude Chandler, the Modesto Bee reported Friday. Daniel Kruetzfeldt, 43, was trying to land a 1958 Cessna 310B at a small airport Wednesday when it veered off the runway, into vegetation and caught fire. Four family members died in a small-plane crash at a Northern California airport earlier this week. Family and friends identified the pilot as Daniel Kruetzfeldt (right) and his wife, Kristin Kruetzfeldt (left) Daniel Kruetzfeldt, 43, was trying to land a 1958 Cessna 310B at a small airport Wednesday when it veered off the runway, into vegetation and caught fire. His mother, Mary Chandler (left); and his stepfather, Claude Chandler (right) were also victims of the crash Witnesses said they saw the plane coming in, hitting wing first and making a sharp left into dry grass and rocks Witnesses said they saw the plane coming in, hitting wing first and making a sharp left into dry grass and rocks. 'What a loss it is to everybody to not have Claude and Mary anymore,' friend Pamela Blair told Sacramento news station CBS 13. 'They were quiet and caring people who were very involved in the community.' Blair said the younger couple had three children, ages 10, 12 and 18. Friends and family said the Chandlers were active people who loved the outdoors. Mary and Claude Chandler were married nine years; it was a second marriage for both. Mary Chandler, 72, was known as an excellent wood carver who worked at the Tuolumne Historical Museum. Claude Chandler, 69, enjoyed backpacking and camping and was an expert fisherman. The Chandlers raised sheep and llamas, and sometimes they brought along the animals on backpacking trips to carry their equipment, Mary's brother Tom Parrington said. Daniel Kruetzfeldt was a professional pilot who had worked for the corporate jet charter company NetJets for at least 20 years. The Kruetzfeldts had three children, ages 10, 12 and 18. Pictured is a helicopter near the small plane that crashed on Wednesday The victims were from Sonora, California. Authorities have not officially identified the bodies. Emergency crews are pictured working near the small plane that crashed at the airport Parrington said he did not know where the family had gone Wednesday but that Daniel Kruetzfeldt was a professional pilot who had worked for the corporate jet charter company NetJets for at least 20 years. 'We were a small family, and this wiped out about a third (of it),' Parrington said. Flight instructor Chris Miller told The Union Democrat that the crash was the deadliest he recalled at an airport that has its 'idiosyncrasies' but is not any more difficult to land at than other airports. The victims were from Sonora, California. Authorities have not officially identified the bodies. Fifty-three cases of the Zika virus have now been reported in Britain, health officials revealed yesterday. It is thought that all of those who have been affected by the virus had recently travelled back from abroad. In the most recent cases, a hospital trust said three patients had been treated for the virus in Yorkshire. Though the condition of the individuals is unknown, the infection is considered to be mild and most do not require hospital treatment. Scroll down for video This is a mosquito known as 'Aedes aegypti', which transmits the Zika virus, in a laboratory in El Salvador The number of cases could be higher as some travellers who are unwell may not be aware they have picked up the virus. Professor Paul Cosford, medical director at Public Health England, said: 'We expect to see small numbers of Zika virus infections in travellers returning to the UK, but the risk to the wider population is very low as the mosquito that spreads the Zika virus is not found in the UK. 'As of July 27, 2016, over 50 cases have been diagnosed in UK travellers since January 2016. Public Health England is monitoring the international situation closely and the risk to the UK remains unchanged. 'If you have recently returned from an area where Zika virus transmissions are currently reported and have a fever or flu-like illness, seek medical attention without delay to exclude malaria and mention your recent travel.' The Guardian reported that two cases have also been confirmed in Ireland. The infection causes only mild illness in most people. But it leads to microcephaly in infants, a birth defect where a baby's head and brain are smaller than normal. The World Health Organisation has declared the Zika virus a global public health emergency. Fears of a Zika virus outbreak in Florida have been raised this week after reports of the first case transmitted by mosquitoes present in the US. Four new cases of the infection have been reported among people who have not travelled abroad or had sexual contact with another sufferer. Concerns have been raised that the outbreak in the popular holiday destination could be mosquito-borne, meaning the virus has established itself on the US mainland for the first time. Florida has already seen more than 300 Zika cases linked to travel abroad. Health workers fumigate in an attempt to eradicate the mosquito which transmits the Zika virus in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil With more than one million Britons travelling to Florida each year, officials are warning tourists to discuss their travel plans with their GP, 'particularly if you're pregnant or planning to become pregnant'. A mother-to-be who was facing deportation to her native Brazil where the Zika virus is rife has been allowed stay in Britain after a Home Office U-turn. Deiseane Santiago, 22, has been granted leave to remain until the end of October so she can give birth in the UK away from the threat of the virus, which can cause birth defects. The former business student arrived here last November on a five-month visitor visa to spend time with 26-year-old fiance Simon Ellis. But she became pregnant. A mother accused of murdering three of her children by driving them into a lake believed a love rival had engaged a witchcraft doctor to kill her, a court heard. Sudanese immigrant Akon Guode, 37, is charged with murder after driving her car into Lake Gladman in Melbourne's west last year killing her one-year-old son and her four-year-old twins. Ms Guode was caught up in a bitter love triangle with her husband and his other wife leading up to the incident, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Friday. A woman, who cannot be named, gave explosive evidence and said Ms Goude admitted her guilt and feared her love rival would organise a witchcraft doctor to kill her. '(Ms Guode) was saying the wife had been giving her a hard time, threatening her, calling her and saying she was going to get a witchcraft doctor to kill her or make her leave her husband or kill the kids,' the witness said in a statement tendered to court, according to Fairfax. Akon Guode (pictured), 37, is charged with murder after allegedly driving her car into Lake Gladman in Melbourne's west last year killing her one-year-old son and her four-year-old twins All four children were fathered by Joseph Manyang (pictured). Above, he arrives at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in August last year 'Akon said she was scared and (a community member) said not to worry, it's b*******, don't believe her and that it wouldn't work in Australia.' The woman said Ms Guode would 'rather take her own life and that of the kids' than see them live with her lover and his wife. She claimed she overheard Ms Guode make the comments before she drove into the lake in April last year. She also said she saw Guode a few months later and asked her: 'Did you really do it?' 'She said, yes I did it,' the woman said in the statement. 'What I understood that to mean was that she had taken her kids' lives.' The witness claims Ms Guode told her she 'didn't expect to still be alive'. The mother-of-seven is charged with murdering her one-year-old son, Bol, and twins Hanger and her brother Madit, four. Four year old twins Hanger and Madit pictured before their death in a car crash in 2015 Akon Guode's one-year-old son, Bol (left) , and four-year-old twins, Hanger (centre), and her brother Madit The 37-year-old is also charged with attempting to murder her 6-year-old daughter Alual, who survived after being pulled from the water. All four children were fathered by Joseph Manyang. He and Guode began an affair after she immigrated to Australia from Sudan and Mr Manyang left his wife in 2010. The witness says she overheard Guode claim Mr Manyang's wife was threatening her. 'I could see that Akon was stressed and scared,' the woman's statement says. 'Akon said she would rather take her own life and that of the kids. 'She said in a jealous kind of way that she didn't want the kids to go to (Mr Manyang) and the wife, that she wanted herself and the kids to go together, to end it.' Joseph Tito Manyang (centre), the father of the three children killed in a Wyndam Vale lake, and family members arrive at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, August last year Akon Guode (centre) makes her way from a funeral service for her children in April last year The woman claims she has been pressured by the Sudanese community not to testify. She was arrested on a warrant on Friday after she failed to appear at a video link facility to give evidence. She was eventually cross-examined briefly by Guode's barrister, Julian McMahon, and was bailed to appear again on Wednesday, when her claims will be tested. The court heard the woman suffered mental health issues. After initially claiming she couldn't remember, she also admitted she had previously been jailed over a serious assault in which a person was stabbed. The woman didn't want to answer questions about herself. 'The evidence here, that's what I'm here for. It's not about my personal life,' she said. Exercising four times a week could reverse the early stages of dementia, according to the dramatic results of a new study. People with mild cognitive impairment often the first stages of dementia showed significant increase in brain size when they underwent a six-month exercise programme. The participants, whose brain power and memory were declining before they started the programme, saw some of these symptoms reversed - demonstrating improvements in their ability to plan, multi-task and carry out normal daily activities. Blood flow to the brain increased and they showed lower levels of a protein called tau, which attacks brain cells and is thought to play a role in Alzheimer's disease. People with mild cognitive impairment often the first stages of dementia showed significant increase in brain size when they underwent a six-month exercise programme (file image) The volunteers, who were aged 55 to 89, carried out 45 minutes of intensive exercise in a gym four times a week in which they had to get their heart rate up to at least 70 per cent of its maximum. For most people, that is the heart rate achieved by a gentle jog. A second group, who simply did gentle stretches, showed none of the improvements seen by the first. Their brains shrank, blood flow to the brain remained poor, and their ability to carry out normal tasks continued to decline as it had before. Their tau levels did not decrease. Doctors have long urged people to exercise throughout their lives, pointing out that physical fitness can reduce the risk of dementia and other illnesses. But this is the first time that experts have found such strong evidence that exercising can actually be used to treat dementia once it has struck. Scientists have spent decades researching drugs for dementia, and although some are making progress, there is still no treatment available to patients which can truly slow down the disease. Study leader Professor Laura Baker, of Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina, said she is trying to find out whether exercise could be a better type of treatment than any drug. Presenting her findings at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Toronto, she said: 'If you could bottle all of these effects and put it in a pill, would we be in a different place now?' But she said it is important to supervise the exercise sessions, at least initially. Doctors have long urged people to exercise throughout their lives, pointing out that physical fitness can reduce the risk of dementia and other illnesses (file image) Scans showed that part the brain - the hippocampus which is crucial for thought and emotion had grown among patients who had undergone the exercise programme (file image) 'These people are sedentary, they have mild cognitive impairment, they are not going to do this on their own,' Professor Baker said. The participants were fully supervised for the first two weeks, after which they were only supervised once a week. And 91 per cent of the participants fully completed the programme. The researchers also investigated whether exercise could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease a vicious and advanced form of dementia. They repeated the same exercise programme among 76 patients with Alzheimer's. Although the results were not as dramatic as among the patients with mild cognitive impairment, there were hints that it was beginning to have an effect. This research suggests that it's never too late to take up exercise when you can. Dr James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society Scans showed that part the brain - the hippocampus which is crucial for thought and emotion had grown among patients who had undergone the exercise programme. There was no improvement in memory, but decline was slower among those who carried out aerobic exercise than those who simply did the stretching. Professor Baker said it may simply take longer than six months to have an effect on memory for Alzheimer's disease. Her team is now repeating the trial on a much larger group, a trial involving more than 200 scientists and thousands of patients across the USA. Dr James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: 'This research suggests that it's never too late to take up exercise when you can. 'When we think of new treatments for memory problems, we should make sure that we consider things alongside drugs. Whilst exercise is increasingly thought to help reduce dementia risk, some new evidence indicates that it could also benefit people who are already experiencing memory problems by helping to slow development of dementia symptoms.' Dr Laura Phipps of Alzheimer's Research UK added: 'Many people are aware that regular aerobic exercise can help to improve cardiovascular health, but it has also been linked with a healthy brain and a reduced risk of developing diseases like Alzheimer's. Situation after July 17: summery At night of July 29 there were clashes between the police and the peaceful demonstrators. In Sari Tagh and Khorenatsi Street the police dispersed the rally, using special means. The demonstrators came here after the rally at Liberty Square. The police announced that the demonstrators had tried to violate the security zone patrolled by the police and penetrate the territory of the police HQ, justifying its actions in that way. The residents of that neighborhood were attacked and received injuries from explosives, as well as journalists covering the events, numerous citizens, 17-year-old Sayat Hovhannisyan lost his one eye. 165 citizens were taken to different police stations of Yerevan. There are more than 60 injured in the hospitals. Starting from July 17, the group of gunmen consisting of 31 members and calling itself Sasna Dzrer (Daredevils of Sasoun), seized Erebuni police station, demanding resignation of Serzh Sargsyan, release of Jirayr Sefilyan and other political prisoners. As a result of the attack on the police HQ, Colonel Arthur Vanoyan was killed, 4 people were injured. For 7 days members of Sasna Dzrer kept two high ranking police officials hostage- Deputy Police Chief Vardan Yeghiazaryan and Yerevan Deputy Police Chief Valeri Osipyan. They were released when after the talks with the mediation of Artsakh hero Vitali Balasanyan agreement was reached that press center would be created after releasing the hostages. Only on July 23 the gunmen were able to meet the media outlets. At night of July 27 in the police HQ, members of Sasna Dzrer Pavel Manukyan, his son Aram Manukyan and one of the law enforcement officers were injured. As of now the health condition of Pavel Manukyan is assessed critical; his son Aram was transferred to the Hospital for Convicts after the surgery; two months detention was chosen as a precautionary measure against him. The law enforcement officers opened fire, when agreement had been reached that the wounded member of the regiment must have been handed over to the doctors. Members of the group Gagik Yeghiazaryan and Aram Hakobyan were taken by the law enforcement authorities during that time. Members of Sasna Dzrer didnt allow 4 employees of ambulance, who entered the area of the regiment on July 27, to leave the territory. Members of the group note that they need around the clock medical aid, as there are injured inside. The law enforcement officers note that the doctors are hostages. Later one of the doctors, Davit Tonoyan, was released. Member of Sasna Dzrer Ashot Petrosyan and Hovhannes Harutyunyan, who received gunshot wounds in their legs as a result of the shooting in the police HQ, have been detained since July 27. On July 29 situation was tense in the police regiment. Members of Sasna Dzrer Arthur Melkonyan and Armen Lambaryan were injured as a result of shooting in the territory of the police HQ; they were taken to the hospital. Arayik Khandoyan (Lone Wolf) is also injured. At the moment member of the Founding Parliament Alek Yenigomshyan and Vice President of Heritage Party Armen Martirosyan have been placed under arrest. The decision to halt Hinkley Point last night cast the spotlight back on the hugely controversial subsidy deal thrashed out by George Osborne in his desperation to secure Chinese backing for the nuclear plant. Under the subsidy regime agreed by Mr Osborne, householders and businesses will need to pay 92.50 per megawatt hour for Hinkley electricity from 2025 compared to a current wholesale price of 40. And, during a visit to China last September, he also agreed to a 2billion Government guarantee for the plant, to help secure the support of the State-backed China General Nuclear Corporation and China National Nuclear Corporation. EDF gave the go-ahead for the construction of Britain's new nuclear power station at Hinkley C but Theresa May has thrown a spanner in the works THE VAST COSTS THAT DON'T ADD UP George O sbornes deal was said to have been doomed from the start. Here are the reasons why: In 2012 the Government promised EDF 92.50 per megawatt hour. This is promised for 35 years from 2025, index-linked, which experts warn could add over a billion a year to energy bills If the project is delayed, Britain still has to pay the premium price The rate is now nearly triple the average wholesale cost of electricity, because of cheaper oil, gas and renewable energy prices If the market price of electricity falls below this level, the Government has in effect said it will make sure EDF receives the difference between the two which could amount to billions The deal contains a poison pill which could leave taxpayers with a 22billion bill if a future UK government closed the plant before 2060 Britain is committed to pay subsidies of up to about 40billion in real terms and provide guarantees on nuclear waste disposal and insurance A loan guarantee means if the plant defaults, the Government will repay the first 10billion to investors Advertisement The guarantee meant that if developers went bust the taxpayer would guarantee around 2billion worth of loans taken out by the project. The Government added that further amounts were potentially available in the longer term. Even if the project is delayed, Britain still has to pay the premium price. So if the project is held up by four years until 2029, the UK still has to pay the price for energy as agreed for 2025. As accusations emerged from Downing Street that Mr Osborne had been desperate to butter up the Chinese, Commons energy and climate change committee chairman Angus MacNeil said Mrs May might have put the brakes on the very bad deal, as it may cost less in the long run to pull out now. Alex Wild, research director at the TaxPayers Alliance said: Its encouraging the Government is rethinking this terrible deal that would see consumers paying exorbitant bills for decades. The technology is completely unproven and the costs and time needed to build the reactors has already doubled since the initial proposal. The new department needs to completely rethink the energy policies and arbitrary targets which are driving up bills and destroying jobs. Even if the Government decides more nuclear capacity is needed, there are far more affordable options available. Government insiders made it clear Mrs May wishes to convince herself Mr Osborne had not got a bad deal for the UK taxpayers in his desperation to get China on side. During his time in the Treasury, Mr Osborne was accused of kowtowing to China to secure trade deals. Last September, he ignored the countrys human rights abuses as he tried to secure investment into the UK, including nuclear power plants. Former Chancellor George Osborne (right) offered generous subsidies and bent over backwards to get the Chinese to support Hinkley C but Theresa May (left) wants to have another look at the figures He downplayed the countrys lack of democracy as a different political system. And he argued Britain could still be the one-party dictatorships best partner in the West despite its record of torture and restricting freedom of the press. An edition of the Chinese Communist Partys official newspaper welcomed his decision not to question China. The Global Times newspaper wrote in an editorial: Keeping a modest manner is the correct attitude for a foreign minister visiting China to seek business opportunities. During the visit, Mr Osborne announced his desire to formally connect the London and Shanghai stock exchanges. He also fought a series of running battles with Theresa May over visas for Chinese visitors. Mr Osborne insisted Chinese businessmen in particular should be able to travel to the UK freely. The publicity figures suggest Hinkley C would supply seven percent of Britain's energy but critics say the money could be better spent on wind farms or other green energy schemes Next Saturday Prince Harry will be guest of honour at the wedding in South Africa of his cousin George McCorquodale to Bianca Moore, whom George met when they worked at one of the countrys schools. It promises to be a magnificent occasion a gathering of the Spencer and McCorquodale families, headed by Georges parents, Neil and Lady Sarah McCorquodale (nee Spencer), eldest sister of Diana, Princess of Wales held at Netherwood in KwaZulu-Natal. Harry, who will remain in South Africa for a few weeks to work on conservation projects dear to his heart, may however be hoping for slightly more than just a decent slice of wedding cake. Harry, who will remain in South Africa for a few weeks to work on conservation projects dear to his heart, may be hoping for slightly more than just a decent slice of wedding cake Prince Harry will be guest of honour at the wedding in South Africa of his cousin George McCorquodale to Bianca Moore (pictured), whom George met when they worked at one of the countrys schools Recently, he reflected ruefully on the instant and intense attention endured by any girl he is photographed with. If I even talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, he explained, adding that, in the days that follow, people go knocking on her door. CONFESSION OF THE WEEK Guy Pelly, former nightclub entrepreneur and best friend of Princes William and Harry, does nothing to disprove his reputation as a royal court jester in next months Tatler magazine. In my misspent youth, I loved to go climbing, he recalls. I was pretty good at it too though it was usually late at night, after a lot of alcohol, naked. Advertisement It seems that his cousin George at 31, just a couple of months younger than Harry, and, like him, an inheritor of the Spencer ginger curls is doing his utmost to give him some breathing space. The wedding website alerts guests that the couple have chosen for our wedding to be an adult-only occasion, and politely but pointedly states: Please note: No personal photos or cellphone photography allowed. The bond between the cousins is unsurprising. As children, George and his sisters, Emily and Celia, were notably close to Diana and her sons, joining the Princess and the boys for family holidays on Necker, Sir Richard Bransons private island. The affinity appears to endure in adulthood; indeed, in the section of the wedding website entitled our story, George describes himself as a naughty boy from England. A description to which Harry, too, would surely like to lay claim. Vicars in their knickers: Church mag dumbs down Dumbing-down seems to have reached the once-respected Church Times. In the week a French priest was murdered at his altar, the latest issue of the newspaper ignores that terrible news on its front page and instead features a photograph of a blonde vicar in a fashion-model pose, throwing back her head in laughter and showing a fine set of teeth. The latest issue of the Church Times features a photograph of a blonde vicar in a fashion-model pose, throwing back her head in laughter and showing a fine set of teeth She is wearing what looks like a fur-lined jacket and the headline is Farewell to frumpy: women and clergy vesture. Inside is a two-page article by the Reverend Joanna Jepson which tells of a female ordinand wearing red silk knickers on the day that she officially became a vicar. Is it any wonder that Islam is on the rise when the Church of Englands main newspaper is so vacuous? Is Osborne angling for a job with JP Morgan? Never let it be said that George Osborne doesnt understand finance his own, at least nor, indeed, the importance of befriending those who dispense lifes glittering prizes. The former Chancellor, sacked by Theresa May, was in New York this week, where he delivered a speech at a soiree hosted by the queen of Manhattan, Tina Brown. Never let it be said that George Osborne doesnt understand finance his own, at least nor, indeed, the importance of befriending those who dispense lifes glittering prizes Guests included Goldman Sachs ex-CEO Jon Corzine. Excitable friends of Osborne say he is angling for a directorship at JP Morgan Chase, which, helpfully, is headed by his chum Jamie Dimon. Dimon was a willing accomplice in Project Fear and said before the referendum that Brexit would be a terrible deal for the British economy. Sarah Palin, who has endorsed Trump, replied with a heart emoji for men In that case, 'God' referred to women's right to choose, Pelosi added Said in interview 'three G's' explained Trump's popularity with white men Minority leader Nancy Pelosi was at Democratic convention on Tuesday Nancy Pelosi believes that many white men who didn't go to college support Donald Trump because of social issues - a claim that Sarah Palin has refuted with a heart emoji. The minority leader of the US House Of Representatives spoke on PBS NewsHour earlier this week while at the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia. 'I think that, so many times, white non-college-educated white males have voted Republican. They voted against their own economic interests because of guns, because of gays, and because of God, the three Gs, God being the womans right to choose,' Pelosi told Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff. White, working-class men have drifted away from the Democratic party over the past decades and in some states, only 10 per cent of them supported Barack Obama, Newsweek wrote in 2014. Scroll down for video Minority leader of the US House Of Representatives Nancy Pelosi spoke on PBS NewsHour earlier this week while at the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia (pictured) One explanation behind that shrinking support is that Democrats' liberalism has driven away white, working-class men who do not always share the same beliefs. This has driven many of them to support the Republican nominee, even though he may not serve their economic interests, according to Pelosi. In her 'three G's' theory, God represented women's right to choose to have an abortion, Pelosi added. Sarah Palin, who has endorsed Trump, responded to Pelosi's theory on Friday with a simple 'I guess I [heart] men' - with a heart emoji instead of the verb. White people with a college education supported Trump and Clinton equally according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. Forty-two per cent of them supported Clinton and 43 per cent favored Trump, the data showed. Data for white people without a college education showed a stronger divide, which reflected Pelosi's claim: 60 per cent of white, non-college-educated people supported Trump, while 33 per cent leaned towards Clinton. Pelosi (pictured left at the Democratic convention on Thursday) said that many white men without a college education support Donald Trump because of their opinions on social issues. Sarah Palin (pictured right earlier this month), who has endorsed Trump, replied on social media using a heart emoji The family of one of Australia's media legends, Ian Ross, are embroiled in a bitter dispute over his estate. Ross died from pancreatic cancer aged 73 at Robina Hospital, on the Gold Coast, on April 30, 2014, leaving everything to his defacto partner Gray Bolte. Ross's only son, Stuart, has taken the matter to the Queensland Supreme Court, to earn a portion of the estate, reported The Courier Mail. Ross also has two daughters. Ian ross (left) died from pancreatic cancer aged 73 and his partner Gray Bolte (right) was given his entire estate Lawyers representing Stuart, 50, who works as a cleaner and woodworker have asked Mr Bolte how he has spent the money from the estate. They've also asked for an explanation as to why a $315,000 investment property was sold and $102, 560 were transferred into his bank account two days before Ross's death. Mr Bolte's lawyers said Ross's estate was valued at less than $500,000 while the other assets were gifts during their relationship. But the estate is expected to be more than $500,000 because Ross was 'on a salary of $800,000 to $1 million a year as a newsreader at Channel 7 from January 2004 to November 2009, and a very substantial income prior to that as a newsreader at Channel 9 since 1965', Stuart's lawyers claim. Mr Bolte's lawyers said Ross's estate was valued at less than $500,000 while the other assets were gifts during their relationship Ian Ross's Villa in Bali (pictured) reportedly had a $350,000 mortgage. Ross's son claims the mortgage was fabricated to minimise the total value of the estate The well-travelled pair left the country approximately three times a year and usually spent time at Ross's property in Bali, 'Villa Jam,' the court heard. '[Ross] spent most of our funds on overseas travel in the several years before Ian passed away. It was a lifestyle we enjoyed living together,' Mr Bolte said. The villa which was purchased in 2008 was sold last November for $435,000. Stuart said the $350,000 mortgage on the villa in Bali was a fabrication by Mr Bolte in an attempt to reduce the value of the estate. Stuart told the court despite not being close with his father, he was promised an investment property. 'This house will be yours one day,' Ross reportedly told Stuart. 'Because [Ross] was a well-known newsreader, I felt that I grew up in his shadow. It was as if nothing was good enough to please him. For his part, I got the impression from him that he felt I should have been more successful in life,' Stuart told the court. The case is ongoing and will return to court later this year. Donald Trump said while his daughter Ivanka is friends with rival Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, he wishes the pair did not like each other 'because it would be a lot easier.' During a rally in Colorado on Friday, the Republican nominee was saying how he thought Chelsea did very well during the Democratic convention when he jokingly made the remark. 'I thought Chelsea did a nice job,' he said. 'You know, Chelsea likes Ivanka and Ivanka likes Chelsea. I wish they didn't like each other but they do. 'It's easier if they don't like each other. You would think that relationship would be strained, but they like each other! 'And I thought Chelsea did a nice job last night. I really did. Okay. But Hillary that's another subject!' Donald Trump (pictured during a rally in Colorado) said on Friday that while his daughter Ivanka is friends with Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, he wishes the pair did not like each other 'because it would be a lot easier' Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton pictured together left and right in 2014. Trump said: 'You know, Chelsea likes Ivanka and Ivanka likes Chelsea. I wish they didn't like each other but they do. 'It's easier if they don't like each other' Trump's comment comes a day after Chelsea said she is still friends with Ivanka, despite their parents' escalated assaults against each other in the media in the race for the White House. On Thursday when Matt Lauer asked Chelsea during an interview with the TODAY show if she is friends with Ivanka, she said 'absolutely'. At the same time, the former first daughter said she was 'disturbed' by the GOP convention last week, and praised her mother for not 'engaging in divisive, bigoted rhetoric'. The 36-year-old mother-of-two introduced her mother on Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where the former first lady officially accepted the party's nomination. Like Chelsea, Ivanka, a 34-year-old mother-of-three, introduced her father when he received the Republican nomination at last week's GOP convention in Cleveland. Trump was saying how he thought Chelsea (pictured with her mother, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton) did very well during the convention when he jokingly made the remark about wishing the pair were not friends Like Chelsea, Ivanka (pictured with Trump last week) introduced her father when he received the Republican nomination at last week's GOP convention in Cleveland In the interview, Chelsea said she does not expect Ivanka 'to always have to defend her father'. Her most recent comments about her friendship with Ivanka come just three days after she was questioned about Ivanka during a panel with actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera. She was asked her thoughts on Ivanka portraying her father as the 'Gloria Steinem of the Republican Party,' as Glamour's editor in chief Cindi Leive put it, last week. In Cleveland, Ivanka suggested that Donald Trump would get behind equal pay for working moms. 'If you got to ask her a question about how her father would do that, what would it be?' Leive asked. Chelsea responded carefully and without any kind words for the other potential first daughter. 'Well, it would be that question,' Chelsea replied. 'How would your father do that?' she wanted to know. Ivanka Trump pictured left while introducing her father during the Republican National Convention and Chelsea Clinton pictured right as she introduces her mother during the Democratic National Convention 'Given it's not something he's spoken out,' Chelsea continued. 'There are no policies on any of those fronts that you just mentioned on his website. Not last week, not this week.' 'I think the how question is super important in politics as it is in life,' Chelsea explained. During Trump's rally on Friday, he declared that the Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention on Thursday night was 'so average.' He criticized her speech as being 'full of cliches' and full of false claims against him, and condemned the optimistic picture of the nation she painted. He said the Democratic nominee was 'talking last night about how wonderful things are.' 'She made it sound like everything is rosy-dory. Things are not rosy-dory, folks,' he said. He also claimed Clinton ignored recent terror attacks and disturbing trends in long-term unemployment and housing purchases. During Trump's rally on Friday, he declared that the Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech at the Democratic conventionwas 'so average,' and criticized it for being 'full of cliches' and full of false claims against him Many observers have said Trump's convention in Cleveland outlined a very dark depiction of the United States. Meanwhile, Clinton said Trump is offering America 'empty promises' and what she called 'bigotry and bombast.' Trump on Friday also bragged about TV ratings that indicated that more people watched his acceptance speech than Clinton's speech. A local council in Melbourne has demanded a mural of Hillary Clinton in a swimsuit be removed, saying they had received complaints about the provocative artwork. The mural of the US Presidential nominee wearing a skimpy stars and stripes-patterned monokini was painted on a wall in Footscray last weekend by street artist Lushsux. Maribyrnong Council has requested the artwork be removed from the wall, reported the Herald Sun. Maribyrnong Council has demanded a huge mural of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a revealing stars and stripes swimsuit (pictured) be removed from a wall in Melbourne A friend looking after Lushsux's small business told the Herald Sun it was 'over the top' and 'political correctness gone 'haywire'. 'I cant see any problem with someone expressing themselves with art,' Mitch said. Daily Mail Australia was unable to reach Maribyrnong Council for a comment on Saturday. Earlier in the week, Lushsux accused Instagram of politically-motivated censorship after his account was deleted. Melbourne street artist Lushsux, who painted the mural, said he believed the Clinton mural was the reason why his Instagram account was deleted on Wednesday He said he believed the mural he painted of Clinton was the reason his Instagram account, which had 107,000 followers, was deactivated on Wednesday. 'I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist with a tin foil hat but the timing of the Hillary Clinton mural posting and the deletion that ensued can't just be a coincidence,' he told Daily Mail Australia in an email. 'Instagram and Facebook have a very clear bias when it comes to this in my opinion. I've painted Trump murals and had no problems.' The artist said his account was removed without warning just as his Clinton mural was beginning to get viral traction. Clinton formally accepted her party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday and Lushsux said the timing was curious. The Clinton mural was captioned 'stupid sexy Hillary' - a nod to the well known Simpsons scene which sees Homer utter the same thing about Ned Flanders after he appears wearing a similarly coloured snowsuit. The artist told Daily Mail Australia earlier this week the picture was based off a popular Photoshop image circulating the internet, and had proved very popular with passers by. The artist said his account was removed without warning and has accused Instagram of politically-motivated censorship Another Lushsux mural captioned: 'When you're both pieces of sh** but it works' Lushsux said it was impossible to contact Instagram about the issue and described their action as censorship without recourse. He has started a new Instagram account @lushsux2. The artist has painted murals of Republican nominee Donald Trump and, most recently, his former model wife Melania. A mural on Perry Street in Collingwood of the aspiring first lady showed her from the waist up, and completely naked. Above her head was Ms Clinton's campaign slogan, 'I'm with her'. 'Instagram has deleted hundreds of meme and artist accounts over the last two weeks,' the artist said. 'If you do anything that doesn't tow their line you're subject to their censorship.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Instagram for comment. The artist has painted murals of Republican nominee Donald Trump and, most recently, his former model wife Melania (pictured) A 'memorial' to pop star Taylor Swift appeared on a Melbourne wall following the singer's public blow-up with Kim Kardashian and husband Kanye West The artist painted a large mural of Kim Kardashian's naked body on the wall of an inner- Melbourne suburb Lushsux has done a number of Donald Trump murals around Melbourne A 'RIP Taylor Swift' mural was earlier this month turned into a memorial for the late gorilla Harambe who made international headlines after being shot when a child fell into his enclosure A man has been charged with sexually abusing a five-year-old girl while at her home in Perth. The 31-year-old Swan View man allegedly abused the child at a house in the northern suburbs on Sunday July 24. Police said the man was known to the girl, and the girl told her parents about the incident when the man left. Detectives from the Child Abuse Squad arrested the man on Friday, reported WA Today. The man was refused bail to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday charged with three counts of indecent dealings with a children under the age of 13. They police are investigating whether he was involved in the shootings His colleague Wade Irwin, a veteran of nine years, was shot and injured 'J.B.' DeGuzman was killed in attack after following traffic stop Gomez, 52, is in critical condition from gunshot wound but expected to live Jesse Gomez has been arrested in connection with San Diego shootings Police have released the name of a suspect in the San Diego police shootings that left one officer dead and another wounded following a traffic stop. Jesse Gomez was arrested in connection with the shooting of Officer Jonathan 'J.B.' DeGuzman, a 16-year veteran, who was killed during a shootout on Thursday night. DeGuzman's colleague Officer Wade Irwin, 32, a veteran of nine years, was injured in the attack but he's expected to survive after undergoing emergency surgery. Police have released the name of a suspect in the San Diego police shootings that left Officer Jonathan 'J.B.; DeGuzman (left) dead and his partner Officer Wade Irwin (right) wounded following a traffic stop. Jesse Gomez was arrested in connection with the shootings San Diego Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman told reporters Friday that the 52-year-old was taken into custody and is in critical condition from a gunshot wound but is expected to survive Police also arrested a second man, 41-year-old Marcus Antonio Cassani, on an unrelated warrant. Zimmerman says police are investigating whether he was involved in the Thursday night shootings. Armed San Diego police officers surround a house about half a mile away from the scene of the shootings San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman told reporters Friday that the 52-year-old was taken into custody and is in critical condition from a gunshot wound but is expected to survive. Police also arrested a second man, 41-year-old Marcus Antonio Cassani, on an unrelated warrant. Zimmerman says police are investigating whether he was involved in the Thursday night shootings. She said Cassani was arrested outside a house that SWAT had surrounded for hours. DeGuzman, who was a father-of-two, was described as a 'loving, caring' husband and father who 'talked about his family all the time'. He had been awarded the purple heart in 2003 after he was stabbed by a man he had stopped for speeding. The two officers, part of the gang suppression squad, radioed to say they were making a traffic stop around 11pm on Thursday night. Seconds later they radioed for back-up. Both officers were wearing bulletproof vests and body cameras. Officer DeGuzman was shot multiple times and he later died in the hospital. San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, who worked with Officer DeGuzman before she was promoted in 2014, said: 'I know him, and this is gut-wrenching. He cared. He came to work every day wanting to just make a positive difference in the lives of our community.' Zimmerman (center) said Cassani was arrested outside a house that SWAT had surrounded for hours SWAT officers search a back alley after the fatal shooting of officer Jonathan DeGuzman The shooting comes as officers around the country are on high alert following the killing of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this month She said: 'I can tell you he is a loving, caring husband, father. Talked about his family all the time.' His partner Officer Irwin is making a recovery at UC San Diego Medical Center. Speaking outside the hospital Zimmerman said: 'It's a little bit of a long haul until he makes a full recovery, but the good news is that he is going to survive and he is going to recover.' Authorities detonated several devices at the scene that made deafening booms. The shooting comes as officers around the country are on high alert following the killing of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this month. 'Violence against the men and women who wear the badge is violence against us all,' San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said after the shootings in his city. 'I ask all San Diegans and all people across our nation to join together in support of our officers who courageously protect our communities. We need them and they need us.' US Attorney General Loretta Lynch mentioned the San Diego shooting during a meeting Friday with police officers and other first responders in Baton Rouge, where a gunman killed three on-duty law enforcement officers earlier this month. The Army reservist who killed five Dallas police officers had kept an unauthorized grenade in his room on an Afghanistan base in 2014, along with stolen women's panties and prescription medicine, according to a report by Army officials. The report, which comes from the Army investigation a sexual harassment complaint against Micah Johnson, was released Friday and includes new details about an incident that left Johnson stripped of his weapons and removed from his base in disgrace in May 2014. His military career ended soon afterward. His parents have said he was never the same. Army reservist, Micah Johnson (pictured) who killed five Dallas police officers had kept an unauthorized grenade in his room on an Afghanistan base in 2014, along with stolen women's panties and prescription medicine, according to a report by Army officials Johnson's military career ended soon after Sgt Ana Christine Ma (pictured) reported four pairs of panties missing while the two were at Camp Shank, a base in eastern Afghanistan. Soldiers found the missing underwear in a dumpster where Johnson had apparently thrown them after getting caught with them The 25-year-old Dallas man was killed July 8 after targeting police during a rally protesting recent police shootings. Carrying an assault rifle, Johnson took multiple positions as he attacked police, killing Sr Cpl Lorne Ahrens, Officer Michael Krol, Officer Patrick Zamarripa,Sgt Michael Smith and Officer Brent Thompson. He threatened to kill more before a bomb-carrying robot was deployed to kill him, authorities said. Johnson told authorities during the attack that he wanted to gun down white officers, police have said. A few soldiers who were packing up Johnson's possessions found the grenade and prescription medicine belonging to someone else, the report said The Mississippi-born Johnson was in ROTC in high school and would join the Army Reserve. But his military career ended soon after Sgt Ana Christine Ma reported four pairs of panties missing while the two were at Camp Shank, a base in eastern Afghanistan, according to the New York Daily News. Soldiers found the missing underwear in a dumpster where Johnson had apparently thrown them after getting caught with them in his room. Later on, a few other soldiers were packing up Johnson's possessions and found the MK-19 grenade in his room, as well as a .50-caliber round and prescription medicine belonging to someone else, the report said. The Army has blacked out the recommendations of the investigating officer who wrote the report. Soldiers are not allowed to have grenades in their barracks, according to several military experts. Johnson's superiors could have recommended punishment for stealing government property or mishandling ammunition, said Geoffrey Corn, a former military judge who teaches at the South Texas College of Law. But they may have chosen to pursue the sexual harassment case since it was so strong, he said. The presence of the grenade also alarmed Patrick McLain, a Dallas defense lawyer and former military judge who was not involved in Johnson's case. 'If indeed he really had panties that belonged to her without her permission, that kind of pales in comparison to having an explosive device or to having someone else's medication. That's serious,' McLain said. Retired Sgt Gilbert Fischbach, who was Johnson's squad leader before he deployed and has been highly critical of the military's handling of the case, said the grenade finding 'should have been a red flag.' Fischbach said the military dropped both the protective order sought by the woman in her sexual harassment complaint and her request that he be psychologically evaluated. The report the Army released on Friday, redacted to black out the names of all involved but Johnson, is only a small piece of the story, said Fischbach. 'There will be more documents coming out,' said Fischbach. 'I told you it was going to be a smokescreen.' Johnson's parents and the woman who accused him of sexual harassment did not return messages Friday. The 25-year-old Dallas man was killed July 8 after targeting police during a rally protesting recent police shootings. Pictured are officers at a memorial service honoring the five fallen officers Carrying an assault rifle, Johnson took multiple positions as he attacked police, killing five officers He threatened to kill more before a bomb-carrying robot was deployed to kill him, authorities said. Pictured is Sr Cpl Lorne Ahrens Johnson told authorities during the attack that he wanted to gun down white officers, police have said. Officials in Dallas won't confirm if they are still examining Johnson's body. Pictured is Officer Michael Krol The Army still has not said why Johnson was honorably discharged instead of a lesser discharge, as the lawyer representing Johnson in the sexual harassment case has said he previously expected. Nor have local or federal authorities detailed what led Johnson upon his return to the US to plan the deadliest attack on American law enforcement since 9/11. Officials in Dallas won't confirm if they are still examining Johnson's body. Records released Friday by the police in Mesquite, the Dallas suburb where Johnson lived with his mother, indicate he had previous disputes with a woman. One night in January 2011, Johnson walked into the Mesquite police department and appeared upset, according to a police report. Johnson told an officer that 'he was lied to by a female friend' and 'did not want to get into trouble.' The report, first reported by The Dallas Morning News, doesn't elaborate on what he meant or name the friend. Police wrote that he had 'displayed unstable mental faculties' but did not want to see a mental health professional or contact his mother. A friend eventually picked him up. A deputy was arrested this month after shooting his service weapon at a church in Ellis County, Texas. The incident involving Sommervell County Sheriff's Deputy William Cox took place on July 13. The 27-year-old told Ovilla police that he was distraught regarding the recent assault on police in Dallas, became drunk and needed to de-stress, a report from Fox 4 News said. Scroll down for video A deputy was arrested this month after shooting his service weapon in a parking lot at a church in Ellis County, Texas. The incident involving Sommervell County Sheriff's Deputy William Cox took place on July 13 The 27-year-old told Ovilla police that he was distraught regarding the recent assault on police in Dallas, became drunk and needed to de-stress, it's been reported Cox said that he shot the weapon both at the sky and at Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the report said. Police body cam footage obtained by Fox 4 News revealed Cox said the gunshots were 'cause my boys are getting killed in Dallas'. At one point the footage showed that he was on the ground and said 'the black c--n started killing my boys in Dallas'. Dallas gunman Micah Johnson shot and killed five police officers on July 7. Killed in that attack were Officer Patrick Zamarripa, Sr Cpl Lorne Ahrens, Officer Michael Krol, and Sgt Michael Smith, all of whom were with the Dallas Police Department, as well as Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Officer Brent Thompson. Dallas gunman Micah Johnson (left) shot and killed five police officers on July 7. One of the victims was Officer Patrick Zamarripa (right) with the Dallas Police Department Also killed in the Dallas attack were Sr Cpl Lorne Ahrens (left) and Officer Michael Krol (right), both of whom were with the Dallas Police Department The other victims killed in Dallas were Sgt Michael Smith (left) with the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Officer Brent Thompson Cox said he shot his service weapon at the sky and into Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church The church suffered damage, and Cox was jailed and charged with deadly conduct Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church suffered damage, and Cox was jailed and charged with deadly conduct, according to Fox 4 News. He was let out on July 14 after the pastor signed an affidavit of non-prosecution, its report said. Cox was 'immediately' fired by the Sommervell County Sheriff's Office, the news outlet wrote. The deputy previously was an Ellis County jailer - and the TV station said that it got a picture of a brick wall when seeking his mugshot. Ovilla police handcuffed the 27-year-old deputy. He's been fired from the Sommervell County Sheriff's Office He previously was an Ellis County jailer - and a local TV station said that it got a picture of a brick wall when seeking his mugshot Patrick Wilson, Ellis County District Attorney, told Fox 4 News in an interview: 'The criticism that is being lobbed against law enforcement and the criminal justice system in general in our community and our society today, the foundation of that criticism is what's illustrated in this case. 'And that is favoritism. That some people in the criminal justice system get treated differently. 'And how can I dispel that narrative when these facts completely support that?' He said the district attorney's office is going to investigate. Jirayr Sefilyan: First I must meet with the guys and then with Serzh Sargsyan The Founding Parliament today has released the statement of Jirayr Sefilyan: Dear compatriots, I want to inform you that during past 3-4 days, negotiators have visited me, whom I know and respect. They visited me after having met with Serzh Sargsyan. The negotiators visited me for two times and once called and conveyed that Serzh Sargsyan hasnt changed his stance and continues to claim that the guys should lay down the arms, after which meeting will be held between them. I told them that I also remain committed to my stance that the goal of my meeting with the guys is to find political golden mean. First I should meet with the guys and then with Serzh Sargsyan, only as a result of that the guys can lay down the arms. I continue to insist on this stance. Not coming to an agreement with Serzh Sargsyan in this matter has had serious consequences for our people, for which I am very sorry. The whole nation is in a bout, and Serzh Sargsyan wants to make it sink. Not coming to an agreement by him and using cruel methods against the people can prove it. On the contrary to all this, as well as on the contrary to the insidious actions carried out by the regime against Sasna Dzrer and the people, I remain open for negotiations, which aim at stopping bloodshed as soon as possible. So, the whole responsibility of the current events in Armenia lies with Serzh Sargsyan. Police were stunned to find more than $200,000 cash in a car in the cavity where the passenger airbag should have been. Officers pulled over a Ford Falcon allegedly driven by a 64-year-old man on the Newell Highway in West Wyalong, central New South Wales. After a search of the car, police allegedly uncovered the huge sum of money when they dismantled one of the vehicle's safety features. Police allegedly made the discovery after they pulled over a Ford Falcon driven by a 64-year-old man on the Newell Highway in West Wyalong, central New South Wales After a search of the car, police allegedly uncovered the huge sum of money when they dismantled one of the vehicle's safety features The 64-year-old was arrested and charged with dealing with suspected proceeds of crime and goods in custody. The money was seized and will undergo forensic examinations. Commander of Traffic and Highway Patrol, Assistant Commissioner John Hartley, said that recently launched police programs are working. 'The CATCH program targets vehicles suspected of transporting drugs and other illegal contraband,' he said. 'Since the inception of the program, over $110 million dollars worth of drugs, guns, cash, stolen goods, and other contraband has been taken off our roads. 'If you think you are going to get away with illegal activity on our roads, you can think again. 'Police are out in force, and if you are doing the wrong thing, we will catch up with you' The man is due to appear at West Wyalong Local Court in August. Advertisement A Brazilian drug lord serving an eight-year prison sentence has been seeing out his time behind bars in a 'VIP cell' - complete with a plasma television, a kitchen, three rooms and a DVD library. Jarvis Chimenes Pavao, was locked up in Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, after being found guilty of money laundering charges. Yet Pavao, who is considered to be one of South America's deadliest and most feared drug lords, was living the life of luxury behind pars in the Paraguayan prison. A Brazilian drug lord serving an eight-year prison sentence was seeing out his time behind bars in a 'VIP cell' Brazilian drug lord Jarvis Chimenes Pavao was serving an eight-year prison sentence in a 'VIP cell' - complete with a plasma television, a kitchen, three rooms and a DVD library. Pavao, one of South America's deadliest drug lords, was living the life of luxury behind pars in the Paraguayan prison Other inmates called it the 'VIP cell', thanks to its three rooms, en suite bathroom, kitchen, wardrobes, conference room, air conditioning, tiled walls, furniture, and library - complete with a DVD collection that included all episodes of a television show about Pablo Escobar. But Pavao's cushy life behind bars came to an end at his own doing, after officers began to suspect he was planning to detonate a bomb in order to smash through one of the jail walls and escape. Investigators flooded the Brazilian's cell in search of the explosives on Tuesday night, but instead found his luxury prison pad. After the raid, Pavao's lawyer said the lifestyle her client was able to lead while locked up was proof of how deeply corrupt the Paraguayan prison system had become. The cell had a DVD collection - including the complete series of a television show about notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar Other inmates called it the 'VIP cell', thanks to its three rooms, en suite bathroom, kitchen, wardrobes, conference room, air conditioning, tiled walls, furniture, and library But Pavao's cushy life behind bars came to an end at his own doing, after officers began to suspect he was planning to detonate a bomb in order to smash through one of the jail walls and escape Pavao's lawyer said the lifestyle his client was able to lead while locked up was proof of how deeply corrupt the Paraguayan prison system had become 'Six or seven justice ministers and six or seven prison directors' took bribes from Pavao, his lawyer alleged. The lawyer also claimed her client paid for lodgings for prison directors, toilets for the guards, the renovation of the prison library and the cooks' salaries. In the wake of the scandal, Justice Minister Carla Bacigalupo was sacked almost immediately. 'Six or seven justice ministers and six or seven prison directors' took bribes from Pavao, his lawyer alleged after the luxury cell was discovered Tacumbu penitentiary is considered one of the most overcrowded and violent jail of Paraguay - with inmates often starving to death or being involved in riots Armed with iron bars, batons, knives and axes when they demand cash Identifying pair is difficult as each time they have been heavily disguised Police say duo are responsible for seven A spate of terrifying armed robberies involving knives, axes and heavy disguises is the work of two men, police believe. A special police task force has been established to investigate the robberies across Brisbane amid concerns someone could be seriously hurt unless the two are caught. The duo were always heavily armed with iron bars, batons, knives and axes when they demanded cash. Scroll down for video The two men are believed to be responsible for a string of petrifying robberies around Brisbane CCTV footage shows one man threaten a female patron with a blade when she tries to escape CCTV vision shows the two armed men storm in to a pub and threaten a female patron before taking wads of cash from the till. Police said they could be responsible for up to seven robberies over the past month, including one early on Saturday morning. But identifying the pair has been difficult as each time they have been heavily disguised. Detective Inspector Tim Trezise said the men had two disguises of choice - hooded tracksuits or high-visibility work gear with face masks. The man directs her back to the gaming room where she had attempted to flee from 'They're always covered head to foot in disguises to both defeat the CCTV footage and potentially defeat our forensic examinations,' he said on Saturday. All of the robberies were on Brisbane's north side until a hold-up at the Tingalpa Hotel, which is in the city's east. Det Insp Trezise said police were concerned about the risk the men posed to the community, with one person injured so far in one of the robberies. 'They're armed, they're threatening and clearly they're terrifying both staff and patrons at these different businesses. It's very much in our interest to catch them as soon as we can.' He said somebody would know the culprits and urged those with information to contact police. The woman is then forced to cower behind the machines by a heavily disguised thief while his partner robs the till A woman has accused a federal judge of raping her several times when she served as a teenage witness in a high-profile murder case. Terry Mitchell, was 16 when she delivered a key testimony in the 1980 case against Neo Nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin. Franklin, who admitted to committing 22 murders between 1977 and 1980, was executed in 2013 for shooting and killing a man outside a synagogue in St Louis. Mitchell witnessed the murders of two her friends at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1980. Franklin was charged in both cases. Scroll down for video Terry Mitchell (left) delivered a key testimony in the case against Neo Nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin in 1980, when she was 16 years old. She says Judge Richard Warren Roberts (right), who was a prosecutor at the time, raped her several times Franklin (pictured), who admitted to committing 22 murders between 1977 and 1980, was executed in 2013 for shooting and killing a man outside a synagogue in St Louis Now, Mitchell says Judge Richard Warren Roberts, who was then a 27-year-old attorney working for the prosecution, raped her several times during Franklin's trial. 'I really feel that other survivors need to know that it's OK to tell the truth and not feel like you have to be ashamed of what happened to you,' Mitchell told Fox 13 on Friday. 'He said if anyone ever found out what was happening, that there would be a mistrial and Franklin would be allowed to be free and hurt more people, kill more people.' Roberts, who later became a federal judge, retired in March this year citing unspecified health issues. Mitchell filed a $25 million lawsuit against him at the same time. 'Roberts acknowledges that the relationship was indeed a bad lapse in judgment. However, the relationship did not occur until after the trial and had no bearing on the outcome of that trial,' Roberts' attorneys said in a statement at the time. Advertisement Thousands of people have greeted Pope Francis as he arrived for an evening vigil in Poland to celebrate World Youth Day - with sunshine and crowds of believers making the scene seem more like a festival. Crowds of worshippers set up camp and sunbathed as they waited for the Pontiff to arrive at Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow. Flags from all over the world, colourful umbrellas and huge banners welcomed the Pope as he arrived to the celebration. Pope Francis is on the fourth day of his tour in Poland which coincides with the week-long World Youth Day festival. Pope Francis addresses the crowd of thousands of the Catholic faithful, who waited for hours to see him during a Prayer Vigil with young at the Campus Misericordiae during World Youth Day in Brzegi, near Krakow In astonishing nighttime scenes, children and teenagers clutched candles during the vigil, to celebrate the week-long World Youth Day festival in Poland Sister Cristina Scuccia, 2014 winner of the Italian talent show 'The Voice Of Italy', sings during the concert 'Credo in Misericordiam Dei' (I believe in God's Mercy) after the evening vigil with Pope Francis It comes as Pope Francis insisted church doors must remain open despite security fears and warnings after ISIS jihadis executed a priest in France. Islamists Abdel Malik, along with Adel Kermiche cut the throat of Father Jacques Hamel at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, on Tuesday. The pair forced a man in the congregation to video the brutal killing of the 85-year-old on a phone before he was knifed in the neck, arms and back next to the altar. The execution sparked authorities, including the British Home Office, to urge religious leaders to tighten up security, but the Pope appeared to reject the warnings. Pope Francis issued the message of defiance as he celebrated a mass in a shrine in Poland dedicated to the late Polish pope, St John Paul II. During mass in Krakow, the Pope said that Jesus wanted his church 'to be a church on the move, a church that goes out into the world. 'This call is also addressed to us. How can we fail to hear its echo in the great appeal of Saint John Paul II: "Open the doors"?' It comes after the Catholic world was shaken by the brutal slaughter of 85-year-old priest Father Jacques Hamel at the hands of knife-wielding men in an attack claimed by ISIS The vigil sent out a message of peace, with pilgrims holding lit candles as they prayed during the evening with the Pope in Krakow, Poland Pope Francis, accompanied by youths from five continents, passes through the Door of Mercy ahead of a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland Crowds of worshippers set up camp and sunbathed as they waited for the Pontiff to arrive at Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow Flags from all over the world, colourful umbrellas and huge banners were seen at Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, where the pontiff is holding a ceremony tonight. Pictured, the Pope walking through the Holy Door with teenagers at the World Youth Day festival Pope Francis and youths pass through the Gate of Mercy at the Campus Misericordiae during World Youth Day in Brzegi near Krakow Pope Francis, accompanied by youths, arrives with his popemobile to attend a prayer vigil to celebrate World Youth Day, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi It comes as Pope Francis insisted church doors must remain open despite security fears and warnings after ISIS jihadis executed a priest in France Young people cheer as they welcome Pope Francis to lead a Prayer Vigil at Campus Misericordiae during World Youth Day in Brzegi Pope Francis issued a message of defiance as he celebrated a mass in a shrine in Poland dedicated to the late Polish pope, St John Paul II People set up camp as they waited for the vigil being held tonight by Pope Francis at Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland A helicopter flies over as faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Campus Misericordiae during World Youth Day in Brzegi near Krakow Pope Francis is in Poland for an international Catholic youth festival with a mission to encourage openness to migrants Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Campus Misericordiae during World Youth Day in Brzegi near Krakow, Poland The Argentine, who devoted the day to the theme of mercy, arrived earlier at the imposing Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Lagiewniki, a district of the southern city. He was greeted by adoring crowds who cheered him as he went past on foot and in the Popemobile Pope Francis insisted church doors must remain open despite security fears and warnings after ISIS jihadis executed a priest in France Nuns react during the arrival of Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy (Lagiewniki ) in Krakow, Poland Pope Francis speaks during mass at the Sanctuary of John Paul II during the World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, today Francis also paid tribute to Poland's late pontiff John Paul II as he continued his tour of the country in Krakow for World Youth Day. The Argentine, who devoted the day to the theme of mercy, arrived early at the imposing Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Lagiewniki, a district of the southern city. He was greeted by adoring crowds who cheered him as he went past on foot and in the Popemobile. Francis took part in religious celebrations today at sites tied to two saints cherished in Poland late pope St. John Paul II and St. Faustina, a mystic who had been a source of comfort to him. The frail, 82-year-old John Paul II consecrated the new basilica during his last visit to his homeland in 2002, by anointing its white marble altar and celebrating prayers there. He stressed then his special attachment to St. Faustina whose accounts of visions of Jesus have led to the spread of devotion to Divine Mercy. Today, nuns and priests, singing and waving little banners, greeted Francis as he entered the vast church. He then prayed before the chapel of St. Faustina, where she is buried. Francis met and blessed children and the infirm who were waiting for him in the church. Later he went to the nearby Sanctuary of St. John Paul II, also in the Lagiewniki district, consecrated in 2013 and dedicated to the late pope who is still the source of great pride in Poland. Pope Francis waves as he arrives at Saint Faustina's chapel at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki during the World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland The execution sparked authorities, including the British Home Office, to urge religious leaders to tighten up security, but the Pope appeared to reject the warnings A nun takes photos during the arrival of Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy (Lagiewniki ) in Krakow, Poland Pope Francis paid tribute to Poland's late pontiff John Paul II as he continued his tour of the country in Krakow for World Youth Day Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of hundreds of thousands of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland The lower church houses the relics of John Paul, who died in 2005, while his body is entombed inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. The close proximity of the two major shrines has drawn some surprise criticism, as it has resulted in crowds splitting up between the two during ceremonies. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of hundreds of thousands of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. Pope Francis greets faithful as he arrives at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow on the fourth day of his visit to Poland Pope Francis walks with nuns as he arrives at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, as World Youth Day begins in the country Pope Francis blesses faithful as he arrives at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016 A nun greets Pope Francis upon his arrival at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016, on the fourth day of his visit to Poland A computer program that Hillary Clinton's campaign used to analyze voter data was hacked by the same group that infiltrated the Democratic National Committee emails, according to federal officials. The attack, which the Clinton campaign said did not compromise their internal systems, adds fuel to allegations that the Russian government may be behind the hacks in an attempt to sway the election towards Donald Trump. 'It's the same adversary', an official involved in the forensic investigation told the NYTimes after naming the group Fancy Bear, linked to Russia's military intelligence service, GRU. A computer program that Hillary Clinton's campaign used to analyze voter data was hacked (pictured, VP pick Tim Kaine and Clinton at the DNC on Thursday) The attack on the analytics program was carried out by the same group behind the DNC emails, an official involved in the forensic investigation told the NYTimes (pictured, a delegate at the DNC on Tuesday) The FBI is also investigating a hack on the Democratic National Committee, which led to the publication of 19,000 emails on WikiLeaks just days before the party's national convention The hackers had access to the analytics program for about five days, although a campaign aide said Social Security numbers and credit card information were not breached The hackers had access to the analytics program for about five days, although a campaign aide said Social Security numbers and credit card information were not breached. While the campaign did not specify what data was being analyzed, companies offer services that track and identify website visitors to help organizations tailor their online content. The hack could not have accessed the Clinton campaign's internal emails, voicemails, computers or other internal communications and documents, according to the campaign's external cyber security expert. The FBI is also investigating a hack on the Democratic National Committee, which led to the publication of 19,000 emails on WikiLeaks just days before the party's national convention. CrowdStrike Inc, a California computer security firm called in to help the investigation, published a blog post attributing both Fancy Bear and a competing group Cozy Bear to the attacks on the DNC's internal network. The security firm said Cozy Bear had hacked into the system in 2015, while Fancy Bear acted in April 2016. '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,' the company's blog post on June 15 stated. 'We have identified no collaboration between the two actors, or even an awareness of one by the other. 'Instead, we observed the two Russian espionage groups compromise the same systems and engage separately in the theft of identical credentials.' CrowdStrike later acknowledged a blog post written by the alias Guccifer, who took responsibility for the DNC hack, but stated it 'stands fully by its analysis and findings identifying two separate Russian intelligence-affiliated adversaries'. Robert Joyce, chief of the National Security Agency's Tailored Access Operations, suggested that the US' cyber-warfare team may be targeting the hackers in return. Vladimir Putin's press secretary called the accusations 'absurd', while Trump stirred the pot by inviting Russia to dig up Clinton's emails. Trump has since said he was being sarcastic 'In terms of the foreign intelligence mission, one of the things we have to do is try to understand who did a breach, who is responsible for a breach,' Joyce told ABC. 'So we will use the NSA's authorities to pursue foreign intelligence to try to get back into that collection, to understand who did it and get the attribution. That's hard work, but that's one of the responsibilities we have.' President Barack Obama has said Russia was almost certainly responsible for the DNC hack, an assertion that has been supported by cybersecurity experts. The press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the accusations behind the DNC breach and called it 'absurd'. While Obama said it was possible that Russia was trying to sway the elections, the motives behind the cyber-attack remain unclear. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, on the other hand, has made it apparent that he would target Clinton in a June 12th interview on the UK-based network ITV. He offered up his 'personal perspective', accusing Clinton of trying to indict him before adding that she was a 'problem for freedom of the press more generally'. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned last week after the DNC hack led to the release of 19,000 emails Trump then stirred the pot when he said: 'If they hacked, they probably have her 33,000 emails. I hope they do... 'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. 'I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press!' After officials slammed his shocking statements as 'irresponsible' and 'unprecedented', Trump explained he was only being sarcastic. The FBI said Friday it was aware of 'media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters.' The hacked DNC emails showed the party's bias against Senator Bernie Sanders, leading to chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation last week. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises money and provides other assistance for Democratic House candidates, also acknowledged a digital break-in of its computers resembling the DNC hack. Spokeswoman Meredith Kelly said the committee was 'the target of a cybersecurity incident' and was informed by investigators 'that this is similar to other recent incidents, including the DNC breach.' She said the congressional campaign committee is using CrowdStrike and is 'cooperating with the federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation.' She said her organization is 'continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network in the face of these recent events.' Nourredine has been charged with attempted terrorism murder Hamza H was released without charge this afternoon after questioning Belgian prosecutors have charged a man with attempted murder following a late night raid by anti terror police. The man, named as Nourredine H, 33, was charged with attempting to commit terrorist murder and taking part in a terrorist group after he and his brother Hamza H. were arrested on Friday. The pair were arrested on Friday night following a raid in Liege, however, Hamza H has been released without charge. Belgian police have foiled a planned terror attack, prosecutors in Brussels have confirmed , file picture Federal prosecutors have not found any links between the two brothers and an attack on the Brussels Metro Prosecutors charged Nourredine H with attempted terrorism murder and released Hamza H without charge Police spent the day questioning the pair before the decision was made to release one brother and charge the other. Nourredine is suspected of 'planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium'. Public broadcaster RTBF said that Nourredine had previously helped others travel to fight in Syria and had recently travelled widely across Europe, making a number of contacts in France. It added he was looking for weapons, which had prompted Belgian investigators to act. Today's arrests prompted a eight searches of houses in the French-speaking areas of Mons and Liege. According to De Morgen, the major operation was launched in an area between Bergen and Liege. Police did not find any firearms or explosives during any of the searches. Both men appeared before an investigating judge, who ordered the release of one of the brother and to charge Nourredine with attempted terrorist murde. A federal prosecutor said: 'Based on provisional results from the investigation, it appears that there were plans to carry out an attack somewhere in Belgium.' BELGIUM: EUROPE'S JIHAD CENTRE Belgium is the main source per head of population of jihadist recruits going from the European Union to fight with ISIS in Syria, causing deep concern that they will return home battle-hardened and even more radicalised. The interior ministry said 457 Belgian men and women have gone or tried to join jihadists in the Middle East, including 90 who are missing or dead. Belgium's massive security deployment that includes armed soldiers on its streets has also responded to two alerts in the last few weeks in central Brussels that turned out to be false. One involved an Iranian student studying radiation and another a man with psychiatric problems who was carrying a fake suicide belt full of salt and biscuits. Advertisement At this stage, prosecutors are not linking the plot to attacks at Brussels airport and the metro on March 22 where 32 people died. Police carried out seven house searches in the region of Mons and a further house search in Liege. No weapons or explosives were found. Brussels, home to European Union institutions and the headquarters of NATO, and Belgium in general are on a security alert level of three out of a maximum of four, a 'serious' status with a 'possible and probable' threat. Several of those involved in the Brussels bloodshed were directly linked to the November 13 attacks in Paris which left 130 dead. Belgian authorities last month charged two men with terrorist offences amid reports of a planned attack on a Euro 2016 fanzone in central Brussels. Belgium then beefed up security for its July 21 national day celebrations after the truck attack that killed 84 people in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14. Belgian authorities had previously anticipated a possible truck-style attack before the Nice carnage. Meanwhile, security was stepped up in and around Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Saturday following a threat, local authorities said in a statement, adding that aviation was unaffected. According to an official: 'In a joint meeting of the mayor, public prosecution office, chief (of) Royal Military Police and the police of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in consultation with the (anti-terrorist police) NCTV it was decided to take additional security measures," read a statement issued by the municipality in which the airport lies. Dutch police have increased security at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam due to terror attack fears Officials said the public would notice additional armed police, but there would also be 'unseen' security Passengers arriving at the airport today reported increased tailbacks on roads approaching the terminal 'The airport and its surrounding area remain accessible and all operations can continue as usual.' It explained the move was prompted by a 'signal' that 'fits within the national threat level, which has been substantial since 2013'. The statement described the additional measures as both 'visible' and 'invisible', explaining that passengers would see more officers inside the airport. A search is underway for a missing 26-year-old mother and her five-month-old son who were last seen two weeks ago. Kirsty McDonald and her son, Tallin, has not made contact with her family since she disappeared around 6.30pm on July 16 in Kuranda, west of Cairns, police said. She was seen driving a grey Mazda 6 on Butler Street with Queensland registration number 463 LYM. A search is underway for Kirsty McDonald (pictured), 26, and her five-month-old son, Tallin, (pictured) who have been missing since they were last seen two weeks ago in Kuranda, just west of Cairns She was seen driving a grey Mazda 6 on Butler Street with Queensland registration number 463 LYM Officers said they are worried about the young mother's safety and that her behaviour is out of character. Ms McDonald is about 155cms tall and has a slim build with dark brown hair, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers. Officers said they are worried about the young mother's safety and that her behaviour is out of character The grieving husband of a British beauty therapist killed in Pakistan vowed to fight for justice as police revealed she was suffocated to death. Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died while visiting relatives in northern Punjab on Wednesday last week. She was set to fly back to the home she shared with Syed Mukhtar Kazam in Dubai the following day. He believes she was tricked into visiting Pakistan by her family on the pretence her father was gravely ill. He claims she was murdered in an 'honour killing' because her family disapproved of their marriage after she left her first husband and cousin, Mohammed Shakeel. His allegation came after photographs of Ms Shahid's body, seen by MailOnline, emerged yesterday which showed a 7.5 inch red mark around her neck and saliva and blood oozing from her mouth and nostrils. Scroll down for video Marriage: Samia's second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam claims she was killed by her family because they refused to accept their marriage. He said he was made to feel like an outsider Wedding: Mr Kazam married his wife at Leeds Town Hall in 2014 and the pair had been living together in Dubai Shocking: Samia Shahid's dead body (left) shows a 7.5 inch red mark on her neck, which her second husband said confirms she was murdered while visiting her family in Pakistan Marks: A post mortem found a 7.5 inch wound on Samia's neck. Police in Pakistan initially claimed she had suffered no injuries and allowed the family to bury her. But detectives have now launched a murder probe A hushed-up post mortem confirmed Ms Shahid had a red gash around her throat after she died. A doctor who examined her body described it as a 'horrible mark on the right side of the neck'. The report was handed to police on July 20. Police initially decided she had no suspicious injuries so allowed her family to bury her in Pandori, northern Punjab. But they have now launched a murder inquiry and are investigating claims the family bribed officials to cover-up the post-mortem. Her family claim she died of a heart attack. Her ex-husband and her father, Mohammed Shahid, have both been arrested on suspicion of murder. A cousin, Mobeen Mohammed, has also been arrested in Pakistan. All three have been bailed. First marriage: Samia is pictured at her first wedding to cousin Mohammed Shakeel, whom she left after a year of marriage. Shakeel has been arrested on suspicion of her murder and released on bail Arrested: Ms Shaid's father Mohammed, whom Samia had been visiting in Pakistan, has been arrested by detectives investigating the 23-year-old beauty therapist's death. He has been released on bail Mr Kazam, who married Samia in Leeds in 2014, said: 'I've lost Samia and I can't bring her back but I need help because we are all human and we need to bring the truth out. 'I'm shattered. I can't describe my pain, I don't have the words. She is such a great loss. 'She was such a naive person and those monsters - they killed her. They think they are some big shots and can take anyone's life. This is not how the world works.' Mr Kazam, who has flown to Pakistan, added: 'I can't bring her back but I need justice for her'. The 30-year-old sent a series of desperate final messages to his wife on the day she died. He texted her to say he was 'worried to hell' and urged her to 'find a way to contact me' - but believes she may already have been dead. Detail: The doctor's report, which is written in English and Urdu, said Samia suffered a 'horrible' neck injury Grave: Samia's relatives reportedly said she died from a heart or asthma attack and buried her in the village An external examination of the body revealed she had signs of asphyxia. Samples from her major organs and toxicology tests were taken, and results will take several more days to come back. Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said the report confirms claims she died of natural causes are 'wrong'. He said: 'The family's claims that she died of natural causes are apparently wrong and we have ordered a reinvestigation. 'The reinvestigation is aimed at a murder case rather than a natural death case. The new investigators are sure the family's claims about natural death are not true. 'I have been told to apply for permission to exhume her body. I will do that if necessary.' Regional police officer Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja added: 'The post mortem report that she had a wound on her neck indicates that she was suffocated to death'. Heavy traffic is set to hit main routes on what's dubbed as Black Saturday France has drafted in heavily armed soldiers and police to its ports in fear of ISIS jihadis boarding UK-bound ferries. The specialist forces have been called upon following intelligence warnings that ferries heading to Britain could be at risk. Motorists heading to France this weekend have been warned to brace themselves for extreme congestion once they cross the Channel. French highway authorities are warning that heavy traffic is set to hit main routes throughout the country on so-called Black Saturday, when there is a crossover between holidaymakers heading home and those just beginning their breaks. The Royal Marines boarded the passenger ferry as it crossed between Ardrossan to the Isle of Arran last year Excited passengers took photographs of the black-clad commandos as they scaled the side of the vessel Motorists heading to France this weekend have been warned to brace themselves for extreme congestion once they cross the channel The Kent port is expected to be busy again over the coming days as travellers arrive to cross the Channel The heightened risk of a terrorist attack across the Channel comes after the Bastille Day lorry attack in Nice, which killed 84 people and the execution of a priest in a Normandy church. The French president Francois Hollande said he would increase armed security at transport hubs and crowded areas, but the move at Calais is said to have shocked British authorities. A senior UK security source told the Daily Mirror: 'The presence of the police and soldiers near Calais is very alarming there's nothing routine about it. 'Apparently they are at a high state of alert because there is a fear of jihadists getting on to a ferry headed for Britain and executing people on the ship. 'It is also possible that ISIS may have been told security has in the past been reasonably lax so they believe they can get terrorists into Britain via a ferry.' Britain's Special Boat Service have been training to deal with ship hijackings. Last November, the Royal Navy released pictures of a group of Royal Marine Commandos boarding a passenger ferry as part of an hijack rescue training mission. The elite sailors from 43 Commando sped towards the MV Caledonian Isles ferry as it sailed between Ardrossan to Brodick on the Isle of Arran. Excited passengers took photographs of the black-clad commandos as they scaled the side of the vessel Marines from 43 Commando based at HMNB Clyde were involved in the dramatic training mission The marines, based in HMNB Clyde perform several of the training missions each year. According to the ferry company Caedonian MacBrayne: 'These exercises usually take place a couple of times a year and the MV Caledonian Isles presents a perfect platform for the training due to her high freeboard - the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level - which allows the commandos to simulate boarding a large cargo vessel, for example, in the case of anti-piracy operations in theatre, when they could be required to climb to a significant height.' The company said that passengers on board love the drama of the boarding as they are warned in advance about the mission. NSS gives time to Sasna Dzrer until 17:00 Statement by the National Security Service of Armenia On July 29, in the period between 21:00 and 23:00, the gunmen have periodically opened fire from various types of weapons from the police precinct, in particular from the windows of the 3- storey building, at on-duty police officers in Sari Tagh area, at buildings of the area, as well as at law enforcement officers who were monitoring the blocked part of Khorenatsi Street, and have thrown stun grenades at the barrier in Khorenatsi Street. In addition, the gunmen have set off a grenade in the precincts area, followed by an attempt to torch the bus which was parked near the checkpoint which is under their control by throwing burning objects underneath it. Law enforcement agencies responded and suppressed the gunfire, and all aggressive actions of the gunmen were thwarted. According to preliminary data, both on-duty police officers in Sari Tagh and several gunmen received gunshot wounds in the exchange of gunfire. In this situation, the National Security Service announces that the escalation of the situation by continuous terrorist actions of the gunmen, gunfire at law enforcement officers, as well as at people located outside the blocked area, including civilians, can no longer in any way be tolerated. We inform that after the July 29 evening events, all reasonable opportunities of a peaceful resolution with the terrorists have expired. In the current conditions, the enforcement of justifiable force under legislation of Armenia is exclusively necessary for the protection of citizens, protection of their lives and safety from dangerous attacks, for pushing back the armed assault endangering the lives and safety of law enforcement officers, thwarting the attempts of taking control of their weapons, freeing hostages and captured state structures, as well as suppressing the resistance of the gunmen. Therefore, the gunmen have time until 17:00 today to lay down their weapons and surrender to authorities without resistance. Otherwise the Special Forces of law enforcement agencies are authorized to engage without warning and neutralize any gunmen inside or outside the police precinct area. We also warn that any attempt of unauthorized entry to the blocked area will continue being viewed as complicity of terrorism, every attempted person, regardless of status, will be subject of criminal responsibility, and attempt to breach the police line will be thwarted by all lawful means. 30.07.2016 This is the awe-inspiring moment a US plane dropped a military convoy of eight cars from 5000 feet. Footage shows the plane taking off from Joint Base Charleston on May 26. The Humvee cars are loaded onto the flight by airmen from the 18th Air Force at the base. Footage shows the plane being loaded with military Humvees from Joint Base Charleston on May 26 The huge vehicles are loaded onto the plane before it flies to 5000 feet The plane flies to 5000 feet to a drop zone at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It then drops the eight cars in cargo packaging. The cars drop several feet before their parachutes inflate. The cars are readied to be dropped from the flight, which is taking part as part of a military exercise The cars are dropped from the plane one by one as their parachutes inflate The convoy was deployed in support of Crescent Reach. Crescent Reach is a simulated exercise that takes place yearly to test how well the Charleston airbase could cope with a crisis abroad. A post on the 18th Air Force's Facebook page read: 'When part of your job is to drop cars out the back of airplanes, you officially win career day.' Another male victim was injured and is in serious condition in the ICU Three people were killed and one person was injured during a mass shooting at a house party in an affluent suburb near Seattle. A shooter walked into a party 'full of his friends' in Mukilteo and fired around 20 bullets before he fled the scene just before 12.30am on Saturday. One of the victims is his ex-girlfriend. Allen Ivanov, a 19-year-old incoming sophomore at the University of Washington, is in custody, Mukilteo Officer Myron Travis confirmed to Daily Mail Online. Anna Bui, Jake Long and Jordan Ebner were killed in the shooting. They appear to have all been classmates of Ivanov's at Kamiak High School. Scroll down for video Mukilteo police have confirmed to Daily Mail Online that Allen Ivanov is in custody following a mass shooting in the affluent Seattle neighborhood of Mukilteo that cost the lives of three young people on Saturday morning Anna Bui has been confirmed as one of the three victims. She and Ivanov reportedly broke up last week Jordan Ebner, a student at Everett Community College, also lost his life in the horrific mass shooting Jake Long (pictured with his girlfriend at prom) was the third victim of the tragedy that has rocked Mukilteo One person was also injured when a gunman walked into a house party filled with up to 20 young people and fired at least 20 bullets before fleeing the scene. Pictured are parents waiting to hear information The neighborhood was sealed off folowing the shooting and a local church has opened as a center for parents and relatives to reunite with their children Ivanov was arrested over 100 miles away in Lewis County when officers spotted a car that matched the suspect's description about two hours after the shooting. Officer Myron Travis said police are not looking for any other suspects. The shooter was due to be be booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Saturday on murder-investigation charges, according to the Seattle Times. Ivanov left cryptic tweets on his Twitter account just two days before the shooting. 'First and last tweet,' he wrote on July 28. 'I've been through it all.' He then tweeted 'What's Ruger gonna think?', which seems to be a reference to Ruger Firearms. Ivanov, who graduated from Kamiak High School in 2015, also posted a photo on Instagram this week that showed a rifle on the ground, with three bullets on the side. On the rifle is a sticker from the exclusive Supreme New York streetwear brand that reads: 'Supreme 16 You Still Suck'. There is also a piece of blue painter's tape on the gun that reads 'Christopher', which public records show is Ivanov's middle name. The caption of the post reads: 'You can't run with me.' Ivanov is a computer science and engineering major, according to his LinkedIn page. He is also an engineer and founder of Skirmos, an open source laser tag system that allows users to 'imagine your favorite first-person video game in real life'. A Kickstarter campaign raised more than $90,000 for the factory prototypes. Ivanov was also currently working at the Genius Bar for an Apple store and had previously worked as a sales associate at Abercrombie & Fitch. Mukilteo resident Susan Gemmer said the shooter and one of the victims had just broken up last week, she revealed to KOMO. It has since been revealed that Bui was the ex-girlfriend. Gemmer said her 18-year-old granddaughter Alexis had been at the party, which was attended by Kamiak High graduates aged 18 to 20, when the shooter arrived with a rifle. Alexis revealed that the gunman shot two people at a fire pit in the home's backyard before he went onto the roof, where some of the guests were hanging out, and opened fire. The young man who lived at the home tried to lead Alexis to safety out of his garage door, but was shot as he exited, Gemmer told the station. He was able to make it across the street to safety, while Alexis ran back to the home and hid in a closet. 'We jumped out of bed, got dressed and got in the car as fast as we could,' Gemmer said. Ivanov posted a picture of this rifle, with three bullets on the side, on his Instagram account just days before the shooting. The rifle has a sticker from exclusive New York streetwear brand Supreme Ivanov, a University of Washington student, also posted a cryptic tweet on Thursday Ivanov also posted this tweet, which seems to be a reference to Ruger Firearms. A friend commented on the tweet in the early hours of Saturday morning after the shooting Authorities said witnesses gave information and description details that helped police catch their suspect after he fled the $1million home in a 2016 Subaru WRX. Ivanov had recently posted multiple pictures of a Subaru WRX on his Instagram. The shooting has rattled the tiny town of Mukilteo, where teens often walk on graduation day with the same people they began kindergarten with. A Kamiak high school graduate, who asked not to be identified, told Daily Mail Online that her younger sister and Ivanov had been very close in elementary school. Although they didnt stay in touch as they grew older, she said Ivanov was known to be part of the popular crowd. He was wealthy and smart and Im sure those younger girls found him attractive, she said. I cant speak on what may have been going on in his home life or inside his head, but externally, he seemed to be doing pretty well. The graduate, who is two years older than Ivanov, said the town was proud of his recent success and had been 'rooting for him' and what they saw to be a 'strong future'. But that all clearly changed early Saturday morning. Ivanov's LinkedIn page said he is an engineer and founder at Skirmos, an open source laser tag system The 'Skirmos experiences' (pictured) allows users to experience their 'favorite video shooter game in real life' Authorities said the suspect fled the $1million home in a 2016 Subaru WRX. Ivanov had recently posted multiple pictures of a Subaru WRX (pictured) on his Instagram I dont want to get this twisted and be painting him as this nice young man. Hes not. Obviously not. Hes a monster, she said. And no amount of money or success can negate that. Dave Wakeman, who is listed as one of the founders of Skirmos, told Daily Mail Online the company was shocked by the shooting. 'Allen Ivanov has worked with us and been our friend and colleague for a number of years,' he said. 'That said, this event is another example of our need for gun reform in this country.' 'No person should have the opportunity to possess a firearm that can discharge a weapon 20 times in short succession.' 'The time to take action so that senseless deaths like this don't continue to be the norm in our country has passed. We absolutely need to take immediate action on this issue.' Friends of the three young victims immediately took to social media to pay tribute. The Kamiak graduate told Daily Mail Online that she had a class with Bui, who she described as the sweetest girl. She always had a smile on her face and a joke at the ready, she said. She had so much energy and a light about her that could just brighten up a room. If she was in the building, you could hear her laughter. She cared so much about her friends and was so full of love. She had a huge heart. Kayla, a senior at Kamiak, said Anna had been her idol both in choir and life itself. 'She was the kindest and happiest soul,' Kayla told the Daily Mail Online. Members of Kamiak Choir organized a candlelight vigil at the high school on Saturday night to honor Anna, Jake and Jordan. Mukilteo's official Twitter feed reported three fatalities in the waterfront Chennault Beach neighborhood, about 25 miles north of Seattle. Bui has been described as the 'sweetest girl' with the 'kindest and happiest' soul by her former classmates Jordan (left in the black suit) was a student at Everett Community College. Jake (right) is being remembered by friends as a great baseball player The house party was taking place at this $1million residence in the waterfront Chennault Beach neighborhood, about 25 miles north of Seattle Investigators were still at the scene of the triple murder on Saturday afternoon One person was taken to Harborview Medical Center and is listed in serious condition in the ICU at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said initial reports regarding the injured victim are 'hopeful'. Our community has been shaken to its core,' she said during a media briefing. 'We grieve with the families of those lost in this horrible event. We will stand with them and be here for them. One thing is clear. Our community has suffered a great loss tonight. There were many young people who saw and heard things that no one should ever have to experience.' 'I hope that we can all lift them up in our thoughts and give them space to mourn and grieve and begin the difficult process of recovery. Parents could be seen at the scene hoping to find more information about their children. The neighborhood was sealed off following the gunfire and a local church opened as a center for parents and relatives to reunite with their children. Police interviewed the party guests before releasing them to the church. Many local and nearby residents took to Twitter on Saturday morning to express disbelief that such a violent crime had occurred in the peaceful neighborhood. 'Of all places for this to happen, you'd never think Muilteo...damn,' wrote Brandon Gustafson. There is no known motive at this time. The investigation is ongoing. Theresa May's former adviser on drugs policy has admitted taking his boyfriend's crack cocaine and heroin while working as a civil servant. Nigel Voden said he would 'dip into' his partner's Class A supply following a raid at his home in Harrow, north west London, last year. Officers discovered rocks of crack cocaine in the bed while a bag of heroin was found stuffed in his bedroom drawers. Nigel Voden (pictured) said he would 'dip into' his partner's Class A supply following a raid at his home in Harrow, north west London, last year They also confiscated cannabis, scales and resealable plastic bags from his wardrobe. According to The Sun, Voden, 48, was suspended after police stormed his home last October where he was held on suspicion of supplying crack cocaine with three other men - two of which were deported. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to possession, claiming the drugs belonged to his boyfriend. He told the court he was allowed to 'dip into them' when he wanted. Representing Voden - who attended Oxford University - Kate Goold said: 'He is vulnerable because of a two-year breakdown as a result of an abusive relationship. 'That former partner allowed people to come into the house and made drugs available.' Voden - who admitted possessing Class A drugs - was the former adviser of drugs policy for Theresa May (pictured) when she was Home Secretary On Thursday, Volden pleaded guilty to possession of drugs at Hendon Crown Court (pictured) She told the court Voden is now taking medication and receiving psychiatric help as a result of the relationship. District Judge Dennis Brennan, speaking at Hendon Magistrates Court, granted Voden an absolute discharge after reading a letter from his psychiatrist. He said 'quite exceptionally' he finds the sentence appropriate. Following his arrest last year, a Home Office spokesman said: 'The Home Office expects the highest standards of personal integrity from all its staff.' A remote gold-mining town has earned the unwanted title of Australia's earthquake capital after it was rocked by 50 tremors in less than two months. The 850 people living in the town of Norseman, West Australia, are struggling to come to terms with the quakes that rumbled in two months ago and have shown no signs of leaving. At its worst Norseman was struck by a staggering 18 earthquakes in just two days and the bad news is these shocks could continue for years, Australian Geographic reported. The remote town of Norseman was hammered by two magnitude 5 quakes in late May. The quakes smashed cracks into buildings and bent train lines out of shape (pictured) The residents of the remote town (pictured) can expect the tremors to continue for up to five years Norseman, about eight hours drive east of Perth, sits on an extremely tremor-prone fault line belonging to the massive Indo-Australian tectonic plate. WHAT IS CAUSING THE NORSEMAN QUAKES? Geoscience Australia seismologist Hugh Glanville said Norseman's pattern of earthquakes was reasonably normal. Aftershocks continued after a big earthquake until the fault line finally settled down, he said. He said: 'When a large section of a fault moves quite significantly that has relieved stress on that part of the fault. 'So the adjacent parts of the fault will move to release the stress that has been transferred to them.' He added that the aftershocks could continue for years but would get gradually weaker over time. Source: Australian Geographic Advertisement As the plate creeps northwards pressure builds up at the boundaries until it is finally released by earthquakes. So much pressure had built up at the fault line underneath Norseman that around midnight on May 28 the town was hit by two magnitude 5 earthquakes in the space of an hour. By comparison, the strongest-ever earthquake recorded in Australia was a magnitude 6.6 shock which hit the Northern Territory in 1966. Resident John Fry compared the May 28 shake to a train rumbling through the town. He said: 'I thought it was just a train coming through. The last thing you think of is an earthquake.' The pair of magnitude 5 earthquakes triggered a sequence of aftershocks which will continue until all the tension at the fault line disappears. In 1985 Norseman was rocked by a massive magnitude 5.6 shake which generated five years of aftershocks. Norseman is a remote town in Western Australia which is about eight hours drive east of Perth Norseman sits on a tremor-prone fault line of the massive Australian tectonic plate. The dots in the above picture show earthquake activity in Australia. The location of Norseman is pictured below Norseman is a tiny gold-mining town about eight hours drive east of Perth. It is currently the most seismically-active region in Australia Government seismologist Dan Jaskas said Norseman should also be prepared to weather years of aftershocks this time around. He said the possibility of an even-larger earthquake as the aftershocks continued could not be ruled out, the ABC reported. Mr Jaskas said: 'There is every possibility that another earthquake can occur of magnitude 5. 'There has never been a magnitude-6 in that region so the possibility of a magnitude-6 is less likely, but you can't discount it. 'You always need to be prepared for the unexpected.' Australia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, the fastest moving in the world, which is pushing the continent about seven centimetres north every year Dame Lowell Goddard, who is being paid 360,000 a year to chair an official inquiry into child sex abuse The New Zealand judge heading the UK's historical child abuse inquiry has shocked barristers by admitting that she is confused by English law. Dame Justice Goddard is set to earn around 5million as chairwoman of the inquiry after being appointed by Theresa May. The case could run for a decade and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, it emerged earlier this week. The probe is receiving up to 100 fresh allegations every week a quarter of them referred to the police. The largest inquiry in British legal history had already been earmarked to last around five years. But a lawyer for some of the alleged victims yesterday said it could now take at least ten years. It sparked fury from campaigners and raised fears the probe could become another Chilcot, the Iraq war inquiry that took six years to complete longer than British troops were in the country. Some lawyer have expressed their concerns about the delays and Dame Justice Goddard's handling of the inquiry. During the preliminary hearings last week, she admitted she was 'unsure of local law', when police attempted to block details of an investigation going public, according to The Times. The independent child abuse inquiry has already spent almost 18million of public money and has yet to publicly question a single witness or victim. Lawyers can receive up to 200 an hour from public funds while Dame Justice Goddard, is being paid 360,000 a year. On top of that she will be given 110,000 annual rental allowance, 40,000 for flights home for her and her husband and 12,000 on yearly utility bills, according to The Telegraph. At a hearing this week, she announced that a key investigation into claims of abuse by the Labour peer Lord Janner would be postponed by at least six months. It is one of 13 cases launched by the inquiry team examining alleged institutional cover-up, with other areas under scrutiny including the Catholic and Anglican churches and abuse in childrens homes in London. Scroll down for video Ben Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, described how swamped his team was. He said they were receiving 80 to 100 allegations a week and that 20 to 25 of these were being referred to the police. That means forces potentially face a deluge of 1,000 new investigations a year generated by the inquiry. There are already concerns that officers are having to devote too many resources to historical sex abuse claims. Peter Garsden, a partner with the law firm Simpson Millar which is representing 16 alleged victims of Janner among others said the inquiry risked being overwhelmed. He said: This could take at least ten years. There is so much material to go through. The barrister said his clients welcomed the scope of the inquiry but were concerned it would drag on too long, reawakening memories of abuse. The inquiry's key investigation into claims of abuse by the Labour peer Lord Janner, pictured, is to be postponed by at least six months The inquiry set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal to examine the way public bodies handled child sex abuse claims has spent 17.9million on staff, instructing a battery of lawyers and setting up a string of regional offices, but is yet to hear a single word of evidence. Barristers can receive up to 200 an hour representing alleged victims, while solicitors can get 150 paid for out of inquiry funds. Due to the extent of the mother's injuries, the baby glider is receiving around the clock care from vet staff Advertisement A yellow-bellied glider joey is recovering well after she was found in her mother's pouch when the pair crashed and became stuck in a barbed wire fence. The mother and child, who is yet to be named, were rescued earlier this month from the Central Coast by WIRES wildlife carers, and taken to Taronga Wildlife Hospital. Since then, the baby glider has been receiving around the clock care by vet nurse Felicity Evans, who feeds her six times a day from a dessert spoon. 'She gets really excited about food and can be quite a messy eater,' said Felicity. 'She'll grab hold of the spoon and pull it down so she ends up with milk all over her paws and stomach. I have to carefully clean her fur afterwards and wipe off her little milk moustache.' Scroll down for video The yet-to-be-named yellow-bellied glider joey is recovering well after she was saved from her mother's pouch after the two crashed into a barbed wire fence She will be cared for by the nurse, who works in the Taronga Wildlife Hospital, for a few more months before she is released into the wild The gorgeous joey is clearly a curious animal, seen as she stares down the lens of a camera at the hospital Heartwarming pictures show off the glider's milk moustache as she drinks from the spoon, and also show the joey snuggling up to staff at Taronga Zoo. As she peers straight into the camera lens, her curious nature is evident. Felicity said the joey has 'a big personality for such a tiny animal'. The joey's mother is recovering from injuries such as a major tear in her gliding membrane, and had stopped producing milk, forcing veterinary staff to step in and help with her baby's care. The baby glider will remain with the zoo for a few more months until she is eating solids such as fruit and fly pupae. Her mother will unfortunately never be able to return to the wild, though she will become an ambassador for yellow-bellied gliders, which are a vulnerable species due to habitat loss. The baby glider is fed milk off a dessert spoon six times a day by veterinary nurse Felicity Evans, and often gets a milk moustache The yellow-bellied glider has a 'big personality for such a tiny animal', according to her nurse Felicity The joey will eventually move on to eating solid foods, such as fruit and fly pupae, before she is released Russian president Vladimir Putin is waging a propaganda war on the UK and the West using a news agency funded by the Kremlin. Sputnik News, whose UK version operates from an Edinburgh office block, produces news from a pro-Moscow perspective. In the immediate aftermath of the tragic Jo Cox murder, Sputnik ran a story describing her death as 'timely' for the remain campaign. Scroll down for video Sputnik News claimed the Jo Cox murder could have an impact on the recent Brexit vote Sputnik News is based in this office block in Edinburgh after moving to the city in September 2015 The station was the brainchild of Dmitry Kiselyov, right, who is a key propaganda expert for Vladimir Putin, left, The Russian government has been blamed by western intelligence sources for orchestrating a hack on the Democratic Party's computer system in the United States. A poll on the website said more than 80 percent of readers do not believe Russia is responsible for the hack. ] Coverage on Sputnik is highly critical of Western military involvement in Syria and has criticised policies from sanctions against Moscow over the invasion of Crimea, to the partial ban on Russian athletes competing in next month's Olympics. Paul Saunders, executive director of the Centre for National Interest told The Times, Putin is using the news agency to forward his agenda on the international stage. He said: 'Following Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, the EU and Russia have begun what appears to be a long-term confrontation. 'As the weaker party, Moscow is seeking whatever levers it can find to undermine its opponents.' Following the Scottish referendum, the site questioned whether the vote was rigged an managed to convince 100,000 people to sign an online petition to call for a rerun. Sputnik News was the idea of Putin's adviser Dmitry Kiselyov. Sputnik news claimed Labour MP Jo Cox's murder would boost support for the Remain campaign The website runs virulent anti-western propaganda and promotes Russian political and military objectives Kiselyov heads the Rossiya Segodnya state media complex, whose outlets include that are most prominent outside Russia, the Sputnik multi-lingual news website. These outlets, aimed at foreign audiences, are hugely important to the Kremlin's aim of propagating its views and countering what it claims to be Western news media's determination to portray Russia unfavorably. How much influence top officials exert on the editorial policy is unclear, but the outlets are widely assumed to reflect the thinking at the top. A search of Sputnik's headlines over the past month turn up no stories overtly favorable to Clinton. The best she gets are some neutral, just-the-facts stories. But there are many more that are either openly tendentious or heavy with aspersions. 'Hillary Clinton's campaign has decided to double down on their bid to cast Trump as a secret agent of the Kremlin propped up by Russian President Vladimir Putin despite the obvious absurdity of the narrative,' ran the contemptuous lead of a recent story. Another story cast aspersions on US media as credulous enablers of Clinton, saying they have 'gobbled up spoon-fed lines' from her campaign alleging that Russia was behind the release of emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee. Much of Russia's media is against Clinton and the west with Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of Russia's largest-circulation newspapers, calling the former first lady 'the personification of evil' and praising Trump who 'appears to be fresh air from an open window in a room that no one has aired out for decades'. US officials have confirmed that the Democratic National Committee's computer system was hacked, with Russia identified as the main suspect. The breach affected a DNC data analytics program used by the campaign and a number of other organisations, according to the Clinton campaign. The FBI is investigating a hack at the DNC that resulted in the posting last week of embarrassing internal communications on WikiLeaks, and a similar intrusion of the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. President Barack Obama has said Russia was almost certainly responsible for the DNC hack, an assertion with which cybersecurity experts have agreed. The FBI said Friday it was aware of 'media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters'. Computer hacking, emails and indications of Russian involvement have evolved into a political issue in the presidential campaign between Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. This week, Trump encouraged Russia to seek and release more than 30,000 other missing emails deleted by Clinton, the former secretary of state. Democrats accused him of trying to get a foreign adversary to conduct espionage that could affect this November's elections, but Trump later said he was merely being sarcastic. Clinton deleted the emails from her private server, saying they were private, before handing other messages over to the State Department. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Clinton over her email practices, though FBI Director James Comey called her 'extremely careless' in handling classified information. Merkel's premiership is hanging by a thread today as thousands gathered to call for her resignation while a key political ally dramatically withdrew his support over immigration policy. More than 5,000 protested in Berlin and thousands more throughout Germany over the 'open-door' policy that many have blamed for four brutal terrorist attacks that left 13 dead over the last month. The Chancellor faced a fresh wave of fury after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as refugees. More than 5,000 protested in Berlin and thousands more throughout Germany over the 'open door' policy that many have blamed for four brutal terrorist attacks that left 13 dead over the last month The Chancellor faced a fresh wave of fury after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as refugees, which further fuelled the right-wing movement Despite the massive waves of criticism from right-wingers (pictured, Berlin, today, wearing a shirt that says The German Reich lives within us), Merkel defended her policy this week Police manned the streets of Germany, which is still on high alert following the attacks, as right-wing protesters met thousands of counter-demonstrators (pictured, Berlin) The Chancellor (pictured after the Munich shootings) faced a fresh wave of fury after it emerged that two recent terror attacks and a third killing were carried out by men who entered the country as refugees Despite the massive waves of criticism, Merkel defended her policy this week, dramatically proclaiming 'we can do it' as she pledged not to let the violent acts guide political decisions. But now her key ally in Bavaria - which bore the brunt of the attacks - has launched a fresh attack on her leadership, distancing his party from Merkel and straining the coalition that keeps her in power. Horst Seehofer, the conservative premier of Bavaria, said he did not share Merkel's 'we can do it' credo on accommodating the almost 1.1 million migrants and refugees who arrived in 2015. Seehofer, who leads the Christian Social Union, the sister party to Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, said today '"We can do this" - I cannot, with the best will, adopt this phrase as my own.' Horst Seehofer, the conservative premier of Bavaria, said he did not share Merkel's 'We can do it' credo on accommodating 1.1million migrants in 2015 Speaking after a meeting with the Bavarian government in Tegernsee, he added that the solutions to date were 'too inadequate.' Stressing he had no wish to start a quarrel with Merkel's party, Seehofer said it was important to look 'reality' in the face. An axe rampage, a shooting spree, a knife attack and a suicide bombing in the span of a week stunned Germany, leaving 13 people dead, including three assailants, and dozens wounded. Three of the four attackers were asylum seekers, and two of the assaults were claimed by the Islamic State group. 'Merkel must go' has been trending on social media, with people posting powerful pictures including one claiming that she has blood on her hands after recent attacks. The picture shows her splattered with blood, while another depicts her wearing a Burka. A new survey found that 83 per cent of Germans see immigration as their nation's biggest challenge - twice as many as a year ago. Recent attacks have fuelled the right-wing movement, which has long called for stricter immigration controls, particularly in Bavaria, where she faces heavy criticism from high-profile politicians. Today, thousands of protesters calling for her to step down also met counter-protests from the anti-right-wing movement, in Germany - which is still in a state of high alert. Thousands gathered in the capital for the march today, which was called Wir fuer Berlin und Wir fuer Deutschland (We for Berlin and We for Germany) 'Merkel must go' (pictured on the placard today) has been trending on social media, with people posting powerful pictures including one claiming that she has blood on her hands after recent attacks Several hundred people demonstrate with banner that reads 'Berlin! Better without Nazis' against a right-wing populist march in Berlin One picture shows her splattered with blood (pictured), while another depicts her wearing a Burka Some believe that the open door policy that has brought more than one million Syrians to Germany is destroying the country. Pictured is an image circulating on Twitter There was a heavy police presence (pictured) in Washington Square in Berlin as activists protested today But in a powerful speech on Thursday, Merkel said that she would not allow jihadists to keep her government from being guided by reason and compassion. 'Despite the great unease these events inspire, fear can't be the guide for political decisions,' she said. 'It is my deep conviction that we cannot let our way of life be destroyed,' she added. After the Bavaria attacks, Seehofer initially called into question the principle that asylum seekers should never be sent back to war zones. He later backtracked, citing international law. However, he insisted previously: 'We must seriously consider how such people should be treated if they violate the law or can be considered a danger.' Ali David Sonboly reportedly saw it as an 'especially positive fate' that his birthday was on the same day as Adolf Hitler's, April 20 Flowers and tributes are left at the Olympia Shopping Centre in Munich where Ali David Sonboly killed nine people in a shooting rampage on Friday Axe attack: The bloody week of violence in Germany began with Pakistani teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, 17, posing as an Afghan refugee slashing passengers on a train in Wurzburg, wounding five Carnage: Gruesome pictures taken in the hours after the attack showed the blood-soaked interior of the train. Ahmadzai, who appeared in a chilling ISIS video, was shot dead by police On Saturday he cited the security situation in France, Germany and specifically Bavaria, saying there was an urgent need 'to take action.' 'That's why, here in Germany, we still have some way to go to improve in all areas,' he said. Jens Spahn, deputy finance minister and a senior member of Merkel's conservatives, said that integrating the refugees was a Herculean task but the government needed to put more pressure on those new arrivals unwilling to make an effort to fit in. 'A ban on the full body veil - that is the niqab and the burka - is overdue,' he told daily Die Welt. 'My impression is that we all underestimated a year ago what would come upon us with this big refugee and migration movement.' Evil: ISIS jihadi Mohammad Daleel, a failed Syrian asylum seeker, blew himself up outside a wine bar in Ansbach after he was turned away from a music festival for not having a ticket Video: Daleel, who injured 12 people in the attack, appeared in a chilling video pledging his allegiance to ISIS. His claim for asylum was rejected and he was one of 200,000 in the country awaiting deportation A spate of sexual assaults on women in Cologne at New Year was blamed on the migrant influx and the country has been left reeling after four brutal attacks in the space of a week. The deadliest was carried out by a German-born teenager who opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself. FOUR DEADLY ATTACKS IN A WEEK The deadliest attack came last Friday when a German-Iranian teenager who was born and raised in Munich opened fire at a downtown shopping mall, killing nine people before turning the gun on himself. He had been under psychiatric treatment and investigators say he was obsessed with mass shootings, including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre. They have ruled out an Islamist motive, saying the assailant had far-right 'sympathies'. On July 18, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan slashed train passengers and a passer-by with an axe and a knife in Wuerzburg before being shot by police. And on Sunday, a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15 people at a nearby cafe after being turned away from the packed open-air venue. IS claimed both attacks. Already steeped in grief and shock, Germans were further rattled by news that a Syrian refugee had killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen Sunday in what authorities called a personal dispute. Advertisement Investigators said he had psychiatric problems and far-right 'sympathies' and have ruled out any Islamist motive. But IS has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Bavaria - a failed Syrian asylum seeker who blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15, and an Afghan asylum seeker who slashed five train passengers with an axe and a knife before being shot by police. A Syrian refugee killed a Polish woman with a knife in Reutlingen, although authorities blamed the attack on a personal dispute. She announced new security measures including an 'early warning system' to detect radicalisation among refugees, better training for the military to respond to attacks and quicker deportation of failed asylum seekers. Mohammed Daleel, the Ansbach suicide bomber, was able to stay in Germany despite his asylum application being rejected and twice being ordered to be deported. Mrs Merkel said the EU's deal with Turkey would mean the number of migrants arriving in Germany would be greatly reduced. But she repeated her conviction that the country had a duty to help people fleeing war and persecution, adding: 'I am still convinced that we can do it it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge.' The state government in Bavaria has called for an upper limit on numbers of new asylum seekers, and tougher controls on those already in Germany. A fitness blogger whose 'mystery illness' left her sweating and shaking in hospital and stumped doctors for months has finally been diagnosed. Ashleigh Jensen, 25, a food and fitness blogger was hospitalised at 23 when what she thought was a typical cold turned out to be more sinister. After she fell ill a second time the Queensland body sculptor was rushed to hospital once again before being diagnosed with the rare disease Toxic Shock Syndrome, the Sunshine Coast Daily reported. Scroll down for video Ashleigh Jensen (pictured), 25, a food and fitness blogger and body sculptor competitor from the Sunshine Coast, became suddenly very ill two years ago but her symptoms left doctors baffled The then 23-year-old university student (pictured) admitted herself to a Brisbane hospital after beginning to sweat, shake and feel nauseous WHAT IS TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME? Toxic shock syndrome occurs when the bacteria Staphylococcus releases toxins into the blood stream. The toxins damage body tissues and organs and can cause death if left untreated. It is often linked to childbirth or tampon use but can show up in the bloodstream of men and children. Symptoms - diarrhea, fever, confusion, dizziness, vomiting, red rash on hands and feet and sore muscles. Source: healthdirect.gov.au Advertisement The first time she went to hospital doctors were left baffled by what was causing Ms Jensen's symptoms. 'It was Australia Day long weekend, they were short staffed, they did some tests but still didn't know exactly what it was so I was given a broad spectrum antibiotic and sent home,' she said. A couple of months later she was drinking a coffee at a park when she fell incredibly ill again and was rushed to another hospital where she stayed for three days as additional tests were run. 'It was worse than before. I went from being totally healthy, having a coffee to not knowing how I was still alive half an hour later.' The test results came back with a shocking answer Ms Jensen had toxic shock syndrome. TSS is an illness caused by poisons produced by Staphylococcus, or staph, bacteria. Doctors ran tests but were unable to find what was making Ms Jensen sick and sent her home after running a series of tests She returned to the hospital again a couple of months later with the same symptoms A Queensland Health spokesperson told the Sunshine Coast Daily that there was very little information and no statistics of TSS cases. Other health officials said it is very rare a reason Ms Jensen said she believes her illness went undiagnosed. It is frequently associated with feminine hygiene products and being 'unhygienic', but Ms Jensen said the stigma is untrue. 'That's just a myth. There are many ways you can contract TSS. A lot of people don't realise the bacteria lives in your nose. TSS is also known as lots of different viruses under different names.' Ms Jensen believes she contracted the illness when she was preparing for a body sculpting competition and was eating very little but working out for hours every day. It was during her second trip to the hospital that doctors discovered Ms Jensen (right) had toxic shock syndrome A Maryland mother has admitted giving her 5-year-old son a fatal overdose of antihistamine last year before setting her car on fire with the child's body inside. Media outlets report 35-year-old Narges Shafeirad pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in the death of Daniel Dana. An autopsy revealed Daniel died of a Diphenhydramine overdose in June 2015 after prosecutors say his mother forced him to swallow medication containing the antihistamine. Narges Shafeirad, 35, has pleaded guilty to giving son Daniel Dana a lethal overdose of an antihistamine before bundling his body into the back of her car and setting it on fire in June 2015 Prosecutors say Shafeirad then tried to stage a wreck after putting her son's body inside the car, dousing it with gasoline and setting the vehicle on fire beside a Montgomery County highway. On June 16 at around 3.30am, police and firefighters responding to a car fire on Route 370 in Gaithersburg found Shafeirad lying face down on the ground and screaming in pain from severe burns to her forearms. Investigators say her son was in the backseat of her scorched 1993 Toyota Corolla and was pronounced dead after the fire was put out. An autopsy showed Daniel died of Diphenhydramine intoxication before the crash and ruled the death a homicide. Officials say the woman was scheduled to attend a custody hearing with her estranged husband the day her son died. Shafeirad sustained second and third-degree burns to 40 per cent of her body was convalescing in a hospital for a month and a half after the incident. When questioned by police, she admitted to forcing her son to down an entire bottle of Diphenhydramine - an over-the-counter drug used to treat allergic reactions and motion sickness. At around 3.30pm on June 16 last year, police and fire crews responded to the scene of a car fire where they found Daniel's burned body in the back seat, and Shafeirad lying next to the vehicle with severe burns An autopsy later concluded that Daniel had died from poisoning before being placed into the car, and Shafeirad later admitted to killing her son amid a bitter custody battle with the boy's father Shafeirad then allegedly started the fire by dousing the front seat area of her car with gasoline. By that time, her son was already dead in the backseat. Captain Darren Francke, of the Montgomery County Police, said Shafeirad and her husband, Hamid Azimi-Dana, had a history of martial problems and were on the brink of a divorce. In July 2013, Shafeirad filed an order of protection against her husband requiring him to move his belongings out of their condominium and communicate with her solely via text message. The couple were to share custody of their son, according to local reports at the time. Azimi-Dana responded by filing his own protective order against his wife three days later. In March of last year, Shafeirad formally filed for divorce, claiming that her husband of six years 'physically abused,' 'belittled' and 'acted cruelly' towards her on a regular basis. Azimi-Dana countered by calling into question the very validity of their marriage and demanded Shafeirad to produce proof of their wedding ceremony, which took place in Teheran, Iran. The husband and father described his spouse as physically and mentally abusive, and claimed that her behavior caused both him and little Daniel to fear for their safety. Prime Minister Theresa May has delayed a decision over the new 18-billion Hinkley Point nuclear power station over fears about possible security risks and the nature of the Chinese investment. Mrs May repeatedly clashed with former Chancellor George Osborne over the controversial project which also involves French power firm EDF. Osborne agreed to provide Chinese investors a 2billion Government guarantee to secure the support of the China General Nuclear Corporation and the China National Nuclear Corporation. EDF gave the go-ahead for the construction of Britain's new nuclear power station at Hinkley C but Theresa May has thrown a spanner in the works Prime Minister Theresa May has ordered a review into the controversial new nuclear power project Mrs May is understood to be highly critical of George Osborne's 'gung-ho' attitude to Chinese investment Under the subsidy regime agreed by Mr Osborne, householders and businesses will need to pay 92.50 per megawatt hour for Hinkley electricity from 2025 compared to a current wholesale price of 40. And, during a visit to China last September, he also agreed to a 2billion Government guarantee for the plant, to help secure the support of the State-backed China General Nuclear Corporation and China National Nuclear Corporation. However, Mrs May's joint chief of staff, Nick Timothy warned the Chinese could 'build weakness into computer systems which will allow them to shut down Britain's energy production at will'. According to The Telegraph, Mr Timothy said Chinese intelligence agents 'continue to work against UK interests at home and abroad'. Lib Dem ex-business secretary Sir Vince Cable admitted there were tensions between Mrs May and her former colleagues David Cameron and George Osborne. Sir Vince Cable, pictured, said Mrs May expressed concerns over the project during the coalition government Sir Vince said Mrs May disliked Mr Osborne's 'gung-ho' attitude to Chinese investment. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'Certainly, when we were in government, Theresa May was, I think, quite clear she was unhappy about the rather gung-ho approach to Chinese investment that we had, and that George Osborne in particular was promoting and, as I recall, raised objections to Hinkley at that time.' It is thought there are also security concerns about the role of the Chinese state - which has a one third share in the project - investing in critical infrastructure in the UK. The claims came as the boss of EDF said he understands the Government wanting more time to consider plans for a new nuclear power station. Vincent de Rivaz has written to workers in a bid to reassure them that the 18 billion Hinkley Point project is still 'strong' despite the unexpected delay. The company's board narrowly voted to give the final go-ahead for the long-delayed project but the Government pulled back from signing the contract saying it would make a decision in the early autumn. Mr de Rivaz said: 'The new Prime Minister has been in post for just 16 days. Her full Cabinet has been in post even fewer. 'We can understand their need to take a little time. We fully respect the Prime Minister's method.' THE VAST COSTS THAT DON'T ADD UP George O sbornes deal was said to have been doomed from the start. Here are the reasons why: In 2012 the Government promised EDF 92.50 per megawatt hour. This is promised for 35 years from 2025, index-linked, which experts warn could add over a billion a year to energy bills If the project is delayed, Britain still has to pay the premium price The rate is now nearly triple the average wholesale cost of electricity, because of cheaper oil, gas and renewable energy prices If the market price of electricity falls below this level, the Government has in effect said it will make sure EDF receives the difference between the two which could amount to billions The deal contains a poison pill which could leave taxpayers with a 22billion bill if a future UK government closed the plant before 2060 Britain is committed to pay subsidies of up to about 40billion in real terms and provide guarantees on nuclear waste disposal and insurance A loan guarantee means if the plant defaults, the Government will repay the first 10billion to investors Advertisement The guarantee meant that if developers went bust the taxpayer would guarantee around 2billion worth of loans taken out by the project. The Government added that further amounts were potentially available in the longer term. Even if the project is delayed, Britain still has to pay the premium price. So if the project is held up by four years until 2029, the UK still has to pay the price for energy as agreed for 2025. As accusations emerged from Downing Street that Mr Osborne had been desperate to butter up the Chinese, Commons energy and climate change committee chairman Angus MacNeil said Mrs May might have put the brakes on the very bad deal, as it may cost less in the long run to pull out now. Alex Wild, research director at the TaxPayers Alliance said: Its encouraging the Government is rethinking this terrible deal that would see consumers paying exorbitant bills for decades. The technology is completely unproven and the costs and time needed to build the reactors has already doubled since the initial proposal. The new department needs to completely rethink the energy policies and arbitrary targets which are driving up bills and destroying jobs. Even if the Government decides more nuclear capacity is needed, there are far more affordable options available. Government insiders made it clear Mrs May wishes to convince herself Mr Osborne had not got a bad deal for the UK taxpayers in his desperation to get China on side. During his time in the Treasury, Mr Osborne was accused of kowtowing to China to secure trade deals. Last September, he ignored the countrys human rights abuses as he tried to secure investment into the UK, including nuclear power plants. Former Chancellor George Osborne (right) offered generous subsidies and bent over backwards to get the Chinese to support Hinkley C but Theresa May (left) wants to have another look at the figures He downplayed the countrys lack of democracy as a different political system. And he argued Britain could still be the one-party dictatorships best partner in the West despite its record of torture and restricting freedom of the press. An edition of the Chinese Communist Partys official newspaper welcomed his decision not to question China. The Global Times newspaper wrote in an editorial: Keeping a modest manner is the correct attitude for a foreign minister visiting China to seek business opportunities. During the visit, Mr Osborne announced his desire to formally connect the London and Shanghai stock exchanges. He also fought a series of running battles with Theresa May over visas for Chinese visitors. Mr Osborne insisted Chinese businessmen in particular should be able to travel to the UK freely. The publicity figures suggest Hinkley C would supply seven percent of Britain's energy but critics say the money could be better spent on wind farms or other green energy schemes A farmer has been left baffled after one of her cows fell pregnant - as she has not been near a bull in two years. Sam Crompton, 38, is trying to find out who the father is after realising her red, short-legged cow called Jackie is due to calve in three months. The owner had just sold Jackie to a buyer in Reading, Berkshire, but within days was informed of the mystery pregnancy. The virgin dairy: Sam Crompton, 38, is trying to find out who the father is after realising her red, short-legged cow called Jackie (pictured) is due to calve in three months Confusion: Owner Sam Crompton (pictured) had just sold Jackie to a buyer in Reading, Berkshire, but within days was informed of the mystery pregnancy She believes the nearest bull is just under three miles away so she has now launched a 'who's the daddy?' page via Facebook to try and solve the mystery. Sam from Whaplode in Spalding, Lincolnshire, said: 'I said she can't be pregnant because she hasn't been near a bull in two years. How this has happened I don't know. 'The only conclusion I can come to is that five or six months ago I came down to find Jackie where she shouldn't have been and my fencing trodden down. 'A bull must have come here but where it's come from I don't know.' The Dexter breed is the smallest British breed of cattle and Sam decided to sell off her cows as she was struggling to cope with running her farm shop in Spalding. A 21-month-old boy who was found dead in a Queensland home was covered 'head to toe' in injuries and endured ruptured intestines for several days before he died. Mason Jet Lee was discovered dead at his stepfather's home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, on June 11 in a grizzly scene that left paramedics in tears, according to the Courier Mail. New details about the toddler's death come as his mother, Ann-Marie Lee, 27, his step-father, William O'Sullivan, 35, and Ryan Hodson, 17, are charged with manslaughter. Scroll down for video Mason Jet Lee, a 21-month-old boy who was found dead in a Queensland home in June, suffered from ruptured intestines for several days before he died His mother, Ann-Marie Lee (left), 27, his step-father, William O'Sullivan (right), 35, and Ryan Hodson, 17, were charged with manslaughter on Thursday in relation to his death 'The injuries sustained by the child would have been obvious, would have been deteriorating and would have been significant over a period of time leading up to his death,' Detective Inspector Paul Schmidt said. It is unknown who out specifically hurt Mason but all three people were living at the house when he died, Insp Schmidt said. Ms Lee was expected to appear in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Saturday, the same day as Mr O'Sullivan, who did not apply for bail. Mr Hodson is anticipated to apply for bail on Monday. Moreton Police Detective Inspector Paul Schmidt said Mason (pictured) is believed to have died from the blood infection peritonitis The 21-month-old was in the care of Mr O'Sullivan when he was found by paramedics in his bed. Mr O'Sullivan was arrested in June and released without charge. He had been dead for 'some time' before paramedics arrived and had been gravely unwell for a week beforehand, police said. Mr O'Sullivan described finding his stepson 'blue' and unresponsive in his bed after what had been a 'normal night'. The toddler's mother Ms Lee was at a house a kilometre away when he was found dead and had not been looking after him on the day he died. There were other people in the house on the day Mason was found dead but it is not clear what their relationships to the child were. Mason's aunt told A Current Affair she had reported the family to child services because the 21-month-old boy was living 'in pure filth'. Mason Jet Lee's aunt, Shuntel, said she made the 'very hard' decision to alert authorities but she was left with no choice after she tried to help her sister, Ann-Marie Lee. Mason Jet Lee's aunt, Shuntel, said it was a 'very hard' decision to report her own sister to authorities, but she felt she had no choice because she was concerned for the boy's welfare. 'I had to take it upon myself to contact child services because nobody else would do it and it was my responsibility, and duty as an aunty,' Shuntel said. 'The way she was living in pure filth [concerned me].' Shuntel also expressed her anger at child services after they did not take any action. She claims they did nothing about Mason because they did not have an address for his mother, Ann-Marie Lee, who had been evicted from her home. 'I'm very angry that they have released this boy to the mother, who has then released him to the stepfather and now he is deceased,' Shuntel said. Queensland Police detectives said they were 'determined' to solve the toddler's death which they described as a tragedy. Above, officers search Mr O'Sullivan's home after Mason was found there 'Shame on all of them, all of them. The mother and child services for not doing their job.' A Current Affair attempted to speak to Ann-Marie but was unsuccessful. Queensland's Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman announced an investigation into Mason's death in early July. 'Mason's death in suspicious circumstances is a devastating tragedy and my heart goes out to this little boy's family,' Ms Fentiman told Daily Mail Australia. 'I know the people of Queensland want answers. So do I. This is why Mason's death will be investigated by an independent and expert review panel that will look at every detail of this case. 'I have already committed to implementing all of the expert panel's recommendations in relation to this case. At this time, our immediate priority is the ongoing police homicide investigation.' Ms Fentiman said she was 'absolutely determined' to keep children safe. Milho forced to take the videos off her Facebook after A transgender woman from Hawaii had her boss arrested on charges of sexual assault after she secretly filmed him on Facebook Live making advances at her. Makana Milho, 21, recorded the incident on July 22 while she was carrying out a community-service order in a park in Honolulu. She told The Daily Beast that she 'feared for her safety' when a man purporting to be the city groundskeeper began to speaking inappropriately as he drove her through the grounds in his truck. A transgender woman (Makana Milho left) from Hawaii had her boss (Harold Villanueva Jr) arrested on charges of sexual assault after she secretly filmed him on Facebook Live making advances at her. In one video a man is heard telling Milho she can go home early if she performs sexual favors, reports the Honolulu Star Advertiser. He is then heard bragging about other community-service hook ups, which he said included one young mother who was the 'best I had in a long time.' The 21-year-old also alleges that the man tried to hold her hand and pinched and slapped her buttocks while she was cleaning park bathrooms. Her supervisor Harold Villanueva Jr., 47, was arrested on Tuesday on a charge of fourth-degree sex assault and was arraigned Wednesday and granted supervised release. Milho is on probation after pleading no contest to theft of a luxury handbag from Nerman Marcus in 2014. She was cleaning restrooms for six days in exchange for having her criminal record expunged. The series of videos cover nearly 30 minutes of conversations allegedly between her and her service-worker, one of which went viral and had garnered 197,000 views, 1350 comments and 2042 shares as of Monday. She tagged the Honolulu Police Department in one the posts, prompting them to launch an investigation. Milho told The Daily Beast that her boss had told her that no one would believe her side of the story because she is a felon. Makana Milho, 21, recorded the incident on July 22 while she was carrying out a community-service order in a park in Honolulu. The series of videos cover nearly 30 minutes of conversations allegedly between her and her service-worker (pictured Milho as she is sat in her boss's truck) Villanueva had driven her to a more isolated part of the part of the park before making his move The videos have since been taken down because Milho said was receiving abuse messages online, including those from the LGBT community, who called her a 'prostitute' and accused her of 'egging the man on'. Milho can be heard engaging in conversation with the man and at one point replies: 'I can ask my friend if they have a condom.' But she told the site that she said anything to keep him in 'his side of the truck' - he had driven her to a more isolated part of the part of the park before making his move - until they got into a more public area. She said: 'I took it down because I was getting so much backlash. The videos have since been taken down because Milho said was receiving abuse messages online 'People were saying it's my fault. People were making fun of the situation. I wasn't comfortable being a punchline to something serious that happened to me.' Honolulu attorney Myles Breiner, who is representing Milho, says that she would have lost her deferral of prosecution and may have gone to prison for five years had she not completed her service. But without the Facebook Live footage, it would have been a 'he said, she said' situation and difficult to prove. Milho, who was sexually abused as child before being placed in foster care, said that her decision to use Facebook Live had been inspired by the live stream video made by Philando Castile's girlfriend made in the moments after his death. Former Chicago cop Drew Peterson has been sentenced to an additional 40 years in jail for attempting to organize a hit on the prosecutor who jailed him for killing his third wife. Peterson, who is serving 38 years for murdering Kathleen Savio in 2004, was slapped with the fresh sentence for trying to arrange the murder of State's Attorney James Glasgow from his cell. The 62-year-old had been due for parole in 2047 at age 93, but the the additional years will now all-but guarantee he dies behind bars. Drew Peterson, 62, who is already serving 38 years in jail for killing his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004, has been sentenced to another 40 years behind bars for trying to put a hit out on the prosecutor who convicted him The court heard that Peterson began his plot to kill Glasgow soon after he was jailed in 2012 for Savio's murder when he befriended fellow inmate Antonio 'Beast' Smith. Some time in 2013 Peterson asked Smith whether his uncle could be persuaded to kill Glasgow, and Smith appeared to agree to the scheme. But Smith actually went to the authorities and informed them of the plot, before agreeing to wear a wire and record his conversations with Peterson. In total Smith captured hours of recordings that were played in full for the jury at Peterson's trial back in May. In one of the recordings, Smith told Peterson he had arranged for his uncle to kill Glasgow by Christmas 2014, the Chicago Tribune reports. 'I told him what you said, that it's the green light on, that basically go ahead and kill him,' Smith said in one recording from November 2014. 'That's what you wanted, right? ... It ain't no turning back.' 'OK, all right. I'm in,' Peterson responded. 'From the first time we talked about it, there was no turning back. ... If I get some booze in here, we'll celebrate that night.' Smith attempted to argue that the tapes were not genuine, and that he knew he was being recorded at the time. He said he had faked the evidence along with Smith in order to help his friend get credit with the authorities and transfer out of Menard Correctional Center, which he described as the 'third-worst prison in the country'. Peterson started plotting to kill State's Attorney James Glasgow (pictured) shortly after he was jailed for murder in 2012, trying to recruit another inmate's uncle to do the job Smith argued that he was suicidal at the time, and did not think he would live to see the scheme come to fruition. However, jurors at his trial took him at his word and found him guilty of attempting to orchestrate the murder. Peterson had been facing 20 to 60 years behind bars for the crime, and Glasgow urged the judge to hand down the maximum sentence, saying it would be the 'end of days' in Illinois if criminals thought they could kill prosecutors and expect a minimum term. Peterson was passive during proceedings, telling the judge: 'You can sentence me to whatever you want, I guess. This sentence, I won't outlive it.' During the sentencing Peterson repeated his earlier claims that he is innocent of Savio's murder, and has nothing to do with the disappearance of fourth wife Stacy Ann Cales. Cales disappeared in 2007, no trace of her has ever been found, and Peterson has never been charged in connection with the case. However, the Cales case did prompt Glasgow to reopen investigations into Savio's death, which had initially been ruled an accidental drowning after she was found in her bathtub. Advertisement Britain's summer could be over before we even enter August as warm weather streams that brought scorching temperatures from Africa are replaced with cooler streams from the Atlantic. The nation basked in the sun as it enjoyed record-breaking temperatures well above thirty degrees in July thanks to the front the brought scorching air from the south to Britain. But the first week of August could see severe weather warnings as forecasters predict heavy rainfall this week, with showers throughout the month, which could mean a premature end to the British summer. Upside down: It's feared that summer may be over already as forecasters are predicting more showers and cooler conditions than the record highs seen in July. Pictured is circumzenithal arc over Lenham in Kent Dampener: Rain fell at The Qatar Goodwood Festival as people enjoyed the annual hose racing meet in West Sussex, which is usually considered a summer event Gamble: Despite the event being in July, someone had clearly hedged their bets and made sure there were branded umbrellas available just in case there was a downpour Shelter: These two women looked dressed for summer but as the rain came down they were left shielding themselves with handbags Continental drift: BBC forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas said that the hot weather in July was due to a weather front from Africa and Spain in the south bringing the heat to Britain Cooling off: The warm front from the south will be replaced with an influence blowing in from the west. The Atlantic stream will bring showers and much cooler temperatures throughout July Weather streams from the Atlantic will bring cooler temperatures and showers, just as children break for the summer holidays and families look forward to spending time together outside. Although forecasters at the Met Office offer some hope, predicting a 'moderate probability' of another heatwave in the latter part of the month, in which Britain could enjoy 'several days of fine, warm weather with long sunny spells'. News of the rainy weather will be a blow for the British tourism, which usually looks forward to a weather-dependant boom next week over the August bankholiday weekend, usually among the busiest of the year. It could also be a blow to holidaymakers this year, which has seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of people choosing to stay in Britain for their vacations, as the terrorist threat in Europe has battered consumer confidence in taking foreign trips. According to the latest figures, a record-breaking 7.3 million people have opted for a staycation so far this year and more are expected to do so in August, but tourist traps may struggle to take full advantage if the weather is poor. News of the poor weather comes as the Royal Lifeboat National Institute warned people not to swim on beaches without lifeguards after two people died from dangerous riptide currents last week. Showers: The weather forecast for this weekend shows how sunny spells and temperatures in the low twenties will be interrupted by rain Cold: The temperature in some rural parts of Britain will drop to well below ten early on Sunday morning, BBC Weather predicts Britain got a taste of the weather to come yesterday, when a largely sunny day was broken up by brief but heavy showers. This weekend will see something very similar, with long sunny spells and isolated showers, which could turn heavy in the north east and across Scotland. At the Glorious Goodwood festival in Sussex, horse racing fans were seen holding up shawls and umbrellas as the rain fell on what is traditionally a sunny, summer weekend. Tomorrow, the weather will be almost exactly the same, with more warm, sunny spells interrupted by showers, which will continue throughout Monday and Tuesday. But late on Tuesday, more heavy downpours will start and on Wednesday and Thursday, Britain could see torrential showers that could potentially lead to weather warnings. Despite this week's weather and predictions that Britain may not see the same record-breaking highs of last week, the temperatures at least may be very much average for the rest of the month. Social media accounts he used to brag about exploits are now suspended Prison bosses have promised to mount an investigation and punish Usher A prisoner recently handed a life sentence has filmed a sickening video of inmates partying, eating McDonald's and allegedly taking drugs behind bars. Shocking footage filmed in a high security jail and posted online by Dominic Usher, 29, shows convicts jumping up and down to dance music while chanting and waving at the camera. In other scenes, an inmate snorts a line of white powder while some seem to be smoking drugs through an asthma inhaler. Shocking footage posted online by Dominic Usher, 29, shows convicts jumping up and down to dance music while chanting and waving at the camera. In one scene, Usher scoffs two McDonald's cheeseburgers Usher poses with a curry from the prison canteen, which he pushes away and replaces with the burgers. The inmate was recently given a life sentence at Stafford Crown Court Usher, who was imprisoned on Wednesday for kidnap, robbery, blackmail and arson, is shown scoffing down two McDonald's cheeseburgers. The video was shot on a mobile phone. These are banned inside prisons, and possession carries a maximum penalty of two years in custody. Since the footage appeared online, the Ministry of Justice has ordered an investigation and promised to punish Usher. Officials also said they are looking at new ways to prevent prisoners smuggling mobile phones into their cells. Usher's social media accounts, which he used to boast of his vile exploits, have been suspended. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'This behaviour is completely unacceptable. 'He has been stripped of privileges, put in segregation and faces an investigation that could lead to him serving extra time behind bars. 'We have measures in place to detect mobiles in our prisons. 'But we are looking at new ways of finding and blocking them, as well as equipping prison officers with the right tools to tackle this issue.' In one of a number of instances of apparent drug-taking, an inmate prepares a line of white powder before snorting it off his arm Since the videos appeared online, the Ministry of Justice has ordered an investigation and promised to punish Usher A spokesman said: 'This behaviour is completely unacceptable. He has been stripped of privileges, put in segregation and faces an investigation that could lead to him serving extra time behind bars' Officials also said they are looking at new ways to prevent prisoners smuggling mobile phones into their cells. Using a mobile phone in jail carries a maximum sentence of two years Usher, along with his brother, Jason, and another accomplice, Greg King, were jailed for kidnapping a Derbyshire businessman off the street and holding his friend to ransom for his safe return. A few weeks before this incident, Dominic Usher was involved in a robbery at a house in Beckley Road, Arnold, in Nottinghamshire. A ceramic vase was smashed over the head of the 31-year-old resident in the hunt for cash and jewellery. She was also punched, tied her up and threatened with being stabbed and shot. Three days later, in Cossall, Nottinghamshire, Dominic and Jason set fire to the stolen convertible Mazda used in the robbery. Usher posted this image of bundles of food and tobacco on his Instagram with the caption, 'Got that jail canteen on smashhhhh' Usher holds up a bundle of a drug that looks like cannabis in one of the many leering photos he posted on social media A roll-up containing dried leaves was photographed by Usher and posted online. His social media accounts he used to boast of his exploits have now been suspended Enquiries by detectives led them to the Usher brothers and King for the kidnap and found further evidence linking Dominic to the robbery. But the offending did not stop there. Dominic, with help from his girlfriend, Grainne Cafferkey, and friend, Scott Finch, attempted to pay off a key witness in the kidnap case. After a trial at Stafford Crown Court Dominic Usher was found guilty of kidnap, blackmail, robbery and arson. The 29-year-old also admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice. This is a picture of the 21-year-old woman who claims she is being kept in a cage in Saudi Arabia by her strict Muslim father. Amina Al-Jeffery - who was whisked off to the the Middle East four years ago - desperately sent the picture to her friend in a plea for help. The photo shows Miss Al-Jeffery - her old dark locks swapped for cropped, dyed hair - surrounded by gating with a padlocked door in the background. Amina Al-Jeffery - who was whisked off to the the Middle East four years ago - desperately sent this picture to her friend in a plea for help She was taken by her father, academic Mohammed Al-Jeffery, to Jeddah when she was just 16 years old because he opposed her western lifestyle in Swansea, Wales. She claims her father, 62, now locks her up inside a cage after she was allegedly caught kissing and hugging an American student at a Saudi university - and subsequently arrested. Now, Miss Al-Jeffery, 21, has launched legal action against him. Miss Al-Jeffery had spoken to lawyer Anne-Marie Hutchinson when she briefly escaped from her father's home. Lawyers representing her say they fear for her safety and have taken legal action in London in a bid to protect her. The High Court was told she has been starved of food and water, physically abused, and will not be allowed to marry the man of her choice. Mr Al-Jeffery had said: 'I will not allow Amina to go back to a toxic lifestyle.' The judge, Mr Justice Holman, said there were reasons to be 'very concerned' about Miss Al-Jeffery's welfare, adding there was a 'degree of admission' by her father. He said Mr Al-Jeffery - who works at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah - had admitted locking his daughter in his flat when he went out and there had been 'very elaborate steel latticework' over windows so that Miss Al-Jeffery could not shout out. Miss Al-Jeffery (pictured) claims her father now locks her up inside a cage after she was allegedly caught kissing and hugging an American student at a Saudi university - and subsequently arrested Miss Al-Jeffery was taken by her father, academic Mohammed Al-Jeffery, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (pictured) when she was just 16 years old because he opposed her western lifestyle in Swansea, Wales A 'barrier or partition' had been put up at the property, which Miss Al-Jeffery has likened to a 'cage'. According to The Times, Ms Al-Jeffery sent the photograph of her locked up to her friend Robyn Lewis last November. Ms Lewis said: 'Amina sent me the message saying she didn't want to be there. 'She said, you need to help me to get out of her.' Along with the photograph, Miss Al-Jeffery wrote: 'Just because I am dressed up, I am dressed up in a cage.' Representing Mr Al-Jeffery, Marcus Scott-Manderson said the father had 'required' his daughter to go to Saudi Arabia when she was 16 because he was concerned about the life she led in Wales. 'His concern is that she is going to be at risk (in Britain),' Mr Scott-Manderson told the judge. 'He is the head of a family that has its own moral and cultural standards.' The unique dim sums are made to resemble Japanese Kobitos characters A hole is poked into the dim sum with a chopstick before cream oozes out At Dim Sum Icon diners squeeze their food to poo or vomit on their plate in Hong Kong encourages people to play with food A dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong encourages diners to play with their food, and the result will either disgust or delight you. At Dim Sum Icon customers can squeeze a strange creature to poo or vomit on their plate before eating it. Hungry punters poke a hole into the mouth - or the rear - of the dim sum with a chopstick, squeeze it and watch the brown or white cream ooze out. Scroll down for video At Dim Sum Icon customers can squeeze a strange creature to poo or vomit (pictured) on their plate The unique dim sums are made with a face on them to resemble Japanese Kobitos characters Squeeze me! A dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong encourages diners to play with their food, and the result will either disgust or delight you Hungry punters poke a hole into the mouth (or the rear) of the dim sum with a chopstick, squeeze it and watch the brown or white cream ooze out The unique dim sums are made with a face to resemble Japanese Kobitos characters. But far from grossing people out, Ray Kuo, assistant manager at the restaurant, said the buns are one of the most popular items on the menu. 'Actually we got a lot of good reviews from them. That is the main one they post on Facebook and Instagram,' Kuo said. The restaurant uses Japanese animations but switches the theme up every few months in addition to alternating menu items. The restaurant uses Japanese animations but switches the main theme up every few months in addition to alternating menu items But far from grossing people out, Ray Kuo, assistant manager at the restaurant, said the buns are one of the most popular items on the menu Another interactive crowd-pleaser is a pooping 'Gudetama', the lazy yellow egg character from Japan's Sanrio. 'We don't want the old traditional Chinese style of dim sum, so we want make it more fashionable,' Kuo said, emphasizing the restaurant's appeal to teenagers and a 'younger crowd.' Dim Sum Icon opened their first restaurant two years ago and their second at the end of December. Reports of up to one million Australian ransomware attacks per month Offenders come from overseas so police are unable to intervene One victim paid $10,000 to prevent the footage being leaked Australians are falling victim to sophisticated webcam hackers who blackmail them with compromising footage into sending tens of thousands of dollars overseas. A ransomware victim has told of the moment he was emailed footage of himself masturbating to online porn - before hackers demanded $10,000 not to send the video to his co-workers. Another man sent $10,000 to hackers in order to stop them leaking compromising footage from his webcam, in a cyber scam targeting hundreds of thousands of Australians, reports ABC Australians are falling victim to sophisticated webcam hackers who blackmail them with compromising footage One unnamed victim who spoke to the ABC was blackmailed into sending $10,000 via wire transfer to a hacker in the Ukraine after being threatened with having his intimate moment leaked. 'In hindsight I know it was the wrong thing to do, but I was tunnel visioned by fear and panic at the time,' he said. Another victim, Matt, opened an email showing himself masturbating before being sent screenshots of his Facebook and work contacts. 'There was an email saying they were going to release footage to all my Facebook friends and people I worked with if I don't pay them money.' The hackers demanded he send $10,000 to Mali in West Africa, and he began to negotiate before he having a change of heart. Matt posted a Facebook message warning his contacts now to watch the video if they didn't want to be hacked themselves. One victim managed to thwart the attack by posting this message on Facebook - after being ordered to send $10,000 to Mali in West Africa The issue was thrust into the spotlight last month when an image emerged of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Macbook with the camera and audio jack covered with tape The tape is a move to thwart ransomware attacks by protecting the webcam and audio from hackers A policeman who spoke with the publications said he was contacted by victims 'all the time' but said they are powerless to investigate when the attacks come from abroad. One report from security firm Websense recorded more than one million ransomware attacks in Australia in October last year alone. U.S. Embassy will remember police misconduct The U.S. Embassy is deeply concerned by the shocking images and credible reports of violence and excessive use of force by the police to disperse protestors during the night of July 29-30. We are just as concerned by credible reports that journalists and their equipment were specifically targeted by the police during these operations, in what appears to be clear violations of the freedom of the press. We urge the Armenian government to take immediate steps to prevent a repeat of last nights actions and to direct the Armenian security forces to maintain order in a manner that upholds all Armenian citizens rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly freedoms that are guaranteed in the Armenian Constitution and are the core values of any strong and functioning democracy. At the same time, we also urge protestors to responsibly exercise their freedom of assembly by exercising restraint, eschewing violence, and avoiding the active standoff at Erebuni police building. We welcome the Armenian Human Rights Ombudsmans efforts to document the reports of violence against protestors, journalists, and passersby, and to advocate for the rights of those in detention. The Prosecutor Generals launch of a criminal case into violence against journalists is a positive initial step, and we call on the government to allow a full, independent, and transparent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations, and to prosecute all those involved to the fullest extent of the law. We also urge the government to take immediate steps to ensure similar violations of Armenians constitutional and human rights do not recur. As friend to Armenia and a partner in its democratic development, the U.S. Embassy is deeply concerned by what the events of last night indicate about the rule of law and protection of civil rights in Armenia. We remain committed to working in partnership with civil society and individuals within the government who are truly committed to strengthening rule of law. At the same time, information gleaned by the investigations into police misconduct, as well as information gathered by credible independent reports, will inform future decisions about participation in Embassy programs and activities. Amidst the calls for further protests this evening, we strongly urge all parties to sincerely work for a peaceful resolution of the situation. Suspended from his job at the 30,000-a-year public school where he became deputy head after leaving the school where the alleged rape took place, the damage inflicted on the 37-year-old's reputation may never be undone The super-rich parents of a deeply troubled schoolgirl who falsely accused a deputy headteacher of rape forked out 250,000 to help her, it has emerged. Geography teacher Kato Harris, 37, was cleared of three counts of sexually assaulting the teenage pupil in just 26 minutes last week. The case has sparked questions as to why the Crown Prosecution Service decided to press ahead with the trial. The girl, who was under 16 at the time, claimed the attacks took place in the autumn term of 2013 at the 18,000-a-year all girls' London boarding school but only spoke out a year later. Her millionaire parents paid for two private therapists for the then 14-year-old, including one she visited in New York every week for a year - plus a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. At the time, the girl did not tell anyone what had allegedly happened to her in October, November and December 2013. In fact the allegations only emerged when she moved to a new school and staff became concerned about her unhappiness, panic attacks and eating habits. A year after the last of the three alleged rapes, her housemistress persuaded her to write down what was wrong. She handed her a piece of paper that simply read: 'I was raped.' The teenager then gave a police interview in which she declined to give the name of her alleged abuser. Following that, the CPS concluded they did not have enough evidence to charge Mr Harris. It was then her parents - who divide their time between a 7million townhouse and a mansion in the country - decided to step in. They hired Sue Akers, a former deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, as a private investigator. Miss Akers held several meetings with serving officers about the case. Detective Constable Sarah Lloyd, the officer leading the investigation, admitted in court that it was 'unique' for such a former high ranking officer to be involved in this way. And the girl's mother said she had spoken to Miss Akers - who spent 36 years with the Met and famously led three linked phone hacking investigations for the Met - up to a dozen times during the investigation. The family also used the services of exclusive law firm Mishcon de Reya ahead of the case and Alison Levitt QC, a partner at the firm, was entrusted with handling the matter. Shortly afterwards the girl asked for a second interview with police - described in court as 'rehearsed' - and Mr Harris was charged. She barely knew Mr Harris and yet on three separate occasions over the autumn of 2013 would claim he had invited her into his classroom during their lunch break and then raped her. During the trial he insisted it was 'completely impossible' for him to have carried out the attacks. He said the corridors were full of staff and pupils during lunch hour, and the doors into the classroom were transparent. Geography teacher Kato Harris, 37, was cleared of three counts of sexually assaulting the teenage pupil When the jury acquitted him, he wept and sank to his knees, saying later that 'the last 20 months have put massive stress on my family and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their love and care'. Mr Harris added: 'There is a beautiful world out there and for 20 months I've been terrified of it, and I've been hiding from it. I'm now going into it a good man, and a free man. who have been analysing accident data That's the verdict of Drink-driving has not been reduced by the popularity of Uber taxis, new research has found. The theory that drunks opt to use their smartphones to arrange a safe route home instead of getting behind the wheel themselves is untrue. Researchers analysed road death rates before and after the rise of Uber in America. This calls into doubt earlier contrary claims made by the company last year. Researchers analysed road death rates before and after the rise of Uber in America Uber had said drink-drive crashes caused by drivers under 30 had fallen by 60 per cent since the taxi service was launched. Company bosses had said that Uber was 'having a significant impact across America's cities, providing people with smarter alternatives to getting behind the wheel if their plans include alcohol'. But researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Southern California said they were sceptical of the claims. David Kirk, associate professor of sociology at the University of Oxford and an author of the study, told The Times: 'If drunk drivers were rational, then in theory a service offering to make alternative forms of transport easier should bring down rates of drink-driving and road traffic deaths. Company bosses had said that Uber was 'having a significant impact across America's cities, providing people with smarter alternatives to getting behind the wheel if their plans include alcohol' 'However, the average inebriated individual contemplating driving may not be sufficiently rational to substitute drinking and driving for a presumably safer Uber ride.' He added that another reason may be that drunk drivers are unwilling to pay for an Uber ride. Noli Brazil, a research associate from the University of Southern California, thinks a reason why Uber has reduced drink driving is because the number of people using the service is too small to have an effect. There are more than 120 million drink-driving incidents in America every year. So far the Uber app has been rolled out to almost 500 cities around the world. A man has fallen from a third level balcony in Sydney's eastern beaches following a brawl. Police were called to Ardent Road in Coogee about 6.20 on Saturday after a fight broke out. A man believed to be in his 20's was sitting on a third level balcony above the Coogee McDonald's when he fell on to an awning before hitting the footpath below. Police attended a brawl in Coogee on Saturday night and a man fell from a third floor balcony Police can be seen on the balcony the man fell from. One witness says the police appeared to be talking to someone and making 'hand tumble actions' One local woman told Daily Mail Australia that people were sitting on the restaurant balcony below the awning as police investigated the fall. 'It looked like they just kept on eating and drinking,' she said. 'It seemed strange that no one could walk underneath on the pavement but they could sit out there like nothing had happened.' She also said police standing on the balcony where the man fell from appeared to be talking to another person. The police taped off a large area which encompassed the convenience store next door, and to locals, it was initially unclear what had occurred. 'We were worried the convenience store had been held up,' the woman said. The man was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to St Vincent's Hospital in a serious condition. Police are still investigating, and urge anyone with information to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000. A large area was cordoned off by police, and locals believed the convenience store next door had been held up Bomb squads evacuated a shopping centre and train station in Munich after police received a tip off that there was an explosive in the area. Officers sealed off the area around Pasing Arcaden shopping centre and Pasing railway station in the west of the city. It comes just a week after a German-Iranian teenager shot dead nine people in the Olympia shopping centre just five miles away. Fear: Officers sealed off the area around Pasing Arcaden shopping centre and Pasing railway station in the west of the city Threat: The Pasing Arcaden shopping centre (pictured) and Pasing train station in the German city of Munich were evacuated after police received a bomb threat Police received a phone call warning a bomb had been placed in the area, according to reports. Munich police emphasised that the action was taken as a precautionary measure. Police gave the all-clear after an hour-long search of the area during which nothing suspicious was found, according to German media. It comes as Germany is on high alert following a spate of terror attacks and 'lone wolf' violence. The deadliest attack came on July 22 when German-Iranian teenager Ali Sonboly, who was born and raised in Munich, opened fire at the Olympia shopping centre - just five miles from the Pasing Arcaden. After killing nine people, the gunman turned the weapon on himself. He had been under psychiatric treatment and investigators say he was obsessed with mass shootings, including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre. Action: Police received a phone call warning a bomb had been placed in the area, according to reports On July 18, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan slashed train passengers and a passer-by with an axe and a knife in Wuerzburg before being shot by police. And on Sunday, a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, wounding 15 people at a nearby cafe after being turned away from the packed open-air venue. IS claimed both attacks. Advertisement Hundreds of comic book, science-fiction and fantasy fans descended on Manchester today for the weird and wonderful ComicCon event. Among the revellers was a woman covered in Pokemon body paint and Batman supervillain Bane, while Star Wars' Rey and Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn were seriously popular choices. Fans showed off their brilliantly bonkers costumes at Manchester Central for the annual two-day event, which featured guest appearances from Harry Potter star Warwick Davis, Skins actor Luke Pasqualino and Doctor Who's Terry Molloy. Gotta catch 'em all! One fan, covered in Pokemon body paint that depicted the cartoon Pikachu on her skin, posed next to another fan of the game at the ComicCon event in Manchester on Saturday Super villain: A female guest enlivened the character of Harley Quinn - the villain Australian actress Margot Robbie plays in Suicide Squad In the nude: Revellers enjoyed a wide selection of activities, including a stand full of body paint to create elaborate outfits I want to be the very best: A Pokemon enthusiast sat patiently as a make-up artist decorated her back Flying high: Event-goers got into the costume spirit at Manchester Central on the opening night of the two-day event 'You think darkness is your ally?' One reveller dressed as the Batman supervillain Bane, complete with facial armour and the signature shearling jacket May the force be with you: One guest dressed as Rey from Star Wars - a role recently portrayed by British actress Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens Several guests rocked pigtails and hotpants in ode to the character of Harley Quinn - a role currently enlivened onscreen by Australian actress Margot Robbie in the 2016 film Suicide Squad. Keeping to the Batman theme, another guest drew the eye in a leaf-covered corset and green tights as superhero's adversary Poison Ivy. Meanwhile one enthusiast dressed as the anti-superhero Deadpool - played by Ryan Reynolds in the popular eponymous 2016 flick. The iconic event allowed guests to test some of the newest games on the market and some that were not yet available. Revellers enjoyed talks, a masquerade and presentations on the main stage. The more outlandish the better! One guest rocked an eye-catching blue and pink outfit as the character of Dark Magician Girl Special guests: Famous faces at the event included Harry Potter star Warwick Davis, Skins actor Luke Pasqualino and Doctor Who's Terry Molloy Turning heads: Event-goers were able to experience new games before they hit the market at the brilliantly bonkers convention Green with envy: One comic-book enthusiast wore a corset made up of leaves with green tights, in tribute to Batman's Poison Ivy character Guest Kevin Marsden, who dressed as Daredevil, told the Manchester Evening News: 'It's a big community and Comic Con just brings everyone together. 'It's something out of the ordinary that people don't see every day.' While fans made their way into the event, some locals in Manchester were bemused by the outfits and expressed their admiration on Twitter. Fit for a princess: A reveller wore the blue ballgown synoymous with Cinderella, flanked by two men in futuristic warrior outfits New presidential candidate? One fan dressed as the character of Deadpool - played by Ryan Reynolds in the eponymous 2016 film Say cheese! Several guests chose Harley Quinn as their alter-ego, the rival of Batman and accomplice of the Joker Chris Horricks said: 'I dont understand most of them but there were some very impressive costumes as I walked past #Manchester #ComicCon2016 Another spectator revealed he had seen several people dress up as the character of Khaleesi from fantasy series Game of Thrones, and the ever-popular Harley Quinn. Andrew Hall said: 'Today I've seen a dozen Khaleesi's and at least thirty Harley Quinn's #ComicCon' Elliot Morgan commented: 'Walking around #Manchester seeing some awesome people dressed up for #ComicCon' Meanwhile, a user with the handle 'miphro' wrote: 'Great seeing all the fancy dress in Manchester for #ComicCon2016. Love the enthusiasm of these people' While fans made their way into the event, locals in Manchester were bemused by the outfits and expressed their admiration on Twitter Watch out: A fantasy fan struck a fierce pose in a long blue wig and fur-lined red outfit Photo-ready: Two comic book fans stopped to take a selfie on their phone at the crowded event Flash a smile: A guest dressed as Ken Kaneki from the anime Tokyo Ghoul wore a leather face mask that featured a sinister grin of painted-on teeth Ready, aim, fire: One man dressed as Green Arrow rocked a dark-green bodysuit and sunglasses Fully loaded: Two revellers looked ready for combat as they dressed as Umbrella Corp outfits from the video game Resident Evil A 15-year-old girl who sparked a European manhunt after going missing with a man nearly twice her age has been found safe and well in Spain. Elena Veronica Ciochina was spotted in Madrid following a public appeal for help from detectives who suspected the couple had fled abroad. The man she was with, 27-year-old Ionut Gheorghe, was arrested for abduction. Elena Ciochina, 15, (left) has been found safe and well in Madrid and Ionut Gheorghe, 27, (right) has been arrested for abduction A spokesman for New Scotland Yard said: 'Elena was found on Friday, 29 July, safe and well in the Los Molinos area of Spain.' 'Ionut Gheorghe, who detectives were also appealing for, was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant by the Spanish national police, at the same location as Elena was found.' 'Proceedings will be started for his extradition.' The teenager was last seen on Saturday, July 23rd, at about 7pm when she left her home address in Newham. Ionut Gheorghe was also last seen on that same day. He was caught on CCTV in Enfield withdrawing 250 from a cash point, at about 2.20pm.' Police believe the pair left the UK together on Saturday evening to travel to Europe. Officers thought they went to the Guadalajara area of Spain, near Madrid. Elena, who is 5ft 9in and has waist-length black hair, was wearing a black T-shirt, black jogging bottoms and black plimsolls when she was last seen. She is also originally from Romania and was thought to have a national identity card with her. Advertisement The entire fleet of the Royal Navy's most powerful warships are all docked at the same port together for the first time in years - and they could be there for a whole month. The six Type 45 destroyers are docked in Portsmouth Harbour for reasons that include giving crews time with their families over the summer and to allow the ships to be used for training purposes. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the 1 billion vessels, designed for air defence, have either just returned from operation, are about to be deployed or are having maintenance done. Warships HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless, HMS Diamond, HMS Defender, HMS Dragon and HMS Duncan are all sitting idle in Portsmouth The six Type 45 destroyers are docked in Portsmouth Harbour for reasons including giving crews time with their families over the summer A picture shows the warships: HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless, HMS Diamond, HMS Defender, HMS Dragon and HMS Duncan sitting idle in the harbour in Hampshire, on the south coast of England. Tom Sharpe, from the Directorate of Defence Communications, said the scenario was 'unusual but not unprecedented', adding that the ships could be docked for 'anything from a few weeks to a month'. A MoD spokeswoman added that the ships are rarely in port together and that it only happens 'every few years'. The destroyers have recently experienced mechanical problems in the Persian Gulf with engines breaking down due to the water being too warm. Contractors claimed the Ministry of Defence did not tell them the 8,000-ton vessels would be spending a long time in warm waters and as a result, the warships have an engine which keeps cutting out in the middle of the sea, leaving servicemen stranded for hours in total darkness. Earlier this month, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones told the House of Commons Defence Committee the innovative gas turbine engines driving destroyers 'degraded catastrophically' in very warm seas. The Ministry of Defence will have to pick up the full bill for the multimillion-pound refit. Mr Sharpe insisted that the warships being docked at Portsmouth was not connected to the need for all six ships to be refitted with new engines, however. The MoD spokesman said: 'It happens most Christmases. To have them docked for a sustained period over the summer is unusual but not unprecedented. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the vessels have either just returned from operation, about to be deployed or having maintenance done The MoD said the scenario was 'unusual but not unprecedented' and the ships could be docked for 'anything from a few weeks to a month' A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said that the ships are rarely in port together and that it only happens 'every few years' 'They (the crew) have got to take leave and we've got manpower issues which are much publicised. It's got to be planned in advance. 'They spend so much time away and it's about harmony time - getting the work life balance right. 'You could argue if you are trying to rebalance harmony time, it does not look good but in reality it combines everyone getting away at the right time of year. 'It's just a coincidence, nothing to do with the engines.' He added no other parts of the fleet were being left without protection by the destroyers and that US warships were carrying out that role for those on operation in the Gulf. It comes after pictures emerged showing damage to Britain's newest and most advanced 1.1billion nuclear-powered submarine - HMS Ambush - after it crashed into a merchant ship during a training exercise off the coast of Gibraltar. Described as part of the backbone of the Royal Navy, Type 45 destroyers are the most powerful ships ever built for use by the British Armed Forces. The first of the six, HMS Daring, was commissioned in July 2009 and was followed by sister ships Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon and Defender. The final, HMS Duncan, was commissioned in 2013. The ships have recently experienced mechanical problems in the Persian Gulf with engines breaking down due to water being too warm Muslim leaders in northern France are refusing to bury the body of one of the jihadi attackers who stormed a church and slit a priest's throat before being shot dead by police. Adel Kermiche, 19, and Abdelmalik Petitjean burst into the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Rouen on Tuesday during morning mass. They took several nuns and members of the congregation before they forced 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel to kneel at the altar before slitting his throat, while filming the incident on a mobile phone. Muslim leaders in northern France are refusing to bury the body of Adel Kermiche, left, who slit the throat of a priest alongside accomplace Abdelmalik Petitjean, right The pair were then shot dead by police as they ran from the church reportedly shouting 'Allahu Akbar.' Now, it has emerged that prominent Muslim leaders in the town of Rouen are refusing to bury the body of Kermiche, saying they 'did not want to taint Islam'. According to Islamic tradition, when a Muslim dies ,they are buried as soon as possible in a ceremony organised by the local Islamic community. The local Islamic community also helps to prepare the body for burial before it takes place. But speaking to La Parisien, Mohammed Karabila, imam and president of the local Muslim cultural association, said they would not be taking part - even if they were requested to by the family. Prominent Muslim leaders in the town of Rouen are refusing to bury the body of Kermiche, saying they 'did not want to taint Islam' He said: 'We won't participate in preparing the body or the burial.' While Khalid El Amrani, a local Muslim, said it was 'normal' that they did not want to take part. He added: 'What this young man did was sinful; he is no longer part of the community.' Meanwhile, one of the nuns who witnessed the murder of Father Jacques has spoken out saying the killers spoke about the Koran and even smiled during the siege. The two nuns were in the church when the priest was killed and said the men appeared aggressive and nervous. Then, one of the attackers seemed pleased. Sister Hugette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie: 'I got a smile from the second (man). 'Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy.' One nun, Sister Danielle fled the scene and alerted the police, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, in the church with the jihadists. Father Jacques Hamel was killed after having his throat slit as he led mass on Tuesday morning. His funeral will be on Tuesday in Rouen Cathedral At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. 'I asked for my my cane, he gave it to me,' she said. Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Koran. 'Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I've read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace,' Sister Helene responded. One of the attackers replied: 'Peace, it's what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop.' Neighbours and acquaintances said Kermiche was 'obsessed' with going to Syria, where an international coalition including France is carrying out air strikes against the ISIS jihadist group. One of the nuns who witnessed the murder of Father Jacques has spoken out saying the killers spoke about the Koran and even smiled during the siege. Pictured area group of nuns at a memorial for Father Jacques A French nun and a mourner embrace during a service to remember Father Jacques who was killed in the church at the altar 'Are you afraid to die?' one of the attackers asked. The nun said no, then he said: 'Why?' 'I believe in God, and I know I will be happy' Sister Helene said, as she quietly prayed to herself. Then they started talking about God. 'Jesus cannot be God and a man. It is you who are wrong,' one of the men said. 'Maybe, but too bad,' Sister Huguette replied. At that moment, she prepared for her own death, not knowing what was coming next. 'Thinking I was going to die, I offered my life to God' she added. It emerged after the attack that Kermiche was already under police surveillance after twice trying to join ISIS in Syria. But after spending time in prison in both France and Switzerland he was returned to live with his parents in Saint Etienne under bail conditions. These conditions, however, allowed him to roam freely between the hours of 8.30am and 12.30pm. Muslim worshippers turned up at the church where Father Jacques was murdered to observe a minute's silence Meanwhile it was also revealed that French security services had been sent a picture of fellow priest killer Abdelmalik Petitjean and were warned an attack was imminent four days before the church attack. His photo had been widely distributed to police stations after the anonymous tip-off 'from abroad' on July 22. It was received with a colour photograph of Petitjean, and said he 'was preparing to take part in an attack on national territory'. Before carrying out their barbaric crimes, the pair recorded a video, in which they held up an ISIS sign and swore allegiance to the group's leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the funeral of slain priest Father Jacques is set to take place on Tuesday afternoon. Donald Trump seemed to be appealing to an even younger demographic at a rally held in Colorado Springs - but the babies weren't buying it. The Republican presidential nominee wrapped up his five-day, seven-state campaign swing in Colorado on Friday, at a rally held in Gallogly Events Center on the school's campus. With two babies in either arm, the grinning billionaire businessman posed for photos as his smiling fans swarmed behind him. Scroll down for video Donald Trump seemed to be appealing to an even younger demographic at a rally held in Colorado Springs - but the babies weren't buying it With two babies in either arm, the grinning billionaire businessman posed for photos as his smiling fans swarmed behind him But the young boy, could not hide his upset and broke out into hysterical wail The little girl - who was donning a fetching pink bow - looked bewildered at best and seemed to be struggling to escape from Trump's clutch. The young boy, meanwhile could not hide his upset and broke out into hysterical wails. Though Trump appeared to be taking the baby's distress in his stride, his smile seemed to falter as the baby refused to stop crying. In an attempt to placate him, Trump planted a kiss on the young boy's head - but to no avail. The dodgy photo op may have been a failed attempt to seem more presidential. Indeed, American presidents posing for pictures while holding babies must be one of politic's hoariest traditions. Who is the biggest baby? One tweeter photo-shopped Trump's face onto the babies' faces But the Internet wasn't falling Trump's version, and many took to social media to suggest what captions may best apply George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have all fallen for the quick fix photo op, designed to display their sensitive side. But the Internet wasn't falling for Trump's version, and many took to social media to suggest what captions may best apply. One joked: 'They're not of voting age? What do you mean they're not of voting age?! Get these disgusting creatures off of me!' Another said: 'We're gonna build this wail!' While one tweeted: 'I can do the best, greatest baby cry you have ever heard. Believe me.' And John Lonergan wrote: 'Trump Unveils Foreign Policy Team'. The dodgy photo op may have been a failed attempt to seem more presidential Trump shakes hands with supporters after his speech at the Gallogly Event Center on the campus of the University of Colorado Earlier that day during his stump speech, Trump criticized Clinton sharply, said he will no longer be Mr Nice Guy And its not just the babies that seem unconvinced of Trump's appeal, he also got a battering at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last week. Speaker after speaker - including some Republicans - said he lacked the temperament to be president. Clinton herself said in her acceptance speech that the election represented a 'moment of reckoning' for the country. Earlier that day during his stump speech, Trump criticized Clinton sharply, and said he will no longer be 'nice' to her when his raucous audiences chant 'Lock her up!' at the mention of her name. The slogan, which first appeared at the Republican National Convention last week, has become a battle cry among Trump supporters who believe Clinton should have been charged with a federal crime for mishandling classified documents on her now-infamous private email server. WHY DO POLITICIANS LOVE BEING PICTURED HOLDING BABIES? Posing with a baby at a public event gives politicians an opportunity to appear engaging, relatable and devoted. It's no surprise then, that throughout history, American politicians have flocked to be pictured in often cringe-making photo ops clutching helpless infants. Some even use babies as symbols of political victory: In an iconic photograph taken in 1975, President Ford carried a Vietnamese orphan from a plane. The child was rescued from Saigon just prior to the city's impending fall. While others - Bush Jr and Sr, the Clintons and Obama, to name a few - are happy just to have found a young child who resists the urge to scream and cry long enough for the camera shutter to fire. Here is a potted selection. Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) holds Abbigail Rooney,6 months, as her mother Fleisha Rooney looks on Pres. George Bush comforting crying baby, cheek-to-cheek, secret servicemen & looming crowd backdrop, at campaign rally US President George W. Bush kisses Eve Schilling from Cincinnati, Ohio as he works a rope line after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House Then presidential hopeful Bill Clinton looks the part as he holds a baby girl and works the crowd President Barack Obama kisses a baby on the tarmac following his arrival at Denver International Airport President Ford carries a Vietnamese orphan from a plane. The child was rescued from Saigon just prior to the city's impending fall President Jimmy Carter kisses a cute baby during a 1979 visit to Elk City, Oklahoma Advertisement He also got sidetracked by a couple of disputes from last year as he tried to rebut a Clinton campaign ad. The ad uses a video clip from Trump's attack on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in protest of her questioning of him at a debate of Republican presidential contenders last August when he said afterward that blood was 'coming out of her eyes, coming out of her wherever.' 'I was talking about her nose,' Trump said in Colorado Springs. 'I wanted to get back on the issue of taxes' at the debate. Trump also brought up the case of disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, whom Trump seemed to mock publicly in video used by the Clinton ad. An elderly Afghan cleric has been arrested after he married a six-year-old girl allegedly given to him by her parents. Mohammad Karim, 60, says the girl was a 'religious offering' but her parents insist he kidnapped her. The Muslim leader claims the marriage happened in the holy month of Ramadan with 40 people at the ceremony including the girl's mother and father. An elderly Afghan cleric has been arrested after he married a six-year-old girl who he claims was given to him as a gift But they say she was abducted from western Herat province, bordering Iran. The girl was in a state of shock when authorities took her in and was only able to say 'I'm afraid of this man.' A medical examination revealed Karim had not had sex with the girl. 'The girl was given to me as a gift and we were married so I could raise her,' Karim told Radio Liberty. 'After the parents gave their daughter to me they said "you can take her wherever you want".' 'I gave her to my nephew to take care of but he returned her after a week.' Mohammad Karim, 60, says the girl was a 'religious offering' but her parents insist he kidnapped her Karim did not try to explain why the girl was given to him. In rural areas people offer money, livestock, and land to religious figures in a bid to gain favor with God but it is rare to hand over children. The girl is currently in a woman's shelter in the central province of Ghor and her parents are on their way to collect her. The head of women's affairs in Ghor said: 'This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: "I am afraid of this man".' Under Afghan civil law, the legal age for girls to marry is 16 but the Afghan Constitution also allows for Sharia law under which children can be married. A common interpretation of Sharia law in Afghanistan allows the girl to end the marriage if she does not wish to consummate it when she hits puberty. The Muslim leader claims the marriage happened in the holy month of Ramadan with 40 people at the ceremony including the girl's parents 'Karim has been jailed and our investigation is ongoing,' said Abdul Hai Khatibi, the governor's spokesman. Mohammad Zeman Azami, the deputy police commander of Ghor added: 'We spoke to her parents and they strongly deny they attended the wedding. On the phone, the parents told me their daughter was kidnapped.' The arrest comes just days after a 14-year-old pregnant girl was burned to death in Ghor, in a case that sparked shock waves in Afghanistan. The family of that girl, Zahra, said she was tortured and set alight by her husband's family. But relatives of the teenager's husband insisted her death was by self-immolation. The incidents underscore rising incidents of child marriages in Afghanistan. 'In some regions because of insecurity and poverty the families marry off their daughters at a very early age to get rid of them,' said Sima Samar, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The girl was in a state of shock when authorities took her in and was only able to say 'I'm afraid' Fifteen percent of Afghan women under 50 were married before their 15th birthday and almost half were married before the age of 18, according to Save the Children. 'So many children who are married off at a young age are deprived of their right to education, safety and the ability to make choices about their future,' the international charity said this month. 'This is such a fundamental breach of a child's basic rights.' The latest case comes after a young woman was stoned to death in Ghor last November after being accused of adultery. And in March last year a woman named Farkhunda was savagely beaten and set ablaze in central Kabul after being falsely accused of burning a Koran. It is the most expensive military project in history, plagued by delays, overspending, and glitches that have infuriated military chiefs and politicians alike. But as it nears the end of its long road to the battlefield, developers are finally able to show off some of the F-35 Lightning II's awesome arsenal of weapons, including this GAU-22 gatling gun. Capable of firing 55 rounds per second, enough to shred vehicles in mere moments, this footage shows the first test firing of the pod-mounted version which will be used by the Marines and Navy. The Marines have carried out the first live-fire test of the GAU-22 gatling gun pod that will be fitted to their new $104million F-35B stealth fighter Despite firing for less than two seconds, the weapon is able to hurl 80 rounds at a target with laser precision amid a deafening roar. The Air Force has already tested the wing-mounted versions of the same weapon on their F-35A variant of the craft, but the more compact B and C variants need to have the weapon mounted externally. In total the cost for the F35 project is estimated to be $400billion, more than double the original forecasts, a scenario described by John McCain as 'a scandal and a tragedy'. Locheed Martin, the company behind the warplane, had originally promised 1,035 jets by end of fiscal year 2016, but provided less than 200, CNN reports. The final jet is now destined to enter service by 2040, a move McCain described as making 'no sense' since Chinese and Russian investment means it will likely have been superseded since then. Despite firing 55 rounds per second the weapon is surprisingly accurate, grouping almost all of the bullets into a tight circle in the center of this target Donald Trump has hit out at the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq by suggesting the mother 'wasn't allowed to talk'. The Republican nominee hit out at Khizr and Ghazala Khan on Friday, just days after Khazir delivered one of the standout speeches of the DNC. Mr Khan attacked Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric while his wife stood solemnly at his side, before brandishing a copy of the Constitution and asking whether the billionaire 'has even read it'. Then, after recalling the tragic death of his son Humayun in Iraq, he accused Trump of 'sacrificing nothing' for his country. The Donald has since responded by controversially claiming he has not only made 'lots of sacrifices', but created 'tens of thousands of jobs'. Donald Trump has hit out at the parents of a Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq, suggesting his mother was 'not allowed to speak' at the DNC before comparing the family's sacrifice to the sacrifices for his business Khizr Khan, father of deceased Muslim U.S. Soldier Humayun S. M. Khan, holds up a booklet of the US Constitution as he delivers remarks on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. His wife Ghazala is by his side He went on to tell ABC's George Stephanopoulos: 'He [Mr Khan] was very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. 'His wife... If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. 'She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But a plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet, and it looked like she had nothing to say.' The billionaire then blamed Clinton's speech writers for scripting the address and defended him against the accusation that he has sacrificed nothing for America. Pressed on the point, he added: 'I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I've worked very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs.' In a statement released on Saturday, the Khans took aim again at Trump over his comments. The Khan family told ABC News that 'running for president is not an entitlement to disrespect Gold Star families and a Gold Star mother'. 'Shame on him! Shame on his family!' Mr Khan said. 'He is not worthy of our comments. He has no decency. He is void of decency, he has a dark heart.' Ms Khan went on to say that she's sorry Trump doesnt understand their faith. 'I don't know what type of Islam he has read or heard. I'm so sorry about that, that he has not had any idea what the Islam is,' she said. 'My faith, Islam, has given us strength, all the woman and man are equal in God's eyes. We are equal, we are the part of our husbands, they are the part of us. We can tell them what to do, they can tell us what to do.' Trump also released a statement on Saturday praising the Khan's son. 'Captain Humayun Khan was a hero to our country and we should honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe,' the statement begins. 'The real problem here are the radical Islamic terrorists who killed him, and the efforts of these radicals to enter our country to do us further harm. 'While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things. If I become President, I will make America safe again.' While Ghazala did not speak at the DNC, she did address Trump's criticisms in a later interview on MSNBC, saying she was too emotional to speak. She told Lawrence O'Donnell: 'I was very nervous because I cannot see my son's picture, and I cannot even come in the room where his pictures are. 'That's why when I saw the picture at my back I couldn't take it, and I controlled myself at that time. So, it is very hard.' Khizr delivered his speech with to the DNC in front of a huge screen with images of his son projected on to it. Khizr Khan delivered one of the standout speeches of the DNC alongside wife Ghazala when he recalled son Humayun's 2004 death before brandishing a copy of the Constitution and asking if Trump had read it The insinuation about Ghazala being unable to speak at the DNC is just the latest in Trump's ongoing controversy when it comes to minority groups in the U.S. The Republican nominee announced his candidacy over a year ago with the assertion that Mexico was deliberately sending rapists, drug dealers and criminals across the border into America, while promising to deport almost 11million people believed to be here illegally. He then went on to propose the all Muslims be forced to register on a government database, before proposing a 'complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S.' - though he has now watered that policy down to 'extreme vetting'. Trump has also risked the ire of disabled groups by appearing to mock a disabled New York Times reporter's disability and women's groups by accusing Hillary of 'playing the woman card'. There was also uproar from Jewish groups after Trump's Twitter account put out a message claiming Hillary is the 'most corrupt candidate ever' while using a symbol that bore similarities with the Star of David. While Trump denied that the image was deliberate, and later defended it, his campaign team quickly took the image down and replaced the star with a circle. Trump's presidential rival Hillary Clinton has since released a statement saying she was 'very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son'. Hillary Clinton has since released a statement saying she was 'very moved to see Ghazala Khan (left) stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son' She added: 'I was very moved to hear her speak last night, bravely and with dignity, about her son's life and the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country. 'This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans, and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country. Women having sex changes on the NHS are being given free fertility treatment so they can have babies after they become men. At least three British men who were born female are on the brink of becoming parents using IVF techniques, according to a top doctor. And dozens more are now having their eggs frozen at NHS clinics before undergoing surgery or hormone therapy to switch sex. Scroll down for video A medical first: Thomas Beatie, when pregnant for the first time. He was the first man to give birth and went on to have two more sons The controversial treatment means that a British transgender man could soon become a parent all funded by the taxpayer. In rare circumstances, the man could become pregnant and give birth, although the vast majority of cases would involve implanting an embryo into a surrogate mother, often the mans partner. Last night critics said cash-strapped health authorities should not be spending up to 34,000 per patient to help them change sex and have children when they are rationing basic services such as cataract operations, hip replacements and even hearing aids. Tory MP Peter Bone said: I am not sure why the taxpayer should be funding this. I just sometimes ask if the NHS is getting its priorities right. But one of Britains leading sex change doctors defended the practice, saying patients undergoing gender reassignment surgery had as much right to preserve their fertility as young people with cancer who freeze their eggs or sperm before having chemotherapy. Dr James Barrett, of the NHS Gender Identity Clinic in West London, said three of his patients who have transitioned from women to men were close to becoming parents. He added that, in the last year, he had asked GPs to refer about 50 of his female-to-male patients to have eggs frozen, and about 100 of his male-to-female patients to have their sperm frozen. As a matter of principle, anybody who loses their fertility as a result of standard NHS treatment should be able to preserve their fertility, he argued. THE TRAILBLAZER: AMERICAN WHO BECAME WORLD'S FIRST PREGNANT MAN In 2008 Thomas Beatie proved it is possible for trans-men to physically have a baby themselves if they keep their female reproductive organs. He is pictured with his daughter Susan and son Jensen Most transgender parents who freeze their eggs before fully transitioning from female to male will attempt to have children through a surrogate. But in 2008 Thomas Beatie proved it is possible for trans-men to physically have a baby themselves if they keep their female reproductive organs. The former teen beauty queen from Honolulu had started taking testosterone at 23. In 2002 he underwent surgery to give him a more manly appearance. But he chose not to have a hysterectomy and at the age of 34 he conceived his daughter Susan with the help of an anonymous sperm donor. He went on to have two more sons. Advertisement Why are people with cancer particularly magic and get this [NHS fertility treatment], and other people dont? Transgender patients want to live like normal people. They want what everybody else gets as a matter of course. Some local NHS authorities had agreed to fund fertility treatment for his patients straight away, Dr Barrett said. Some refused while others took months to decide. According to NHS figures released under the Freedom of Information Act, the average cost of a female to male gender reassignment to the NHS is 29,975 and 13,867 for male to female. Egg-freezing IVF could add around 2,500, plus 150 a year for storage for up to ten years. IVF services are already stretched in the NHS, with some areas such as parts of Essex, denying such treatment to infertile couples. THE CHAMPION: DOCTOR WHO HAS THREE MEN READY TO BE 'MOTHERS' Dr James Barrett, consultant psychiatrist and lead clinician at Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic, believes that transgender men and women have just as much right as cancer patients to preserve their fertility through the NHS. Advertisement One transgender candidate for the treatment is 17-year-old Riley Middlemore, born Rebecca, who wants to freeze eggs before transitioning to a man, so in the future using donor sperm his girlfriend would be able to become a surrogate and give birth to their child. Last night, his mother Carrie said: Hes very passionate about having his own children, but he wants his girlfriend to have the children he doesnt want to give birth. In 2008, American Thomas Beatie shocked the world by giving birth to a daughter, Susan, after changing gender. Mr Beatie went on to bear two other children using donor sperm, because his wife had undergone a hysterectomy while he had kept his womb. But Dr Barrett said that in most cases the child would be born with a surrogate and the role of the transgender man who provided the eggs would be that of father. But Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said the procedure risked upsetting the natural order and said children would be confused by not knowing if the parent is a father or a mother. He added: Any child is best brought up by knowing the biological father and biological mother. THE CANDIDATE: TEENAGER WHO WANTS TO FREEZE HIS EGGS Riley Middlemore hopes to freeze his eggs before making the full transition from female to male. The 17-year-old has revealed that he wants his girlfriend to act as a surrogate with his eggs so he can have his own biological children. Advertisement But Dr Barrett said there was no evidence transgender people made worse parents than others, adding: From adoption studies, they seem to be doing fine. No female to male transgender patient has yet completed this process in Britain, but Dr Barrett said: There may be some who are on the brink of doing so, indicating there were three people in this position. He told his transgender patients who were freezing their eggs that they had a small, but not zero chance of their own DNA being in some baby in the future because fertility treatment was often unsuccessful. But he said egg freezing was about preserving options Official figures show a success rate of just one baby for every 29 embryos created from frozen eggs. About 15,000 people were referred to UK gender identity clinics last year, and since 2004, transgender people have been able to obtain a new birth certificate under their altered gender. But whether a transgender man whose frozen eggs have been used to create a baby will be legally recognised as the childs father, rather than their mother, remains to be seen. Last year High Court judge Mr Justice Hickinbottom ruled that JK, who had switched from male to female, must be listed as father on the birth certificates of her two children, conceived before she started hormone therapy. JK had wanted to be listed simply as parent citing her human right to keep her gender change private. At least 50 British children are thought to be living in Islamic State territories and are being trained to become the next generation of terrorists. According to a report by Europe's law enforcement agency, the terror group is indoctrinating youngsters to become ISIS fighters. The report goes on to warn these minors 'may pose a future security threat to member states' of the European Union. Scroll down for video Khadijah Dare's son Isa Dare - who was dubbed 'Jihadi Junior' after being featured in ISIS videos Two young boys - in their combat gear - were featured in a chilling ISIS video earlier this year According to an investigation conducted by the Quilliam Foundation this year, some 50 children from the UK are 'growing up on jihad'. The report adds: 'The future of children born and raised in Islamic State is a pertinent and pressing problem, requiring the immediate attention of the international community. 'There are currently 31,000 pregnant women within the caliphate. 'As many as 50 children from the United Kingdom are growing up on jihad in Islamic State, and no prior research examines what will happen to them if they choose to return.' ISIS supporters are known to use children in their videos and images to demonstrate how youngsters are being groomed with the terror group's radical ideology. Footage posted at the start of this year by ISIS supporters showed an 11-year-old boy kneeling down to kiss his father's hand before blowing himself up in a truck laden with explosives. Meanwhile, a four-year-old British boy dubbed 'Jihadi Junior' was filmed apparently detonating a bomb, which killed four prisoners in the group's latest execution video. The footage shows the young boy, Isa Dare, the son of Muslim convert Grace 'Khadija' Dare from south east London, raising his hand in the air before shouting: 'Allahu Akbar.' Grace Dare with her Swedish ISIS fighter husband Abu Bakr and their son Isa Dare - who often features in her chilling videos Grace Dare, originally from Lewisham, south east London, and husband, ISIS gunman Abu Bakr, who is believed to be dead Europol's reports warns: In their propaganda, IS has often shown that they train these minors to become the next generation of foreign terrorist fighters, which may pose a future security threat to the EU In its annual report on terrorism in the European union, Europol added a significant percentage of all foreign terrorist travellers in Syria/Iraq are now female. It says most of those who travel to Syria and Iraq marry fighters soon after arrival - or have already married fighters online before leaving - and give birth to children. It added: Of particular concern are the children of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) who live with their parents in IS territory. 'One third of the minors that are children of Dutch women currently living in Syria/Iraq were born there. 'In their propaganda, IS has often shown that they train these minors to become the next generation of foreign terrorist fighters, which may pose a future security threat to Member States. Some returnees will perpetuate the terrorist threat to the EU via facilitation, fundraising, recruitment and radicalisation activities. 'They may also serve as role models for future would-be violent jihadists. In March this year, ISIS released a new video allegedly showing an orphanage full of children being trained as the next generation of fighters The clip, labelled 'Caring for Orphans within the Islamic State' by the terror group, shows children being forced into stress positions and made to waddle around the area as they learn 'combat' In the ISIS propaganda video, boys are fed grapes by an older, bearded man before sipping squash and sitting round a table to eat a meal - before it becomes more sinister In March this year, ISIS released a new video allegedly showing an orphanage full of children being trained as the next generation of fighters. The clip, labelled 'Caring for Orphans within the Islamic State' by the terror group, starts by showing tiny orphans playing before showing them being forced into stress positions and made to waddle around the area as they learn 'combat'. The Quilliam report also analysed propaganda released by Islamic State featuring children from September 2015 and found it depicted some 12 child executioners, and one child participating in a public execution. The report also found child soldiers were generally coerced into the group by abduction, or pressured to join out of fear. It adds: 'The current generation of fighters sees children as better and more lethal fighters than themselves. 'Rather than being converted into radical ideologies, children have been indoctrinated into extreme values from birth or at a young age. 'The indoctrination that begins in schools intensifies in training camps, where children between the ages of 10 and 15 are instructed in sharia, desensitised to violence, and are taught specific skills to best serve the state and take up the banner of jihad.' Children must also undergo Jihadi Training, which includes shooting, weaponry and martial arts. Girls, also known as the pearls of the caliphate, are veiled, hidden, confined to the home, and taught to look after husbands. But it has now been revealed he also made false allegations in 1991 A former children's home resident who is the principal source of accusations that the late politician Greville Janner was a paedophile made bogus claims that he was sexually abused by a woman at the care home where he lived. A Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed that in 1991 Janner's accuser, now middle-aged, made false allegations against Barbara Fitt, the head of the Station Road home in Leicester at the same time he first told police he had been abused by the Labour MP. Mrs Fitt was exonerated later that year but died suddenly aged 44, months after she was formally cleared by a panel of social services managers. Her widower, Raymond, 79, told this newspaper the 'lies' had a 'devastating impact' on her. He said: 'I can't say this business was the reason she passed on. She was ill. But it was awful for her to go through that. They were false claims, and they upset her terribly.' Disclosure of the false claims against Mrs Fitt are certain to have a dramatic impact on the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse under New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard, which will hear evidence on the Janner case next year. Lord Greville Janner, who died aged 87, was photographed walking next to his daughter Marion in 2014 The inquiry's counsel, Ben Emmerson QC, last week insisted that in due course, it would make 'findings of fact' in the cases it considers a prospect which the Janner family has called fundamentally unfair. Legal experts last night said the fact that the accuser whom this newspaper will call Tony made bogus sexual allegations against Mrs Fitt at the same time as he first accused Janner might have played an important part in the initial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to charge the MP and peer as a child abuser. Lord Janner, who had advanced dementia, died in December. Doubts about Tony's reliability are especially significant because, although 33 people have now claimed Janner abused them, for many years he was the only accuser. They suggest that the decision not to charge Janner was not an 'Establishment cover-up', as some have claimed, but a determination on ordinary legal grounds. Top criminal law specialist Andrew Hall QC, a former chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: 'If you are dealing with someone who has made allegations which have been thoroughly investigated and shown to be baseless, that has to be taken into account when the decision is made whether to charge someone else on the basis of his evidence especially in a case where he is likely to be the only material witness, and his credibility is therefore critical.' He said he was sure the CPS must have considered Tony's false claims against Mrs Fitt when it decided not to prosecute Janner a decision for which for which it has been savagely criticised, most recently in a report by the retired High Court judge, Sir Richard Henriques. Many of Janner's alleged victims are suing his estate for compensation. The Mail on Sunday investigation also reveals that: Tony had a history of 'highly sexualised' inappropriate behaviour in care before he met Janner, and was moved from the home run by Mrs Fitt after he assaulted a six-year-old girl; As an adult, in 2001 he was convicted of multiple offences of sexual assault against underage boys, jailed for four years and placed on the Sex Offender Register for ten years; Sir Richard knew about Tony's claims against Mrs Fitt, telling this newspaper that if the CPS was aware of them 'they plainly should have figured' in the decision to charge, or not charge, Janner. But Sir Richard did not mention this, nor Tony's sex offending record, in his report; Some of those now claiming that Janner abused them were among 400 former children's home residents interviewed by police in 1990 and 1991 as part of an inquiry into sex abuse by social services boss Frank Beck, who was convicted and jailed for life. None except Tony mentioned abuse by Janner at the time. Tony is the son of a teenage girl and a father who had a long criminal record. Social services sources say he was taken into care as an infant. He showed signs of emotional disturbance throughout his childhood. He was fostered but spent most of his formative years in children's homes, and arrived at the Station Road home in the Leicester suburb of Wigston in the early 1970s. Mrs Fitt was the social worker in charge and is remembered as a large, jolly lady who treated her staff and child residents firmly, but with kindness. She was married to Raymond, who worked for the local council waste department, for more than 25 years. They had a foster son but no children of their own. Lord Janner (pictured) , who had advanced dementia, died in December 2015 in London Soon after Tony started living at Station Road, he met Greville Janner, then the Labour MP for Leicester West. Janner was a skilled amateur magician, and is said to have taken Tony under his wing after demonstrating tricks at his school. He invited Tony to visit him at the House of Commons and at his family home in London. Sometimes Tony stayed in a suite Janner rented at a Leicester Holiday Inn while on constituency business. According to sources close to social services at the time, the relationship broke down at the end of 1974 after Mrs Fitt twice found 'substantial' quantities of cash that Tony had stolen from Janner and the Labour Party office. After the second theft, Janner wrote to Mrs Fitt saying that though he had tried his utmost, he could no longer mentor Tony or have him at his home. By this time, Tony was about to leave Station Road after the incident with the six-year-old girl. It was decided to move Tony to another Leicester home, in part to protect other child residents. This home was one of several run by Frank Beck, a former soldier who was to become notorious. He was a devotee of an experimental treatment for disturbed children known as 'regression therapy', in which children in their teens sometimes went back to using bottles with teats and carrying soft toys as a way of 'regressing' them to early childhood, in the hope of overcoming their early traumas. Tony was one of those who experienced it. In 1986, two former staff alleged Beck was a sexual abuser, and after initially protesting his innocence, he resigned. A large-scale police investigation began soon afterwards. Beck was arrested and charged with multiple offences in April 1990. His three-month trial started in August 1991. Having been convicted and awarded five life sentences, Beck who died in 1994, while preparing an appeal is still reviled. Yet he still has supporters among those who knew and worked with him and they remain convinced he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice. THE 'TONY' TIMELINE 1970 Greville Janner elected as MP for Leicester West. 1973 Frank Beck takes charge of Leicestershire childrens homes. 1974 Tony, a resident of Station Road childrens home, meets Janner and is befriended by him. 1975 Tony moves from Station Road to home run by Beck. 1986 Beck resigns after two staff make allegations of sexual abuse April 1990 Beck charged with abusing children in 70s and 80s. January 1991 Tony tells Becks defence team Beck did not abuse him but Janner did. Also accuses Station Road chief Barbara Fitt of sexual abuse. June 1991 Fitt denies it and is cleared by social services panel. November 1991 At Becks trial, Tony gives evidence Janner abused him. Beck convicted. December 1991 Janner denies child abuse in Commons. CPS says he will not be charged. 1997 Janner appointed to Lords. 2001 Tony jailed for indecent assaults on boys 2007 CPS again decides not to charge Janner after two more alleged victims complain 2013 Police launch new Janner inquiry. List of complainants grows to 13. April 2015 CPS decides not to charge Janner. After outcry, agrees review. September 2015 Judge rules Janner to face trial of the facts. December 2015 Janner dies. January 2016 Richard Henriques report criticises CPS for failing to charge Janner in 1991 and 2007. July 2016 Goddard inquiry reveals list of 33 Janner complainants. Most seek civil damages from his estate including Tony. Advertisement Beck's solicitor, Oliver D'Sa, was well-known in Leicester legal circles as a fearless lawyer who was not afraid to take on unpopular cases such as those of gay men accused of 'cottaging' in public toilets. Towards the end of 1990, his firm was approached by a man who had been in Beck's care and thought the world of him, saying that it was thanks to Beck that he had got his life back on track, finding both a job and a wife. It was Tony. He said he wanted to give evidence in Beck's defence. But he also made a sensational claim: that while Beck had never molested him, he had been sexually assaulted numerous times by Janner. On January 29, 1991, Tony went to a local police station to spend the whole day being interviewed about Janner. This was when he made his claims about Barbara Fitt. After the interview, the police passed the allegations about Mrs Fitt who was still running Station Road to the social services department, along with a copy of Tony's statement. In the summer of 1991 a panel of senior managers noted her exemplary record and decided to take no further action, determining that the claims were bogus, a complete fabrication. Mrs Fitt told the panel she thought Tony may have been seeking 'revenge' because she had been responsible for having him moved in 1974, after the incident with the six-year-old. But the damage was done. She died on November 1, 1991, following a routine gallstone operation. A few days later, Tony gave evidence at the Beck trial and made his claims about Janner public. He said nothing about Mrs Fitt. Tony's claims forced Janner to make an angry statement denying them in the Commons. In 2001, Tony was convicted of three counts of sexual assault on underage boys after being caught on CCTV engaged in a sexual act in the members' car park at Leicestershire County Council. Other charges were left on file. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and ten years on the sex offender register. In his report on the Janner case, issued in January, Sir Richard Henriques said the CPS was 'wrong' not to charge the MP in 1991, arguing that there was enough evidence to provide a 'realistic prospect of conviction' for serious sexual offences. He said nothing about Tony's false claims about Mrs Fitt. Sir Richard criticised police for an 'inefficient investigation', and added that Tony's claims should have been considered again in 2002 and 2007, when two others claimed Janner had sexually abused them. By then, Tony had been convicted. Last week Sir Richard told The Mail on Sunday that he was aware of the false claims against Mrs Fitt, and agreed they 'plainly should have figured in the 1991 charging decision', and would have been disclosed to the defence if Janner had been charged. However, he added that he believed they had, inexplicably, not been in the CPS file when it made its decision, and this was why he had not mentioned them. He was also aware of Tony's later convictions. The CPS said it could not comment. Liz Dux, a specialist sexual abuse claim lawyer at law firm Slater and Gordon, who is Tony's solicitor, said: 'While the independent inquiry is under way it would be inappropriate to comment on any of the evidence. All of our clients welcome the opportunity for their credibility to be subject to judicial findings.' The MoS investigation seems certain to strengthen the argument being made by the families of Janner and other alleged perpetrators that the Goddard inquiry process is flawed. Last night a close friend of Janner's three children said: 'The family is horrified that the inquiry appears to be proceeding on the assumption that Janner was guilty. 'Lord Janner was convicted of no offence, and this is being driven by complainants. 'It is an obscenity that it is insisting it will make findings of fact on the basis of evidence from people seeking compensation who cannot be cross examined, when Janner himself is dead and cannot answer back.' Cleared: Geography teacher Kato Harris outside court last week where he was cleared of rape after allegations made by a 14-year-old pupil A high-flying private school teacher falsely accused of raping a 14-year-old pupil three times has been left financially ruined by defending himself in court. Kato Harris was cleared in just 26 minutes by a jury last week in a verdict that has sparked furious criticism of the Crown Prosecution Services decision to bring the case to court. Friends, who say the 37-year-old has been crushed by the stress and emotionally beaten up, have now rallied round to set up an online fund-raising appeal to help pay off his 195,000 legal bill. Mr Harris wept in the dock as he was cleared of three counts of sexually assaulting the pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons. The then head of geography at an 18,000-a-year all-girls London secondary school was accused of raping the pupil on three separate occasions in a classroom during lunch breaks in the autumn term of 2013. Giving evidence in court, Mr Harris said he was taking a drug for anxiety which caused loss of libido, and insisted it would have been completely impossible for him to carry out the attacks. The court heard how the door of the classroom where the rapes were alleged to have happened, had a glass panel, could not be locked from the inside and was in a corridor patrolled during lunchtime by teachers. It also emerged in court that the pupils wealthy parents hired Sue Akers, a former deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, as a private investigator. Miss Akers, who was employed by top legal firm Mishcon de Reya, held several meetings with serving officers about the case, as well as meeting the pupil. William Clegg QC, defending, claimed Miss Akers had asked the police for access to court papers and sought to give directions to officers about what they should do. The officer leading the investigation, Detective Constable Sarah Lloyd, even admitted in court that it was unique for a former high-ranking officer to be involved in this way. The rape allegations only emerged after the girl moved to a new school, with the pupil initially refusing to name Mr Harris. The teenager, who had previously suffered from an eating disorder and was bullied, was later flown to New York for weekly sessions with a therapist. Last night, a close friend of Mr Harris told The Mail on Sunday: Kato has been absolutely mentally and physically crushed by the stress and it has left him financially ruined and emotionally beaten up. Appeal for help: The fundraising page set up by friends of Mr Harris to try and cover his legal fees It seems so unfair that a clearly innocent man has had to put himself in such a situation to clear his name for something that had never happened in the first place. Despite winning the case, it is not certain that Mr Harris will be able to claim back his legal costs. It is not clear whether an application for costs has yet been made by Mr Harriss legal representatives but any surplus funds raised from the online appeal will be donated to a charity which supports victims of sexual abuse. The Just Giving page, set up by friend Sarah Tate, reads: Justice has been done, but at a heavy cost. Kato has spent his life savings of 10,000 on legal costs for his defence and is left with a debt of 195,000. Kato has no hope of paying this. After being cleared on Monday, an emotional Mr Harris said outside court: It is my sincere wish that this extraordinary case does not deter people who have been victims of sexual assault from coming forward in the future. He added: There is a beautiful, wonderful world out there and for 20 months Ive been terrified of it. Ive been hiding from it. Im now going to walk into it a good man and a free man. A man who killed a black bear who had been in his yard but ran away from him admitted he did it because he'd just watched 'The Revenant.' Chris Keown, 40, a factory worker from House Springs, Missouri, spotted the black bear in his front yard on May 1 and when he opened his door, he said the bear ran across the street and into the woods. That didn't stop him from grabbing his gun and giving chase. When he found the bear near a ditch, he illegally shot it, according to The St. Louis-Dispatch. Chris Keown, pictured, eventually led conservation investigators to the black bear he killed in the woods near his house, he had skinned it and taken its meat and paws and given them to a friend, all of which is illegal Despite a hardly hefty $99.50 fine, Keown vowed he would kill another bear if he was one near his house, claiming it is concern for his son Hunter, above, that made him poach the black bear even though it wasn't bothering him Keown said he panicked because his eight-year-old son, Hunter, plays in the front yard and he was surprised the creature would come so close to his house. 'Im sorry that I did do it,' he said. 'My adrenaline was pumping. About three weeks before that, we watched The Revenant and it was just going through my mind.' The movie that finally brought Leonardo DiCaprio a Best Actor Oscar features a notoriously violent bear attack scene. In the pivotal scene, the bear was computer generated. Poaching bears is illegal in Missouri, which is seeing a rise in the bear population, according to the outlet. Bears can only be killed if they are attacking a person, livestock or domestic animal, or with permission if the bear is destroying property. The man admitted none of this was happening when he killed the bear. Currently, there are only about 400 to 500 bears in the state. '[Bears] are afraid of humans. When a bear runs away, where is the threat? He should have just let it go,' said Larry Yamnitz, protections division chief for the Missouri Conservation Department. Yamnitz said bears typically do not attack humans and is trying to educate the public not to leave food out for bears which will only encourage them to interact with humans. In The Revenant, which won Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar, a momma grizzly bear attacks trapper Hugh Glass when he comes to close to her and her cubs Despite that, the agency only fined Keown $90.50, on top of his court costs of $103.50. The piddling fine has drawn fire. 'It is OUTRAGEOUS that he was only fined $99.50 by a judge for this heinous crime!' wrote the Missouri Deer Hunter page on Facebook. 'In my opinion this guy is a wart on the face of society. What a slap in the face to our State's conservation agents, our game laws, and hunters and lovers of wildlife everywhere!' Keown has been widely criticized for his actions, which included originally lying about killing the bear. His adult son, a sheriff's deputy in Jefferson County, persuaded him to turn himself in, and he eventually led an agent to the remnants of the bear in the woods - he had skinned it and given the meat and paws to a friend. The meat and paws were recovered. Keown said he didn't know it was illegal to hunt a bear and that he 'wasn't looking for trophies' but merely wanted to protect the area his son plays in. He insists that even though he is a veteran hunter, he loves animals. The fine has done nothing to douse his desire to kill a bear if he sees one again if he sees one close, Home Secretary Amber Rudd's rowdy record got her banned from one of Britain's top private girls' schools Home Secretary Amber Rudd's hopes of curbing unruly behaviour by young people suffered an embarrassing setback last night after it emerged that her own rowdy record got her banned from one of Britain's top private girls' schools. Ms Rudd, 52, sparked outrage at the exclusive Cheltenham Ladies' College for staging a St Trinian's-style prank when she was a pupil during the 1970s. She was told never to darken the school's doors again and indeed did not until earlier this month, nearly 40 years after she left in disgrace. Ms Rudd carried out a dining room stunt by tying all the chairs together so that after grace, no one could sit down sparking laughter from all the other pupils. But the trick, on her last day at the school whose motto is 'May she grow in heavenly light' infuriated a teacher who screamed at her: 'Don't ever step foot in this school again.' Last night, Ms Rudd, promoted to Home Secretary by Theresa May a few weeks ago, confirmed she had been banned from her alma mater, but played down the 1979 incident. She told The Mail on Sunday: 'It was a rather timid rebellion on my final day but I was told never to come back. 'This year, though, I was the keynote speaker on speech day.' She used the event to tell pupils how they could achieve their dreams if they worked hard and believed in themselves, adding that it was not a man's world any more. Last night, Cheltenham Ladies' College, where fees range from 7,680 to 11,440 a term, confirmed the Cabinet Minister had misbehaved on her last day. A spokeswoman said: 'It seems she was involved in a prank where she tied chair legs together in the dining room of her boarding house. She received a telling- off from an exasperated housemistress who told her not to return to College.' Ms Rudd, former wife of writer AA Gill, showed her fearless streak when she tore into Boris Johnson in one of the TV debates during the EU referendum campaign. In an apparent reference to the ex-Mayor's torrid love life, she said: 'Boris, he's the life and soul of the party. But he's not the man you want to drive you home at the end of the evening.' Cheltenham Ladies' College, where fees range from 7,680 to 11,440 a term, confirmed the Cabinet Minister had misbehaved on her last day The MoS disclosed last week that Ms Rudd is a direct descendant of King Charles II and his mistress, Barbara Palmer. The couple had five children before Palmer was usurped by Nell Gwynn. They established a line that, eight generations later, produced Ms Rudd's mother, Ethne. A Christian pro-life campaigner has been landed with a 47,000 legal bill after her attempt to prosecute two doctors who allegedly offered sex-selective abortions was derailed by the Crown Prosecution Service. Aisling Hubert, who could face jail if she cannot pay, launched a private prosecution against the doctors two years ago after they were secretly filmed agreeing to arrange terminations of female foetuses for a 2012 undercover investigation. She acted after the CPS decided not to prosecute because, despite there being 'just sufficient' evidence to gain a conviction, it said a trial would not be in the public interest. Aisling Hubert, who could face jail if she cannot pay, launched a private prosecution against the doctors two years ago But Ms Hubert accused the CPS of being 'morally wrong' and leaving the 'door wide open' to sex-selective abortions. Just as the doctors were heading for trial at Manchester Crown Court, however, the CPS dramatically took over her case and immediately dropped it. The Crown Court judge then awarded the doctors' legal costs against her, saying her case was 'unnecessary', and her efforts to overturn his decision in the High Court failed. Now Ms Hubert has been visited by bailiffs at her family home in Hove, East Sussex, and could face prison if she cannot pay the bill at a court hearing in September. Ms Hubert accused the CPS of being 'morally wrong' and leaving the 'door wide open' to sex-selective abortions The Christian Legal Centre, which provided Ms Hubert with legal support, said the costs were 'disproportionate and punitive'. Pro-life Labour MP Robert Flello said the CPS should have taken on all the legal expenses once it had taken over her case. LIVE: Baghramyan street closed with barbed wire (video) The number of people is increasing at Liberty Square. Follow the events live. 23:30 In Baghramyan street, one citizen made an attempt to set himself on fire as a sign of protest. The citizen confirmed that he really wanted to set himself on fire. One of the police cars offered him to transfer him to the hospital, but the latter refused to go there by police car. He left the scene on foot. 23:05 Protesters have sat on the ground, approaching close to the barbed wire. 22:50 Baghramyan avenue is being closed with barbed wire. 21:15 Albert Baghdasaryan announced that they are starting a march; they will close Mashtots Avenue, then the Republic Square. Further steps will be announced later. 21:10 A young man approached the platform at Liberty Square. The young man announced that he doesnt know who he is, as he doesnt know the citizen of which country he is. He today promised his parents that he wouldnt approach the platform, wouldnt intervene so that he wasnt taken to the police station. But he cannot restrain himself, as he thinks that he isnt worth these authorities. He suggested holding a march through small center and hold sit-down strikes on different crossroads, increasing the number of march participants in that way. 20:55 Two routes of holding a march are being discussed- one in the city, paralyzing the traffic and the other- to Khorenatsi. 20:50 It was announced that lawmakers Tevan Poghosyan and Nikol Pashinyan are at Liberty Square. Albert Baghdasaryan called on them and other lawmakers to come to the platform. 20:40 Only two members of the Anti-crisis Council are in freedom, the rest have been detained. 20:30 Actress Tamar Hovhannisyan called on the international community not to allocate loans to Armenia. 20:10 Equipment was brought to Liberty Square and the rally kicked off. Albert Baghdasaryan, member of the Anti-Crisis Council, is making a speech. His speech was interrupted by the protesters, who were demanding to present a plan. Those, who impose their solutions to peaceful protesters, arent peaceful protesters, he said. Asked if Juncker was sober in her first Brexit talks with the European Commission president, the Prime Minister quipped: How could I know? It was on the phone. The risk of a diplomatic rift between Theresa May and EU boss Jean-Claude Juncker loomed last night after she joked about his alleged drinking habit. Asked if he was sober in her first Brexit talks with the European Commission president, the Prime Minister quipped: How could I know? It was on the phone. The teasing remark, made last week in private, was a reference to persistent claims about hardline Brexit critic Mr Junckers reported fondness for alcohol. He has denied claims that he drinks cognac at breakfast. Last month, video footage emerged which appeared to show him drunk at an EU gathering. Mrs Mays light-hearted comment came after Mr Juncker chose Frenchman Michel Barnier, a notorious critic of the City of London, to lead the EU negotiating team. It was seen as Mr Junckers way of throwing down the gauntlet to Mrs May by indicating he would take a tough stance in the forthcoming negotiations. Her jest was made when she was asked at a No 10 event if she had spoken to Mr Juncker since becoming Prime Minister. After explaining she had spoken to him on the phone, she was asked mischievously: Was he sober? Quick as a flash, she said it was impossible to tell because they spoke on the phone. It is the latest in a series of deadpan quips which are gaining Mrs May a reputation for political put-downs as pointed and elegant as her stiletto heels. However, Mr Juncker will be livid at more attention being drawn to his reputation as a drinker. When he became Commission president in 2014, The Mail on Sunday disclosed how it had been claimed he has cognac for breakfast, was allegedly blind drunk, acted in a vulgar way and repeatedly used the F-word in a meeting. A respected German news journal said he had drunk too much for years in an article headlined Achtung, Alkoholkontrolle! (Attention, Breathalyser Test!). And a Dutch politician called him a stubborn drinker. The drinking claims, vehemently denied by Mr Juncker, resurfaced last month when video footage emerged which appeared to show him drunk at an EU summit. The teasing remark, made last week in private, was a reference to persistent claims about hardline Brexit critic Mr Junckers reported fondness for alcohol In the clip, he can be seen repeatedly slapping EU leaders, hopping from foot to foot and dancing prompting speculation over whether he was under the influence of alcohol. At the same meeting, he was also reportedly overheard calling the Hungarian prime minister a dictator. The claims about his drinking date back nearly a decade. They first surfaced when he was embroiled in a political scandal in his native Luxembourg. A Luxembourg journal claimed he was accused of being drunk and abusive at a meeting with a spy chief. It claimed to have obtained a leaked account of a meeting at his office which said Junckers office smelled of stale tobacco and an alarming scent of alcohol was in the air. Half staggering, he [Juncker] stepped out from behind his cluttered desk. Juncker was dead drunk, ordered himself two espresso and asked us to take a seat at the table. It went on to accuse Mr Juncker of insulting behaviour. Mr Juncker has always denied the allegations. Police sent in a robot to check a suspect vehicle after a bomb scare closed a nightclub in London. Officers were called to the Stables on Chalk Farm Road in Camden, north London after reports of a suspicious vehicle outside. The Solomon's Yard nightclub, which was hosting a Stevie Wonderland night was reportedly evacuated while officers assessed the scene. The bomb robot that was sent in to check a suspicious vehicle that was outside the Stables in Camden sparking a security alert Officers were called to the Stables on Chalk Farm Road in north London after reports of a suspicious vehicle outside The main roads through Camden leading towards Chalk Farm were also cordoned off by police. A Metropolitan police spokesman said: 'Officers were called to Chalk Farm Road at 22.50 following reports of a suspicious vehicle. 'However after assessing the scene, the vehicle was deemed not suspicious and officers were stood down.' Souvenirs that celebrate fascist dictator Benito Mussolini have been banned in the region where the former Italian prime minister was born. Shop owners or vendors could be sent to jail if they continue to sell busts, coffee mugs, pins and even baby clothing that show the founder of the National Fascist Party, who ruled Italy until he was ousted in 1943. Government officials in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, which includes the cities of Bologna and Parma, passed a motion banning the sale of souvenirs with fascist symbols. Shop owners or vendors in Emilia-Romagna could be sent to jail if they continue to sell fascist souvenirs Souvenir coffee mugs with images of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler are sold at a shop in Predappio Emilia-Romagna is the first region in Italy to implement such a ban. Anyone caught breaking the new law could be sent to jail for six months to two years, The Local reported. The sale of fascist symbols is now classed as 'apologizing for fascism', an act that began a crime in Italy in 1952. 'The move is an important step in sending out a strong message against the trivialisation of history and fascism's evils,' Democratic Party councillor Nadia Rossi told La Repubblica. Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany in 1940 Rimini Mayor Andrea Gnassi tabled the motion last year after two Jewish-American tourists complained about Mussolini and Hitler-themed wines in the window of a shop. The far-right Northern League and the centre-right Brothers of Italy and Forza Italia parties tried to block the motion, arguing it would hurt the local economy. After he was removed from power, Mussolini, who was born in the town of Predappio in 1883, was executed by Italian communists in the province of Como in 1945 as he attempted to flee to Spain. His mistress, Clara Petacci, and several others travelling with them were also shot dead. Tens of thousands of tourists visit Benito Mussolini's tomb in his hometown of Predappio every year The bodies of the 61-year-old and Petacci, 33, were taken to Milan, where they were hung upside down and put on public display outside a petrol station. Souvenirs with Mussolini's image were widely available in his hometown, which attracts tens of thousands of admirers and tourists every year. Security officers at airports in the US are on pace to intercept a record number of firearms from travellers carry-on luggage this year. The Transportation Security Administration has discovered approximately 1,755 guns in passengers carry-on bags as of Thursday. There has been a sharp increase in discoveries since April, including a record-tying 74 in one week earlier this month, the agency revealed. This collage of photos released by the TSA shows some of the guns found in carry-on luggage last week The TSA said these firearms were found recently at Charlotte Douglas (left) and Phoenix (right) airports TSA agents found a pink handgun with a Hello Kitty logo in a carry-on at Bradley airport near Hartford Of the 74 firearms discovered between July 22-28, 65 were loaded and 29 had a round chambered, the TSA said on its blog. Six passengers were prevented from boarding planes with guns at Dallas/Fort Worth, while five were stopped at Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest airport in the world. Guns were found on multiple occasions at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Orlando International Airport and Lambert-St Louis International Airport. Officers also seized inert grenades which are banned from planes and an assortment of knives, stun guns and ammunition. The TSA said this revolver was found in a passenger's bag at McGhee Tyson Airport near Knoxville This gun was found at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, where 144 firearms were intercepted last year TSA agents also seized a number of knives or sharp-edged weapons for the week ending July 28 These inert grenades, which are banned from being brought on board, were also discovered in luggage This year, the TSA has found an average of 250 guns a month, or eight a day, resulting in delays for travellers. The agency regularly posts photos of the firearms on its blog and its Instagram account as a deterrent. Seventy-four guns were also found the week ending May 26, while 73 were discovered the week ending April 21. If this pace continues, the TSA will intercept a record 3,000 firearms by December 31, which would surpass last years record total of 2,653. In 2015, TSA agents found a record 2,635 firearms in passengers' carry-on luggage, up 20% from 2014 Last year, the most guns were found at Dallas/Fort Worth (153), followed by Atlanta (144), George Bush Intercontinental in Houston (100), Denver (90) and Phoenix (73). There has been a steady increase since 2005, when TSA agents found 660 guns. In many cases, passengers simply forgot they were carrying a firearm, the TSA said. Passengers in the US can travel with firearms in their checked baggage, but they must be declared to the airline. The TSA said on its blog: 'Each time we find a dangerous item, the line is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. For many holidaymakers, there is nothing more important than a room with a spectacular view. It could be a plush suite in a skyscraper hotel, a treehouse in the middle of nowhere or even a room beneath the surface of the sea. In an age where tourists are on the hunt for snaps that are worthy of Instagram or Facebook, the more unique it is, the better. These jaw-dropping destinations have been named the most unusual places to stay by London-based travel agency Exsus. They include Africa's first underwater hotel room - 13ft below the surface of the Indian Ocean, north of Zanzibar - where guests can admire marine life from the comfort of their bed. For adrenaline junkies, only the Natura Viva Skylodge Adventure Suite will do. Guests must climb a 400ft cliff face to reach the suite, which is on the side of one of Peru's highest peaks. Scroll down for video The best for sleeping with the fishes: Manta Resort on Pemba Island Africas first underwater hotel room is 13ft below the surface of the Indian Ocean, north of Zanzibar The best for daredevils: Natura Vive's Skylodge Adventure Suite To climb into Natura Vive's Skylodge Adventure Suite in Peru, daredevil guests must scale a 400ft cliff face The best for getting back to nature: Phinda Forest Lodge Guests can spot the big five, dolphins and turtles at this lodge at the Phinda Game Reserve in South Africa The best for sleeping in a cave: Gamirasu Cave Hotel Located near Urgup, Turkey, some of the 35-room hotel's doors and windows are more than 500 years old The best for watching the Northern Lights: Ion Luxury Adventure Hotel Less than an hour from Reykjavik, guests can watch the natural phenomenon from a heated outdoor pool The best for adventure seekers: Fogo Island Inn This contemporary hotel is located on rocky terrain on Fogo Island off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada The best for waking up on a boat: Belmond Road to Mandalay Belmond's Road to Mandalay takes up to 82 passengers on a luxurious river cruise in Myanmar The best for sleeping in a tree: Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses These houses are 30ft above ground with views of dramatic mountains and the Pacific coast in New Zealand The best for an alternative caravan: Uyuni Vintage Airstreams This deluxe caravan on Bolivia's Uyuni Salt Flats comes with a private chef and guide to show you around The best for banishing memories of damp caravans: Hoshinoya Fuji She oozed sophistication in a chic blue suit while delivering a passionate speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. But on Friday Chloe Grace Moretz went makeup-free and opted for comfort as she jetted back to Los Angeles. The 19-year-old actress looked cosy in a grey hooded sweatshirt and black cropped leggings while arriving at the LAX airport. Scroll down for video Natural beauty! Chloe Grace Moretz went make-up free and opted for comfort as she arrived at LAX airport on Friday The Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising star's slender stems were showcased in the tight-fitting workout leggings. Her signature blonde tresses were styled in relaxed waves and parted to the side, with one half tucked behind her ear, allowing her exquisite facial features to take centre stage. She carried a black floral backpack and pulled her rolling carry-on luggage, while rounding out her laid back look with a few gold bangle bracelets for a bit of shimmer. Laid back look: The 19-year-old actress looked cosy in a grey hooded sweatshirt and black cropped leggings Baggage babe: The Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising star carried a black floral backpack and pulled her rolling carry-on luggage And while Chloe may have blended into the crowd at the busy airport terminal, all eyes were on the Kick-Ass starlet on Thursday evening. She was a featured celebrity speaker on the final night of the convention before Hillary Clinton delivered her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination. During Chloe's speech, she said she was going to vote in her first general election for Clinton and urged her fellow millennials to register and vote. Leggy blonde! The beauty displayed her slender stems in the tight-fitting workout leggings 'If we all show up together we can make sure that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States of America,' Chloe said raising her right arm. She also shared an Instagram snap of herself with boyfriend Brooklyn Beckham, 17 - who surprised her with his appearance - seated at the Wells Fargo Center before taking center stage. Brooklyn's fashionista mom, Victoria Beckham, showed support on Instagram for her eldest son's girlfriend after Chloe's powerful address at the event. The former Spice Girl referenced her old band's message of female empowerment and wrote: 'That's what I'm talking about!!!.....Girl Power!!!! @chloegmoretz @hillaryclinton #ImWithHer X VB.' Powerful: She oozed sophistication in a chic blue suit while delivering a passionate speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday She's not one to shy away from flaunting her curves while enjoying a good night out. And former TOWIE star Pascal Craymer displayed her ample assets in a plunging leopard print one-piece while attending the 50th birthday celebrations for the iconic Playboy Club in Mayfair, London on Friday. The 29-year-old flashed some serious flesh as she arrived at the exclusive bash in a racy ensemble that exhibited her daring cleavage. Scroll down for video Busty! Pascal Craymer, 29, put on a rather busty display as she arrived at the 50th birthday celebration for the iconic Playboy Club in Mayfair, London on Friday Channelling poolside glamour, Pascal added an embellished sheer black maxi-dress over her racy one-piece that displayed her buxom bust. Making sure all eyes were on her, the risque dress boasted heavy gold beading around the waist and bust as it plunged to tie around her waist. The floor-length ensemble draped around Pascal's hourglass frame, allowing her to flash her uber tanned pins. Strike a pose! The former TOWIE star flashed her toned, tanned legs in a very revealing sheer black maxi dress and leopard print one-piece What a bunny! Pascal sauntered her way into the club clad with a pair of iconic Playboy bunny ears Despite being dressed for the beach rather than the London streets, Pascal upped the anti as she wore a pair of lace bunny ears to the Playboy anniversary bash. Keeping to a single colour scheme, the Essex girl injected some height into her ensemble as she teetered into the exclusive event in a pair of sky-high black platforms. Maintaining a high glamour look, Pascal teased her chestnut tresses into voluminous curls as sported a sultry dark eye with lashing of eyeliner. She doesn't change her spots! The reality star flaunted her ample assets in a daring leopard print one-piece as she posed with a friend Giving a number of sultry poses for awaiting cameras, Pascal wasn't alone however in her playboy inspired rig out as her gal pal went the extra mile with her ensemble - adding a signature bow-tie to her steamy romper. Last year, Pascal talked about her regrets about appearing on TOWIE, where viewers saw her embark on an ill-fated romance with Mario Falcone. She told FUBAR radio: 'When I went on the show it was completely new to me, I didn't have a clue. My life turned around overnight. 'I thought me and Mario were going somewhere, so I had to let his fans know that he'd moved on [from Lucy]. Flaunt it! Pascal injected some height to her beach inspired outfit with a pair of platform black heels Curvalicious! Pascal wowed in a racy leopard print swimsuit that boasted a matching buckle belt that flaunted her curves Having a ball! Pascal wasn't shy of parading her toned tanned pins as she enjoyed the exclusive bash In her element: The one-time reality star posed up a storm with two Playboy models 'I'd gone out with him for a little while, and suddenly it was everywhere "She might be the one, I want her to meet my parents."' 'I was like, "Woah, this is all a bit crazy." And then trying to deal with the other people who were like: "He was with me last night at this PA he was doing this.''' Pascal and Mario soon split, and two years on Pascal admits she felt let down by both her ex and his reality show. 'It was so embarrassing,' she said. 'I got taken on [to TOWIE] thinking I was on it and in a relationship with someone and I literally got a custard pie to the face.' 'It wasn't breaking up with him [that was tough], it was more like: "I can't believe you've just done that to me on telly."' Also in attendance at the Playboy bash was Made In Chelsea beauty Nicola Hughes, who looked lovely in a simple strapless dress. Elegant: Made In Chelsea beauty Nicola Hughes was dressed to impress at the Playboy bash Living it up: The stunning blonde has been enjoying the single lifestyle since splitting from Alex Mytton Legs for days: The Irish beauty made the most of her slender pins in the thigh-skimming number Party pals: Nicola was joined by a male friend as she made a fashionably late arrival She rose to fame playing bikini-loving Indigo Walker on Home And Away. And Samara Weaving, 24, showcased her famous physique as she posed in a red bikini on Instagram this Friday. The strawberry-blonde vixen poked out her tongue for the cheeky beach-side snap while propping her body up to face the camera using one elbow. Scroll down for video Sending pulses racing! Samara Weaving, 24, showcased her famous physique as she posed in scant red bikini on Instagram this Friday Samara made headlines last month when she unwittingly became the poster-girl for Donald Trump supporters in a bizarre Internet scam. A photo of the actress drenched in blood - which was in fact a behind-the-scenes shot from the set of her upcoming horror series - was used to slam violent anti-Trump campaigners. A group called Conservative Nation tweeted the gruesome image on Monday, claiming that it's a Trump supporter who'd been brutally bashed by opposing campaigners. They've got the wrong girl: A photo of Samara Weaving from a horror show's makeup test has been used to scam people into believing she's a Donald Trump supporter The tweet read: 'Here's what happened to female Trump supporter when she met 'peaceful' and 'tolerant' liberals.' The image was first shared by Hannah Wilson, a makeup artist who'd applied the fake blood on Samara for the horror-comedy Ash vs Evil Dead. Fellow Ash vs Evil Dead actor and producer Bruce Campbell was quick to point out the false claim. Fake: The photo was tweeted by a group called Conservative Nation tweeted the gruesome image on Monday, claiming that it's a Trump supporter who'd been brutally bashed by opposing campaigners He reposted Conservative Nation's tweet and added: 'Check your facts, folks. This is an actress named Samara Weaving from #AshVsEvilDead. This is a make-up test. Sad.' Meanwhile, Samara is gearing up to star in action flick Mayhem, starring alongside The Walking Dead actor Steven Yeun. The movie follows the story of a virus transforming its victims to act out their wildest impulses. The movie will be a major move for the Adelaide-born actress, who since breaking out on Ash vs Evil has largely stuck to making a few handful appearances on the small screen, as well as starring in a string of movies including Bad Girl, Before Dawn and Monster Trucks. Samara, who is the niece of Hugo Weaving, first found fame on long-running Channel Seven soap Home And Away playing the character of Indigo Walker from 2009 to 2013. Blowing the whistle: Fellow Ash vs Evil Dead actor and producer Bruce Campbell was quick to point out the false claim New flick! Samara is set to star in the new action movie, Mayhem, alongside The Walking Dead actor Steven Yeun She announced that she was expecting her second child in May. But on Thursday, Teresa Palmer revealed that falling pregnant again was not easy. In her latest Your Zen Mama post, the 30-year-old actress said she had to create a 'manifest board' to stop obsessing over not getting pregnant, as she 'really started future-tripping' - meaning that she would constantly obsess over her struggles. Not smooth sailing: In her latest Your Zen Mama post, Teresa Palmer, 30, shared that she had to create a 'manifest board' to stop obsessing over not getting pregnant as she 'really started future-tripping' 'I really started future-tripping,' she began. 'The day after, I made my manifest board. I was like 'I'm done, this is crazy. I'm done with obsessing over this.' 'The whole point of a manifest board is that you put it out there and then you let it go. Manifesting: Later in the post, the Lights Out actress reveals that she soon fell pregnant once she stopped obsessing over why she wasn't having any luck 'So I made it all pretty and then I put it up in my room, put a bunch of stuff in front of it and constantly I wasn't reminded that I wasn't pregnant,' Teresa added. The manifest board Teresa is referring to is a vision board in order to unlock dreams, goals and successes in life through adorning it with images, phrases or even just colours. Later in the post, the Lights Out actress revealed that she fell pregnant as soon as she stopped obsessing over it. Revealing all: Speaking to OK! Magazine recently, she described the experience of trying for a child as 'not fun' while adding after a while it became 'unsexy'. Pictured at the MTV Fandom Awards in San Diego, California, this July This is not the first time that the blonde model has recalled her difficulty in falling pregnant. Speaking to OK! Magazine recently, she described the experience of trying for a child as 'not fun' while adding after a while it became 'unsexy.' 'It became stressful, confusing, sad, disappointing and downright unsexy,' she told the publication. The mother-of-one added that after several attempts they became overwhelmed with excitement after finally successfully conceiving. Good times ahead: The media personality is now said to be in good health and her second child with husband Mark Webber (L) is due in November But the joy didn't last long for the little family with Teresa explaining the doctors shattered their news during their heartbeat ultrasound. She said her husband Mark Webber 'filmed with excitement' before the medical staff bluntly stated 'I'm so sorry but there is no baby.' The Point Break actress added that she had suffered from a molar pregnancy. Bumping along nicely: Teresa often takes to Instagram to share sweet snaps ahead of the birth of her second child 'Basically, everyone drops a crappy egg at one point in their life and my body did, and, of course, it was the month we finally conceived,' she recalled. What the couple once thought was a second pregnancy turned out to be a 'potentially cancerous tumour.' 'So you have the symptoms of being pregnant but really it's just a potentially cancerous tumour that grows, no baby,' she wrote on her blog, Your Zen Mama, last month. Doting dad: Teresa's husband is a great support system for the busy mother 'I had to be monitored weekly with blood tests to check to see if the tumour would grow back but thankfully my HCG numbers dropped rapidly enough and I didn't need any chemo.' The media personality is now said to be in good health and her second child with Mark is due in November. She is already a mother to two-year-old Bodhi Rain and Mark's eight-year-old son Isaac Love from a previous relationship. A surprising guest will be at this weekends wedding of Elizabeth Hurleys ex-husband Arun Nayar, 51, to model Kim Johnson in the French Riviera. On the eve of her nuptials Kim, 30, posted this picture of herself in a purple bikini at the Hotel du Cap in Cannes, and seated on her lap is none other than Hurleys 14-year-old son, Damian, fathered by U.S. businessman Steve Bing. Damian remains close to his stepfather and the pair have been on regular holidays. Scroll down for video Pals: Kim, 30, posted this picture of herself in a purple bikini at the Hotel du Cap in Cannes, with Hurleys 14-year-old son, Damian It is thought unlikely that Liz, who was married to Nayar for four years, will attend as she is filming her tv series The Royals in London. Following her engagement last year, Kims agent Christophe Chalvet told me Nayars new fiancee would not welcome Hurleys presence on her wedding day. Kim would be furious if Liz was there, claimed Chalvet. She doesnt want to be anywhere near her and hates being compared to her. She is clearly more forgiving when it comes to Damian. Left, Damian with his mother Liz Hurley and right, Liz with Arun Nayar in 2010 Skinny latte! Baroness Bra jogs to coffee bar When Michelle Mone, aka Baroness Bra, went out jogging earlier this year she broke her foot after falling down a manhole. Luckily, no such indignity befell her this week when she went out running in Central London. However, the founder of Ultimo did make a pit stop at Starbucks, below, to fortify herself after her exertions. Baroness Bra, 44, who once weighed 18st, maintains a strict exercise regime to stay in shape. I train every day, she says. Women, sadly, get bingo wings, and it runs in my family like youve no idea. Coffee run: Baroness Bra, 44, who once weighed 18st, maintains a strict exercise regime to stay in shape Dame Natalie Massenet, the founder of online retail giant Net A Porter, has admitted to an unlikely source of inspiration for her new look her teenage daughter Isabella. Ive just darkened my hair. I was always a brunette, then I started highlighting my hair, but then I wanted to go back, Natalie, 51, tells me at a party in Mayfair. I have a 16-year-old daughter who has the same hair colour as me, and we always get ready together. I was looking at us in the mirror and I was like, How did my hair get so light? So I thought Id go back to a darker look. Although Marks & Spencer lingerie model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley announced her engagement to film star Jason Statham over seven months ago, the Devonshire-born beauty is in no rush to walk down the aisle. Theres nothing planned yet. Theres no date set, no venue, nothing, her model brother Toby tells me. I may have a role, I may not, but I just dont know. Rosie, 29, announced her engagement to fellow Brit Jason, 48, by flashing a giant diamond ring worth a reported 250,000 at an awards party in Los Angeles. At least Toby sounds excited about the nuptials. Hell make a great brother-in-law, he adds. The last time I was in LA, Jason took me to his gym and we had a great bonding session. Gwyn's 20 uncoupling tips She consciously uncoupled from her husband Chris Martin, so who better to turn to for advice on the dissolution of romantic relationships than Gwyneth Paltrow. The Oscar-winning actress has posted an article on her Goop website headed A Better Way to Break Up: 20 Ways to Leave Your Lover. MENTIONING NO NAMES... Which City CEO, currently messily disentangling from his second wife, has treated his third prospective bride to a special engagement present breast enhancements? Advertisement Among the insights offered are Refrain from clingy sex. Keep all your soon-to-be exs secret vulnerabilities SECRET, and Be faithful to your soon-to-be ex and do not involve anyone else romantically in your complicated emotional maelstrom until you are truly separated. If only Paltrow practised what her website preaches. She had an affair with Brad Falchuk five months after splitting from Martin in 2014 and she and the Coldplay frontman were only truly separated when they divorced this March. Just as well its her Goop swansong: the Iron Man star last night revealed she is consciously uncoupling from her website as she wants to separate myself from the brand. Who better to turn to for advice on the dissolution of romantic relationships than Gwyneth Paltrow They might have been rivals for Richie Strahans affection, but some of the girls of The Bachelor seem to have struck up a friendship. Photos have emerged of early evictee Laura Williams out on the town in Melbourne with Sasha Zhuravlyova and Tolyna Baan back in May. Laura put on a busty display in a midnight blue midi-dress that was tight enough around her torso to show off her ample assets and curvy figure. Scroll down for video Stiking up a friendship: Photos have emerged of early evictee Laura Williams (right) out on the town with Sasha Zhuravlyova (2nd from left) and Tolyna Baan (left) back in May - the trio pictured with celebrity psychic Harry T The 25-year-old styled her blonde locks in tousled waves, which had been dyed a more natural colour from the platinum tresses she sported in her two episodes on the show. Sasha wore the shortest outfit of the three, slipping into a little black dress to show off her trim pins and toned thighs. The flattering number highlighted her petite frame as her golden locks cascaded over her slender shoulders in messy waves. Drinking your sorrows away: The trio were seen at Social Saturday's at Barkly Hotel in St Kilda on May 14, about two weeks before Richie took his chosen lady to Bali to film the finale The Russian beauty smiled sweetly, bringing out her cute dimples, as she posed alongside her friends and celebrity psychic medium Harry T whose arm she clung to in one shot. Tolyna provided a contrast to the dark outfits of her fellow party people with a lacy sheer white dress featuring vertical stripes on her torso, which became an elaborate rose pattern on her sleeves and thighs. The thigh-length number gave a glimpse of her toned legs, while her bust-length blonde locks flowed down her chest in a long ponytail. No tears: Laura remained composed after not receiving a rose, gushing in her leaving speech: 'Love is definitely worth taking the risk' The 31-year-old personal trainer stared wide-eyed at the camera as she cuddled up to Sasha and another girlfriend on their fun night on the town. The trio were seen at a St Kilda, Melbourne, watering hole on May 14, about two weeks before Richie took his chosen lady to Bali to film the finale. Both Sasha and Laura had changed up their looks since the opening rose ceremony, with Sasha growing out her shoulder length fluffy hair and Laura completely changing her hairstyle. Still going: Sasha (left) and Tolyna (right) survived the first two rounds of cuts and will be two of the 17 girls continuing to vie for Richies love next week Laura remained composed after not receiving a rose, gushing in her leaving speech: 'Love is definitely worth taking the risk. 'It's just got to be with the right person. I hope he finds what he's looking for.' Tolyna and Sasha survived the first two rounds of cuts and will be two of the 17 girls continuing to vie for Richies love next week. However, neither appeared as one of the 11 girls seen sharing a kiss with the hunky Bachelor in a steamy montage screen after Thursday nights episode. He is set to reprise his role of Finn in the upcoming season of Gilmore Girls. And actor Tanc Sade, 35, is sure to get pulses racing when he returns to screens, with the buff Australian revealing a glimpse at his sizeable biceps on Instagram this Saturday. In the picture, Tanc is seen posing with his arms crossed outside a recording studio; his bulging bicep exploding from within his blue T-shirt. Scroll down for video Hunk alert! Tanc Sade, 35, is sure to get pulses racing when he returns to screens on Gilmore Girls, with the buff-boded Australian revealing a glimpse at his seizable biceps on Instagram this Saturday Standing next to him is his Gilmore Girls co-star Matt Czuchry, who plays Logan in the cult show. 'Post production with #mattczuchry for @gilmoregirls. #gilmoregirls #gg #gilmoregirlsrevival #finn #LifeAndDeathBrigade,' reads the caption next to the image. It comes after Tanc revealed that he went to extraordinary lengths to make his role on the new season of Gilmore Girls a success, having even spent a whopping 52 hours on set in the process. Tough gig: It comes after Tanc revealed that he went to extraordinary lengths to make his role on the upcoming Gilmore Girls reboot a success 'I said to my team, "I'm doing Gilmore Girls no matter what. There's no way I'll miss it" because I owed it to the story. The story is bigger than the sum of its parts,' Tanc told AAP earlier this month. The Australian actor managed to balance his Gilmore Girls filming schedule with his commitments on the set of Roadies, a Cameron Crowe series in which he stars. 'In the end I was doing night shoots on Gilmore Girls and then wrapping and going straight from Gilmore Girls to Roadies,' he said. Hard work: One scene on Gilmore Girls was particularly difficult and required a lot of the exhausted actor 'I did a 52-hour shift and I don't drink caffeine nor do I do drugs so the make-up artist did a great job and the cinematographers were really good with lighting.' One scene on Gilmore Girls was particularly difficult and required a lot of the exhausted actor. 'My very last scene required a lot of dexterity and it involved a lot of things happening, and I did feel quite punch drunk at that stage,' he said. 'He's just as, if not more, debaucherous and he's very fun-loving': Legion of followers: Speaking of his character in the upcoming series, Tanc admitted that not much has changed Tanc's character Finn was renowned for his quick wit and smouldering good looks during his appearance on the show 10 years ago. Speaking of his character in the upcoming series, Tanc admitted that not much has changed. 'He's just as, if not more, debaucherous and he's very fun-loving,' he said. Apart from Gilmore Girls, Tanc has worked on White Collar Blue, 90210, The Mentalist, Sons of Anarchy and more TV series. Back on set: The former nationally ranked cyclist admitted he was excited to be back on set with his Gilmore Girls co-stars (Pictured second right, with L-R: Alexis Bledel, Matt Czuchry, and Alan Loayza) It looked like a fun day out as Jackie Chan filmed a carnival scene on Sydney Harbour on Friday. But the action star and hundreds of crew and extras got more than they bargained for when a catamaran full of revelling young men and scantily clad women crashed the party. The rocking boat pulled up alongside the set of the 62-year-olds upcoming film Bleeding Steel, where he and co-stars Nana Ou-Yang and Erica Xia-Hou were playing on a carousel. Scroll down for video Back in action! Jackie Chan filmed a carnival scene on Sydney Harbour for his upcoming film Bleeding Steel, where he and co-stars Nana Ou-Yang and Erica Xia-Hou were playing on a carousel Red-blooded revellers, who appeared to be drinking cans of alcohol, waved and called out to the actors and one even bared his nude rear as the rest of the party erupted in hysterics. It appeared to be a bachelor party or similar, with several women, wearing revealing sheer lingerie under cropped jackets, present among the celebrating men. The veteran actor ploughed on with the scene, where he and the two Chinese actresses sit on the rides mechanical horses. Full moon: Red-blooded revellers, who appeared to be drinking cans of alcohol, waved and called out to the actors and one even bared his nude rear as the rest of the party erupted in hysterics Not in the script! The action star and hundreds of crew and extras got more than they bargained for when a catamaran full of revelling young men and scantily clad women crashed the party Chan was seen taking snaps of Erica and 16-year-old Nana with a white mobile phone while the two cuddled up and made hand gestures towards him. He donned a brown leather jacket over a white jumper with black pants, while Nana looked cute in a patchwork jacket, ripped white jeans and a matching beanie. Erica, who also wrote the sci-fi thriller action films script, was stylish in a brown and white sheepskin coat, ugg boots and a brown fedora with a feather. Show must go on: The veteran actor ploughed on with the scene, where he and the two Chinese actresses sit on the rides mechanical horses Say cheese! Chan was seen taking snaps of Erica and 16-year-old Nana with a white mobile phone while the two cuddled up and made hand gestures towards him Stylish: He donned a brown leather jacket over a white jumper with black pants, while Nana (left) looked cute in a patchwork jacket, ripped white jeans and a matching beanie The Kung Fu expert was later seen being dragged by the hand by Nana and huddling under a black and white blanket with her. At another point, Erica and Chan sat together on an elaborately decorated bench, with her turning to face him. The night-time filming schedule, which began on July 20, seemed to be catching up on the star as he let out a big yawn between takes. Tender moment: At another point, Erica and Chan sat together on an elaborately decorated bench, with her turning to face him A little tired? The night-time filming schedule, which began on July 20, seemed to be catching up on the star as he let out a big yawn between takes Triller: Bleeding Steel follows a hardened Special Forces agent (Chan) who has to protect a young woman after she witnesses a sinister conspiracy, and he develops a connection with her like they have met before The scene, shot at Mrs Macquarie's Chair overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, was secured by a perimeter fence, security guards, and two bodyguards for Chan. The catamaran was branded as belonging to party boat company Rockfish, which rents out the vessels for birthdays and buck nights for $400-500 an hour with a capacity of 30 guests. Bleeding Steel follows a hardened Special Forces agent (Chan) who has to protect a young woman after she witnesses a sinister conspiracy, and he develops a connection with her like they have met before. Keeping warm: Chan and Nana were seen huddling under a black and white blanket Long night: The scene required many takes to finish Pampered: Assistants were seen applying makeup to the star It is the most expensive Chinese film ever to be shot in Australia, and Chan was the worlds second-highest earning actor at $81 million last year. The star introduced the cast of the movie on Thursday at a press conference at the Opera House. The 62-year-old showed off his playful side, doing some martial arts moves while Australian co-star Tess Haubrich watched on in delight. Follow me: The Kung Fu expert was later seen being dragged by the hand by Nana Classy: Erica (left), who also wrote the sci-fi thriller action films script, was stylish in a brown and white sheepskin coat, ugg boots and a brown hat with a feather Come on! The girl looked like she was having fun dragging her protector around For the event, Chan wore a smart blue dress shirt with an interesting striped polka dot pattern throughout. The star also donned a pair of wide leg denim jeans and posed in a Kung Fu stance as he moved about the stage. He finished his look with fresh white sneakers and a fedora. Australian actress Tess put on a very leggy display, wearing a thigh skimming knit dress in a dark burgundy colour. Big budget: It is the most expensive Chinese film ever to be shot in Australia, and Chan was the worlds second-highest earning actor at $81 million last year Fun night: Chan seems to be still enjoying himself after decades in cinema The beauty teamed the frock with a pair of sheer black tights and black lace up high heels to add some extra height to her look and emphasise her trim pins. She had her raven locks pulled back into a sleek updo, with loose strands at the front to frame her face. For makeup, the actress went with a dark smokey eye teamed with a dark nude lip and a natural base to show off her pretty features. Well protected: The scene, shot at Mrs Macquarie's Chair overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, was secured by a perimeter fence, security guards, and two bodyguards for Chan Origins: Chan had his first breakout success in China with the 1978 movie Snake In The Eagle's Shadow that established the comedic kung-fu genre Chan had his first breakout success in China with the 1978 movie Snake In The Eagle's Shadow that established the comedic kung-fu genre. He was propelled into mainstream success with his leading role in the 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy Drunken Master, a jolly romp in which his character's fighting style mimics a drunk person. Chan enjoyed his first blockbuster success in the United States in the 1988 buddy cop action movie Rush Hour with Chris as his crime-fighting partner. In 2010, Chan starred in the remake of The Karate Kid as Mr. Han, a kung-fu master who teaches Jaden's character how to fight in order to protect himself from bullies. Keep the blood sugar up! Nana enjoyed a snack between takes Getting it right: The actors were seen reviewing the script The much-loved actor made a name for himself by performing most of his own stunts throughout his lengthy career. He's been critically acclaimed over the decades for matching his kung-fu abilities with strong comedic timing. Chan is no stranger to Australia as his family moved to Canberra from Hong Kong when he was a child, he remained in Asia to study at the China Drama Academy. Over the course of 40-years, the star has visited the country and even filmed a section of Rush Hour, in Melbourne, in 1996. Action blockbuster: Chan announced the start of production during a press conference in Australia at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday Show us what you've got: Jackie and his co-stars Nana Ouyang, Erica Xia-Hou and Tess Haubrich played it up for the cameras She's one of the most stylish women on television. And Sofia Vergara proved her fashion cred once again on Friday, as she stepped out in a stylish summer dress to visit a friend in Los Angeles. The 44-year-old Modern Family star was dressed for the perfect summer weather in a multicoloured strapless maxi dress. Scroll down for video Summer style! Actress Sofia Vergara wore a colorful, strapless maxi dress as she visited a friend in Santa Monica on Friday Some ruffles around the bust and along the hem added just a bit more dimension to the simple yet chic garment. A pair of very high wedge heels and a large, putty-coloured handbag completed her well-put-together look. She mostly hid her famously flawless visage behind some large sunglasses, but she did appear to have applied a slick of deep crimson lipstick and some light eye make-up. Bright spot: The Modern Family's dress featured pretty ruffles around the bodice Her voluminous brunette tresses were parted down the center and allowed to fall almost past her chest. Sofia 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. Stepping out: The 44-year-old added platform sandals and a light pink handbag 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. They're back! The actress shared a snap of her Modern Family costars as she prepared for the hit comedy's eighth season Bright and beautiful: The actress was wearing rainbow shades that no doubt turned heads They went public with their relationship earlier this year. And things appear to be going from strength to strength for Ian Thorpe, 33, and boyfriend Ryan Channing, 26, who snapped a sweet selfie together before heading out on a date on Friday night. Ryan posted a snap of the pair to his public Snapchat account with a butterfly filter that adorned his head like a headband while they both pouted towards the camera. Scroll down for video Date night delight: Things appear to be going from strength to strength for Ian Thorpe, 33, and boyfriend Ryan Channing, 26, who snapped a sweet selfie together before heading out on a date on Friday night Ryan's skin looked positively glowing and flawless with the help of the filter he used to take the snap and Ian pouted while leaning over his shoulder. Ian wore a simple black scoop neck fitted T-shirt for their evening out, while Ryan wore a similar shirt layered under a stylish black jacket. The pair looked content in the snap and both appeared to be sporting sun-kissed tans after returning home from a recent holiday through Europe. Happy: The pair looked content in the snap and both appeared to be sporting sun-kissed tans after returning home from a recent holiday through Europe Bronzed: During the trip overseas Ryan shared an image of himself posing in nothing but his 'budgie smugglers' while seemingly enjoying a day on the beach in Beirut During the trip overseas Ryan shared an image of himself posing in nothing but his 'budgie smugglers' while seemingly enjoying a day on the beach in Beirut. Ian and Ryan revealed they were dating earlier this year and Ryan is the famous swimmer's first boyfriend since coming out as gay in 2014. The law student has lapped up the attention since hooking up with one of Australias most prolific swimmers. In fact, their romance has already proved quite lucrative for the couple - as they were recently unveiled as joint brand ambassadors for Sydney's Star Casino, alongside TV host Carissa Walford. Lovers: Ian and Ryan revealed they were dating earlier this year and Ryan is the famous swimmer's first boyfriend since coming out as gay in 2014 As Australia's most successful Olympian, Ian achieved fame at the tender age of 15 and has been in the public's eye ever since. Undeterred by the instant limelight, Ryan told The Daily Edition that the new role and subsequent attention was what he was used to. 'This is the kind of thing I do all the time, between photoshoots, TV ads and doing ambassadorships... the cameras have always been around me,' he added. She has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her second child with husband Sam Worthington. But Lara Worthington (ne Bingle), 29, looked back to her pre-pregnancy days when she shared a throwback snap of herself posing in a flirty black swimsuit on Saturday. Taking to Instagram to share the sultry beach-side snap, Lara simply wrote: 'Off duty!' alongside the hashtag '#beforebabynumbertwo'. Scroll down for video 'Off duty!' Lara Worthington (ne Bingle), 29, harked back to her pre-pregnancy days when she shared a throwback snap of herself posing in a flirty black swimsuit on Saturday As Lara prepares to give birth, her mother Sharon has spoken out about the model's parenting, saying she has adjusted well to motherhood as 'she just muddles through'. Lara and her actor husband Sam Worthington, 39, already share a 16-month-old son, Rocket Zot, and Sharon told The Daily Edition that she is confident that her daughter will be a great mother-of-two. 'There is no textbook for the right and for the wrong,' she said. Baby on the way! She has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her second child with husband Sam Worthington 'She muddles through like all young mums': As Lara Bingle prepares to give birth, her mother Sharon has spoken out about the model's parenting, saying she has adjusted well to motherhood as 'she just muddles through' '... She muddles through like all young mums. And your first child, it is a big adjustment. Mentally, physically. If she asks, I give [advice]. ...Everyone is different, there are all different ways.' Last year, Lara was forced to defend her son's uncommon moniker after fans questioned its origination. She explained that Rocket Zot is actually a tribute to her late father, Graham Bingle, who was nicknamed Zot and died from pancreatic cancer in 2008. Growing family: Lara and her actor husband Sam Worthington, 39, already share a 16-month-old son, Rocket Zot 'My sons [sic] middle name IS a respectful nod to my late father, whose nickname was affectionately, Zot,' she wrote on Facebook. Lara and Sam wed in a private ceremony in 2014, roughly one year after they began dating and when Lara was six months pregnant. The enamoured duo are currently based in New York but make regular trip back home to Australia. She revealed she is set to become a mother with husband Adam Levine earlier this year. And Behati Prinsloo proudly showed off her blossoming baby bump once again in a cute Instagram on Saturday. The 27-year-old model shared the picture of her in the bath surrounded by bubbles to her 4.1million followers. Scroll down for video Cure: Behati Prinsloo proudly showed off her blossoming baby bump in a cute Instagram on Saturday It was quickly liked 121,000 times and many of her fans left messages of support, including one who wrote: 'So cute! Great picture!' Behati has been no stranger to using social media to keep her followers updated on her pregnancy and regularly posts snaps. Earlier this month the model held her blossoming baby bump as she took a photo of herself in a blue printed frock in a bathroom. Adam joined in on the Instagram fun in May, posting a picture of himself tummy to tummy with his wife, captioned: 'Week 20 and I'm finally popping! hashtag impregnanttoo'. Radiant: The 27-year-old model shared the picture of her in the bath surrounded by bubbles to her 4.1million followers Proud: Behati has been no stranger to using social media to keep her followers updated on her pregnancy and regularly posts snaps Behati and Adam, the British frontman for the band Maroon 5, celebrated their second wedding anniversary last week. It was reported in March that the couple were expecting a child, with Adam confirming the happy news in April, and later that month he revealed they are having a girl. Speaking about his model wife's pregnancy cravings on Live! With Kelly And Michael, he added: 'Shes good, man, shes just, you know, been eating a lot of weird food. 'Watermelon, thats the thing in our house. A lot so much watermelon. Maybe she just, like, really likes watermelon. I mean, its delicious. Im glad its not, like, pickles or some weird thing.' Adam, 37, and Behati married in Mexico in July 2014. The pair began dating in May 2012 and broke up the following March, but reconciled and became engaged in July 2013. They've swapped their party lifestyles for yummy mummy duties. And Tamara Ecclestone continued to be thrilled at her reunion with her Stateside-living sister Petra Stunt on Friday as they headed out for a stroll in Beverly Hill. The Formula 1 heiresses looked summer chic as they hit the shops with their adorable daughters Lavinia, three, and Sophia, two, in tow. Scroll down for video Sister, sister: Tamara Ecclestone, 32, (left) headed out for another stroll in Beverly Hill on Friday with her sister Petra Stunt, 27, (right) and their daughters Sophia (left) and Lavinia (right) Tamara, 32, donned a chic floral print dress which exposed her decolletage, allowing her luscious chestnut locks to cascade effortlessly on it. Wearing a subtle slick of make-up, she shielded herself from the rays with a pair of gold tinted sunnies while clutching a thirst-quenching beverage. Petra's loose, yet stylish patterned top provided her with the perfect amount of movement to carry Lavinia in one arm and roll along the push-chair in the other. The blonde, 27, - who is also mother to twins Andrew and James, one, - added an edge to the look with a slick high ponytail and a choker. Trend-setter: Tamara donned a chic floral print dress which exposed her decolletage, allowing her luscious chestnut locks to cascade effortlessly upon it Stunner: Wearing a subtle slick of make-up, she shielded herself from the rays with a pair of gold tinted sunnies while clutching on to a thirst quenching beverage- one of which pretty-in-pink Sophia drank as well Sharing quite the close bond, Tamara and Petra haven't wasted a single moment in catching up after being separated by 5000 miles for the past couple of years. It's also been a typically jet-set summer for the Tamara, 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 mother Slavica and daughter, bringing three generations of the family together. Three generations: It's also been a typically jet-set summer for the Tamara, who only days before had been taking in the sights of Croatia with her incredibly youthful-looking mother Slavica and daughter 'I would tell them to go eat their dinner in the toilet:' Tamara recently defended her decision to continue breastfeeding her two-year-old after she became victim to vile trolls 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.' Sharing her very candid message for the trolls with FEMAIL, Tamara said: 'I would tell them to go eat their dinner in the toilet.' Family tree: Tamara and Petra are the daughters of billionaire chief executive of the Formula One Group Bernie Ecclestone (centre, in 2011) 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.' Lads' day: Meanwhile, Jay Rutland (left) and brother in law James Stunt (right) were spotted in Los Angeles having a boys' day Rising in style: The duo were naturally driving a fast car on their day out Duncan Jones and his wife Rodene Ronquillo have welcomed a baby boy, whose middle name is a tribute to musical legend David Bowie. Bowie's director son took to Twitter on Friday to announce the birth of Stenton David Jones, who was born exactly six months after the legendary musician passed away following a secret battle with cancer. Duncan tweeted: 'Stenton David Jones. Born July 10th, exactly six months after his grandad made room for him. Love you both so (sic).' Happy news: Duncan Jones and his wife Rodene Ronquillo welcomed a baby boy on Friday Duncan, 45, who married photographer Rodene in 2012, revealed her pregnancy in February by tweeting a picture of a pregnant cartoon character with an umbilical cord sticking out of its stomach and wrote: '1 month since dad died today. Made this card for him at Christmas. Due in June. Circle of life. Love you, granddad (sic).' Duncan is the eldest child of David - whose real name is David Jones - and his mother is the musician's former wife Angie Bowie. Duncan and Angie have been estranged for over 30 years, ever since her divorce from David in 1980, while the late musician and second wife Iman also have daughter Alexandria 'Lexi' Zahra Jones together. New life: In February Duncan tweeted: '1 month since dad died today. Made this card for him at Christmas. Due in June. Circle of life. Love you, granddad' Although David's family are still coming to terms with his death, Duncan previously revealed he is relieved that he had time to tell his father how much he meant to him. He said, 'I'm OK, I'm good. I was very fortunate, we got a chance to say our goodbyes. It's a weird one for me, I don't really know how to talk about it or what to say about it - other than the fact that we got a chance to say our goodbyes. 'Weird things make me miss him, but it's still early days. I'm sure I always will, but it's tricky. He was a big gravitational pull in my life as far as who I saw myself as. How I separated myself from the world and how I saw myself.' Announcement: David Bowie's director son took to Twitter to announce the birth of Stenton David Jones, who was born exactly six months after the legendary musician passed away following a secret battle with cancer Duncan previously revealed his dad tried, tried and tried again to get him excited about music. 'He really, really wanted me to learn an instrument,'he admitted. 'He tried to get me to learn the drums but I didn't want to. The saxophone? No. Piano? No. Guitar no thanks! Bless him. He kept on trying and nothing was happening. Nothing would take. I don't know if subconsciously there was some reaction going on; if there was something in me that didn't want to learn an instrument because I couldn't have been that incompetent! He'd say, 'You have to practise' and I was like, 'But I don't want to practise' It didn't interest me so it wasn't going to happen.' Aged 11, Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (Bowie's real surname) changed his name to his nickname 'Joe' before, aged 18, settling on his resolutely ordinary first name, Duncan. Duncan, 45, who married photographer Rodene in 2012, revealed her pregnancy in February by tweeting a picture of a pregnant cartoon character with an umbilical cord sticking out of its stomach 'I've certainly never used my father's name as a way of getting a meeting,' says Jones. 'And fortunately, I've never needed to' Jones's mother, former American model and actress Angie (born Mary Angela Barnett), is notably absent from all of his anecdotes. She and Bowie divorced in 1980 and Jones hasn't seen his mother, who now lives in Arizona, for years. 'We stopped communicating when I was 13 and it was the right choice then and I'm convinced it's still the right choice now,' he told Mail on Sunday. 'She's a woman who didn't have a very positive effect on my upbringing so I think it was the right move.' She loves flaunting her toned legs in a range of short ensembles. But Laura Whitmore showed off a little more than she bargained for as she stepped out of her car in London recently. Wearing a flirty mini-dress, the 31-year-old TV presenter accidentally revealed her perky derriere as she lent forward to grab her bags for the journey ahead. Scroll down for video Bottoms up! Laura Whitmore, 31, showed off a little more than what she bargained for as she stepped out of her car in London recently Rocking a biker chic look, the Irish stunner donned a short black sundress which featured a pale pink flower pattern. Frequently catching the London breeze, the short hemline overexposed her and went on to threaten the same outcome as she strutted along in her heeled black boots. Seemingly unaware of the wardrobe malfunction, the former MTV star teamed the look with a stylish jacket and kooky circular specs as she concentrated on the path ahead. Turning heads: Rocking a biker chic look, the Irish stunner donned a short black sundress which featured a pale pink flower pattern Edging up the outfit was a choker while her long luscious locks billowed in the wind, proving a slight change from earlier in the day when she had tied them up. Hours earlier she had opted to accentuate her long legs in a different pair brown wedge ankle boots, which she teamed with sunglasses while carrying a tan leather Lamb 1887 bag. She took her canine companion - Mick, a maltipoo breed - for a quick walk down the road. Work it! Seemingly unaware of the wardrobe malfunction, the former MTV star teamed the look with a stylish jacket and kooky circular specs The hybrid - a Maltese dog mixed with a Poodle - looked thrilled to be going for a run, though his freedom was short-lived and he was soon scooped up to save his little legs. Laura has reportedly accepted an offer to appear on the forthcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing. A source told The Sun in June: 'Laura loves the show and is partial to dance on a night out so Strictly is a great fit.' Stylish: Looking fresh as a daisy the day after presenting the Star Trek premiere, the former MTV star rocked a different version of the biker chic look Trendsetter: She opted to accentuate her long legs in a different pair brown wedge ankle boots, which she teamed with sunglasses while carrying a tan leather Lamb 1887 bag. Lindsay Lohan has removed her huge emerald engagement rock and shopped for a replacement, despite her best friend's claims that she and Egor Tarabasov are just 'on pause'. The Mean Girls star was pictured taking off the 5-carat sparkler in front of BFF Hofit Golan, who recently addressed the split and shot down speculation that Lindsay is pregnant with Egor's child. Lindsay, 30, was then seen making purchases in fine Swiss jewellers Chopard in Porto Cervo, Italy on Friday where she cupped the old emerald ring and dug in her bag for the new plain silver piece. Scroll down for video It's coming off: Lindsay Lohan was seen slipping off her engagement rock from ex-fiance Egor Tarabasov as she hung out with BFF Hofit Golan (centre) and other friends in Porto Cervo, Italy on Friday Early in the day, Lindsay flashed the giant ring - gifted to her by Russian heir Egor in April when he proposed after seven months of dating - to her group of friend Hofit, before swiveling it off the fourth finger ahead of their girls' shopping trip. Later, it looked like she had moved the expensive ring to her right hand, for safe keeping but she moved her new purchase onto the engagement finger. It was Hofit, the Israeli socialite in Lindsay's corner, who was the first to officially address comments made by Lindsay's own father that suggested she was pregnant this week and finally confirm that the engagement is merely on pause. Lindsay's dad, Michael Lohan, claimed that his daughter was expecting her first child earlier this week, saying that she sent him the news in a text: 'Daddy, I'm pregnant.' Shopping for something new? Lindsay was later seen sporting a plain diamond after making purchases in fine Swiss jewellers Chopard Well that's new: The 5-carat ring (left) was originally given to her in April by Egor, though it's unknown whether the other silver ring (right) that she wore later in the day was a brand new purchase 'Its unfortunate that other people in her life, Im not going to name names, are confirming shes pregnant, which shes not,' Hofit told Us Weekly, to contradict Michael. 'This vacation is amazing, its not a single girls' getaway or a post-breakup vacation. Lindsay is taking a pause in her relationship and joined my friends and I on holiday,' Golan told the magazine. 'We've been doing acupuncture, massage, stretching, drinking lots of green juice, exploring caves, fishing, swimming, just doing normal things,' Lindsay's friend told the magazine. Wasting no time: After purchasing in Chopard, the actress seemed to waste no time in routing around for it in the bag Look what I bought: She entered the shop without a ring on and left it with a new one on Shopping seemed to be among those things on Friday when the two gal pals went on the hunt for all things that glitter. Both women, looking glamorous as they left their shades on inside, toted Chopard bags out of the store. Lindsay seemed particularly enamored with her purchase and routed around in the bag, wasting no time in putting a new ring on her finger. Up for inspection: Lindsay and her friends seemed momentarily distracted by the original engagement ring Making decisions? Hofit insists that the engagement is merely 'paused' and not over Not pregnant: Lindsay has continued to smoke, calling into question the reports that she is pregnant Girls' weekend: Lindsay was engrossed in her phone as the group chatted and giggled Kicking back: Hofit lead the way past the gorgeous shops where Lindsay decided to stop Decisions, decisions: Later, it looked like Lindsay had moved the big ring to her right hand Here today... Lindsay hands and arms certainly seemed like a canvas for fine jewellery Relaxed: Lindsay certainly seemed to be in high spirits, despite recent events She's been enjoying a seemingly endless glamorous holiday in St Tropez this month. But Sofia Richie was spotted back in London on Friday as she hit the shops of Oxford Street in the capital. The 17-year-old daughter of crooner Lionel was joined for her day of retail therapy by TOWIE star Vas J Morgan. Casual: Sofia Richie was spotted back in London on Friday as she hit the shops of Oxford Street in the capital Wearing ripped skinny jeans teamed with a plain black top, she appeared perfectly turned out in the dressed down ensemble. Completing her polished outfit were a pair of fashionable black backless shoes, embellished with studs. While she added a splash of colour to her look with a bright yellow satchel that hung from her shoulder. During the day Sofia swapped her jacket from an on trend black biker to a monochrome overshirt, no doubt due to the hot weather. Busy: The 17-year-old daughter of crooner Lionel was joined for her day of retail therapy by TOWIE star Vas J Morgan Her long blonde highlighted tresses were worn in a relaxed tousled style, which fell over her shoulders. Pal Vas worked an all-black look in a relaxed hoody, jeans and snapback cap - but added interest with a pair of eye-catching hot pink trainers. The shopping trip comes only days after her return from the south of France, where Sofia posted a number of pictures of her envy-inducing holiday. She has previously landed a contract with Select Model Management and Sofia learnt from the best as she embarked on a supermodel filled cruise of St Tropez earlier this month. Glamorous: The shopping trip comes only days after her return from the south of France, where Sofia posted a number of pictures of her envy-inducing holiday Looking forward to her career, the style maven is in demand as she was recently photographed for Vogue China by Australian stylist and photographer Margaret Zhang. Sofia has also modeled for Madonna's clothing line, Material Girl. And her trip to St Tropez will no doubt prove fruitful, as Sofia has hung out all week with a gaggle of Victoria's Secret beauties, including Lily Donaldson and Doutzen Kroes. They say good things come in threes. And that has certainly been the case for Sally Obermeder who celebrated her 40th birthday, 15th wedding anniversary to husband Marcus and the pending arrival of a second baby on Saturday. The Daily Edition host couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she commemorated the big events alongside family and friends, including Sunrise's Samantha Armytage and Channel Seven reporters Adene Cassidy and Helen Wellings at a waterside restaurant in Sydney. Scroll down for video Three announcements: Sally Obermeder celebrated her 40th birthday, 15th wedding anniversary to husband Marcus and the pending arrival of a second baby at an exclusive event in Sydney on Saturday Sally looked incredible at her exclusive party in a paisley print dress which billowed out and fell to the ground. The mother-of-one's party frock also boasted long sleeves and an open back with black and gold stud strapping. Sally styled her brunette locks out and in tumbling waves, while opting for lashings of mascara and dark eyeliner to highlight her big brown eyes. The brunette beauty also made sure to take to Instagram to mark the big occasion. '15 years together': The 40-year-old cuddled up to her husband for a loving picture In the first photo uploaded to the photo sharing site, the TV personality was seen looking back at the camera while she sauntered into the venue. 'Party day! Celebrating just a few things today - my 40th birthday and our 15 year anniversary and the upcoming arrival. Good things come in threes,' she captioned the picture. In a second snap, Sally was pictured affectionately cuddling up to her beaming husband. She wrote alongside the picture: 'The love continues grow as do the surprises @marcusobermeder stealing the show with a surprise speech / sing-a-long / medley of hits that told the story of our 15 years together.' 'V is for victory': Sally was joined by her best gal pals who raised a V hand signal to signify her big news Samantha also made sure to post a gushing tribute to her dear friend on her respective social media account. Uploading a group shot of everyone holding up a V hand sign, the 38-year-old journalist wrote: 'V is for Victory! She's having another baby... She's celebrating her 15th wedding anniversary... AND she's turning '40'... and she loves a V.' The party uploads come just days after Sally and her husband revealed in a post to Instagram that they would be welcoming a second child through the help of a surrogate. The TV personality announced the happy news along with a sweet family photo. Sally's four-year-old daughter Annabelle could also be seen holding up a sign, confirming the new addition to the family. Expanding their brood: Breast cancer survivor Sally Obermeder has confirmed she is having another baby through the help of a surrogate 'I'm going to be a big sister,' it read. The brunette beauty added in the post that she was 'thrilled' to be welcoming her second child after previously speaking about her past struggles to conceive a sibling for her daughter. 'Yes, it's true. Thrilled to bits to share that @marcusobermederand I are adding to our family thanks to the most incredible surrogate,' she captioned the picture. The mother-of-one also revealed that she would be speaking more about her happy news on Channel Seven program, Sunday Night. Ups and downs: The brunette beauty added to the post that she was 'thrilled' to be welcoming her second child after revealing in past interviews her struggle to conceive a sibling for her daughter Exciting news: The mother-of-one also confessed, in the post, that she would reveal more in a story to air on Channel Seven on Sunday 'We have shared our story of ups and downs with the amazing team from Sunday Night. It airs this Sunday at 7pm,' she added. Sally has been very open about her desire to expand her family-of-three. In an interview with New Idea magazine, the brunette beauty revealed she could only have another child through surrogacy. She said doctors had warned her that another pregnancy could risk her life. 'I've been told in no uncertain terms that it's far too dangerous for me to be pregnant again, in terms of the cancer returning,' she told the publication. Opening up: In an interview with New Idea magazine, the fashionista revealed she could only have another child through surrogacy Breakthrough after several years: Sally's first child, Annabelle, was conceived with the help of IVF Sally's first child, Annabelle, was conceived with the help of IVF. But a day after she gave birth to her daughter, in 2011, doctors discovered she had an aggressive form of breast cancer. She endured eight months of chemotherapy, and in October 2012 doctors told her she was clear of the disease. Sally admitted in the candid interview that she wouldn't 'risk cancer returning' and surrogacy would be the only option. 'I acknowledge that I'm extremely lucky to have one child ... But the yearning and desire to be a mum again is so strong and it has not passed,' she said. 'Before I was sick I always pictured I would have two or three children, if I was lucky enough, and I still want that for Annabelle.' She's been jet-setting around the world, enjoying time in Greece before making a return to her native US for a party in the Hamptons. And it appears bikini blogger Devin Brugman was reminiscing about her time in Mykonos on Saturday, as she shared a busty selfie on Instagram. The 25-year-old brunette stunner was hard to miss while she posed in an itty-bitty white bikini, which showed off her sun-kissed tan in all its glory. Scroll down for video Can't look away: Devin Brugman flaunted her more than ample assets in a tiny white bikini as she soaked up the sun in Mykonos recently The halterneck top and matching bottoms, no doubt from her Monday Swimwear collection, also drew attention to her ample assets and toned curves. She ditched accessories to keep her swimwear the main focus of the photo and her tattoo on her hand was clearly visible as she played with her wet locks. The fashion designer appeared to be in great and relaxed spirits as she enjoyed a dip in the sea, before posing in front of a pretty beach backdrop. Relaxation: Natasha Oakley chilled out as she enjoyed a coffee while watching the waves role in Meanwhile, Devin's business partner Natasha Oakley took to Instagram to show off her latest beach location. The blonde beauty posed seductively in a white robe as she sucked down her morning coffee and enjoyed the idyllic beaches of St Barts. Natasha's blonde locks were hidden beneath a white towel and it appeared she ditched make-up to let her natural beauty shine through. 'Coffee by the ocean,' the 25-year-old Sydneysider simply captioned the picture. Party time: The best friends were pictured at a Revolve party in the Hamptons recently The uploads come after Devin and Natasha were spotted sitting front and centre at Miami Swim Week. The fashionistas appeared to be focused on the latest swimwear trends to be strutted down the runways and took note for their next collection. The two stunners launched their blog A Bikini A Day in 2012 and have since become some of fashion and digital media's most powerful influencers when it comes to bikinis and activewear. To add to their busy schedule, Natasha and Devin unveiled their six-week fitness program, called Body Love, which includes a total of ten workouts with strength and cardio training. The mantra for the workout program is 'loving your body and then giving your body love', with a message of embracing one's imperfections. 'Uniqueness is greater than anything, and we guide ourselves with the belief that we are, and everyone else is, beautiful,' they wrote in the description. She's an Emmy award-winning TV host. But on Saturday, Renee Bargh took a break from red carpet hosting duties to embark on a weekend getaway with girlfriends. One day after interviewing iconic Hollywood actress, Bette Midler, the Extra TV host left Los Angeles to celebrate a friend's birthday at a secluded location. Scroll down for video Girls' trip! Renee Bargh took a break from red carpet hosting duties on Saturday, to embark on a weekend getaway with girlfriends Without revealing where exactly she was, 29-year-old Renee took to Instagram to let her followers know that she was having a blast while surrounded by nature. 'Breathin' easy!' she captioned one picturesque snap. In another photo, the blonde beauty flaunted her trim pins while sipping a cold beverage alongside two girlfriends. 'Breathin' easy': Without revealing where exactly she was, the 29-year-old Extra host took to Instagram to let her followers know that she was having a blast while surrounded by nature Dressed in denim cut-off shorts and a black T-shirt, the Queensland native looked toned and tanned as she beamed outdoors. 'Into the wild for @ashleighdempster's #bdayweekend,' she wrote. The playful image was a far cry from her more graceful appearance alongside 70-year-old Bette, one day prior. Famous faces: One day prior to her getaway, Renee interviewed iconic Hollywood actress Bette Midler The model gushed about her in an Instagram post. 'The divine Miss M! Trying to act casual.... #hocuspocus #Beaches @extratv #TheVoice #bettemidler,' she captioned. The weekend getaway comes one week after Renee was pictured getting close to a mystery man, one year after her split from AFL star Josh Gibson. The bubbly media host couldn't contain her delight as she beamed while flashing her trim pins during a bike ride in California. New flame? She was pictured getting close to a mystery man in California last week Sporting summery white attire paired with open-toe stilettos, the stunner was dressed to impress as she hopped on the back of a motorbike driven by her male companion. The denim-clad companion comfortably placed one hand on her bare legs as she straddled the Harley Davidson. While both sporting helmets, the pair posed for a sweet photo before continuing their ride. Independent: The Extra TV host has been enjoying single life since her split from AFL star Josh Gibson last year 'Sorry dad,' she cheekily captioned. It is unclear whether the pair are romantically involved as the media personality has kept her love life private over the past year. Last year, she split from 32-year-old Hawthorn player Josh after one year, after their long distance situation proved too difficult. LA girl: The Queensland native moved to the US in 2010 to pursue her media career She is currently based in Los Angeles, where she moved to in 2010 to pursue her career, while he is in Melbourne. 'We definitely tried to make it work for as long as we could,' she previously told The Daily Telegraph. 'But with both of our careers, keeping us on opposite sides of the world, it did just prove to be a little bit too challenging.' Famous faces: Renee has interviewed various Hollywood stars including actor Matt Damon Red carpet staple: The blonde model is pictured here with comedic actress Amy Schumer She became completely focused on work after the split and has become a staple on red carpets around the world. The TV presenter has interviewed various Hollywood stars including Matt Damon, Amy Schumer and Zac Efron. Earlier in the day she was pictured buying a brand new Chopard ring and replacing the emerald dazzler gifted to her by Egor Tarabaso. And Lindsay Lohan continued to make a statement as she suffered a near wardrobe malfunction in Sardinia on Saturday. The 30-year-old The Parent Trap star wore a minuscule black cross-strap bikini, barely containing her ample assets. Scroll down for video Oops! Lindsay Lohan continued to make a statement as she suffered a near wardrobe malfunction in Sardinia on Saturday The halterneck piece squeezed her curvaceous cleavage to its limits, leaving a precarious potential slip on the horizon. The flame-haired American actress covered the swimsuit with a frilly lace skirt, completing the interesting ensemble with a silk tribal print kimono with fringed edging. Wearing minimal make-up and her hair loose, Lindsay looked like she was putting her troubles behind her as she arrived by boat to an Italian restaurant. Despite slipping her new diamond ring onto her engagement finger, she still kept her emerald ring safe on her other ring finger. Steady! The 30-year-old The Parent Trap star wore a minuscule black cross-strap bikini, barely containing her ample assets Don't look down! The halterneck piece squeezed her curvaceous cleavage to its limits, leaving a precarious potential slip on the horizon Earlier in the day, Lindsay flashed the giant ring - gifted to her by Russian heir Egor in April when he proposed after seven months of dating - to her group of friend Hofit, before swiveling it off the fourth finger ahead of their girls' shopping trip. Later, it looked like she had moved the expensive ring to her right hand, for safe keeping but she moved her new purchase onto the engagement finger. It was Hofit, the Israeli socialite in Lindsay's corner, who was the first to officially address comments made by Lindsay's own father that suggested she was pregnant this week and finally confirm that the engagement is merely on pause. Lindsay's dad, Michael Lohan, claimed that his daughter was expecting her first child earlier this week, saying that she sent him the news in a text: 'Daddy, I'm pregnant.' Pausing the engagement? Despite slipping her new diamond ring onto her engagement finger, she still kept her emerald ring safe on her other ring finger High life: Wearing minimal make-up and her hair loose, Lindsay looked like she was putting her troubles behind her as she arrived by boat to an Italian restaurant 'Its unfortunate that other people in her life, Im not going to name names, are confirming shes pregnant, which shes not,' Hofit told Us Weekly, to contradict Michael. 'This vacation is amazing, its not a single girls' getaway or a post-breakup vacation. Lindsay is taking a pause in her relationship and joined my friends and I on holiday,' Golan told the magazine. 'We've been doing acupuncture, massage, stretching, drinking lots of green juice, exploring caves, fishing, swimming, just doing normal things,' Lindsay's friend told the magazine. 'Its unfortunate that other people in her life, Im not going to name names, are confirming shes pregnant, which shes not,' Hofit told Us Weekly, to contradict dad Michael's claims that she is pregnant Shopping for something new? Lindsay was later seen sporting a plain diamond after making purchases in fine Swiss jewellers Chopard Smiles all round! Lindsay looked world's away from her relationship woes as she shared a giggle with a gal pal Sticking together! The two women held hands in solidarity and they enjoyed a heart to heart in the sunshine Dream team: Lindsay was joined by a host of female friends for the sun-drenched holiday Casting shades! Lindsay and her pals shaded their eyes from the July sunshine in a range of stylish sunglasses Natural beauty! Lindsay showed off a pared back look as she sported barely there makeup and a naturally dewy glow On the move! The tassels of Lindsay's kimono fluttered in the summer breeze Sharing circle! The girls seemed to be telling each other tales as they gestured with dramatic arm movements Smoking! Lindsay proved that the pregnancy rumours weren't true as she enjoyed a cigarette Walking away from her troubles! Lindsay tied up her auburn locks as she strolled through the sand Letting loose! Lindsay's friend showed off her wild side in a leopard print bikini Taking a break! As well as smoking, Lindsay appeared to smoke a shisha pipe Playing it cool! Lindsay swept her lusciously long locks away from her face in the midday heat Lots to discuss? Lindsay appeared to get extremely animated as she spoke to her friend Powdering her nose! Lindsay made sure that she looked picture perfect at all times as she applied her makeup Part of the crowd! The women were surrounded by other holidaymakers who were making the most of the Sardinian sunshine Slinky! Lindsay let her kimono fall off her shoulder to expose even more flesh Getting the message? Lindsay's friend looked shocked as she stared at her phone Pensive: The actress looked deep in thought as she relaxed on the golden beach Getting him out of her hair? Lindsay ran her fingers through her tresses following her split from Egor Letting her hair down! Lindsay let her hair cascade down her back in a sleek and straight style She's several months along with her second child, but Blac Chyna isn't about to sacrifice her signature sexy style in favour of dowdy maternity wear. Taking a leaf out of her future sister-in-law Kim Kardashian's pregnancy style book, the 28-year-old squeezed into a skintight velvet dress on Friday. The halter-neck frock clung to Chyna's growing baby bump and her curvy derriere as she stepped out with friends in Los Angeles. Oh baby: Blac Chyna showed off her pregnant figure during an outing with friends in Los Angeles on Friday Chyna's daring dress also featured a slit up the front, leaving her tattooed legs on show, and she teamed it with simple black flip flops. The model styled her long blonde hair in waves and finished off her look with a full face of make-up, including false eyelashes and pink lipstick. Chyna and her fiance Rob Kardashian announced in May that they are expecting their first child together. The happy couple only went public with their romance in January and confirmed their engagement three months later. Not sacrificing her signature sexy style: The 28-year-old squeezed into a skintight velvet dress with a daring slit up the front Chyna is already mother to three-year-old son King Cairo from her previous relationship with rapper Tyga. And making things complicated is the fact that after breaking up with Chyna, Tyga began dating Rob's teenage half-sister Kylie Jenner. While Rob and Chyna's romance initially sparked a feud in the Kardashian family, the stars have since put their differences aside ahead of the new arrival. Finishing touches: Chyna teamed her curve-hugging frock with black flip flops and a full face of make-up, styling her hair in waves Earlier this week, Kim Kardashian shared a Snapchat video from her grandmother MJ's birthday party, in which she could be seen rubbing Chyna's baby bump. Not seen at the party was Rob, who has remained silent on social media after deleting all his Instagram photos following a fight with his future wife. The pair are said to have fallen out after he discovered suspicious messages on her phone, but are now back on track. Part of the family: The model attended a birthday party for the Kardashians' grandmother MJ earlier this week Bumping along: Kim shared a Snapchat video which showed her rubbing Chyna's growing bump Trouble between the couple became clear when Rob accused Chyna of viciously scratching him in a Snapchat video. Rob called his partner a 'psycho b****' after she allegedly drew blood when scratching him, and shortly afterwards removed all traces of Chyna from his Instagram page. A source told E! News: 'Rob and her have been getting into little tiffs and Blac Chyna flipped on Rob. He was so p***ed at how she spoke to him, so he deleted everything about her to hurt her.' The insider added: 'Rob has never cheated on her, but she is very paranoid about that from past experiences. [They're] back in love and have spoken through their fight.' The nation witnessed her phenomenal figure when she donned a series of bikinis on Love Island. And Zara Holland, 20, revealed just where she got her stunning good looks and incredible physique from when she hit the beach with her mother Cheryl Hawkney, 51, on Saturday. Strolling along the sands during their sun-filled break in Barbados, the mother-daughter duo turned heads as they got to work topping up their tans. Scroll down for video She got it from her mama! Zara Holland, 20, revealed just where she got her stunning good looks and from when she hit the beach in Barbados with her mother Cheryl Hawkney, 51, on Saturday Clad in a hot pink bikini with a multicoloured trim, Zara flaunted her ample cleavage and taut stomach as she strode along the shore. Slipping into a pair of matching skimpy briefs, the former Miss Great Britain also showed off her enviably perky posterior. With her honey coloured tresses sodden and cascading past her shoulders, the starlet was a vision of beauty on the outing. Baywatch babe: Strolling along the sands during her sun-filled break in the Caribbean, Zara turned heads as she got to work topping up her tan Pretty in pink: Clad in a hot pink bikini with a multicoloured trim, Zara flaunted her ample cleavage and taut stomach as she strode along the shore Her beauty was rivalled only by her youthful mother Cheryl, who wowed in a white bandeau bikini. Sweeping her golden locks back into a bun, the Dickinson's Real Deal dealer also donned a pair of tortoiseshell aviator sunglasses. Going make-up free and allowing her natural beauty to shine through, it was clear to see how she too managed to nab the title of Miss Great Britain three decades before her daughter. Life's a peach: Slipping into a pair of matching skimpy briefs, the former Miss Great Britain also showed off her enviably perky posterior Blonde beauty: With her honey coloured tresses sodden and cascading past her shoulders, the starlet was a vision of beauty on the outing Refreshing: Zara cooled off with a quick dip in the ocean, towelling off as she hit the shore Stunning: Zara swept her golden locks back into a chic topknot as she boarded a boat All eyes on her: Zara was a vision of beauty as she emerged from the sea Ahoy! The starlet sizzled as she looked out across the picturesque landscape Cheryl recently spoke out about the scandal that saw Zara stripped of her Miss GB title after the pretty blonde was filmed having sex with Alex Bowen on Love Island. 'I'm really surprised by Zara's behaviour - it's definitely out of character,' the antique dealer told heat magazine. 'But although it's not her proudest moment, she hasn't committed any crime.' She added: 'I'm disappointed they took her title away - I hoped they would understand that all young women make mistakes. Hopping off: She made a graceful return to the shores after her boat trip Dazzling: She stunned as she paraded around in her hot pink bikini In she goes: Adventurous Zara hopped right into the ocean from the bpat Cruising: She proved to be a natural as she jumped on a pair of jet skis Riding the waves: Zara dazzled as she held on tight and followed the boat Like a pro: She managed to keep her balance as she cruised along the sea 'After leaving the island, Zara revealed she was disappointed to have let her mother down, telling OK! magazine: 'Before I even went into the villa, my mum said, "Don't sleep with anybody." So I let my mum down, and that really still upsets me. 'I haven't done anything to hurt anyone, but yes, I made this mistake. I've accepted that and we have to move forward now.' Talking about her loss of the title, she added: 'I still can't quite believe it now, because it's been such a massive part of my life and I've worked so hard for it. Losing the title was just the worst thing that's ever happened to me.' Two of a kind: Zara was stripped of her Miss GB title after the pretty blonde was filmed having sex with Alex Bowen on Love Island and revealed she was most upset that she had 'let her mum down' He wouldnt be the first teenager to sup champagne at a wedding. But if there was any evidence that Liz Hurleys 14-year-old son Damian was drinking at a recent society bash, it has been crudely covered up. Photographs of the pair in Hello! magazine appear to have been doctored to remove any trace of a champagne flute. While Liz is clearly clasping a glass of fizz, Damian, right, has an identical grip - but is clutching thin air... One picture shows Damian next to his 51-year-old mother, who is grasping a glass. But while Damians fingers are in a similar position, hes clutching at thin air. The blurry nature of that area of the image is a sure sign of Photoshop computer wizardry at work as is the slightly odd shape of his hand. Something also seems amiss in another shot published in the magazine, which shows Damian chatting to art collector Charles Saatchi as his mother beams up at him. In this photograph, a yellow blob looking vaguely like a half-eaten bread roll seems to have been pasted on to his hand. The trickery did not fool everyone. One Twitter user wrote: My cat couldve Photoshopped the drink out of his hand better than that. Odd image: A half-eaten roll seems to have been inserted into Damian's hand in this image The pictures were taken at the society wedding of former weathergirl Tania Bryer to hedge fund manager Rod Barker this month, which was also attended by the Duchess of York, Donna Air and Lisa Snowdon. Hello! magazine declined to comment last night, and Miss Hurley was unavailable. It is not illegal for a 14-year-old to consume alcohol at a private event such as a wedding, although it is against official medical advice. Yesterday Damian, a student at 37,000-a-year Wellington College boarding school in Berkshire, attended the wedding of Miss Hurleys ex-husband, software mogul Arun Nayer, 51, and model Kim Johnson, 30, on the French Riviera. It was tipped to be the sleaziest series of Celebrity Big Brother to date as a former porn star, a real-life mafia wife, a bisexual with 'the best looking vagina in Newcastle' and a Loose Woman entered the house this week. And on just the second day inside their new home, the housemates were already living up to the hype as Mob Wife Renee Graziano and TOWIE bad boy Lewis Bloor stripped off in front of the cameras. Viewers were left in a state of shock as Renee, 48, happily whipped out her surgically enhanced buttocks for her fellow housemates to have a feel, whilst Lewis, 26, exposed his genitalia in front of his stunned housemates. Scroll down for video Shocking: On just the second day inside the Celebrity Big Brother house, TOWIE bad boy Lewis Bloor and Mob Wife Renee Graziano stripped off in front of the cameras to the shock of viewers Within minutes of Saturday's episode beginning, American reality star Renee was seen standing nude from the waist down as she invited her fellow housemates to touch her bodacious behind, which has been injected with fat transferred from her stomach. As a bemused Sam Fox leaned in for a grope, the mafia wife explained the procedure nearly killed her as she revealed: 'I had MRSA. It eats you a lot. 'A week after surgery I felt really ill, my friend looked under the gurney there was blood everywhere. I told my mum I was dying and they took me away and read my last rites.' Peachy: Viewers were left in a state of shock as Renee, 48, happily whipped out her surgically enhanced buttocks for her fellow housemates to have a feel within minutes of the episode starting Caught on camera: Just moments later, Lewis had his turn in the spotlight, stripping off and exposing his genitalia as he tried to squeeze himself into a pantomime donkey costume Under pressure: With only 30 seconds to suit up and fresh from the shower, Lewis was left with no option but to drop his towel and expose himself whilst getting changed, giving viewers an eyeful In shock: Viewers were stunned that the Mob Wife had shown off her behind on television Unwanted: Some fans were shocked that they were given no warning before the nudity Unbelievable: Others were flabbergasted the antics had been broadcast No holding back: The antics occurred in the first week of entering the house, to viewers dismay No choice: Some disgruntled fans were annoyed they had no option but to witness the scenes Just moments later, Lewis had his turn in the spotlight, stripping off as he tried to squeeze himself into a pantomime donkey costume. After being labelled 'least talented' by 'secret boss' Christopher Biggins, the reality star was tasked with having to wear the costume whenever a signal was played into the house. With only 30 seconds to suit up and fresh from the shower, Lewis was left with no option but to drop his towel and expose himself whilst getting changed, giving viewers an eyeful. Traumatised: Renee revealed she contracted MRSA after having her buttocks operated on, and revealed she thought the procedure was going to kill her. She even had her last rites read to her Bootylicious: The star had fat transferred from her stomach and lower back to her buttocks in 2014 Confident: The star had no qualms about stripping off in the wardrobe to show off her behind The scenes were met with shock and disgust by many viewers, who took to Twitter to voice their concerns. 'Renee's a**e is shocking,' one viewer tweeted, whilst another added: 'Eww, I didn't need to see Lewis penis #eww #eww #eww.' The reality star's shock flash prompted another to post: 'I can't believed they've just shown that on TV.' Channel 5 declined to comment when approached by MailOnline. Peek-a-boob! The racy antics continued throughout the episode as Chloe Mafia exposed a tad too much of her ample assets whilst working out with Frankie Grande, luckily Chloe was able to quickly readjust Oops! The strenuous workout didn't just leave her abs under strain but her vest straps too Girl code: Sam Fox came rushing over to tell Chloe about the unfortunate mishap The racy antics continued throughout the episode as Chloe Mafia exposed a tad too much of her ample assets whilst working out with Frankie Grande. Luckily Sam Fox was on hand to tell the star she had popped out of her vest, giving the Playboy bunny some time to adjust. Meanwhile, Friday night's episode saw Marnie Simpson offer a glimpse of her own perky chest to Frankie and Aubrey O'Day within moments of entering the house. Offering an eyeful: Friday night's episode saw Marnie Simpson offer a glimpse of her own perky chest to Frankie and Aubrey O'Day within moments of entering the house They are the top rating FM breakfast radio show in the most competitive metro market - Sydney. So, it's no surprise Australian Radio Network (ARN) have pulled out all the stops to retain Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson, with the pair reportedly inking a five-year deal worth over $30 million. According to The Sunday Telegraph, the duo negotiated their new contracts separately for the very first time since their breakfast show began in 2005, with Jackie admitting she's happier with how it's all turned out, saying: 'I am extremely happy with the deal I got this time which is what I feel like I'm really worth'. Scroll down for video New deal: Jackie 'O' Henderson and Kyle Sandilands have reportedly inked a new five-year contract with KIIS FM and Australian Radio Network worth over $30 million Jackie admitted she doesn't know and doesn't want to know what deal Kyle has negotiated, and the shock jock refused to comment on the new contract. The publication reports the pair are set to earn $2.2 million a year, which could rise to $3.6 million a year thanks to ratings-based bonus incentives. This means, each of them could earn around $16 million each over five years, taking the total value of their new contract over the $30 million mark. This dwarfs in comparison Hamish & Andy's drive-time radio deal, which was thought to be the biggest at the time. The comedic duo inked a deal with Austereo in 2014 for $4 million each over the 2-year contract, which finishes up in December. Of the new contract, Jackie said in a statement: 'KIIS feels like home for us', adding: 'Kyle and I both love what we do, giving our audience access to the worlds biggest celebrities and hottest entertainment news and gossip, and I am really looking forward to delivering even more of this over the next few years'. Kyle echoed those sentiments in the statement, saying: 'There was never a doubt in my mind KIIS was our home for the long haul, because I made it! It's my baby. 'Jackie and I are still doing what we love and doing it better than ever,' he added. The Kyle & Jackie O duo are credited with turning around KIIS FM when they moved across from 2DAY FM in 2014. 'It's what I feel like I'm worth': Jackie has said she is happy with her new contract, which reportedly pays $2.2 million a year with ratings-based bonuses meaning she could earn $16 million over five years Separate negotiations: The publication reports the long-time duo negotiated their contracts separately for the first time since their breakfast show started in 2005, with Jackie admitting she has no idea what Kyle deal is on Pulling out all stops: The five-time winners of the Best On-Air Team Commercial Radio Award are miles ahead of their competitors in the all important ratings Also, the five-time winners of the Best On-Air Team Commercial Radio Award are miles ahead of their competitors in the all important ratings. While there were rumours earlier this year the pair were being lured back by Austereo to return to 2DAY FM, called Operation Get Kyle Back, which Austereo representatives denied to Daily Mail Australia. 'SCA is strongly committed to its new breakfast show on 2DayFM and we look forward to many great years ahead with Rove & Sam,' a spokesperson said in January. Staying put: The new deal means the popular breakfast radio duo will stay put at the station, despite reports earlier this year, their former station 2DAY FM was trying to lure them back Being replaced? Reports persist Rove McManus and Sam Frost are set to be replaced in the new year as they struggle to lift their ratings 'They are a perfect fit for our positive culture and team environment. SCA is not in discussions with Kyle and Jackie O to return to 2DayFM, or any other station in the Hit Network.' At the time, Kyle's business manager Andrew Hawkins, said the pair are happy where they are and do not have any plans to switch stations. And a spokesperson from KIIS FM told Daily Mail Australia: 'While we can't comment on specific contracts, we've had a great partnership with Kyle & Jackie O, from launching the new KIIS 1065 station in Sydney in 2014, to ratings success and building one of the most highly engaged audiences in broadcast media. First year: The pair took to the airwaves together in November 2015, soon after Sam finished up on The Bachelorette, with the duo replacing The Dan & Maz Show but have failed to greatly lift rating since taking over 'They have an incredible show with an extraordinarily loyal fan base and we see them as an integral part of the entire KIIS network. ' Meanwhile, with ratings remaining low for Rove & Sam's radio show, the newspaper reports the network are looking for replacements for the embattled show in the new year. Rove McManus and Sam Frost took to the airwaves last November in a new breakfast radio show, straight after Sam came off The Bachelorette, which made her a household name. The pair took over from The Dan & Maz Show but failed to greatly lift rating since taking over the airwaves. US urges UN to back African force for South Sudan The United States urged the UN Security Council to back a regional force for South Sudan to shore up UN peacekeepers unable to cope with the violence. The council adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the UN mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, until August 12 to allow time to negotiate another measure authorizing the new force. The proposed resolution is also expected to slap an arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions on those seen as responsible for the violence. Makeshift graves at the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS)camp for internally displaced persons in the Jebel area in Juba Charles Atiki Lomodong (AFP/File) US Ambassador Samantha Power said the proposal by the African regional IGAD bloc to send an intervention brigade to Juba should be supported by the council. "We all need to support them," said Power. "The United States believes the region's proposal offers a basis to re-establish a secure environment in Juba, which is critical for the parties to make progress on implementing the peace agreement" and allowing aid deliveries, she said. Juba was rocked by several days of heavy fighting in early July between government forces and those loyal to rebel chief Riek Machar, the latest upsurge in the two and half year war. Nearly 300 people died in the violence and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed in an attack on a UN base, where thousands of civilians rushed for safety. Since the flare-up, there have been at least 120 cases of rape. UN peacekeepers are accused of standing by and doing nothing to help victims who were assaulted near the UN base's gates. "UNMISS as it is currently configured has proven unable and in some cases unwilling in preventing horrors like this," said Power. The US envoy said she had received "very disturbing reports of significant violence" in the Equatorias region. African leaders are expected to meet with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir in the coming days to discuss the regional force, diplomats said. UNMISS has 13,500 troops and police deployed across South Sudan under a mandate that calls for the protection of civilians. With new US factory, Daimler skirts tariffs...and unions German automaker Daimler AG broke ground this week on a $500 million plant in Charleston, South Carolina to build vans, with the company hoping at last to avoid steep US import tariffs. When the factory comes online by the end of the decade, it may also help the company pay lower wages and circumvent labor unions. Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans at Daimler, said the key reasons for putting the plant in Charleston were the city's excellent port operations and logistics and because Daimler already operates a factory next door. Daimler AG's new plant in Charleston, South Carolina will help the company avoid steep US import tariffs, and may also help it pay lower wages and circumvent labor unions Bernd von Jutrczenka (DPA/AFP/File) Avoiding the 25 percent tariff that the United States puts on imports of commercial vehicles was also crucial. "We won't have to pay the tariff," he said, adding that the Mercedes-brand Sprinter vans were currently built in Dusseldorf, Germany and then shipped to the United States where they are re-assembled. "It's a logistical nightmare," Mornhinweg said. South Carolina wages are markedly lower than those in Germany and the governor, Republican Nikki Haley, opposes organized labor. "We discourage any companies that have unions from wanting to come to South Carolina because we don't want to taint the water," she told The Greenville News, a local newspaper. Assembly line workers get $18 an hour in South Carolina, according to Labor Department figures. Hourly wages for German autoworkers are closer to $37 an hour. Frank Klein, director of operations at Mercedes-Benz Vans, said the company's practice was to pay a "competitive" wage wherever it builds a plant. - European style - According to Mornhinweg, the new Charleston plant should be operational around 2020, following the introduction of the next Sprinter model, with some versions capable of running on electricity or featuring driverless navigation. The new Sprinter will also fall under Daimler's Freightliner brand, part of its truck operations. Daimler representatives touted their success in the US commercial van market, which represents nearly a half-million newly registered units per year and had traditionally been dominated by General Motors, Ford Motor Company and what is now known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The arrival of the Sprinter on the US market helped popularize the European style of van, spurring American makers to market their own similar, taller versions, suitable for different trades and cargos. The van can also be outfitted as an ambulance, according to Bernhard Glaser, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans USA. Mathias Geisen, head of marketing for Mercedes vans in the United States, said the Ford Transit van had quickly captured 50 percent to 60 percent of the market while Mercedes held 8 percent to 9 percent based on current sales. The courier service FedEx now uses the Sprinter, he noted. Geisen said Ford enjoyed a robust, nationwide network of dealerships, while the Ram ProMaster was built in Mexico and therefore not subject to US trade barriers. The Charleston plant will help even the playing field for Daimler, Geisen said. Daimler is not the only automaker to set up operations in the southern United States, where organized labor has struggled to make inroads. Volkswagen, Nissan and Honda also maintain auto plants which the United Automobile Workers has yet to bring into its fold. According to Glaser, Mercedes-Benz vans have risen in US sales for five straight years. One of the Sprinter's selling points will be its easy customization to meet each customer's needs. UNICEF resumes aid to NE Nigeria after convoy attack UNICEF will continue to provide assistance to millions of conflict-affected children in northeast Nigeria, despite an attack on its convoy by Boko Haram Islamists, the UN children's agency has said. The jihadists ambushed a humanitarian convoy that included workers from UNICEF, UNFPA, and IOM while returning from Bama in northeast Borno state on Thursday, injuring several people, including two soldiers, and prompting UNICEF to temporarily suspend relief assistance to review the situation. "We are working at full strength in the Borno state capital Maiduguri," UNICEF Nigeria Representative Jean Gough said in a statement late Friday. UNICEF estimates that 244,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year in Nigeria's Borno state alone Stefan Heunis (AFP/File) "We continue to call for increased efforts to reach people in desperate need across the state. We cannot let this heartless attack divert any of us from reaching the more than two million people who are in dire need of immediate humanitarian assistance." The agency urged donors and humanitarian organisations to scale-up the response to the emerging disaster in Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency. "The violence has disrupted farming and markets, destroyed food stocks, and damaged or destroyed health and water facilities. We absolutely have to reach more of these communities," he said. UNICEF estimates that 244,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year in Borno state alone. And if they are not reached with treatment, one in five of them will die. The agency has provided two million people with health services and treated 56,000 children for malnutrition in the three conflict-affected states of northeast Nigeria. Thursday's attack was the first such attack on aid workers in the volatile region. Nigerian military said the attack left two soldiers and three civilians injured, including UN aid workers. Some cities in the northeast, including Bama, had gone for up to 18 months without any humanitarian deliveries before aid agencies and the UN arrived in June. Many areas can only be accessed under escort from the Nigerian army. In May, the UN said 9.2 million people living around Lake Chad, which forms the border of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, were in desperate need of food. Seven million of them are in Nigeria. Two soldiers and two suspected rebels were killed overnight in a gunbattle in Indian-administered Kashmir near the disputed territory's de facto border with Pakistan, the Indian army said Saturday. Colonel N. N. Joshi said that the firefight occurred in Naugam sector, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest of the main city of Srinagar, after soldiers intercepted the militants attempting to infiltrate the territory from Pakistan. "Two terrorists were killed and two soldiers attained martyrdom. One soldier was injured," Joshi told AFP. More than 50 people have been killed and thousands injured in weeks of unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparked by the death on July 8 of popular rebel commander Burhan Wani in a firefight with government forces Tauseef Mustafa (AFP) More than 50 people have been killed and thousands injured in weeks of unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparked by the death on July 8 of popular rebel commander Burhan Wani in a firefight with government forces. Nearly 100 protesters and police were injured in clashes Friday as authorities sought to block a rally called by separatist groups opposed to Indian rule, officials said. A curfew continued to be in force across large parts of the territory for the 22nd consecutive day Saturday. Schools and businesses remained shut and internet services suspended, although mobile networks have been partially restored. Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since the two won independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in its entirety. Several rebel groups, including Wani's Hizbul Mujahideen, have been fighting for decades an estimated 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the restive territory, demanding independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands, most civilians, have died in the fighting since 1989 when the armed rebellion against Indian rule of the Himalayan territory began. India regularly accuses Pakistan of arming and sending rebels across the de facto border known as Line of Control, to launch attacks on its forces. US agencies subpoena Goldman Sachs in 1MDB Malaysia probe US regulators have issued subpoenas to Goldman Sachs for documents related to the investment giant's dealings with the 1MDB Malaysian state investment fund, a source close to the probe told AFP on Friday. Subpoenas were issued a few months ago by investigators from the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The investigators also want to interview a Goldman Sachs employee over the bank's role, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the story. Goldman Sachs has rejected any charges linking them to corruption Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File) The US officials, who base their authority on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, want to know why Goldman Sachs did not report transactions deemed suspicious that involve funds raised by bond offerings worth $6.5 billion (5.8 billion euros) for 1MDB, the source said. Goldman Sachs arranged for the bond sale, and has collected some $590 million in commissions for its work. The investment bank is collaborating with US regulators, the source said, and is also providing information to regulators in Singapore, which is also carrying out a probe, The Journal reported. When contacted by AFP, Goldman Sachs had no comment. US regulators want to see if Goldman Sachs followed US banking laws that requires banks and financial institutions to report suspicious transactions. Goldman has rejected any charges linking them to corruption. Malaysia has been gripped for more than a year by allegations that billions of dollars were looted from state investment fund 1MDB in an audacious campaign of fraud and money laundering. On July 20, the US Justice Department filed suit to recover more than $1 billion in assets it says were illegally purchased using 1MDB funds. Later Singapore said it had seized nearly $180 million linked to the scandal-tainted fund. "The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on announcing the legal action. Lynch said the funds taken from 1Malaysia Development Berhad had been meant to help develop the Malaysian economy. "Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates," she said. 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, is a state investment fund launched and overseen by embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 shortly after assuming office. A Pakistani man shot dead his own sisters the day before their weddings because they chose their own husbands. Nazir Hussaid, 35, from the central Punjab province, shot Kosar and Gulzar Bibi, 22 and 28, in the horrific double honour killing, and is now on the run. The two women were preparing to marry men they had chosen themselves, senior police officer Mehar Riaz said today. Hussaid objected to the love matches and had wanted the women to marry someone within the extended family. Scroll down for video Pakistani human rights activists protest in Islamabad against so-called 'honour' killings (Credit: AFP) 'The brother shot dead both the sisters yesterday and fled the site,' the officer said, adding that a search was underway. 'It is a simple case of killing for honour,' he said. Father of the family Atta Mohammad told local reporters that Hussain had 'destroyed everything'. 'He ruined my family, he destroyed us, he destroyed everything' Mohammad said. The double murder comes days after social media starlet Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death by her brother who said he was 'not embarrassed' to have killed her, reigniting calls for action against the crime. Nazir Hussaid, 35, from the central Punjab province (file photo), shot Kosar and Gulzar Bibi, 22 and 28, in the horrific double honour killing, and is now on the run Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in the conservative Muslim nation each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour. Pakistan's law minister this month announced that bills aimed at tackling 'honour killings' and boosting rape convictions would soon be voted on by parliament, after mounting pressure to tackle a pattern of crime that claims around 1,000 lives a year. Pro-independence activist banned from Hong Kong elections A leading pro-independence politician was Saturday disqualified from standing in Hong Kong's upcoming legislative election, his party said. Andy Chan, who founded the Hong Kong National Party in March, was banned by the city's government from taking part in the September poll. But the party, which claims there is growing support for the semi-autonomous city to break away from mainland China, said it was "honoured" to be the first to have a candidate disqualified. Andy Chan set up the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP) in March 2016 but he has been banned by the city's government from taking part in the September legislative election Isaac Lawrence (AFP/File) "The National Party on July 30 received an email from the government saying they have officially disqualified the party's convenor Andy Chan," a statement said Saturday. "Even if they stop the party from taking part in the election, they cannot stop the inevitable process of Hong Kong becoming independent." Chan was one of at least 13 pro-democracy candidates who refused to sign a form saying the city is an "inalienable" part of China. Critics slammed the new stipulation as political censorship and an attempt to deter candidates from advocating self-determination or independence from Beijing, and campaigners have challenged the move in court. Beijing and Hong Kong officials have repeatedly said that advocating independence goes against the city's mini constitution, known as the Basic Law, and that independence activists could face legal consequences. "(The) independence of Hong Kong is inconsistent with the constitutional and legal status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)," a Hong Kong government statement said Saturday. "If a person advocates or promotes the independence of the HKSAR, he cannot possibly uphold the Basic Law or fulfil his duties as a legislator," it said. Some young campaigners are calling for more distance or even a complete breakaway from the mainland as fears grow that freedoms in the semi-autonomous city are disappearing as Beijing's clout grows. Some activists say they are not afraid to use violence to achieve their goal. Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in 1997 under an arrangement that guarantees civil liberties unseen on the mainland. Philippines' Duterte withdraws communist ceasefire Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday withdrew a unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels after his ultimatum for the group to reciprocate lapsed. Duterte had announced the truce on Monday to help end one of Asia's longest insurgencies which claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1960s. But the ceasefire was short-lived after communist rebels in the southern province of Davao del Norte killed Wednesday one government militia member and wounded four others. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had announced a truce with rebels during his first State of the Nation Address in Manila Ted Aljibe (AFP/File) Duterte on Friday gave the communists an ultimatum to explain the incident and to reciprocate the government ceasefire by Saturday afternoon but the deadline passed without a truce declaration from the rebels. "I am hereby ordering the immediate lifting of the ceasefire," Duterte said. "I am ordering all security forces to be on high alert and continue to discharge their normal functions to neutralise all threats to national security." Duterte, who assumed office on June 30 after a landslide election win, has said it was his "dream" to forge peace with communist rebels but asked them to show "good faith". Exiled rebel leader Jose Maria Sison, Duterte's university professor, said the communists were set to declare a ceasefire Saturday evening but the president had already called off the truce before an announcement could be made. "Volatility, lack of prudence in something as sensitive and delicate as peace negotiations between two armed fighting sides, it's hard to agree with people who are quick to judgment," Sison told ABS-CBN television. "The revolutionary movement is treated as if it's a servant of the new boss. That cannot be." A regional spokesman for the communists' armed wing, the New People's Army, also said Saturday that the government ceasefire in the southern region of Mindanao was "spurious" because security forces were still conducting combat operations. The New People's Army is believed to have fewer than 4,000 gunmen, down from a peak of 26,000 in the 1980s, according to the military. But it retains support among the deeply poor in rural areas, and its forces regularly kill police or troops while extorting money from local businesses. Despite the withdrawal of the ceasefire, both sides said they were still keen on pushing through with the resumption of peace talks set on August 20. Sison said the communists were willing to address "any miscommunication" and "improve the situation". Saudis offer UN information about attacks on Yemen civilians The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has offered to share with the United Nations the results of 10 investigations into air strikes on civilian targets, according to a confidential letter AFP obtained on Saturday. Saudi Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi outlined a series of measures the coalition is taking to prevent attacks on civilians in Yemen in the 13-page letter sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday. The coalition will share the results of the investigations with the United Nations during a meeting they have proposed be held in Riyadh, he said. Saudi F-15 warplanes have been involved in recent bombing raids over Yemen Fayez Nureldine (AFP/File) The offer of information about strikes on hospitals, homes, a wedding party and markets comes in response to UN demands that the coalition stop targeting civilians. "The coalition takes any allegations of violations of civilians and children's rights very seriously," the ambassador said. "The coalition is unequivocally committed to the protection of civilians and fully respects its obligations under international law," he added. Ban is to report to the Security Council on Tuesday about whether the proposed measures will be sufficient to allow the coalition to remain off a UN blacklist of child rights violators. Saudi Arabia reacted angrily to a decision in June to blacklist the coalition after a UN report found the military alliance was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 children's deaths in Yemen last year. The secretary-general has accused the Saudis of threatening to cut off funding to UN aid programs over the blacklist. Riyadh denies the accusations. - Hospitals, aid trucks attacked - Seven cases of alleged targeting of civilians were nearing completion, including three attacks on residences last year, the bombing of a wedding party in September and air strikes on a convoy of four World Food Program trucks in November, the ambassador said in the letter. A 13-member investigative team is also probing an attack on a hospital in Saada province in October and on a mobile clinic in Taez region in December. Three new cases involving two attacks on markets in February and March and on a hospital in January have been opened this year. The results "will be shared with the United Nations as soon as the review and investigative process is completed," Mouallimi said. Aside from the investigations, the coalition has set up a reparations committee to consider compensation for the victims. It is in "direct dialogue" with humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), "in order to guarantee protection and security of hospitals and medical infrastructures," the letter said. The ambassador provided details of steps taken to designate targets and ensure they have "identifiable military purposes." They include drawing up a list of prohibited targets such as schools and diplomatic missions and working with "local forces to identify and vet targets for airstrikes." "International partners have participated in intelligence sharing and provided targeting assistance, advisory and logistical support to the coalition," Mouallimi said without providing details. The coalition launched an air campaign in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in March 2015 to push back Huthi rebels after they seized the capital Sanaa and many other parts of the country. The war has killed some 6,400 people and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country, the United Nations says. Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni president stand guard on a road at the entrance to Abyan province as they take part in an operation to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of the southern provincial capital, on April 23, 2016 Saleh Al-Obeidi (AFP/File) Yemen peace talks extended for a week: Kuwait UN-brokered Yemen peace talks have been extended for one week, host Kuwait said, after seven Saudi troops were killed in border clashes with Iran-backed Yemeni rebels. The Saudis died after Shiite Huthi rebels backed by soldiers loyal to the former president tried to infiltrate the southern Najran area of the kingdom, said the Riyadh-led coalition fighting in Yemen. "An officer and six soldiers of the Saudi armed forces fell martyrs," it said in a statement carried by state media, claiming dozens of rebels were killed. UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (C), attends peace talks with delegations in Kuwait City on July 17, 2016 - (Kuwaiti Ministry of Information/AFP/File) Southern Saudi Arabia has come under sporadic attack since March 2015, when Riyadh took the lead in an Arab military coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels who control northern Yemen. Hours after the clashes, Kuwait's foreign ministry announced peace talks would be extended until August 7 in a statement cited by the official KUNA news agency. Otherwise, they would have ended without result on Saturday after Yemen's government pulled out over an attempted coup by rebel forces. United Nations envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held talks with both delegations on Saturday and proposed a framework for a comprehensive settlement. "I met today with both delegations (and) suggested a one-week extension to the talks," Ould Cheikh Ahmed wrote on Twitter. He said he also proposed a "framework for a solution to the crisis in Yemen", without elaborating. Sources from the two delegations told AFP the proposed settlement is based on the withdrawal of rebels from territory they occupied in 2014, the handover of weapons and a return of state institutions. - 'New coup' - Yemen's government delegation had said it was planning on leaving Kuwait later Saturday after the rebels and their allies announced the creation of a council to run the country. "There can be no more talks after the new coup," delegation spokesman Mohammad al-Emrani told AFP. The Huthi rebels and the General People's Congress of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday jointly announced setting up a 10-member "supreme political council". Its job will be to "manage state affairs politically, militarily, economically, administratively, socially and in security", a statement said. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the ambassadors of 18 other nations backing peace in Yemen condemned the council, and called for a resumption of peace talks. Indirect negotiations in Kuwait have failed to make headway since April. Most of the discussions have focused on the type of transition government to run Yemen. More than 6,400 people have been killed in the Arabian Peninsula state since the Saudi-led coalition intervened last year in support of the government of Yemen President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Another 2.8 million people have been displaced and more than 80 percent of the population urgently needs humanitarian aid, according to UN figures. A police officer was killed on Saturday when a bomb blew up his car in Yemen's second city Aden, a security official said. Punish ruling ANC, says opposition ahead of South Africa poll South Africa's main opposition party called on voters Saturday to "punish" the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in a final push for support ahead of fiercely competitive municipal polls. Democratic Alliance (DA) chief 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. "In a democracy, you don't need to be loyal to one party forever; if that party betrays you, you get the chance to punish them," Maimane said at the party's final election rally. South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane, of the Democratic Alliance, speaks at a rally at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, on July 30, 2016 Gianluigi Guercia (AFP) "Just because you voted for the ANC in the past doesn't mean you must vote ANC forever." Some 20,000 supporters clad in the DA's sky-blue T-shirts filled the benches of Dobsonville Stadium in Maimane's hometown of Soweto, the iconic Johannesburg township that set the scene for much of the struggle against white-minority apartheid rule. The DA has slammed the ANC's record, citing the country's poor economic performance and a series of corruption scandals plaguing President Jacob Zuma. "People of this country have been betrayed by this government," Maimane told supporters. "You vote for jobs and services, but get unemployment and corruption." The DA rules in the Western Cape province, currently holding the strategic metropolis of Cape Town. The latest Ipsos opinion polls suggest that the ANC, which has ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994, could be under threat in three more major cities -- Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth -- at the election. "The ANCs had their chance -- they had twenty years," supporter Geoff Finn told AFP. "People dont have jobs, services arent being delivered, and its opportunity for change." Lucky Dinake, a 22-year-old candidate for the opposition, said the DA was a "forward-looking party". "We get so caught up in our past in this country, and I found a political home that looked to the future," he told AFP. 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. Trump to slain soldier's dad: 'I've made sacrifices' Donald Trump hit back Saturday at accusations from the father of a slain Muslim soldier that the billionaire has "sacrificed nothing" for his country, saying he had employed thousands of people. Khizr Khan -- whose son died in Iraq -- accused the Republican presidential nominee of vilifying American Muslims in a steely rebuke that electrified the Democratic convention on Thursday. "Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America," Khan said to Trump. Khizr Khan addresses delegates on the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center on July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Saul Loeb (AFP/File) "You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one." Trump brushed off Khan's words in an interview with ABC News, insisting he had made "a lot of sacrifices." "I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot." The brash billionaire has alienated many Americans with insults against immigrants, Muslims and women during his nomination campaign. Among his more controversial policy positions has been his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States and suggestions he would back profiling them. Trump also questioned whether his rival, Hillary Clinton, had been behind Khan's address, which the father said he wrote with his wife Ghazala. "Who wrote that? Did Hillary's script writers write it?" Trump said in the interview, which is set to air in full on Sunday. "If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say," Trump said, adding: "maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say." - 'A dark heart' - Reacting to Trump's comments, Ghazala Kahn told ABC News that she chose not to speak at the DNC because of her overwhelming grief. "Sacrifice -- I don't think he knows the meaning of sacrifice, the meaning of the word," the late army captain's mother said. "Because when I was standing there, all America felt my pain. Without saying a single word. Everybody felt that pain." Her husband said he had invited her to speak, but she declined knowing that she'd become too emotional. Khizr Khan said that running for president does not entitle Trump "to disrespect" the relatives of soldiers killed in combat. "Shame on him! Shame on his family!" he said angrily. "He is not worthy of our comments. He has no decency. He is void of decency, he has a dark heart." In a statement late on Saturday, Trump praised Captain Khan as "a hero to our country and we should honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe." However Trump rejected the claim that he had never read the US constitution. "While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things," Trump said. Trump also released what he said was the transcript of the ABC interview. Clinton in turn defended the Khans as "the best of America". "I was very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son on Thursday night," Clinton said in a statement. Palestinians urge timeframe for Mideast peace talks Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Saturday said any reboot of peace talks with Israel should happen within a clear timeframe and under international supervision, after meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris. Abbas also held talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on the prospects of achieving a two-state solution, senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat said, describing both discussions as "very constructive". "We need a timeline for the negotiations, we need a timeline for the implementation, and we need an international framework that will ensure the implementation of any agreement reached," Erakat told reporters. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas (R) meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris on July 30, 2016 Thaer Ghanaim (PPO/AFP) France has been leading a fresh initiative to revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, after the last round of negotiations collapsed in 2014. But while Palestinians have welcomed the French push, Israel has said it favours direct negotiations. Abbas "reiterated our full support to the French initiative that aims to convene an international conference before the end of the year," Erakat said. The Palestinian negotiator added that there was "no contradiction" between the French, US and more recently Egyptian efforts to break the deadlock and move the peace talks forward. "All these efforts aim to revive the peace process, to achieve the two-state solution (based) on the 1967 lines. They are complementary," he said. The diplomatic initiatives showed that the "status quo can't be sustained", he added, reiterating the need for Israel to "stop all settlement activities" in order to give "credibility to any peace process". The Middle East diplomatic quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- urged Israel to stop building settlements and Palestinians to cease incitement to violence in a July report that drew a frosty response from both sides. While in Paris, Kerry also held talks with his French counterpart on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tunisian PM Habib Essid loses confidence vote Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid lost a confidence vote in parliament Saturday, in a move that risks plunging the country into fresh political uncertainty. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of dismissing Essid, whose government has been criticised for failing to tackle the country's economic crisis, high unemployment and a series of jihadist attacks since coming to power 18 months ago. Out of Tunisia's 217 MPs, 191 were present for the vote. A total of 118 voted to unseat Essid, three voted for him to stay at the helm of the North African nation and 27 abstained. Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid delivers a speech at the Tunisian Parliament on July 30, 2016 in the capital Tunis Fethi Belaid (AFP) The 67-year-old premier had been under growing pressure since President Beji Caid Essebsi appeared on local television in June to criticise the administration and propose creating a new government of national unity. Essebsi is now required to launch consultations within 10 days to choose the "most suitable person" to form a new government, though no clear frontrunner has emerged so far. The no-confidence outcome was widely expected after the four parties that make up Essid's coalition said they would vote to oust him. Speaking before the vote, MPs praised Essid for his "integrity" but also criticised his record. Abdelaziz Kotti, of Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes party, spoke of "a big economic crisis... and a government incapable of finding solutions and giving Tunisians hope." Former prime minister Ali Lareyedh, of the Islamist Ennahda party, said the government had been "too weak". "It is time for a change," he said. Essid had already been forced into a broad reshuffle in January, when the country witnessed some of its worst social unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. His backers have condemned "pressure" from supporters of Hafedh Caid Essebsi, the president's son who is among the leaders of the Nidaa Tounes party. Essid defended his record on Saturday, accusing his detractors of "pretending to forget" progress his government had made in fighting terrorism. "This government was built to last... because the situation in our country required continuity," he said ahead of the vote. He was applauded a number of times during his speech. Several lawmakers from the left-wing opposition Popular Front party announced that they would not take part in the no-confidence vote, dismissing the procedure as "purely perfunctory". - Not the end - Essid's ouster comes at a sensitive time for the nation, and Tunisian media doubted that it would solve the country's problems. "Will the departure of Habib Essid and his team resolve the enormous difficulties facing the country? It would be naive to think that the rescue of the country depends on a government of national unity," wrote Le Quotidien. "The biggest fear today is a political void," said La Presse. Tunisia, whose 2011 uprising inspired similar revolts across other Arab countries, has been touted as a regional example of a successful transition to democracy after a revolution. But successive governments have struggled to tackle a jihadist insurgency and to revive the flagging economy. Security forces frequently engage in deadly clashes with extremist groups in the mountainous west, and last year the Islamic State group (IS) claimed two high-profile attacks that killed 59 foreign tourists. The country has been in a state of emergency since November, when a suicide bombing, also claimed by IS, killed 12 presidential guards in Tunis. Economic growth slowed to 0.8 percent last year from 2.3 percent in 2014, and unemployment nationwide stood at 15 percent at the end of last year.kl-iba/mfp/rb Seven Saudi troops killed in Yemen border clashes: coalition A Saudi army officer and six soldiers were killed Saturday in clashes with Iran-backed Yemeni rebels who attempted to infiltrate the kingdom's borders, the Riyadh-led coalition said. Shiite Huthi rebels backed by renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to infiltrate the borders in the southern Najran area, the coalition fighting the rebels said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. "An officer and six soldiers of the Saudi armed forces fell martyrs," said the statement, adding that Saudi warplanes had repelled the attackers. Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni president stand guard on a road at the entrance to Abyan province as they take part in an operation to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of the southern provincial capital, on April 23, 2016 Saleh al-Obeidi (AFP/File) It claimed that dozens of the rebels were killed. On Monday, five Saudi border guards were killed in similar border clashes in the Najran area. Southern Saudi Arabia, especially border areas with Yemen, have come under sporadic attack since Riyadh took the lead in March 2015 in an Arab military coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels who control northern Yemen. Around 100 members of the Saudi forces and civilians have been killed in skirmishes, by artillery fire or landmines inside the kingdom's borders since the coalition launched its campaign. More than 6,400 Yemenis, most of them civilians, have been killed since last March, and the fighting has driven 2.8 Yemenis from their homes. Kuwait has hosted Yemen peace talks since April but the negotiations have failed to make any progress. Small-plane crash in California killed 4 family members COLUMBIA, Calif. (AP) Four family members died in a small-plane crash at a Northern California airport earlier this week. Family and friends identified the pilot as Daniel Kruetzfeldt; his wife, Kristen Kruetzfeldt; his mother, Mary Chandler; and his stepfather, Claude Chandler, the Modesto Bee newspaper reported Friday (http://bit.ly/2aD4z21 ). The Kruetzfeldts leave behind three children. Daniel Kruetzfeldt, 43, was trying to land a 1958 Cessna 310B at a small airport Wednesday when it veered off the runway, into vegetation and caught fire. Witnesses said they saw the plane coming in, hitting wing first and making a sharp left into dry grass and rocks. Daniel Kruetzfeldt was a professional pilot who had worked for the corporate jet charter company NetJets for at least 20 years. The Kruetzfeldts had three children, ages 10, 12 and 18. Pictured is a helicopter near the small plane that crashed on Wednesday About 110 planes use the Columbia Airport in Tuolumne County, 130 miles east of San Francisco. There is no air traffic control at the airport. "What a loss it is to everybody to not have Claude and Mary anymore," friend Pamela Blair told Sacramento news station KOVR-TV. "They were quiet and caring people who were very involved in the community." Blair said the younger couple had three children, ages 10, 12 and 18. Friends and family say the Chandlers were active people who loved the outdoors. Mary and Claude Chandler were married nine years; it was a second marriage for both. Mary Chandler, 72, was known as an excellent wood carver who worked at the Tuolumne Historical Museum. Claude Chandler, 69, enjoyed backpacking and camping and was an expert fisherman. The Chandlers raised sheep and llamas, and sometimes they brought along the animals on backpacking trips to carry their equipment, Mary's brother Tom Parrington said. Parrington said he did not know where the family had gone Wednesday but that Daniel Kruetzfeldt was a professional pilot who had worked for the corporate jet charter company Net Jets for at least 20 years. "We were a small family, and this wiped out about a third (of it)," Parrington said. Flight instructor Chris Miller told The Union Democrat newspaper that the crash was the deadliest he recalled at an airport that has its "idiosyncrasies" but is not any more difficult to land at than other airports. The victims were from Sonora, California. Authorities have not officially identified the bodies. ___ Information from: The Modesto Bee, http://www.modbee.com Army report: Grenade found in room of Dallas gunman in 2014 DALLAS (AP) The Army reservist who killed five Dallas police officers had kept an unauthorized grenade in his room on an Afghanistan base in 2014, according to a report by Army officials investigating a sexual harassment complaint against him. The report released Friday includes new details about an incident that left Micah Johnson stripped of his weapons and removed from his base in disgrace in May 2014. His military career ended soon afterward. His parents have said he was never the same. The 25-year-old Dallas man was killed July 8 after targeting police during a rally protesting recent police shootings. Carrying an assault rifle, Johnson took multiple positions as he attacked police and threatened to kill more before a bomb-carrying robot was deployed to kill him, authorities have said. Johnson, a black man, told authorities during the attack that he wanted to gun down white officers, police have said. The Mississippi-born Johnson was in ROTC in high school and would join the Army Reserve. But his military career ended soon after a female soldier reported four pairs of panties missing while the two were at Camp Shank, a base in eastern Afghanistan known as "Rocket City" because the Taliban targeted it many times. Soldiers found the missing underwear in a dumpster where Johnson had apparently thrown them after getting caught with them in his room. Later on, a few other soldiers were packing up Johnson's possessions and found the MK-19 grenade in his room, as well as a .50-caliber round and prescription medicine belonging to someone else, the report said. The Army has blacked out the recommendations of the investigating officer who wrote the report. Soldiers are not allowed to have grenades in their barracks, according to several military experts. Johnson's superiors could have recommended punishment for stealing government property or mishandling ammunition, said Geoffrey Corn, a former military judge who teaches at the South Texas College of Law. But they may have chosen to pursue the sexual harassment case since it was so strong, he said. The presence of the grenade also alarmed Patrick McLain, a Dallas defense lawyer and former military judge who was not involved in Johnson's case. "If indeed he really had panties that belonged to her without her permission, that kind of pales in comparison to having an explosive device or to having someone else's medication. That's serious," McLain said. Retired Sgt. Gilbert Fischbach, who was Johnson's squad leader before he deployed and has been highly critical of the military's handling of the case, said the grenade finding "should have been a red flag." Fischbach said the military dropped both the protective order sought by the woman in her sexual harassment complaint and her request that he be psychologically evaluated. The report the Army released on Friday, redacted to black out the names of all involved but Johnson, is only a small piece of the story, said Fischbach. "There will be more documents coming out," said Fischbach. "I told you it was going to be a smokescreen." Johnson's parents and the woman who accused him of sexual harassment did not return messages Friday. The Army still has not said why Johnson was honorably discharged instead of a lesser discharge, as the lawyer representing Johnson in the sexual harassment case has said he previously expected. Nor have local or federal authorities detailed what led Johnson upon his return to the U.S. to plan the deadliest attack on American law enforcement since 9/11. Officials in Dallas won't even confirm if they are still examining Johnson's body. Records released Friday by the police in Mesquite, the Dallas suburb where Johnson lived with his mother, indicate he had previous disputes with a woman. One night in January 2011, Johnson walked into the Mesquite police department and appeared upset, according to a police report. Johnson told an officer that "he was lied to by a female friend" and "did not want to get into trouble." The report, first reported by The Dallas Morning News, doesn't elaborate on what he meant or name the friend. Police wrote that he had "displayed unstable mental faculties" but did not want to see a mental health professional or contact his mother. A friend eventually picked him up. The responding officer thought the incident should be documented because of Johnson's "erratic behavior." ___ Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Houston contributed to this report. 4 killed after small medical plane crashes in California CRANNELL, Calif. (AP) Four bodies were recovered from a medical transport plane that crashed early Friday in a densely forested mountain range in Northern California after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, authorities said. The Piper PA31 was carrying a flight nurse, a transport medic and a patient about 360 miles from Crescent City, near the Oregon border, to Oakland when the pilot declared an emergency around 1 a.m. The pilot planned to return to Crescent City but the plane vanished from radar 5 miles north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport on the far northern coast, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. An engine nose cone with a bent propellor blade and other wreckage from a medical transport plane that crashed are shown on a road east of Crannell, Calif., Friday, July 29, 2016. Authorities found the wreckage of a small medical transport plane with four people aboard and confirmed at least two deaths Friday after the pilot reported smoke filling the cockpit and a search started across a densely forested mountain range in Northern California. (Shaun Walker/The Times-Standard via AP) Rescue teams led by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department found the crash site hours later on land owned by a private timber company in the county about 280 miles north of San Francisco. The county's chief deputy coroner, Ernie Stewart, said his office received four victims but he declined to identify them until next of kin were notified. The plane was part of Cal-Ore Life Flight, which transports patients throughout Northern California and Oregon. Don Wharton, a spokesman for parent company REACH Air Medical Services, said nighttime flights are common. The National Transportation and Safety Board will investigate the crash. An engine nose cone with a bent propellor blade from a medical transport plane that crashed is shown on a road east of Crannell, Calif., Friday, July 29, 2016. Authorities found the wreckage of a small medical transport plane with four people aboard and confirmed at least two deaths Friday after the pilot reported smoke filling the cockpit and a search started across a densely forested mountain range in Northern California. (Shaun Walker/The Times-Standard via AP) Courts strike blows to GOP voter restrictions in 3 states CHICAGO (AP) Courts dealt setbacks on Friday to Republican efforts in three states to restrict voting, blocking a North Carolina law requiring photo identification, loosening a similar measure in Wisconsin and halting strict citizenship requirements in Kansas. The rulings came as the 2016 election moves into its final phase, with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton locked in a high-stakes presidential race and control of the U.S. Senate possibly hanging in the balance. North Carolina is one of about a dozen swing states in the presidential race, while Wisconsin has voted Democratic in recent presidential elections and Kansas has been solidly Republican. The decisions followed a similar blow earlier this month to what critics said was one of the nation's most restrictive voting laws in Texas. The New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Texas' voter ID law is discriminatory and must be weakened before the November election. File-This June 21, 2016, file photo shows North Carolina NAACP president, Rev. William Barber, center at podium gesturing during a news conference in Richmond, Va. A federal appeals court on Friday, July 29, 2016, blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state. Rev. Barber, said in an interview that the ruling was a powerful victory for civil rights and for democracy. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) On Friday, a three-judge panel of the Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked North Carolina's law that limited to six the number of acceptable photo IDs. The law also curtailed early voting and eliminated same-day registration. The court said the North Carolina provisions targeted African Americans with "almost surgical precision." Critics of photo ID requirements say they fall disproportionately on minority voters and the poor, who are less likely to have an ID such as a driver's license and tend to vote Democratic. Supporters say they photo IDs are needed to combat voter fraud. Election-law expert Richard Hasen of the University of California at Irvine said the Obama administration took on the North Carolina and Texas cases as a bulwark against voting restrictions. "If North Carolina and Texas could get away with these voting restrictions, it would have been a green light for other states to do so," he said. "I think this is a hugely important decision." In the Kansas ruling, a county judge said the state must count thousands of votes in local and state elections from people who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship when they registered. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a national leader in Republican voter restriction efforts, had pushed through a rule that would have set those votes aside, perhaps up to 50,000 by the November election. The Kansas ruling just four days before the state primary election means that about 17,000 voters will have their ballots counted in races for the state Legislature and other local contests. Kobach said the decision would allow people living in the U.S. illegally to vote, although voting rights advocates say there have been few cases of voter fraud in the past. In Wisconsin, a federal judge threw out a host of election laws, while allowing the state's voter ID law to remain in place with substantial limitations. U.S. District Judge James Peterson ordered the state to quickly issue credentials valid for voting to anyone trying to obtain a free photo ID but lacking underlying documents such as birth certificates. He struck down restrictions on absentee and early voting, saying they discriminated against blacks. He also struck down an increase in residency requirements from 10 to 28 days, a prohibition on using expired but otherwise qualifying student IDs to vote and a prohibition on distributing absentee ballots by fax or email. Marc Elias, an attorney whose law firm has challenged voting restrictions in several states including Wisconsin and North Carolina, said the recent rulings are steps toward correcting "voting restriction laws put in place by Republican legislators." There's been a concerted effort by Republicans nationwide since President Barack Obama was elected to peel back voting rights and laws improving access to the polls that had been in place since the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, he said. ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew and Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh, N.C., Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report. This March 15, 2016, file photo shows Eric Gandah walking past a NC Voter ID sign as he enters a precinct to cast his ballot in Greensboro, N.C. A federal appeals court on Friday, July, 29, 2016, blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state. (H. Scott Hoffmann/News & Record via AP, File) Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach listens and takes note as a judge declares in Shawnee County District Court that the state must count potentially thousands of votes from people who registered without providing documentation of their U.S. citizenship, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Topeka, Kan. Kobach had directed local election officials to count only their votes in federal races, not state and local ones. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Shawnee County, Kan., District Judge Larry Hendricks makes a comment during a hearing on requiring the state to count potentially thousands of votes in state and local elections from people who've registered without providing proof of their U.S. citizenship, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Topeka, Kan. Hendricks has ruled that the state is required to count all their votes (AP Photo/John Hanna) Courts derail voting limits pushed by GOP in 3 states CHICAGO (AP) Courts have dealt setbacks in three states to Republican efforts that critics contend restrict voting rights blocking a North Carolina law requiring photo identification, loosening a similar measure in Wisconsin and halting strict citizenship requirements in Kansas. The rulings Friday came as the 2016 election moves into its final phase, with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton locked in a high-stakes presidential race and control of the U.S. Senate possibly hanging in the balance. North Carolina is one of about a dozen swing states in the presidential race, while Wisconsin has voted Democratic in recent presidential elections and Kansas has been solidly Republican. The decisions followed a similar blow earlier this month to what critics said was one of the nation's most restrictive voting laws in Texas. The New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Texas' voter ID law is discriminatory and must be weakened before the November election. This March 15, 2016, file photo shows Eric Gandah walking past a NC Voter ID sign as he enters a precinct to cast his ballot in Greensboro, N.C. A federal appeals court on Friday, July, 29, 2016, blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state. (H. Scott Hoffmann/News & Record via AP, File) On Friday, a three-judge panel of the Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked North Carolina's law that limited to six the number of acceptable photo IDs. The law also curtailed early voting and eliminated same-day registration. The court said the North Carolina provisions targeted African Americans with "almost surgical precision." Critics of photo ID requirements say they fall disproportionately on minority voters and the poor, who are less likely to have an ID such as a driver's license and tend to vote Democratic. Supporters say they photo IDs are needed to combat voter fraud. Election-law expert Richard Hasen of the University of California at Irvine said the Obama administration took on the North Carolina and Texas cases as a bulwark against voting restrictions. "If North Carolina and Texas could get away with these voting restrictions, it would have been a green light for other states to do so," he said. "I think this is a hugely important decision." In the Kansas ruling, a county judge said the state must count thousands of votes in local and state elections from people who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship when they registered. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a national leader in Republican voter restriction efforts, had pushed through a rule that would have set those votes aside, perhaps up to 50,000 by the November election. The Kansas ruling just four days before the state primary election means that about 17,000 voters will have their ballots counted in races for the state Legislature and other local contests. Kobach said the decision would allow people living in the U.S. illegally to vote, although voting rights advocates say there have been few cases of voter fraud in the past. In Wisconsin, a federal judge threw out a host of election laws, while allowing the state's voter ID law to remain in place with substantial limitations. U.S. District Judge James Peterson ordered the state to quickly issue credentials valid for voting to anyone trying to obtain a free photo ID but lacking underlying documents such as birth certificates. He struck down restrictions on absentee and early voting, saying they discriminated against blacks. He also struck down an increase in residency requirements from 10 to 28 days, a prohibition on using expired but otherwise qualifying student IDs to vote and a prohibition on distributing absentee ballots by fax or email. Marc Elias, an attorney whose law firm has challenged voting restrictions in several states including Wisconsin and North Carolina, said the recent rulings are steps toward correcting "voting restriction laws put in place by Republican legislators." There's been a concerted effort by Republicans nationwide since President Barack Obama was elected to peel back voting rights and laws improving access to the polls that had been in place since the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, he said. ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew and Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh, North Carolina, Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach listens and takes note as a judge declares in Shawnee County District Court that the state must count potentially thousands of votes from people who registered without providing documentation of their U.S. citizenship, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Topeka, Kan. Kobach had directed local election officials to count only their votes in federal races, not state and local ones. (AP Photo/John Hanna) File-This June 21, 2016, file photo shows North Carolina NAACP president, Rev. William Barber, center at podium gesturing during a news conference in Richmond, Va. A federal appeals court on Friday, July 29, 2016, blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state. Rev. Barber, said in an interview that the ruling was a powerful victory for civil rights and for democracy. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) Shawnee County, Kan., District Judge Larry Hendricks makes a comment during a hearing on requiring the state to count potentially thousands of votes in state and local elections from people who've registered without providing proof of their U.S. citizenship, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Topeka, Kan. Hendricks has ruled that the state is required to count all their votes (AP Photo/John Hanna) Bill Clinton and Tim Kaine: Trump lacks empathy for Khans JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) Hillary Clinton's top surrogates are taking aim at rival Donald Trump for criticizing the bereaved mother of a Muslim U.S. Army captain, a comment that sparked outrage across the political spectrum on Saturday. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine expressed shock that the GOP nominee would attack Ghazala Khan for not speaking during her husband's address to the Democratic convention. "He was kind of trying to turn that into some kind of ridicule," Kaine said after a campaign event in Pittsburgh. "It just demonstrates again kind of a temperamental unfitness. If you don't have any more sense of empathy than that, then I'm not sure you can learn it." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets members of the audience after speaking at a rally at K'NEX, a toy company in Hatfield, Pa., Friday, July 29, 2016. Clinton and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. begin a three day bus tour through the rust belt. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Former President Bill Clinton, who joined his wife and Kaine at the event, agreed: "I cannot conceive how you can say that about a Gold Star mother." Lawyer Khizr Khan gave a moving tribute to their son, Humayun, who received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. During the speech, Khan's wife, Ghazala, stood silently by his side, wearing a headscarf. "If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me," Trump said, in an interview with ABC's "This Week." Ghazala Khan has said she didn't speak because she's still overwhelmed by her grief and can't even look at photos of her son without crying. Trump also disputed Khan's criticism that the billionaire businessman has "sacrificed nothing and no one" for his country. "I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures," Trump said. He added: "Sure those are sacrifices." Late Saturday night, Trump released a statement calling Humayun Khan "a hero," disputing Khizr Khan's characterization and attacking Clinton as unqualified to serve as commander in chief. "While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan, who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things," Trump said. "If I become president, I will make America safe again." Trump's comments sparked immediate outrage on social media, including from Republicans, who criticized Trump both for attacking a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim. Hillary Clinton told voters gathered in a Youngstown gymnasium late Saturday: "Donald Trump is not a normal presidential candidate. Somebody who attacks everybody has something missing." "He attacked the distinguished father of a soldier who sacrificed himself for his unit, Captain Khan," she said. "I think it is fair to say he is temperamentally unfit and unqualified." Trump's comments about Khan came a day after he criticized retired four-star Gen. John Allen and slammed a Colorado Springs, Colorado, fire marshal for capping attendance at the event. The fire marshal, Brett Lacey, was recently honored by the city as "Civilian of the Year" for his role in helping the wounded at a 2015 mass shooting at a local Planned Parenthood. "Our commander in chief shouldn't insult and deride our generals, retired or otherwise," Clinton told a crowd gathered Saturday on a factory floor in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. "That should really go without saying." Trump also accused Clinton via Twitter of "trying to rig" the fall presidential debates by scheduling two of the three debates on the same night as NFL games. The schedule was set last September by a nonpartisan commission, which said the campaigns were not consulted about dates. Trump also said the NFL complained to him about the debate schedule in a letter, but the league said it sent no such letter. On Saturday, Clinton campaigned in Pennsylvania and Ohio, using the days following her convention to try and win back some of the white working class voters that once made up a key piece of the Democratic Party's electoral coalition. Trump's anti-trade message has appealed to those voters, who feel frustrated with an economic recovery that's largely left them behind. While Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, attempted to sell their positive economic message, much of their strategy centers on undermining Trump, particularly the business record that makes up the core of his argument to voters. At a rally in Pittsburgh, she was introduced by Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, technology investor and television personality who recently endorsed her. "Leadership is not yelling and screaming and intimidating," said Cuban. ___ Lemire reported from Denver. ___ Follow Lisa Lerer and Jon Lemire at http://twitter.com/llerer and http://twitter.com/JonLemire Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds baby cousins Evelyn Kate Keane, 6 months old, and Kellen Campbell, 3 months old, following his speech Friday, July 29, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Stacie Scott/The Gazette via AP) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at K'NEX, a toy company in Hatfield, Pa., Friday, July 29, 2016. Clinton and Kaine begin a three day bus tour through the rust belt. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., center right, attend a factory tour with K'NEX President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Araten in Hatfield , Pa., Friday, July 29, 2016. Clinton and Kaine begin a three day bus tour through the rust belt. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Trump, Clinton spar for national security upper hand WASHINGTON (AP) In their struggle for the upper hand on national security, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are emphasizing strikingly different themes - he as the bold and cunningly unpredictable strongman who will eliminate terrorism; she as the calm, conventional commander in chief who will manage all manner of crises. Terrorism is Trump's national security touchstone, and the Islamic State group is his target. He promises to wipe it out, and quickly. Clinton accuses him of fearmongering and of denigrating the U.S. military as gutted and worn out. She presents herself as the anti-Trump. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walks off after speaking during a campaign rally at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) "America's strength doesn't come from lashing out," she said in accepting the Democratic nomination Thursday. "Strength relies on smarts, judgment, cool resolve, and the precise and strategic application of power." By implication, Trump is cast as bombastic, scattershot, impulsive and fanciful. National security has emerged as a key focus of the campaign more the candidates' temperaments than their plans Trump says he is best suited because he would be a dealmaker and deliberately unpredictable, thus making it more difficult for adversaries to counter his military or diplomatic moves. Clinton pitches her steadiness and depth of experience from eight years in the Senate and four years as President Barack Obama's secretary of state. Each has zeroed in on what many consider the most worrisome issues: terrorism and an assertive Russia. The next president, however, will face a wider range of problems, to include ending the war in Afghanistan, managing the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, coping with a rising China and ending a cycle of bloody instability in Iraq and Syria. There also are challenges in cyberwarfare, nuclear weapons and the modernization of the U.S. military. Trump calls his approach "America first," meaning alliances and coalitions would not pass muster with him unless they produced a net benefit to the U.S. He drew rebukes from much of the national security establishment when he suggested in a recent newspaper interview that as president he might not defend certain NATO member countries against outside attack if they were falling short of the alliance's defense spending targets. He also has been accused of being too easy on Vladimir Putin, the Russian president whom Trump has openly admired. Clinton sees international partnerships as essential tools for using American influence and lessening the chances of war. That is an approach rooted in a U.S. tradition of bipartisan support for institutions such as NATO, whose value and future Trump says should not be taken for granted. Trump has tried to keep his focus on fear. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention he decried "war and destruction." He said the long-volatile and often violent Middle East is now "worse than it has ever been before," suggesting Americans are increasingly at risk. He mocks Clinton's experience as a member of Obama's war Cabinet, labeling her legacy at the State Department as "death, destruction, terrorism and weakness." She questions Trump's reliability. "He loses his cool at the slightest provocation," she said in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. "Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons." The commander in chief's responsibility in the nuclear arena is not traditionally a hot-button issue on the campaign trail. But it has arisen more regularly this time, mainly because the Democrats see Trump as vulnerable to voter doubts about whether he could be trusted to use nuclear restraint. He raised eyebrows during a Republican primary debate when he seemed unaware of the nuclear "triad," the bombers, submarines and long-range missiles that have comprised the three basic pieces of the American nuclear arsenal for more than 50 years. Through her supporters, including retired military officers, Clinton has pushed back on Trump's claim that he alone has the right formula for keeping America secure. "She, as no other, knows how to use all instruments of American power, not just the military, to keep us all safe and free," John Allen, the retired Marine general and former presidential envoy to the international coalition aligned against the Islamic State, told the Democratic National Convention. Allen presented a counterpoint to Trump's top military supporter, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. In his address to the Republican National Convention, Flynn doubled down on Trump's portrayal of Clinton as unqualified to be president. He blamed her for "bumbling indecisiveness, willful ignorance and total incompetence." Herath brings Sri Lanka closer to victory in 1st test PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (AP) Spin bowler Rangana Herath brought Sri Lanka to the verge of victory in the first test reducing Australia to 141-7 at lunch on the fifth day Saturday. Herath took three wickets in a rain-shortened morning session dismissing Adam Voges (12) caught and bowled, Mitchell Marsh (25) and captain Steve Smith (55) both lbw, as the tourists struggled to chase down the 268-run target. Herath had 4-49 after having bowling out David Warner on Friday. Fellow spinner Lakshan Sandakan took 2-34, including a return catch to dismiss Mitchel Starc to end the session. Smith brought up his 17th half-century cautiously facing 125 deliveries and hitting only one boundary. He successfully reviewed a catch behind decision against him at 54 but failed to capitalize on the reprieve. The day began with equal chances of winning for both sides with Australia needing 185 runs with seven wickets in hand and Sri Lanka encouraged by a spin-friendly pitch. Voges straight drove Herath in the eighth over of the day which appeared to come off the pitch. But on appeal for a return catch the television umpire confirmed that the ball hadn't hit the ground before being caught. Herath's lbw appeal against Marsh was turned down but the bowler successfully reviewed the decision. Smith's review against his lbw decision was unsuccessful. A win in the match will only be Sri Lanka's second test victory against Australia in 27 matches. Australia has won 17. Gaza's Hamas hands out land hoping to avoid financial crisis KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) Earth movers dig into sand dunes on land where once Jewish settlements stood prime real estate that the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas group hopes will ease its worsening financial crisis. Hamas has begun handing out plots of the land to 40,000 civil servants loyal to the Islamic militant group, to make up for millions of dollars in salaries it owes them for the past two years. The land giveaway is the latest sign that Hamas is struggling financially after almost a decade of uncontested power in the coastal strip. In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 photo, a Palestinian Bedouin woman and her daughter work next to their family tent, in front of the Qatari-funded Hamad City housing complex, while bulldozers remove sands hill on trucks at the site of Al-Isra 2 housing project in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Hamas has begun handing out plots of public land to 40,000 civil servants loyal to the Islamic militant group, to make up for millions of dollars in salaries it owes them for the past two years.(AP Photo/Adel Hana) Gazans grumble about lack of jobs, constant electricity shortages and a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt that has confined the territory's 1.8 million people to the tiny strip. The World Bank says unemployment is 38 percent. Since 2014, Hamas' main problem has been a dire lack of cash amid Egypt's clampdown on smuggling tunnels underneath Gaza's border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Before the tunnels closed, Hamas earned millions of dollars from taxes on smuggled consumer goods, including subsidized Egyptian fuel. Later that same year, Hamas and its rival, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, agreed to form a unity government for both Gaza and the West Bank. Abbas had lost Gaza to a Hamas takeover in 2007, and this was an attempt to heal the split. But the deal stalled, partly because Abbas refused to add the 40,000 employees hired by Hamas since 2007 to the payroll of his Palestinian Authority. In time, Hamas resorted to paying its loyalists 40 percent of their salaries at 50 day intervals. Since March, after Hamas collected additional taxes, these civil servants have been receiving 45 percent of their salaries on a monthly basis. The price of cigarettes went up 35 percent and an additional $30 in taxes was imposed on each ton of fruit entering Gaza from Israel. The land giveaway allows each group of four Hamas employees to share a 500-square-meter plot that they can either build on or sell. Even the sand collected on the land can be sold for about $100 a truckload. About 13,000 civil servants have already signed up for certificates attesting to their ownership of the plots. Bulldozers are working to get three initial projects launched in August. Most of the land once was part of Jewish settlements in southern Gaza, near the towns of Rafah and Khan Younis. The settlements were demolished when Israel pulled settlers and soldiers from the coastal strip in 2005. Earlier this week, earth-moving equipment dug into a high hill near Khan Younis, scooping out sand and loading it into trucks at the site designated for the Al-Isra 2 housing project. Riham Khalil, one of the civil servants, said Hamas owes her 64,000 shekels (about $17,000) in back salaries. Last month, she and three of her colleagues were allocated a 500-square-meter plot in Al-Isra 2. "We had to accept it on a 'bird in the hand' basis because there was no cash," she said. "I wish I could find someone to buy the land and get the money." Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said the land giveaway is a temporary fix, "not yet a strategic one" that would solve the group's financial problems for good. If Abbas had put Hamas employees on his payroll, he would have likely encountered major problems with donor governments, including the United States, suspicious of money ending up in the pockets of Hamas, which much of the West considers a terrorist group. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority opposes the land-for-money program. "No one has the authority to issue decisions to privatize government-owned land in the public interest, except for President Abbas," said PA spokesman Jamal Dajani. He dismissed Hamas' claims that Abbas has neglected Gaza. The Palestinian Authority still pays the monthly salaries of some 70,000 civil servants in Gaza who are loyal to Abbas and left their posts after the Hamas takeover. The Gulf Arab state of Qatar has bailed out Hamas in the past and recently announced it was giving about $30 million to help pay a full month's salary to all Hamas employees in Gaza. In October 2014, Qatar sent cash to half of Hamas' public employees, excluding the security forces. Hamas has been spending some of its new revenue to fund summer camps, where children are exposed to its militant anti-Israeli ideology, or for large communal evening meals known as iftars during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It is also looking to its patron Turkey to help resolve Gaza's growing electricity and water shortages. Gazans live with rolling power cuts of 12 to 18 hours a day and the strip's water is polluted and undrinkable. After an Israeli-Turkish reconciliation deal in early July, Turkey sent an aid ship to Gaza through an Israeli port and a delegation that met separately with Israeli, Palestinian and Hamas officials to explore Gaza's energy crisis and outline possible solutions. However, Turkey's efforts are mere band aids for Gaza's larger woes and could serve to empower Hamas even further, said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Gaza's Al-Azhar University. "They increase Hamas' determination to cling to its unilateral governing of Gaza," Abusada said. "Time will tell if these promises are enough to convince the Palestinian citizen to keep silent over his living conditions." In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 photo, Palestinian diggers dump sand into a truck at the site of Al-Isra 2 housing project in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Hamas has begun handing out plots of public land to 40,000 civil servants loyal to the Islamic militant group, to make up for millions of dollars in salaries it owes them for the past two years.(AP Photo/Adel Hana) San Diego police view body-camera footage in officer killing SAN DIEGO (AP) Investigators viewed body-camera footage to learn how one San Diego police officer was killed and another seriously injured in a gunbattle during a traffic stop. But the city's police chief said Saturday that she has yet to determine if the shooting was similar to targeted, premeditated attacks on police in other parts of the country. Chief Shelley Zimmerman and Mayor Kevin Faulconer visited briefly with the wounded officer, 32-year-old Wade Irwin, at the hospital on Saturday morning, but investigators were still unable to interview him after surgery. Zimmerman reiterated that Irwin was expected to fully recover, and Faulconer said the nine-year veteran of the force "looked good, all things considered." Zimmerman didn't say what the police body camera footage showed and declined to comment on other aspects of the investigation, saying lots of ballistics, forensics and other evidence had to be processed. She stopped short of tying the shooting to killings of officers this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which have put police departments on high alert across the country. Flowers and candles were left at the San Diego Police Department memorial to officers who died in the line of duty the morning after an officer-involved shooting left one officer dead and one wounded. San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman held a press conference Friday, July 29, 2016, to update the media on the death of police officer Jonathan DeGuzman and the condition of injured police officer Irwin Wade who were both shot Thursday night. (John Gastaldo/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP) "Until more information becomes available, we're not going to tie it to anything else," Zimmerman said at a news conference at UC San Diego Medical Center, where Irwin is recovering. "I want to be clear. We're not making any correlation. We just don't know yet." The officers, members of an anti-gang unit, were uniformed, wore bulletproof vests and drove a marked car. Zimmerman said Saturday that it was still unclear if they stopped for pedestrians or motorists in the blue-collar neighborhood of southeastern San Diego. The mayor and police chief also visited Saturday with the wife and two children of Jonathan DeGuzman, 43, the officer who died in Thursday night's shooting after surviving a stabbing 13 years earlier while on duty. The 16-year veteran of the force had been stabbed in the right arm in 2003 after pulling over a driver for speeding, and he shot the aggressor in the hip after the man tried to stab him again. Zimmerman, who worked with DeGuzman before she was elevated to chief in 2014, said she informed DeGuzman's wife 13 years ago that he survived the stabbing. DeGuzman received the department's purple heart for valor in that traffic stop. "I was able to at that time tell his wife that he was going to be OK and, as I was driving over there that night, I knew I was going to have to make the notification that he was not going to be OK, he was not coming home, and nothing prepares you for that," Zimmerman said. Jesse Gomez, 52, was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after he was found in a ravine almost immediately after the shooting, suffering from a wound to the chest. He is expected to survive. Police have given no further information about Gomez or a man they describe as a second "potential suspect," Marcus Cassani, who was arrested Friday on an unrelated warrant after a massive search that included SWAT officers swarming around two San Diego houses. Police have yet to definitively link Cassani, 41, to Thursday's shooting, Zimmerman said Saturday. An Anaheim, California, man who identified himself as Cassani's father on Saturday handed the phone to his daughter, who said it was ongoing investigation and that the family had nothing more to say. She didn't identify herself further and hung up. A black band covers the lieutenant badge of San Diego Police Lt. Scott Wahl after the press conference Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego by the Chief of Police Shelley Zimmerman. Chief Zimmerman held a press conference to update the media on the death of police officer Jonathan DeGuzman and the condition of injured police officer Irwin Wade who were both shot Thursday night. (John Gastaldo/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP) San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman holds a press conference Friday, July 29, 2016, to update the media on the death of police officer Jonathan DeGuzman and the condition of injured officer Irwin Wade who were both shot Thursday night. (John Gastaldo/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP) San Diego County Sheriff's Department officers stand in memory of officer Jonathan DeGuzman with a moment of silence before a baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and the San Diego Padres on Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. DeGuzman was fatally shot and another officer injured after stopping a man Thursday night. (Misael Virgen/San Diego Union-Tribune via AP) San Diego Police SWAT officers walk down the street after entering a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) A San Diego Police officer with a police dog waits outside a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers break out windows as they enter a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers prepare to enter house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers prepare to enter house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers surround a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers break out windows as they enter a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers walk around to the back side of a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers prepare to enter a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police heavily armed police officers surround a house about a half-mile away, urging a man inside to surrender in San Diego Friday, July 29, 2016. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman talks during a news conference in San Diego on Friday, July 29, 2016. Zimmerman has released the names of an officer who was killed in a shooting and a partner who was wounded late Thursday. Zimmerman says the department is seeking "to find answers to the senseless murder and attempted murder of our police officers." (AP Photo/Julie Watson) This undated photo provided by the San Diego Police Department shows San Diego Police officer Jonathan DeGuzman who was killed in a shooting Thursday, July 28, 2016. DeGuzman, a 16-year veteran, is survived by a wife and two young children. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded a home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (San Diego Police Department via AP) Doubts about informant cause Chandra Levy case to crumble McLEAN, Va. (AP) Armando Morales was a gang leader, drug dealer and a jailhouse snitch. But he was also a commanding, dynamic presence on the witness stand when he told jurors that his cellmate, Ingmar Guandique, confessed to the murder of Washington intern Chandra Levy. Jurors believed Morales, and prosecutors obtained a conviction against Guandique at his 2010 trial despite lacking a confession, witnesses or DNA evidence. They obtained a conviction even though everyone knew that police had initially suspected another man, former California congressman Gary Condit. But for the past five years, while Guandique was imprisoned on what was to have been a 60-year murder sentence, defense lawyers accumulated new information that cast doubt on Morales' truthfulness. They learned that he asked to be put into the witness protection program in exchange for his testimony, even though he testified he hadn't sought any benefit for testifying. FILE -- In this April 22, 2009 file photo, Ingmar Guandique is escorted from the Violent Crimes Unit by police in Washington. Prosecutors have dropped murder charges against Guandique who is awaiting new trial in Chandra Levy case. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) Last year, a judge ordered that Guandique receive a new trial after prosecutors acknowledged a retrial was warranted. Meanwhile, as questions about Morales continued to grow, a woman named Babs Proller who met Morales by happenstance began recording her conversations with him, and turned them over to authorities earlier this month. On Thursday, prosecutors dropped all charges against Guandique, saying they had received evidence recently that would make it impossible for them to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. It's not entirely clear what's in the recordings. Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, declined to say whether the recordings prompted prosecutors to seek dismissal of the case. Edward Brady, an attorney for Proller, said his client became involved in the case by sheer coincidence and contacted prosecutors, defense attorneys and Levy's mother. "She did this because she believed then, and believes now, that it was the right thing to do," Brady said. Susan Levy, Chandra Levy's mother, said in an interview Friday at her Modesto, California, home that she had indeed been in contact with someone, then called the prosecutors to alert them. Levy described feeling despair over her daughter's unsolved murder and, at the same time, relief that she won't have to rehash the case in court in October, when Guandique's retrial had been scheduled. "It's weird, all of a sudden it's no longer there and he's released," Levy said. "I'm not sure what's going to happen next I clean my house, I wash my dishes and, when I feel better, I try to get back to being a halfway human being." David Benowitz, a criminal defense attorney in Washington, said prosecutors have clear obligations to inform defense attorneys of any potential issues when they use jailhouse informants. "Jailhouse snitch testimony is inherently unreliable," he said. The problem is exacerbated, he said, when prosecutors refuse to disclose information that would allow the defense to attack the informant's reliability. Brandon Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who wrote a book detailing the degree to which false testimony from jailhouse informants contributes to wrongful convictions, suggests that such testimony should be banned altogether. "If they are to be used there should be reliability review by a judge and all statements and interviews they give should be videotaped. All leniency offers should be documented and disclosed," he said in an email interview. In Guandique's case, prosecutors argued to the jury that Morales' story had the ring of truth Guandique's purported confession actually came as he was trying to convince his cellmates he wasn't a rapist. Specifically, Morales testified that Guandique confided to him: "Homeboy, I killed that b----, but I didn't rape her." Defense lawyers sought to undermine his testimony, eliciting testimony from a third cellmate who said he was almost always with Morales and Guandique during the time in question, and that he never heard any confession. During Morales' cross-examination, they suggested Morales was simply trying to take advantage of his cellmate's notoriety. Ultimately, though, the defense failed to persuade the jury there was reasonable doubt. While Guandique no longer faces charges and now faces deportation a lawyer for Condit said it would be wrong for people to think that his client could again become a suspect. Condit's attorney, Lin Wood, issued a statement Friday saying Condit remains in the clear despite the collapse of the case against Guandique. "Mr. Condit was long ago completely exonerated by authorities in connection with the death of Chandra Levy," he said. "Mr. Condit's counsel was informed yesterday by the U.S. Attorney's office in charge of the Levy case that Mr. Condit is neither a subject nor a target of the investigation into the murder of Chandra Levy." ___ Associated Press writer Alison Noon contributed to this story from Modesto, California. Susan Levy, mother of Chandra Levy, poses for a photo outside her home in Modesto, Calif., Friday, July 29, 2016. Prosecutors in the death of Washington intern Chandra Levy obtained a conviction largely on the strength of a jailhouse informant's testimony. But when evidence emerged casting doubt on the inmate's truthfulness emerged, prosecutors were forced to abandon their case against Ingmar Guandique. The 2001 disappearance of Levy remains unsolved. (AP Photo/Alison Noon) Appeals court: North Carolina voter ID law unconstitutional RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A federal appeals court ruled that a North Carolina law illegally targeted minorities with tougher ballot access rules, such as requiring photo identification to vote, adding a new partisan flashpoint in a swing state with a raft of hotly contested elections. The ruling Friday by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the 2013 law violated the Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act by targeting black voters "with almost surgical precision." It marks the third ruling in less than two weeks against voter ID laws after court decisions regarding Texas and Wisconsin. The law, passed two years after Republicans took control of the state legislature for the first time in a century, sought to entrench GOP politicians in power, the opinion by a three-judge panel of the court stated. This photo taken March 15, 2016, shows a NC Voter ID rules posted at the door of the voting station at the Alamance Fire Station in Greensboro, N.C. A federal appeals court on Friday, July 29, 2016, blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state. (Andrew Krech/News & Record via AP) "It did so by targeting voters who, based on race, were unlikely to vote for the majority party. Even if done for partisan ends, that constituted racial discrimination," said the judges. The decision overturned a federal district judge's April ruling that didn't find proof the law made it harder for minority voters to cast ballots. In reversing earlier election-law changes by Democrats to make voting easier, the GOP-led legislature crossed a constitutional line by restricting minority voting, the court said. "The record thus makes obvious that the 'problem' the majority in the General Assembly sought to remedy was emerging support for the minority party. Identifying and restricting the ways African Americans vote was an easy and effective way to do so," the court stated. "Winning an election does not empower anyone in any party to engage in purposeful racial discrimination." The decision was lauded by Democrats, including presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, as a victory for democracy and decried by Republicans as an effort to tilt the balance in elections this fall that could be won by either party. North Carolina's presidential race could be competitive, as Barack Obama narrowly carried the state in 2008 but lost to Mitt Romney four years later. The state that also has closely contested races for U.S. Senate and governor. GOP legislative leaders said they would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. They blasted the ruling as a partisan and emphasized the law was intended to make voter fraud more difficult. "Photo IDs are required to purchase Sudafed, cash a check, board an airplane or enter a federal court room. Yet, three Democratic judges are undermining the integrity of our elections while also maligning our state," said Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican seeking re-election. However, it's unlikely that the evenly divided and short-handed Supreme Court would take the case or block Friday's ruling from governing elections this November, said election-law experts Ned Foley of Ohio State University and Richard Hasen of the University of California at Irvine. The ruling also could boost the votes at play this fall, Hasen said. "Anytime you take away restrictions, you make it possible for more people to vote. I think we will see more people voting than if these restrictions were still in place," he said. "I think this is a hugely important decision." The law's opponents say the ruling should increase participation by black and Hispanic voters. The photo ID requirement, which took effect with this year's primary elections in March, required people casting ballots in person to show one of six qualifying IDs. Voters facing "reasonable impediments" could fill out a form and cast a provisional ballot. North Carolina legislators imposed the photo ID requirement, curtailed early voting and eliminated same-day registration and voters' ability to cast out-of-precinct provisional ballots in their home counties. Dale Hicks said he couldn't vote in 2014 after the new law eliminated same-day registration. The newly discharged Marine learned he couldn't cast a ballot after moving to the Raleigh area a few months earlier. "I felt disenfranchised, like I was being taken advantage of," said Hicks, a 40-year-old black man. "I heard some things going on, but I didn't think I'd be affected. I've been an American citizen all my life." ___ Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh; and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report. This March 15, 2016, file photo shows Eric Gandah walking past a NC Voter ID sign as he enters a precinct to cast his ballot in Greensboro, N.C. A federal appeals court on Friday, July, 29, 2016, blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state. (H. Scott Hoffmann/News & Record via AP, File) Officials encourage travelers not to shun Florida for Zika MIAMI (AP) There's no official warning to stay clear of Florida, but the crowds that usually wander among the bold street murals in Miami's trendy Wynwood arts district may be thinner after reports that mosquitoes in the area have spread the Zika virus on the U.S. mainland for the first time. Officials are trying to reassure tourists they'll be safe when visiting Florida's theme parks and urban arts districts. But some Miami residents said Friday they were stocking up on mosquito repellent and planning to bring lunches to work instead of sitting at outdoor cafe tables under Wynwood's bright murals. "I'm freaking out ... but at the same time I don't want to freak out," said Wynwood resident Zoe Schultze as she cradled her 6-month-old son in her arms while she stopped for coffee with her husband. Glendina Rosebo, 54, of Miami, takes a break from cleaning the sidewalks in the Wynwood area of Miami, Friday, July 29, 2016. Florida health officials said that four patients in Florida infected with the Zika virus were infected in the Wynwood area. These cases are believed to have caught the virus locally through mosquito bites. Rosebo has seen Miami-Dade mosquito control personnel spraying in the area the last few days. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) No mosquitoes in Miami or elsewhere in Florida have tested positive for Zika, but four Miami-area patients who contracted the disease did not get it by traveling to an outbreak country or from sex with an infected person. Officials say those four are apparently the first of over 1,650 U.S. Zika cases to have gotten the disease from a mosquito in the U.S. Gov. Rick Scott pinpointed the infections to Wynwood, and the state's agriculture commissioner issued a mosquito declaration that triggers aggressive mosquito control efforts within a 200-yard radius of the homes of the patients with locally acquired cases. Leasing agent Crystal Armand said she'd avoid the area's boutiques and art galleries for a while. "I'll probably bring lunch for a couple more weeks until they clear it up," she said. The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday there were no plans to recommend limiting travel to South Florida. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said he's confident in local mosquito control because they've successfully fought off outbreaks of West Nile, dengue fever and chikungunya. Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said repellent is sold at entrances to the Orlando area's three major theme parks. "If you're coming to Florida as a tourist, if you're coming to the theme parks, then you're coming to some of the safest places in the world because they have mosquito control down like no place else," said Jacobs. The theme parks are known for keeping their properties well-maintained. Officials say the parks also have far bigger mosquito control operations than local governments. "They keep their property very clean, spic and span," said Carl Boohene, director of mosquito control in Polk County, where LEGOLAND Florida is located. Walt Disney World is surrounded by swamps and woodland areas, which aren't habitat for the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus, said Kelly Deutsch, acting manager of Orange County's mosquito control. The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes prefer living among people in urban areas. While Universal Orlando and SeaWorld are in Orlando, nothing around them is cause for concern, Deutsch said. "Most of these areas are pretty well manicured and maintained," she said. Osceola County mosquito control officials have been talking with independent and mom-and-pop hotels near Disney that may not contract pest control like national hotel chains. "What we have been doing is going out to the hotels and talking to the maintenance staff and educating them what to look for, because going out and mowing the grass and just keeping the place clean isn't the same as looking for standing water," said Terry Torrens, the county's mosquito control director. Repellent is available at LEGOLAND Florida, which follows county guidelines for mosquito spraying and removing standing water where insects can breed. "We also offer several air conditioned attractions, including the newly reimagined imagination zone if they'd prefer to spend time indoors," resort spokeswoman Brittany Williams said in an email. A Disney spokeswoman referred questions about its Zika preparedness to the CDC guidelines for preventing mosquito bites. Officials at Universal Orlando and SeaWorld did not respond to emails asking for information. The parks intensified their fight against nuisance mosquitoes over a decade ago when the West Nile virus first surfaced in the U.S., said industry consultant Dennis Speigel. "It's something that goes on daily, multiple times a day. They spend a ton on it," he said. The state activated a Zika information hotline for residents and visitors, and health officials have led public campaigns reminding people to wear repellent. Visitors to South Florida in the last month have been urged to put off donating blood. Anyone bitten by mosquitoes in Florida could help public health experts trying to track the disease through the Mosquito Byte! smartphone app, a project led by North Carolina State University entomologist Michael Reiskind. Women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant should take extra precautions. The health risk will drop further in the fall after the region's mosquito season peak, Reiskind said. "It seems a likely place to see a pathogen emerge because there's lots of travelers," he said. "But if there's good mosquito control, it doesn't matter, you won't get transmission." ___ Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report. Vanessa Gomez, 33, left, with her son Ezra, 2, and her friend Cristy Fernandez, 33, with her 9-month-old- son River, of Miami, walk in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, Friday, July 29, 2016. Florida health officials said that four patients in Florida infected with the Zika virus were infected in the Wynwood area. These cases are believed to have caught the virus locally through mosquito bites. Gomez said the news is "scary but we cannot stop living our lives." To the left are Olivia Gomez, 5, and Kaly Fernandez. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier) FILE - In this Tuesday, June 28, 2016, file photo, Evaristo Miqueli, a natural resources officer with Broward County Mosquito Control, takes water samples decanted from a watering jug, checking for the presence of mosquito larvae in Pembroke Pines, Fla. The officers make daily inspections and respond to resident's complaints about mosquitoes, as part of their mosquito control procedure. Florida's governor said Friday, July 29, that the state likely has the first cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File) Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks at a news conference, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Orlando, Fla., where he announced that the state likely has the first cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland. (Naseem Miller/Orlando Sentinel via AP) North Korea sends close aide of Kim Jong Un to Rio SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea on Saturday sent a high-level delegation led by a top aide to leader Kim Jong Un to Rio de Janeiro for the upcoming Olympics, state media said. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the delegation, headed by Choe Ryong Hae, vice chairman of the country's State Affairs Commission, left Pyongyang, but did not provide details about what the senior officials plan to do in Rio de Janeiro or how long they will stay. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that Choe and the other North Korean delegates arrived in Beijing on Saturday morning, and that it wasn't clear whether they would meet with Chinese officials before heading to Brazil. North Korea, which has been put under heavy international sanctions over its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year, has previously used international sporting events as stages for attempting diplomatic breakthroughs. Choe was part of a senior North Korean delegation that visited South Korea in October 2014, when the rivals held rare high-level talks during the Asian Games in Incheon to ease tensions. Once considered to be Kim's No. 2, Choe was believed to have been briefly banished to a rural collective farm last year for re-education before regaining his political footing during a rare congress of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party in May. Choe regaining a seat on the powerful Presidium of the party's Central Committee was seen as one of the most significant promotions at the congress, and some experts believe Kim could use Choe as his diplomatic point man for improving relations with China, the North's most important strategic and economic partner. Adrian Aurs, 42, (pictured) has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting a detective in the elbow An Indianapolis police officer has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a detective investigating a reported domestic violence incident involving the officer and his estranged wife. Police were granted an arrest warrant Saturday charging 42-year-old Adrian Aurs in Friday night's shooting. Police said Aurs' estranged wife and children were inside their home after officers responded to an earlier domestic incident. While at the scene detectives who were investigating said Aurs 're-emerged and engaged in gunfire', according to officials. An unidentified detective was shot in the elbow during the shooting. The detective, a 20-year police veteran who returned fire but did not strike Aurs, was hospitalized in good condition with elbow and back injuries. Aurs was off-duty when he allegedly shot the detective and fled to Ohio in his personal vehicle. Cincinnati police took him into custody following an hour-long standoff. He was then charged with attempted murder. Aurs has been suspended without pay, pending termination from the department and is in the process of being extradited to Indianapolis. Aurs, and officer with the Indianapolis police department, was off-duty at the time of the shooting and was being investigated regarding a domestic abuse claim Dozens suspended from Turkey's highest court in coup probe ISTANBUL (AP) Dozens of employees at Turkey's highest court have been suspended from their jobs as part of the government crackdown in the wake of a failed military coup, authorities said Saturday. Sixty-four employees at the Constitutional Court were suspended until an assessment could be made on any possible links they have to the July 15 attempted coup, the court said in a statement. Eight other employees had already been dismissed and were detained on July 18, it said. Nearly 70,000 people in Turkey have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs, according to the latest figures cited by the state-run Anadolu news agency, affecting workers in the judiciary, the education system, media, health care and other sectors. It's part of a broad crackdown by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government on those suspected of ties to a U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who the government says was behind the attempted coup. A man walks along a street behind some Turkish flags in Istanbul, on Saturday, July 30, 2016. Turkey has demanded the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania whom it accuses of being behind the violent July 15 coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile since the late 1990s, has denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the coup. More than 18,000 people have been detained or arrested at some point since the abortive coup, with more than 3,500 of them since released. Of those detained, more than 9,000 people, mostly in the military, have been formally arrested, according to figures from Interior Minister Efkan Ala. On Saturday, courts released 800 military conscripts arrested in the coup probe. The Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office recommended the release of 758 out of 989 conscripts under arrest, on grounds they had delivered their testimony and did not pose a flight risk. Those released included military high school students. Another 47 were released by a court in Ankara on similar grounds. A man drives on a cart with melons at a main road in Istanbul, on Saturday, July 30, 2016. Turkey has demanded the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania whom it accuses of being behind the violent July 15 coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) PICTURED: A selection of pictures from the past week Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see. This week's gallery features images of a Kashmiri girl trying to step around barbed wire; Pope Francis walking through the gate of the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz; and the parents of fallen Baton Rouge police officer Brad Garafola weeping after they are presented with a flag during funeral services. ___ A Kashmiri girl crosses through a barbed wire set up as a road blockade by Indian troops during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. 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. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) This gallery contains photos published July 23-30, 2016. See the latest AP photo galleries: http://apne.ws/TXeCBN The Archive: Top photo highlights from previous weeks: http://apne.ws/13QUFKJ ___ Follow AP photographers on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP/lists/ap-photographers Follow AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images Visit AP Images online: http://www.apimages.com http://www.apimages.com/ ___ This gallery was produced by Patrick Sison in New York. ____ Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., walk through a sea of balloons at the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Friday, July 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Pope Francis walks through the gate of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, July 29, 2016. Pope Francis paid a somber visit to the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Friday, becoming the third consecutive pontiff to make the pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitler's forces killed more than 1 million people, most of them Jews. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) People surround dancers as they perform on stilts in honor of Saint Mary Magdalene in a street for the traditional ''Danza de Los Zancos'' (Los Zancos Dance), in the small town of Anguiano, northern Spain, Saturday, July 23, 2016. As an ancient tradition for more than 4th centuries, eight young people from the town balance on stilts down the old street, turning to the sound of folk music played on a pipe and drum. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) Emily and John Garafola, right, parents of fallen East Baton Rouge Sheriff deputy Brad Garafola, weep after being presented with a flag during funeral services for their son in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, July 23, 2016. Brad Garafola, slain by a gunman who authorities said targeted law enforcement, was one of three officers killed. (Hilary Scheinuk/Baton Rouge Advocate via AP, Pool) A forest guard keeps vigil at the flooded Kaziranga National Park, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Vast tracts of the 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. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) An Indian woman stands on a boat and hangs clothes to dry at flooded Sildubi village, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, Friday, July 29, 2016. Torrential monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding in Assam state and forced around 1.2 million people to leave their water-logged homes. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) A firefighter battles a wildfire near Placerita Canyon 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) Fireflies seeking mates light up in synchronized bursts as photographers take long-exposure pictures, inside Piedra Canteada, a tourist camp cooperatively owned by 42 local families, inside an old-growth forest near the town of Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala state, Mexico, July 21, 2016. The families purchased the 1560-acre (630-hectare) tract of land from a private owner in 1990 and began offering camping and forest visits, while continuing to exploit the logging quota authorized by the government. Only in 2011, did they realize the potential draw of the local firefly population, and begin advertising nighttime viewing tours. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) German lawyer: Erdogan lawsuits in Germany remain in place BERLIN (AP) A German lawyer who has represented Turkey's president says lawsuits filed in Germany over alleged insults remain in place, despite Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement that he was dropping all suits against people charged with insulting him. Erdogan obtained an injunction ordering German TV comedian Jan Boehmermann not to repeat most of a crude poem he wrote about the Turkish leader. Separately, Chancellor Angela Merkel in April granted a request for Boehmermann to be investigated on suspicion of insulting a foreign head of state. Prosecutors haven't decided whether to file charges. In Turkey, hundreds were charged with insulting Erdogan, who said Friday he would be "forgiving and withdrawing all cases." Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech commenting on those killed and wounded during a failed July 15 military coup, in Ankara, Turkey, late Friday, July 29, 2016. The government crackdown in the coup's aftermath has strained Turkey's ties with key allies including the United States. (AP Photo/Kayhan Ozer Presidential Press Service, via AP Pool) Philippine president calls off truce after rebel attack MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called off a 5-day-old cease-fire after communist guerrillas killed a government militiaman and failed to declare their own truce by a Saturday deadline, in an early setback to his efforts to end one of Asia's longest-raging rebellions. It was the first irritant in what has been a blossoming relationship between Duterte, who calls himself a left-wing president, and the Maoist guerrillas, who have been waging a decades-long insurrection. Both sides had previously agreed to resume peace talks next month in Norway, and it was not immediately clear whether the talks would be affected. Withdrawing his cease-fire order, Duterte said in a statement Saturday evening that he had ordered all government forces to go on high alert and "continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralize all threats to national security, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws and maintain peace in the land." FILE - In this Monday, July 25, 2016 file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his first State of the Nation Address before the joint session of the 17th Congress in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Duterte on Thursday, July 28, threatened to withdraw a ceasefire order he gave three days ago after suspected communist rebels killed a government militiaman and wounded four others in an attack. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) In a separate statement issued after the cease-fire order was lifted, the military said that the New People's Army guerrillas had "missed a golden opportunity" to demonstrate their commitment to peace. "This could have been what the Filipino nation had been waiting for the silencing of the guns that could have hastened development, especially in the countryside," military chief of staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya said in the statement, adding that the armed forces would abide by Duterte's latest order. Duterte, who was sworn in on June 30, declared the government cease-fire Monday during his state of the nation address. Two days later, however, rebels killed the militiaman and wounded four others in southern Davao del Norte province, angering Duterte, who sought an explanation for the attack and gave the insurgents until 5 p.m. Saturday to declare their own cease-fire. The rebels failed to declare a truce by the deadline. A regional rebel spokesman, Rigoberto Sanchez, instead accused the military of disobeying the president by continuing combat deployments and operations in the country's south. "There is no conspicuous and veritable unilateral cease-fire exercised by" the military, police and paramilitary forces in the south," he said in a statement posted on a rebel website. While the New People's Army in the south was ready to reciprocate Duterte's cease-fire, "it cannot be harangued to reciprocate a unilateral cease-fire order that is overtly mocked by the Armed Forces of the Philippines hierarchy and its ground troops and paramilitary forces," Sanchez said. Sanchez said that government forces have continued to undertake combat operations, surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence and psychological warfare in civilian communities, and alleged that troops were protecting "illegal activities such as drug trade and logging and mining pay-offs." Military officials have denied rebel allegations that their combat operations were continuing, saying troops immediately shifted to defensive positions after the president announced the government cease-fire. The militiamen had been recalled from a security mission following Duterte's truce declaration and were traveling back to their patrol base when they came under rebel attack, the military said. Duterte flew to Davao del Norte on Friday to attend the slain militiaman's wake. Visibly upset, he asked the rebels if they would match his cease-fire. "If I don't get the word from you, then I will lift the order of cease-fire," the president said, adding that he was rejecting rebel demands for him to withdraw government troops and policemen from certain rural areas. Rebel leaders then asked Duterte to give them more time to study his truce declaration, and the president responded by saying that was "not a good response." The decades-long communist insurgency has left about 150,000 combatants and civilians dead since it broke out in the late 1960s. It also has stunted economic development, especially in the countryside, where the Maoist insurgents are active. Under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, peace talks stalled over the government's refusal to heed a rebel demand for the release of some captured guerrillas. Duterte, however, has agreed to the release of detained rebels, who would be involved in peace talks, and designated two allies of the guerrillas to Cabinet posts in concessions aimed at fostering the talks. Pope to young: Try politics, activism; don't be couch potato BRZEGI, Poland (AP) Pope Francis challenged hundreds of thousands of young people who gathered in a sprawling Polish meadow to reject being a "couch potato" who retreats into video games and computer screens and instead engage in social activism and politics to create a more just world. Peppering his speech with contemporary lingo, the 79-year-old pope, despite a long day of public appearances, addressed his eager audience with enthusiasm Saturday on a warm summer night. Francis spoke of a paralysis that comes from merely seeking convenience, from confusing happiness with a complacent way of life that could end up depriving people of the ability to determine their own fates. Pope Francis prays during a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The 79-year-old Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Days, a global Catholic gathering which culminates Sunday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) "Dear young people, we didn't come into this world to 'vegetate," to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: To leave a mark," Francis told a crowd that Polish media estimated at over 1 million in a huge field in Brzegi, a village outside the southern city of Krakow. Organizers said 1.6 million people came to hear the pope Saturday night, but police did not give a crowd estimate. Francis decried a modern escapism into consumerism and computers that isolates people. The same message ran through a ballet performance at the site before his speech: a lonely woman seeks human connections but is rebuffed by people on computer tablets and cellphones until one man emerges from behind a see-through barrier to connect. For Francis, Jesus is the "Lord of risk ... not the Lord of comfort, security and ease." "Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths," Francis said. He challenged his sea of listeners, spread out on blankets, to make their mark on the world by becoming engaged as "politicians, thinkers, social activists" and to help build a world economy that is "inspired by solidarity." "The times we live in do not call for young 'couch potatoes,'" he said to applause, "but for young people with shoes, or better, boots laced." Like a politician working a crowd, Francis yelled out to his audience: "You want others to decide your future?" When he didn't get the rousing "No!" he was going for, he tried for a "Yes." "You want to fight for your future?" he asked. "Yes!" they roared. "The pope does not order us to do things, he encourages us," Szymon Werner, a 32-year-old from Krakow who was at the meadow, told The Associated Press. "It's true, there are many temptations, weaknesses in life and we should try to do something about them." "I will give more attention to my family," he vowed. "Last night, I gave a lift to some foreign pilgrims who missed their bus so I think the pope's presence is working!" Francis' evening appeal came hours after he celebrated a Mass with priests, nuns and young seminarians whom he also urged to leave their comfort zones and tend to the needy in the world. He said Jesus wants the church "to be a church on the move, a church that goes out into the world." That homily came at a shrine dedicated to St. John Paul II, the Polish pontiff whose staunch defense of workers' rights in the 1970s and '80s challenged his nation's then-Communist rulers. A year after John Paul II was elected pope in 1978, he returned to his homeland, urging millions of his beleaguered compatriots behind the Iron Curtain in nuanced and coded words to oppose communism and defend individual freedoms. That visit inspired the birth of Solidarity, a labor movement that eventually became a key factor in the collapse of communism in 1989 in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe. Francis has carried a grueling schedule since arriving in Poland on Wednesday, making his first-ever visit to Eastern Europe. On Friday he visited the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he met with concentration camp survivors as well as aging saviors who helped Jews escape certain doom. The pope ends his visit to Poland on Sunday after a Mass in the same meadow in Brzegi, the crowning event of this year's world jamboree for young Catholics. ___ D'Emilio reported from Krakow; Vanessa Gera in Warsaw contributed to this report. ___ Frances D'Emilio is on twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio Pope Francis walks with nuns as he arrives at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016, on the fourth day of his visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) Pope Francis confesses a youth at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis greets faithful as he arrives at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016, on the fourth day of his visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) Pope Francis greets faithful as he arrives at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016, on the fourth day of his visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) Pope Francis blesses faithful as he arrives at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) A nun greets Pope Francis upon his arrival at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016, on the fourth day of his visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) Pope Francis, center, attends the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) with youths participating in World Youth Days, in Blonie Park, Krakow, Poland, Friday, July 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Pope Francis speaks with nuns during a visit at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, 30 July 2016. (Daniel Dal Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP) Nuns cheer as they wait for Pope Francis to arrive, at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (Daniel Dal Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP) A nun takes photos as she waits for Pope Francis to arrive, at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (Daniel Dal Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis has lunch with 12 youths at the Bishop's residence in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The religious celebrations Saturday came on the fourth day of the popes five-day visit to Poland, his first ever visit to Eastern Europe, where he has been gathering with young Catholics attending World Youth Day, a global event. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis poses for a selfie with youths after he had lunch with them at the Bishop's residence in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The religious celebrations Saturday came on the fourth day of the popes five-day visit to Poland, his first ever visit to Eastern Europe, where he has been gathering with young Catholics attending World Youth Day, a global event. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis poses with youths after he had lunch with them at the Bishop's residence in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The religious celebrations Saturday came on the fourth day of the popes five-day visit to Poland, his first ever visit to Eastern Europe, where he has been gathering with young Catholics attending World Youth Day, a global event. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis, top right, has lunch with 12 youths at the Bishop's residence in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The religious celebrations Saturday came on the fourth day of the popes five-day visit to Poland, his first ever visit to Eastern Europe, where he has been gathering with young Catholics attending World Youth Day, a global event. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis, left, enters the Divine Mercy Sanctuary through the Holy Door of Mercy, in Lagiewniki, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis, center, celebrates a Mass at the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II, in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis celebrates a Mass at the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis is welcomed by nuns as he arrives at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Lagiewniki, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) Nuns watch and take pictures of Pope Francis at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) Pope Francis celebrates a Mass at the Saint John Paul II Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Pope Francis celebrates a Mass at the Saint John Paul II Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Pope Francis arrives for a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The 79-year-old Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Days, a global Catholic gathering which culminates Sunday. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) Pope Francis, accompanied by youths from five continents, passes through the Door of Mercy ahead of a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The 79-year-old Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Days, a global Catholic gathering which culminates Sunday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Faithful wait for Pope Francis to arrive for a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The 79-year-old Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Days, a global Catholic gathering which culminates Sunday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Armenian police accuse barricaded gunmen of killing officer YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) Armed members of an opposition group barricaded inside a police station in Armenia's capital shot an officer dead on Saturday, police said. The fatal shooting, the second since the takeover of the station two weeks ago, further heightened tensions following violent clashes Friday night between riot police and opposition supporters that injured 75 people. Police spokesman Ashot Agaronyan said on Facebook the policeman was in a vehicle 400 meters (yards) from the station when he was killed by sniper fire. Riot police run to confront anti-government protesters, supporters of the armed group who have been holed inside a police station, clash with police in Yerevan, Armenia, Friday, July 29, 2016. A spokesman for Armenia's police force says three more gunmen who have been barricaded inside a police station in the capital for nearly two weeks have been wounded in exchanges of gunfire. (Aram Kirakosyan/PAN Photo via AP) The Yerevan police station was seized July 17 by about 30 armed members of an opposition group, who killed one officer and wounded several others in the attack. They are demanding freedom for the leader of the group, who was arrested in June. The opposition group has sharply criticized the government of the former Soviet republic and called for people to take to the streets to force the president and the prime minister to step down. Since the takeover, security forces have wounded eight of the gunmen, including three shot in the legs Friday, apparently by sniper fire. When several hundred supporters of the gunmen attempted late Friday to approach the station, they were stopped by rows of riot police and clashes broke out. Police said 165 people were rounded up and all but 26 were released. The investigative agency said charges have been filed against 23 people. On Saturday, Armenia's security service gave the gunmen until 5 p.m. to surrender and said otherwise its forces reserved the right to open fire without warning. The deadline passed with no immediate action taken. The gunmen are demanding the release of Jirair Sefilian, leader of the opposition group Founding Parliament, who was charged with illegal acquisition and possession of weapons. Investigators said he and his supporters were planning to seize government buildings and the television transmission tower. Sefilian, who was born in Lebanon, is well known in Armenia for his military successes in the war against neighboring Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. Many of the gunmen inside the police station are veterans of that war. Of the 75 people who required medical treatment after Friday night's violence, 25 of them remained hospitalized, including six law enforcement officers, the Health Ministry said. Some of the injured were suffering from burns. Police used stun grenades to drive back the opposition supporters, some of whom threw stones at the rows of riot police blocking their path. Journalists, including from Radio Liberty, reported being attacked and beaten by men armed with sticks and metal bars who appeared to be plainclothes police officers. Prosecutors on Saturday promised to investigate. Police officers detain a supporter of the armed group who have been holding a police station in Yerevan, Armenia, Friday, July 29, 2016. A spokesman for Armenia's police force says three more gunmen who have been barricaded inside a police station in the capital for nearly two weeks have been wounded in exchanges of gunfire. (Vahan Stepanyan/PAN Photo via AP) Riot police use light grenades as they confront anti-government protesters, supporters of the armed group who have been holed inside a police station, clash with police in Yerevan, Armenia, Friday, July 29, 2016. A spokesman for Armenia's police force says three more gunmen who have been barricaded inside a police station in the capital for nearly two weeks have been wounded in exchanges of gunfire. (Aram Kirakosyan/PAN Photo via AP) Bomb kills 1 security official, wounds 8 people in Pakistan KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) Officials say a roadside bomb has exploded near a vehicle carrying paramilitary rangers in southern Pakistan, killing a security official and wounding three officers and five civilians. Maj. Gen. Bilal Akbar, the director-general of the rangers, told reporters Saturday that a search operation has been launched in the city of Larkana where the attack took place. Hours after the attack, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility. In a statement, he warned more such attacks in the future. What's safe? Europe grapples with security after attacks PARIS (AP) You can't put a guard in every church and patrol every beach. But after a wave of attacks in Western Europe, authorities are struggling to protect their people as best they can. The French Riviera city of Cannes has banned large backpacks on beaches lest they hide explosives, and Britain is providing extra funding for security at tens of thousands of places of worship. The grisly slaying this week of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a Normandy church, less than two weeks after 84 revelers were mowed down by a truck on a beachfront promenade in Nice, sounded the alarm that nothing is sacred and no place is safe. Four attacks in a week in Germany sealed that conviction. "Churches take great pride in being open. But there comes a time when the reality of crime and the reality of terrorism may mean that some of that balance needs to be readjusted," said Mark Gardner, spokesman for Community Security Trust which provides extensive protection to Jewish synagogues and schools throughout Britain. French soldiers patrols near the Biarritz's beach, southwestern France, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The challenge of protecting churches, synagogues, tourist haunts, beaches, summer festival sites, airports and train stations is among the most daunting tasks security forces have faced in recent times in France, and Europe. (AP Photo/ Bob Edme) The Trust started operating in 1994 after a car bomb attack on the Israeli Embassy in London injured roughly 20 people and a devastating attack on a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 85 people. The attacks in France and two of the four in Germany were claimed by the Islamic State group, thousands of miles away in strongholds in Syria and Iraq. Their preferred targets are symbols of what they label the "crusader" West in Europe, but with so many to choose from, no one can predict where terror might strike anew. A police couple was killed in June in their home west of Paris, in an attack also claimed by IS. France has been muscling up its security forces since two waves of IS-claimed attacks in 2015 that left 147 dead and after two March attacks in Belgium that killed 32. President Francois Hollande has ordered 10,000 soldiers who have been patrolling since last year to stay in the streets, has called up reserves to bolster police and borders, and plans to use some to create a National Guard. But the challenge of protecting churches, synagogues, tourist haunts, beaches, summer festival sites, airports and train stations is among the most daunting tasks security forces have faced in recent times in France, and Europe. The city of Nice, citing the terror threat, canceled a memorial march set for Sunday to honor victims of the attack on the famed Promenade des Anglais. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited security forces sent in Friday at the start of a famed two-week jazz festival in the village of Marciac in the Gers, an annual treat for hundreds of thousands of jazz lovers but a high-risk event for police. Cazeneuve reiterated what the French hear daily "There are no miracle solutions" but insisted on the need for the "physical presence" of police at summer festivals around France. Some towns are pitching in as they can, or inventing new rules to ward off threats. The Riviera city of Cannes, 33 kilometers (20 miles) from Nice, has banned big bags on beaches until at least the end of October, bags that Mayor David Lisnard says "could contain explosives or weapons." More controversially, the mayor of Rive-de-Gier, a small town near Lyon, decided this week to "systematically refuse" new applications by residents to bring their families to live with them, a process most often used by immigrants with loved ones in another country. Whether the mayor can actually change national policy allowing families to live together remains to be seen, but the initiative reflects a rising level of fear often directed at immigrants even though many assailants have been European-born. "Today, no commune in France is safe," Mayor Jean-Claude Charvin said in a statement on the town's website. "Each day, the government says 'We're at war' ... (it) must give small towns the means to protect their citizens." Trying to prevent attacks using intelligence is just as daunting. French security services twice missed catching the two 19-year-old Frenchmen who slit the throat of Rev. Jacques Hamel before they acted. In a glaring example of the challenge, four days before the attack the main counter-terrorism agency issued an all-points alert to police with a photo of one of the attackers warning the man pictured may be preparing an attack -- but no one knew his name. Now, a lot of attention is focused on securing places of worship, particularly small vulnerable churches like the one in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray that came under attack on Tuesday. Shockwaves crossed religions and borders. Some of Rome's more famous churches and basilicas already figure among the more than 4,000 places in Italy deemed at particular risk for extremist operations, but the French attack has also brought attention to the vulnerability of little-known churches in outlying neighborhoods. Officials have also requested additional police security at Milan's Duomo cathedral after the attack and in light of a security breach that saw an American tourist spend the night on the spired rooftop after being overlooked by security. "I don't see a reason to militarize churches," Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of Italian Bishops Conference told Sky TG24. "Of course you can't let down your guard, it is always necessary to be alert and to collaborate with Europe. But there is no need to be afraid, because otherwise you play the game of these homicidal fanatics." In Britain, where the overall threat level is judged "severe," police have warned Christian religious institutions throughout the country to be extra vigilant, and even small rural parishes are expected to take note and review procedures and defenses. The British government announced the details of a plan to provide extra security funding to places of worship on the day of the attack on the French church. France has more than 50,000 Catholic churches, Britain has roughly 47,000 chapels and meeting houses of various Christian denominations, and steeples dot the landscape of most other European countries. In France, most synagogues, mosques and major Christian churches have been protected by police or soldiers since the deadly attack at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015. After the French president met with religious leaders this week, the president of the Protestant Federation of France, Francois Clavairoly, stressed that much has already been done to protect places of worship of all faiths. "Obviously, more security measures for every place of worship in the country are absolutely inconceivable and unfeasible," he said. Since the priest was killed, Muslims in France and elsewhere in Europe have stepped forward to embrace the nation's Catholics in a way rarely seen, an act of bravery because the Islamic State group views Western Muslims as the enemy, too. The head of the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, which has distanced itself from extremism since being associated with it in the 1990s, says "extra measures to be careful" are being added to its closed circuit TV cameras and security guards. "We are all now under threat," Mohammed Kozbar said. ___ Gregory Katz reported from London. Associated Press writers Adela Suliman in London, Frances D'Emilio in Krakow, Poland, Colleen Barry in Milan, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report. French soldiers patrols near the Biarritz's beach, southwestern France, Saturday, July 30, 2016. The challenge of protecting churches, synagogues, tourist haunts, beaches, summer festival sites, airports and train stations is among the most daunting tasks security forces have faced in recent times in France, and Europe. (AP Photo/ Bob Edme) Fighting between Turkish forces, Kurdish rebels kills 43 ISTANBUL (AP) Authorities say fighting between Turkish forces and Kurdish rebels in the restive southeast of the country has killed eight Turkish soldiers and 35 Kurdish fighters. The office of Turkey's General Staff headquarters said Saturday the eight soldiers were killed in a clash Friday afternoon with Kurdish militants at a checkpoint in the southeastern Hakkari province. A subsequent operation against the Kurdish rebels left eight Kurds dead, the military said. Separately, a further 27 fighters from the Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK, were killed in the same province when Turkish troops launched an air-and-ground operation against groups of PKK fighters attempting to infiltrate early Saturday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, quoting the military. A woman sales Turkish flags in Istanbul, on Saturday, July 30, 2016. Turkey has demanded the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania whom it accuses of being behind the violent July 15 coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) The PKK reportedly bombed a freight train in the eastern province of Elazig on Saturday, planting an improvised device on the tracks that caused damage but no casualties, Anadolu said. Security forces have begun an operation in the area to apprehend those responsible. Discredited Tulsa volunteer sheriff's deputy program revived TULSA, Okla. (AP) An Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy program shut down after a member fatally shot an unarmed black man is back in business with tougher requirements, new Tulsa sheriff Vic Regalado said, although every one of the new reserves was in the old force that was riddled with cronyism and all but three are white in a city with fraught race relations. The reserve program was shuttered at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office after 74-year-old volunteer Robert Bates said he mistakenly reached for his gun instead of a Taser and fatally shot Eric Harris during an illegal gun sales sting in April 2015. It quickly emerged that Bates was in no physical condition to be a reserve deputy, hadn't been properly trained, was friends with then-Sheriff Stanley Glanz and appeared to leverage that relationship and his personal wealth as an insurance executive to wield considerable influence within the agency. Bates donated thousands of dollars in cash, cars and equipment, leading some critics to accuse him as well as other wealthy reserve deputies of "buying a badge." Glanz resigned after being indicted in part because of the Harris shooting, and a scathing report by an outside consultant in February recommended that the volunteer program be terminated and completely rebuilt. The report said many volunteers "feel they are exempt from or do not have to follow various policies because of who they are or who they are friends with in the agency." FILE - In this Monday, April 11, 2016 file photo, Vic Regalado, left, the new Tulsa County sheriff, is interviewed following his swear-in during the board of commissioners meeting at the Tulsa County Courthouse. An Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy program shut down after a member fatally shot an unarmed black man is back in business with tougher requirements, new sheriff Vic Regalado said, although every one of the new reserves was in the old force riddled with cronyism and all but three are white in a city with fraught race relations. (Cory Young/Tulsa World via AP, File) /Tulsa World via AP) ONLINE OUT; KOTV OUT; KJRH OUT; KTUL OUT; KOKI OUT; KQCW OUT; KDOR OUT; TULSA OUT; TULSA ONLINE OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT But Regalado, elected on a promise to reform the agency, opted not to shut it down completely, and recently announced it would be revived as a leaner version of its discredited predecessor. All 40 of the new reserve force served under the previous sheriff, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. One of the new reserves, local aerospace executive T. Hastings Siegfried, contributed $2,300 to Regalado's campaign, according to the sheriff's campaign reports. Harris family attorney Dan Smolen said the contribution sends the wrong message to citizens. "Questions concerning at least one reserve deputy who contributed to Sheriff Regalado's campaign raise the specter of cronyism once again," Smolen said in a statement. "We are not convinced that sheriff Regalado has the leadership skills necessary to safely reinstate the program." Siegfried didn't return a message seeking comment on the donation. A spokesman for the sheriff's office, Justin Green, said Siegfried isn't getting special attention because of the contribution and had to meet the same training criteria as other reserves. Marq Lewis, a founder of We the People Oklahoma, an activist group that pushed for a grand jury investigation of the sheriff's office after last year's killing, said the new force is also lacking in diversity. Of the 40 volunteers, two are black and one is Hispanic, according to Green. That is 8 percent of the program compared to a Tulsa County population that is roughly 12 percent Hispanic and 11 percent black, according to latest Census estimates. "You have to be a reflection of your community. They don't care about diversity. They just don't care, period," Lewis said. Green said the reserves are volunteers and the agency can't actively control its recruiting for those positions, but added it was possible it could enhance recruiting efforts of minorities. "When the time comes, we can let you know what the strategy and the plan is," Green said. Green said he couldn't make available a demographic breakdown of the previous class of reserves, which numbered about 120 at the time of the Harris shooting, because most have left the program. Even though Harris' family said they believed race was not an issue in his shooting, it followed a long history of troubled race relations in Tulsa, dating to the city's 1921 race riot that left about 300 black residents dead. As recently as 2013, a city council vote to rename the city's glitzy arts district, which had been named after the son of a Confederate veteran and Ku Klux Klan member, drew vehement opposition. Regalado has tightened management of the program: Reserves will no longer patrol alone only with a sworn deputy; they will not serve on specialty units, such as SWAT, and all must meet physical fitness exams. Volunteer police programs are in place across the country in part because they save money on overtime and save manpower of regular officers for tasks such as assisting with crime scene investigations, crowd control, extra security at state fairs or other events. In Tulsa County, reserves wear similar uniforms to their sworn counterparts, carry firearms and are charged with performing some of the same duties when necessary, such as roadside safety checks, security for special events, prisoner transports and working jail shifts. Regalado estimated savings could equal at least $200,000 a year. He also said the new program has enough teeth to be effective. "Mistakes are made in law enforcement, but at the end of the day, it won't be because (the reserves) were put out there untrained. It won't because you can't go back into a personnel file and see they didn't have the documented training necessary to perform in that law enforcement capacity," Regalado said. "Those are the things that worried me (under the old system)." FILE - In this Tuesday, May 31, 2016 file photo, Robert Bates, a former Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy who said he mistook his handgun for his stun gun when he fatally shot an unarmed suspect in 2015, is escorted from the courtroom following his sentencing at the courthouse in Tulsa, Okla. The Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy program shut down after a Bates fatally shot an unarmed black man is back in business with tougher requirements, new sheriff Vic Regalado said. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) FILE - In this Friday, July 15, 2016 file photo, former Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz, leaves a Tulsa County courtroom in Tulsa, Okla. An Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy program halted after a member fatally shot an unarmed black man during Glanz's time as sheriff, is back with tougher requirements, the new county sheriff says. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) Former Vermont governor touts instant-runoff voting in Maine MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean who's also the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee says he favors a voting system that would bring big changes to the American electoral process. It's called instant-runoff, or ranked, voting. It allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If the voter's first choice loses in the initial vote-count, the second choice is counted as having the voter's support in the next round, until one candidate emerges with more than 50 percent support. Dean says he's urging voters in Maine to adopt the system. It's on the Maine ballot this year. Affluent Kansas City suburbs at center of political backlash SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) Small-government Republican conservatives face a political backlash in Kansas because of the state's budget problems and battles over education funding, and the epicenter is in sprawling Kansas City suburbs where residents have cherished public schools for decades. But the Democrats and GOP moderates hoping to lessen the grip Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's allies have on the Legislature must contend with a political paradox in Johnson County, home to those affluent suburbs. Its voters regularly approve bonds and property tax increases for schools while electing conservative legislators who've backed the governor's experiment in slashing state income taxes. More than two dozen conservative Republican legislators face challengers in Tuesday's primary, including 11 in Johnson County, the state's most populous. Challengers there have made education funding a key issue. FILE - In this Monday June 20, 2016 file photo, a family approaches the front doors at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kan. Blue Valley had fewer than 900 students in 1970. It is now the state's fourth-largest district, with more than 22,500 students and five high schools, the newest one opening in 2010. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, file) "You could rely on one thing, and that was public education," said Gretchen Gradinger, a lawyer and Johnson County native who moved back from Missouri two years ago so her young son could attend the public schools she knew growing up. "For 60 years, you could rely on one thing." Kansas has struggled to balance its budget since the Republican-dominated Legislature heeded Brownback's call in 2012 and 2013 to cut personal income taxes as an economic stimulus. He won a tough re-election race in 2014, but his popularity has waned with the state's ongoing budget woes. Meanwhile, the Kansas Supreme Court could rule by the end of the year in an education funding lawsuit on whether legislators provide enough money to schools to fulfill a duty under the state constitution to finance a suitable education for every child. The State Board of Education is recommending phasing in an $893 million increase in aid over two years. Johnson County is seeing an effort to oust conservatives because strong public schools have been crucial to the post World War II population boom that has never stopped. The population has doubled over the past generation, to about 580,000 20 percent of the state's total. Yet the county also is a business-friendly Republican stronghold that's key to the right's strength statewide. Affluent communities where parents worry that their schools are slipping also have plenty of Republican-leaning residents skeptical that government runs efficiently enough. Kim Stevermer, a contractor, lives a few minutes' drive from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School , from which he graduated in the 1970s. He said strong schools are vital "bad schools, bad neighborhood, you know?" but generally supports Republicans because he sees them as more entrepreneurial and closer to Thomas Jefferson's vision of limited government. Recently, Tom Cox , running in the GOP primary against conservative state Rep. Brett Hildabrand , of Shawnee, visited Stevermer and talked about education funding. Stevermer told him, "Maybe we should look at administrative costs of running the schools." Other voters expressed similar sentiments. Cox stressed that he would look for ways to make state government more efficient and considers himself fiscally conservative. Hildabrand is running both on his conservative voting record and as a supporter of local schools. The state's aid to its 286 school districts exceeds $4 billion a year more than half of the tax dollars it collects and Hildabrand contends an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars isn't required. He said voters don't see legislators or candidates as anti-education for holding that view. Conservatives in Johnson County also bolster their argument that legislators adequately fund schools by pointing to their local schools. The Shawnee Mission district , with nearly 28,000 students, provides MacBook Air laptops to all middle and high schoolers and iPads to every elementary school student starting in kindergarten. High school sophomores can enroll in a culinary arts program that has its own bistro. Both it and the neighboring Blue Valley district , with more than 22,000 students, have advanced programs for students aspiring to careers in medicine or engineering. Such examples prompt Dan Kirton, an ex-Marine and grandfather from Shawnee, to ask, "Is the sky falling?" Yet Kirton acknowledged feeling that the state is on the wrong course. There's also no denying some parents' concerns about what the future holds for their children's schools amid the state's financial problems. Amber Clark said her parent-teacher association at Prairijdhe Elementary in Overland Park raised about $60,000 during the last school year to ensure that teachers had enough aides and that speech therapy was available for students like her 7-year-old son, Oscar. "Every year, we seem to be losing a little," she said. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna Former governor, WWII ambassador to Britain getting his due CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Publicly, John Gilbert Winant was a three-term New Hampshire governor, the first leader of the Social Security Administration and U.S. ambassador to Britain during World War II. Privately, he battled depression and massive debt. He shot himself just as his memoirs were about to be published in 1947. Winant, who died at age 58, faded into obscurity until recent years, when a group formed in New Hampshire to raise money for a statue. Its members and other community leaders believe the stigma around Winant's suicide kept him out of New Hampshire schoolchildren's lessons and books. They hope the statue will encourage more discussion about his commitment to labor and social issues, his spirit of bipartisanship, his role during the war, and a better recognition of mental health problems. FILE - In this Nov. 23, 1944 file photo, former New Hampshire Governor and U.S. Ambassador to Britain, John Winant, left, and Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill stand at attention while the National Anthem is played during the Great Thanksgiving Day celebration to America at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Winant, who died at age 58, faded into obscurity until recent years, when a group formed in New Hampshire to raise money for a bronze statue of him. (AP Photo/File) "I hope it allows us to finally have an adult conversation about mental suffering that we've never had," said John Broderick, a former state Supreme Court chief justice and part of a new statewide project on mental health awareness. Broderick's own son, whose signs of mental illness went unnoticed for years, attacked him in 2002 and went to prison before getting help. Broderick said he believes that if Winant had died of, say, heart disease, many more people would have heard of him. Broderick and others learned about Winant after reading a 2010 book, "Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour" by Lynne Olson. It profiled him, broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and diplomat Averell Harriman. As governor before and during the Great Depression, Winant, a Republican, successfully advocated for a minimum-wage bill; an emergency credit act allowing the state to guarantee debts of local governments; and a commission that led to the creation of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, which promotes the creation of art. He successfully intervened in a national textile workers strike at the request of Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt. He handed out change to people in need. He also tried to help people get jobs. Bill Dunlap, head of the New Hampshire Historical Society, said one of them was his grandfather, who told Winant about how he lost his job at a farm supplies company. Winant found him a state government position. Winant was considered a potential Republican presidential candidate, but his support for Roosevelt's New Deal policies, including Social Security, ended those discussions. Roosevelt appointed Winant to replace Joseph Kennedy as ambassador in 1941. Winant helped strengthen former Prime Minister Churchill's relationship with Roosevelt. Winant also was very popular among the British people. As Germany bombed London, Winant offered help in the streets. He was ambassador for five years, then saw his and Roosevelt's aspirations for a unified postwar world "evaporating before his eyes" amid the Cold War, said Richard Hesse, a University of New Hampshire School of Law professor emeritus. When Roosevelt died in 1945, Winant's political life was "essentially over," and his health worsened, he said. The bronze statue, to be dedicated next spring, is being created by Missouri artist J. Brett Grill, whose statue of President Gerald Ford is in the U.S. Capitol. It shows Winant with hat and coat in hand, inviting passers-by to join him on a bench. Democratic state Rep. Steve Shurtleff of Concord, project leader, said some money will go toward scholarships. "We want to keep his name alive," he said. FILE - In this December 8, 1944 file photo, U.S. Ambassador to Britain John Winant arrives at the Embassy in London as Japan declares war. Years after his death a group from New Hampshire is raising money for a memorial on honor of Winant. (AP Photo/File) FILE - In this March 27, 1941 file photo, U.S. Ambassador John Winant, left, signs documents which gives the United States 99-year leases on British properties in the western hemisphere as Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England looks on in London. Winant, also a former New Hampshire governor is being honored in his state as a group works to have a bronze statue made in his honor. (AP Photo/File) For 8 summer nights, 2 starkly different visions of America WASHINGTON (AP) For eight summer nights, there were two starkly different visions of America. At Donald Trump's Republican convention, America was a nation spiraling into chaos and economic ruin. Immigrants were cast as criminals, or in some cases, potential terrorists. The government is rigged for the wealthy and powerful, almost past the point of repair. "I alone can fix it," Trump said as he accepted the GOP nomination in Cleveland. In this July 21, 2016 photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as he addresses delegates during the final day session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. For eight summer nights, there were two starkly different visions of America at the Republican and Democratic political conventions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) The Democratic convention in Philadelphia was a four-day rebuttal. "America needs every one of us to lend our energy, our talents, our ambition to making our nation better and stronger," Hillary Clinton said as she became the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party toward the White House. Clinton acknowledged Americans' economic and security anxieties, but she defended the country's greatness. Immigrants were celebrated at the Democratic gathering, including those brought to the country illegally as children. Government may be gridlocked, but it was also framed as a tool for protecting and providing opportunity for the marginalized. Amid a turbulent summer at home and abroad, Clinton is accusing Trump of trying to scare voters into taking a chance on a political novice. Trump says his Democratic rival was either ignoring or underestimating the scope of the problems. In just over three months, voters will decide whose vision they believe is right. The race is tight. That's a surprise to some Democrats who see Trump as glaringly unprepared for the presidency. And it's a relief to Republicans who believe Clinton is unacceptably corrupt and who feared Trump's unorthodox candidacy might deprive them an excellent chance to regain White House and cost them seats in the House and Senate. Vincent Fort, a Georgia state senator who attended the Democratic convention, hoped Clinton gave voters reasons to be optimistic about her ability to tackle the nation's pressing problems. "Just because you are optimistic doesn't mean you are burying your head in the sand," Fort said. "Being optimistic is saying we can solve these problems." But to Sam LeDoux, a 24-year-old Republican delegate from New Mexico, Trump's dour assessment of America more accurately reflects that "we're in a very dark time right now." That the nation is divided is hardly a revelation. Politics has become more polarized in recent years, with Democrats growing more liberal and Republicans growing more conservative. When President Barack Obama carried about 53 percent of the popular vote in 2008, his victory was seen as sweeping and decisive. But the gulf between Clinton and Trump, and those who support them, feels deeper than in most elections. It's reflected in the tone and temperament of their campaigns, the backgrounds of the voters they're courting and the policies they're promising to enact. Clinton has pledged to introduce a comprehensive immigration overhaul during her first 100 days in office. Trump has said he would design a border wall with Mexico within that same stretch. She wants to expand restrictions for gun purchases. He has said he would prevent efforts to do just that. Clinton has spent decades in the political arena, including as secretary of state and a senator from New York. Trump, a real estate mogul, never served in government. He needs white, working-class voters particularly men to rally around his candidacy in historic numbers. She needs to recreate Obama's coalition of blacks, Hispanics and women. The parade of speakers at each convention, as well as the delegates in the arenas, hammered home those differences. Clinton was backed by every corner of the Democratic establishment she's long been a part of, with rousing endorsements from the president and first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, her primary rival. But some of Sanders' most fervent backers refused to accept his endorsement of Clinton, and they said even after her acceptance speech that they would not to vote for her. Neither of the living Republican presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush attended the GOP gathering or endorsed Trump. Several Republican senators and governors skipped the Cleveland gathering, using an array of excuses to do so. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's toughest primary opponent, did speak at the convention, but stubbornly refused to endorse the businessman in a stunning display of party disunity. The crowd in Cleveland was a sea of white voters, and the overwhelming number of speakers were white. The Democratic delegates were more diverse, reflecting in particular the party's strength with African-Americans. Several immigrants took the stage, including a Medal of Honor recipient, and Khizr Khan, an American Muslim who spoke movingly about his son, who died while serving in the military in Iraq. It's too soon to know whether or how the events of the past two week will shake the results of the election. Clinton's convention was widely praised as the more polished and professional operation. After Khan's address and speeches by military leaders, some Republicans fretted that Democrats had more successfully embraced the patriotic themes that have been hallmarks of Republican campaigns and conventions. But Trump has hardly suffered during this campaign for struggling with political traditions. And if Clinton doesn't get a boost after four days of validations from Democrats' most popular stars, it could be a troubling sign for her presidential hopes. _ Associated Press writers Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC 45-foot ship to tell story of the American Revolution PHILADELPHIA (AP) Visitors to the birthplace of America can soon climb aboard a life-size Revolutionary era privateer ship in the heart of the city's historic district, while staying firmly planted on land. Builders working with the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia are crafting half of a ship which at 45 feet can still impress in scope and scale to invite visitors to learn a lesser known story of the Revolution through the lesser known 14-year-old James Forten. The ship will act as one of the museum's primary immersive exhibits, explore maritime involvement in the Revolution and highlight Forten, a free African-American boy who served on a privateer ship and later became a prominent abolitionist and wealthy Philadelphia businessman. The museum is set to open in April just two blocks from Independence Hall. In a Wednesday, July 13, 2016 photo, Dave Dormond and India Gilham-Westerman work on a replica of a privateer ship for the Museum of the American Revolution, at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The Museum of the American Revolution will feature one-half of a life-sized privateer ship as a primary immersive exhibit when it opens next year, blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) R. Scott Stephenson, museum vice president of collections, exhibitions and programming, said Forten "represents a founding generation" that spans ethnicities, backgrounds and ages. Philadelphia's Penn's Landing was one of the major maritime ports during the Revolution, but Stephenson said "many don't know African-American men and white men fought side by side on ships, and that they were probably the most integrated places in the (war) effort." So, to help the public learn more about the war effort and allow them to easily walk aboard a Revolutionary era boat, the museum asked for a ship that wouldn't float. Building such a ship was a bit counterintuitive for experienced shipwright Mark Donahue. "We're building a boat that won't float. It kind of messes around with our minds some of the time," said Donahue, director of the Workshop of the Water at the Independence Seaport Museum. Donahue led some 20 people tasked with crafting the $175,000 replica in a nearly yearlong process. About one-thousand pieces will be transferred to the museum in August to reassemble the ship on site. The exhibit will have an accessible ramp and builders will outfit the ship with lights to create the illusion of water and a speaker system to surround the exhibit with sounds of people working on a privateer ship. Stephenson said the museum's exhibits will create a "connecting narrative" for historic pieces spread across Philadelphia and the nation, a narrative that is often lost, he said. "Nowadays probably the most important single thing we can do is get people to believe any of this really happened," he said. Stephenson said the ship exhibit centered on Forten's story and the museum's artifacts will explore "one of the great unfinished aspects of the American Revolution: making the promise of equality apply to all people." In a Wednesday, July 13, 2016 photo, Mark Donohue speaks about a replica of a privateer ship being constructed for the Museum of the American Revolution, at the Independence Seaport Museum during an interview with The Associated Press in Philadelphia.The Museum of the American Revolution will feature one-half of a life-sized privateer ship as a primary immersive exhibit when it opens next year, blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) In a Wednesday, July 13, 2016 photo, Mark Donohue works in front of a replica of a privateer ship being constructed for the Museum of the American Revolution, at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The Museum of the American Revolution will feature one-half of a life-sized privateer ship as a primary immersive exhibit when it opens next year, blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) In a Wednesday, July 13, 2016 photo, the ribs of a replica of a privateer ship being constructed for the Museum of the American Revolution are show at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The Museum of the American Revolution will feature one-half of a life-sized privateer ship as a primary immersive exhibit when it opens next year, blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) In a Wednesday, July 13, 2016 photo, Dave Dormond works on a hatch on a replica of a privateer ship being constructed for the Museum of the American Revolution, at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The Museum of the American Revolution will feature one-half of a life-sized privateer ship as a primary immersive exhibit when it opens next year, blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) George Takei calls Donald Trump to task, in Spanish LOS ANGELES (AP) George Takei is speaking out against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, and he's doing it in Spanish. In an English-subtitled video that's drawn more than 12 million views in less than two weeks online, the "Star Trek" actor compares Trump's proposed deportation of undocumented Latino immigrants to the World War II internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans, including Takei and his family. "I'm addressing this to my Spanish-speaking fans and their friends," he says in the four-minute video. "I want to give some personal, historical context on how Donald Trump's words and plans can have very real and terrible consequences." FILE - In this March 15, 2016 file photo, actor George Takei attends the premiere of "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures" in Los Angeles. Takei is speaking out against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, and he's doing it in Spanish in an English-subtitled video that's drawn more than 12 million views in less than two weeks online.(Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision/AP, File) It's painful history for Takei, who was 5 years old when he and his family were removed from their Los Angeles home and eventually sent to a camp in Arkansas. The West Coast relocation was part of the federal government's response after Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. "It was my parents who heard the sounds we are hearing today from Donald Trump, the sweeping statements he makes characterizing and stereotyping a whole group of people," Takei said in an interview. "My father lost his business and we lost our home and our freedom. With no charges, to be locked up, imprisoned." Decades later, a federal law authorized reparations of $20,000 each for surviving detainees, who also received a formal government apology. Takei said he learned Spanish growing up with Mexican-American neighbors in East Los Angeles, a connection that he said makes Trump's comments all the more difficult. Nonprofit's ID cards get recognition from police, immigrants HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) More than 200 people with no legal U.S. identification crammed into a North Carolina church on a recent Wednesday night to become part of an ID program created by immigration activists in partnership with police -- one community's response to a pressing issue for immigrants and officers alike. With no ID, even commonplace transactions like cashing a check or visiting a health clinic may become impossible. And for police, stopping a person with no ID can mean a simple interaction suddenly becomes punitive. Esperanza Moreno, an illegal immigrant who lives in Durham, said people without IDs are frightened by reports of violence between officers and minorities they have seen on the news. In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 Esperanza Moreno, left, listens carefully during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. Moreno, of Durham, was one of more than 200 people with no legal U.S. identification learning how to use their new $10 ID cards to communicate with police. The FaithAction ID program has issued more than 7,000 ID cards, recognized by police and some local organizations in 16 cities and 9 counties. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) "We don't have the culture to know what to do when police stop you," she said as she waited in line for her photo to be taken. The initiative began three years ago, after officials from the Greensboro-based interfaith immigration advocacy group FaithAction International House began talking with police about building bridges to the immigrant and minority communities. They came up with FaithAction ID cards, in conjunction with meetings to help the police and immigrants talk with one another. The nonprofit group issues the cards, which show a photo, full name, address, date of birth, country of origin and date of expiration. Participants must attend a meeting with police, where officers can explain checkpoints, traffic stops and address concerns about profiling to a group that often lives in shadows. "Officers do have a job to do, and we as leaders expect them to do it respectfully and compassionately," Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue told the crowd. "If any officer asks you to stay in the car, please stay in the car. If any officer asks you to step out of the car, please step out of the car. We know that's scary." To obtain or renew an ID, people pay $10, bring a passport or national ID and a proof of address and sit for a photo. Once the information has been vetted by FaithAction workers and attorneys, participants receive the photo ID in about two weeks. They aren't government IDs and can't substitute for driver's licenses, but officers say they can minimize complications during traffic stops or crime reports by confirming people are who they say they are and live where they say they live. Local ID programs aimed at immigrant, homeless and ex-felons have emerged in major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, since New Haven, Connecticut, created the first in 2007. North Carolina's model is gaining recognition among community organizers, because it is run by a nonprofit, rather than a government, and was launched with a meager $5,000 budget. FaithAction trains other community groups to host the drives in their regions, said program founder, the Rev. David Fraccaro. The program has issued more than 7,000 ID cards that are recognized by law enforcement, some health centers, schools, businesses and cultural organizations in 16 cities and 9 counties. The FaithAction ID network has earned praise from North Carolina law enforcement and national recognition from advocacy groups in other major U.S. cities looking to emulate the model. Cincinnati, Ohio, city leaders agreed this spring to accept nonprofit IDs from Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati, a group of 17 religious organizations that worked closely with FaithAction to build the program. Fraccaro and FaithAction representatives were also called to Houston last month to discuss the program with community organizations and immigration advocates. Laura Perez-Boston from Texas Organizing Project said the city might not have the means or political appetite for a municipal ID program, but leaders are considering "the Greensboro model." Nevertheless, opponents in North Carolina's GOP-dominated General Assembly want to shut down the FaithAction ID program. They think the cards represent local governments slackening immigration regulations in defiance of state law, and invite non-citizens to take advantage of the state's Medicaid, justice system and job markets. Last year the General Assembly banned most government officials from accepting the FaithAction cards. A narrow exception was left for law enforcement, but the IDs' expanding popularity brought renewed attempts to eliminate them this year. Those efforts never won enough support. Rep. George Cleveland, R -Onslow, who brought the bill and has backed tighter immigration policies, said he will return with legislation to eliminate the ID program again next year. "It's an easy 'out' for law enforcement," Cleveland said. "I'm not here to make someone's job easier. We're here a country of laws." Some police say the cards help immigrants work within the law. The cards help victims report crimes without fear they will be arrested alongside the criminals for not having an ID, said Greensboro Police Capt. Mike Richey. Ana Gomez of Durham obtained her card in June and said she has used it at a county health clinic, a bank and when she was stopped by a police officer for speeding. "It's not like we don't trust them, it's like you don't trust yourself when you talk to them," Gomez said. Fraccaro said every day brings new reasons to support a program like the ID cards. "You open up that paper on any given day you'll see bad news about immigration, bad news about police-minority relationships," Fraccaro said. "This innovative, effective program is making a pretty significant difference on two of the most heated and complex issues in the United States." In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 applicants have their photo taken during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. The FaithAction ID program has issued more than 7,000 ID cards, recognized by police and some local organizations in 16 cities and 9 counties. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 members of the Hispanic community gather during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. The FaithAction ID program has issued more than 7,000 ID cards, recognized by police and some local organizations in 16 cities and 9 counties. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 volunteer Bonnie Hauser directs people with a note written in Spanish on her hand which reads "Downstairs and to the right," during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. The FaithAction ID program has issued more than 7,000 ID cards, recognized by police and some local organizations in 16 cities and 9 counties. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 Miguel Davila, left, distributes numbers during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. More than 200 people with no legal U.S. identification gathered to learn how to use their new $10 ID cards to communicate with police. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 members of the Hispanic community gather during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. More than 200 people with no legal U.S. identification gathered to learn how to use their new $10 ID cards to communicate with police. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 local law enforcement officers speak with members of the Hispanic community during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. More than 200 people with no legal U.S. identification gathered to learn how to use their new $10 ID cards to communicate with police. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 members of the Hispanic community gather during a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. More than 200 people with no legal U.S. identification gathered to learn how to use their new $10 ID cards to communicate with police. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) In this photo taken Wednesday, July 13, 2016 instructions are relayed in Spanish during a presentation while attending a Faith Action ID drive at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough, N.C. The FaithAction ID program has issued more than 7,000 ID cards, recognized by police and some local organizations in 16 cities and 9 counties. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) One person was killed and two people were seriously injured Saturday when a tourist bus skidded off the road and into a ravine in Norway, police and a rescue official said. The accident happened in the mountains and fjords near the city of Aalesund, 340 miles northwest of Oslo, Norway's capital. The bus was en route to Trollstigen, a steep road with a dozen of hairpin turns that leads to the Geirangerfjord, one of Norway's most visited tourist sites, when it fell into a ravine, rescue spokesman Tor Ivar Sjaastad. The wreckage of a bus is seen in Valldal, near Geiranger, on the south west coast of Norway that saw one person killed The Ukraine Foreign Ministry has said that the bus had 41 tourists from Ukraine on board, and that between eight and ten people were injured, with one person killed. The Norwegian newspaper VG posted a photo of a white bus lying upside down with rescue personnel next to it. The newspaper said it had fallen 20ft into a ravine. Police, who confirmed there had been one casualty, said on Twitter it was 'a foreign tourist bus' carrying approximately 40 people but did not provide further details. Norwegian media said the bus was from Ukraine. The accident came on a steep road with a dozen of hairpin turns that leads to the Geirangerfjord, one of Norway's most visited tourist sites Sjaastad said other passengers had been rescued from the bus and the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals. He could not say how many were injured. Tunisian lawmakers pass no confidence vote, firing PM TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) Tunisia's parliament passed a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid on Saturday, effectively disbanding the government of the U.S.-trained agricultural economist. The no-confidence motion was passed by 118 votes, easily crossing the country's 109-vote threshold after a debate that stretched late into the night. Although the result was expected Essid had faced criticism from across Tunisia's political spectrum the vote was a mark of the instability which has bedeviled the North African country since it kicked off a wave of pro-democracy rebellions across the Arab world in 2011. Parliament President Mohamed Ennaceur told lawmakers that Tunisia was "living through a difficult situation that demands sacrifices from all" and added that "we must now look to the future to return hope to all Tunisians." FILE- In this Sept. 27, 2015, file photo, Habib Essid, Head of Government of Tunisia, addresses the 2015 Sustainable Development Summit at United Nations headquarters. Tunisia's parliament passed a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Habib Essid on Saturday, July 30, effectively disbanding the government of the U.S.-trained agricultural economist. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) Unlike fellow Arab countries such as Egypt, Yemen Syria and Libya whose revolts have degenerated into coups or anarchic civil conflicts Tunisia has maintained its parliamentary democracy in the face of jihadi attacks, inflation, and stubbornly high unemployment rates. But the difficulties have steadily sapped the authority of Essid, whose position has also been undermined by political maneuvering within Tunisia's secular Nida Tounis party and pressure from the country's president, Beji Caid Essebsi, who called for a new national unity government last month. Essid said that he would do his best to make sure the transition to the new government was a tranquil one. Despite fierce criticism of his government during an extraordinary parliamentary session, he said that the debate "consecrated Tunisia's nascent democracy." "Despite the serious problems our country faces, we have no fear for Tunisia which has the resources to face up to the challenges," he said, before being given a standing ovation by the lawmakers who'd ousted him. Constitutional law expert Nawfel Saied said that the no confidence vote, although unprecedented in the country's short history with democracy, was actually a positive point. Similar mechanisms exist in other parliamentary democracies, he said. He suggested the move could result in a more prominent role for the more religiously oriented Ennahda party, which currently has the largest number of seats in parliament following defections and splits within Nida Tounis. That's because Essebsi now has a month to pick a new prime minister, who in turn has a month to appoint a cabinet which has to be presented to parliament. Saints' blood and bones inspire Catholic pilgrims in Poland KRAKOW, Poland (AP) Relics of saints aren't rare in Krakow, especially these days. Embedded in a gray memorial stone, a story below the altar where Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Saturday in a shrine dedicated to St. John Paul II, is a glass bubble filled with blood drawn from the Polish pontiff shortly before his death in 2005. The round, transparent vial of blood is just one of several relics of John Paul in this southern Polish city where he served as a cardinal before becoming the first-ever Polish pontiff in 1978. Relics of late Pope John Paul II lie in the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Embedded in a gray memorial stone, a story below the altar where Pope Francis celebrated Mass Saturday in a shrine dedicated to St. John Paul II, is a glass bubble, filled with blood taken by doctors from the Polish pontiff shortly before his death in 2005. (AP Photo/Frances D'Emilio) Here are some of the more popular saints' relics currently or permanently in and around Krakow, which is hosting a Catholic youth event this week drawing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. JOHN PAUL II In the Church of the Relics, the lower of two churches in the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II that lies on a hill overlooking some shopping centers, is the container of blood drawn from him during medical care in the final weeks of his life in Rome. His longtime aide, and now Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, asked doctors to give him a vial of the blood. Other relics of the saint in the chapel include his pectoral cross, as well as a tunic he wore the day a gunman shot him, wounding him critically, on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. ___ MARY MAGDALENE Some relics now in Krakow are on loan, like those from a French church of Mary Magdalene, a cherished model of mercy for the current pontiff, who thinks the world now needs more of that quality. The figure of this woman, which popular tradition holds was a prostitute, is climbing in esteem with Pope Francis, who sees her as a compassionate, enthusiastic evangelizer. Dominican priests at a church in France where part of her tibia bone is kept accompanied her relics to St. Casimir church in Krakow earlier this month. A recent Vatican decree has "upgraded" how the church remembers the woman whose life inspired a song in the hit musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." Mary Magdalene now is honored with the same level of liturgical feast day reserved for the apostles. Francis is particularly struck by how Mary Magdalene stood by Jesus when other disciples were deserting him, and was the first, on Easter morning according to Scripture, to whom Jesus appeared. According to Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, there is no real basis in the Gospels to conclude she was a prostitute. He says that erroneous conclusion was made because her name is mentioned in the Gospel close on the heels of an unrelated reference to a "noted sinner" who bathed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Pilgrim Nounella Blanchedent from French Guadeloupe found the Mary Magdalene relics helped her to pray. "You can focus better on the prayer. You can focus better on your thoughts. She brings you closer to God," the 27-year-old pilgrim said as a priest celebrated a Mass in French to a packed church. ___ FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Practically down the block from John Paul II's relics in Krakow are bones of a 20th-century Polish nun and mystic, FaustIna Kowalska. A Polish farmer's daughter who became a nun, Kowalska wrote down in a diary visions she reported having of Jesus speaking to her about the need to spread the idea of Divine Mercy, along with her "conversations" with God. In a chapel with her name at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy, a small writing desk contains bones from the saint, who died in 1938 of tuberculosis, while another small relic is placed on a marble kneeler before the altar. John Paul II made her a saint in 2000, and in 2002, during his last voyage to Poland, dedicated the light-filled Basilica of Divine Mercy, three years before his own death. ____ Frances D'Emilio is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio Relics of late Pope John Paul II lie in the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Embedded in a gray memorial stone, a story below the altar where Pope Francis celebrated Mass Saturday in a shrine dedicated to St. John Paul II, is a glass bubble, filled with blood taken by doctors from the Polish pontiff shortly before his death in 2005. (AP Photo/Frances D'Emilio) Pope Francis, center, celebrates a Mass at the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II, in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. Francis is taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of young Catholics, during his five-day visit to Poland. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) Pope Francis celebrates a Mass at the Saint John Paul II Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Nuns attend a M2ass celebrated by Pope Francis at the Saint John Paul II Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) The Latest: Suspect in Seattle-area shooting booked MUKILTEO, Washington (AP) The Latest on a shooting at a gathering of young adults in suburban Seattle (all times local): 2:25 p.m. A 19-year-old man suspected of killing three people and wounding a fourth at a small party in the Seattle suburb of Mukilteo early Saturday has been booked into the Snohomish County Jail. An investigator works at the scene of a multiple murder in the Chenault Beach neighborhood of Mukilteo, Wash., Saturday July 30, 2016. A suspect was apprehended three counties away, said Officer Myron Travis of the Mukilteo Police Department. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP) The jail's roster shows that Allen Christopher Ivanov is being held for investigation of three counts of murder, including one count of aggravated murder. He has not been charged. It was not immediately known if Ivanov had obtained an attorney. He is expected to be arraigned Monday. Victor Balta, a spokesman for the University of Washington, said a student matching that name and age has been enrolled at the university's campus in nearby Bothell, where he was going into his sophomore year. ___ 2 p.m. Police in suburban Seattle say a 19-year-old man suspected of killing three people and wounding a fourth at a small party early Saturday is expected to be booked into jail soon for investigation of murder. Officer Myron Travis, a spokesman for the Mukilteo Police Department, did not release the suspect's name during a Saturday afternoon news briefing. It's expected that the man will face an arraignment Monday morning. The authorities released little in the way of new details about the shooting, saying they were protecting the integrity of the investigation. Travis said the names of the victims would not be released until their identities are confirmed by the medical examiner and their families are notified. Mayor Jennifer Gregerson says a vigil is planned for 7 p.m. Sunday. ___ 9:40 a.m. A woman says her granddaughter hid in a closet to escape a gunman who killed three people and injured a fourth at a gathering of young adults in suburban Seattle. Susan Gemmer says 18-year-old Alexis Gemmer was hanging out with friends from Kamiak High School at a home in Mukilteo early Saturday when a young man showed up with a rifle. Susan Gemmer tells The Associated Press that according to her granddaughter, the gunman shot two people at a fire pit before going onto a roof and firing more shots from there. Gemmer says the young man who lived at the home tried to lead her granddaughter to safety by running out a garage door, but as he exited the garage, the gunman shot at him. He made it across the street to safety, but Alexis Gemmer ran back inside and hid in a closet, from where she called and texted her grandmother. Gemmer says the shooter and one of the victims had recently broken up. ___ 3:24 a.m. City officials say a shooting has left three people dead and another person hurt in Mukilteo, Washington, about 25 miles north of Seattle, and that a suspect has been taken into custody. The city, on its Twitter feed, said it was sad to report three fatalities in the Chennault neighborhood. It said the injured person was transported to Harborview Medical Center with unknown injuries. The city tweeted that a suspect has been apprehended in Lewis County. Police did not immediately release additional details about the shooting or the suspect. The city says a reunification center has been established at a local church for parents and relatives. The Latest: Wounded San Diego officer alert after shooting SAN DIEGO (AP) The Latest on a shooting that killed a San Diego police officer and wounded another (all times local): 12:50 p.m. A San Diego policeman who survived a shooting that killed his partner is awake, but investigators have yet to interview him. San Diego Police SWAT officers break out windows as they enter a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman says Wade Irwin is still on track Saturday to make a full recovery, two days after the gang unit officer was wounded in a gunbattle. His partner, 16-year veteran Jonathan DeGuzman, was killed. The suspect was critically wounded. Zimmerman, who visited Irwin at the hospital, says police haven't determined whether the shooting was premeditated. She says investigators have reviewed video from police body camera footage. However, she didn't elaborate. A second man was arrested on a warrant near the shooting scene, but the chief says investigators haven't yet determined if he was involved. ___ 9:49 a.m. San Diego's mayor and police chief will answer questions Saturday at the hospital where a wounded officer is recovering after a gunbattle that killed his partner. The suspected shooter was critically wounded in the Thursday night confrontation in a southeastern neighborhood. A second man described only as a potential suspect was later arrested on an unrelated warrant. The shooting started after gang detail Officers Jonathan DeGuzman and Wade Irwin stopped someone on the street, but details haven't been released. Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman will be answering media questions at noon at Scripps Mercy Hospital, where Wade is being treated. He's expected to recover. San Diego Police SWAT officers prepare to enter house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers prepare to enter house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers surround a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016, in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) San Diego Police SWAT officers walk around to the back side of a house with a possible suspect inside Friday, July 29, 2016 in San Diego. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) Judge refuses to dismiss sex suit against Derrick Rose LOS ANGELES (AP) A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging New York Knicks player Derrick Rose and two friends drugged and gang-raped a woman. On Wednesday, federal Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald said a jury must decide whether to believe Rose's contention that the woman, a former lover, consented to group sex at her home in 2013. The case could now go to trial in October, when Knicks training camp gets underway. Messages left for Rose's agent, B.J. Armstrong, were not immediately returned Saturday. According to court records, the woman had been drinking at Rose's Beverly Hills, California, home, and a friend helped her return home, where she vomited and fell asleep. The woman's $21.5 million sexual battery lawsuit contends that Rose and the other two defendants entered her apartment the next morning and raped her. The woman believes that an unknown drug was slipped into her drink at Rose's home, and she "did not do any pregnancy tests or a rape kit because she was terribly ashamed and embarrassed," according to her lawsuit. Rose has denied the allegations, and his lawyer has labeled the lawsuit an extortion attempt. Defense court filings contend that the woman consented to the sex acts, invited the men to her apartment and buzzed them in through security. In denying Rose's request to toss out the lawsuit, the judge said Rose's version of events "could well convince a reasonable jury," but there was substantial disagreement over the facts and a jury also could conclude the opposite. Dozens rally for Utah man jailed in Venezuela SALT LAKE CITY (AP) More than 100 people in Salt Lake City voiced their support at a rally Saturday for the family of an American jailed in Venezuela. The crowd gathered on the front steps of the Utah State Capitol and said a prayer for Josh Holt, causing his mother to break down crying. Laurie Holt held the demonstration in hopes of drawing attention to her son's case. Several people held signs with messages including "Free Josh and "Bring Him Home." Others wore T-shirts that said "Justice for Josh." There were also photographs of Josh Holt on display. Laurie Holt, the mother of Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, cries during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt hosted the rally in hopes of drawing attention to her son's case. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) His father, Jason Holt, called for the U.S. to help end the "waiting game" that his family has endured since the arrest a month ago. "My message was with the elections going on, this isn't something that's bipartisan," Jason Holt said after the rally ended. "This is something where the government needs to unite and get a Riverton man, an American citizen, out of Venezuela." Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed June 30. According to Jason Holt, their son had kidney stones and breathing problems, but he has yet to be taken to a hospital. "I don't know if he's gotten better or gotten worse," Jason Holt said. Josh Holt, 24, was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. They had planned to return to the U.S. Venezuela authorities contend Josh Holt was using his wife's apartment to stockpile weapons. Venezuelan prosecutors have charged Holt and Thamara Caleno with possessing weapons of war and said they found an assault rifle and a grenade at her home. Interior Minister Gustavo Gonzalez called Holt by the supposed alias "the gringo" during televised remarks earlier this month and described him as a "trained gunman" with a pilot's license who is adept at using technology. Although scant on details, he questioned the legality of a marriage license the couple obtained in Caracas. Gonzalez stopped short of accusing Holt of spying, but he suggested his case was linked to other unspecified attempts by the U.S. to undermine President Nicolas Maduro's rule during a period of deep economic and political turbulence. Venezuela is in the midst of a severe crisis marked by widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation that Maduro almost daily blames on an economic war being waged by his opponents. Josh Holt is among 12 U.S. citizens jailed there. Holt's mother, Laurie Holt, said members of her family like to hunt, and her son once took flight classes while in high school. But she said he was never certified as a pilot and doesn't know how to operate a plane. She believes the weapons found with him were planted. Holt had returned to his home in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, in January after a two-year mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington state. He learned to speak Spanish while working with Hispanic immigrants during his time there, his mother said. She said her son met Caleno through the internet when he went looking for a Spanish-speaking Mormons to help polish his Spanish, and the couple fell in love during their sessions online. U.S. officials in Caracas have met with Holt behind bars, and they say he hasn't been mistreated. ___ Associated Press photographer Rick Bowmer contributed to this report. Laurie Holt, right, the mother of Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, is comforted by family friend Lori Fitch, left, as she cries during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt hosted the rally in hopes of drawing attention to her son's case. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Laurie Holt, right, the mother of Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, is comforted by family friend Lori Fitch, left, as she cries during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt hosted the rally in hopes of drawing attention to her son's case. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) People hold signs during a rally for Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Laurie Holt, right, the mother of Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, is comforted by a family member, left, as she cries during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt hosted the rally in hopes of drawing attention to her son's case. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Family photographs of Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, are shown during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) A woman holds a photograph of Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) People show their support for Josh Holt, an American jailed in Venezuela, during a rally at the Utah State Capitol Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Laurie Holt says her son was mistakenly accused, and has lost weight and gotten sick since he was jailed nearly a month ago. More than 100 rallied at the Utah State Capitol. Josh Holt was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges after he traveled to Venezuela on a tourist visa to marry a fellow Mormon he met on the internet. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Justice Department to review fatal Arizona police shooting PHOENIX (AP) The U.S. Justice Department announced this week it will investigate the fatal shooting of a Navajo woman by an Arizona police officer. The Civil Rights Division will review the local investigation into the March 27 shooting death of Loreal Tsingine (SIN'-uh-jin-ee), Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said Friday. He declined to comment further. Tribal officials and activists have been urging federal officials to look into the treatment of American Indians in towns that border the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation Council said Saturday it was elated at the Justice Department's decision. "Navajo Nation Council members unanimously supported a resolution requesting for a federal investigation, so we wholeheartedly support the USDOJ's decision," the council said in a statement. The outcry comes amid a wave of demonstrations and racial tensions throughout the U.S. over fatal police shootings of black men as well as deadly attacks on law enforcement officers. Andrew Curley, an activist with The Red Nation who has organized several protests over the Winslow shooting, called the federal investigation "welcoming news." "Again, it's unclear the dimensions of the investigation. Whether or not that includes looking into Austin Shipley's conduct and determining whether or not he's criminally liable for the killing of Loreal Tsingine, that's something we're hoping still comes out of the investigation," Curley said. Maricopa County prosecutors announced last week that Officer Austin Shipley would not be charged. According to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, his office found no evidence of criminal conduct. Shipley was responding to a shoplifting at a convenience store when he shot 27-year-old Tsingine on a nearby sidewalk. The video from his body camera showed that the encounter with Tsingine lasted less than 30 seconds. Shipley is seen on the video trying to restrain Tsingine, and she falls to the ground. Tsingine gets up, and the video shows her walking quickly back toward Shipley with the pair of scissors in her left hand, pointed down. She apparently yells at Shipley as he raises his gun and opens fire. It's unclear from the video what Tsingine and Shipley said to each other during the confrontation because the video of the events just before the shooting and the shooting itself had no audio, city attorney Ellen Van Riper said. In a summary of the encounter, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said its investigation concluded that Tsingine refused commands from Shipley for her to stop resisting, get on the ground and drop the scissors. Witnesses confirmed that Shipley issued the commands, the department said. The full investigative report is expected to be released next week by Winslow officials. Documents previously released by Winslow officials show that two officers who trained Shipley had serious concerns about his work and that one of them recommended he should not serve the city as an officer. Tsingine had a lengthy arrest record, including an incident last year when she allegedly tried to grab an officer's gun as he tried to arrest her. Her relatives have filed a $10.5 million notice of claim against the city, saying Shipley violated Tsingine's civil rights and that Winslow was negligent in "hiring, training, retaining, controlling and supervising" Shipley. The wrongful-death claim filed this month is a precursor to a lawsuit and seeks $2 million for Tsingine's husband and $8.5 million for her 8-year-old daughter. Puerto Rico towns to share services, cut costs amid crisis SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Puerto Rico's governor has signed a bill letting the island's 78 municipal governments share administrative services as a cost-saving measure amid a deep fiscal crisis. The measure amends a 1991 law to let local governments set up agreements between two or more municipalities to cooperate on finance, public works and other areas, instead of each town having a department for each service. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said late Friday that it is expected to result in substantial savings. FILE - In this July 15, 2016 file photo, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla listens to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley speak during the National Governors Association meeting, in Des Moines, Iowa. Garcia Padilla signed a bill late Friday, July 29, 2016, letting the islands 78 municipal governments share administrative services as a cost-saving measure amid a deep fiscal crisis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) Athletes in Rio Olympics' refugee team carry flag for others RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Popole Misenga broke down crying for the family in Congo that he hasn't seen in 15 years, and for all the world's refugees who haven't been as lucky as he's been. Competing in judo, Misenga is one of 10 refugee athletes who will march as a team behind the white Olympic flag when the Rio de Janeiro Games open on Friday at the opening ceremony, a first for any Olympics. Misenga began to cry on Saturday as he told his story, which provided a rare upbeat moment in the difficult run-up to South America's first games. Members of the Refugee Olympic Team pose for a photo in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, July 30, 2016. A group of 10 athletes from South Sudan, Syria, Congo and Ethiopia will compete in Rio under the Olympic flag. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) "I have two brothers and I haven't seen them," explained Misenga, who has settled in Brazil. "I don't know how they look anymore because we were separated since we were small. So I send hugs and kisses to my brothers." Rubbing tears from his eyes, the 24-year-old athlete delivered a message for his family: "If you can see me on television now, you can see that your brother is here in Brazil and alive and well." Misenga, who hopes one day to afford to buy airplane tickets so his family can visit Brazil, said being on the refugee team means he's representing something bigger than his native country or national flag. "We're fighting for all the refugees in the world," he said. "I'm not sad that I'm not going to carry the flag of my country. I will carry a flag of many countries." Yolande Mabika also fled Congo, and is also a judo athlete. But she's in grief over losing her country. "I will raise the Olympic flag, but I'm a little bit sad in my heart and mind because I cannot march under the flag of my country," she said. She also cried as she described refugees as forgotten people. "Everybody in the world talks about the refugees having no major importance," she said. "We are going to show that the refugee is capable of doing everything that other people around the world do." The Olympic refugees are superb athletes, but no one expects a medal from them. But that's beside the point. "Their country was broken, but they have the spirit of humanity, the spirit of athletes," said Tegla Loroupe, the head of the delegation and a three-time Olympian from Kenya. Yusra Mardini was a competitive swimmer in Syria until she left Damascus with her sister a year ago and settled in Berlin. She said she still dreams of representing Syria, but also recognizes a bigger mission of "representing the biggest flag which is all countries." "We're going to represent you guys in a really good way," she said, speaking to other anonymous refugees. "I hope you're going to learn from our story: That you have to move on, because life will never stop for your problems." Fellow swimmer Rami Anis fled Syria five years to avoid being drafted into the army. He still talks of competing for his country of birth maybe at the next Olympics. "I am representing people who lost their rights, who suffered injustice," he said. "I hope in Tokyo in 2020 there will be no refugees and we will able to compete under our own flag." Misenga was even more upbeat. "We are not sad anymore, we are very happy," he said. "Now it's different." ___ Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wade Members of the Refugee Olympic Team pose for a photo in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, July 30, 2016. A group of 10 athletes from South Sudan, Syria, Congo and Ethiopia will compete in Rio under the Olympic flag. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) Refugees from South Sudan Paulo Amotun Lokoro, left, and Yiech Pur Biel, top center, athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team pose for selfies with tourists in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, July 30, 2016. A group of 10 athletes from South Sudan, Syria, Congo and Ethiopia will compete in Rio under the Olympic flag. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) Novak Djokovic beats Tomas Berdych to make sure of semi-final spot in Toronto Novak Djokovic booked his place in the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup with a straight sets victory over Tomas Berdych in Toronto. The world number one, seeking to win this competition for a fourth time, beat Berdych 7-6 6-4 in a match which lasted a little more than two hours. The decisive moment in the second set came in the third game when Berdych double-faulted at 40-15. The Czech appeared frustrated and soon after Djokovic had clinched the decisive break. Novak Djokovic, pictured, was too strong for Tomas Berdych in Toronto The Serbian will p lay Gael Monfils for a place in the final after the Frenchman ended the hopes of home hope Milos Raonic in Friday's final quarter-final tie. Monfils, the 10th seed, defeated fourth seed Raonic 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 12 minutes at the Aviva Centre. Earlier, second seed Stan Wawrinka produced a dominant win over Kevin Anderson, winning 6-1 6-3. Wawrinka, in his third consecutive Rogers Cup quarter-final, raced through the first set in just 30 minutes and although the u nseeded South African put up more of a fight in the second set, he was broken in the eighth game, allowing Wawrinka to take a 5-3 lead and serve out for the match. ''It was a really good match,'' Wawrinka told atpworldtour.com. ''I started really well from the first game. It showed me that I was ready, aggressive (and) moving really well. It's one of the best matches I have played this year, I think." The Swiss will face Kei Nishikori in the last four after the third seed ended the challenge of Grigor Dimitrov. Japan's Nishikori took the first set 6-3, but Dimitrov, the world number 40, hit back to win the second 6-3 and force the decider. Tower Bridge opens to welcome home Clipper Round the World race crews London's Tower Bridge has opened its gates to welcome home the 12-strong fleet of the biennial Clipper Round the World yacht race. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames and got in spectator boats to welcome home the crews as they ended an 11-month circumnavigation of the planet. Late on Friday night as darkness fell, the fleet crossed the official race finish line in Southend, after a 30-hour tightly-fought battle across 198 nautical miles of the North Sea. London's Tower Bridge opens its gates to welcome home the 12-strong fleet of the biennial Clipper Round the World yacht race. Derry-Londonderry-Doire won the leg which started in Den Helder, Netherlands, while LMAX Exchange bagged the overall race win - just four points ahead of second place. As the parade of sail procession meandered its way up the river on Saturday to mark the end of the race, the crew of the IchorCoal wore black armbands and painted their nails blue and green as a tribute to Andrew Ashman and Sarah Young who both died. Natasha Pettigrew, from Chiswick, London, who joined the boat in Seattle to sail back to the capital for the last two legs, said it was a "brilliant way" to remember their friends. "They are still very much part of the crew and this is our way of showing that they always will be," the 27-year-old said. Ms Young, 40, from London, died after being washed off the deck of the IchorCoal during the Pacific leg of the race in April. Her body was recovered by the crew and buried at sea. Mr Ashman, 49, from Kent, was killed in September last year after it is thought he was hit by the mainsheet and possibly the boom whilst racing off the coast of Portugal. His death was the first in the race's 20-year history. Keith Ashman, his brother, joined the IchorCoal off Southend Pier for the parade of sail into St Katharine Dock and through the iconic bridge. Placing 11th in the race overall, Lizzie Tricks, 49, from Dorset, described the IchorCoal crew, skippered by Rich Gould who took over the boat three months ago, as "like a family". The 29-year-old skipper from Wiltshire said it has been a "really rewarding" experience being aboard the IchorCoal. "My primary objective taking over the boat was obviously to bring it home safely back to London. "In a very close second to that was to give the guys a really enjoyable leg seven and eight - making sure there were lots of smiles and laughter. "I feel the morale amongst the crew is much higher now than it was and overall we are in a much better place as a team. "It was a very nice way to finish the race by having us in the top half of the fleet (fifth for the leg from Den Helder to London) and the best result the boat has achieved all the way around the world." Mr Ashman said despite the emotion of the day, parading up the Thames was "really enjoyable". "It was good to see the boat and experience a little bit of what it is like," he added. "It was very emotional coming in." He said the crew should be "really proud" of what they have achieved. To add to the difficult journey around the world for IchorCoal, last month Chris Drummond, from High Wycombe, was airlifted off the boat to hospital after suffering severe chest pains on the Atlantic leg of the race. There to greet the crew at St Katharine Dock, he told the Press Association: "The crew were fantastic and even the helicopter crew said the job done by the team getting me prepared was brilliant. "Rich and Davina, their medical care on the whole was amazing." Clipper Round the World race founder Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, 77, described the 10th edition of the biennial race as "extremely tough". As the first person to non-stop sail solo around the world in 1968-69, he said: "The conditions encountered in the Pacific were the worst we've seen in 20 years of running the race. "I am proud of all of the crew; they have taken on all the world's most challenging oceans and have been very resilient. "They should be justly proud of themselves - whether crossing a single ocean or circumnavigating the entire planet. "It is a remarkable achievement." The 12-strong fleet heads up the Thames Crew on the IchorCoal Yacht sail across the North Sea from the Netherlands to Southend Sun sets as the Clippers head home Tower Bridge opens its gates Crew on the IchorCoal Yacht sail across the North Sea. Heading up the Thames as the race draws to a close Crew on the IchorCoal Yacht John Stones 'professional' and 'very positive' - Everton assistant Erwin Koeman Everton assistant manager Erwin Koeman has praised the attitude of John Stones in the face of Manchester City's pursuit. City boss Pep Guardiola on Thursday confirmed his club were "going to try" to sign the 22-year-old England centre-back. There has been increased speculation about a reported 50million move but Stones, who played the last 11 minutes of the Toffees' penalty shoot-out defeat to Real Betis in Germany on Saturday and 69 minutes against Dynamo Dresden on Friday, has remained focused. Everton's wantaway defender John Stones, pictured, has been praised for his attitude by assistant manager Erwin Koeman "He is very positive," Erwin Koeman said post-match. "Of course we know the rumours. John is very positive in training. He does his job, so that's great. "It's very simple - he is a member of Everton. Top professionals don't show anything - they do their job. "They are professional and he is." Stones tried to force through a move to Chelsea last summer by handing in a transfer request and is understood to have told new manager Ronald Koeman of his desire to link up with Guardiola. The defender came on to replace Matthew Pennington, whose hamstring injury will be assessed when Everton return to England to prepare to face Manchester United in Wayne Rooney's testimonial at Old Trafford on Wednesday. IBM steps up efforts in fight against Zika July 27 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp said on Wednesday it would provide its technology and resources to help track the spread of the Zika virus. Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a leading research institution affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Health, plans to use IBM's technology to analyze information from official data about human travel patterns to anecdotal observations recorded on social media. Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus, which has caused a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas. IBM also said it plans to donate a one-year subscription feed of highly local, daily rainfall, average temperature and relative humidity data to the U.S. Fund for United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Rainfall, temperature and humidity play key roles in the development of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries Zika as well as dengue, chikungunya and Yellow Fever. IBM is also collaborating with the New York-based Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies to collect and mine biological and ecological data to help devise algorithms that can determine which primates are carriers for the virus. IBM also runs the 'OpenZika project' on the company's World Community Grid, a crowd-sourced supercomputer. The initiative allows scientists in the United States and Brazil to screen millions of chemical compounds to identify candidates to combat the virus. More than a dozen small biotech firms and other organizations are developing vaccines against Zika, which is linked to birth defects and neurological disorders, although most work is at a nascent stage. Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, said in March it was working with UNICEF to analyze data in an effort to map and anticipate the spread of the virus. Dublin moves fast to lure financial jobs from UK after Brexit vote By Padraic Halpin and Esha Vaish DUBLIN, July 27 (Reuters) - Irish recruiters are already filling jobs for financial services firms which are shifting some operations from the United Kingdom, with Dublin moving fast to steal a march on rivals just a month after Britons voted to leave the European Union. While France has begun courting bankers with new tax breaks for expatriates and Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Luxembourg are also making pitches, Ireland is presenting itself as the only English-speaking country that offers a base in the euro zone and a future in the EU. Before the June 23 referendum, the government warned that a departure of Ireland's nearest and biggest trade partner from the EU would pose "a major strategic risk", with exporters to Britain particularly worried. But Brexit also presents opportunities for Ireland, which has decades of experience in attracting multinational investment, and it is determined to seize them. Ireland is already one of the world's largest centres for "back office" banking functions such as settling transactions, many of them farmed out from London - Europe's financial capital but whose future outside the EU is beset by uncertainty. On top of that, Ireland hosts a growing financial technology industry. Some headhunters say it's too early to spot any definite trend. Nevertheless, Dublin-based Sigmar Recruitment is more than doubling its own workforce, hiring 150 extra staff over the next two years to handle foreign demand that was already increasing before the referendum and has accelerated since. "We have two particular projects relocating from the UK and then maybe another three that were considering two to three locations across Europe ... and those have all gone in Ireland's favour," said Robert Mac Giolla Phadraig, Sigmar's Chief Commercial Officer. "The headcounts for some of the projects are anywhere between 50 and 200." He told Reuters that Sigma now has to find candidates for a total of 1,500 to 2,500 positions, mainly from U.S. and European firms. The jobs are in many areas including internal departments that ensure firms are complying with regulatory rules on managing their financial risk, as well as financial technology and IT support. MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN EVER A major opportunity for Ireland is the risk to London-based operations if Britain loses access to the EU's "passporting" arrangement, which allows businesses regulated in member states to sell financial services across Europe. Beazley Plc, which manages six Lloyd's of London syndicates, said last week it was working to get European insurance licences for its Irish reinsurance business. British asset manager M&G Investments, the fund arm of insurer Prudential, is also looking at expanding its operations in Dublin. Brightwater, another specialist Irish financial recruiter, has got go-aheads from bigger companies, mostly banks, for jobs in the "low hundreds" moving from Britain, according to head of marketing Eileen Moloney. Other firms are at an earlier stage of planning, such as DueDil, a financial technology startup employing just under 100 people in London that was looking at expanding into Europe regardless of the referendum result. "What Brexit does is it makes us re-evaluate the distribution and types of teams we would be hiring," co-founder and chief executive officer Damian Kimmelman told Reuters. Kimmelman gave inside sales - those made over the phone or online rather than face-to-face with clients - as an example. "Should we hire our inside sales (team) in the UK or should we hire them in Ireland? Ireland's always been attractive as a hub for inside sales, but it becomes even more attractive now than it was before," he said, adding that his firm could be employing 20 people in the country within a year. TRICKLE, NOT A TORRENT The pick up in Ireland has coincided with flagging recruitment in Britain even before the referendum, due to uncertainty over its outcome. British recruiter Hays said net fees in the UK and Ireland fell 4 percent on a like-for-like basis in the quarter to end-June, but taken alone, fees in Ireland grew 22 percent. Randstad, the world's second largest employment services company, has seen a low level of hiring in the British financial sector, its CFO told Reuters. The state agency in charge of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ireland reports similar trends to the recruiters. "From our end, Brexit is coming up in all our discussions with clients and potential clients," said Martin Shanahan, the chief executive of IDA Ireland which reported a pick up in jobs in the first half of the year following record growth in 2015. "The most significant increase is in financial services. We've seen a major increase in traffic into Ireland over the past number of weeks across all areas - banking, insurance, funds and payments - wanting to talk to us about possibilities." Shanahan, who oversees a strategy responsible for around 190,000 jobs or almost one in every 10 Irish workers, also sees opportunities in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors and expects it will be well into next year before the full impact becomes apparent. Companies hunting for the right talent in Ireland, where unemployment has halved to 7.8 percent since 2012 amid a sharp economic recovery, will still have abundant choice, if initial inquiries are anything to go by. Recruiters say they've seen big jumps in British-based candidates seeking Irish positions since the referendum. Some are Irish looking to return home, but others are Europeans and Britons who now consider Ireland a more stable place to work. Job website Indeed.com says searches for Irish positions made from Britain were 2.5 times higher in the days after the vote than the average before, and have remained at a high level. Ireland also appeals to companies due to its easy access to the United States. Joe Bollard, head of International Tax Services for EY in Ireland, said he is aware of one new FDI investor that has already gone back to its board to reconsider a decision to base its European headquarters in Britain. The company was starting the process of hiring, leading to several hundred jobs long term. Although a large number may still go to Britain, Bollard said Ireland is the most likely credible alternative because of its record in the sector involved. Croatian oil company INA reports 93 pct slide in first-half net profit BELGRADE, July 28 (Reuters) - Croatia's biggest oil and gas company INA, owned by Hungary's MOL and the Croatian government, reported a 93 percent plunge in first-half consolidated net profit on Thursday, blaming low oil and gas prices and shrinking refinery margins. The oil producer and refiner said consolidated net profit, excluding special items, fell to 23 million kuna ($3.4 mln) and net sales revenue dropped by 32 percent from a year earlier to 6.3 billion kuna between January and June. "The first half of 2016 was marked by the low Brent (price) of around $40 per barrel, significantly lower gas prices, as well as deteriorating refinery margins," Zoltan Aldott, president of INA's management board said in the results statement on the company's website. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding special items, fell 55 percent to 723 million kuna in the first half of 2016. The company's capital expenditure rose 31 percent to 717 million kuna. INA also announced that it signed an onshore exploration agreement last month for block Drava-2, a potential oil and gas field in Croatia's Slavonia region. INA bought a 33.5 percent stake in Bosnia's Energopetrol this month from MOL, taking its total stake to 67 percent. EU leniency for Spain, Portugal signals softer economic path By Jan Strupczewski and Gernot Heller BRUSSELS, July 28 (Reuters) - The European Commission's decision to spare Spain and Portugal fines over their excessive budget deficits signals a tentative effort to promote more expansionary economic policy in response to Britain's destabilising vote to leave the European Union. Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici defended Wednesday's leniency by pointing to growing public doubts about Europe reflected in the Brexit referendum vote last month. He was keen to ensure that a "bossy Brussels" did not widen euroscepticism at a time when the euro zone's recovery from a multi-year sovereign debt crisis is weak, uneven and faces a potential setback due to uncertainties over Brexit. "Particularly in the current wider situation with Brexit, countries that have taken severe measures in the crisis should be able to present their case, also on social impacts, for no fines," a senior official in one euro zone government said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Imposing fines would affect the economies and the population, no doubt. Europe has to show some understanding with the situation as well," he said. Fiscal hawks in northern Europe cried foul after the two southern countries escaped financial penalties for breaching the bloc's Stability Pact budget rules again, although Madrid and Lisbon may yet suffer a suspension of some EU budget payments. But outrage was muted after EU sources disclosed that Germany's usually super-hawkish finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, had intervened personally to argue against sanctions. "The Stability Pact has died a second time," said Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies, recalling that France and Germany had torn up the first version of the rules in 2003 to avoid sanctions on themselves. Conservative German economics commentator Werner Mussler wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the official justification made clear the rules were "empty talk" and would never lead to fines. "Might these (eurosceptic) doubts not be due to the constant bending and breaching of the rules by the Commission?" he asked. "COMPREHENSIBLE" Jeroen Dijsselboem, chairman of euro zone finance ministers, who is keen to uphold the credibility of the rules, expressed dismay with the Commission decision not to recommend fines. "It is disappointing that there is no follow up on the conclusion that Spain and Portugal did not take effective action to consolidate their budgets," the hardline Dutch finance minister said in a statement. "It must be clear that despite all the efforts already taken, Spain and Portugal are still in danger." Another senior euro zone official said a Dutch or Belgian finance minister who now tried to convince parliament that savings measures were needed to respect the Stability Pact would be "laughed out of the room". The volume of criticism forced German Chancellor Angela Merkel to insist on Thursday that the deficit limits remained in force despite the Brussels decision. "I don't think the decision means that the Stability Pact is no longer valid," she told a news conference in Berlin, without explaining why her veteran finance minister had lobbied against punishing what the German media call the "deficit sinners". A German Finance Ministry spokesman called the Commission's reasoning "comprehensible", noting that the possibility of withholding promised EU structural funds next year could prompt Madrid and Lisbon to make the necessary budget corrections. Berlin officials were silent on Schaeuble's role but did not dispute Brussels reports that he had telephoned several centre-right EU commissioners to urge them not to fine Spain, which has a caretaker government led by fellow conservative Mariano Rajoy. It was unclear whether he had acted out of political clan loyalty in the centre-right European People's Party, post-Brexit economic policy concerns, or fear of a eurosceptic backlash. However, he shows no sign of willingness to alter Germany's own balanced-budget policies to fund more public investment despite repeated prompting from Brussels over a massive current account surplus, equivalent to 8 percent of annual output. Economists say that has skewed the euro zone economy, leaving the burden of adjustment disproportionately on southern countries struggling with mass unemployment, especially among the young, and heavy public debt legacies from the crisis. But EU officials see little prospect of a more expansionary German fiscal policy before next year's general election. Moscovici and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are keen to do what they can in the meantime to promote economic expansion and a more balanced policy mix, while trying to preserve the credibility of the deficit limits. Peru's Kuczynski takes office with a vow to fight inequality LIMA, July 28 (Reuters) - Pedro Pablo Kuczynski took office as Peru's president on Thursday, asking the opposition-controlled Congress to help him fight income inequality and ensure all Peruvians have access to running water, health care and free primary education. The 77-year-old Oxford-educated former investment banker, deemed "elitist" by opponents in last month's tight election, said he would modernize Peru with policies aimed at raising the incomes of the poorest while fighting racism, sexism and corruption. "I want a social revolution for my country! I long for Peru in five years to be more modern, more just, more equal," Kuczynski said before lawmakers, his American family and heads-of-states in the region. Peru's economy has more than doubled since the start of the century, helped by high prices for its mineral exports during a decade-long commodity boom. But one in four Peruvians still lives in poverty and scores of towns lack basic services. "The progress we have made is undeniable, but we all know we need to do more, much more," said Kuczynski, who replaces outgoing President Ollanta Humala, a former military officer. Following his inauguration, Kuczynski waved and blew kisses to supporters as he walked through Lima's historic center wearing the red-and-white presidential sash. Kuczynski was sworn in by the new president of Congress, Luz Salgado, a member of the right-wing populist party, headed by Kuczynski's defeated run-off rival Keiko Fujimori, that now holds 56 percent of seats in Congress. Applause from lawmakers in Fujimori's party was light throughout Kuczynski's speech, even as he put more emphasis on social issues than the business-friendly economic policies he is better known for as a former finance minister and World Bank economist. The son of European immigrants who grew up in Peru before spending years in the United States, Kuczynski praised Peru's heritage as the birthplace of the Incan Empire and previous cultures which farmed and built cities and roads long before the Spanish conquest. "Let's not forget this is a millennial country and a cradle of civilization," Kuczynski said as he called for an end to discrimination against the indigenous and mixed-blood majority. Attempt at U.S.-Russia cooperation in Syria suffers major setbacks By Tom Miles and John Walcott GENEVA/WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to elicit Russian military cooperation in the fight against Islamic State in Syria suffered two potentially crippling blows on Thursday. First, the Syrian army said it had cut off all supply routes into the eastern part of the city of Aleppo - Syria's most important opposition stronghold - and President Bashar al-Assad's government asked residents to leave the city. That move, U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said on Thursday, appeared to be an effort to pre-empt a U.S. demand that Russia and Syria reopen a major road into the divided northern city before talks could begin on creating a joint intelligence center to coordinate air attacks against Islamic State. Then al Qaeda's Syrian branch announced on Thursday it was terminating its relationship with the global network created by Osama bin Laden and changing its name to remove what it called a pretext by the United States and other countries to attack Syrians. Although one U.S. official called it "a change in name only," the move complicates the American proposal to limit the Russians and Syrians to targeting only Nusra and IS, not other rebel groups supported by Washington and its allies in the coalition against Islamic State. "By disavowing its ties to al Qaeda - which, incidentally, it did with al Qaeda's blessing - Nusra has made it harder to isolate it from more moderate groups, some of whose members may join it now because it's more powerful than some of the groups they belong to now," said the official. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington has been clear about its concerns over the announcement of the humanitarian corridor and that its view of the Nusra Front had not changed despite its name change. "But we also remain committed to the proposals reached by the United States and Russia to better enforce the cessation of hostilities in Syria and provide the space needed for a resumption of political talks. If fully implemented in good faith, they can achieve a measure of success that has eluded us thus far," Kirby told Reuters. "As the secretary made clear, however, we are pragmatic about these efforts, and we will look to Russia to meet its commitments as we will meet ours. That will be the primary, determining factor of success here," he added. FALTERING PROPOSAL The twin U.S. goals in Syria have been ending the violence that already has claimed some 400,000 lives, according to United Nations estimates, and seeking a political process to replace Assad, whom President Barack Obama has said "must go." But while Washington and Moscow have both expressed hope they can find a way to cooperate against IS, Kerry's proposal was already in trouble due to the competing objectives of the Cold War-era foes as well as resistance from U.S. military and intelligence officials. U.S. officials questioned Russian and Syrian claims that their aim in evacuating civilians from Aleppo was to clear the way for humanitarian assistance to reach the besieged city, where 200,000-300,000 civilians remain with only two to three weeks of food on hand. "Why would you evacuate a city that you wanted to send humanitarian aid to?" asked one official. "At first glance, that would appear to be a unilateral effort by Moscow and Assad to pre-empt Kerry's demand for ending the siege of Aleppo before starting negotiations on the larger issues. If the proposal isn't dead, it seems to be pretty badly wounded." Nickel eyes 11 pct jump in July; copper targets second monthly gain By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE, July 29 (Reuters) - London nickel fell on Friday but was still on track for gains of more than 11 percent in July as the Philippines cracks down on polluting mines, while copper was set for a modest monthly rise. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who began a six-year term on June 30, has warned he could cancel mining projects causing environmental harm, suggesting a tough regulatory road for Philippine miners. Local nickel ore producers are the biggest suppliers to China for stainless steel production. "The rally could have legs," said analyst Daniel Morgan at UBS in Sydney. "You've got some good headlines for the nickel price from the Philippines and I think that will be maintained for several more weeks when we see the audit of the 40-odd mining concessions." China's stainless steel production also appeared relatively strong supported by its infrastructure drive, Morgan added. Three month nickel on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.9 percent by 0712 GMT to $10,495 a tonne, crimped by profit taking after a 3.2 percent gain on Thursday. Prices, which last week hit an 11-month top of $10,900 a tonne, were on track to rise 11.1 percent in July, in line with a jump in June of 11.9 percent. Year-to-date, nickel is up 19 percent. Elsewhere, LME copper reversed early gains to sink by 0.8 percent to $4,857 a tonne, cutting into a 1 percent advance from the previous session. Prices are set to rise less than one percent in July. Shanghai Futures Exchange copper finished 0.6 percent lower at 37,470 yuan ($5,637) a tonne. In news, the Bank of Japan expanded stimulus on Friday by doubling purchases of exchange-traded funds (ETF), yielding to pressure from the government and financial markets for bolder action, but disappointing investors who had set their hearts on more audacious measures. China's manufacturing sector struggled for growth in July, a Reuters poll showed, adding to expectations that Beijing will step up measures to boost growth. Weaker than expected figures on Sunday could lift prices on Monday. China has sent teams of officials to seven regions to investigate a rapid slowdown in private investment, the country's cabinet said late on Thursday. French mining group Eramet said a mix of cost savings, divestment and extra financing will help its nickel unit in New Caledonia stem heavy losses. PRICES Three month LME copper Most active ShFE copper Three month LME aluminium Most active ShFE aluminium Three month LME zinc Most active ShFE zinc Three month LME lead Most active ShFE lead Three month LME nickel Most active ShFE nickel Three month LME tin Most active ShFE tin New York Fed asks Philippines to recover Bangladesh money By Krishna N. Das and Serajul Quadir DHAKA, July 29 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has asked the Philippines' central bank to help Bangladesh Bank recover the $81 million that was stolen by hackers in February from its account held at the Fed, boosting Dhaka's efforts to retrieve the money. In a letter sent on June 23, the New York Fed's General Counsel Thomas Baxter asked Elmore O. Capule, general counsel for the central bank of the Philippines, "to take all appropriate steps in support of Bangladesh Bank's efforts to recover and return its stolen assets." In the letter, which has been seen by Reuters, Baxter also wrote that the payment instructions that led to four money transfers to beneficiary accounts at the Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) were authenticated using a "commercially reasonable security procedure", but that they were issued by persons using stolen credentials. Bangladesh Bank has also agreed to share with the Fed a report into the heist that was prepared by U.S. cyber security firm FireEye, said a source close to the Bangladesh central bank with direct knowledge of the decision. Officials in the United States have been asking for that for some weeks. The New York Fed had no immediate comment on the letter nor on the FireEye report. Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha could not immediately be contacted for comment outside regular business hours. The Philippines' central bank said it would not comment in a case in which there were ongoing investigations. RCBC said in a statement the bank supported the efforts of Bangladesh Bank in recovering funds from "the parties who ultimately received them". After going to RCBC, the money was mostly laundered through the Philippines' casino industry and now the trail has gone cold. Almost six months have passed since hackers broke into the Bangladesh central bank's computer systems and sought to transfer away as much as $951 million - eventually managing to steal $81 million in one of the biggest-ever cyber heists. Most of that money is still missing and the culprits have not been identified. There has also been friction between Bangladesh Bank, the New York Fed and payments network SWIFT, over which the payment instructions were issued. But relations seem to improving to an extent, at least between the New York Fed and Dhaka. CASINO INDUSTRY LAUNDERING A source close to Bangladesh Bank who has direct knowledge of the recovery process said some Bangladesh Bank officials will fly to Manila next week in an attempt to hasten the recovery. The source said Baxter's letter was an indication that the Fed was now working with Bangladesh Bank after initially holding the South Asian bank responsible for the heist. Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir told reporters on Tuesday that his Philippine counterpart had nearly completed an investigation into how the $81 million wound up at RCBC, and that he hoped for the swift return of the stolen funds. Kabir also said he hoped the Philippine authorities would hold RCBC responsible for disbursing the stolen funds that landed in accounts there. RCBC has blamed the manager of the branch where the funds were transferred. "We had these rogue employees or officers that were able to do these things," Cesar Virata, corporate vice chairman of RCBC, told Reuters this week. "It can happen to any bank." He added: "I think the Bangladesh government should find out first who was responsible for remitting their funds." In another sign of improving cooperation between Bangladesh Bank and the New York Fed, a team of officials from Bangladesh will hold meetings with Fed officials in New York between Aug. 15 and Aug. 19, according to two sources in Dhaka. The "technical" meeting will discuss more about the heist and look at processes to be put in place to prevent such events from happening in future, said the source close to Bangladesh Bank. A New York Fed official who requested anonymity said the goal of the meeting "is to understand what happened, what remediation steps have been taken by Bangladesh Bank to meet its contractual obligations, and to begin a path to normalize operations." Britain casts doubt on EDF's $24 billion nuclear project By Nina Chestney and William Schomberg LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - Britain has cast doubt on a $24 billion project with French utility EDF to build the UK's first new nuclear plant in decades, delaying a final decision on the plan just weeks after the Brexit vote ushered in a new prime minister. The surprise decision to review the Hinkley Point C project was made public hours after the board of French state-controlled EDF voted to proceed with it. The British government, which had been expected to sign contracts on Friday, said instead that it wanted to give the plans further consideration, postponing its verdict until early autumn. The review came little more than a month after Britons voted to leave the EU in a referendum that forced the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron - whose administration gave the initial go-ahead to the project - and the accession of Theresa May. The vote, and the resulting economic uncertainty, threw doubt on the future of major British infrastructure projects, including the nuclear plant. The two new reactors at Hinkley Point, in south-west England, would provide around 7 percent of Britain's electricity, helping to fill a supply gap as the country's coal plants are set to close by 2025. The pouring of the first concrete is scheduled for mid-2019 but the plant's start-up date has been delayed several times due to regulatory hurdles, the fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and EDF's deteriorating financial position. Analysts and unions said the review under new Prime Minister May would likely delay the project further. EDF's Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy said on Friday that the company had not been given advance warning of the review but that it was ready to organise the signing of contracts "as soon as all the parties involved are ready". OVERPAYING? Although EDF and Chinese partner China General Nuclear are responsible for the 18-billion-pound ($24 billion) cost of the project, Britain has committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years. Critics, including some British lawmakers and academics, say the country would be overpaying at that minimum price, which equates to double current market levels. "Because of the fall in the energy price over the past 12 months, the project does look very expensive and there have been a lot of calls for other projects to be considered or for this to be taken back to the drawing board," said Oliver Salvesen, analyst at investment bank Jefferies. "It probably still would go ahead but it does cast some additional doubt on whether (the government) will look for alternatives in the meantime," he added. Tooraj Jamasb, chair in energy economics at Durham University Business School, said having a new leader and cabinet in place offered Britain an opportunity to revisit the merits of the project while being less bound to the commitments of the previous leadership. "It is also possible that the government may want to use the project as a card in its post-Brexit negotiation to soften the French stance on trade deals," he added. EDF's Levy said he had no comment to make about the possible renegotiation of the contract. The British review could nevertheless lead to increased resistance in France to the project, which was only narrowly approved by the EDF board on Thursday. The plans led to the resignation of a board member who said they were financially risky, echoing the criticism of French unions which say the project is too big for EDF and jeopardises the survival of the company. CONCERNS RAISED A government spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday it was "only right" the new administration looked at all details of the project before making a decision. Britain and EDF first reached a broad commercial agreement on the project in 2013. Potential security risks have also been cited as a concern about the project in some quarters. Last year, Nick Timothy, who worked closely with May in the past and is now her joint chief of staff, raised concerns about Chinese investment in Hinkley. Timothy said security experts were worried the state-owned Chinese group, which owns a stake of about a third in the project, would have access to computer systems that would allow it to shut down Britain's energy production. If the project goes ahead after the government's review, the plant would not come online until the 2030s, industry experts estimate. EDF will still have to shoulder the costs of the long construction phase during which the investment will not generate any cash flow, which is credit negative for the firm, said Paul Marty, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody's. Opponents of the project in Britain say the price at which the government has agreed to buy power from EDF is too high. The government signed a 35-year electricity price guarantee contract, known as a "contract for difference", with EDF in October 2013, under which the utility will receive a top-up fee if power prices are below 92.50 pounds per megawatt-hour. Current baseload power prices in Britain are under 40 pounds per megawatt-hour. <_0TRGBB:_> "The 92.50 price in the contract was in 2012 money. The contract obviously hasn't been signed. If they were to change that price they would have to do an entirely new contract or plan for the project which would then be delayed a lot further," Jefferies' Salvesen said. ($1 = 0.7586 pounds) Malaysia names new anti-graft chief as corruption scandal drags on KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Reuters) - Malaysia appointed a new chief of its anti-graft agency on Friday, replacing a previous head who stepped down two years before his term ended amid a high-profile graft investigation linked to Prime Minister Najib Razak. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has led investigations into allegations of graft and financial mismanagement at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the transfer of 2.6 billion ringgit ($639.13 million) to Najib's personal bank accounts. Najib has denied any wrongdoing. The multi-billion dollar scandal has shaken investors in Southeast Asia's third-biggest economy and dented confidence in Najib's ruling coalition. The government said in a statement Dzulkifli Ahmad would be the new MACC chief commissioner from Aug 1. Dzulkifli was previously at the office of Attorney General Apandi Ali, who cleared Najib of any criminal offences in 1MDB cases in January. Critics have questioned Apandi's decision to clear the prime minister. Dzulkifli had been touted as a possible successor for weeks before the announcement, despite calls by anti-corruption groups and civil rights organisations to appoint a leader from within MACC, on the grounds that would be more conducive to maintaining its integrity. This month, the U.S. Justice Department filed civil lawsuits seeking to seize more than $1 billion of assets allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB, saying they were part of "an international conspiracy to launder money". The lawsuits do not name Najib, but refer to a high-ranking government official who received more than $700 million of the misappropriated funds. A source familiar with the investigations told Reuters the official, identified in the lawsuits as "Malaysian Official 1", was Najib. The previous MACC chief, Abu Kassim Mohamed, asked for his contract to be terminated earlier than expected but insisted that there was no pressure on him to step down. Singaporean detained for "terrorism-related activities" By Fathin Ungku SINGAPORE, July 29 (Reuters) - A Singaporean man has been detained for "terrorism-related activities" that included supporting the Islamic State (IS) militant group and encouraging violence through Facebook posts, the government said on Friday. Multi-ethnic Singapore has an image as one of the safest countries in the world and has never seen an attack by Islamist militants though authorities did break up a plot to bomb several embassies soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Authorities have detained or repatriated dozens of people in the past year, most of them migrant Bangladeshi workers, for suspected links to militant fund-raising. Several Singaporeans have also been radicalised, with some trying to join the Islamic State in Syria, authorities have said. The Ministry of Home Affairs identified the detained suspect as Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, 44, and said he had been held this month under an Internal Security Act (ISA) that allows for suspects to be held for lengthy periods without trial. The ministry said Zulfikar had been "radicalised" in 2001 before settling with his family in Australia in 2012. He was found to be supportive of IS as well as al Qaeda and an allied regional group called Jemaah Islamiah, and he had strongly encouraged Muslims to engage in armed jihad via postings on Facebook, it said. "In view of the high level of the terrorism threat that Singapore currently faces, and the global terrorism threat posed by ISIS, Zulfikar's promotion of violence and ISIS and his radicalising influence pose a security threat to Singapore," it said, referring to Islamic State. France says Aleppo corridors not a "credible response" PARIS, July 29 (Reuters) - France said on Friday that a Russian plan for humanitarian corridors to allow residents of Aleppo to flee the besieged Syrian city were not a "credible response". Russia and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government declared a "humanitarian operation" in the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo on Thursday, opening "safe corridors" so people can flee Syria's most important opposition stronghold. France's Foreign Ministry said that the city's residents should have access to aid under international humanitarian rules and remain safely at home. "In this context, the idea of 'humanitarian corridors' consisting of asking Aleppo's residents to leave the city does not offer a credible response to the situation," the ministry said in a statement. Housing shortage may damage S.Africa's ruling ANC in local elections By Nqobile Dludla JOHANNESBURG, July 29 (Reuters) - Sylvia Mashile bitterly recalls the cramped two-room house she and six other relatives called home in a shantytown in South Africa, where the lack of affordable housing may cost the ruling party at next week's local elections. The housing deficit is an emotive issue in Africa's most industrialised country, where 19 percent of families live in informal dwellings more than two decades after the end of apartheid rule despite promises by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party to fast-track new homes for the poor. Next to the mansions and skyscrapers in Sandton, Africa's richest suburb in Johannesburg, the poor, like Mashile and her family in nearby Alexandra township, struggle to make ends meet. Since decades of white minority rule ended in 1994, areas such as Sandton and "Alex", as it is locally known, have offered stark examples of lingering economic disparities. "My mother has been to the housing department many times now only to be told that 'there is no house yet'," said Mashile, 33, who lives in Alex where many share water, toilets and illegal power connections. Mashile says her mother has waited for a government-provided home since 1996, when the family moved to Alex. Buyisiwe Dube, 40, a cleaner in Sandton, lives in a one-room shack in Alex. In 2007 she had to send her two children back home in Kwa-Zulu-Natal province, more than 500 km (310 miles) away, as the shack had become too small for the three of them. "I applied for a house in 1997 ... I'm still waiting for it. When it rains, water drips inside and it's also cold in winter." Frustration over the pace of housing delivery preoccupies many voters, analysts say. "It will not be a one-issue election but a combination of issues with housing being one of the most important," said Somadoda Fikeni, a political analyst at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. ANC policies have helped more blacks climb into the wealthy bracket but informal, squalid settlements have mushroomed around cities as demand for housing has far outstripped the country's ability to provide it. President Jacob Zuma has brushed off criticism, saying his government has a plan to address the shortages. "The ANC government has made plans to build more houses for our people in the near future," Zuma told residents at a campaign rally in Duncan Village, near East London. Gauteng province, which includes the capital Pretoria and the commercial hub of Johannesburg, is an ANC stronghold but the party faces a stern test from opposition parties. Polls show ANC support could drop to 31 percent from 59 percent in Johannesburg compared with the previous local election in 2011, and to 23 percent from 55 percent in Tshwane municipality where Pretoria is situated. The ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters, whose promise to redistribute the wealth still largely held by whites among poor blacks, has drawn many in Alex to its ranks, residents said. "Our people live in shacks. They have no electricity, water and toilets. We want to end that," EFF leader Julius Malema said at an election rally this month. The official opposition party Democratic Alliance has promised to expedite housing to those on the waiting list. Lungisani Gumede, 39, a truck driver, said he has been living in a one-room shack for more than 13 years. Nigerian lender Skye shored up by $315 mln injection from central bank By Ulf Laessing and Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS, July 29 (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank has injected more than 100 billion naira ($315 million) into Skye bank after sacking the lender's top management this month for failing to meet minimum capital requirements, its new managing director said on Friday. Adetokunbo Abiru also said Skye, Nigeria's eighth-largest bank, made a pre-tax loss last year, due to oil-related bad loans and withdrawals of public sector deposits amid a government anti-corruption drive, but he did not give a figure for the loss. That makes Skye the only Nigerian bank to make a loss in 2015, according to Reuters calculations. The central bank stepped in after depositors withdrew assets and to avert wider troubles within the banking sector as Africa's biggest economy struggles with its worst crises for decades. The central bank installed a new management team on July 4 with Abiru as managing director. Central bank staff had been working for two weeks inside Skye headquarters in Lagos to support the lender, Abiru told a news conference on Friday. The bank would conduct an audit to see "what we inherited" and establish how much liquidity was needed, he said. He hoped to have an overview by December after which Skye could focus on being a "frontline retail" bank. Some branches would be closed to bring down costs, pending approval from the central bank. Skye's non-performing loans amounted to 13 percent of total loans at the end of last year, well above the central bank target of less than 5 percent, Abiru said. The losses "largely arose from issues relating to the cost-income ratio" which was "above the industry standard", plus "the liquidity challenge as well and asset quality issues, and the resulting effect of all that", he said. "There was a very high dependence on public sector debt deposits," said Abiru, referring to a government order last year to have all official bodies move funds from lenders to a central bank account as part of an anti-graft drive. "The bank was severely hit by that," he said, declining to give an outlook for this year. In addition, half of Skye's loan book was in foreign currency from the oil industry which has been hit by low crude prices. The bank's capital adequacy ratio was 10.4 percent last year, compared with an industry standard of 16 percent, and its cost to income ratio was "close to" 103 percent, rather than the standard of about 65 percent, he said. Nigeria's central bank governor Godwin Emefiele is urging people not to panic about the banking system, saying he is on top of any trouble resulting from the economic crisis. U.S. worries Russian humanitarian operation in Syria may be "ruse" By Arshad Mohammed and Suleiman Al-Khalidi WASHINGTON/BEIRUT, July 29 (Reuters) - The United States is trying to determine whether a Russian plan for a humanitarian operation in Syria is sincere, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday, adding that if it proves a "ruse" it could ruin cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The 250,000 civilians trapped for weeks inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo have so far stayed away from "safe corridors" that Moscow and Damascus promised for those trying to escape the most important opposition stronghold in the country. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and its Russian allies declared a joint humanitarian operation for the besieged area on Thursday, bombarding it with leaflets telling fighters to surrender and civilians to leave. The United Nations has raised misgivings about the plan and U.S. officials have suggested it may be an attempt to depopulate the city so that the army can seize it. The Syrian opposition called it a euphemism for forced displacement of the inhabitants, which it said would be a war crime. Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war, has been divided since 2012 into government and rebel sectors. Seizing control would be the biggest victory for Assad in five years of fighting, and demonstrate the dramatic shift of fortunes in his favour since Moscow joined the war on his side last year. This would also be a humiliation for Kerry, who has led a diplomatic initiative with Moscow aiming to let the Cold War superpower foes cooperate against Islamist militants and restore a ceasefire for the wider civil war which collapsed in May. Asked about the Russian operation, Kerry said Washington was still unsure of Moscow's intent: "It has the risk, if it is a ruse, of completely breaking apart the level of cooperation." "On the other hand, if we're able to work it out today and have a complete understanding of what is happening and then agreement on the way forward, it could actually open up some possibilities," he added. Kerry said he had spoken with Moscow twice in the past 24 hours to try to clarify what the Russians were planning. TURNING POINT The fate of Aleppo in the coming weeks has the potential to be a turning point in a seemingly endless, multi-sided civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and drawn in most world and regional powers. Pro-government forces with Russian backing have advanced in the three months since the ceasefire collpased, and imposed a siege on the rebel-held sector of Aleppo since early July when they closed the main road out of the city. The United Nations says food will run out within weeks for the people trapped inside, and has been trying to negotiate regular pauses in the fighting to allow humanitarian access. So far the safe zones have not been used. Syrian state television accused the rebels of preventing civilians from leaving which rebels deny. A state TV reporter in Aleppo said reception centres with health and food supplies had been set up around Aleppo to receive civilians, but so far few had come through because rebel fighters were threatening them. The main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) says it believes the aim is to cleanse the area so government forces can capture it. "The world must not allow Russia to get away with disguising its assault on Aleppo with deceitful talk about humanitarian 'corridors'. Be clear - these 'corridors' are not for getting aid in, but driving people out. The brutal message to our people is - 'leave or starve'," HNC member Bassma Kodmani said. Washington has indicated that it shares that fear. State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday: "This would appear to be a demand for the surrender of opposition groups and the evacuation of Syrian civilians from Aleppo." Privately, U.S. officials fear the Russian proposal masks the real intent of its Syrian ally, to separate boys and men from the rest of the population, claim they are terrorists and either imprison or execute them, "as Assad and his father have done repeatedly at least since 1982", said one official, discussing Washington's analysis on condition of anonymity. Ghaith Yaqout al-Murjan, an activist in Aleppo told Reuters civilians were avoiding the corridors as they were still unsafe: "There are people who want to leave because they can no longer bear the shelling by helicopters, jets, barrel bombs ... The rebels are not holding anyone if they want to leave." "You are talking about the need to walk a kilometre in a battle where you are at risk of being hit from two sides." The United Nations, which is hoping to resume peace talks in August, has been circumspect since Russia announced the humanitarian operation, saying the proposal for safe corridors out could be helpful, but only if it is combined with regular humanitarian access for those who do not want to leave. URGENT NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said there was "urgent need for improvement" in the plan, but that Moscow appeared to be open to suggestion. Regular pauses for humanitarian access were necessary, he added, and the United Nations should be involved in managing any safe exit routes. "The U.N. and the humanitarian partners ... have experience. That's our job. Bringing humanitarian assistance and supplies to civilians, wherever the happen to be, is exactly why the U.N. is there." The International Committee of the Red Cross said safe corridors could only work if agreed by the warring parties, and there was no sign of any such agreement in Aleppo. "The prerequisite for (corridors) to happen properly is first and foremost there should be consent by all concerned sides that this is going to happen, otherwise civilians run great risks," ICRC Middle East regional head Robert Mardini told a news briefing in Geneva. "The ICRC is not a big fan of humanitarian corridors, because it always runs the risk that there is the concept of safe areas, and everything outside those safe areas becomes an area of non-respect for international humanitarian law." Aid agencies say civilians have been unable to leave through the safe corridors because of fighting, and that the situation inside the besieged city is becoming increasingly perilous. Save the Children quoted a doctor describing dire conditions of constant bombardment and mass casualties inside the city. "Imagine the emergency room in any of the field hospitals doesn't have more than five or six beds, and when responding to a massacre they receive up to 30-40 injured at the same time," the doctor said in a statement released by the aid group. At one bombing site, "a child less than ten years old ran to me shouting 'sir, please put my arm back'. His left arm was amputated and he held it with his right hand. He was begging me to put it back, and this is only one of so many tragedies that we see." U.S. worried about hunger-striking Cuban dissidents -State Dept WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The United States is concerned about the physical well-being of hunger-striking activists in Cuba and is closely watching their situation, the U.S. State Department said on Friday. "We stand in solidarity with those who advocate for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly," State Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing. "We have raised our concerns directly with the Cuban government, both in Washington and Havana," he added. Kirby said Washington was particularly concerned about the health of dissidents Carlos Amel Oliva, who leads the youth wing of a Cuban dissident group, and Guillermo Farinas. Farinas began a hunger strike earlier this month calling, for Raul Castro's government to end torture and human rights abuses. He was taken to Arnaldo Milian Castro Hospital in the city of Santa Clara on Thursday after becoming extremely weak and fainting eight days into the strike, The Miami Herald reported. U.S. allows American-made planes to be flown to Iran By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it would allow foreign airlines to fly U.S.-made aircraft to Iran, providing greater assurance to aviation companies as Iran tries to re-establish trade and business links following the lifting of sanctions. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Friday issued a license allowing U.S.-made planes to have "temporary sojourn" in Iran, meaning airlines such as Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, or others flying frequently to Iran are expressly allowed to use U.S.-made planes, or planes with U.S. parts, to fly there. Iran and world powers reached a deal on Tehran's nuclear program last July that allowed for the lifting of most sanctions on the country, although many U.S. sanctions remain in place. The deal allows for U.S. companies to obtain licenses to sell civil aircraft to Iran, but a proposed deal between Boeing Co. and Iran has drawn the ire of members of the U.S. Congress, who are trying to block it. The license issued on Friday has no impact on the proposed Boeing deal. Because of a quirk in the law, U.S.-made planes could be flown to other countries under U.S. sanction, such as Cuba, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea. Iran was an exception to this, said Jonathan Epstein, an attorney at Holland & Knight in Washington. "Technically there was no legal way to fly to Iran, so U.S. lessors tended to say no, or it caused a lot of angst in the U.S. leasing community that these planes were being flown there," said Epstein, who advises aviation leasing firms on sanctions issues. Practically speaking, many airlines were already flying U.S.-made planes or those using significant amounts of U.S. parts, Epstein said. But Friday's announcement resolved some of the ambiguity surrounding such trips, he said. "It was technically not allowed but was akin to speeding," Epstein said. "The foreign airlines were flying ... but the leasing company took different views on whether they allowed this or not." U.N. extends South Sudan mission, U.S. reports renewed violence By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, July 29 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council extended a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan on Friday until Aug. 12 as the United States warned that it had received "disturbing reports" of renewed violence in the south of the country. The mandate for the U.N. mission was due to expire on Sunday, so the 15-member council unanimously renewed it for a brief period while they consider imposing an arms embargo on the world's newest state and sending in more troops. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told the council before the vote that the recent violence in Juba was "horrifying but sadly not unexpected" because the country's leaders are unable to work together for their people. "We have just received very disturbing reports of significant violence in the Equatorias (southern states) in South Sudan and all of us need to be on alert this weekend because events could spiral rapidly out of control yet again," Power said. "Let us not be fooled that time is on our side, it is not," she said. South Sudan descended into civil war after President Salva Kiir fired Riek Machar as vice president in 2013. The pair agreed a peace deal in August but implementation has been slow. Heavy fighting involving tanks and helicopters erupted in South Sudan's capital Juba for several days this month between troops loyal to Kiir and those backing Machar. At least 272 people were killed before the leaders ordered a ceasefire. Reacting to the violence in Juba, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to fortify the peacekeeping mission. He also urged an arms embargo and sanctions for leaders and commanders blocking implementation of an August peace deal. U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed in the country since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. There are currently some 13,500 troops and police on the ground. African leaders have called for the U.N. Security Council to authorize the deployment of a regional protection force to separate South Sudan's warring parties. Machar, who was reappointed vice president this year, left Juba after the fighting and said he would only return after international troops are deployed as a buffer force to separate his forces from Kiir's. Venezuela regulator denies telecoms requests for price hikes CARACAS, July 29 (Reuters) - Venezuela's struggling telecoms operators must maintain fixed low prices after the country's regulator Conatel suspended their application to raise fees, doubling down on state-led economic policies. Regulator Conatel said President Nicolas Maduro had instructed the agency to suspend price hikes despite desperate calls from a subsidiary of Spain's Telefonica which said in February that the sector was in crisis. International communication in Venezuela is becoming tougher, with carriers barring international calls. Internet connections are often slow. In April, Telefonica subsidiary Movistar, one of the country's largest providers, restricted international calls to just 10 countries following difficulties in obtaining dollars through the OPEC nation's strict currency control system. U.N. council approves police to Burundi, several states abstain By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, July 29 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council authorized on Friday the deployment of up to 228 U.N. police to Burundi to monitor the security and human rights situation in the East African country, though four of the 15 members abstained from the vote. More than 450 people have been killed since President Pierre Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term last year, a move his opponents say violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005. Government officials and members of the opposition have been among those killed in tit-for-tat violence by rival sides. About a quarter of a million people have fled the violence. "Given an increase in violence and tension the Security Council must have eyes and ears on the ground to predict and ensure that the worst does not occur in Burundi," said French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre. The violence has caused alarm in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide remain raw. Like Rwanda, Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and a Tutsi minority. So far the violence has largely followed political rather than ethnic lines. But the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said last month he feared increased violence and incitement could turn ethnic in nature. "This time we are not waiting for the worst to occur before taking action," Malaysia's Deputy Ambassador Siti Hajjar Adnin told the council. However, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said the resolution was not strong enough and that the U.N. police would simply be observers to Burundi's problems, warning the situation is "all but certain to deteriorate." "It is not at all clear to me that a council that says repeatedly that it has learned the lesson of Rwanda has in fact done so," Power said. "Police are not being deployed to protect civilians, even though civilians are in dire need of protection. That should embarrass us." Burundi has said it would only accept up to 50 unarmed U.N. police and that its sovereignty must be fully respected. The United Nations needs approval from the Burundi government to send the police. Council veto power China, along with Angola, Egypt and Venezuela abstained from the vote. Mexico agrees to monitor for its probe of student massacre MEXICO CITY, July 29 (Reuters) - Mexico agreed on Friday to let the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) again monitor its widely criticized investigation into the disappearance and probable massacre of 43 students in 2014. After almost three months of dialogue, the government and the IACHR agreed that the commission can send two technical advisers who will visit Mexico as needed to review the investigation, the IACHR said in a statement. Starting last year, a group of international experts backed by the IACHR exposed serious flaws in the Mexican attorney general's probe of the students' disappearance in September 2014 in the southern state of Guerrero. The experts said suspects in the case had been tortured, and they debunked the government's official version that the students had been burned in a dump and their remains had been thrown into a river in Guerrero. China asks S.Sudan to punish those responsible for Chinese peacekeeper deaths SHANGHAI, July 30 (Reuters) - China's foreign minister Wang Yi met his counterpart from South Sudan and asked him to quickly identify and punish those responsible for killing two Chinese soldiers in the capital of Juba, according to an article on the foreign ministry's website. Two Chinese peacekeepers were killed and several others injured by a mortar shell earlier this month during fighting between followers of President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, the former rebel leader who became vice president under a deal to end the civil war. During that time personnel of the United Nations Mission to South Sudan (UNMISS) also came under attack. The Sudanese minister Deng Alor Kuol expressed grief over the deaths and promised to quickly investigate and punish the culprits, according to the Chinese foreign ministry statement. Wang told Deng Alor Kuol that peace is a prerequisite for development, and he hoped both sides in South Sudan can put the public interest first, and protect the safety of lives and property, including Chinese lives and property. The peacekeepers' bodies were returned to China on Tuesday. To date, China has sent over 30,000 officers and soldiers to 24 UN peacekeeping missions, and 13 have lost their lives, according to state media. China is the largest consumer of oil produced in the Sudan region, but its energy strategy - including major infrastructure investment - has been bedevilled by civil conflict. Beijing was originally a supporter of the northern Sudanese government and sold it weapons, but the country split in half and China had to reestablish relations with a sceptical new government in South Sudan. Now the South Sudan government has destabilised, and China sent a special envoy to Africa earlier this month to help resolve the political crisis. China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) said it had evacuated the bulk of its workers from South Sudan but its operations were unaffected. Oozing dim sum buns delight diners in Hong Kong By Stefanie McIntyre July 29 (Reuters) - At Dim Sum Icon in Hong Kong, diners are encouraged to play with their food. Squeeze the lactating and defecating steamed dim sum bun with coconut cream inside, made to resemble one of the popular Japanese 'Kobitos' characters, and you're in for a "hilarious" experience, customers say. But far from grossing people out, Ray Kuo, assistant manager at the restaurant, said it's one of the most popular items on the menu. "Actually we got a lot of good reviews from them," Kuo said. "That is the main one they post on Facebook and Instagram." Another crowd-pleaser is a pooping 'Gudetama', the lazy yellow egg character from Japan's Sanrio, and a cartoon turd made out of cake. The restaurant uses Japanese animations, such as the 'Kobitos' by Toshitaka Nabata and 'Gudetama,' but switches the main theme up every few months in addition to alternating menu items. "We don't want the old traditional Chinese style of dim sum, so we want make it more fashionable, Kuo said, emphasizing the restaurant's appeal to teenagers and a "younger crowd." Dutch exchange student, Lineke Schrigver, said she knew about the restaurants from social media before even setting foot in the city and happened to walk by it. "I have seen it on Facebook and on Instagram already before I came to Hong Kong, but I didn't know this was like a famous thing or anything," Schrigver said. "I was like I want to go there." Schrigver said the food was "hilarious" but "really tasty." Taiwanese tourist, Miss Su, who had just arrived in Hong Kong said her family had first eaten at a traditional dim sum restaurant but were disappointed. "I think it is a novelty and special so I wanted to have a try," Su said. "And it does taste really good, cute and tasty." Kuo explained that everything has been cleared with the copyrights holder, with a percentage of the profits going to the animation companies. Dim Sum Icon opened their first restaurant two years ago and their second at the end of December. They are already in negotiations to open stores in mainland China and Macau. Indonesia detains 7 after attacks on Buddhist temples JAKARTA, July 30 (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities detained seven people in northern Sumatra island on Saturday on suspicion of attacking several Buddhist temples the previous night, officials said. A spokeswoman for North Sumatra provincial police said the seven were part of a mob that damaged at least three temples and other property in the town of Tanjung Balai, near Indonesia's fourth-biggest city Medan. No one was injured. Indonesia is a Muslim-majority nation but has a sizable ethnic Chinese minority, many of whom are Buddhist. The country has a history of anti-Chinese violence, most recently in the late 1990s amid the political and economic crisis that brought down authoritarian ruler Suharto. But police officials denied Friday's attack was aimed at the Chinese community. "This was just a (dispute between) individuals," said North Sumatra Police Spokeswoman Rina Sari Ginting, adding the situation was now under control. Indonesia, where the majority of the population practices a moderate form of Islam, sees sporadic attacks on religious minorities by Muslim hardliners but authorities are quick to crack down on any violent incidents. China General Nuclear says respects Britain's decision to review Hinkley project SHANGHAI, July 30 (Reuters) - China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) on Saturday said it respects the decision of the new British government to review a nuclear power project in which it would hold a major stake, according to a statement on the company's official microblog. "We understand, given the importance of the Hinkley Point C programme to England's future energy security, that the new British Government has expressed a need for time to familiarize itself with the programme. CGN understands and respects this," the company said. China's foreign ministry did not answer questions faxed by Reuters, referring further questions to China's National Energy Administration (NEA). The NEA did not respond to emailed questions on Saturday. The British government announced on Friday it would review the Hinkley Point C project just hours after the builder, French state-owned utility EDF, voted to approve it, delaying a final decision on the plan just weeks after Britain's vote to leave the European Union ushered in a new prime minister. The Hinkley Point reactor project, which would provide an estimated 7 percent of Britain's electricity, has been widely criticized as overpriced, and that critique has gained traction as the British economy has teetered in the aftermath of the vote. The plant is estimated to cost around 18 billion pounds ($23.81 billion), and would be contracted for 35 years to sell energy to the British public at 92.50 pounds per megawatt hour, more than twice current baseload power prices. The French side is also conflicted about the financial risks given the plant is not expected to start running until 2030. The plans have led to the resignation of an EDF board member who said they were financially risky, echoing the criticism of French unions which said the project jeopardises the survival of the company. CGN was set to hold a 33 percent stake in the plant, a deal presided over by China's president Xi Jinping and Britain's then-prime minister David Cameron, part of a cooperative package designed to usher in a "golden era" of Sino-British friendship. It would have marked the first project investment by a Chinese nuclear firm in a developed economy, but security services warned that the deal could give China access to computer systems that would allow it to shut down or sabotage the plant. The deal was supposed to pave the way for CGN to lead another project in Britain at Bradwell in which Chinese nuclear technology would be used. French church attacker: from troubled childhood to altar killer By Michel Rose SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France, July 29 (Reuters) - Adel Kermiche was an attention-seeking child whose behavioural problems frequently led him to a psychiatric hospital and later a specialist school. He died a coldblooded killer who slit the throat of an elderly French priest in the name of Islamic State. The son of a working class Franco-Algerian family living just outside the Normandy city of Rouen, the teenager flipped between model student and aggressor as a youngster. He blipped on the radar of security services in early 2015, when he made his first failed bid to reach Syria. Kermiche burst into a church on the outskirts of Rouen during morning mass on Tuesday with another teenage Islamic militant and killed the 85-year-old father at the altar, chanting in Arabic, before they were both shot dead by police. "He was a loner. He was a troubled soul, he was all alone in his head," said a neighbour of the Kermiche family house in a leafy Rouen suburb where the 19-year-old was forced to live under a court surveillance order. "All he would talk about was Syria." A judicial source said Kermiche received regular psycho-therapy and medication between the ages of six and 13, at which point he was sent to school for pupils with behavioural problems. What role Kermiche's troubled background played in his conversion to a killer is not clear. Kermiche's radicalisation, however, was swift. His mother told Swiss newspaper La Tribune de Geneve last year that Kermiche became "bewitched" by hardline Islamic ideology after militants attacked the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January, 2015. Two months later, he made his first attempt to reach Syria to wage jihad. Investigators are digging into the relationship between Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Nabir Petitjean, who lived in a French alpine town 700 km (440 miles) away from Kermiche, and how the two communicated before staging their attack. Kermiche frequently communicated with scores of followers on Telegram, a private communication channel whose encrypted message system makes tracking chatter difficult for intelligence agencies. "SPREAD CARNAGE" In audio posts obtained by L'Express magazine and whose content was confirmed to Reuters by a police source, Kermiche told about 200 followers that going to Syria was no longer an option because of border controls, and urged them to launch attacks on French soil instead. "You get a knife, go to a church, spread carnage, boom. You cut off two or three heads and you're done," he said. Just hours before the attack, he posted another message saying "Download what's coming next and share it widely!!!!". He last logged onto the app at 9:46 a.m. from inside the Saint-Etienne church, but he failed to post any video of the killing. The attack has raised questions over how security services can clamp down on the proliferation of online videos urging disillusioned Muslims to take up arms for Islamic State (IS) and other groups, as well as channels of communication on social media. A Telegram spokesman said its public content was moderated on a 24/7 basis and "as a result IS channels usually go down within less than a day, mostly within hours." But he said Telegram, like other encrypted messengers, did not have access to closed chats and communities and could not moderate their content. In November, Telegram said it had identified and blocked 78 Islamic State-related broadcast channels in 12 languages on its site. Conservative politicians have been scathing of President Francois Hollande's security record, branding him soft on suspected militants. Kermiche himself was supposedly under close surveillance and wore an electronic tag. Friends said he would routinely try to indoctrinate them. "Each time we said something to him he would come back at us with a verse from the Koran," said 18-year-old Redwan, a school friend of Kermiche. "He would tell us we had to fight for our Muslim brothers, that France was a country of infidels." He tried reaching Syria twice. The first time, he was intercepted in Germany in March, 2015, using his brother's identity card after his family reported him missing. Sent back to France, he was charged with terrorism offences but released on bail ahead of a trial. He was banned from leaving his local area, but two months later he slipped away and was detained in Turkey, this time travelling on his cousin's ID card. France held Kermiche in detention until March this year when a judge ruled him fit for release under strict supervision, despite the protests of prosecutors. Forced to surrender his passport and fitted with an electronic tag, Kermiche was restricted to leaving his parents' home for a few hours a day. REVENGE Court documents first published by Le Monde and confirmed to Reuters by a judicial source showed he told the judge he regretted his attempts to leave for Syria. "I'm a Muslim who believes in mercy, in doing good, I'm not an extremist," he told the judge. "I want to get back my life, see my friends, get married." Marc Trevidic - a former anti-terrorism judge who placed Kermiche under investigation but was not involved in the decision to release him - said in a interview with L'Express that he had struck him as determined and arrogant. "His case is typical of these individuals desperate to go, but that justice manages to keep here. So they get their revenge by doing jihad in France," he was quoted as saying. In his quiet neighbourhood of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, local people said he was still openly discussing ways to escape again. "My son bumped into him in March at a bus stop. He told him he had been pushed back from Turkey but would try again, he was being manipulated," Sebastien, the father of Kermiche's former school friend told Reuters at the local grocer. "As a kid, he always needed to show off. He was hyperactive, very nervous, he created trouble to get attention," he said. Local residents said Kermiche did not come from a dysfunctional family, with a mother who taught in a local high school and a sister who trained as a doctor, adding that the wider Muslim community was well integrated in the area. At the local mosque, Mohammed Karabila, head of the regional Muslim council, pointed at a small wall separating the mosque from Saint-Etienne's second church as a demonstration of the harmony between the town's religious communities. Kermiche, he said, was unknown at the mosque. Turkey kills 35 militants after they try to storm base, officials say DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 30 (Reuters) - Turkey's army killed 35 Kurdish militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on Saturday, military officials said. The overnight attack came hours after clashes in Hakkari's Cukurca district between soldiers and militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that left eight soldiers dead, the officials said. The militants attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance. An air operation was launched, killing 23 of them, the officials said. Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said. The remaining eight were killed in clashes in Hakkari's Cukurca district. Friday's clashes in Cukurca also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said. Turkey's military - NATO's second-largest - is grappling with the insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast as its senior ranks undergo a major shake-up in following a July 15-16 coup attempt. On Thursday, Turkey announced an overhaul of the armed forces, with 99 colonels promoted to the rank of general or admiral and nearly 1,700 military personnel given dishonourable discharges over their alleged roles in the coup. About 40 percent of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup. In the southeast, the military has frequently carried out air strikes after a 2 1/2-year ceasefire and peace process between the government and the PKK broke down last summer. Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since then. Some cities in the predominantly Kurdish southeast have been engulfed in the worst violence since the 1990s. Turkey's anti-Gulen crackdown ripples far and wide By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU, July 30 (Reuters) - Barely 12 hours after a failed coup in Turkey, Somalia's cabinet met in Mogadishu to consider a request from Ankara to shut down two schools and a hospital linked to Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric Turkey blames for the attempted putsch. Such is Turkey's sway in the Horn of Africa nation, where it has spearheaded international reconstruction efforts after decades of war and instability, it was not a difficult decision. Teachers and pupils - almost all of them Somali - at the two huge boarding schools run by Gulen's Nile Academy educational foundation were given seven days to pack their bags and, if they were foreign, leave the country. "Considering the request of our brother country Turkey, the cabinet ministers have agreed upon the following points - to stop the services provided by Nile Academy including schools, hospitals, etc," a July 16 government statement said. A week later the order had been carried out to the letter. Turkey's ties with Somalia are well established. President Tayyip Erdogan became the first non-African leader to visit Somalia in nearly 20 years when he travelled there in 2011 as Turkey's prime minister. Turkey was a major contributor to the humanitarian aid effort during the 2011 famine and Ankara continues to build hospitals and dispatch aid across Somalia. The closures in Somalia are part of a far wider effort to erode Gulen's influence. Erdogan has vowed to "cleanse" Turkey of what he describes as the Gulenist cancer, going not only after the cleric's followers at home but also his network of schools and other interests around the world. Gulen's schools have been a key source of influence and revenue for his "Hizmet" movement. It runs some 2,000 educational establishments in around 160 countries, from Afghanistan to the United States. The schools are generally well equipped, teach a secular curriculum in English, and are popular, especially in poorer countries, with the political and business elite. Like the two Somali schools, the Deva hospital, a rare private clinic in battle-scarred Mogadishu popular with a tiny Somali elite, is no longer working. "The Turkish workers left Somalia," police major Mohamed Nur told Reuters. "These institutions are now under the custody of police. No teaching and no medical services are going on now. Nurses just visit us every day to monitor and just go back." Somalia is not alone in feeling Erdogan's international backlash against Gulen, who has denied any role in the attempted coup from his home in the United States. Besides a purge of the army, police and judiciary to rid it of "Gulenist" elements at home, Turkey has also applied pressure to countries including Germany, Indonesia, Nigeria and Kenya that are home to Gulen-backed institutions. Azerbaijan, which like Somalia enjoys close ties with Ankara, closed an independent television station on Friday that planned to air an interview with Gulen. RELUCTANCE But other countries appear less keen to follow their lead. In Kenya, where Gulen's Omeriye Foundation has grown from its first school in 1998 in the vast Nairobi slum of Kibera to a nationwide network of academies, the government has resisted pressure to close them down. "Turkish officials have requested Kenya to shut down the Gulenist schools on a number of occasions before the attempted coup but the Kenyan government has not acted on them," a foreign ministry source told Reuters. Since July 15, the Turkish ambassador had requested another meeting, the source said, but it has yet to happen. "It has not been scheduled," the source said. Authorities in Germany, which has an estimated 14 high schools with links to Gulen, have also been contacted. Winfried Kretschmann, premier of the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, said he had received a letter from the Turkish Consul General asking him to examine a list of institutions such as private schools. He said he had forwarded the letter to Germany's federal government. "I think it is not on at all for a foreign state to interfere in our internal affairs," Kretschmann told broadcaster ARD. "We are responsible for these institutions and no one else. We will judge these institutions with our own discretion and we are aware of nothing negative about these institutions." Indonesia, another country where Gulen's foundations have put down roots, was equally unimpressed. "Indonesia is a democratic country and will always prioritise free and active politics. Indonesia's internal affairs remain Indonesia's responsibility," cabinet secretary Pramono Anung told reporters. "That includes anyone who has officially received the recognition of the Indonesian government. They will be governed by Indonesian law." In Kenya, Gulen-backed schools in Nairobi and the port cities of Mombasa and Malindi have an overwhelmingly Kenyan staff and offer classes that conform to the British curriculum - a big draw for government officials who cannot afford top-end private education but who blanche at Kenya's state schools. "We go beyond producing academically competent students (which is part of our culture) and also bring up socially responsible and culturally sensitive individuals who are truly world citizens," one of the academies, Light International School (LIS), said on its website. The headmaster of one Gulen-backed school in Kenya, who asked not to be named, said Ankara had been tightening the noose even before the coup attempt, and its efforts were having an effect, albeit indirectly. One of the main aims of a visit by Erdogan to Kenya and Uganda in June was to stamp out the influence of Gulen, whose network was long an instrument of Turkey's soft power in Africa, a continent where it was developing serious ambitions. "The request came from our government to the government of Kenya to close the school right after the visit by the Turkish president," the headmaster said. Of the 410 students at the school, whose annual fees are around $5,000, 148 pupils are sponsored by a bursary funded by the international Turkish business community - an annual outlay of $750,000 that was now feeling the pinch from Ankara's crackdown, the headmaster said. "The pressure is there after the coup attempt. We used to have the funds coming in, but it stopped. International Turkish businessmen cannot sponsor students," the headmaster added. WORLD NEWS SCHEDULE AT 1000 GMT/6 AM ET Editor: Angus MacSwan + 44 207 542 1028 Picture Desk: Singapore + 65 6870 3775 Graphics queries: + 65 6870 3595 (All times GMT/ET) TOP STORIES Clinton gets down to campaign business with U.S. Rust Belt trip PHILADELPHIA - Democrat Hillary Clinton takes her newly energized campaign to become the United States' first woman president on road to states in "Rust Belt" that might decide outcome of Nov. 8 election. (USA-ELECTION/ (WRAPUP 8, PIX, TV, GRAPHIC), moved, by Amanda Becker, 800 words) + See also: - USA-ELECTION/TRUMP (PIX, TV), moved, by Steve Holland, 400 words Clinton campaign also hacked in attacks on Democrats - sources WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO - Computer network used by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign is hacked as part of broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations, people familiar with matter say. (USA-CYBER/DEMOCRATS-INVESTIGATION (UPDATE 1, EXCLUSIVE, PIX), moved, by Mark Hosenball, Joseph Menn and John Walcott, 600 words) No clean bill of health for EU banks in stress test LONDON - Banks from Italy, Ireland, Spain and Austria fare worst in the latest European Union stress test, which the region's banking watchdog says shows there is still work to do in order to boost credit to the bloc's economy. (EU-BANKS/TESTS (UPDATE 4), by Huw Jones and Andrew MacAskill, 802 words) Turkey's Erdogan slams West for failure to show solidarity over coup attempt ANKARA/ISTANBUL - President Tayyip Erdogan slams Western countries for failing to show solidarity with Turkey over failed coup, saying those who worry over fate of coupists instead of Turkish people and its democracy cannot be friends of Ankara. (TURKEY-SECURITY/ (WRAPUP 4, PIX, TV), moved, by Tulay Karadeniz and Humeyra Pamuk, 1,200 words) LATIN AMERICA Brazil's Lula to stand trial for obstruction of justice - court SAO PAULO - Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the former chief executive of investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA will stand trial for obstruction of justice, documents from a federal court in Brasilia show. (BRAZIL-CORRUPTION/ (UPDATE 2), moved, 378 words) UNITED STATES Inventory reduction curbs US economic growth; rebound expected WASHINGTON - U.S. economic growth unexpectedly remains tepid as inventories fall for first time in nearly five years and business investment weakens further, offsetting robust consumer spending. (USA-ECONOMY/ (WRAPUP 5), moved, by Lucia Mutikani, 912 words) Florida cases seen as first sign Zika transmitted locally in U.S. ORLANDO, Fla. - Florida authorities report first sign of local Zika transmission in continental United States, concluding that mosquitoes likely infected four people with virus that can cause rare but serious birth defect. (HEALTH-ZIKA/FLORIDA (UPDATE 5, PIX, TV), moved, by Barbara Liston and Zachary Fagenson, 871 words) Crews battle to quell California wildfire near Big Sur coast CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. - Firefighters battle for eighth day to quell deadly blaze near California's renowned Big Sur coast that destroys dozens of homes, threatens hundreds more and forces several state parks to close at height of summer tourist season. (CALIFORNIA-FIRE/ (UPDATE 3, PIX, TV), moved, by Michael Fiala, 400 words) EUROPE Belgium arrests two men suspected of planning attack BRUSSELS - Police arrest two men suspected of planning an attack in Belgium after house searches on Friday evening. (EUROPE-ATTACKS/BELGIUM (UPDATE 1), moved, 176 words) French church attacker: from troubled childhood to altar killer SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France - Adel Kermiche was attention-seeking child whose behavioral problems frequently led him to psychiatric hospital and later specialist school. He died cold-blooded killer who slit throat of elderly French priest in name of Islamic State. (EUROPE-ATTACKS/FRANCE-KILLER (PIX, TV), moved, by Michel Rose, 1,083 words) Putin steps up drive to kill sanctions amid signs of EU disunity MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin will step up Russia's campaign to end European Union sanctions with visit to Slovenia on Saturday, encouraged by signs his tactic of lobbying what he views as more pliant southern and eastern European states is starting to pay off. (RUSSIA-SANCTIONS/PUTIN (PIX), moved, by Andrew Osborn, 1,256 words) MIDDLE EAST Turkey's anti-Gulen crackdown ripples far and wide MOGADISHU - Barely 12 hours after a failed coup in Turkey, Somalia's cabinet met in Mogadishu to consider a request from Ankara to shut down two schools and a hospital linked to Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric Turkey blames for the attempted putsch. (TURKEY-SECURITY/GULEN-EDUCATION (moved), by Abdi Sheikh, 1036 words) Turkish troops kill 35 militants after they try to storm base, officials says DIYARBAKIR - Turkish troops kill 35 Kurdish militants after they try to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province, military officials say. (TURKEY-KURDS/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 293 words) Iran's global banking problems deepen with rise of Trump, Brexit LONDON/ANKARA - Britain's vote to leave European Union and rise of U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump paralyze efforts by Western governments to encourage already highly reluctant international banks to do business with Iran. (IRAN-BANKING/ (INSIGHT, PIX), moved, by Jonathan Saul and Parisa Hafezi, 1,419 words) ASIA China General Nuclear says it respects Britain's decision to review Hinkley project SHANGHAI - China General Nuclear Power Corp says it respects the decision of the new British government to review a nuclear power project in which it would hold a major stake. (CHINA-NUCLEARPOWER/HINKLEY (UPDATE 1), moved, 436 words) At least 31 killed in India's northeast, Bangladesh by heavy rains GUWAHATI - At least 17 people are killed by heavy rains and flooding in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, while at least 14 people die in Bangladesh, with millions of people also displaced, officials say. (INDIA-FLOODS/ (moved), 185 words) SPORTS Russian weightlifters barred from Rio Games Niger extends state of emergency in Diffa region hit by Boko Haram NIAMEY, July 30 (Reuters) - Niger has extended a state of emergency in the southeastern region of Diffa for three months after a series of attacks by Boko Haram, the government said late on Friday. Attacks by Boko Haram since late May have emptied the towns of Bosso and Yebi near the Nigeria border in the Lake Chad region. Some 69,000 have fled, according to a report on Friday by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "Despite the various extensions of the state of emergency in the region of Diffa and bloody setbacks inflicted on it, the Boko Haram sect still continues to have a destructive capacity as evidenced by the recent attacks in Bosso," the government said in a statement. Boko Haram took the town of Bosso near the Nigerian border in early June, in an attack that killed 30 soldiers from Niger and two. It was the deadliest assault in Niger by Boko Haram since April 2015. Since then, Chad has sent troops to help Niger wage a counterattack. The state of emergency, which the government hopes will allow it to beef up its presence in the region with troops and added security measures, will now run to Oct. 25. It is the latest in a series of such declarations in the Diffa region since February last year. In Florida Zika probe, federal scientists kept at arm's length By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO, July 29 (Reuters) - The state of Florida, the first to report the arrival of Zika in the continental United States, has yet to invite a dedicated team of the federal government's disease hunters to assist with the investigation on the ground, health officials told Reuters. Coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the state reported possible local Zika transmission on July 19 has been conducted largely at a distance, they said. That is surprising to some infectious disease experts, who say a less robust response could lead to a higher number of infections. While Florida has a strong record of battling limited outbreaks of similar mosquito-borne viruses, including dengue and chikungunya, the risk of birth defects caused by Zika adds greater urgency to containing its spread with every available means, they say. Other states have quickly called in CDC teams to help track high-profile diseases. "You only have a small window. This is the window" to prevent a small-scale outbreak from spreading, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who expressed impatience with the pace of the Florida investigation. Florida on Friday said that four cases of Zika in the state were likely caused by mosquito, the first sign that the virus is circulating locally, though it has yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the disease. The current Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of the birth defect microcephaly, and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. Florida Governor Rick Scott said the state health department was working with the CDC as it continues its Zika investigation. CDC said it is closely coordinating with Florida officials who are leading the effort. Dr Marc Fischer, a CDC epidemiologist, has gone to Florida at the state's request. But the state has not invited in the CDC's wider emergency response team of experts in epidemiology, risk communication, vector control and logistics, according to Florida health department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri. In its plans to fight Zika nationwide, CDC stressed that such teams would help local officials track and contain the virus. Similar teams were sent to Utah earlier this month to solve how a person may have become infected while caring for a Zika-infected patient, before local officials went public with the case, and quickly joined an effort to contain an Ebola case in Dallas in 2014. "Should we need additional assistance, we will reach out," Gambineri said in an email. She did not reply to questions about why the state decided not to bring in a CDC team. CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency has several teams ready for when states request help with Zika, including Florida. "If invited, we've got a team ready to go," he said. FUNDING BLAME GAME Florida health officials publicly disclosed the first case of suspected local transmission on July 19. They have since been testing hundreds of area residents to identify other possible infections, in some cases knocking on doors asking people to provide urine samples, and studying local mosquito populations to see if they are carrying the virus. The state has warned residents to protect themselves against mosquito bites, and distributed Zika prevention kits for pregnant women at local doctors' offices. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert from the University of Minnesota, said the two counties involved in the Florida probe - Miami-Dade County and Broward County - have extensive mosquito control experience. But he was surprised that the state had not yet sought CDC's help in quickly gathering information about where people were when they were bitten. "When cases like this occur, it's critical that there be rapid epidemiological investigations to determine the likely location where the mosquito exposure occurred," Osterholm said. "Only with that can you identify the breeding sites and eliminate them." As Zika's arrival in the United States loomed in recent months, Republican and Democratic leaders have blamed each other for holding up funding to fight it. President Barack Obama's administration asked Congress for $1.9 billion to fund a Zika response. Republican lawmakers proposed much smaller sums, and talks with their Democratic counterparts stalled before Congress adjourned for the summer. Scott, a Republican, said on Friday he had asked top officials in the Obama administration, including CDC Director Tom Frieden, for more resources to fight Zika. He has allocated$26 million from the state's budget. On July 20, the White House said that Obama had called the Florida governor to discuss the possibility that Zika was circulating in the state, and promised an extra $5.6 million in federal funding in addition to about $2 million provided by CDC. The statement praised Florida's record of responding to mosquito-borne outbreaks and its close coordination with federal partners, including the CDC. UK's May worried by China investment, intervened to delay Hinkley By Kate Holton and William James LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May was concerned about the security implications of a planned Chinese investment in the new Hinkley Point nuclear plant and intervened personally to delay the project, a former colleague and a source said on Saturday. The plan by France's EDF to build two reactors with financial backing from a Chinese state-owned company was championed by May's predecessor David Cameron as a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment. But just hours before a signing ceremony was due to take place on Friday, May's new government said it would review the project again, raising concerns that Britain's approach to infrastructure deals, energy supply and foreign investment may be changing. The decision could prove a test for May, with any attempt to renegotiate the terms of the project potentially straining relations with Paris and Beijing at a time when Britain is seeking to build trade deals following the country's vote to leave the European Union. "When we were in government Theresa May was quite clear she was unhappy about the rather gung-ho approach to Chinese investment that we had," Vince Cable, Britain's former business secretary, told BBC Radio. He later told Sky News her concerns over China's involvement were linked to national security. "This was an issue that was raised in general but it was also raised specifically in relation to Hinkley," he said. May alerted French President Francois Hollande to her intention, a government source told Reuters. She explained to him that she would need time to consider the project when they met in Paris nine days ago and when they spoke in a phone call. "They agreed on the timetable," the source said. But state-controlled utility EDF, which went through a bruising boardroom battle in order to agree backing for the project on Thursday, said it had no advance warning of the review. Britain and EDF first reached a broad commercial agreement on the project in 2013. China got involved two years later when Downing Street laid on a state visit for President Xi Jinping, designed to cement a "Golden Era" of relations between the two countries. Cameron said he wanted to build a "lasting friendship" with Beijing and George Osborne, his chancellor, pitched Britain as China's "best partner in the West" even as other Western nations took a more cautious view of Chinese investment. SECURITY CONCERNS Since taking office on July 13, May has been keen to state that Britain remains open for business following the vote to leave the EU. But she has also said the government should be able to step in to defend a key sector from foreign ownership. China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) was set to hold a 33 percent stake in the Hinkley Point project, paving the way for the company to lead another project in Britain that would use Chinese nuclear technology. Last year, Nick Timothy, May's joint chief of staff, said security experts were worried the state-owned Chinese group would have access to computer systems that would allow it to shut down Britain's energy production. The two new reactors at Hinkley Point, in southwest England, would provide about 7 percent of Britain's electricity, helping to fill a supply gap left by the planned closure of coal plants by 2025. Although EDF and CGN are responsible for the 18-billion-pound ($24 billion) cost of the project, Britain has committed to paying a minimum price for the power generated for 35 years. Critics, including some British lawmakers and academics, say the country would be overpaying at that minimum price, which equates to double current market levels. China General Nuclear said on Saturday it respected the decision of the new British government to take the time needed to familiarise itself with the programme. A decision is now due by the autumn, possibly as early as September when the government is also due to give the go-ahead for a plan to expand either Heathrow or Gatwick airport, another major infrastructure project that has been delayed. May's office did not comment on Saturday, but the government has said it is right that it should consider all component parts of the Hinkley Point project before reaching a final decision. Pope urges Polish churchmen to open up, shun worldly ambitions By Wiktor Szary KRAKOW, Poland, July 30 (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged Poland's Roman Catholic churchmen on Saturday to live more simple lives, focus on those most in need and shun worldly ambitions. On the fourth day of his trip to Poland for an international gathering of Catholic youth, Francis addressed some 2,000 Polish bishops and priests gathered at a shrine dedicated to the late Pope John Paul, who died in 2005 and was made a saint in 2014. In the homily of a Mass, he told them not to lead "two-track lives" or to "remain enclosed, out of fear or convenience, within ourselves ..." Archbishop of Krakow Stanislaw Dziwisz, addressing Francis at the end of the Mass, said: "We are not closed within ourselves". Some media commentators have accused Polish Church leaders of enjoying a lifestyle protected from the difficulties of Poland's economic transition from communism to capitalism. They have also criticised what they see as the Polish Catholic Church's attempts to influence the conservative government, including supporting its coolness towards migrants for fear that they might dilute Poland's Christian identity. "The Church has forged an alliance with the government because, using law, it can exert more control," Jaroslaw Makowski, one of Poland's best-known theologians and a frequent critic of the hierarchy, said before the visit. Francis also told the Polish clergy that as "Jesus' closest disciples," their lives should be marked by modesty and humility. "The house where they live does not belong to them," Francis said. "Their wealth is to put the Lord in the midst on their lives and to seek nothing else for themselves. "They flee the satisfaction of being at the centre of things, they do not build on the shaky foundation of worldly power." The modern shrine to the memory of John Paul was built on the site of a stone quarry on the outskirts of Krakow where German occupiers forced him to work during World War Two. Francis' five-day trip to Poland is taking place in the shadow of the Polish pontiff, who has cult-like status in Poland for his role in inspiring his native country to stand up to communist rule in the 1980s. Erdogan says to close military schools, rein in armed forces By Yesim Dikmen ANKARA, Turkey, July 30 (Reuters) - Turkey will shut down its military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the defence minister, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday in a move designed to bring the military under tighter government control after a failed coup. The changes, some of which Erdogan said would likely be announced in the government's official gazette by Sunday, come after more than 1,700 military personnel were dishonourably discharged this week for their role in the abortive July 15-16 putsch. Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters in an interview last week that the military, NATO's second-biggest, needed "fresh blood". The dishonourable discharges included around 40 percent of Turkey's admirals and generals. Turkey accuses U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the putsch, in which a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets and attempted to topple the government. Erdogan has said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 wounded. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for years, denies the charge and has condemned the coup. So far, more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with Gulen. Turkey's Western allies condemned the attempted putsch, but have been rattled by the scale of the resulting crackdown. "Our armed forces will be much stronger with the latest decree we are preparing. Our force commanders will report to the defence minister," Erdogan said in an interview on Saturday with A Haber, a private broadcaster. "Military schools will be shut down... We will establish a national defence university." He also said he wanted the national intelligence agency and the chief of general staff, the most senior military officer, to report directly to the presidency, moves that would require a constitutional change and therefore the backing of opposition parties. Both the general staff and the intelligence agency now report to the prime minister's office. Putting them under the president's overall direction would be in line with Erdogan's push for a new constitution centred on a strong executive presidency. Erdogan also said that a total of 10,137 people have been formally arrested following the coup. MILITARY STRETCHED The shake-up comes as Turkey's military - long seen as the guardians of the secular republic - is already stretched by violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and Islamic State attacks on its border with Syria. The army killed 35 Kurdish militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on Saturday, military officials said. Erdogan said he planned to thin the numbers of the gendarmerie security forces widely used in the fight against Kurdish militants in the southeast, although he said they would become more effective with better weaponry and he promised to continue the fight against Kurdish insurgents. Separately, the head of the pro-Kurdish opposition told Reuters that the government's chance to revive a wrecked peace process with Kurdish rebels has been missed as Erdogan taps nationalist sentiment to consolidate support. State-run Anadolu Agency reported that 758 soldiers were released on the recommendation of prosecutors after giving testimony, and the move was agreed by a judge. Another 231 soldiers remain in custody, it said. 'SHAMEFUL' Erdogan, meanwhile, has said it was "shameful" that Western countries showed more interest in the fate of the plotters than in standing with a fellow NATO member and has upbraided Western leaders for not visiting after the putsch. U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, a top military official, is due to visit Turkey on Sunday. In an unexpected move, Erdogan said late on Friday that as a one-off gesture, he would drop all lawsuits filed against people for insulting him. He said the decision was triggered by feelings of "unity" against the coup attempt. It could also be aimed at silencing his Western critics. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said earlier this year. Those targeted include journalists, cartoonists and even children. It was not immediately clear whether Erdogan would also drop his legal action against German comedian Jan Boehmermann, who earlier this year recited a poem on television suggesting Erdogan engaged in bestiality and watched child pornography, prompting the president to file a complaint with German prosecutors that he had been insulted. European leaders worry that their differences with Erdogan could prompt him to retaliate and put an end to a historic deal, agreed in March, to stem the wave of migrants to Europe. "The success of the pact so far is fragile. President Erdogan has several times hinted he wants to terminate the agreement," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Austria's Kurier newspaper in an interview, when asked if the pact could fall apart. Erdogan criticised the European Council and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to be a part of, for failing to visit to offer condolences, saying their criticism was "shameful". Erdogan has called on Washington to extradite Gulen. Turkish officials have suggested the United States could extradite him based on strong suspicion, while President Barack Obama last week insisted Turkey must first present evidence of Gulen's alleged complicity. COURT REPORTERS On Saturday, 56 employees of Turkey's constitutional court were suspended from their jobs as part of the investigation into the alleged coup, private broadcaster Haberturk TV reported. Among those, more than 20 court reporters were detained, it reported. The number of public sector workers removed from their posts since the coup attempt is now more than 66,000, including some 43,000 people in education, Anadolu reported on Friday. Interior Minister Efkan Ala said more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup, and that 50,000 passports had been cancelled. The labour ministry said it was investigating 1,300 staff over their possible involvement. Erdogan has said that Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a "parallel state" that aimed to take over the country. The government is now going after Gulen's network of schools and other institutions abroad. Since the coup, Somalia has shut two schools and a hospital believed to have links to Gulen, and other governments have received similar requests from Ankara, although not all have been willing to comply. Coalition warplanes attack Houthi fighters near Saudi border -sources CAIRO, July 30 (Reuters) - Warplanes of a Saudi-led coalition bombed Houthi fighters from Yemen seeking to infiltrate Saudi Arabia on Saturday, killing tens of Houthi militiamen, security sources said. The bombing took place on the Yemeni side of the border close to the Saudi city of Najran, they said. Clashes were also seen in the northwestern Yemeni town of Haradh which borders the kingdom, witnesses told Reuters. Yemen's Houthi-run state news agency, Saba, said Houthi forces had fired missiles at Saudi targets. The flare-up in fighting was one of the worst since peace talks began in Kuwait in April between Yemen's government and the Houthis to end a 16-month conflict that has left more than 6,400 people dead, nearly half of them civilians, and displaced more than 2.5 million. A truce that began in April has slowed the momentum of fighting, but violence continues almost daily. Prospects for progress in the talks dimmed further on Thursday when Houthi rebels and their allies in the General People's Congress (GPC), the political party of militarily powerful former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said they had decided to form a political council to unilaterally rule the country. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations Yemen envoy, said the move gravely violated U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216, which calls on the Houthis "to refrain from further unilateral actions that could undermine the political transition in Yemen". On Friday, the delegation of the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said it planned to pull out of the talks on Saturday. The decision was taken apparently in protest at the announcement of the formation of the council. But on Saturday afternoon, Cheikh Ahmed said on his Twitter account that he had met both delegations, and "suggested a one-week extension to the talks and a framework for a solution to the crisis in Yemen". The official Kuwait news agency reported that both delegations were studying his proposals. Kuwait on July 20 set a 15-day deadline for its hosting of the current round of U.N.-brokered negotiations, which began in June, saying if the parties could not reach a peace agreement by then the Gulf state would have to be "excused" from its role. Scores of families leave besieged Aleppo under Russia-Damascus plan BEIRUT, July 30 (Reuters) - More than 150 civilians, mostly women and children, left besieged eastern parts of Aleppo through a safety zone that Moscow and its Syrian ally say they have set up to evacuate people trapped in opposition-held areas. Syrian state television on Saturday showed scores of mostly women gathered in a government-controlled area of the city, saying how conditions in rebel-held areas were difficult and chanting praise for Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Russia's defence ministry said that 169 civilians had left since Thursday through three safety crossings. The ministry also said in a statement that 69 rebels had handed themselves in to the army. Syrian state news agency SANA said 169 civilians, mostly women over the age of forty, had arrived at the Salah al Din checkpoint. There was no footage of people at the actual crossing and it was difficult to verify the information independently. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and its Russian allies declared a joint humanitarian operation for the besieged area on Thursday, bombarding it with leaflets telling fighters to surrender and civilians to leave. But the United Nations has raised misgivings about the plan and U.S. officials have suggested it may be an attempt to depopulate the city - the most important opposition stronghold in the country - so that the army can seize it. The Syrian opposition has called it a euphemism for forced displacement of the inhabitants, which it said would be a war crime. The 250,000 civilians trapped for weeks inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo have by and large stayed away so far from the "safe corridors" that Moscow and Damascus are offering to those who want to escape. With rebel-held areas running out of food and medicine after the only supply route into the city was cut by the army after months of heavy Russian and Syrian aerial bombing, many vulnerable civilians are desperate to leave, while being suspicious of the plan. The Russian defence ministry said Syrian authorities had prepared six humanitarian aid centres capable of accommodating more than 3,000 people. Residents in these areas who were contacted said many were hesitant to enter into government-held areas for fear of arrest by government forces with no presence of any U.N. body or NGO's to oversee the evacuation. They also said the journey to the frontline where the crossings were located was fraught with danger with snipers from both sides at times shooting at civilians. Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war, has been divided since 2012 into government and rebel sectors. Seizing control would be the biggest victory for Assad in five years of fighting, and demonstrate the dramatic shift of fortunes in his favour since Moscow joined the war on his side last year. Masked attackers target religious devotees in Bangladesh DHAKA, July 30 (Reuters) - Masked attackers stormed a religious meeting place in southwest Bangladesh, cutting off the long hair of the worshippers, police said on Saturday. It was not clear whether the attack was linked in any way to other killings this year of liberals and religious minorities in the mostly Muslim nation of 160 million people. The attack, in the south-western district of Chuadanga, targeted unorthodox religious devotees known as bauls. "About nine to 10 miscreants with masks stormed the (bauls') meeting place and tied up them to a tree, beat them and set fire to their shelter," said Abu Jihad Mohammad Fakhrul Islam, the officer in charge of Damurhuda police station, 260 km (160 miles) south west of Dhaka. Islam told Reuters the attackers threatened to kill the bauls unless they left the village, taking all their belongings, within 10 days. He said no one had been arrested yet. Pope condemns "wave of terror," urges young people to shun indifference By Philip Pullella and Wojciech Zurawski KRAKOW, Poland, July 30 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Saturday condemned the "devastating wave of terrorism" and war that has hit the world and urged a huge crowd of young people not to be indifferent to the suffering of others. The pope, who ends his five-day trip to Poland on Sunday, made an unscheduled stop at the church of St. Francis of Assisi in Krakow to recite a prayer for peace. "Touch the hearts of terrorists so that they may recognise the evil of their actions and may turn to the way of peace and goodness, of respect for the life and for the dignity of every human being, regardless of religion, origin, wealth or poverty," he said in the prayer. When he started the trip on Wednesday, Francis said the killing of an elderly priest in France by suspected Islamist militants and a string of other attacks were proof the "world is at war" but that it was not caused by religion.{ID:nL8N1AD3KU] From the church Francis went to a large field outside the city where he addressed hundreds of thousands of young people in Krakow for an international gathering of Catholic youth. There, after watching dance representations of stories of struggle, conflict and redemption, he heard a young representative from Aleppo, Syria, say "God, where are you? Do you exist?" In response, Francis asked the young people to pray for Syria and other places in conflict and said: "Once and for all, may we realize that nothing justifies shedding the blood of a brother or sister." He urged those who are better off not to remain remote from the suffering of others. "The times we live in do not call for young 'couch potatoes'," he said. Earlier on Saturday, Francis addressed Polish priests and bishops, urging them to live simpler lives, focus on those most in need and shun worldly ambitions. In the homily of a Mass, he told them not to lead "two-track lives" or to "remain enclosed, out of fear or convenience, within ourselves ..." Some media commentators have accused Polish Church leaders of enjoying a lifestyle protected from the difficulties some Poles are facing in the economic transition from communism to capitalism. Francis spoke to the bishops at a modern shrine to the memory of the late Pope John Paul and built on a site of a stone quarry on the outskirts of Krakow where German occupiers forced the future pontiff to work during World War Two. Francis' five-day trip to Poland has taken place in the shadow of the Polish pontiff, who has cult-like status in Poland for his role in inspiring his native country to stand up to communist rule in the 1980s. Hundreds protest death of black man after Canadian police arrest By Patrick Doyle OTTAWA, July 30 (Reuters) - More than 500 people rallied in Canada's capital on Saturday to protest the death of a mentally ill black man following an arrest, marching against what they see as race-based police brutality in a country that prides itself for being tolerant. Abdirahman Abdi, 37, died on Monday after witnesses told local media he was beaten by Ottawa police officers who responded to calls of a disturbance. His death echoed events in the United States, where a string of police killings of black men and allegations of police brutality and racial bias have sparked protests. "Justice for Abdirahman! Justice!" an attendee shouted to cheers and applause before the march went under way. The march is expected to end at a police station, though organizers have said they would respect the wishes of Abdi's family for the event to be peaceful. "Ensure there isn't any antagonization to the police at all," an organizer said before the march. Abdi's family held his funeral on Friday, which was attended by at least 600 people, including Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and other local politicians. The province of Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, is investigating the circumstances surrounding Abdi's arrest. Some advocates have called for criminal charges to be filed. UNICEF pledges continued aid effort in Nigeria after convey attack LAGOS, July 30 (Reuters) - United Nations children's agency UNICEF said it is continuing its aid work in northeastern Nigeria, a former stronghold of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, despite an attack on a humanitarian convoy earlier this week. The U.N. agency said late on Friday that it "continues to provide assistance to millions of conflict-affected children" in the region. Its statement followed an announcement on Thursday that UNICEF was temporarily suspending humanitarian assistance missions after a convoy was attacked and two aid workers injured as they returned to the northeastern city of Maiduguri after delivering aid in Bama. A temporary travel ban on U.N. workers travelling to high risk areas remains in place but the agency said it planned to scale-up its response in the northeastern state of Borno. UNICEF's pledge comes amid warnings of a growing humanitarian crisis in the region, where Boko Haram, seeking to create a state adhering to strict sharia law, took control of a swathe of land around the size of Belgium in late 2014. Troops from Nigeria and neighbouring countries forced the militants to retreat a few months later. Nearly 250,000 children suffer from life-threatening malnourishment in Borno and around one in five will die if they do not receive treatment, UNICEF said earlier this month. Aldersgate United Methodist Church and Black Box Players present Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, Thursday, Friday, Aug. 6 and Aug. 7. All performances are free. A special dinner theater, served by the cast, will be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 6. Reservations are required. $6 each, $24 families. 1500 E. Rio Road. blackboxplayers.com; (434) 973-5806. Connect Church hosts a performance by Dan David at 10 a.m. Sunday. 2080 Lambs Road. (434) 978-7984. Immanuel Lutheran Church holds Vacation Bible School for children in pre-K through rising sixth-graders from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Aug. 8-12. 2416 Jefferson Park Ave. immanuelcharlottesville.com. (434) 295-4038. Mt. Calvary Baptist Church (Ivy) holds Reading the Blood A Time of Prayer, Praise and Worship, 4 p.m. Sunday. 3045 Morgantown Road. (434) 295-0555. Operation Esther Circle holds weekly meetings to pray and plan for new students coming to the University of Virginia and other colleges, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. each Thursday in August. 3045 Ivy Road. (434) 227-0811. Piedmont District Baptist Association holds its 129th Annual Session with a youth worship service led by the Rev. Vernon L. Gordon III at 7 p.m. Tuesday; registration and continental breakfast at 8 a.m. Wednesday, followed by session at 9 a.m.; session at 10 a.m. Thursday and worship service at 7 p.m. Thursday. Emmanuel Christian Center, 111 New Life Drive in Ruckersville. (434) 977-5080. Pleasant Grove Baptist Church (Earlysville) celebrates its 142nd anniversary with Sister Deborah Terrell speaking at 11 a.m. and Pastor David Allison speaking at 3 p.m. Sunday. 3417 Earlysville Road. (434) 978-7198. Scottsville United Methodist Church hosts Family Game Night with hot dogs, drinks and dessert, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. 158 Main St. (434) 286-4736. This calendar, published every Saturday, lists special events of a religious nature. Because of space constraints, notices about regular worship services cannot be included. Items intended for publication should be faxed to (434) 978-7252; mailed to Worship Calendar, The Daily Progress, P.O. Box 9030, Charlottesville, VA 22906; or emailed to ewood@dailyprogress.com. Material must be received by 4 p.m. the Wednesday prior to publication. Earlier this month, a sniper shot and killed five Dallas police officers during a protest against police brutality. Ten days later, three police officers were shot and killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in an ambush near a shopping center. On Thursday, an officer was shot and killed, and another injured, in San Diego during a routine traffic stop. The attacks sent shockwaves through law enforcement communities across the country, including the Charlottesville and Albemarle County police departments. Grieving the loss of their brothers in blue, Charlottesville police hung a black shroud with a blue line around the entrance to the department. Both city and county officers placed black bands over the heart of their badges. Thirty-four officers have been fatally shot in the line of duty so far this year which is up 74 percent from the number at this time last year, according to a new report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. FBI data show that the number of officers killed in the line of duty averages about 53 per year and that about 20 percent of fatal police shootings over the past 10 years have been ambushes. For local police, a heightened fear now blankets their thoughts as they get ready for work every day uncertain if theyll come home to kiss their children goodnight or tell their families they love them. In light of the recent attacks and a sense of a growing negative attitude toward police, some officers are even wondering if they should make a career change. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, several Albemarle officers said they are afraid to come to work these days. They said that while they have felt strong support from the community, its difficult to do their job when they feel like they have to be alert all the time. The officers said they just want people to remember that police are still human, with families waiting for them to come home every day. Others said the possibility of not coming home has always been a part of the job, but in the weeks following the attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge, several said their families are more afraid for them. Some of the officers even said they feel the need to plan escape routes when eating out or going to see a movie with their families. Reflecting on the current atmosphere surrounding law enforcement in the wake of several controversial police shootings, retired Albemarle police Capt. John Teixeira said the ups and downs of police work go with the job. Right now, he said, officers will be on high alert and watching each others backs more than ever. Its hard because the reality is that when you go on calls, anything can happen, said Teixeira. You always have to have your guard up, but you have to balance that against protecting the public and not overreacting. As a retired 25-year veteran officer, Teixeira said its hard to see the attacks on law enforcement and that this is one of the worst times to be a police officer. Echoing remarks made by Dallas police Chief David Brown, he said sometimes society expects too much from the police. I dont know if I could recommend young people going into this profession right now, Teixeira said. Its not so much because of the dangers thats just part of the job but because of a lack of support from communities and politicians sometimes. The police are often used as a punching bag, he said. Theyre given a lot of assignments to fix social problems. Teixeira also said he understands the anger coming from communities and that its appropriate to criticize the police when they get something wrong. At the same time, he said, its important for community members to understand what police go through and to allow enough time to complete investigations. I will say its one of the most rewarding things you can do with your life to serve others, Teixeira said. Despite the challenges, you do get a sense of accomplishment. Its a hard time, but well get through this. * * * Jason Perry, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who retired from the Albemarle County Police Department in 2013 after spending four years at the Boston Police Department, said that while both military personnel and law enforcement officers work to protect their communities, police officers often dont receive the same amount of support. Its never been harder to be a cop than right now, Perry said. Calling social media a modern-day lynch mob, Perry voiced his anger toward the reaction to viral videos of police shootings such as the footage of Philando Castile, who was shot during a traffic stop in Minnesota. He said people are too quick to criticize the officer involved. Body cameras are great, but they can also be bad, Perry said. The angles dont always show everything, and sometimes it looks awful. We need calm, peaceful, intelligent people getting up there and saying, We know it looks bad. But lets find out whats really going on. There is no harder call than to pull the trigger for a law enforcement officer, he said. Nobody wants to do that. Perry said his biggest fear is that attacks on officers are going to become more commonplace and that police are going to have to stay even more vigilant. With an increased use of body cameras, he said videos will continue to pop up on social media and criticism of police is likely to escalate. When there is a bad apple, they need to be treated accordingly they need to be given due process, convicted and sent to jail, said Perry. But we cant rush to that judgment. These guys live in a zero-mistake profession, he said. They make a decision that is a hundredth of a second, and its either their life or their death. * * * At a time when police recruiting numbers are plummeting across the country, Charlottesville police Sgt. Robert Haney said local departments have seen a similar trend, with fewer applicants and fewer recruits showing up for testing days. While its possible the trend is related to the current negative attitude of some toward law enforcement, Haney said its not that simple. Haney and the Charlottesville Police Department would like to see more applicants, but he said its more important to find the best people for the job. Its possible there is less interest in these types of public-service jobs, Haney said. The individuals who are coming out, though, know what theyre getting into. And I think thats paramount to finding the right person for the job. I think the right individuals are going to find this job if what they want to do with their lives is make a difference in the community, he said. Thats all we can ask for and its what Im looking for. Throughout the Albemarle County Police Department, officers say they are grateful for the community support they have received, but most still feel the need to have a heightened sense of awareness and vigilance. Doughnuts, cookies, fruit and cards cover the table and countertops in the departments kitchen, along with kind notes left on patrol car windshields evidence of a supportive community, they said. On Monday, the Charlottesville and Albemarle County police foundations will give city, county and University of Virginia officers a free barbecue lunch to thank them for their work. Mission BBQ will donate all of the food. * * * Retired Charlottesville police Sgt. Mike Farruggio, who also spent two years in the New York City Police Department, said he believes the vast majority of citizens do support police, while a small and vocal minority takes center stage, causing police to be afraid to go to work. Police want to do their jobs, but the fact that there is so much critical judgment of them scares them into taking action sometimes, Farruggio said. Despite his optimism that police still have a significant amount of support from the community, Farruggio said he might discourage people from joining the profession right now. He also said police departments are partially at fault for the lack of vocal support they receive. Police departments are traditional and conservative, said Farruggio. They dont often like technology and tend to be close-lipped because theyre afraid of being judged. They need to offer more information, but that requires having the manpower to project that information, and thats often not a priority in city and county budgets. Farruggio agreed with statements made by the Dallas chief and said its difficult for police to do their jobs when they are often the first ones called for every problem under the sun to dilemmas that dont involve crime. Police are expected to solve problems without force in an efficient and happy manner, Farruggio said. Years ago, that wasnt always expected. Now, some of the expectations are almost impossible. Part of the reason departments are having a hard time recruiting and keeping officers, Farruggio said, is their inability to provide higher salaries for people expected to put their lives on the line. In Charlottesville, the starting salary for new officers is $35,256 which Haney said he is confident will increase soon. Incentives and higher starting salaries are available for officers who already are certified by the state, he said. Albemarle officers start at $38,727 without a college degree, $39,302 with an associates degree and $40,261 with a bachelors. Farruggio also voiced concerns about social media and videos of police shootings popping up online that quickly become the object of public scrutiny. While acknowledging that police make mistakes, he said its important that communities not jump to conclusions and allow police to run a complete investigation no matter how damning the video may look. My God, I dont want to get shot and killed, Farruggio said. If Im trying to get control of a guy with a gun in his pocket, I cant put myself in that situation and be slow to act. But that person with a video of the incident becomes the first narrative. Please do not assume that the police officer has done anything wrong, he said. Reserve judgment until the investigation has been completed, no matter how horrific it looks. Piedmont Virginia Community College is adding four certification programs this fall as part of a statewide effort to increase the number of workers with specialized training. PVCC will add career certificates in advanced manufacturing, professional cooking, electronics technology and winery cellar work. Each of the programs will allow students to gain a certification without committing to a two-year associates degree. At the end of the programs, students are qualified for entry-level jobs in their field. Students who earn certificates in advanced manufacturing, cooking and electronics technology also can apply their credits toward an associates degree. The college is following a statewide push, led by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, to increase the number of workers with such career certificates credentials that can be earned in less than the two years needed for an associates degree. Employers are looking for workers with these credentials, which show an applicant has received adequate training, said Greg Rosko, director of workforce services at PVCC. Theres a real emphasis on certificates having a credential at the end of a program so youre more marketable when you enter the workforce, Rosko said. Rosko is overseeing the cellar worker certification, which puts students on track for an entry-level job at wineries. Most of these students would work as assistant winemakers, helping with sanitation, bottling and harvesting. Students will leave the program with a certificate from the Virginia Wineries Association. The program covers less ground than the colleges viticulture and enology courses, but it provides a chance for people to enter the field and move up, he said. The purpose of this program is not to train winemakers, Rosko said. Having said that, a lot of winemakers dont have a degree in viticulture or oenology. They just have experience making wine. Similarly, the professional cooking program covers a fraction of the material covered by the culinary arts certificate it takes about 24 credit hours, compared with the 67 hours needed for a culinary arts certificate and prepares graduates for entry-level work. Advanced manufacturing has been at the top of Piedmonts wish list for several years. Worries about space, funding and equipment delayed it, but administrators decided earlier this year to take the plunge. Shortly after the college announced the creation of its first program in advanced manufacturing training in the use and maintenance of computer-controlled manufacturing equipment the college won a grant from the National Science Foundation for more than $430,000. The college has purchased the necessary equipment and worked with local manufacturing companies to create a curriculum, said Adam Hastings, PVCCs dean of business, mathematics and technologies. The field is still new in Central Virginia, but Hastings said he expects the need for trained workers to grow. While you still have many firms that are doing things with labor-intensive processes, we have a lot of firms doing things with robots, Hastings said. And they need workers that can [use them]. The electronics technology certificate will allow students to learn about the hardware side of things, Hastings said, giving students the skills they need to become industrial maintenance and mechatronics technicians. Open registration for the fall semester ends Aug. 21. For more information, visit pvcc.edu/programs or call (434) 961-6551. RICHMOND Virginia election officials have set a deadline of Aug. 8 to cancel voting rights of felons who had registered under mass gubernatorial orders that were overturned a week ago by the Supreme Court of Virginia. However, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has reviewed an initial list of 12,500 felons who had successfully registered to vote under his three blanket orders restoring their civil rights and has begun preparing to restore their rights on an individual basis. Those ex-offenders would have to reapply to register to vote once they receive their individual restoration orders. Its very possible we will send them an order and a voter registration application, McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said. We will try to make it as convenient as possible for them to do what they had already done before Republicans filed a lawsuit to take their rights away. House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, joined with four other Republican voters to ask the Supreme Court to invalidate the governors mass restoration orders as an unconstitutional action that diminished their votes. The court agreed in a ruling on July 22 that directed state election officials and local registrars to cancel the registration of felons whose rights purportedly had been restored by McAuliffe in orders signed April 22, May 31 and June 24. Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes advised local registrars on Friday that the state has updated its list of prohibited voters to reflect the courts decision, which reversed the governors orders restoring voting rights to an estimated 206,000 ex-offenders. The commissioner directed registrars to deny applications from voters with felony convictions whose rights had been restored by the governors three mass orders. If an individuals felony conviction record indicates a restoration of rights prior to April 22, 2016, and there is no subsequent felony record associated with that individual, then you should register the individual, assuming all other eligibility requirements have been met, Cortes advised registrars. Richmond General Registrar J. Kirk Showalter said the guidance will require her to deny about 800 applications that had been pending. Thats just for those we havent processed yet, she said. Showalter said her office will wait for confirmation that about 400 ex-offenders who had registered in the city under the governors orders no longer are eligible. They are among the more than 12,500 felons who had registered under the governors restoration orders prior to the Supreme Court ruling. The cancellation and notification to voters the court has ordered removed from the registration rolls will be completed by Aug., 8, 2016, Cortes advised registrars. In the meantime, McAuliffe is preparing to issue individual orders to restore the rights of those ex-offenders who will be removed from the rolls. Anyone whose registration is canceled as a result of the court order will have to register to vote again once he or she becomes eligible, Cortes confirmed in an email. Nhien said the companys violations involve in the production of supplement food without food safety certificates at three addresses: the Coca-Cola Vietnam Beverages Limited Company at 485 Hanoi Street, Thu Duc district, HCM city and its branches in Duyen Thai commune, Thuong Tin district, Hanoi and in Hoa Minh ward, Lien Chieu district, Da Nang city. The company produced and sold a batch of Samurai strawberry-flavoured energy drink bottles, which contain less than Vitamin B9 (folic acid) than claimed. The total value of irretrievable sold goods is nearly VND233.8 million (USD10,400). Besides, the inspectors also asked the company to recall the remaining products of the above-said batch for handling under regulations and then report the outcome to the inspectorate. Last month, the Ministry of Health pulled 13 beverage products of Coca-Cola Vietnam from store shelves. The listed products include Minute Maid Nutriboost milk drink in orange, strawberry and mango flavour, Samurai energy drink in strawberry flavour, Minute Maid TEPPY Orange Drink, Aquarius sport drink, Dasani bottled water and Minute Maid Splash Smooth./. Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was an obvious choice for a convention striving to be one and much more apropos than his "America," the adopted theme of the Bernie Sanders insurgency. Fans couldn't help but notice, however, that Simon had chosen a number that was sung by his estranged former partner Art Garfunkel, of whom he recently told NPR, "Quite honestly, we don't get along." Simon's rendition was in that way analogous to the Democratic National Convention: a paean to building a bridge sung over the unmistakable crackle of a burning one. Much depends on the Democrats' ability to cobble together this particular piece of infrastructure. The enterprise hasn't been helped along, though, by the not entirely shocking (and possibly Russian-engineered) revelation that Democratic officials connived against the candidate who was not a Democrat for most of his career. Many Sanders supporters are new to politics, and it shows in their frequently heard promises to vote for a minor-party candidate or sit the election out rather than choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Sixteen years ago, a similar impulse for perceived purity led many liberals to reject another centrist Democrat, Al Gore, in favor of activist Ralph Nader, which may have helped give George W. Bush his hanging-chad-thin victory. The once popular notion that there was no substantial difference between Bush and Gore looked especially absurd in the wake of the Iraq invasion. There is no need to wait for such a monumental event to reveal as preposterous the current claims that the choice between Clinton and Trump doesn't matter. To begin with, Clinton would be one of the more politically seasoned presidents upon her inauguration, while Trump would be the least. Moreover, in his convention speech, Sanders himself reminded the faithful of the stark differences of tone and ideology between Clinton and Trump on immigration, the environment, health care, and more, concluding, "The choice is not even close." The Democratic Party has fired its chairwoman, changed its platform, and made other concessions to Sanders' improbably successful but ultimately losing campaign. And after a long and sometimes bitter rivalry, Sanders, in contrast with Trump rival Ted Cruz, offered a remarkably full-throated endorsement of Clinton. So did Michelle Obama despite her husband's hard-fought contest with Clinton eight years ago. The first lady reminded the convention of the power of breaking historic barriers by noting that she, a descendant of slaves, now lives in a White House built by them and that Clinton's election would be another such milestone. Amid enduring dissent, some of the convention's most successful moments so far have appealed to unity among people including the kinds of people, like undocumented immigrants and the disabled, who have been targeted by Trump's divisive rhetoric. But the greatest test of the party's tolerance is taking place within. Excerpted from The Philadelphia Inquirer, via The Associated Press. If you work for the City of Charlottesville, be warned: Watch what you say, even when youre off the clock. The city is always listening. That Star apples from Vietnam to be imported in the US. (Photo: vov.vn) The US Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said under the proposal of the Vietnam National Plant Protection Department, the APHIS completed a pest risk analysis and gave conclusion that Vietnams apple stars are safe to be permitted to import in the US. APHIS determined that the application of one or more phytosanitary standards would be able to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds through star apple imports from Vietnam. Standards given from the US are fresh star apples only imported as commercial goods and each shipment must have a certificate of plant quarantine by the Vietnam National Plant Protection Department. If approved, star apples will be the fifth Vietnamese fruit to be exported to the United States, after dragon fruit, rambutan, litchi and longan. The Ministry of Industry and Trade recommended that domestic enterprises prepare necessary conditions to be ready to ship star apples to the US market as soon as the official announcement of the US Department of Agriculture is given./. MADISON Innovative agriculture in support of the emerging Virginia craft beer industry is taking root in the rolling countryside of the Northern Piedmont. A hop yard went in the ground on Mothers Day at the historic circa 1810 Woodbourne estate just off Main Street in the town of Madison as part of an official trial being supported by the George Washington Carver Agricultural Institute in Culpeper and Virginia State University in Petersburg. Hops are a primary ingredient in beer, along with water, malt and yeast. Woodbourne owners Dave Fulton and his wife, Julie Haines, allowed the project to grow on the grounds of their scenic property because of their commitment to agricultural-based economic development. For decades, the couple has worked in global engineering, helping to build basic infrastructure in the poorest of countries. Fulton and Haines vowed to make a difference locally when they moved to Madison four years ago. This was our idea of coming to the country, living the dream and giving back here since weve been doing economic development in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for 30 years so now were applying some of the same sustainability principles here, Haines said. We want to help attract people to this area, to come and appreciate both the history and the agriculture. Its about agri-tourism, added Fulton, evoking a popular phrase. The couple, on a related note, is preparing to launch Bald Top Brewing Company at Woodbourne this autumn, pending the completion of state and federal permitting. In the meantime, its all about the hops. We want to benefit the community, but not change the feel of the county, to enhance it, Fulton said. A total of 470 hops plants, representing five varieties, were planted back in May on an elevated parcel on the property with help from friends, family, neighbors, local business, the Carver Institute, Culpeper Extension Office and Professor Laban Rutto, whos part of the agricultural research station at Virginia State. He is helping oversee three hops trials in Virginia, representing different agro-ecological zones. Our Madison site represents the cooler, higher elevation zone with the other two sites being a lower elevation Petersburg and sea level the Eastern Shore, Rutto said. The objective is to observe the performance of five selected hops varieties in the different locations. Weather stations were installed at all three locations for the purpose of recording and comparing weather patterns, the professor said. The long-term objective is to use the weather data to develop a forecasting system for disease and pest control as these, particularly diseases, are weather driven, Rutto said. He secured funding for the long-term project through 2018 and hopes to gain valuable knowledge from the effort related to agronomic practices and market access for Virginia hops growers. The idea is to put the Virginia hops producers in a position where they can claim a larger share of the beer ingredient market as the craft beer industry matures, Rutto said. The hop yard at Woodbourne is a complex manifestation of the agriculture behind beer making involving 25-foot-tall poles, an irrigation system and an elaborate trellis around which the climbing hop bines (vines) will grow over several years to a maximum height around 20-feet. Constructing it to exact specifications was a daunting task involving many hands. Hops need a lot of sun exposure and do not like very moist areas because mildew is our enemy just as in the grape-growing business, Fulton said. The wind is near constant up here on the hilltop and theres no shade. We were able to orient the hop yard relatively parallel to the prevailing winds. The hop yard at Woodbourne is a high-density field attempting to maximize the number of bines representing varieties with names such as Chinook, Newport and Zeus. The fruit of the effort is the cone that will be harvested, dried and processed into pellets for use in the beer making process. Culpeper Extension Agent Carl Stafford, a local farming expert, is on board with the project as part of his work with the George Washington Carver Agricultural Institute, headquartered in the formerly segregated school on U.S. 15. We got to do what we said we were going to do which is provide new information, Stafford said. When this hops opportunity came along, I jumped on it, got donors to provide materials to encourage this producer to implement the trial. The high ground at the Madison site makes it optimal for growing hops which are prone to disease. They have a flow of air coming off those mountains and its elevated, Stafford said. I think they might have the best site of all three of them, so well see. German-American Mike Nicholson, of Madison, is overseeing the day-to-day care of the hops yard and is the brewer for the anticipated Bald Top Brewing Company named for the highest, closest mountain to Woodbourne. He previously worked as winemaker assistant at a local vineyard. Its going really well. The hops are doing good, he said. Its a lot of work, but they are growing. The first plants are starting to flower. Nicholson expected a first harvest by next year, comparing hops growing to growing grapes. Its a new learning experience, he said. I am treating them like my babies. Nicholson is well-experienced in beer making and starting home brewing with Fulton a year ago. We hired him to help with managing our grounds here and when he showed up for his interview he brought a bunch of bottles of beer, Fulton said. It became quite clear that we had something pretty special between our passion and his talent for brewing. Nicholson attributed the growing popularity of craft beers to taste. People like to drink good beer and dont want the watered-down beers the big breweries are making, he said. People have found that there are quality beers out there and they can find something that suits their specific taste. The dual projects at Woodbourne have not been inexpensive. The local couple has invested about $10,000 in the hop yard, not including their own labor, and another $100,000 or so in the brewing company that will feature a tasting room in an old renovated barn within sight of the beer ingredient growing operation. On a shoe-string budget, they are doing a lot of the labor themselves, again with help from family and friends. Their passion is obvious as is their willingness to learn. We love it so much, Haines said, adding, This is a way-out-there venture. The idea is 100 percent no-waste, sustainable and then really bringing together our love of nature, our love of history and having people come down and appreciate it. This is their first serious farming venture, although Fulton and Haines both have a background in geology. This is old-fashioned farming, she said. This is not for the faint of heart. The plan is to eventually use the hops grown at Woodbourne in the beer made there and to welcome visitors to enjoy it all. We hope people will love the idea of what were doing, Haines said. We want it to be place for our locals to hang out and just feel like an extension of home. For information about the projects at Woodbourne, email info@baldtopbrewing.com. They might have gone to the beach for a long weekend in late July. But some 200 young people instead chose to spend a few hot days talking over cattle and cornstalks. Virginias Young Farmersa group of 18- to 35-year-olds with ties to agriculturebegan arriving in Fredericksburg Friday from around the state for the 11th annual Summer Expo, where they will network, socialize and learn from area growers. Experiences like this one are key to young farmers survival, said Jon Hegeman, who traveled from Alabama where he runs a commercial house to serve as a keynote speaker at the conference. Just 2 percent of the population is feeding the remaining 98 percent of the country, he said. The average age of farmers in the U.S. is 57. In Virginia, its nearly 60, with more than a third 65 and older. Whats the new generation going to look like? Hegeman said as a group of about 65 gathered at Braehead Farm on Friday afternoon to learn the secrets to a successful operation in the middle of a city dominated by homes and retail. This is the first time Young Farmers has come to the region. Also on the list of stops: Silver Ridge Farm in Stafford, Mt. Pony Farms in Culpeper and Miller Farms Market in Spotsylvania. Braehead Farm owners Roxanna and George Snead shared how, bit by bit, they built an agritourism business from a former dairy farm around which an industrial park grew up. It was a topic Casey Phillips was especially interested in. He is the third generation to operate a dairy farm in Radford, where the family has 110 cattle on 232 acres. But the low price of milk has made diversification key. The Phillips have already added two acres of pick-your-own sweet corn. But they want to do more. Anything we can do ... to keep going, he said. The Sneads faced a similar challenge when, after more than two decades in the custom home building business, they decided to focus on the 28-acre property that had been in the family since 1937. They first considered a winery. But a consultant told them to stick with what they knew, Roxanna Snead said. So began an exercises in trial and error and building upon small successes. The Sneads talked about behind-the-scenes details like insurance and emergency plans, the burdensome free-range chickens that customers love, about keeping the grounds neat and sick animals quarantined. They told how it took 18 months to work with city planners to transform the property from an isolated farm into a destination. Today, they are reaping the benefits of a now-thriving business where families and school children pick their own produce, cut sunflowers from fields, look at farm animals and play in corn pits, sand piles and hay bales. They host birthday parties and weddings and seasonal eventsa harvest festival in fall and Santa Claus in December. Theres a kitchen where lunch is served daily. A market offers produce grown at Braehead Farm and products from around the region. People want to know where everything comes from, George Snead said. Thats only going to become a greater trend. The times have been awful, but they have proved a useful truth, that the good citizen must never despair of the commonwealth. Thomas Jefferson, March 1801, after his election to the presidency. The Republican and Democratic primaries and conventions are over. The cheering and booing have subsided; the bunting was removed. Now is the time that tries the peoples souls, fills their TVs and mail boxes, and keeps the phones ringing. Electioneering now begins in earnest as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take the themes of their conventions forward and battle for the presidency of the United States. A different tone, urgency and portrait emerged from each of the two conventions. Speakers at the Republican convention, attended by 2,472 delegates, repeatedly stressed a gloomy, ominous vision of America. Most of that gloom was of their own making as some statements took liberties with reality. The fact checkers were kept busy with Mike Pences and Trumps acceptance speech. They were not demonstrating an unfamiliarity with reality, they were distorting it to conform to their needs. The Republican convention was unusual in other respects, not the least of which was, the deliberate absence of many Republican elected stalwarts including those from Virginia. No former presidents attended the convention. The week also saw the extensive use of family members, rather than colleagues or fellow politicians to explain policies or praise the candidate. The world hasnt seen such a cult of personality since Josef Stalin or Mao Zedong. Trumps acceptance speechs theme was that he was the law and order candidate and that America needs a man on a white horse. He said there would be no prosperity without law and order, which makes one wonder why the stock market is almost 100 percent higher than eight years ago and unemployment is a low 4.3 percent in Virginia. His speech did not contain any specific policy recommendations. However, earlier he said businesses would suffer (unspecified) consequences for moving jobs overseas, and women would be punished for having an abortion. A different tone emerged from the Democratic convention, attended by 4,764 delegates. It started raucously. There was passion. There was a stunning cast of elected officials, such as Sen. Cory Booker, who took the podium. Playing a prominent role was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran a thrilling race that brought out hordes of enthusiastic young people. He was particularly eloquent in his chiding of the Democratic Party establishment and the media and offered again his vision for reform. He also graciously called for Hillary Clintons nomination by acclamation at the end of Tuesdays roll call vote, just as she did eight years earlier for Barack Obama. Speaker after speaker called for America to live up to its promise for all people. National security experts, headed by President Obama and accompanied later by retired Marine Gen. John Allen, called into question the idea that American was in decline. Both conventions brought real people at the podium, people with problems, survivors of gun violence, such as Congresswomen Gabby Giffords, or leaded drinking water. But most eloquent at the Democratic conclave Thursday night was Khizr Khan, father of an American soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice for American freedom. Definitely exciting for the Virginia listener was the acceptance speech from Sen. Tim Kaine. Jesuit trained, he questioned the oppositions assertions and demonstrated evidence to the contrary. Thursday night was Hillary Clintons opportunity to remind us that the national motto is e pluribus unum. America is a country of we, not I. Whatever the problems, she repeatedly stressed, they can be solved by working together. The future belongs to the party that reflects the nation it aspires to lead. The audiences at Cleveland and Philadelphia were different in size, diversity, inspiration, and aspiration. Going into the voting booth on Election Day is like picking your own boss. What temperament do you want? How experienced in the ways of the world? These are worthwhile questions to ask, because as a battleground state, Virginia is going to be awash in campaign ads; but as Jefferson suggested, voters must be warriors for democracy. Those who sit this election out are abrogating their responsibilities to their children and grandchildren. Listen for the differences in the policies of the two candidates. Your choice will determine whether America stands out in the world or wanes in its stature. Your choice will certainly affect your checkbook but it will also affect whether our infrastructure is repaired or continues to crumble, whether education serves all our children, and whether there is a wise leader who tries diplomacy before the nuclear button. You must vote because our Founding Fathers expected you to and generations of hardworking and brave Americans have nurtured and protected this opportunity and right in peace and in war. When introducing Tim Kaine as her running mate, Hillary Clinton mentioned her upbringing in the Chicago area and Kaines upbringing in Kansas City. The Democratic tickets roots in the American heartland supposedly reflect its probity and steadiness. The Republican candidate for vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, also comes from the Midwest. The region has a reputation for cultural conservatism and mainstream politics. Missouris motto, Show Me, could apply to the belt that hugs the Great Lakes and pivots toward the Canadian border as it stretches through the Plains. The Mississippi and Missouri rivers run through it. The stretch also boasts a progressive, indeed radical, tradition that rivals the records of states in the Northeast and along the West Coast. William Jennings Bryan remains the most passionate critic of pure capitalism ever nominated by a major party. The Great Commoner came from Nebraska. His Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic Convention excoriated the moneyed interests in language that predated the Occupy Movement by more than 100 years. He also may have been the closest thing to an absolute pacifist to win a major partys presidential nomination. He resigned as Woodrow Wilsons secretary of state to protest a tilt toward Britain prior to American entry in the First World War. His evangelical faith inspired his politics. His opposition to the teaching of evolution inspired the play and movie Inherit the Wind. The Dakotas and their neighbors rallied to the early New Deal. North Dakotas Non-Partisan League boasted progressive inclinations superior to those of the Liberal Party of New York. This spring North Dakota voters retained restrictions on corporate farms. Minnesota sent Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Walter Mondale to the U.S. Senate; South Dakota sent George McGovern, North Dakota Quentin Burdick. Wisconsin, Republican Sen. Robert La Follette ran for president as a Progressive; he stands in the Senates hall of fame. (Joe McCarthy came from Wisconsin, toooh, well.) Missouris John Danforth personified enlightened Republicanism for later times. The list of worthy Republican senators includes Richard Lugar of Indiana and Bob Dole and Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas. Wisconsin Democrat Bill Proxmire made his mark. Iowa Republican James Leach was everything a member of the House of Representatives should be. Socialist Eugene Debs was born in Indiana, Norman Thomas in Ohio. Milwaukee elected a socialist mayor. Iowa was one the first states to enact nonpartisan redistricting. Since its admission to the Union in 1846, Iowa has been a political exemplar among the states. Kaine married into an honorable political family from Virginia and moved to the Old Dominion, where he practiced the reform politics of inclusion that were his father-in-laws legacy and his own preferences. Clinton married Bill Clinton and moved to Arkansas, then to Washington and New York. Kaine can return to hometown values he never left. Clinton has come a long way. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and his Thai counterpart Thanasak Patimaprakorn (Photo: VGP) The consensus was reached during a meeting between the two Deputy Prime Ministers on July 28th as the Thai Deputy Prime Minister was on a visit to Vietnam. During the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed that the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Thailand had continuously developed, especially since Vietnam and Thailand set up strategic partnership in 2013. The political, economic, cultural and social cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand has been further reinforced and increased, he said. Exchanges of cultural delegations between the two countries have become important activities in the cooperation. Vietnam and Thailand regularly support each other in regional and international forums and cultural institutions, including the ASEAN Committee for Culture and Information, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) and the World Heritage Committee. In terms of tourism, the two sides agreed on the draft plan on Vietnam - Thailand tourism cooperation for the 2016-2018 period, and established a working group on tourism development. Besides, visas are exempted for tourists of the two countries, while a number of flights linking big cities and tourism sites between the two countries opens in a day, and road tourism routes link Thailands northeastern region and Vietnams Hue and Da Nang cities. The two Deputy Ministers discussed orientations for culture and tourism cooperation in the future./. A corner of Bern During the visit from July 25th-27th, the delegation had a working session with Luc Barthassat, Minister of Transport, Environment and Agriculture and Mauro Poggia, Minister of Social Affairs, Employment and Health, of Geneva State, on July 27th. Minister Barthassat shared with the guests local projects on urban waste treatment and public transport, including the Trolleybus Optimisation Systeme Alimentation (TOSA) project. The TOSA project aims to launch a chargeable battery-run bus system in 2018 in Geneva, which can carry some 120 passengers each with less pollution and noise than normal buses, according to the minister. Minster Poggia highlighted the measures the locality has taken to address unemployment and health care for the elderly and dependent people. Previously on July 26th, in the capital city of Bern, the Hanoi delegation met with Christoph Miesch, General Secretary of the municipal Agency for Judiciary, Local Affairs and Religion. The host shared experience in preserving cultural and religious heritage with the guests. Hang expressed her hope for Hanoi to team up with Bern in the conservation of cultural heritage. The delegation is scheduled to visit Spain and Italy during the tour./. Volunteers have given medical check-ups and medicines to over 2,000 disadvantaged people; presented 10 medical supply sets for medical stations; shared agricultural production knowledge with nearly 400 residents; trained 400 residents on how to use electricity economically and safely; and handed over a house for a disadvantaged resident, and 100 presents for poor families. In addition, 2,000 notebooks have been disseminated to pupils in the Vietnam - Laos primary school; a petanque playground worth VND50 million has been built; and 10 computers worth VND70 million have been presented to support informatics study by local teenagers. Voluntary doctors give medical check-ups and medicine to over 2,000 Lao residents. Agricultural experts and engineers provide training on agricultural and organic fertilizer production for residents in Saysetha district. Presents given to disadvantaged families izer production for residents in Saysetha district. A friendship house is handed over to a family in Poc village, Saysetha district. Engineers instruct Lao teenagers on how to use computers. Toys given to poor children in Sanxay district The bank's domestic loans in the quarter grew 17 per cent from a year earlier. ICICI Bank Ltd, India's top private sector lender by assets, reported first-quarter profit fell about 25 per cent as its provisions for bad loans more than doubled. Standalone net profit fell to 22.32 billion rupees for its fiscal first quarter to June 30, from 29.76 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based bank said in a statement on Friday. The profit was, however, ahead of analysts' expectations of 21.99 billion rupees. Indian banks have seen their bad loans surge after an asset quality review ordered by the Reserve Bank of India, which has set a March 2017 deadline for a sector clean-up, as high bad loans hobble credit growth. ICICI's gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rose to 5.87 per cent as of end-June, from 5.82 per cent three months earlier. On the top of its gross bad loans of about 272 billion rupees, the bank said it has about 387 billion rupees of loans on its watch list. "Our focus is to continue to work on resolution of most of these large exposures," Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar said on a conference call, referring to the watch list loans. The bank, which is also listed in New York, is setting up a dedicated credit monitoring group to help tackle a rise in sour assets in the corporate and small-and-medium enterprises segments, she said. ICICI's provisions jumped to 25.15 billion rupees in the June quarter, from 9.55 billion rupees a year earlier. The provisions were less than the 33.26 billion rupees made in the March quarter. The bank's domestic loans in the quarter grew 17 per cent from a year earlier, with loans to individuals rising at a faster rate of 22 per cent. ICICI Bank's life insurance unit has filed for an initial public offering that if it goes through will be India' biggest IPO in six years. The bank, which is selling a stake of about 12.6 per cent in the joint venture with Britain's Prudential, will get all the proceeds from the IPO. Shares in the bank fell 3.4 per cent ahead of the results in a Mumbai market that closed 0.3 per cent lower. Delhi: Popular writer and director Mahmood Farooqui has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment. A special fast track court did the sentencing on Thursday, to seven years imprisonment, held guilty of raping a research scholar from the United States in Delhi last year. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain who had had found Farooqui guilty under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC, passed the sentence. Mahmood had been arrested by Delhi Police the Delhi Police following an FIR registered by the 35-year-old American national victim. The incident which took place on March 28, 2005 and a report in this connection was registered with the New Friends Colony police on June 19, 2015. The victim is pursuing Ph.D. from Columbia University and was in India for some research work. Mahmood had been arrested and was presented before Saket court. The court had sent him into judicial custody till July 6. During the trial, the woman alleged that after raping her, Farooqui had apologised via multiple emails. The email exchanges and call detail records were key pieces of corroborative evidence presented by the prosecution during the trial, besides the testimony of the complainant. Mahmood is married to director and screenwriter Anusha Rizvi, who directed the 2010 satirical comedy film 'Peepli Live'. Mumbai: The Thane police have sealed eight bank accounts having Rs 93 lakh of former Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni in connection with the Thane ephedrine racket. The seized accounts are at Nariman Point, Parel, Dharavi, Malad in Mumbai, Kalyan and Badlapur in Thane, and Bhuj and Rajkot in Gujarat. Last month, the Thane police mentioned Ms Kulkarni as a prime accused in the multi-crore drug haul case linked to international drug lord Vicky Goswami, believed to be her husband. Officials have also got details and evidence about her meetings with other co-accused in the drug racket. Earlier, after checking the bank accounts of Kulkarni, officials called in her sister for questioning. Kulkarni has eight bank accounts in India. One of the banks in Malad has Rs 67 lakh, and the remaining Rs 26 lakh are in other banks. In the past one and half year, she has not conducted any bank transaction. Soon, her properties in India will be seized once we are able to get a court order for the same, said a police official, on condition of anonymity. We are making notes of all the properties belonging to Ms Kulkarni and Goswami. According to our sources, she was involved in the conspiracy and was ready to become the managing director of her husbands company. This is enough evidence to prove Kulkarnis guilt in the case, he added. Police officials added Mamta Kulkarnis name in the third chargesheet submitted in the Thane sessions court in the ephedrine drug racket case. In all, there are 17 accused in the case. The arrests were made when the police seized around 18.5 tonnes of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Solapur district in April. Police said ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing. Investigators are also questioning the elder sister of Kulkarni and others who dealt with the bank payments, he said. The CAC Friday Cinema is hosting a film festival to pay homage to the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who passed away on 4 July. Titled as Homage to Abbas Kiarostami, the festival will take place on every Friday of August. The festival will have four films The Wind Will Carry Us, Certified Copy, Through the Olive Trees, and Close-Up directed by Abbas. The Wind Will Carry Us that narrates the story a city engineer Behzad who comes to a rural village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative, will show on August 5. The second Friday (August 12) will have Certified Copy, which talks about the book written by James Miller (the character) and his relationship with a woman he meets during a book reading session. The third film in the line is Through the Olive Trees. This movie focuses on one of the events in life and explores the relationship between the movie director and actors. Through the Olive Trees will be screened on August 19. The festival will conclude with Abbas 1998 film Close-Up, which will be shown on August 26. Close-Up is about the character Hossain Sabzian, who pretends to be Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a filmmaker. He enters the home of a well-to-do family in Tehran, promising them that it would make a prominent part in the movie. The actual people involved in the incident re-enact the actual events. It is followed by the footage from the actual trial that took place. Every Friday, the show will begin at 6.30 pm at CAC auditorium. Entry is free. Estonian foreign minister says Russia's decision on Crimea's inclusion in Southern Federal District goes against law, CoE principles Foreign Minister of Estonia, which is currently presiding in the Council of Europe, Marina Kaljurand, expressed concern over the Kremlin's decision to include Crimea into the Southern Federal District. "Concerned about Russia's step to merge illegally annexed Crimea into its Southern Federal District - against intl law and @CoE principles," she wrote on Twitter. As reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin abolished the Crimean Federal District and included Crimea and Sevastopol in the Southern Federal District on July 28. According to the presidential order, the Southern Federal District currently comprises of Adygeya, Kalmykia, Crimea, the Krasnodar territory, the Astrakhan region, the Volgograd region, the Rostov region and Sevastopol. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry sent a note to Russia protesting against the decision. Ai, one of China's most high-profile artists and political activists, was jailed for 81 days on charges of tax evasion in 2011. (Photo: AP) Artist Ai Weiwei has reproduced scenes of his incarceration for a new art installation, a series of almost life-size dioramas - encased in steel boxes - showing his life in jail. Visitors to the exhibition, in a cathedral in central Spain, have to peer through peep-holes in the stark, gray boxes to see the 3D scenes, which show Ai watched by two uniformed guards as he eats, sleeps, showers and uses the toilet in his tiny cell. Ai, one of China's most high-profile artists and political activists, was jailed for 81 days on charges of tax evasion in 2011. China confiscated his passport, only returning it in July last year. His installation, "S.A.C.R.E.D.", is a highlight of a series of events under the title "The Poetry of Freedom" taking place across Spain to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes. The Spanish writer was held as a slave in Algiers for five years in the late 16th century and spent months in jail in Spain later in life for bookkeeping discrepancies, where he is thought to have conceived the idea for his masterpiece "Don Quixote". A quote from that novel, about a middle-aged gentleman obsessed by ideals of chivalry who travels central Spain with his loyal squire Sancho Panza, adorns the wall of the Cuenca exhibition: "Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has ever given man." The exhibition, at the 12th century cathedral in the fortified medieval city of Cuenca, opens on July 26 and runs until Nov. 6. Over two years, lighting exposure was tied to abdominal weight gain regardless of other factors. (Photo: AP) Older people exposed to high lighting in the evening, and low light in the morning are more likely to gain weight, and the opposite light exposures may encourage weight loss, Japanese researchers say. Over two years, lighting exposure was tied to abdominal weight gain regardless of other factors like calorie intake, exercise and what time people went to sleep or woke up, the study found. Our results are reasonable because human beings have evolved under the lighting condition of daytime high and nighttime low light intensity, said lead author Dr. Kenji Obayashi of Nara Medical University School of Medicine. This is the first evidence in humans that disturbing circadian rhythms (the internal body clock) with a different pattern of light exposure relates to obesity risk, Obayashi told Reuters Health by email. In addition, our results added more details on the previous knowledge of the association between shift work and the obesity risk, he said. The researchers objectively measured ambient light exposure with wrist light meters over a two-day period for 1,110 study participants with an average age of 72. They also measured waist circumference, height and body weight and administered questionnaires on smoking, drinking and socioeconomic status. These measurements were repeated an average of 21 months later. At the beginning of the study, 138 people had abdominal obesity, which the researchers defined as a waist-to-height ratio of 0.6 or higher. The other 972 people did not have abdominal obesity. The study team measured light exposure in lux, a unit based on human perception of brightness. For example, outdoor light levels on a bright day are about 11,000 lux while at twilight they would be about 11 lux. Indoors, next to the window on a bright day, light levels might be around 1,000 lux while interior areas away from the window might have just 25-50 lux. Based on light exposure measurements throughout the day and night and compared to participants without abdominal obesity, researchers found that those with big waists at the beginning of the study period tended to be exposed to lower light intensity from rising time to early evening and higher light intensity after that. At follow-up, people who were exposed to light levels of 3 lux or more in the late evening and during the night were much more likely to have increased their waist size. Conversely, people who spent a longer time exposed to 500 lux or more in the morning were more likely to have reduced their waist size at follow-up. An increase in body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight relative to height, over time was also associated with evening or nighttime exposure to higher light intensity, according to the results in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Artificial light exposure during the solar night is associated with an increased risk of obesity, said Dr. Charles Czeisler, chief of the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, who was not part of the study. Light exposure during the first and last hour of sleep has been tied to weight gain, while more light during the solar day has been tied to weight loss, he told Reuters Health. The new study only collected light data on two days, which may not have been representative for all people, and it is possible that people who have lights on at night have them on because they are eating, but the results are still exciting, he said. Inappropriate light exposure may alter human melatonin secretion pattern, a hormone associated with energy expenditure, Obayashi said. From the viewpoint of circadian misalignment, light sources with short wave length (blue light) have more effect on human biological rhythms, he said. So using these light sources (blue light) in evening/nighttime would promote obesity more. Younger people are more sensitive to ambient light than the elderly, he noted, so it may have even more of an effect for them. Trying to get more sunlight in daytime and less artificial light from TVs, smartphones and bedroom lights at night may be best for obesity prevention, he said. UNICEF says 77 million newborns, about half of all babies, are not fed at the breast within an hour of birth, depriving them of the essential nutrients. (Representational Image) If you're hesitating about sending a brelfie, the United Nations says go for it. A social media trend of mothers sharing "brelfies" - pictures of themselves breastfeeding - is a good way to break down any stigma about breastfeeding in public and spread the word about the importance of a mother's milk, the United Nations said on Friday. "It's absolutely to be encouraged," World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva when asked about the brelfie fad. Christophe Boulierac, a spokesman for the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, said "World Breastfeeding Week" starts on Aug. 1, and the U.N. wants to get people talking about breastfeeding to improve infant nutrition around the world. "Everything that can be done should be done. This is a golden opportunity," he said. UNICEF says 77 million newborns, about half of all babies, are not fed at the breast within an hour of birth, depriving them of the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact that protect them from disease and death. Babies who get no breast milk at all are seven times more likely to die from infections than those who got at least some breast milk in their first six months, UNICEF said in a statement. The big-fat Indian wedding has always been an object of wonderment for the West the song, dance, colour, and rituals make for a rich cultural experience. Join My Wedding, an Australia-based startup is taking the Indian wedding extravaganza a notch higher, by allowing couples to sell tickets to their wedding to curious travellers who wish to be a part of the shebang. Dubbing the arrangement wedding tourism, Pallavi Savant, the marketing head of the startup tells us that the idea for this startup came when the strategy head of Join My Wedding, Marti Matecsa attended a wedding in India. The wedding took place in 2012 in Tamil Nadu, and it got Marti thinking, informs Pallavi. She was very enamoured by the wedding, the flowers, the jewellery and the colours. Weddings in the West are rather limited in terms of rituals and are on a much smaller scale than Indian and Asian weddings. Pallavi also points out that unless one has an Indian friend, its not quite possible to be a part of such a function. Thus, was born the idea of allowing foreigners planning vacations to India to buy tickets and be a part of a wedding soiree in the country. Says Namrata Nataraj, who along with soon-to-be husband Nitin Bathi has registered her wedding on the site, Weve not seen anyone selling tickets to their wedding ever. So, having total strangers at our wedding was an exciting prospect. Namrata explains that she and Nitin thought it was a great idea to meet new people. Suppose someone comes and attends our wedding from another country and we happen to visit that country some day. What better thing than to have friends in an alien country! Mumbai girl Urvi Ambavat, who has also registered on the site along with fiance Paras Shah, has a more pragmatic approach to the idea. Theres nothing concrete were expecting to come out of this in terms of forging bonds with the guests. People visit India for its rich culture and our weddings provide that; its supposed to be a part of an Indian tour experience. Given the uniqueness of the idea, Pallavi and the startup team had some misgivings about bringing in the money factor for wedding tickets. You know how people perceive weddings in our culture, she says with a sigh. They are prestigious events. The first problem was, why someone would invite total strangers to their wedding and second was why they would charge them. We had to explain to patrons that putting a price on the attendance will avoid travellers and couples alike to not take this for granted. Besides, you will have to allocate a few friends or relatives to take charge and help these travellers out with everything from explaining rituals to taking care of their needs. The website also takes a 15 per cent commission fee with the whole deal. Its completely up to the couple to put a price on their wedding tickets, continues Pallavi. When you call people to your wedding, and say its a four-day affair, theres a lot of cost involved, specially with lodging and food. For a regular family, an additional cost of say `50,000 means a lot. Both Urvi-Paras and Namrata-Nitin have priced their wedding tickets at $300 per head. Were already having a guest list of about 1,200 people coming in, says Urvi. For our families, the number of guests didnt make too much of a difference. We quickly did the math before pricing our tickets and realised the major cost was that of lodging in the hotels weve booked for the guests. We threw in meal costs and came down to this figure. Namrata explains that while they were quite excited at the prospect of making new friends at their wedding, their families are concerned at the kind of people who will attend the wedding. Weve got people asking us, how can you risk absolutely crazy people coming in for the wedding, but we thought well give it a try because you never know; anything can happen! Pallavi says that the company has several layers of checks before they allow either couples or travellers to sign up for Join My Wedding. The number of weddings that make it to the website are barely 30 per cent of what we get, she says. Every wedding goes through a screening process. Both couples and travellers are made to fill a questionnaire and only once were satisfied with the authenticity do they make it to the list, adds Pallavi. Not just Indians, the website has hit it off in countries like Russia, Australia and China too. A place of pride on the website is occupied by a wedding from Novosibirsk, Russia, where a couple is hosting a Lord of the Rings themed wedding. We thought it would take a while to take off, says an excited Pallavi. Were trying to sell an experience. The whole premise is based on bringing people together to celebrate. We bring world cultures together. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in America. (Photo: Facebook) Washington: The US Navy will name a ship after gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk, a San Francisco politician who was assassinated in 1978, a naval official said on Friday. Nicknamed "the gay Martin Luther King, Jr" for his work to end discrimination against gay people, Milk was killed one year after winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which made him the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in America. "I can confirm that the Navy sent congressional notification on the intention to name a new oiler USNS Harvey Milk," said a congressional notification obtained by USNI News, a website run by the United States Naval Institute. A gay rights icon, Milk's story inspired the Gus Van Sant film starring Sean Penn, who won an Oscar for his performance as Milk. Milk, who came from a naval family, served as a Navy diving officer during the Korean War. The prefix "USNS" signifies that the boat serves as a support ship for the Navy -- not a warship -- often run by a civilian crew. The Secretary of the Navy's office indicated that the ship slated to bear Milk's name would be a John Lewis-class oiler, ships Navy secretary Ray Mabus has said will be named after civil rights leaders. The lead ship of the class is named after John Lewis, a congressman and civil rights movement activist. Other notable leaders honored with ships in the class include former Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, whose court decided to desegregate schools, assassinated politician Robert Kennedy and abolitionist Sojourner Truth. When the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) jawans were patrolling the forest between Ettrajpad and Gachonpally villages, a group of Naxals opened indiscriminate fire on them leading to a heavy gunbattle. (Photo: Representational Image/PTI) Raipur: A CoBRA jawan was killed and another injured in a fierce gunbattle with Naxals in a dense forest pocket of Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday, police said. The skirmish took place in the core forests of Bhejji police station area when a squad of CoBRA's 208th battalion, an elite unit of CRPF was out on an anti-Naxals operation in the region, around 500 kms away from here, a senior police official told PTI. Security forces had undertaken the operation based on specific inputs about the movement of dreaded Maoist commander Hidma with his group in the region, he said. When the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) jawans were patrolling the forest between Ettrajpad and Gachonpally villages, a group of Naxals opened indiscriminate fire on them leading to a heavy gunbattle, he said. As per preliminary information, a constable-rank jawan was killed and another injured, the official said, adding reinforcement was immediately rushed to the spot. Efforts are on to take the deceased and injured personnel out of the forests, he added. The incident occurred after some children of the village fell ill and some locals believed that it might be the result of witchcraft allegedly practised by the woman. (Photo: Representational Image) Darbhanga: A Dalit woman was allegedly beaten up and forced to drink her urine by four men after branding her as a "witch" at Pipra village in Bihar's Darbhanga district, police said on Saturday. Four persons beat up a Dalit woman and subsequently forced her to drink her urine on Thursday for allegedly practising witchcraft, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Anjani Kumar said. The woman left the village after the incident, the SDPO said, adding that she lodged an FIR on Friday. The incident occurred after some children of the village fell ill and some locals believed that it might be the result of witchcraft allegedly practised by the woman, he said. Though the child sex ratio in rural India is 919 which is 17 points higher than that of urban India, the decline in Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years) during 2001-2011 in rural areas is more than three times as compared to the drop in urban India. Bhopal: In two cases of female infanticide in Madhya Pradesh in the past 24 hours, one newborn was drowned and the other was literally fed to stray dogs. In a hair-raising incident, passengers in a car were spotted throwing a baby girl in an agriculture field at Sanabad in Khargon district by a few passersby late on Friday evening, leading to her gruesome death. Eyewitness accounts said wild stray dogs jumped on the baby and started tearing her body apart as soon as she hit the ground. The toddler was shrieking as the dogs were gouging her eyes and feeding on her, Mortakka police station in-charge J.S.Scindia said on Saturday. She was already dead by the time the onlookers came to her rescue by chasing away the wild dogs. A plastic clip was found tied in the umbilical cord of the kid. It means the baby was born in a hospital. We have started gathering records of birth of newborns on the day in all hospitals in the region to identify the parents of the infant, he added. In another incident, a woman, resident of Kaidi village under Balaghat district, killed her 26-day-old girl by drowning her in water on Saturday. Police have arrested the woman identified as Namita. Initially, she said a cat pressed its legs on the infant leading to her death. But, later the woman confessed to her crime. SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that had the security forces which raided a militant hideout in Kokernag in Anantnag on July 8 and killed three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen cadres known beforehand that Burhan Muzaffar Wani was among them they may have given him a second chance. The killing of Burhan, the new-age poster boy of militancy, set off widespread protests and mob violence across the Valley leaving more than 50 people and two policemen dead and thousands injured. Clashes amidst curfews have continued. Ms Mufti said that she was not aware of the operation carried out jointly by J&K polices counter-insurgency Special Operations Group and Armys 19 Rashtriya Rifles at Bamdoora Kokernag. How would you know that, she asked. CID says CM is informed about the operations Ms Mufti was speaking to reporters after addressing a rally of her Peoples Democratic Party here. A national newspaper had earlier this week reported that the Chief Minister was informed, in writing, of the June 8 raid as well as an operation targeting Burhan Wani in March. Earlier J&Ks additional director-general of police (CID) S.M. Sahai had on being asked if the Chief Minister knew about the operation beforehand told reporters here, The Chief Minister, as home minister, is informed of all the activities. But Ms Mufti again feigned ignorance and said that she did not know beforehand about the security forces taking Burhan out dead during the operation. I spoke to the police. I spoke to the Army. My information is that they were not knowing about who are the militant hiding in that house before raiding it. Had they known about the presence of Burhan they may have given him another chance, she said. She added that since the situation on ground had improved considerably giving a second chance to Burhan was an option in order to avoid the situation the Valley has been caught in in the aftermath of his killing. She said her predecessor Omar Abdullah was informed about the decision and timing of Parliament att-ack convict Afzal Gurus hanging and, therefore, his government prepared to brace the situation. I didnt know about Burhan killing but when I came to know about it we quickly imposed curfew at various places,she said. Meanwhile, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir are bracing for another day of anxiety. Separatists have called for Jamia Masjid Chalo and asked the people to converge in large numbers at Srinagars historic Grand Mosque on Friday for a memorial service for over 50 people killed in security forces firings. On Thursday evening fresh clashes erupted in the Valley leaving, at least, half a dozen protesters injured. Sangrur: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Naresh Yadav was on Saturday granted bail by a local court here in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident in Malerkotla on June 24. "Naresh Yadav has been granted bail by the court of Additional District & Sessions Judge A S Virk here in Sangrur," AAP leader and Head of party's legal cell Himmat Singh Shergill said on Saturday. On July 25, the Mehruali MLA was remanded in police custody for two days by Malerkotla court. On July 27, the AAP MLA was sent to the judicial custody till August 1 by the court. Accusing the Parkash Singh Badal-led state government of wrongly framing Yadav, Shergill, who is Yadav's counsel, alleged, "There is no evidence with the police to link Yadav with the Malerkotla sacrilege case. Police have failed to find anything objectionable against Yadav. Police had done this at the behest of Badal government." Punjab Police on July 24 had arrested Yadav from Delhi in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident in Malerkotla after one of the accused arrested in connection with the case claimed he had acted at the behest of the AAP MLA. He was charged under IPC sections 109 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc. and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295 (injury or defiling place of worship with an intent to insult the religion of any class). Yadav had described the police action against him as a conspiracy. Police had claimed that Vijay had met the MLA before the incident and calls were also exchanged between them. The Mehrauli MLA and his party had denied the charges and alleged it was a "political conspiracy" to malign AAP's image ahead of Assembly polls in Punjab. Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Onyschenko, who is suspected of abuses during the sale of gas produced with the involvement PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia, has said that he is in London, in the process of getting a residence permit, and is seeking political asylum in the UK. "I have submitted documents for a residency permit in London. I have submitted all the data... I am ready to undergo all the investigative actions," Onyschenko said on the phone on the 112.Ukraina TV channel on Friday. Speaking about how he has taken the intention of Ukrainian law enforcers to put him on the wanted list, the MP said: "Let them put me there... I will defend myself here in an open European Court... I have evidence that this is a political case." Onyschenko also said that he intends to seek political asylum in the UK. "I have already submitted documents for getting political asylum," he said. When asked about whether he was going to lay down the mandate of a member of the Verkhovna Rada, Onyschenko said: "No ... I'm going to prove my innocence and will do everything for this." The lawmaker also complained that his Ukrainian business has been taken from him. As was earlier reported, on June 22 Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office made public the scheme of gas production and sales involving PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia. As a result of this gas scheme, the state suffered damage in the amount of UAH 3 billion. Ukraine's parliament on July 5 voted to allow law enforcers to hold Onyschenko's liable and to detain and arrest him. On July 27, Head of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko signed the indictment for Onyschenko. Meanwhile, using his immunity from prosecution, Onyschenko left Ukraine. Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine Nazar Kholodnytsky said that MP Onyschenko was currently in Russia. Srinagar: Echoing Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Muftis comments over Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wanis encounter, state Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Saturday called the encounter an accident. Explaining that the security forces did not know about Wanis presence prior to the encounter, Singh said, When the encounter took place, security personnel informed that 4 terrorists were killed, identification took place later. "If we would have known (Burhan Wani's encounter), we would have taken better precautionary measures," Singh added, saying that such operations would continue. "It was a routine anti-terrorist operation. Such operations will continue. They are terrorists and will be dealt in such way only," Singh said. On Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that the security forces were not aware of Hizbul commander Wani's presence during the July 8 raid at his hideout at Kokernag in South Kashmir in which he was killed. Mufti also indicated that the situation could have perhaps been controlled better had the security forces known about Wani's presence. Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Wani was killed in the encounter. In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 47 persons, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured. The Government has sought help from the US for detection of images and is seeking help from American defence forces, Parrikar said. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Government on Friday said in Rajya Sabha that the possibility of sabotage in the mysterious disappearance of AN-32 aircraft of IAF was "comparatively very less" and informed that the help of the US has also been sought in locating the plane. All types of techniques are being used to locate the aircraft, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said while replying to clarifications sought by members on his suo moto statement on the disappearance of the aircraft on July 22. As members expressed concern and raised questions over how the plane went missing, he said, "I can't speculate because we are searching for it and I will not like to speculate. But I can say only this much. The possibility, although we are checking all angles, of any sabotage is comparatively very less because they have standard operating procedures." While sharing the concern of the members, he gave details of the operation being carried out for the last one week in trying to locate the plane, carrying 29 people, which went missing during a flight from Tambaram in Tamil Nadu to Port Blair. "I appreciate anxiety of members. I am also disturbed at the sudden disappearance of the plane. I have spoken to several experts and former air chiefs who were also puzzled by the sudden disappearance," Parrikar said. The Minister said that at the time of disappearance, the aircraft was on "secondary/passive radar" and that "There was no SOS or transmission of any frequency. It just disappeared so that is the worrying part". The Government has sought help from the US for detection of images and is seeking help from American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites had picked up any signal before the disappearance of the plane. "It is total blank. There was not even a single signal recorded. That is the reason we are contacting American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites picked up any signal," Parrikar said. "Besides our own satelleite imagery, we have asked the US for their imagery for the detection of emergency frequency to space based assets. Foreign countries we have already asked. I only hope that our efforts succeed," he added while replying to queries whether foreign help has been sought. Queried about the age of the aircraft, the Defence Minister said it was "almost as good as new aircraft". Elaborating he said, "I don't know exact age but it is well within lifetime. It has undergone first overhauling. Lot of replacement has been done.... They are considered as one of the safest aircraft." He said the accident rate of Indian Air Force is 0.23 out of 10,000 hours of flying against the global rate of 0.023 and assured the House that maximum efforts would be made to ensure that the mishaps come down. "If aircraft is not fit for flying we don't fly it. We have decided to check up whether we can improve the signalling system," he added. About the missing aircraft, Parrikar said that after the first overhaul, the plane had already done 279 hours and the pilot was experienced, having put in 500 hours on this route. The Defence Minister, who had made suo moto statement on the plane's disappearance in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday, said, "Let us hope that we track it down. I can assure that maximum efforts will be taken." Sharing details of the search operation so far, he said 10 Indian Navy ships as well as submarine 'Sindhudhwaj' are carrying searches and "virtually checking up everything". 23 inputs had been located, out of which 6 were of the nature of blinks and all inputs have been checked, he said. "If we locate something, then we can send deepwater equipment to pick up. We have also diverted 'Sagar Nidhi' (vessel) from Mauritius. It will reach on August one and it can go upto 6,000 metres depth. But we have to locate objects. We have to locate it because at this depth you cannot keep on scratching the bottom," Parrikar said. The Defence Minister said he was personally monitoring the situation. "We owe that much to the people, I have seen (to it) that every family is kept in touch." On Thursday, he had said that "several inputs and leads" regarding floating objects have been picked up but there is no concrete evidence so far with respect to missing AN-32 aircraft of the IAF. Visakhapatnam: Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University G. Nageswara Rao said that AU will tie up with National University of Singapore to re-position Andhra University as one of the top 50 universities in the world in the coming years. Interacting with mediapersons here on Friday, Nageswara Rao said his first priority is to make AU one of the best universities as it is necessary for the university to be familiar with international ranking systems and their performance indicators. Admitting that AU has been facing funds crunch for the past few years, he said AU has decided to organise Grand Alumni Meet in October 12, 2016. Around 20,000 former students are expected to attend the meet. Favourable donations from the Alumni will make AU self-sufficient and help in the development of the university. Quoting examples of universities such as Harvard, Stanford and other top universities across the globe which were developed by the alumni, Nageswara Rao said AU has produced many leaders, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs hence we are expecting best assistance from the alumni for the development of the university. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and few other ministers from the state and Union government will inaugurate the alumni meet, he added. Replying to a question, Rao said that very few foreign students, mostly from Afghanistan, in AU complain about the universitys faculty. He sia the students from Afghanistan have difficulty speaking. The university has, therefore, decided to start English classes for them, he added. Hyderabad: Without saying a definite yes or no to the demand for Special Category Status to AP, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday made it clear that as an alternative to the SCS, the Central government had been according special financial assistance to AP and would continue to do so. He said that the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission had virtually tied the Central governments hands and they had come after the assurance of special category status was given in the Rajya Sabha. Mr Jaitley added that special status was related to the development of the state and there should not be any political capital out of it. Expressing serious dissatisfaction over the Union minister's reply, the main Opposition Congress staged a walkout in protest. Meanwhile CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said that the Finance ministers speech was more confusing with regard to the special status. Replying to the two-day special discussion on Status of implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and governments assurances on Friday evening in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaitley said that when the 14th Finance Commission recommendations came in for consideration by the Union Cabinet, which included a hike of the states share in Central revenues to 42 per cent from the earlier 32. We accepted the recommendations as part of up keeping federalism and the Constitutional concept of India as a union of states. This has virtually tied our hands to go beyond to consider a demand like the special status. This was not part of the AP Reorganisation Act, and it was an assurance given by the then Prime Minister in the House. We have carefully worked out an alternative in lieu of the special status and have decided to assist AP as a special case and we have been pumping more money into the state than its entitlement, Mr Jaitley said. On bridging the revenue deficit of AP, Mr Jaitley said the Centre had already provided funds but there was an issue between the Central and state governments over computation and assessment of the figures which would be sorted out soon. At this stage, Union minister Sujana Chowdary intervened and said it was unfortunate that even after two years, the issue was still unsolved. It is not an arithmetic issue, let us resolve this once and for all, Mr Chowdary said. Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurian at this point said: It is unusual for a minister to object to another minister, ruling party members cannot interrupt the proceedings. Responding to the points made by the members, Mr Jaitley clarified that Uttarakhand was given special category status because it fit the requirements made out for according the status and reminded the House that the same was denied to Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as they did not qualify the guidelines. He also said then the National Development Council had recommended special category status for a few states and even the 13th Finance Commission had also agreed. Under special category status, states will get 90 per cent of funds for projects and other states will get anywhere around 60 per cent. In case of AP, the 14th Finance Commission had not recommended special category status, it also said let there be no discrimination like special category and ordinary category among states. We could not reject the recommendations as the finances of all states were involved. Demands for special category status also came from other states like Bihar and Odisha. So we have decided to pump funds from various other alternatives to see that it (AP) gets more money than others, Mr Jaitley said. He added that bridging the revenue deficit of states by the Centre had been going on for the states of West Bengal, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Giving details of funds allocation, the Finance minister said that before the 14th Finance Commission recommendations, united AP was to get Central assistance of Rs 1,10,725.82 crore, out of which divided APs share would have now been Rs 64,575.30 crore. But as per the alternative worked out by the Centre for AP, like 42 per cent funds on par with all states plus grants plus special grants etc., it was now pegged at Rs 2,06,901 crore. He said despite two years of continuous drought, the burden on account of implementation of Pay Commission recommendations and overall global economy slow down, the Central government was also suffering with finances. 'However, I am assuring that handholding for the state of AP will continue further and all assurances and commitments will be honoured, Mr Jaitley said. Ali was the second Pakistani terrorist captured alive by Indian forces in the last two months in Kashmir, which has been hit by protests. (Photo: Youtube grab)) New Delhi: Arrested terrorist from Kupwara encounter Bahadur Ali was on Saturday remanded to National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody for 12 days by a Special NIA court. Ali was captured by the security forces earlier on July 26 during an encounter with the infiltrators. Ali's two accomplishes were killed in the encounter. The Army had recovered three AK-47 rifles, two pistols and Indian currency worth Rs. 23,000 from his possession. Ali was the second Pakistani terrorist captured alive by Indian forces in the last two months in Kashmir, which has been hit by protests over the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani. Ali, alias Saifullah had later confessed that he was from Jahama village of Raiwind in Lahore and he had entered Indian territory along with two other terrorists to exploit the unrest in Kashmir. Ali also confessed that he had received terror training at Lashkar camp in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. He was also trained for map reading and handling GPS devices. The photo showed the boy, Belal, in his 20s risking his life to rescue the baby deer with waters reaching his eyes. (Photo: PTI) Guwahati: In a major goof-up, Assam government on Saturday included a two-year old world-famous photograph of Bangladesh's Noakhali flood in its interim report on Assam flood to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The report, handed over by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to Singh during his day-long visit to survey the flood condition in the state, comprises nine photographs. Out of this, one is the famous picture of Noakhali flood, where a young boy rescues and carries a baby deer amidst flood water. The picture, taken by wildlife photographer Hasibul Wahab and distributed by Caters News Agency in February 2014, received global appreciation at that time. The photo showed the boy, Belal, in his 20s risking his life to rescue the baby deer with waters reaching his eyes. Senior Assam government officials owned up the mistake when pointed out but tried to shift the blame on "some" DCs who forwarded the picture to the state capital. "It is a big mistake. We accept it. Actually some DCs have forwarded this to us because of similarity with situation in Kaziranga National Park," a senior official said on condition of anonymity. Another official said residents in and around Kaziranga have been rescuing animals during current wave of flood and this might have "misled" officials to include the picture. Pro-Kannada activists before burning the effigies of MPs from the state for not fighting effectively for the states cause on the Mahadayi river water dispute in Bengaluru on Friday Belagavi: The towns of Navalgund and Nargund, the epicentre of the farmers' agitation for Karnataka's share of Mahadayi river water, have turned into a virtual fortress with the government stepping up security for the state-wide bandh called by pro-Kannada and famers organizations on Saturday. Batallions of the Rapid Action Force and Border Security Force have already arrived in the towns, which saw an undeclared bandh on Friday with all shops and business establishments downing their shutters, vehicles going off the roads and schools and colleges declaring a holiday. Sporadic violence continued with agitators hurling stones at a police jeep in Yamanur village near Navalgund despite the prohibitory orders imposed. As many as 127 people have been detained by the police and 14 cases have been registered for the ransacking and burning of government offices on Thursday. ADGP Bhaskar Rao, who visited Navalgund, claimed the police had not detained farmers, but only those who had indulged in violence under the banner of some organisations. "The Mahadayi water dispute is an emotional issue , but people must remain calm and protest peacefully. We will not do a lathicharge against farmers, but the protesters too must cooperate with the police," he added. Director general and inspector genral of police, Om Prakash discussed the security arrangements for Saturday's bandh with senior police officials in Navalgund and Central paramilitary forces held a peace march through the town to instill confidence among people living in fear following the recent violence. Meanwhile , the two youth, who tried to commit suicide by consuming poison during the agitation in Nargund, are recovering at KIMS in Hubballi. Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday asked all state universities to devise new courses which will make students employable and help them grab opportunities available across the globe. He said universities should not become centres to produce unemployed but enhance the employable skills of students. Mr Rao held a meeting with Vice-Chancellors of universities at his camp office. Senior ministers and officials of higher education department were present. Mr Rao expressed concern over the deteriorating standards in universities and said officials and V-Cs should take steps to revive the past glory of universities. The CM promised to enhance the funds for universities significantly from the 2017-18 Budget. Mr Rao said that the state universities were being discriminated by the Centre and UGC in sanctioning of funds and he had taken this issue to the notice of the PM during the recently-held CMs conference in New Delhi. He asked V-Cs to provide better hostel and mess facility for students. Mr Rao said though nearly 45,000 students are being trained in teacher training courses like B.Ed, D.Ed etc in TS every year, there were not enough job opportunities available for them and such mismatch should be avoided. Not only teaching courses, a similar situation is being witnessed with regard to some other courses. This should be checked. The universities should conduct thorough research over which courses are useful to secure employment in India and abroad and implement them accordingly, Mr Rao said. He found fault with officials and V-Cs for continuing the courses that were devised in undivided AP and asked them to devise new courses that suit the needs of TS. Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son, Rakesh Siddaramaiah, died of multi-organ failure at a hospital in Belgium on Saturday, official sources said. Rakesh, aged 39, was undergoing treatment at Antwerp University Hospital in Brussels, where he was rushed on Tuesday after he developed sudden pancreas-related complications. Read: Sonia Gandhi, Rahul condole the death of Karnataka CM's son He had been on a European tour with his friends since last week. Rakesh, the eldest son of Siddaramaiah, who had an acute pancreatic ailment for long, was critical but stable before his condition worsened, the sources said. "Rakesh died of multi-organ failure," the ChiefMinister's Office said. Siddaramaiah, his wife and second son Yathindra Siddaramaiah, a doctor, and the family doctor were in Brussels to be with Rakesh. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter. He had met with an accident 15 years ago, when he suffered injuries to his pancreas. Soon after his son was hospitalised, Siddaramaiah had spoken to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, seeking her assistance in getting the best treatment for his son in Belgium. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condoled the death of Siddaramaiah's son. "My thoughts are with Siddaramaiah ji & his family on the demise of his son. May God give the family strength to bear the irreparable loss," he wrote on twitter. Karnata had petitioned the tribunal seeking release of 7.56 tmcft of water for Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. (Photo: ANI Twitter) Bengaluru: Karnataka shut down on Saturday in protest over the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) order that rejected the state's plea for diversion of 7.6 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from the river to the Malaprabha Basin. Extra security has been provided to Central Government offices as the shutdown call given by the Kannada organisation is successful. All commercial establishments, schools, colleges and government offices remain closed while no untoward activities have been reported yet. On Friday, state Home Minister G. Parameshwara said that prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been clamped in Nargund, Navalgund, Hubballi and Dharwad towns. The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has decided to halt the screening of movies in theatres, movie-shooting schedules, and other film activities on Saturday. The MWDT, headed by Juistice J.N. Panchal had on Wednesday rejected the state's petition for 7.6 tmcft of water from the river, citing various grounds, including ecological damage the project might cause. On Thursday areas like Hubballi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Belagavi witnessed violent protests. Incidents of stone-throwing, burning of tyres and effigies and blocking of roads and highways by thousands of farmers, students and pro-Kannada activists were also reported. Karnataka, which has locked horns with neighbouring Goa on the larger issue of sharing of the Mahadayi river waters between both states, had petitioned the tribunal seeking release of 7.56 tmcft of water for Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. The project to supply drinking water to Hubballi-Dharwad, Gadag, Bagalkot and Belagavi districts from the river through the Kalsa-Banduri canals in the Malabrabha basin has remained incomplete due to the decade-long standoff between the two states. As the 77 km-long Mahadayi flows into Goa from Karnataka on the west coast into the Arabian Sea, the former has been objecting over sharing its water, as 52 km of its stretch is in its state and is a lifeline for its people. One Ukrainian serviceman has been killed and two others injured in the anti-terrorist operation zone in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian presidential spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation Andriy Lysenko has said. "Unfortunately, one serviceman has been killed, one wounded, and one suffered concussion due to intensive combat activities over the past 24 hours," Lysenko said at a news briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. Of the total number of farm suicides, a maximum of 241 have been reported in Karnataka, followed by Maharashtra (57) and Punjab (56), the data showed. New Delhi: Nearly 363 farmers have committed suicide so far in 2016 due to agrarian reasons and the Centre is taking steps to make farming a viable business to curb such instances in future, parliament was informed today. According to data placed by Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala in the Rajya Sabha, 363 farmer suicides have been reported so far in 2016 due to agrarian reasons. The minister made it clear that this data have been furnished by states and not by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). NCRB has published such data till 2014 only. Of the total number of farm suicides, a maximum of 241 have been reported in Karnataka, followed by Maharashtra (57) and Punjab (56), the data showed. In 2015, the number of such cases stood at around 107 in Karnataka, 1,841 in Maharashtra and 46 in Punjab, while the overall figure for the entire country was 2,548, according to the data. Replying to a query on steps taken by the Centre to rehabilitate families in which farmers have committed suicides, the minister said, "The strategy of the government is to focus on farmers' welfare by making farming viable." Media persons are allegedly not being allowed to enter the Kerala High Court and lower courts after lawyers clashed with media personnel a few days ago, unhappy over their coverage of the alleged molestation bid by a government pleader. (Photo: PTI) Thiruvananthapuram: Days after a clash broke out between lawyers and media personnel outside Kerala High Court complex, some newsmen were on Saturday allegedly manhandled and locked up inside a police station at Kozhikode by a police officer, who was later suspended, pending an enquiry. Many journalists on Saturday took out marches in the state capital, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur and New Delhi against the continued attack on the media, and demanded action against the town police Sub Inspector P M Vimodh Kumar. The media in the state are allegedly not being allowed to enter the Kerala High Court and lower courts after lawyers clashed with media personnel a few days ago, unhappy over their coverage of the alleged molestation bid by a government pleader. When some media personnel went to the Kozhikode district court this morning to cover the Ice Cream Parlour case, the personnel, including a private Malayalam TV news channel reporter, were prevented by police. Three of them were taken to the police station in a police jeep and the channel's vehicle was also seized. Kozhikode Town Sub Inspector P M Vimodh Kumar had stated that he had received instructions from district magistrate to prevent the media entry. However, the magistrate later informed the High Court registrar that he had not issued any such instructions. The official entered into a fracas with media personnel later this evening and allegedly used foul language and when they protested, manhandled them inside the police station and locked them up, media personnel alleged. DGP Loknath Behara suspended the official, pending an enquiry and said the SI's act cannot be justified. A responsible police force should not be behaving in this manner, he said and admitted that the official had committed a "mistake" and so action would have to be taken. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is away in Delhi, said in a statement that the media has the freedom to enter courts to cover proceedings and police cannot prevent them from doing so. Since it is a matter relating to courts, government has certain limitations, he said. Courts need to introspect on whether in a democratic country, preventing the media from entering courts was right, Vijayan said. The police action was being viewed "very seriously" he said, adding the DGP had been asked to enquire and report to him on the matter. Strong action will be taken after getting the report, he assured. Rohtak (Haryana): Calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a campaign to free Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev has said it was about time that India took concrete steps to take back the "captured and disputed" land. "Prime Minister Modi should begin a campaign to free PoK. Nawaz Sharif+ has the nerve to say that Pakistan will take Kashmir at any cost. Our children look at Kashmir only on the maps, but Pakistan has captured it. When a cowardly nation captures a part of a great nation, we can't just sit silently," Ramdev told the media. He further said the Prime Minister should take concrete steps to destroy active terrorist organizations targeting India from the Pakistani soil. Earlier, describing Kashmir as " unfinished agenda+ " of the United Nations, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to raise the issue at every international platform and provide all sort of support to Kashmiris. Sharif had also praised slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani+ and called him a 'martyr', accusing India of human rights violations in the valley. In response, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj gave a fitting reply to Sharif for interfering in India's internal matters and trying to 'destabilise the situation in the Kashmir valley', saying that the continuous remarks by Pakistan are somewhere leading to a malicious propaganda against India. Meanwhile, People in Neelum valley in PoK on Friday took to the streets to protest against rigged July 21 elections+ , which was won by Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. The protesters had to face the police's wrath as they burnt Pakistani flag and raised slogans against the government. Besides blackening election posters, the protesters also burnt tyres, blocked traffic and clashed with the police personnel deployed on duty. Widespread protests have been witnessed in the major PoK towns, including Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Chinari and Mirpur, after members of the PML (N) killed a supporter of the Muslim Conference (MC) in Muzaffarabad. Locals allege that the elections in PoK are always fixed in favour of the ruling party in Pakistan, in current instance, for the PML-N. New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has admitted that they have not been able to procure any information yet on the whereabouts of Father Tom, who went missing in Yemen and a purported video of him being tortured by the ISIS cropped up on social media. As per reports, the Indian Mission in Yemen is working with the local authorities to ascertain information about Father Tom. He has been missing since March when armed militants barged into an old people's home set up by the Missionaries of Charity. Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said the Centre was doing everything in its power to bring the Malayalee priest back home safely. "We are in touch with the countries, which can assist us in locating him not only at my level, but the Prime Minister himself held discussions during his visits. We are making continuous efforts to locate Father Tom," she said. Earlier, a video clipping allegedly of Catholic priest from Kerala Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was abducted by the Islamic State militants in Yemen, surfaced on Facebook. Four months since his abduction, the video clipping shows the blind-folded priest getting thrashed by unidentified men at an unidentified location. New Delhi: Calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a campaign to free Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev has said it was about time that India took concrete steps to take back the "captured and disputed" land. "Prime Minister Modi should begin a campaign to free PoK. Nawaz Sharif has the nerve to say that Pakistan will take Kashmir at any cost. Our children look at Kashmir only on the maps but Pakistan has captured it. When a cowardly nation captures a part of a great nation, we can't just sit silently," Ramdev told the media. He further said that the Prime Minister should take concrete steps to destroy active terrorist organisations targeting India from the Pakistani soil. Earlier, describing Kashmir as "unfinished agenda" of the United Nations, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to raise the issue at every international platform and provide all sort of support to Kashmiris. Sharif had also praised slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani Wani and called him a 'martyr', accusing India of human rights violations in the valley. In response, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj gave a fitting reply to Sharif for interfering in India's internal matters and trying to 'destabilise the situation in the Kashmir valley', saying that the continuous remarks by Pakistan are somewhere leading to a malicious propaganda against India. Meanwhile, People in Neelum valley in PoK on Friday took to the streets to protest against rigged July 21 elections, which was won by Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. The protesters had to face the police's wrath as they burnt Pakistani flag and raised slogans against the government. Besides blackening election posters, the protesters also burnt tyres, blocked traffic and clashed with the police personnel deployed on duty. Widespread protests have been witnessed in the major PoK towns, including Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Chinari and Mirpur, after members of the PML (N) killed a supporter of the Muslim Conference (MC) in Muzaffarabad. Locals allege that the elections in PoK are always fixed in favour of the ruling party in Pakistan, in current instance, for the PML-N. New Delhi: Congress on Saturday accused three Sangh Parivar organisations of "resorting to trafficking" of young tribal girls from Assam in flagrant violation of all laws and wondered whether it was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of "Beti bachao, beti padhao". "Painful, ugly and dirty truth of trafficking of young tribal girls from Assam under the garb of better education by none other than three affiliates of the Sangh Parivar which includes Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Vidya Bharti and Sewa Bharti stand exposed," party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi told reporters. Addressing a joint press conference along with Mahila Congress chief Shobha Oza, she claimed that a detailed investigation and documentary evidence has unflinchingly established" as to how the Sangh Parivar "flouted" Indian and International Laws on 'Child Rights' to traffic 31 young tribal girls from Assam to Punjab and Gujarat to 'Indoctrinate' them. They alleged that orders to return these children to Assam-including those from the 'Assam State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights' and 'Childline, Delhi and Patiala' - were 'violated with impunity' by 'Sangh Parivar' run institutions with "active connivance" of BJP-ruled governments of Gujarat and Punjab. "Is this the fulfillment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of 'BETI BACHAO, BETI PADHAO'? Is this BJP/RSS' idea of inculcating education and protecting children? Would the BJP ensure that the 31 girls return home to their families, who have been denied access to their own children?," they asked. "Will BJP government at Centre as also of Gujarat/Punjab take action against RSS workers and its affiliate organisations for defying the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, Indian Penal Code and other laws?" they asked. Mumbai: Senior IPS officer Satish Mathur has been appointed as the new police chief of Maharashtra. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has appointed Satish Mathur (1981 IPS batch) as the next Director General of Police of Maharashtra, K P Bakshi, ACS Home, told PTI. Mathur, who succeeds Pravin Dixit, is currently holding the post of Director General, Anti-Corruption Bureau. The proof was shared by the US through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MULAT). (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The US has handed over evidence consisting of over 1000 pages of chats and conversations between Pathakot attack handler Kashif Jaan and the four fidayeen who were eventually killed, to the NIA. According to a report, the conversations make it clear that the terror strike on Pathankot was micro-managed from Pakistan. The four fidayeen of JeM, identified as Nasir Hussain from Punjab, Abu Bakar from Gujranwala and Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum from Sindh, were in regular touch with their handlers in Pakistan, the report says. The documents also include Kashif Jaan's conversations with other Pakistan-based JeM office-bearers. Jaan was using a Facebook account connected to the same mobile number which the attackers called from Pathankot after abducting Punjab police SP Salwinder Singh, apart from Whatsapp chats and use of other platforms, says the report. These accounts, operated by Jaan, were accessed around the time of the attack using IP addresses of telecom firms based in Pakistan. Facebook pages containing Jihadi material and videos and comments condemning arrest of Jaish cadres in Pakistan have also been found. The NIA is investigating the documents. The NIA had approached the US to provide details of these accounts and chats. The proof was shared by the US through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MULAT). Interestingly, the news comes in the wake of Rajnath Singhs impending visit to Pakistan for the SAARC interior ministers' and home ministers' conference in August. Jawans stop a man near a barricade on the 16th consecutive day of curfew and strike in Downtown area of Srinagar on Monday. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: Two Islamic militants and two Army jawans have been killed in a firefight raging in Nowgam sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district since Friday night. While the identity of the slain militants is being ascertained, the Army jawans who laid down their lives during the encounter are Sepoy Babaloo Singh, 29, from Jandipur in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh and Sepoy Vishal Chaudhary, 30, a resident of Ronda, Anoop Shahr of Bulandshahar district (also in Uttar Pradesh). Both were serving in the Army for the last 11 years, defence sources said in Srinagar. Srinagar: The sources said that the Armys alert jawans defending the LoC noticed the movement of an infiltrating group of militants late Friday night. A Srinagar-based defence spokesman said that after noticing suspicious movement along the LoC in Nowgam sector during the intervening night, the troops challenged the infiltrators who opened fire which was quickly returned and a fire fight started. Two soldiers were killed and another was injured, he said adding that two AK rifles, one UBGL and other war-like stores were found on the slain militants. The spokesman said that this was the second major infiltration bid foiled this week. Four militants were killed and one militant was captured alive on July 26. Sixty people have been hospitalized after Armenian police dispersed a demonstration near the police station seized by a group of armed radicals in Yerevan on Friday evening, Armenian Health Ministry spokesperson Anait Aitayan told Interfax. "Forty-two patients have been brought to the Surb Grigor Lusavorich medical center, two of them in serious condition. One is having his eye being operated on, and the other suffered burns. His transportation to a specialized clinic is under consideration. Twelve injured people have been taken to the Erebuni medical center, one of them in serious condition," Aitayan said. Five injured policemen have also been taken to the Erebuni medical center, one of them with a gunshot wound to his belly, who is being operated on, she said. Aitayan denied reports alleging that a two-month-old child was also hospitalized following Friday's events. Srinagar: Clashes amid curfews and shutdowns continued in Kashmir Valley on Saturday, leaving about 12 people injured. Among them are three residents including a woman shot at by security forces during a protest at Imam Sahib in southern Shopian, police and hospital sources said. Protests and clashes were reported also from Janglat Mandi in Anantnag town and Rawalpora in Srinagar. Some other parts the Valley also witnesses small rallies and processions in the evening but their intensity compared to Fridays happenings was very low, the official sources said. A report from southern Kulgam said that hundreds of people, many of them riding on motorbikes, after defying security restrictions marched along the town streets and also went through neighbouring villages. Meanwhile, the BJP has contradicted J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, that the security forces did not know Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Burhan Wani was among the three militants hiding in a private house at Kokernag in southern Anantnag beforehand and that had they known about it they may have given him a second chance in the July 8 encounter in which the trio was killed. Terming Wanis killing as a success, J&K BJP chief Sat Sharma said identity of the terrorist doesnt matter in such operations. "They knew who was inside and they undertook their job after taking everything into consideration...without information, he said. Chennai: A software professional abducted in car while returning home around midnight after work on OMR on Wednesday, was rescued by police on Thursday night. Hailing from Telangana and employed in HCL Technologies at Navalur on Old Mahabalipuram Road or IT highway, D. Prem Kumar, 29, was abducted by a four-member gang, which included a boy aged 19, that initially demanded a ransom of `50 lakh. Police said Prem Kumar, supposed to be back in his room at Kelambakkam by 2 am Thursday, failed to turn up and his roommate Sandeep lodged a complaint with Thamzhabur police station on Thursday morning. Abductors decided to kidnap Prem Kumar because they noticed that he was trying to get a lift home from his office after work around 1 am. He waved his hand to stop a bike rider and when he got on to the pillion, another suspect ran towards the bike and sat behind Prem Kumar and bike started moving. Before Prem Kumar realised and screamed for help, the other pillion rider used a handkerchief laced with sedatives to cover the victims nose. As he started swooning, they kidnapped him to a secluded place in a car. On Thursday, the kidnappers called his roommate Sandeep and Prem Kumars mother Aruna, who stays in Khammam in Telangana and demanded `50 lakh as ransom to release him. Prems father Devaraj and mother rushed to Chennai when they came to know about the incident. Police were informed about the ransom call by Aruna and Sandeep. A police team led by North zone Inspector general of police N. K. Senthamaraikannan, who reached Kelambakkam police station to supervise the rescue operations, made the victims parents to talk to the kidnappers and negotiated with them. They reduced the ransom amount from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 10 lakh after repeated requests. A police team in plainclothes went along with the money carrier and nabbed the suspects, who changed the transaction spot three times on Thursday night. Finally, the police nabbed the suspects one by one from Kelambakkam and nearby areas. Based on their confession police rescued techie Prem Kumar, locked up in an apartment house in Thaiyur on OMR. The arrested were identified as Parthiban, 22, Jayaseelan, 19, residents of Thaiyur, Praveen Balaji, 25, of Kelambakkam and Vivek Raj, 26 of Arakonam. Police seized two cars and a bike besides recovering four mobiles from them. Police said Praveen and Vivek used to smuggle foreign goods from Singapore to Chennai. Prem Kumars family took him back to his native, police said while the four abductors were produced before Chengelput court and sent to jail. KOCHI: The ailing public sector Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) may get a fresh lease of life with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving an in-principle approval for setting up a urea plant with an estimated investment of Rs 6,000 cr. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters in Delhi on Friday that the state has presented the proposal for a 1.2 million per annum capacity urea plant at FACT using LNG as a feed stock. The Chief Minister said the future of the project hinges heavily on the completion GAIL Gas Pipeline project from Kochi to Mangalore as a confidence booster for the public sector companies to make investment in the project. The project will require an immediate investment Rs 1,800 cr comprising 30 per cent of the total project cost of Rs 6,000 cr. The Prime Minister has assured that PSUs such as ONGC and GAIL could be persuaded to make such investment. But, the completion of the pipeline connectivity from LNG Terminal in Kochi will be prerequisite for winning the confidence of these companies, Pinarayi said. The Prime Minister has assured that these companies will be persuaded on the basis of the progress in the completion of the pipeline network. The Chief Minister pointed out that the urea plant in FACT using Naptha as feedstock was shut down in 2002 as it became economically unviable. The setting up of the LNG Terminal in Kochi has opened the possibility for establishing urea plant at a much larger scale, he pointed out. India now imports much of its urea requirements, he added. The Chief Minister has also said that Mr. Modi has accepted the proposal for utilizing the land belonging to FACT for the industrialization of the state under the supervision of public sector undertakings. At present 650 acres of the FACT remained unutilized. Out this 170 acres are set aside for the projects of BPCL leaving 450 acres. The state government agency Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) proposes to set up petrochemical complex and Pharma Park in the 450 acres, Pinarayi said. COIMBATORE: A female adult elephant was knocked down by the West Coast express heading to Chennai from Mangaluru near Walayar early on Friday, the third pachyderm to die so tragically within a span of just 40 days in the forests bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Around 5.30 am, the speeding West Coast express hit the elephant, aged around 20, while it was crossing the track. On impact, the elephant was thrown 15-ft away from the track. It battled for life for more than an hour before breathing its last. Forest department staff rushed to the spot, but could not save the animal, said a forest department staff. Wildlife activists blame the Railways for refusing to lower the speed of trains passing through elephant corridors. Trains should maintain a speed of not more than 30 Kmph for a distance of around five-km between Madukkarai and Walayar. On 20 June, the speedy Bangaluru Kochuveli Express, hit a 20-year-old female elephant. Poignant moments had prevailed as its calf refused to move away and stood grieving over its dead mother for several hours. Tragedy struck again on July 9, when a 10-year-old tusker was knocked down by another speeding train bound for Vishakhapatnam from Kollam, near Chandrapuram in Walayar forest. An official from the operations department in Palakkad division earlier said that the Railways do not have any plans to reduce the speed of trains. Trains ply at a speed of 45 kmph in the above mentioned corridor as per the instructions given by the Railway Board. So there is no possibility to bring down the speed further, he said. However, a proposal has been sent for erecting heavy metal fencing along the railway track for a distance about 25-km between Madukkarai and Sullikaadu. The Palakkad division Railway PRO M.K. Gopinath said that the railways have been conducting routine inspections to avoid train hits. Awareness is created among passengers not to throw food items in the forest area along the track as it attracts animals, he said. Though these measures are yielding results, a permanent solution can be found only if an elephant crossing corridor is built, metal fencing on both sides of the track erected and subways constructed. These projects require huge funding and can be taken up only through private sponsorship, he said. Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs office maintained that Rakesh Siddaramaiah, who is undergoing treatment for acute pancreatitis at Antwerp University Hospital, Brussels, is recovering, but some doctors attending on him said his condition was very serious. According to the CMs office, doctors had told members of the family that infection was contained after the treatment commenced. Quoting doctors opinion, the CMs office said infection did not spread to other parts, regarded as a positive sign. When Deccan Chronicle contacted the hospital through an Indian residing in a nearby city, a doctor attending on Rakesh in the ICU declined to share details of Rakeshs medical case. He, however, said "I can share details of his medical condition only with his immediate family members. His (Rakesh) condition is very critical." Doctors list four reasons for acute pancreatitis including ingested medicines and abnormal consumption of alcohol. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Rakesh Siddaramaiah went to Tomorrowland Fest-2016 in Belgium along with his friends, Shoiab, Keshav, Rohan and Chethan. After they revelled, he complained of acute stomach pain. Now, he is on ventilator and doctors said they would comment about his condition at the end of 48-hour observation period. Sometime in November or December, Rakesh reportedly underwent treatment for liver and pancreatic issues in a city hospital. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the possibility of sabotage in the mysterious disappearance of AN-32 aircraft of IAF was very less. Chennai: With no leads leading to the missing AN 32 aircraft even after a week it disappeared over the Bay of Bengal, India has sought the assistance of the United States for detection of images and whether any of its satellites had picked up any signal from the plane. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the possibility of sabotage in the mysterious disappearance of AN-32 aircraft of IAF was very less. It is total blank. There was not even a single signal recorded. That is the reason we are contacting American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites picked up any signal. Besides our own satellite imagery, we have asked the US for their imagery for the detection of emergency frequency to space based assets. Foreign countries we have already asked. I only hope that our efforts succeed, he said, responding to queries from members. I don't know exact age but it is well within lifetime. It has undergone first overhauling. Lot of replacement has been done.... They are considered as one of the safest aircraft, he said, replying to several questions. About the missing aircraft, Parrikar said that after the first overhaul, the plane had already done 279 hours and the pilot was experienced, having put in 500 hours on this route. Sharing details of the search operation so far, he said 10 Indian Navy ships as well as submarine Sindhudhwaj are carrying searches and virtually checking up everything. Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the Vizhinjam port project would be given priority among the proposed port projects. Mr Modi also agreed to consider including Vizhinjam in the Sagaramala project connecting various ports in the country. Mr Modi told the Kerala delegation which met him in New Delhi that both Vizhinjam and Colachel projects were important for the nation's development. However, Vizhinjam would be given top priority, he said. Mr Vijayan along with Ports Minister Kadanapally Ramachandran met Mr Modi to convey the concern of the state over the clearance given to the Colachel port in Tamil Nadu. The central government would consider the concerns of the state government on the issue and promised to extend help to complete the work in a time-bound manner, Mr Modi said. The state team expressed its concern over the Colachel port as it is hardly 30 km from Vizhinjam. This would adversely affect the viability of both the projects, Mr Vijayan said. Mr Vijayan later told reporters in Delhi that the central planning body had earlier made it clear that a new port could be constructed in the 100-km vicinity of a port only if 90 percent of the works of the project was completed or after 15 years of establishment of the port. The planning body had even expressed concern over the establishment of Vizhinjam project though it was about 250 km from the Vallarpadam project, Mr Vijayan said. Kozhikode: City Police Commissioner Uma Behera suspended Kozhikode town Sub-Inspector P.M. Vimodh for manhandling, abusing and locking up four mediapersons in the town police station on Saturday afternoon. The media personnel included Asianet bureau chief Binuraj and Media One reporter Jayesh Raghavan and crew when they went to bring the Outside Broadcasting (OB) van seized by the police from the district court premises in the morning after a conciliatory meeting with Ms Uma Behera over the issue. The police headed by Mr Vimodh allegedly pulled in the reporters and also locked them up showering abuses. Soon, groups of media personnel and political leaders, including CPM district secretary P. Mohanan, A. Pradeepkumar MLA and DCC president K.C. Abu rushed to the spot. Ms Uma Behera, who had earlier ordered an inquiry removing Mr Vimod from the duties, gave an on-the-spot order suspending the sub-inspector after discussion with DGP Loknath Behera. The media personnel in the morning had staged a protest in front of the town police station to release the colleagues who were taken into custody reportedly as per the verbal orders of the judge. Later, the court authorities said that there was no direction from the court to arrest or remove the media personnel from the court premises. However, the Calicut Bar Association in a resolution passed in the evening extended support to the police official, saying that his timely intervention had helped in avoiding a law and order situation on the court premises. Bar Association president K.M. Kadiri told Deccan Chronicle that the sub-inspector had asked the channel team to remove the OB van from the court premises which they refused to do leading to the series of issues. The incidents started around 11 a.m. when the reporters went to cover the hearing of the controversial ice cream parlour case at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court. Claiming that he had the verbal orders of the district judge, sub-inspector Vimodh pushed out Asianet News bureau chief Binuraj and crew from the court premises and also took them into custody. Eyewitnesses said that there was an altercation between the SI and the reporter over removing the OB van and the reporter said the van was parked at the same spot where he had been parking it whenever he came for reporting. An enraged SI with the help of policemen took him by force and pushed him into the police vehicle. Later, the police took the crew along with OB van to the town police station. When the other reporters rushed to the police station, Mr Vimodh remained adamant. Later, senior police officials, including assistant police commissioner P.K. Raju, reached the spot and decided to let the bureau chief and crew go without charging any cases. The camera seized also was returned. Around 1.30 p.m., the media personnel met the Police Commissioner demanding action against the SI. Ms Behera ordered an inquiry and also promised to take action against the official in the evening after receiving the report. It is improper to take action against an official without an inquiry, she said. Believing the assurance, the media personnel dispersed and the Asianet team went back to take the OB van when the alleged fracas took place. Jammu: Contradicting Mehbooba Mufti's stand, BJP on Saturday said security forces had the knowledge of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani's presence at the encounter site. Terming Wanis killing as a "success", Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Sat Sharma said identity of the terrorist doesn't matter in such operations. "As far as the question of the event (killing of Wani) is concerned, definitely the security forces had the knowledge. They knew who was inside and they undertook their job after taking everything into consideration", he said, and added that, without information, security forces do not act. The people who take up gun to disintegrate the nation and don't consider Jammu and Kashmir to be part of India, they are terrorists and deserve to be killed. The way our security forces have acted by eliminating the terrorist who wanted to disintegrate the country is commendable," Sharma said. On Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that the security forces were not aware of Hizbul commander Wani's presence during the July 8 raid at his hideout at Kokernag in South Kashmir in which he was killed. Mufti also indicated that the situation could have perhaps been controlled better had the security forces known about Wani's presence. "As far as the statement of chief minister is concerned, we must keep the morale of the security forces high. As the president of the state unit of BJP, I can say the identity of the terrorist does not matter for the security forces." While security forces were doing a commendable job, it should be ensured that no innocent civilian was killed, he added. Speaking about the unrest in the Valley, he said that the government was trying hard to bring peace in the state. "Some people tried to disrupt the environment in Jammu but people from various walks of life came together and foiled such designs," he said. Rejecting the demand of governor's rule in J&K, Sharma said that the need of the hour was that all political parties work for bringing peace in the state. Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Wani was killed in the encounter. In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 47 persons, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured. Members of the Dalit community shout slogans during a sit in protest against the attack on their community members in Una (Photo: PTI) Ahmedabad: Dalit rights groups will hold amass gathering in Sabarmati area here tomorrow to register their protest over the brutal thrashing of fellow community members in Una taluka, after organisers agreed to hold the event at a changed venue for which police gave their nod. Earlier, the organisers had decided to hold the event outside the Collector Office here, to which the police had denied permission stating that it might lead to major traffic snarls. Protesting against thrashing of Dalits in Una, several members of the Dalit community also refused to dispose of the dead cattle in several parts of Gujarat demanding that they be provided protection and I-card by the government to prevent harassment from 'gau-rakshaks'. The gathering will be held at a ground near Acher depot in Sabarmati tomorrow. Among the special invitees are family members of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from Hyderabad Central University, who had committed suicide early this year. Family members of victims from Thangadh in Surendranagar district, who were killed in police firing during a protest gathering in 2012 have also been invited, the organisers said, adding leaders from both BJP and Congress have been asked to stay away from the event. "The state government and police have been trying to prevent Dalits from uniting and coming under one banner, but considering the anger and mood of Dalits, police had to surrender and allow us to hold the event," a Dalit leader and convener of the event, Jignesh Mevani said. He said the response from community members from across the state has been immense. "Family members of Rohith Vemula and Thangadh victims have been contacted to participate in the Sunday gathering. Rohith's mother is not well, but his elder brother will participate. They will expose BJP's role in Rohith's suicide. Valjibhai Rathod, a member of the family of Thangadh police firing victims has also been requested to come," Mevani said. The event is being organised under the banner of "Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti" to protest against the recent incident of thrashing of Dalit youths in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district, and to highlight cases of atrocities against the community members in the state, organisers said. Govind Parmar, another member of the organising committee, urged that those participating in the gathering should see that the event passes off in a peaceful manner. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense has handed five Ford Ranger trucks to the National Guard of Ukraine. The pickup truck are equipped with GPS-navigators, digital video recorders (DVRs), antennas for radios and the like, the press service of the National Guard reported on Friday. "These are fantastic cars: fast, mobile, equipped with modern diesel engines. They can be used to move groups people, carrying small cargo. I think those who will receive them will be delighted..." the National Guard's press service quoted Lieutenant Andriy Biloshnichenko as saying. A representative of the Parsons company Tal Brannan said that they are handing these cars and another eight Ford Transit minibuses to the National Guard to help it reduce threats. The Ford Transit minibuses are already being revamped to meet the tasks of defense and protection. The pickup trucks have already left for the Ukrainian military units, where they will serve Ukraine's security. Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that the Union government will never go back on the clearance given to the Colachel port in Kanyakumari district, dismissing Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans apprehensions that it would affect the near-by Vizhinjam port in the neighbouring state. During a meeting with Mr Vijayan in New Delhi, Mr Modi said the ports which are located within a distance of just 30 km will only increase economic activity in the region and that there was no need for the state of Kerala to oppose the project just because it is located very close. We said there was no need for two ports at a distance of just 30 km. But, the Prime Minister said there was no going back on Colachel port. He said the competition would help both states, Mr Vijayan told a press conference after the meeting. The Chief Minister said Mr Modi assured all possible help, including financial assistance, to improve Vizhinjam project and that the new port at Colachel would not affect Vizhinjam port. Kerala has been expressing concern over the decision to allow a new port in Colachel saying it would adversely affect Vizhinjam port, the construction work of which has already begun here. Colachel port is hardly 30 km from Vizhinjam and the objective of the Colachel port is to attract large ships that now dock either in Colombo or Singapore. However, the Union government has been justified the major port project at Enayam near Colachel in Kanyakumari district saying it will give impetus to industrial development in entire Kanyakumari district besides contributing to Indias shipping industry. Special Category Status to AP. Mr Naidu told the MPs that there will be no compromise in safeguarding the interests of the state and if they (BJP) ask TD to leave the Union Cabinet, the TD is ready to do so. Hyderabad: There is every possibility of a change in the political relations between the BJP and the Telugu Desam. Comments made by AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during a media and tele-conference with party MPs on Friday, indicate this. This was the first time Mr Naidu had openly criticised the BJP for its attitude regarding granting of Special Category Status to AP. Mr Naidu told the MPs that there will be no compromise in safeguarding the interests of the state and if they (BJP) ask TD to leave the Union Cabinet, the TD is ready to do so. The Chief Minister will be holding a meeting with the party MPs on Sunday to discuss its strategy in the Parliament in the wake of Union finance minister Arun Jaitleys statement on special status in the Rajya Sabha. The TD has already sent a communication to all MPs asking them to attend the meeting. Mr Naidu, who has taken Mr Jaitleys comments very seriously, plans to discuss the future course of action and the partys strategy in Parliament for the next few months. The TD has been on the defensive over the special status issue from the very start. The Private Members Bill on the special status issue, introduced by Congress MP K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao has put the TD in an embarrassing situation. The party has not been in a position to fight against the Centre on this issue as it is one the NDAs partners. MP Kesineni Srinivas said that if necessary, the partys MPs were ready to resign and fight the Centre on status issue. He said nothing will happen if TD loses two minister-posts in the Union Cabinet How would you feel if you are told that in the worlds largest democracy, you have the rights only of a voter, but not of a citizen? I ask this question because all our governments and, in particular, the present one, seem to consider the constructive activism of citizens to be a threat to the imperious domain of the state. What governments appear to like are docile voters who come out periodically to vote (hopefully) for them, and then lapse into a vegetative somnolence, forgetting that a vibrant civil society is a vital sign of a mature and citizen-based democracy. On June 24, 2016, the government notified the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013. Drafted in response to the protests by Anna Hazare against corruption in government, this act surprisingly brings under its purview non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the definition of public servants. Trustees, directors and professional managers in NGOs that are wholly or partly funded by the Centre to the tune of Rs 1 crore or more, or have received foreign funding of Rs 10 lakh or more, will now be as public servants, and must disclose not only their own assets and liabilities, but that of their spouses and dependent children as well. If they dont, they can be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act for non-compliance. The last date for such disclosures was July 31, 2016, but after an appeal made to the government by eminent NGO representatives, the date has been extended to December 31, 2016. It is apparent that the Lokpal Act of 2013 was drafted in haste and, if implemented as drafted, will act as a major dampener to the functioning and contribution of civil society. This unfortunate state of affairs is probably what the BJP government wants. It looks upon NGOs with suspicion and is particularly hostile to those who have the audacity to raise issues of human rights, gender justice, government excesses or inefficiencies. In the last four years, as many as 14,222 NGOs have been barred from receiving foreign funds. Of these, 10,020 NGOs were barred just last year. Why do governments have this hostility to NGOs and the civil society vibrancy they represent? The answer lies in a peculiar mindset. Governments genuinely believe that in the pursuit of public good, the mai-baap sarkar does not need support from anybody. The dominant bias in policymaking has been that the government has a monopoly in public welfare goals and anyone who has the audacity to meddle in this area must be treated with hostility. Of course, the governments role in this field is pivotal, as initiator, catalyst and principal funding agency. But that does not mean that there is no scope for outside participation and partnerships. The truth is that today, state altruism is sought to be monopolised because the establishment does not want outsiders to disturb the corrupt gravy train that follows in its wake. It has become increasingly obvious that the governments public welfare objects are mostly riddled with inefficiencies, poor implementation, neglect and corruption. If government cannot deliver optimally, what is the harm if it pro-actively incentivises and motivates the private sector and individuals outside government to become partners in public welfare goals? India needs competitive philanthropy backed by the government through enlightened policies. Only then can we revive, as an inextricable part of our social fabric, exceptionally relevant but now largely forgotten concepts like paropkar (or working for the public good) that once inspired us. There was a time when people believed as a matter of conviction that the successful must give back to society what society has given to them. We need to encourage citizens to believe in this concept again. Non-governmental actors can contribute to the welfare agenda of the government in three principal ways. First, they can partner governments to ensure that deliverables reach the intended beneficiaries; second, they can partner in providing those deliverables; and third, they can, as independent stakeholders, provide these deliverables themselves. Government funding for such partnerships should be welcomed. Foreign funding is not by itself subversive, nor is such funding an India-centric phenomenon. Institutional charities and foundations look for partners to further welfare goals and India provides enough legitimate avenues for such partnerships. Each application must be judged on merit and if a hidden agenda that is inimical to Indias interests is discovered it should be dealt with appropriately. However, a generalised and reflexive hostility towards the foreign funding of NGOs is unnecessary. Unfortunately, the existing official regimen in India to encourage philanthropy, NGOs and non-profit organisations is woefully inadequate. A comprehensive report of the Planning Commission in 2004 bluntly states that a multiplicity of laws and agencies, cumbersome procedures, unjustified delays and corruption are all responsible for the tardy growth of philanthropic activity in our country. Our law books, apparently, also have such absurd requirements as making it compulsory for any trust with an annual income of `1,500 per annum to submit annual audited accounts! The cost of the audit would be more than the income. In fact, the Planning Commission itself says that, unfortunately, charity or volunteerism comes way down in the priority list of governments both at the Centre and state level. The latest blow to civil society comes from the ill-conceived provision of the Lokpal Act. A large number of trusts, societies, charitable and non-profit organisations, hospitals and educational institutions, along with the philanthropists, doctors, teachers, and scientists who provide funds, time and expertise to social welfare activities, have the justified apprehension that the disclosure requirements under the act are likely to be misused to target people working in the social sector. The government must immediately review this law. Of course, all NGOs that benefit from government funding or foreign funds should work transparently and be accountable to laws. But provisions of the current Lokpal Act may end up smothering the sentiment of paropkar itself. Does the BJP government want this to happen? As BJP president Amit Shah prepares for a reshuffle of party office bearers there is unusual reluctance among its spokespersons to a possible upgrade. This is surprising as any proposed change in the Union Cabinet or the party office bearers is normally preceded by hectic lobbying by aspirants. However, in this instance, BJP spokespersons would rather stay on in their present jobs than be promoted as general secretaries as this would mean the end of their television careers. Thanks to their regular participation in prime-time debates on TV news channels, BJP spokespersons enjoy high visibility. For instance, the belligerent Sambit Patra, who is relatively junior in the party, has become synonymous with the BJP as he regularly battles his political opponents on television. In fact, he has become so popular in his home state of Orissa that he is giving sleepless nights to petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who sees himself as a prospective CM. Was former minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla asked to resign from the Cabinet to pave the way for the removal of Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel? The BJP is currently in the throes of discussions that Ms Patels days are numbered as she had failed, first to deal effectively with the Patidar agitation and, subsequently, with the dalit anger. Since she was handpicked by the PM after he moved to Delhi two years ago, Modi apparently believes that faulting the CM will reflect poorly on his judgement. According to the BJP grapevine, Ms Heptulla was asked to step down in accordance with the Modi governments unwritten rule that no minister will be above 75 years of age. Her case can now be cited as a precedent to ease out Ms Patel who will be 75 years old later this year. This view has gained credence because as Ms Heptulla celebrated her 75th birthday last year but was asked to continue till now. Ms Heptulla is not complaining as she hopes to be accommodated in a Raj Bhavan or fielded for the vice-presidents post next year. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee created a stir when she visited Parliament last week for the first time after her victory in the recent Assembly elections. Trinamul Congress MPs had lined up in advance to escort her to the Central Hall. She was the star of the show as MPs from other parties, including BJPs Poonam Mahajan and SPs Dimple Yadav, also wished her. Ms Banerjee was her usual self as she called out a greeting to her MPs. While others were let off easily, MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was not so lucky as she was ticked off by the CM for her late arrival. An apologetic Dastidar insisted that she was only three minutes late, but Ms Banerjee stated firmly that all MPs must be punctual. Observing Ms Dastidars sari, Ms Banerjee made a caustic remark saying that Black and pink is good but black is too black. No trip by Ms Banerjee can be complete without a sing-song session. Even S.S. Ahluwalia, Darjeeling MP and parliamentary affairs minister, was not spared as he was asked to sing when he dropped in to say hello to the CM. Ever since the Congress announced that it would revive the defunct National Herald and the Hindi and Urdu newspapers Navjeevan and Quami Awaaz, it has been on the look out for party-friendly editors. While names of several contenders have been doing the rounds, former Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyars name is the latest to do the rounds. Mr Aiyar, it is said, is being considered for the position of group editor. Mr Aiyar, it is said, eminently qualified for the job as he is a Congress loyalist, a self-confessed Nehruvian and a good writer. Moreover, he is currently free as his Rajya Sabha term ended a few months ago. Dilli has waged a long and futile struggle against the prevailing beacon culture. But apparently the problem is nationwide, not just confined to the capital. In Mumbai, too, much was made recently of reports of many ministers in the Fadnavis government using red beacons on their private vehicles. If mantris can flout rules with impunity, babus are surely not far behind. In Maharashtra, only top officials above the secretary level in the state government, police officials of ranking above the inspector-general of police and other police officials of the same rank and regional commissioners are allowed to use amber beacons without flashers, while top-level district officials are entitled to use blue beacons. But this too is being flouted blatantly by officers who are not entitled. According to sources, since 2014 two special drives were launched to stop illegal use of beacons by government officials, but no action has resulted from the exercise. In fact, the transport authorities that are meant to stop this misuse, reportedly issued stickers to four junior officials in the chief ministers office authorising use of beacons by them. And so it goes, even after two years of the new rules coming into force. Dont criticise government Politicians may be thick-skinned, as some insist, but governments are increasingly becoming less tolerant of contrarian views expressed in public especially by those who work in it. Over the past few months several babus have fallen afoul of the Union and state governments for posting political comments on social media platforms. The government has proposed to amend the All-India Service (Conduct) Rules which will bar babus from criticising the government or its policies. Essentially, babus will no longer be able to express an opinion on anything that may potentially embarrass the government on television or social media. At present, government officials can make a public statement, including on social media, only after obtaining official clearance. Any criticism of the government or its policies on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook or on social networking groups like WhatsApp or through the officer drawing out a caricature will now attract disciplinary action under the Conduct Rules. The amended rules of course will not apply to those babus who are on Facebook and Twitter to officially communicate governments views as a bona fide duty. But theyll have to watch their words and speech. Making enemies Navi Mumbai Commissioner Tukaram Mundhes drive against illegal construction may have won him many fans among the public but the 2005-batch IAS officer seems to have rubbed several Maharashtra legislators the wrong way. The babu who was appointed civic chief of Navi Mumbai just a few months ago has upset peoples representatives with his alleged high-handed behaviour. Perhaps the babus fault is that he made one legislator wait for hours outside his cabin. Recently he has also been accused of taking decisions without consulting the views of the public representatives. The MLAs have raised the issue in the state Assembly, demanding action against the officer. But for all the growing criticism, Mr Mundhe is known as a no-nonsense officer who had earlier taken on the notorious sand mafia in the states. Fortunately, sources say, the babu has the back of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who recently honoured Mr Mundhe for his outstanding work. Apple on Friday asked the US Supreme Court to clear the way for the iPhone maker to secure hundreds of millions in damages from Samsung Electronics in a case over smartphone design patents. The world's top smartphone rivals have been feuding over patents since 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in a northern California court alleging infringement of the iPhone's patents, designs and trademarked appearance. In its legal brief on Friday, Apple said Samsung had not provided evidence to support its argument that design patent damages should be decided on one component of a smartphone, rather than the entire product. Apple said there was no need for the Supreme Court to send the case back to a lower court for further proceedings. A Samsung representative declined to immediately provide comment. The South Korean company has said that a ruling for Apple would diminish innovation and negatively impact the economy. Following a 2012 jury trial, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million. Samsung has been trying to reduce that figure ever since. Its efforts were partially rewarded in May 2015, when the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the damages on trademark liability. The appeals court, however, upheld Samsung's infringement of the iPhone's patents, including those related to the designs of the iPhone's rounded-corner front face, bezel and colorful grid of icons. That brought Samsung's exposure down to $548 million, of which $399 million involves design patents. Additional damages, based on five other phone models, could also be awarded depending on the outcome of appeals. Samsung asked the Supreme Court to review the case, calling the damages awarded excessive. In March, the justices agreed to look into whether courts should award in damages the total profits from a product that infringes a design patent, if the patent applies only to a component of the product. In a filing last month, the US Department of Justice said the case should be sent back to a lower court. But Apple said Congress has been clear on the issue of design patent damages, and there was no reason the Supreme Court should allow Samsung to make additional arguments. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. At a media event in the Chinese capital last week, Gionee previewed its flagship phone, the M6, with some of the tightest security features to appear on any handset. At a media event in the Chinese capital last week, Gionee previewed its flagship phone, the M6, with some of the tightest security features to appear on any handset. With smartphones increasingly used as payment platforms, the company has crafted an integrated hardware security solution that will debut in China-- then be offered in other large markets like India in versions that adhere to local regulations. The M6 unveiled for its home market, houses an encrypted chip to secure the owners' personal data. This is because in China, there is no text message-based One Time Password or OTP. So the phone needs to ensure a secure financial transaction. To meet Indian regulation, the M6 that will be available in India before Diwali, will not feature this chip, but a front finger-print scanner and enhanced malware prevention. Gionee said it will work with the authorities in every country to localize such features to meet prevalent regulations. The M6 is a 5.5-inch full HD Android 6.0 phone with 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a combination of 13MP rear and 8MP front cameras. Meanwhile the two factor authentication using OTP may itself be under challenge. Last week, in new draft guidelines, the US National Institute of Standards Technology says it will no longer recommend using SMS for text messages for security purposes since there is risk that information may be intercepted or redirected. However not all experts agree: Kevin Panzavecchia, CTO of mobile network security experts HAUD argues that it is possible to fix the vulnerabilities associated with mobile network hacks, and that the benefits of the system still outweigh the negatives. "It is still the clear front runner", he says. These trends will only hasten the day when our phones will provide the authoritative answer to the question: 'Am I, who I say I am?' -IndiaTechOnline Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. This file photo taken on April 26, 2016 shows FBI Director James Comey speaking at Georgetown University in Washington. (Photo: AFP) Washington: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey has warned that battlefield success against ISIS may lead to increased terrorism in the West. Speaking to a cybersecurity conference at Fordham University this week, Comey predicted that eventually crushing ISIS in its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq will likely result in dispersing terrorists elsewhere, reports CNN. "At some point there is going to be a terrorist diaspora out of Syria like we've never seen before. Not all of the Islamic State killers are going to die on the battlefield," said Comey. Comey's warning that the collapse of the caliphate will mean increased attacks in Western Europe and the United States reflects a consensus among intelligence officials. He compared it to the formation of al-Qaeda, which sprouted from fighters who had been hardened and radicalised fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s and early 1990s. "This is an order of magnitude greater than anything we've seen before. A lot of terrorists fled out of Afghanistan... this is 10 times that or more," said Comey. He added that the terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris earlier this year give a foresight into the future. The FBI Director pointed that it is just not the West but recently ISIS has stepped up attacks worldwide, including in countries near its home base territory that has been shrinking due to military losses in Iraq and Syria. The computers of the House Democratic campaign committee have been hacked, an intrusion that investigators say resembles the recent cyber breach of the Democratic National Committee for which the Russian government is the leading suspect. (Photo: AP) Washington: Democratic Party officials said Friday they have been targeted by a fresh cyber attack, similar to a breach at the Democratic National Committee that resulted in an embarrassing leak of party emails. The revelation will raise further questions in the United States about the activities of Russian hackers after Hillary Clintons campaign blamed Moscow for the initial breach that revealed how party leaders sought to undermine her potential White House rival, Bernie Sanders. The emails were made public by WikiLeaks and the Kremlin has dismissed as absurd allegations that it was behind the hack. President Barack Obama has refused to rule out that Russia is trying to sway the US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the target of a cyber security incident, its national press secretary Meredith Kelly confirmed Friday. The investigation is ongoing. Based on the information we have to date, weve been advised by investigators that this is similar to other recent incidents, including the DNC breach, she said in a statement. The DCCC was working to enhance its network security and cooperating with the federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation, she said. When asked if the two breaches were connected, White House spokesman Eric Schultz referred reporters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Obviously, theyve confirmed an investigation into the intrusion at the Democratic National Committee, he said. So if there are connected events that they would look at, that would be part of their investigation. Obviously, we expect that investigation to be thorough and deliberate, and to look at all the facts and look at all the fast where they lead. US Secretary of State John Kerry raised the DNC hack with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Laos earlier this week. Secretary Kerry has noted that weve been concerned about Russias activity in this space for quite some time, Schultz said Friday. I suspect that wont be the last time they have a conversation about this, he added. There was no immediate comment from the FBI. San Diego: A man suspected of opening fire on two San Diego police officers, killing one and severely wounding the other, has been arrested and charged with murder after a gunfight that left the accused gunman hospitalized, police said on Friday. A second man was arrested on an outstanding warrant near a house that a police SWAT team had surrounded in the aftermath of Thursday nights gun battle, but whether he was connected with the shooting was still under investigation, police said. The two officers, members of the departments anti-gang unit, were shot moments after stopping at least one person in a high-crime neighborhood of southeastern San Diego, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said at a news conference. But the precise circumstances of the shooting and what precipitated the incident remained unclear, in part because one of the two officers involved was dead and the other was hospitalised and had yet to be questioned, she told reporters. The shooting came as police departments across the United States have been on high alert in the wake of fatal ambushes of law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas earlier this month, that left a total of eight officers dead. I cant begin to put into words the emotions and feelings that surround an event like this, Zimmerman said. Zimmerman identified the slain officer as Jonathan DeGuzman, a 16-year-veteran of the force, who was married and the father of two young children. I worked with him, she said. I know him. He talked about his children every day. The wounded officer, nine-year veteran Wade Irwin, was in serious condition on Friday and expected to survive, Zimmerman said. Zimmerman said it was not clear whether the officers had made a traffic stop or a pedestrian stop when the shooting began. The accused gunman, identified as Jesse Michael Gomez, 52, was charged with murder and attempted murder in the case. No charges have been filed against the second man arrested, aged 41, police said. Unlike sniper attacks on police that killed five officers on July 7 in Dallas and three more July 18 in Baton Rouge, there was no immediate overt indication that the police in San Diego were targeted for attack or that there were racial overtones. The gunmen in Louisiana and Texas, both military veterans, apparently acted in retaliation for the high-profile deaths of a number of black men at the hands of police in confrontations that have heightened racial tensions in the United States and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has vowed to be tough on crime, said in a Twitter post in response to the San Diego shooting: It is only getting worse. People want law and order! Members of the 80th Air Assault Brigade of the Airborne Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will take part in tactical exercises Flaming Thunder 2016, which will be held in Lithuania on August 1-12. The artillery maneuvers will take place at the training center of the Lithuanian armed forces near the city of Pabrade, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported on Saturday. "Today, on July 30, a mortar platoon of the 80th Air Assault Brigade will leave abroad to participate in the command and staff phase of the training," the report says. The multi-national event is aimed at improving practical skills of personnel in the joint performance of tasks and increase the level of interoperability between the military of various countries. Ukrainian paratroopers will be able to exchange their experiences with the military from the U.S., Germany, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal. More than 1,100 servicemen will take part in the training. In the 1970s, the U.S. government instructed its submarines to tap undersea communications cables off the Russian coast, recording the messages being relayed back and forth between Soviet forces. (Representational Image/AP) Washington: When Donald Trump effectively called for Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails Wednesday, the GOP nominee's remarks touched off a (predictable) media firestorm. Here was a presidential candidate from a major US party encouraging a foreign government to target American interests with cyberspying - an act that could not only expose national security information but also potentially undermine the actual security infrastructure of the United States. Cyberwarriors working for Moscow and other regimes are already poking and prodding at our networks, so there's little reason to think Trump's words were all that damaging in themselves. But it's a good opportunity to talk about the state of state-sponsored hacking, and to offer a reminder that the United States is just as active in this space as the next government. The US approach to this digital battleground is pretty advanced. For example: Did you know that the military uses its submarines as underwater hacking platforms? In fact, subs represent an important component of America's cyber strategy. They act defensively to protect themselves and the country from digital attack, but - more interestingly - they also have a role to play in carrying out cyberattacks, according to two U.S. Navy officials at a recent Washington conference. "There is a - an offensive capability that we are, that we prize very highly," said Rear Adm. Michael Jabaley, the US Navy's program executive officer for submarines. "And this is where I really can't talk about much, but suffice to say we have submarines out there on the front lines that are very involved, at the highest technical level, doing exactly the kind of things that you would want them to do." The so-called "silent service" has a long history of using information technology to gain an edge on America's rivals. In the 1970s, the U.S. government instructed its submarines to tap undersea communications cables off the Russian coast, recording the messages being relayed back and forth between Soviet forces. These days, some U.S. subs come equipped with sophisticated antennas that can be used to intercept and manipulate other people's communications traffic, particularly on weak or unencrypted networks. "We've gone where our targets have gone" - that is to say, online, said Stewart Baker, the National Security Agency's former general counsel, in an interview. "Only the most security-conscious now are completely cut off from the Internet." Cyberattacks are also much easier to carry out than to defend against, he said. One of America's premier hacker subs, the USS Annapolis, is hooked into a much wider U.S. spying net that was disclosed as part of the 2013 Edward Snowden leaks, according to Adam Weinstein and William Arkin, writing last year for Gawker's intelligence and national security blog, Phase Zero. A leaked slide showed that in a typical week, the Navy performs hundreds of so-called "computer network exploitations," many of which are likely the result of submarine-based hacking. "Annapolis and its sisters are the infiltrators of the new new of cyber warfare," wrote Arkin and Weinstein, "getting close to whatever enemy - inside their defensive zones - to jam and emit and spoof and hack. They do this through mast-mounted antennas and collection systems atop the conning tower, some of them one-of-a-kind devices made for hard to reach or specific targets, all of them black boxes of future war." But even this doesn't compare to what the Navy wants to be able to do next: turn its submarines into motherships for underwater drones that can maneuver themselves even closer to shore and conduct jamming or hacking operations while allowing the sub to work at a distance. "We want the boat to grow longer arms," said Rear Adm. Charles Richard, director of the Navy's undersea warfare division. "We are at all-ahead flank [speed], both on unmanned aerial and undersea vehicles." It's unclear how far behind - or ahead - other navies may be when it comes to submarine-based cyber offense. Many of the cybersecurity and military experts we interviewed for this story had hardly heard of the Defense Department's own undersea cyber capabilities. But, Baker said, "espionage is a game where there's a lot of following the leader - so it's perfectly possible it's happening in this field as well." What is clear is that the U.S. military operates some of the most sophisticated information networks ever designed, and it's using them to penetrate foreign computer systems as part of an evolving cyber strategy. We may never know precisely what dirt the Pentagon is digging up with its submarine espionage, or be able to draw a link between it and any political or military events in the real world. But despite the rising prominence of Russian hackers in this news cycle - and Chinese hackers before that - it's worth pointing out that the United States has grown fairly proficient in cyberspace, too. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in the detention centre after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation this week aired footage showing guards teargassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded boy to a chair. (Photo: AFP) Melbourne: Hundreds of people rallied in major cities across Australia today criticizing the government's response to video showing aboriginal children being teargassed and abused in prison. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in the detention centre after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation this week aired footage showing guards teargassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded boy to a chair. But he has rejected calls for a broader national inquiry. The United Nation Human Rights High Commission called on Australia on Friday to compensate children abused in prison. "We are shocked by the video footage that has emerged from Don Dale youth detention center in the Northern Territory," the UN Human Rights office of High Commission said in a statement. "We call on the authorities to identify those who committed abuses against the children and to hold them responsible for such acts... Compensation should also be provided". The Commission also called on the government to ratify the Optional Protocol to Convention Against Torture, which would allow independent investigators to inspect detention facilities. Around 700 people rallied in Melbourne today and similar protests were held in other major cities around the country. A Reuters photographer estimated about 300 people turned out in Sydney. Indigenous Australian rapper Adam Briggs told Reuters the issues were national ones and not limited to the Northern Territory. "The elephant in the room is that it is a racism problem, but they aren't addressing that," Briggs said. The Northern Territory's corrections minister was sacked just hours following the broadcast and on Wednesday the territory suspended the use of hoods and restraints on children. On Friday the Northern Territory government dropped charges against two of the six children teargassed by police. According to court documents, the children had been charged in June for damaging the prison in an escape attempt. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez said that the use of hoods, restraints and gas on children in detention centers could violate the UN treaty barring torture. The case highlights concern about the disproportionate numbers of aboriginal youth in custody, with indigenous leaders calling for politicians to deal with the wider issue of the treatment of Aborigines in Australia. Aborigines comprise just three percent of Australia's population but make up 27 per cent of those in prison and represent 94 per cent of the Northern Territory's juvenile inmates. Australia's roughly 700,000 indigenous citizens track near the bottom of almost every economic and social indicator for the country's 23 million people. Police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France. (Photo: AP) Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray, France: Adel Kermiche was an attention-seeking child whose behavioural problems frequently led him to a psychiatric hospital and later a specialist school. He died a coldblooded killer who slit the throat of an elderly French priest in the name of ISIS. The son of a working class Franco-Algerian family living just outside the Normandy city of Rouen, the teenager flipped between model student and aggressor as a youngster. He blipped on the radar of security services in early 2015, when he made his first failed bid to reach Syria. Kermiche burst into a church on the outskirts of Rouen during morning mass on Tuesday with another teenage Islamic militant and killed the 85-year-old father at the altar, chanting in Arabic, before they were both shot dead by police. "He was a loner. He was a troubled soul, he was all alone in his head," said a neighbour of the Kermiche family house in a leafy Rouen suburb where the 19-year-old was forced to live under a court surveillance order. "All he would talk about was Syria." A judicial source said Kermiche received regular psycho-therapy and medication between the ages of six and 13, at which point he was sent to school for pupils with behavioural problems. What role Kermiche's troubled background played in his conversion to a killer is not clear. Kermiche's radicalisation, however, was swift. His mother told Swiss newspaper La Tribune de Geneve last year that Kermiche became "bewitched" by hardline Islamic ideology after militants attacked the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January, 2015. Two months later, he made his first attempt to reach Syria to wage jihad. Investigators are digging into the relationship between Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Nabir Petitjean, who lived in a French alpine town 700 km (440 miles) away from Kermiche, and how the two communicated before staging their attack. Kermiche frequently communicated with scores of followers on Telegram, a private communication channel whose encrypted message system makes tracking chatter difficult for intelligence agencies. "Spread Carnage" In audio posts obtained by L'Express magazine and whose content was confirmed to Reuters by a police source, Kermiche told about 200 followers that going to Syria was no longer an option because of border controls, and urged them to launch attacks on French soil instead. "You get a knife, go to a church, spread carnage, boom. You cut off two or three heads and you're done," he said. Just hours before the attack, he posted another message saying "Download what's coming next and share it widely!!!!". He last logged onto the app at 9:46 a.m. from inside the Saint-Etienne church, but he failed to post any video of the killing. The attack has raised questions over how security services can clamp down on the proliferation of online videos urging disillusioned Muslims to take up arms for ISIS and other groups, as well as channels of communication on social media. A Telegram spokesman said its public content was moderated on a 24/7 basis and "as a result IS channels usually go down within less than a day, mostly within hours." But he said Telegram, like other encrypted messengers, did not have access to closed chats and communities and could not moderate their content. In November, Telegram said it had identified and blocked 78 ISIS-related broadcast channels in 12 languages on its site. Conservative politicians have been scathing of President Francois Hollande's security record, branding him soft on suspected militants. Kermiche himself was supposedly under close surveillance and wore an electronic tag. Friends said he would routinely try to indoctrinate them. "Each time we said something to him he would come back at us with a verse from the Koran," said 18-year-old Redwan, a school friend of Kermiche. "He would tell us we had to fight for our Muslim brothers, that France was a country of infidels." He tried reaching Syria twice. The first time, he was intercepted in Germany in March, 2015, using his brother's identity card after his family reported him missing. Sent back to France, he was charged with terrorism offences but released on bail ahead of a trial. He was banned from leaving his local area, but two months later he slipped away and was detained in Turkey, this time travelling on his cousin's ID card. France held Kermiche in detention until March this year when a judge ruled him fit for release under strict supervision, despite the protests of prosecutors. Forced to surrender his passport and fitted with an electronic tag, Kermiche was restricted to leaving his parents' home for a few hours a day. Revenge Court documents first published by Le Monde and confirmed to Reuters by a judicial source showed he told the judge he regretted his attempts to leave for Syria. "I'm a Muslim who believes in mercy, in doing good, I'm not an extremist," he told the judge. "I want to get back my life, see my friends, get married." Marc Trevidic - a former anti-terrorism judge who placed Kermiche under investigation but was not involved in the decision to release him - said in a interview with L'Express that he had struck him as determined and arrogant. "His case is typical of these individuals desperate to go, but that justice manages to keep here. So they get their revenge by doing jihad in France," he was quoted as saying. In his quiet neighbourhood of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, local people said he was still openly discussing ways to escape again. "My son bumped into him in March at a bus stop. He told him he had been pushed back from Turkey but would try again, he was being manipulated," Sebastien, the father of Kermiche's former school friend told Reuters at the local grocer. "As a kid, he always needed to show off. He was hyperactive, very nervous, he created trouble to get attention," he said. Local residents said Kermiche did not come from a dysfunctional family, with a mother who taught in a local high school and a sister who trained as a doctor, adding that the wider Muslim community was well integrated in the area. At the local mosque, Mohammed Karabila, head of the regional Muslim council, pointed at a small wall separating the mosque from Saint-Etienne's second church as a demonstration of the harmony between the town's religious communities. Kermiche, he said, was unknown at the mosque. "We would have liked him to come to the mosque," Karabila said. "But today, these kids' mosque is Google, it's the Internet." The number of children born to foreign fighters is believed to be increasing as a growing proportion of jihadi brides travel to join Islamic State. (Photo: AFP/Representational Image) London: Islamic State terrorists are training the children of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq to create the "next generation" of militants, according to a latest European report. In its annual report on terrorism in the European Union (EU), Europol said children raised under the group's rule are of "particular concern". "In their propaganda, ISIS has often shown that they train these minors to become the next generation of foreign terrorist fighters, which may pose a future security threat to member states," the report said. "Some returnees will perpetuate the terrorist threat to the EU via facilitation, fundraising, recruitment and radicalisation activities. They may also serve as role models for future would-be violent jihadists," the Independent newspaper said, citing the report. More than 50 children from the UK are living in the so-called "caliphate", where there are also an estimated 31,000 pregnant women, an investigation by the Quilliam Foundation had found earlier this year. Analysts say ISIS leaders see the children as crucial to secure the group's long-term success and consider them better and more lethal fighters because of their indoctrination and de-sensitisation since birth. Nikita Malik, a senior researcher from the Quilliam Foundation, said that children are being used as part of the terrorist groups "state-building exercise" in Iraq and Syria. "They are an immediate threat and will become a much longer-term one. Their educational indoctrination breeds hatred against the West and calls all other states illegitimate these children will have no access to or memory of any other ideas," she told the paper. The report said girls are not yet permitted to fight but are trained to raise their children in line with ISIS ideology with the promise of "respect and affection" from male relatives. The number of children born to foreign fighters is believed to be increasing as a growing proportion of "jihadi brides" travel to join ISIS. Europol estimates that more than 5,000 Europeans have travelled to Syria and Iraq mainly to join ISIS, but said the flow has slowed since an increase in counter-terror measures and intensifying air strikes and military defeats. Pope Francis prays in front of the Memorial at the former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland on Friday. (Photo: AP) Oswiecim, Poland: Choosing silence to convey his sorrow, Pope Francis visited the former Nazi death factory at Auschwitz and Birkenau on Friday, meeting with concentration camp survivors as well as aging saviors who helped Jews escape certain doom. In a guest book entry he made an anguished plea: Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty! Wearing unadorned white robes, Francis entered Auschwitz on foot, passing through the gate that bears the cynical words Arbeit Macht Frei Work Sets you Free. One by one, he greeted 11 survivors, among them 101-year-old Helena Dunicz Niwinska, who played the violin in a death camp orchestra, and two other centenarians. One survivor, Valentina Nikodem, helped deliver babies born to Auschwitz inmates. Elzbieta Sobczynska, who was 10 when she was brought to Auschwitz in 1944 from the Warsaw ghetto, said that in his silence, Francis spoke volumes. You dont need words. Prayer was enough, Sobczynska said, speaking to Polands TVN24. Francis, she said, came here with humility, he came here to find the shadows of those who were stripped of the most precious thing life. The pope then travelled to nearby Birkenau, a sprawling complex where people were murdered in factory-like fashion in its gas chambers. There he greeted 25 Holocaust rescuers, including Anna Bando, who as a child helped her mother smuggle bread hidden in their handbags to Jews forced by Nazi occupiers to stay in Warsaws ghetto. Francis visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Adolf Hitlers forces put to death more than 1 million people, most of them Jews, came on the third day of a five-day trip to Poland that included meetings with young Catholic pilgrims gathering in Krakow for World Youth Day, a global celebration of faith. Except for the brief exchange with the survivors and rescuers, Francis spent his nearly two hours at the death camps in quiet prayer and reflection. The pope wanted an atmosphere of silence, silent compassion, silent prayer, said Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. His only public words were in a guest-book entry, where he wrote in his native Spanish: Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty! He then signed his name in Latin, Franciscus. Later, however, Francis spoke with passion about his Auschwitz visit to a crowd of young people gathered outside the archbishops residence where he was staying for the night. How much pain! How much cruelty! Is it possible that we humans created in Gods image are capable of doing these things? the pontiff said of the atrocities 70 years ago. Then he added: I dont want to make you bitter, but I have to say the truth. Cruelty did not end in Auschwitz, in Birkenau. Even today ... people are being tortured. Many prisoners are tortured, just to make them talk. Today in many parts of the world where there is war the same thing is happening. Francis is the first pope to visit Auschwitz who did not himself live through the brutality of World War II on Europes soil. Unlike his predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who were young men during the Nazi rule and occupation of much of Europe and had a personal or historical connection to the site, Francis was a toddler when World War II broke out far away from his Argentine homeland. John Paul, who visited in 1979, witnessed the unspeakable suffering inflicted on his native Poland during the German occupation. His visit, the first ever by a pontiff, was part of his overall efforts aimed at healing centuries of bitterness between the Vatican and Jews. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, who visited in 2006, was a German who served in the Hitler Youth for a time as a teenager. At Auschwitz, Francis prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before speaking individually to the survivors, shaking their hands and kissing them on the cheeks. He then carried a large white candle to the Death Wall, where prisoners at Auschwitz were executed. At the dark underground prison cell that once housed St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar who sacrificed his life to save a fellow prisoner who had a family, Francis prayed again. A few shafts from a tiny window were the only light cast on the pontiff. He then traveled two miles (three kilometers) to Birkenau, where Christian Poles who saved Jews during the war and other guests stood in respect as the pope arrived, his vehicle driving alongside the rail tracks once used to transport victims to their deaths there. At the Birkenau ceremony, Polands chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, recited, in Hebrew Psalm 130, beginning with the words: From the depths I have cried out to you, Oh Lord. Fridays theme exploring suffering included a Way of the Cross procession that drew 800,000 young Catholics to a Krakow meadow. Calling on the young pilgrims to show mercy to refugees and other persecuted people, the pontiff then asked: Where is God when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war. These are questions, he added, that humanly speaking, have no answer. London: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has joined over 2,200 people from across Britain and Europe at a three-day mega event organised by UK-based charity Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh to celebrate its golden jubilee. Bhagwat, who arrived at Hertfordshire (about 50 km from London) on Thursday, will address the 'Sanskriti MahaShibir' on Sunday, the concluding day of the event. Over 2,200 people have gathered since Friday to discuss among others 'Sanskaar' (values of life), 'Sewa' (selfless service) and 'Sangathan' (community spirit). According to Dhiraj Shah, the UK Sangachalak (President) of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, "the activities at Mahashibirwill enable its attendees to explore and understand the values and ethics (sanskars) that has nourished the HSS (Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh) over the last 50 years and prepare them to build a peaceful, prosperous and progressive society". Shah believes that "with the support and guidance of such prominent persons discussing subjects such as 'Harmonious family life, understanding Hindu Dharma, Purpose of life, yoga, spirituality beyond religion and many more, the HSS UK will grow from strength to strength and continue to nurture active citizens of the society with values of social duty, discipline and friendship as it has done for the last fifty years". Besides Bhagwat, prominent persons attending the megasummit include Swami Dayatmananda, Head of Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre UK; Swami Nirliptananda, Head of London Sewashram Sangh UK and Acharya Vidya Bhaskar, Omkarananda Ashram Switzerland. The charity is an RSS-inspired organisation which started in 1966 and describes itself as a social-cultural national organisation of Hindus with over 110 weekly activity centres across the UK and a national average weekly attendance of over 2,000. It was in the news earlier this year as part of an undercover television investigation that showed one of its teachers making anti-Muslim and anti-Christian remarks to some students. The remaining eight were killed in clashes in Hakkaris Cukurca district. Istanbul: Turkeys army killed 35 Kurdish militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on Saturday, military officials said. The overnight attack came hours after clashes in Hakkaris Cukurca district between soldiers and militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that left eight soldiers dead, the officials said. The militants attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance. An air operation was launched, killing 23 of them, the officials said. Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said. The remaining eight were killed in clashes in Hakkaris Cukurca district. The clashes in Cukurca also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said. Turkeys military NATOs second-largest is grappling with the insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast as its senior ranks undergo a major shake-up in following a July 15-16 coup attempt. About 40 per cent of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup. In the southeast, the military has frequently carried out air strikes after a 2 1/2-year ceasefire. These children are provided with rigorous training to become lethal fighters of the terror group. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Baghdad: In an attempt to expand their caliphate, the dreaded Islamic State group is providing training to children of foreign militants in their territories in Syria and Iraq, said Europe's law enforcement agency. According to a report in the Independent, ISIS has been portraying children as suicide bombers and terrorists in their recent propaganda videos. This revelation comes in the wake of Islamic State's efforts to lure women into becoming jihadi brides and joining their fold. These recruiters often resort to social networking websites to execute their nefarious activities. They try to convince women to join their fold with the promise of a handsome, rich husband. These women are then married off to ISIS fighters who impregnate them and later make way for ISIS's future generation of terrorists. In its statement, Europol, the law enforcement agency of Europe, said that these ISIS children are of 'particular concern', especially to the Western countries which have been the target of ISIS in the recent times. Earlier this year, Quilliam, a UK-based think tank released a detailed report titled 'Children of Islamic State', which reveals how ISIS recruits children and then gives them jihad training by indoctrinating them at school, and sometimes at home too. These children are provided with rigorous training to become lethal fighters of the terror group. They are then infiltrated into the terror group's caliphates. The report also focuses on how these jihadi children are inculcated with extremists values since their birth or when they are too small to distinguish between right and wrong. Tagged 'blank slate' by militants, these kids are provided with extreme martial arts training. The report also stated how around 31,000 women were held captive by Islamic State group and are being used for breeding the next generation of terrorists. "There's a systematic creation of the next generation of mujahideen - the next generation of fighters, said Nikita Malik, a senior researcher at Quilliam, who was quoted in the report. Over 9,000 people, mostly in the military, have been put under arrest in the aftermath of the failed coup, which caused the deaths of more than 200 people. (Photo: AP) Istanbul: Turkish courts on Saturday released over 800 enlisted conscripts who were under arrest as part of the investigation into the July 15 failed coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. In Istanbul, 758 out of 989 conscripts under arrest in the coup investigation were freed by the chief public prosecutor's office following a court decision. The prosecutors recommended their release on the grounds they had delivered their testimony and did not pose a flight risk. The conscripts had been doing their compulsory military service when the attempted coup took place. Among those released were military high school students. Another 47 enlisted conscripts were released by a court in Ankara on similar grounds. According to the latest figures by Interior Minister Efkan Ala, over 9,000 people, mostly in the military, have been put under arrest in the aftermath of the failed coup, which caused the deaths of more than 200 people. Thousands more have been detained, but not formally arrested. The Turkish government has engaged in a sweeping crackdown against alleged members of the Gulen movement lead by Pennsylvania-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara claims is behind the coup. Tens of thousands of people have been dismissed from their jobs, detained or arrested in the purges, which has affected the judiciary, the police, the military and the education system, among other sectors. A search operation has been launched in the city of Larkana where the attack took place. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Karachi: Two bomb blasts on Saturday rocked the Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Sindh, killing one personnel and injuring 15 others, a day after the new chief minister of the southern province was sworn in. The blasts occurred as a Rangers convoy was coming out of the headquarters on Miro Khan road in Larkana city. The explosives were planted in a bicycle and in a garbage bin close to the headquarters, police officials said. "The twin blasts left four Rangers officials injured and one of them later passed away in hospital," police official Qadir Nizamani said. He said 12 other civilians who were passing by the headquarters were also injured in the blasts and taken to hospital for treatment. Nizamani said two suspects have been arrested so far and a search operation was underway to nab other suspects. Hours after the attack, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility ina statement, in which he warned of more such attacks in thefuture. Larkana was the site of a standoff between the Rangersand the Sindh government and local police earlier this month when the paramilitary force raided government offices to arrest a high-profile member of the Pakistan Peoples' Party,Asad Kharal and his relative Tariq Kharal. The Rangers later said that Larkana police had helped Kharal escape although he was wanted in corruption cases. Relations between the Rangers and provincial government soured when police arrested the raiding party members who were in plain clothes on charges of trying to kidnap Asad. The Rangers and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials wanted to question Kharal about his alleged role in two corruption cases involving 500 million rupees. In apparent retaliation, the Rangers raided the home of outgoing home minister Anwar Siyal in Larkana and later Asad was arrested from Hyderabad. Earlier this week, two military personnel belonging to the intelligence wing were shot dead in Karachi in a target killing in the busy Saddar area. Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack. Today's bombing attack came a day after Syed Murad Ali Shah was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Sindh province. Shah replaced Syed Qaim Ali Shah and faces a tough challenge of managing law and order in the province. The former leader of the Party of Regions faction, Oleksandr Yefremov, is suspected of helping in the formation and activities of the terrorist organization Luhansk People's Republic, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has said. "A week ago we received direct testimony about the involvement of Mr. Yefremov in establishing the LPR. Mr. Yefremov is suspected of misappropriating property of Luhanskvuhillia, taking deliberate actions to change the borders of Ukraine, violation of the Constitution, which led to the loss of life, and helping in organizing and providing other assistance in the establishment and activities of the terrorist organization LPR," the prosecutor general said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. Lutsenko also said that a former member of the Party of Regions, lawmaker of the fourth and fifth convocations, Volodymyr Landik, is not the only one who testified against Yefremov. According to the prosecutor general of Ukraine, Yefremov is suspected of having committed a number of criminal offenses - misappropriation of property (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code), committing deliberate actions to change the boundaries of the territory of Ukraine in violation of the Constitution, which led to the deaths and other severe consequences (Part 3 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code), in organizing the terrorist organization LPR and providing other assistance in its activities (Part 1 of Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code). As reported, Yefremov was detained on suspicion of violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. He was detained at the Boryspil airport with a ticket to Vienna on Saturday morning. Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine" envisages life imprisonment if these actions resulted in deaths or other serious consequences. On November 21, 2015, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) sent materials regarding the indictment of former Party of Regions MPs Oleksandr Yefremov and Oleksandr Stoyan, and Serhiy Hordiyenko of the Communist Party, to a court over their voting for the "dictatorship laws" on January 16, 2014. The former MPs are suspected under Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or office), and Part 2 of Article 366 (forgery by an official) of Criminal Code of Ukraine. On November 30, 2015, the Pechersky District Court returned to the prosecutor's office the indictment against Yefremov, Stoyan and Hordiyenko in the case of voting for the "dictatorial laws" on January 16, 2014. The relevant decision was made by a panel of three judges, who said that the indictment did not meet the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. In May 2016, Yefremov said that he was questioned in six criminal cases against him, but he doesn't know the exact number of cases. The same month, former MP of the Party of Regions Volodymyr Landik said that he would show the Prosecutor General's Office evidence that the election results in Luhansk region were falsified, as well as other evidence of offences committed by Yefremov. A 15-year-old girl was strangled and her body was set on fire by her unidentified murderers in east Delhis Gandhi Nagar area on Thursday. Police suspect that the girl was sexually assaulted before being killed. The area below her waist and above the knees was burnt, police said. It is suspected that the killers did this to remove any evidence of sexual assault. The post-mortem report is awaited to determine the exact cause of death and find out if she was sexually assaulted. A case of murder has been registered at Gandhi Nagar police station. Police have detained two persons on suspicion and their questioning is on, sources said. Police sent a forensic team to the victim's house and CCTV footage from the locality was being scanned. Police are also questioning relatives and her family's friends. Around 4 pm on Thursday, residents of Chandrapuri in Kailash Nagar spotted smoke coming out from the third floor of the building where the girl lived. When they went up to enquire, they found the flat locked. The fire brigade and police were called in. Firefighters and police officers broke open the door and found the partially-burnt body of the class 9 student on a bed. The girl used to live with her mother and brother. Her mother works at a garment factory and her brother is a computer designer. Her neighbours said she usually returned from school around 2 pm. On Thursday her mother and brother were not at home when she came back from school. It is alleged that the murderers knew that she would be alone at home. They apparently barged into the house, sexually assaulted her and then strangled her. About 250 representatives of private schools being inspected by a panel of chartered accountants on Friday staged a demonstration outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals residence against the governments suppressive policies. The Delhi government had recently initiated investigating the accounts of private unaided recognised schools which have submitted proposals to the Department of Education (DoE) to hike tuition fees. The exercise will be conducted by a group of empanelled chartered accountants (CAs) and the report will be submitted to the Delhi government in the second week of August. The department has received 97 proposals from various schools for increasing fees. However, the schools said they are not against the inspection but the third party information asked by individuals (CAs) is an invasion of privacy. Information about the child like his address, background, parents profile, contact details, etc due to which these kids can be at risk. These CAs are not from the government. If anything happens, the schools will be answerable, said R C Jain, President of Delhi State Public School Management Association. Govt harassing school He also said the government is harassing the school fraternity in different ways and trying to malign the image of private schools by circulating various advertisements in print media. The government is after the private schools since its defeat in the management quota decision of the High Court. Not only the legislators but also the workers of Aam Admi Party are now pressuring schools for fee concession and admissions, non obligation of which results in the protest against school authorities. The government should have a control on its language, it uses against the private schools, otherwise we wont shy away from shutting down schools and going on strike, he said. Many schools also pointed out that the government has not given the full fee for students in the economically weaker section (EWS) and hence the schools are forced to hike the fee for other students. Political temperature has started rising ahead of the civic polls next year with the Opposition Congress on Friday alleging a Rs 1.25 crore scam in purchase of shoes for schoolkids in the BJP-run North MCD. Seeking a probe, Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Goel told reporters on Friday that the purchase of four lakh pairs of black shoes for primary children involved a scam of Rs 1.25 crore as the supplier was allegedly paid an inflated price. The corporation is paying an average cost of Rs 90 for a pair of shoes while better quality footwear is available in market for Rs 60-65, said Goel. Releasing pictures of some shoes with defective soles, Goel alleged the life of such inferior quality footwear was suspect. The corporation distributes shoes to students once in a year but the once supplied by the vendor now may not even last even a month, he said. Goel demanded an independent enquiry in the procurement process. The Leader of the Opposition said he had also written to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung about the corruption in the shoe procurement deal. Tip of the iceberg Goel said the fresh example of the corruption in the BJP-ruled civic agency was just a tip of the iceberg and there were other wrongdoings as well. He said the corporation procured shoes at the rate of Rs 85-95 for boys and Rs 83-93 for girls. The average cost of shoes for boys and girls is Rs 90. Goel said the difference between the quality of shoes available in market and those distributed by the civic agency was visible to the naked eye. The Congress attack on the ruling BJP came on a day when the Education Committee Chairperson Mamta Nagpal claimed that surprise visits to schools by her and other councillors were leading to improvement in facility and quality of education. Nagpal said the four lakh students in the corporations primary schools were gaining immensely from the parent-teacher meeting held in schools. She said earlier three parent-teacher meetings were held in one year. But now they have been increased to six in one academic session. These meetings ensure a better understanding between teachers and parents on issues such as education of students as well as their hobbies. These meetings also ensure transparency in the functioning of MCD schools, said Nagpal. Thane Police has frozen at least eight bank accounts--holding over Rs 90 lakh-- of former film actress Mamta Kulkarni in Gujarat, Mumbai and some adjoining areas in connection with the multi-crore ephedrine racket. Kulkarni has already been named as a prime accused in the case linked to international drug lord and her partner Vicky Goswami. According to a senior police official, all the eight bank accounts were frozen this week as part of the probe in the case, as her properties and bank accounts are suspected to have helped the drug cartel. Police found that Kulkarni held a sum of Rs 67 lakh (in foreign currency) in a single account with a private bank in Malad. The rest--Rs 26 lakhs-- were stowed away in seven other seized bank accounts at Kalyan, Badlapur (in Thane), Parel, Nariman Point, Dharavi, Rajkot and Bhuj (in Gujarat). Investigators are also questioning the elder sister of Kulkarni and others who dealt with the bank payments, he said. Also, police have approached authorities to get details of properties owned by the accused and are expected to attach it. In all, there are 17 accused in the case, of whom 10 were arrested and rest are still at large. Police has already filed chargesheet in the Thane district court against the arrested accused. Police had earlier stated that Kulkarni who had a significant role to play in the racket attended crucial meetings at Kenya and Dubai, where drug deals were struck and the modalities for logistics were finalised. The arrests were made when police seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra's Solapur district in April. According to police, ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing. The ephedrine power is used for sniffing and is also used to produce popular party drug methamphetamine. The accused who are currently in jail are: Sagar Suresh Powle, Mayur Suresh Sukhdhare, Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri, Dhaneshwar Rajaram Swami, Puneet Ramesh Shringi, Manoj Tejraj Jain, Hardipsingh Indersingh Gill, Narendra Dhirajlal Kacha, Babasaheb Shankar Dhotre and Jai Mulji Mukhi. Those on the run include Kishore Rathod, said to be the son of a former politician, and an accused identified only as Dr Abdullah, who is based abroad, as well as two of his associates, police said. The entire drug racket first came to light when Thane Police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug case on April 12. His interrogation led police to Solapur, where they conducted raids in the premises of Avon Lifesciences on April 14. A Delhi court today convicted 'Peepli Live' co-director Mahmood Farooqui of raping a 30-year-old US researcher last year. Farooqui, who was out on bail, was taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the judgement. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain held Farooqui guilty of offence under section 376 (punishment of rape) of the IPC. The court fixed the matter for hearing arguments on sentence on August 2. The offence of rape entails a minimum of seven years rigorous jail and a maximum of imprisonment for life. The woman, in her complaint, had alleged that Farooqui was drunk when he raped her at his house where she had gone to get his help for her research work last year. The police had on June 19, 2015, lodged the FIR against Farooqui on the woman's complaint after which he was arrested. Police had on July 29 last year filed a charge sheet against Farooqui alleging that he had raped the research scholar from Colombia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in south Delhi on March 28 last year. The court had on September 9, 2015, started the trial in the case after framing rape charge against Farooqui. Wesley Schultz (lead vocals) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion) started writing and performing together in New Jersey in 2002. In 2010, cellist and vocalist Neyla Pekarek joined the band. However, success eluded them for nearly a decade. And then the bands self-titled debut album released in 2012 became a resounding success. Their song Ho Hey became an anthem and brought them into the limelight. Four years after their debut album, The Lumineers, the folk rock band from Denver, Colorado, has now come out with their sophomore album, Cleopatra. Their sound template incorporates the piano strokes, tambourine thumps and hand-claps. The opening song, Sleep on the floor, is an adventurous song, with a driving rock beat where a man exhorts his woman to Pack yourself a toothbrush dear/ Pack yourself a favourite blouse/ Take a withdrawal slip, take all of your savings out/ Cause if we dont leave this town/ We might never make it out. While Ophelia is a bluesy but upbeat song, the title track Cleopatra tells the story of a woman who has experienced tragedy in her life. Gun Song is about a man discovering his fathers pistol after he died. Angela is the story of a woman who left her small town to pursue bigger things, but now returns to a man she loves and a place she can call home. It has infectious hand-claps. Long Way From Home tells a sad story about a man who shares a hospital room with a man dying of a terminal disease. The closing song, Patience, is a soft piano instrumental. Indeed, patience pays, and confident in their musicianship, The Lumineers have arrived. A trip to Flores Island in the East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia provides a wonderful opportunity for adventure buffs to cruise the Flores Sea from Labuan Bajo, and reach the World Heritage Site of Komodo National Park to sight Komodo dragons. But thats not all. For art lovers, a journey to Komodo Island gives a glimpse of traditional weaves of Flores, popularly known as tenun ikat in Bahasa. In fact, those who are interested in knowing more about the sophisticated style of ikat weaving, can set out on an exotic weaving tour in Flores Island. The ikat style of weaving is similar to the tie-and-dye process in India that makes use of resist dyeing on either the warp or weft, before the threads are woven to create specific designs. The conventional style of hand weaving has its origin in Cecer hamlet of Liang Ndara in West Manggarai Regency of Flores Island, and one can come across traditional hand-woven sarong (shawls) and selindang (scarves) all across Flores Island in towns like Ende, Ruteng, Bajawa, Maumere, Lembata and Flores Timor. The art of weaving ikat is exclusively done by the women of Flores Island. Belonging to Manggarai tribes, these women are all Catholics. Usually, it takes around one month of painstaking work for a woman to weave a single piece of shawl. These are usually woven in black cotton fabric, with colourful motifs depicting flowers, horses, lizards, birds and other animals in long rows. Apart from black, the shawls are also woven in other attractive colours, with rich motifs depicting geometric patterns and ancestral figures that are passed down from one generation to the other, creating a link between the past and present. The USP of ikat hand weaving lies in the use of a wide range of floral motifs and design formats that vary from one regency to the other. The history of traditional hand weaving in Flores Island is traced back to a century before the arrival of Portuguese to the island. In Cecer hamlet, women usually sell the pieces from their homes. The ikat-weaving technique involves the use of natural dyes extracted from local flowers. The warp threads are dyed in prominent colours including indigo, red, yellow, orange and brown, and the threads are all hand-woven. The dyeing process takes a lot of time. In todays times, the traditional hand weaves of Flores have a huge global market, and mostly tourists from European countries, China and Japan heading to Flores take their pick. However, the Indian tourist footfall to Flores is quite low. At Cecer, the hand-woven stuffs are sold at a modest price. At the entrance of Komodo National Park in Komodo Island, the hand-woven shawls sold by locals are easy on the wallet and are priced at 5,00,000 IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) and scarves are tagged at 1,00,000 IDR. Tourists can settle for a lower price after a good bargain. Its an early Thursday afternoon in June in this Atlanta suburb, and Keyshia Kaoir calls out to her boyfriend, Gucci Mane, that breakfast is served. Up in this airy houses recording studio, Gucci smiles widely and makes his way downstairs, following the smell of a chicken-and-egg scramble. He smiles as she brings the plate to the table, smiles as he jabs a fork into it, smiles as she lovingly hovers over him. But for the clink of the fork hitting the plate, the three-story house is quiet. Situated at the end of a nondescript cul-de-sac, its barely distinguishable from its modest upper-middle-class neighbours. Inside, though, the decor is Miami modern: white marble, white leather, white piano, white Maybach in the garage, exercise equipment in the living room, palm trees on either side of the living room inside the living room. Its like you living in a forest, Gucci said, still grinning. Gucci is the picture of a man relaxed, sparkling even warm, cheerful, peaceful. Gucci born Radric Davis is Inmate 65556-019 in the federal prison system, on house arrest, serving the final few months of his three-plus-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon. His projected release date is September 20. This arrangement allows the most quietly influential rapper of the past decade to begin the work of reasserting his place in hip-hops hierarchy with a new album, Everybody Looking (released July 22) all while paying the remainder of his debt to society. Perhaps no rapper has had more near-misses than Gucci Mane, now a decade-and-a-half deep into a fits-and-starts career. He is one of hip-hops most prolific and admired artistes and also one of the least predictable. The shadow he casts over Atlanta and the rest of the South is long and constant. From the early 2000s through the early 2010s, Gucci released dozens of mixtapes and a sprinkling of commercially released albums and even had a role in the neon-gothic film Spring Breakers. Harmony Korine, the films director, said his longtime friend is a pure artiste in the way Sinatra was. He embodies the code and the myth but also elevates it in this really weird way. Guccis mystique, skill, omnipresence and oddball instincts in 2011, he had an ice cream cone tattooed on his right cheek all came together to make him something like a folk hero. And yet he would consistently fumble near the goal line. Every single time that he was about to break through is exactly when he went back to jail, said Todd Moscowitz, a member of Guccis management. Jail time Since 2001, Gucci has been arrested at least 10 times a medley of assault, drug and gun charges (a 2005 murder charge was dropped) that kept him in jail for much of the 2010s. Its been tough to be a Gucci fan, Gucci admitted in this first interview since being released to home confinement. Its been tough to be a Gucci friend, a Gucci sibling, a Gucci girlfriend, or a Gucci partner. I done took people through a lot, man. That means incarceration and also drugs. Before his latest sentence, Gucci, 36, estimated, he hadnt been fully sober since he was a teenager around 17 years: I felt like I couldnt make music sober, I couldnt enjoy my money sober. Why would I wanna go to a club and couldnt smoke or drink? I felt like sex wouldnt be good sober. I associated everything with being high. In hindsight I see it for what it was: I was a drug addict, he said. I was naive to the fact that I was numb. He had been smoking weed and drinking alcohol since he was a teenager and drinking lean since he was 21; sometimes he added ecstasy or prescription pills. I cant say I felt happy my last six, seven years in the music business, he said. I was just numb. You told me that I was doing good or told me I was doing bad, you hated me or loved me, either which way I greeted with nonchalance. It was sincere nonchalance like, I really didnt care. He attempted rehab once, but it didnt take. Near the beginning of his most recent stint behind bars, at the high-security federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, he decided it was finally time for a change. First came withdrawal. Death, he said. It feel like death. Your body just craving lean bad. Stomach tore up, cant think straight. Just mad at the world. Temper so short, so violent, so aggressive. So just rude and toxic. After that, focus. In prison, Gucci stuck largely to routine, concentrating on prayer, working out and reading, especially the Bible and self-help books by Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra. He now flawlessly speaks the language of recovery and therapy. Im my own therapist, he said. I been changed from before I even got out. People seeing now the effect of how I started thinking from maybe early 2014. He used the prisons music service to keep current and also for inspiration; Kodak Blacks No Flocking was a workout favourite (and the Florida rapper was one of the first artistes Gucci collaborated with after his release). And for the first time, he focused on health, shedding dozens of pounds and turning a paunch into a six-pack. So drastic has been his physical transformation that the running online debate since his release has centred not on his music but on whether hes a clone. Even while he was in prison, Gucci managed to remain prolific, releasing about two dozen mixtapes of unheard material, compiled at his direction by his longtime engineer Sean Paine. Hed tell me, S P, I want to drop a couple of tapes this month, Paine said. I had the hard drive. Id go ahead and mix them. Gucci made, by his estimation, more than $1 million during his most recent prison stint more, he said, than he spent on lawyers. One of the best songs on his new album is Out Do Ya, in which he asks his peers how they let someone in the Feds get the better of them. Gucci was released into home confinement on May 26, a situation he described as a blessing. It let me get my feet up under me. It aint taking me too fast. In Atlanta, as ever, there is hunger for Gucci, and hes not inclined to let it subside. As he was eating breakfast, his stylist, Shun Melson, came bopping into the house bearing bags of new clothes. Gucci walked into the living room to survey the array: Balmain jacket, Burberry trench coat, Givenchy slides. I used to go in the mall and just look at this stuff and couldnt fit it, Gucci said, reaching for a pair of outlandish Prada sunglasses. I wanted to lose weight, but if it took for me to stop drinking lean to lose weight, it wasnt even a choice. He produced a five-inch stack of money and called Paine over. I need you to take this to my manager, he said, peeling off half of the bills. Two days later, Gucci left his house for only the third time since his release to shoot music videos in a nondescript studio in an Atlanta office park. For all of Guccis emergent beatific calm and geniality, there is still a strong whiff of competitiveness hovering over him. When he was in jail, he heard a lot of people imitating stuff that I did, and I was flattered by it. Last month, he released a song called All My Children, in which he exults, I love my kids! On Waybach, a song from the new album, he raps, All these folks impersonate me like Elvis. Back stronger But where that might have been a critique coming from the old Gucci, the new Gucci is merely assessing the scope of his influence. Contemporary Southern hip-hop, particularly from Atlanta, feels cut from his mould of quasi-comedic, abstract, nonsensical wordplay, as Korine put it, from electric eccentric Young Thug to pugnacious rapscallions Migos to schoolboy croon-rapper Lil Yachty. And so, his legacy secure, Gucci can focus on himself for now, a homebound life of sobriety, followed by three years of similarly scrutinised probation, according to a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He has hobbies: Hes working on a clothing line, Delantic (his middle name), and recently filmed a fantastically loopy ad for the cult skate brand Supreme with Korine. Every morning he works out. Every day he eats well. Every day he gets dressed up, even if just to walk around the house. Anybody can do the stuff Gucci used to do, he said. But he hopes his new choices will be just as influential as his old ones. Can yall copy living how Im living? he asked. Can yall copy getting yall life together? Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has said that ex-head of the Party of Regions parliamentary faction Oleksandr Yefremov, who was detained on Saturday, may become a witness in the case on Russia's unleashing undeclared war in Donbas. "In my opinion, Yefremov is a very valuable witness. He can tell how the events unfolded at the initial stage of Russia's undeclared war in Donbas," Lutsenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. The prosecutor general said that he will ask investigators to offer a plea bargain to Yefremov. "I will instruct investigators after the likely arrest of Yefremov to offer him a deal with the investigation. It will not allow him shirking responsibility. I am deeply convinced of this. But if Mr. Yefremov testifies about the Russian leadership plans known to him about the very start of the aggression against Ukraine, on those who first brought Russian combatants into the territory of Luhansk for the seizure of the SBU premises and subsequently the regional administration, on who funded this... I think that the investigation will take into account his testimony. If he thinks about the future of his country, I think he should agree to such a bargain," Lutsenko said. Carlson Rezidor, one of the worlds largest hotel groups, is planning to introduce its Quorvus Collection brand in India, according to a top executive of the company. The market has to be right for Quorvus to be brought into India. We hope to sign a deal next year for a property and hope to introduce the brand in India in the next two to three years, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia chief executive officer Raj Rana said. Quorvus Collection is a new generation of expertly curated luxury hotels inspired by the lifestyle and sensibilities of the contemporary global traveller, according to the companys website. We are looking at locations in Rajasthan and water resorts in Goa and Kerala and hope to finalise something soon, Rana said, adding that the company is in early dialogues for setting up the brand, and is trying to educate the people in India about the brand before bringing it to India. Carlson Rezidors portfolio includes brands Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson Red, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inn and Suites by Carlson. It has nearly 300 hotels in 69 countries and territories. The company has five brands in India currently, and is planning to introduce its sixth brand in 2017. Carlson Rezidor, which opened its first resort and spa in Karjat, located in the sub district of Raigad, Maharashtra, is planning to open eight hotels this year across brands. The Radisson Red property at Mohali, through which we will introduce our sixth brand in India, should be ready in 2017 in Mohali, Rana said. As far as property additions for this year are concerned, we are looking at eight hotels across brands. These include Manipal, Bengaluru, Hinjewadi (Pune), one each in Mumbai (Powai) and Srinagar, and some others, Rana added. Chennai-based Intellect Design Arena is looking at doubling its revenues every three years, besides aiming to be profitable on a full year basis in the current fiscal. We want to double our revenues every three years and want to sustain that going forward. Last year, we clocked Rs 811 crore and we hope to cross Rs 1,000 crore this year and hit Rs 1,200 crore by the end of the next fiscal, Intellect Design Arena chairman and managing director Arun Jain told DH. As far as being profitable on a full year basis is concerned, we hope to achieve it in the current fiscal (FY17), Jain added. Intellect Design Arena, which added a new product to its basket called OneMARKETS, is bullish about its prospects going forward. We are aiming for revenues of at least $20 million from OneMARKETS over the next three years by tapping the European, Middle East, Indian and Asia Pacific markets, Jain said. OneMARKETS is an end-to-end integrated platform and supports direct market access (DMA), covers the full investment lifecycle and enables high-speed execution across a variety of asset classes and market segments through seamless interfaces to a variety of market infrastructure providers. It ensures regulatory compliance in different jurisdictions, supports multi-lingual reporting and flexible billing as well as provides value-added services like securities lending and collateral management. The company, which has been growing organically so far, is also open to acquisitions, and is looking for more capital raising in order to fund its expansion plans. Tech and market access is required for a product company like ours. If something interesting comes up, which provides us any of these things, we are open to it, Jain said. The board has given approval to raise up to Rs 300 crore. We are talking to various bankers to finalise the route through which we will raise it and hope to conclude it soon. The funds raised would primarily be used for our capital expenditure and working capital purposes, Jain added. Distance between Kozhikode and Kochi could be covered in three hours Over the past couple of decades, urban planners in Kerala have increasingly turned to the possibilities of water transportation, both in easing traffic logjams and as potential feeder routes to some of the proposed mass transit projects. Now, the state is also eyeing the potential for blending tourism into the template of water transport, on its coastal waters. In what is advertised as a first-of-its-kind project in the country, a Kochi-based company is set to launch a high-speed hydrofoil ferry service between the cities of Kochi and Kozhikode. For a state invariably identified with customised tour packages on its backwaters, this dimension of leisure, in many ways, could translate to new possibilities. With the state government as a facilitator in the ferry service, the promoters Safe Boat Trip Pvt Ltd, a joint venture company formed by entrepreneurs in Kerala and Dubai and led by the Tolins Group are also looking at a possible expansion after a tentative launch planned around the Onam festival, in September. The State Ports Department and promoters of the project have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in connection with the service. In the initial phase, the ferry service will connect the ports of Kochi and Beypore. Recently, two hydrofoil cruise boats (costing Rs 15 crore each) brought in for the service, from Athens in Greece, arrived in Kochi. The service is expected to commence either from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute jetty or the one operated by the Cochin Port Trust. Proposed along the shipping channel 12 nautical miles off the shore, the service is also set to avail waivers from the Ports Department. Typically, a hydrofoil boat has only its foils (small wing-like extensions) submerged and the hulls lifted off the water, enabling the boat to move faster. According to the promoters, the boats could cover the distance between Kochi and Kozhikode (at close to six hours by road) in about three hours or less. Safe Boat Trip officials say the ferry service on offer will combine convenience of a faster journey with the amenities and comforts of air travel. K V Tolin, Managing Director of the company, says the idea is to provide a quality experience at a fairly affordable rate. The pricing details are still being worked out; the average fare for a trip could be around Rs 1,000 per passenger. Tourism is definitely a possibility but the promoters are saving that for the expansion phases. The interiors of the two vessels which offer both economy and business segments are being worked on, to bring in a more contemporary and native feel. With a seating capacity for 180 people, the vessel travels at an average speed of 35 nautical miles (about 64 km) per hour. The vessels will be operated only during the day time, in accordance with service guidelines put forward by the Ports Department. The promoters of the service are awaiting the mandatory clearances, including one to hoist Indian flags on the Russian-made vessels, from the Mercantile Marine Department and the Director General of Shipping. P I Sheik Pareeth, Director of Ports, says the state government is providing an impetus to the service through a subsidy of Re 1 per passenger per km. At a price of about Rs 300 per hour, and with the kind of service on offer, this could be a value-for-money experience, he says. The vessels will have communication systems that match global standards and will be equipped with facilities to offer emergency assistance to fishermen. The air-conditioned vessels also come with food on board, the pricing of which is being finalised. Experts from Greece will be in charge of the vessels as they commence the service. Later, locals will be trained to take over the responsibilities. Pareeth is also looking at tourism as a long-term prospect, based on the response to the service. I would say that in the expanded phase of the service, about 70 % of the passengers on board will be tourists. Later, these ferry services could also be developed around existing tour circuits; we can probably build itineraries which cover regions like, say, Kappad (a popular beach near Kozhikode), says Pareeth. Tolin says the expansion plans include an extension of services to Thiruvananthapuram (Vizhinjam), Lakshadweep and Sri Lanka. Bigger vessels and greater frequency of services are also on the cards. K Rajagopal, a Kochi-based businessman who travels at least twice during a month to Kozhikode, feels there is potential for the service if it addresses niche customers who seek a quicker, more comfortable journey. The challenge will be in blending the concepts of leisure into what is essentially a mode of point-to-point transportation. It could definitely open up a new option for people who can afford a pricier journey and are at present settling for whatever is available, he says. Eleven farmers, who had left their paddy fields fallow on Survey Number 169/4 at Sajipa Munnur village of Bantwal taluk fearing submergence of the fields, have decided to take up Rabi sowing (Kolake Saaguvali in local language) this year. The farmers on the downstream had stopped cultivating paddy when the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) decided to construct second vented dam at Thumbe across river Nethravathi keeping in mind the growing population of the city. However, the farmers feel that there is no clarity from the Mangalore City Corporation on storing water in the new vented dam now. The farmers, in association with Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Hasiru Sene and progressive farmer Rajesh Nayak, have chalked out Tulunada Krishi Kranthi programme to cultivate paddy on the fields which were left fallow. Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene district unit organising secretary Manohar Shetty told Deccan Herald, Fearing that the paddy field will be submerged in water, the farmers on the banks of river Nethravathi had stopped cultivation 13 years ago. However, Mayor Harinath and Zilla Panchayat President Chandraprakash Shetty recently stated that the water-level in Thumbe vented dam will not be stored beyond five metre height. Hence, the farmers decided to cultivate on the field. He charged that officials have not completed survey on the extent of area which will be submerged due to water storage new vented dam. The farmers will not object to water supply to the city. We are aware of the water crisis faced by the people in April-May. But the authorities should pay compensation to the land which will be submerged after conducting a survey before storing water in the new dam. No clarity There is no clarity on storage of water in the new dam. Some officials said the water will be stored for seven metres while others stated it will be stored up to five metres only. Fearing submerge of fields, the farmers had stopped cultivating on fertile land. Without identifying the area of land to be submerged, the authorities have kept farmers in dark, he complained. He said, If we start planting seedlings or sow seeds in October, the crop will be ready by January. Shetty said farmers have sought clarity in this regard now. The boundary should be identified. Before surveying the land, notices should be issued to the farmers and compensation should be paid, he added. Mayor Harinath said the officials have completed the survey. In the first phase, water will be stored up to five metres height. About 53 acres of land would be submerged. For storing water up to six metres height in the dam, 140 acres of land would be submerged. A meeting would be convened under the leadership of District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai and the farmers to discuss the issue shortly, he added. There was intense colour everywhere like light pouring in from multiple shattered stained-glass windows. Dancers in glitzy costumes, floats with blaring music, over-the-top-gala events The heady Carnival of Gran Canaria in February was in complete contrast to the zen-like stillness in the islands mountainous heart. In parts of Gran Canaria, the third largest of seven islands in the Canaries archipelago, we felt time in rewind; we might as well have been living in another century. Yet in its capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the carnival unfolded like a hip and happening fairy tale for adults. Indeed Las Palmas de Gran Canaria basks in year-round sunshine. When US climatologists surveyed 600 places to discover the worlds most perfect climate, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was at the top of the heap! A look at history Little wonder then, Gran Canaria has been billed as the island of eternal spring and its balmy clime has lured tourists in search of sun, fun and sangria including the redoubtable Agatha Christie, who invented her famous character Miss Marple while vacationing in Gran Canaria. In ancient times, the island drew explorers like Christopher Columbus, who spent much of his time restocking and repairing his fleet in this rocky outpost, even as he chilled on its spun-sugar beaches. In Las Palmass Old Town stands a building, Casa de Colon, House of Christopher Columbus, where the explorer is believed to have lived in between his voyages to the Americas. In the 15th century came the Spanish who colonised the islands. Not surprisingly, the people of Gran Canaria say that their minds are European, legs are African, but their hearts belong to South America! Located off the coast of north-western Africa, Gran Canaria was once dubbed the bridge between continents, as it played a role in Spains colonisation of the Americas and Canarians founded numerous cities from San Antonio in Texas to Montevideo in Uruguay. And the terrain is equally varied, ranging from its pulsing capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, sleepy villages, rainbow-hued towns with lyrical names like Arucas, Ingenio, Teror, Agumes towns with cobbled streets, yawning squares, soaring churches and houses with overhanging wood balconies that are reminiscent of South America. Throw in rugged mountains and rolling sand dunes and beaches that flutter like gold and white ribbons in the sun and Gran Canaria has more to offer than its hefty purpose-built resorts which lure Europeans aching for a tan in winter. Unveiling the islands many charms started with an excursion to La Finca de La Laja to the north of the island, outside the town of Agaete, which sits pretty on a mountainous ridge, an amorphous cluster of blinding-white homes topped with red roofs. We arrived at an alluring spot, shaded by 200-year-old pines where the air was spiked with the tangy zest of oranges and the cloying sweetness of mangoes. Vineyards spread a glistening green welcome, while bushes of juicy red Arabica Typica coffee berries (La Finca is the most northerly coffee plantation in the world) sprouted across 12 hectares. We did a spot of coffee and wine tasting there before tucking into a light local-style lunch that left us feeling like we had swallowed mouthfuls of Gran Canaria sun. Satiated, we headed for Guayadeque ravine in the east of Gran Canaria, via giddy winding roads dotted with dry scrub and cacti that ended at a lush gorge, surrounded by ridges that heaved out of the earth like breeching whales. Here where cliffs rose as high as 1,500 metres, there was also a small settlement of cave homes where modern-day escapists hunker down in cosy little caves. It was in similar bolt holes that the original inhabitants of the island lived prior to the Spanish conquest in 1478; safe from rampaging pirates who prowled the seas that circled the island. Life in a cave Even today, apart from cave homes, there are cave restaurants, a chapel in a cave where the pulpit, altar and confessional are all carved out of rock and even rural cave accommodation for tourists! Isabel, a kindly old lady, showed us her cosy cave home, which has an even temperature of 22 degrees centigrade throughout the year. Solid wood closets, capacious double bed, photos of her children and grandchildren and a large crucifix made it seem like that was the most natural way to live. When we returned to our hotel fronting Las Canteras beach in the capital, we were swamped by a surreal feeling of how Gran Canaria dances to the twin rhythms of modernity and tradition. Tourists flock to Gran Canaria for its white sand beaches fringed by a turquoise sea, especially Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas in the south, which has some impressive rolling sand dunes reminiscent of the Sahara. Here, tourists sat dreamily on hillocks o sand ruffled by a gentle breeze or did yoga as a blood-red sun sank behind a swathe of sand. But it was the small bougainvillea-draped fishing village of Puerto de Mogan in the south-west that we fell in love with. Its marina brimmed with yachts and fishing boats which handed the days catch to restaurants that lined the quay. Indeed that ball-shaped sun-blasted island is a continent in miniature where the landscape unscrolls in infinite variety and every bend in the road throws up a new vista. Yes, Gran Canaria is the kind of place where each morning you want to just leap out of bed and get on with life! Fact file Flights arrive at Gran Canaria Airport from Madrid and most major European cities. There are air and ferry connections between the other Canary islands of Tenerife, Lanzarote, La Palma, and Fuerteventura. Las Palmas has a choice of mid-segment and luxury hotels, as does the south with its swish resorts built for fun in the sun. Some of the historic small towns have atmospheric boutique hotels. For more information, visit: www.grancanaria.com or www.spain.info A decision on the future of the Hinkley point Nuclear Power station project in the west of England has been put off until the autumn. The last minute postponement is yet another setback for the project that has been two-decades in the planning. The project is a collaboration between Britain, France and Chinese investors. If the plant becomes operational, it could deliver up to 7 percent of the electricity for the UK. The Hinkley power plant would be the biggest construction site in Europe, and could provide up to 25 thousand jobs. When fully operational the plant is likely to provide over 5000 jobs. EDF, the French company behind the construction of the plant, estimates that it will cost 18 million pounds to build. For more on this, Lincoln van der Westhuizen spoke to Dr. Philip Andrews-Speed, Principal Fellow & Head of Energy Security at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore. The flood situation in Assam remained extremely grim on Saturday, with the death toll in the fresh floods touching 26. At least three more people died due to floods in Assam on Saturday. Since the onset of the floods in the state last month, a total of 36 lakh people have been affected. Around 2.50 lakh people have been rendered homeless and are now in relief camps. On Saturday, one person died in Barpeta district, one in Goalpara and another person in Darrang district. The worst-affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon and Sonitpur, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said. In total, 23 districts of the state were affected by the floods. The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark in Guwahati, Nematighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns. The National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and the Indian Army are helping the district administration in evacuating the affected to safer areas. Authorities have opened 700 relief camps and distribution centres. Nearly 2 lakh hectares of agricultural land has been inundated, besides several roads, embankments and bridges have been washed away. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal directed Chief Secretary V K Pipersenia to constitute an Embankment Protection Committee to avert breaches. Precautionary measure At a high-level meeting, Sonowal said the committee comprising engineers, experts, youth organisations, NGOs, clubs and socio-cultural organisations will help avert breaches in embankments with timely intervention. Sonowal asked the Water Resources Department to go in for a thorough and in-depth inspection of the condition of around 1,200 embankments covering a stretch of 500 km, so that strengthening and repair work on the old embankments could be carried out, official sources added. 5 dead in Meghalaya In neighbouring Meghalaya, at least five people are feared dead in West Garo Hills, which is reeling under floods for the past 11 days, official sources said. Rajnath reviews flood situation Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday turned down the demand to declare the flood situation in Assam as a national calamity, DHNS reports from Guwahati. He said the Centre is ready to do whatever is needed for relief and rescue operations. Declaring the situation a national problem, as demanded by several civil society groups in the state, is not needed, he added. Singh, who was on a days visit to Assam to assess the damage, assured that the Centre is framing a long-term plan to deal with floods in the state. Singh, along with Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Dr. Jitendra Singh and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, assessed the damage caused by the floods. Showers continue in Mumbai Intermittent showers continued in Mumbai's eastern and western suburbs for the third consecutive day on Saturday, DHNS reports from Mumbai. However, the rain did not have an impact on the city's life as the suburban train services ran, but there were traffic snarls at several places because of potholes. The Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts received good rainfall and in some places it exceeded 100 mm in 24 hours. The Telangana CID sleuths arrested Sanikam Rajagopal (65), the key broker in the Eamcet-2 question paper leak case, in Bengaluru on Saturday. Rajagopal has been involved in several cases of medical entrance exam question paper leakages, and irregularities in admission to medical colleges in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. He organised a camp in Bengaluru where 14 students from Hyderabad and six from Vijayawada practiced on mock Eamcet (medical) question papers. He has collected Rs 1.25 crore so far from brokers in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. The police also arrested one Arigi Venkata Ramanaiah, a native of Krishna district. Two militants and two soldiers were killed in a fierce gunfight on the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowgam sector of north Kashmirs Kupwara district. The army foiled a major infiltration bid on Saturday. Sources said the encounter began during the intervening night after the army launched an operation following inputs that a heavily armed group of militants had infiltrated from the Pakistani side. After being challenged, the militants fired at the troops, triggering a gunfight in which the militants and soldiers were killed, a source said. The army confirmed the death of two militants and two soldiers in the encounter. Defence Spokesman Colonel N N Joshi said the encounter was still on. A senior army officer said the area has a robust counter-infiltration grid and the infiltration was detected within metres of the LoC. On Wednesday, the Army had killed four foreign militants in the same sector and also arrested one militant. After interrogation, the Pakistani militant was reportedly handed over to the National Investigative Agency (NIA). He is currently being interrogated at New Delhi. The arrested militant has been identified as Bhadur Ali, a resident of Lahore in Pakistan. As the melting of the snow ends on the LoC in the peak summer, the militants try to make most of the difficult terrain by sneaking into the Kashmir Valley. With summer at its peak, the militants have found different ways of entering the Valley from Kupwara to Baramulla, the officer said. Commuters had a tough time reaching the Kempegowda International Airport ( KIA) on Saturday as BMTC buses and a majority of cabs remained off the roads following the bandh called over the Mahadayi water dispute. Rajesh Devreddy, a resident of HSR Layout who had to catch a flight to Chennai said he had a hard time reaching the airport as a few private taxis were hesitant to ply fearing attacks by pro-Kannada groups. He said: It usually takes five minutes to book a private cab. However, on Saturday, it took me 20 minutes to get a vehicle after much persuasion of the management of a cab service. Luckily, I reached on time. At Hebbal, close to Esteem Mall, members of a few Kannada groups riding two-wheelers blocked other vehicles, putting those heading towards the airport to hardship. Keval J, a techie from Koramanagala who landed in the city from his hometown, New Delhi, said he was unaware of the bandh. There is a private cab service available at the airport but there is a huge rush. I would have postponed my schedule had I known about todays bandh, he said. A staffer from the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation ( KSTDC), Manjunath K N said there was a 25% drop in airport taxi services. Usually, from morning till noon, about 2,000 airport taxis ply. On Friday, only about 1,000 to 1,500 cabs operated by noon, he said. There were heated arguments between commuters and taxi drivers, specially those going towards places like Malleswaram, Nagawara, Marathahalli and KR Puram, according to a private taxi operator due to the increased demand and shortage of taxi services. Karnataka Rakshana Vedike ( KRV) activists stormed KIA around 4 am on Saturday but they were detained by the police. Commuters in the city had a harrowing time on Saturday - the fourth day this week - as buses and private vehicles remained off the roads following the Karnataka bandh called by pro-Kannada organisations against the interim order of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal. The KSRTC and BMTC buses did not ply since morning. The transport services in the state were affected for three days in the beginning of this week owing to the strike by employees of the state transport corporations. With private operators also suspending their services thousands of passengers were stranded at the Kempegowda bus terminal and bus stands across the city. A few, however, managed to travel on their own vehicles. Some autorikshaws which were operating, fleeced the helpless travellers asking them to pay more than double the fare. The railway services, however, remained unaffected. A few protesters marched into the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) railway station at Majestic to disrupt the service. They, however, were stopped by the security personnel. Passengers reached the city by trains and KSRTC buses in the early morning but did not get connecting city buses to reach their destination. Similar was the plight of the people who came to the city by trains from other states. Mohit and his friends, who came in train from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, were left in lurch looking for the Hassan-bound buses at Majestic. Mohit told Deccan Herald that they were not aware of the bandh and the officials informed them that the buses were likely to resume operations by evening. Another, passenger Sangamesh said auto drivers were demanding Rs 1,500 to ferry him from Majestic to Chandapura, around 28-km away. He chose to wait till evening for city buses instead of getting fleeced by the autos.The BMTC and KSRTC had resumed operation by evening. Metro services stopped, resume after 5 pm On the day state-wide bandh to protest the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal's interim order, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) partially operated trains on Friday. Though Metro services commenced, BMRCL had to stop the services after a few agitators created a ruckus at the two metro stations. Services resumed in the evening from 5. BMRCL chief public relations officer U A Vasanth Rao said: ``A group of 30 people bought tokens and entered the platform at Mysuru Road Metro station and started shouting slogans demanding stoppage of trains. In order to prevent any damage to the train and also to ensure safety and security of other commuters, train services were stopped, he said. Train services that commenced at Sampige Road to Nagasandra as usual from 5 am, were stopped after 6.15 am due to an agitation. Hence, services were suspended on both the lines, Vasanth Rao said. As the situation calmed down later in the day, regular train services resumed from 5 pm. There was a train for every 20 minutes on the Purple Line and the Green Line saw a train at a frequency of 15 minutes. The frequency was later increased to 10 minutes, according to BMRCL sources. The prime ministers office on Saturday instructed the Indian Ambassador to Belgium to provide all assistance to Siddaramaiah, in bringing back his sons body to India. Soon after receiving the information about the demise of Rakesh in Brussels, the PMO instructed Manjeev Singh Puri, ambassador of India to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, to provide all assistance to Siddaramaiah and his family to complete the formalities at the earliest, so that the body can be taken to Mysuru. Soon after Rakesh was hospitalised, Siddaramaiah had spoken to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, seeking her assistance in getting the best treatment for his son in Belgium. When Siddaramaiah reached Brussels, Puri received him at the airport and accompanied him to the hospital. Sources said Sushma was in touch with the ambassador and received updates about Rakeshs health condition. JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have easily resolved the Mahadayi river water sharing dispute, but had chosen to neglect it. Addressing the media here, Gowda said the BJP was ruling at the Centre and in the states of Maharashtra and Goa. Resolving this issue would not have been such a big task for the prime minister. He, however, asked the Karnataka government to convince the Opposition parties in the other two states, he said. He said he had met Modi thrice. I had told him that if he intervenes, Karnataka will at least get 5 tmcft of water for drinking purposes as a temporary measure. Karnataka has set an example by agreeing to release 9 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu during my tenure, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday condoled the death of Siddaramaiah's son. My thoughts are with Siddaramaiahji & his family on the demise of his son. May God give the family strength to bear the irreparable loss, the PM wrote on Twitter. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi also expressed their condolences. Gandhi said that she and the Congress party stood with him and his family in this moment of loss. Gandhi prayed for the peace of the departed soul and hoped that the almighty gives strength to the bereaved family. My heartfelt condolences to Siddaramaiahji on the passing away of his son. My thoughts and prayers are with his family in this time of grief, Rahul Gandhi tweeted. The dawn to dusk Karnataka bandh call given by pro-Kannada organisations to protest against the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal order evoked mixed response across the state. The bandh was by and large peaceful with stray incidents of violence and stone pelting being reported from some parts of the state. The bandh was total in Dharwad, Gadag and Belagavi, the districts which were to benefit from the Kalasa Banduri drinking water project for which the state had sought permission to utilise 7.56 tmcft water from the Mahadayi river. The states plea was rejected by the Tribunal, resulting in public anger. The bandh also received good response in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Bagalkot and Haveri districts with most business establishments, markets, cinema halls, malls and petrol bunks remaining shut and government offices registering thin attendance. Schools and colleges remained closed. Buses of state road transport corporations kept off the roads as a precautionary measure. Private buses, autorickshaws and taxis also remained off the roads for major part of the day. Passengers being stranded at bus and railway stations was a common sight. In Bengaluru City, shops and markets remained closed while medical stores, hospitals and private clinics were open. The usually traffic-choked streets wore a deserted look. Cinema halls, restaurants and malls remained shut till 6 pm. Representatives of pro-Kannada organisations took out a rally from Town Hall to Freedom Park demanding Karnatakas due share of Mahadayi water. The Kannada film industry extended its support to the bandh. Kannada actors Shivaraj Kumar, Yash and several film industry personalities participated in the protest rally. In Belagavi, pro-Kannada activists attempted to lay siege to the residence of Parliament member Suresh Angadi, accusing him inadequate efforts in getting the Mahadayi water dispute resolved. Police resorted to caning when some activists attempted to cross the barricades and gain entry into Angadis residence. In Hubballi, MLAs Prasad Abbayya, C S Shivalli and other Congress leaders were taken into custody for trying to lay siege to the Hubballi railway station. Anger erupted against reported police excesses on farmers protesting against the Tribunal order in Yamanur and Alagavadi villages in Dharwad district on Friday night. The bandh evoked mixed response in Ballari, Uttara Kannada and Koppal. However, normal life remained unaffected in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Bidar and Yadgir as the response was poor. Educational institutions, government offices, shops and hotels remained open. Buses, trains, autorickshaws and taxis operated as usual. The floods led to the pouring of comments from netizens. Be it a sarcastic quip about Bengalurus new transformation into Venice or highlighting the failure of civic authorities to prevent such a situation yet again, the views expressed on prominent social networks ranged from anger, helplessness, disbelief and of concern. On Facebook, one Pramod Mahadevan took a grim and futuristic view on the whole situation. He stated: Wonder what would happen if Chennai type of floods happen in Bangalores poor infrastructure. Under the #Bangalorerains on Twitter, several city residents highlighted the bad situation on Friday and took a swipe at the ruling government. Manjunath Naglikar wrote: Residents stuck inside their houses in BTM Layout. Roads flooded with rain water. Others took a more light-hearted take on the situation. Gaurav Kalra said: Just past Silk Board junction this morning, knew I should have gotten the boat serviced With a similar flood situation prevailing at the same time in Gurugram in Haryana, some Twitteraties felt a connection had to be made. One post under the twitter handle TheGhostRider31 wrote: Dear Gurgaon, Bangalore is also joining you in the quest to become Venice. Others like Anuja Chauhan went a step further and talked about the Guragram and Bengaluru floods and the bandh called on Saturday over the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunals order. She wrote: #Bangalorerain brainier than #GurgaonJam. Dealing with massive flooding by calling a full #karnatakabandh tomorrow! smart city. Two San Diego police officers are shot, one fatally, on July 29, 2016. [Photo: huanqiu.com] San Diego Police chief Shelley Zimmerman has announced they have arrested the suspects who killed one police officer and wounded another. "We are here to announce the arrest of Jesse Michael Gomez, date of birth 12/19/63, for the murder of our San Diego Police Officer Jonathan DeGuzman and the attempt murder of Officer Wade Irwin. We surrounded a house earlier today in the 4000 block of Epsilon Street. During that operation, Marcus Antonio Cassani, date of birth 6/8/75, was located and arrested for an outstanding warrant." Gomez is charged with murder. Whether Cassani was connected with the shooting is still under investigation. The precise circumstances of the shooting remain unclear. Police departments across the United States have been on high alert in the wake of fatal ambushes in Dallas, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, earlier this month, which left a total of eight police officers dead. Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil on Saturday said he will hold a meeting with the Karnataka legal team headed by Fali S Nariman on Sunday to discuss the next course of action the on Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunals order. The tribunal has rejected Karnatakas interim plea seeking 7 tmcft of water from the Mahadayi river. Patil told reporters here that though there is pressure on the state government to file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court against the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal order, the state government will tread cautiously before taking any decision. I will discuss this with the state legal team on Sunday. After Chief Minister Siddaramaiah returns from Brussels, an all-party meeting will be held in Bengaluru to take the views of other political parties by next week on the future course of action, he said. Pleading with agitators not to indulge in violence, the minister said the state government will do everything to protect the interests of the state. He also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and convene a meeting of chief ministers of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra to resolve the problem amicably. However, he did not answer a question on whether the state Congress leaders were ready to speak to their counterparts in Goa, who are opposing the diversion of river water. Aimed at exploring an out-of-court settlement, Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa had earlier said that he was ready to talk to the BJP government in Goa and demanded that the Congress leaders speak to their counterparts in Goa to resolve the issue. Since the issue has taken a political turn in Goa also, there is a need to take all political parties into confidence, Yeddyurappa had said. A city that sleeps late is a city that stays safe. By this benchmark, Bengalurus quantum leap in its safety standard should have been obvious once the nightlife was extended to 1 am through the week. There is no visible proof yet of that happening. The government did make much noise about allowing hotels, eateries, bars and clubs to stay open till 1 am beyond the weekends. But the happening nightspots still get busy only on Fridays and Saturdays. The extension is yet to make a dramatic impact. There is one big reason why this is so: Pathetic public transport service after dark. Besides the overcharging autorickshaws and surge-obsessed cabs, the city offers no dependable transport option. Personal cars and bikes: Not recommended since drunken driving is out of question. Skeletal transport Articulating the need for at least a skeletal public transport service till the late hours is Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group (BBPAG) member V Ravichandar. BMTC buses are grossly inadequate. Even the Metro shuts down after 10 pm and services are extended till 11 pm only on rare occasions. The Action Group had played a key role in extending the deadline right through the week. Ravichandar explains the rationale: Suppose you finish work at Outer Ring Road at 6 pm, and want to come for dinner to UB City. It will take at least three hours. Dinner is a leisure activity, it cannot be rushed. Not many are aware that the extension stays through the week. This could be one reason why business has not picked up. The market will eventually align to the new arrangement. But we need to create an enabling environment. Evolving eateries Years before the extension of the weekend deadlines, a restaurant chain in the City had kept its doors open till 2 am. The management had even got a stay when the city police tried forcible closure. Eventually, the hoteliers won and are now fully integrated with the new system. Their marketing rationale is simple: Cater to the youngsters who head out for food after the pubs close. The huge crowds that throng the chains restaurants on Church Street, Koramangala and Indiranagar are telling proof of a market they cultivated over the years. The weeklong extension is expected to slowly expand this market. Shifts could evolve and compensate for employees in other restaurants, who now complain of longer working hours. The law and order machinery, sensing that there is no perceptible spike in crime, is also expected to follow suit. But the birth pangs of the new system could now be felt underneath those glitzy lights. Pub owners, long used to the Friday-Saturday schedule, now find customers gulping down that drink way beyond the 11.30 pm deadline on weekdays. No visible rise in sales, but more electricity consumed, is a common grouse. Additional burden The men in khaki making the rounds on Church Street know that there will be no trouble. But they would now have to be on duty at those hotspots right through the week. As a constable reasons, this extra work will be an additional burden on the understaffed police force. Traffic management around these nightspots has been an issue, and it could only get worse. Residents living in close proximity to these spots have often complained of haphazard parking and chaos. But an informal system is now in place at a few spots where hotel security men multi-task as traffic wardens for the night. The arrangement is not perfect, but the police are not complaining. Besides the young pub-goers and nightlife buffs, there is one big section of people who welcome the extension unconditionally: Hungry outstation commuters who land up at the citys transport hubs of Majestic and Kalasipalyam late in the night. Also in the list are passengers bound for and returning from late night flights at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). As an hotelier in Indiranagar points out, this section of commuters that include even children could really diversify the nightlife and eventually make it mainstream. Traffic and the law and order systems could then be tweaked accordingly. The message is clear: More women and children at night would mean more law enforcement challenges for the police. But once the system is overhauled, management would become routine and simpler. A Delhi court on Saturday convicted Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui of raping a 30-year-old US researcher last year. Farooqui, who was out on bail, was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was pronounced. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain held Farooqui guilty under Section 376 (punishment of rape) of the Indian Penal Code. The court fixed the matter for hearing arguments on the sentencing on Tuesday. The offence of rape entails a minimum of seven years rigorous jail and a maximum of imprisonment for life. The woman, in her complaint, had stated that Farooqui was drunk when he raped her at his house. With the flogging of Dalits in Una snowballing into a major controversy, voices are emerging within the NDA and BJP against attacks on the Schedule Castes by cow vigilante groups. Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, a Dalit leader from Maharashtra, came out in the open against the saffron fringe elements, saying protecting humans is no less important than sheltering cows. Killing people in the name of protecting cows is not good, said Athawale, Minister of State for Social Justice. BJP MP from Delhi Udit Raj was more upfront in his attack at the Hindutva forces. Raj, a former IRS officer, said that the Hindu religion is in danger from its so-called protectors and not because of the conversion of Dalits to other religions. Raj, who is also the national chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, did not spare the NDA government for the atrocities against the Dalits. Whosoever may be in power, the attacks on the Dalits have been going on. The only difference is in the numbers," he said. Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India (Athawale), an NDA ally, has been under pressure from his community to snap ties with the NDA following Dalit scholar Rohith Vemulas suicide. After a lull, the atrocities against Dalits have resurfaced ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Coupled with former BJP state leader Daya Shankar Singh abusing BSP chief Mayawati, it has made the NDAs task of reaching out to the SC community harder. To offset the damage, the BJP has expelled Singh from the party. Uttar Pradesh, as per the 2011 census, has 20.5% (40 million) of the SC population, the highest among the states. BJP chief Amit Shahs mass Dalit outreach at Agra was also reportedly cancelled since the community was uncomfortable with the party post the Mayawati humiliation, though the official reason cited was that the venue was flooded with rain water. The SC sub-castes, besides the Jatavs (Mayawatis community), are high on the BJP outreach programme to target smaller backward communities for the UP election, scheduled for early next year. Protect citizens, US tells India Expressing concern over reports of rising intolerance and violence in India, the US has asked the Indian government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrator, PTI reports from Washington. A day after flash floods deluged parts of South East Bengaluru, the situation on Saturday seemed far from returning to normal anytime soon. Local residents are still living under the fear of another round of inundation, as the rain has not stopped completely. The city received scattered rainfall of up to 5mm on Saturday. Forecasts have predicted cloudy weather with a few spells of rain in the next 48 hours. Early on Friday, three lakesKodichikkanahalli, Madiwala and Kasavanahallibreached, leading to flash floods in several areas, including HSR Layout, Madiwala, BTM Layout, Silk Board Junction, Sarjapur and adjacent areas. Authorities said if Puttenahalli lake, which is full to the brim, breaches, it would cause further flooding in Kodichikkanahalli. BBMP has deployed workers to clear water from roads in these localities. Bescom is yet to restore power supply in several parts of Kodichikkanahalli. Officials said it could take another day before the electricity is restored. If it doesnt rain on Sunday, we can do it by evening, an official said, explaining the dangers in restoring power in wet and moist conditions inside the houses. Several residents, particularly those staying on the ground floor, have moved to the upper floors or to their relatives or friends houses. We are not getting drinking water; theres been no power supply since Friday. Even the toilets are clogged due to overflowing manholes, a resident said. The entire area was flooded thrice in the past week. We have sent our three-year-old son to my friends place. Besides, snakes and rodents are entering houses. There are chances of an epidemic outbreak, Pramod Rodagi, a resident of Anugraha Layout in Kodichikkanahalli, said. Recovering from the Friday shock, people have started assessing the extent of loss suffered by them. Manoj Bhandary, a resident of DUO Layout, said he lost at least Rs 2 lakh as several of his electrical equipment and his car were submerged in the rainwater. BBMP has been reactive and not proactive in its approach to solving the problem. If the civic agency had de-silted one of the rajakaluves, most of the problem would have been solved. Presently, theres no way for excess water to flow downstream, he said. On Saturday morning, Bengaluru Ministers Ramalinga Reddy and Roshan Baig, along with Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy and Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, visited the affected areas and directed the Palike and fire personnel to clear the waterlogging as quickly as possible. Jadhav also held a meeting with senior officials of the Urban Development department and BBMP and directed them to take strict action against those who have encroached on stormwater drains. The mayor said BBMP will submit a video of the flooded areas to court to vacate a stay against the demolition of illegal buildings. The bandh call given by pro-Kannada organisations to protest the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal order evoked a mixed response across the state. Citizens, however, faced hardship, as both BMTC and Metro train services were suspended. The state road transport corporation did not ply its buses fearing attack by protesters, while BMRCL was forced to suspend its operations after a group of people in the guise of commuters entered a train and staged a protest. With nearly 50% of cabs staying off the road and a few autorickshaws plying, inbound and outbound passengers had a tough time reaching their destinations. Some protesters also tried to barge into the Kempegowda International Airport and Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station in Majestic. Security personnel, however, thwarted their efforts and ensured that train and air services were not affected. The agitators were detained and released after 6 pm. Shops and commercial establishments, hotels and restaurants remained shut in the central business district. Many people stayed indoors as malls, cinemas and fuel stations were closed till evening. Essential services such as medical treatment, pharmacies and milk supply were unaffected. Patients, however, had a difficult time reaching hospitals in the absence of public transport. A large number of passengers had to wait at the railway and bus stations till the services resumed later in the day. An estimated 5,000 people, including leading Kannada film actors like Shivarajkumar, participated in the procession from Town Hall to Freedom Park. Activists Vatal Nagaraj and S R Govindu and farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar addressed the procession demanding the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the water dispute between Karnataka and Goa. They urged the MPs from Karnataka to raise the matter in Parliament. Vehicular movement on the busy Ballari Road was affected for a while as Nagaraj took out a procession of about 3,000 people. Vehicles piled up between Windsor Manor bridge and Chalukya Circle. The police had made elaborate security arrangements. Additional personnel were deployed at all metro stations, the international airport, the central bus stand and railway stations. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: Armenian armed forces have 16 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry July 30. Positions of Azerbaijans armed forces were shelled from the positions located near the Chilaburt village of the Terter district, Gorgan, Garakhanbayli villages of the Fizuli district, Kuropatkino village of the Khojavand district and Mehdili village of the Jabrayil district. Azerbaijani positions also took fire from the positions located on nameless heights of the Goygol district. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory letter to King of Morocco Mohammed VI on the occasion of the national holiday of Morocco. On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my most sincere congratulations to you and through you to all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of Morocco Day of Throne, said President Aliyev in his letter. I am confident that traditional friendly and cooperative relations between Azerbaijan and Morocco, which are based on mutual confidence and support, will further develop and strengthen, noted the president. On this remarkable day, I wish you robust health and happiness, and the brotherly people of Morocco lasting peace and prosperity, he added. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Elena Kosolapova, Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Russian companies are interested in the Iranian market, said Russias Energy Minister and Co-chair of the Russia-Iran Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Alexander Novak. Novak made the remarks during the meeting with Irans Minister of Communication and Information Technology and Co-chair of the intergovernmental commission from the Iranian side Mahmoud Vaezi, said Russian Energy Ministry July 30. Currently, the companies are waiting for the presentation of the Iranian oil contract to become familiar with specific terms of joining the project, said Novak. He also noted that Russias Gazprom company is interested in implementation of the general scheme of development of Irans gas industry, joint production projects, construction of the LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant, joint marketing projects. Russian minister added that there are also the first agreements in the oil sphere Zarubezhneft company signed a memorandum of cooperation in July, 2016, to improve oil extraction in Irans existing projects. Novak said also that the work continues on the signing of 13 new agreements, and a road map, which will include 70 specific projects, will be prepared in industrial sphere in the near future. Meanwhile, IRNA news agency reported quoting Novak that Iran and Russia have also discussed purchasing of a satellite. There have been some agreements in the field of aerospace and the sides are studying the possibility of making a satellite for Iran by Russia, IRNA quoted Novak as saying. Citing Russian sources, IRNA news agency also reported that Iran and Russia are expected to prepare a proposal on creating a free trade zone by the end of 2016. Novak has also touched upon a decision by Moscow to provide Iran with a loan worth 2.2 billion euros saying a draft deal on the loan is being prepared, according to IRNA. One billion euros will be allocated for the construction project of a power unit at Bushehr power plant with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts and 1.2 billion euros will be allocated for the electrification of 495 kilometers of Irans railways. --- Follow the authors on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova, @Farhad_Danesh This Is What Siddharth Malhotra Has To Say About His Relationship With Alia! Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 30 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: A meeting with Yap Ong Heng, special envoy of Singapores transport minister, was held in the Turkmen foreign ministry, the Turkmen ministry said July 30. According to the message, during the meeting the sides discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation in the field of transport, in particular, aviation and maritime transport. The Turkmen side reviewed Singapore's achievements in the transport sector and offered its staff training services in the field of civil aviation and maritime transport, the message said. According to the message, the two sides also discussed the possibility of holding training and courses for Turkmen specialists. The importance of a dialogue was stressed at the meeting to further expand the bilateral cooperation in all fields between the two countries, the message said. If true, then the upcoming phone may offer a considerable upgrade to the Lenovo Vibe P1, which sported SD615 SoC and 2GB RAM An unannounced Lenovo smartphone with the model name P2c72 has been spotted on benchmarking website, Geekbench. Judging by the name, it is possible that the phone is the successor to the Lenovo Vibe P1 that was launched last year. As per the listing, the phone features an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC with 4GB of RAM. Further, the device is tipped to run on Android Marshmallow v6.0.1. If these specifications are true, then the Lenovo Vibe P2 may be a considerable upgrade as compared the Vibe P1, especially if the company manages to keep the same price point. To recall, the Vibe P1 was launched in India in October last year at Rs. 15,999. The device features a 5.5-inch Full HD display and is powered by a Snapdragon 615 SoC with 2GB of RAM. The phone is also equipped with 13MP and 5MP cameras along with a fingerprint sensor. However, the highlight of the device is the 5000mAh battery. Lenovo is also expected to unveil the successor to the K4 Note next week. Called the Lenovo K5 Note, the phone is expected to feature the same specifications as the device launched in China back in January. However, rumours suggest that the phone might sport 4GB of RAM instead of the 2GB RAM found in the Chinese variant. Jobs or no jobs, developers kept city property-tax abatements Columbus routinely offers tax abatements to businesses pledging to create jobs, but when those promises aren't kept there are usually no consequences. Some things, science just cant explain. How could an explosion 1000 times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima not take any human lives? How did the fumes emitted by a living human cause more than twenty people to become ill? And why is there a bridge in Scotland that compels dogs to throw themselves off it? We look into some of the strangest mysteries ever to be documented on this Earth. The Tunguska Event In the early morning of June 30, 1908, a huge explosion 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima flattened 2000 square kilometres of forest in the sparsely populated Siberian Taiga. Astoundingly, there were no known human casualties from the event. Evenki natives and Russian settlers played witness to an intense blue light, almost as bright as the sun, moving across the sky. It was almost ten minutes later that there was a flash and a huge sound, accompanied by a shock wave that broke windows and knocked people off their feet even hundreds of kilometres away. The explosion was registered across Eurasia, but even more astoundingly, the event caused the skies to glow over the next few nights a phenomenon visible from across Europe and Asia. Interestingly, a very similar glowing-sky event was reproduced later in the century by space shuttle launches. The following comes from an eyewitness account of the event: At breakfast time I was sitting by the house at Vanavara Trading Post, facing northI suddenly saw that directly to the norththe sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest. The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire northern side was covered with fire. At that moment I became so hot that I couldnt bear it, as if my shirt was on fire; from the northern side, where the fire was, came strong heat. I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, but then the sky shut closed, and a strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few metres. I lost my senses for a moment, but then my wife ran out and led me to the house. After that such noise came, as if rocks were falling or cannons were firing. While the Tunguska event is technically classified as an impact event, no trace of meteoric impact has ever been found. No object was ever detected approaching the Earth, either. Other theories propose that the object could have been a comet composed of ice rather than rock that disintegrated as it entered the atmosphere. The most scientifically accepted explanation is that of an air burst from an asteroid or comet, or even an explosion caused by the ignition of natural gas from within the earths crust. However no one has ever been able to confirm the cause of the huge explosion. With an event like this, conspiracies are bound to crop up. Alternate explanations range from alien visitors to supernatural events some have even hypothesised that a miniature black hole impacted the earth. Considering the similarities between Tunguska and much later space shuttle launches, the UFO theory is the most popular alternate explanation. Also unusual is the extreme remoteness of the occurrence. The Tunguska area is essentially uninhabitable for humans, and the huge explosion caused no known casualties though charred reindeer corpses were found in their hundreds. If this had occurred over a highly populated metropolitan area, it could have razed an entire city and wiped out literally millions of people. Was the location of the explosion just divine good luck, or is it evidence that the event was planned by intelligent beings, whether human or otherwise? The Toxic Lady One night in February 1994, a woman was admitted to the emergency room of Riverside General Hospital suffering the effects of advanced cervical cancer. Something else was wrong, however. The woman had an oily sheen covering her skin, and she had a fruity, garlic-like odor about her. When her blood was drawn, the tube had a vaguely ammonia-like smell. At this point, attending nurses and medical professionals began to pass out. The first was Susan Kane, the nurse who had drawn blood from the woman. Once she was removed from the room, the medical resident Julie Gorchynski began to feel lightheaded, and she also passed out after leaving the trauma room. A respiratory therapist named Maureen Welch was the third to pass out, at which point the emergency room was evacuated aside from a skeleton crew who remained to look after the toxic woman. The woman, a housewife named Gloria Ramirez, died after 45 minutes of treatment, but her unusually potent toxicity will live on as one of medicines most enduring mysteries. Overall 23 people became ill and 5 were hospitalised, with those who had worked within two feet of Ramirez being at the highest risk. Symptoms included loss of consciousness, shortness of breath and muscle spasms, though all affected appeared to have normal blood tests after the exposure. An initial investigation blamed the phenomena on mass hysteria. But some people arent convinced. No one has ever been able to reproduce the chemical reaction that supposedly occurred within Ramirezs body, and others have pointed out that the symptoms of those in the trauma room do not align with the symptoms of exposure to dimethyl sulfate, which reacts more like tear gas. To make the case even more questionable, the body was not released for an independent autopsy until it was badly decomposed and largely contaminated. Her heart was also missing when it was handed over. Could they have been trying to cover something up? Some believe so. An article in the now defunct New Times Los Angeles called the DMSO conclusion ridiculous, and put forth their own theory that Riverside General was harbouring a hidden drug lab. Its sensational, yes, but not entirely unlikely. Hospital staff could easily order the chemicals needed without suspicion, and the building is already equipped with legitimate labs. Beyond this, Riverside was even known as the methamphetamine capital of the world in the years surrounding this case. A similar operation was uncovered in a hospital in Denver in 1990. If this was the case, then Riverside likely would have been producing chemical precursors that could then be turned into meth, rather than the finished product itself. Some of these chemicals are known to release dangerous chemical fumes like those encountered in the trauma room on the night of Ramirezs death. Charles Cox, a Cal/OSHA district manager postulates that hospital staff could have been storing these chemicals in IV bags to be sent out on the black market, at which point one had accidentally been hooked up to Gloria Ramirez. Most of the staff who were strongly affected by the fumes were those who directly handled the womans IV lines. Its a plausible theory, and even more likely when you consider the secrecy that followed. Ramirezs body was kept hidden away, the syringe used to draw her blood was lost, the bedding materials thrown away and the IV bag never tested. Her heart was never returned with the body. Coverup, medical anomaly or something else entirely, someone has gone to lengths to make sure the truth about Riversides Toxic Lady is never discovered. Dyatlov Pass Everything weird seems to happen in Russia. In the early days of February 1959, a group of nine hikers failed to return from a challenging trek they had undertaken through the northern Ural mountains. It wasnt until they were more than a week overdue that the first search and rescue groups were sent at first consisting of fellow teachers and students at the Ural Polytechnical Institute and later of military including search planes and helicopters. It took searchers almost a week to find the battered and slashed remains of the groups tent which was empty. The tent was only the beginning of the Dyatlov Pass mystery, but it baffled the searchers. All the groups belongings and shoes had been left behind, and the tent was cut open from the inside as if they had fled in panic. Many different sets of footprints left by people wearing socks, a single shoe or even barefoot, led down towards the edge of the forest. Down here, the searchers found the remains of a fire and the first two bodies. These two hikers were dressed only in their underwear, and were shoeless. Branches on the tree they were under were broken at heights that suggested that the men were trying to climb up, or had climbed up before their death. In the stretch between this tree and the tent the searchers found three more bodies buried in the snow, their poses looking like they were attempting to return to the tent. It was more than four months before the remaining four hikers were found in a ravine under four meters of snow, almost 100 meters further into the woods from the forests edge. These four were better dressed, as though the others had relinquished their clothing to them. While some of these events are consistent with hypothermia and a phenomenon called paradoxical undressing where hypothermia sufferers will undress as they begin to feel unexpectedly hot as their nerves and mental faculties fail there were still elements that didnt make sense. Three of the hikers had fatal internal injuries, with one doctor comparing the force required for such trauma to be comparable to that of a car crash. Some sources even claimed that there were high doses of radioactive contamination on some of the bodies, while one witness claimed that the corpses had a deep brown tan. While theories on what happened to the hikers range from cryptozoological to extra-terrestrial to the standard secret Russian weapons testing, its unlikely well ever know what really happened on Dyatlov Pass. Isdal Woman If youve devoured all the details of the mysterious demise of the Somerton man the so-called Tamam Shud case then youll want to know about the eerily similar case of the Isdal Woman. With a burned body, a glamorous woman, multiple identities and mysterious men in black, the case strongly suggests that the Isdal Woman was involved in something beyond most peoples understanding. On November 29, 1970, a man and his two young daughters came across the charred remains of a naked woman, hidden among rocks on a remote hiking trail of Norways Isdalen Valley. What remained of the womans neck was bruised from some sort of blunt force trauma. Near the body were a handful of pink sleeping pills, a packed lunch, an empty bottle of liqueur and two plastic bottles that had held gasoline. Police called to the scene later found a burned out passport in the area. The autopsy showed that she had died from a combination of burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, while traces of at least 50 sleeping pills remained in her body. Her fingerprints were also found to have been sanded away. 22 years after the Somerton Man was found dead in South Australia, this case in Norway seemed to repeat those strange happenings all over again. In an odd reflection of the earlier event, two suitcases belonging to the woman were found checked in to a train station in Bergen. When searching through the possessions inside, police found that the labels had also been removed from every piece of clothing she owned. Also inside was a prescription for a lotion, on which the doctors name and date had been removed. In the trunk was a small notebook in which the woman had jotted down several coded entries, though there was no key to the code. When police eventually cracked her code, it was found to detail dates and places of the womans previous travels. Investigators were able to find out much more about the Isdal Woman than has ever been evident about the Somerton Man. She had dental work that was distinctive to Latin America. She spoke French, German, English and Dutch. She was fond of porridge and milk. She often changed rooms after checking in at various hotels. She had a provocative style of dress. She wore a number of different wigs, and one was found in her possessions along with several pairs of non-prescription glasses. She called herself an antiques collector from South Africa. She went by nine different identities when travelling around Europe: Jenevive Lancia, Claudia Tjelt, Vera Schlosseneck, Claudia Nielsen, Alexia Zarna-Merchez, Vera Jarle, Finella Lorck and Elizabeth Leen Hoywfer. None of them were her own. The various sketches of her that exist are evocative conjuring the perfect image of a glamorous Bond girl or Hollywood spy though it should be noted that one photograph commonly connected with the Isdal Woman is actually that of another unknown decedent, the Ophelia of the Seine. An account of her last days comes from the Doe Network: March 20, 1970 she travels from Geneva to Oslo March 21-24, 1970 she lives at Hotel Viking in Oslo using the name Genevieve Lancier. March 24 flies from Oslo to Stavanger, takes the boat to Bergen, stays the night at Hotel Bristol using the name Claudia Tielt. March 25 April 1- stays at hotel Scandia in Bergen, still as C. Tielt April 1 travels from Bergen to Stavanger, and on to Kristiansand, Hirtshals, Hamburg and Basel. Thats the last trace of her in Norway until she returns six months later. October 3 travels from Stockholm to Oslo, and on to Oppdal, stays the night at the hotel there together with Italian photographer Giovanni Trimboli October 22 stays at hotel Altona in Paris October 23 29 stays at Hotel de Calais in Paris October 29 30 goes from Paris to Stavanger and on to Bergen October 30 November 5 checks in to hotel Neptun using the name Alexia Zerner-Merches; she meets an unknown man at the hotel. November 6 9 she travels to Trondheim, lives at hotel Bristol using the name Vera Jarle. November 9 goes to Oslo and on to Stavanger where she stays at Hotel St. Svitun using the name Fenella Lorch. November 18 goes with the boat Vingtor to Bergen where she stays at hotel Rosenkrantz using the name Elisabeth Leenhower from Belgium. November 19- 23 stays at hotel Hordaheimen, stays in the room a lot and seems watchful. November 23 leaves the hotel in the morning, pays in cash and goes to the railway station where she places 2 pieces of luggage in a depository box. November 29 she is located dead in Isdalen. The Italian photographer she had met up with was tracked down through a postcard she had of one of his photos. He had given her a lift and had dinner with her some time before her death. He told police that she had told him she was from South Africa, and that she had six months to see the most beautiful places in Norway. Ultimately, this line of investigation didnt turn up any new information as to the womans identity or mysterious demise. Other witnesses came forward with their testimony, with one woman claiming that she had overheard the woman talking to a man in a hotel in Bergen. The woman had allegedly said to him Ich komme bald I am coming soon in German. On November 23, the Isdal Woman was seen for the last time as she checked out of her hotel. She paid in cash, then asked for a taxi to be called for her. While at the hotel, staff said she seemed like she was on guard all the time. The taxi took her to the railway station, where she left two pieces of luggage and the trail ends there. Further information was revealed only a few years ago in the early 2000s, when a hiker came forward to reveal that he had encountered the woman on a hike on November 24, 1970 five days before her body was found. It was nearing dusk when he saw the woman hurrying along the trail towards her, dressed for the town rather than the mountains. Her face was distorted by fear, and she seemed to want to say something to the hiker, though appeared intimidated by two black-coated men who followed. He described the two men as being of foreign appearance. As soon as the hiker heard of the body that was found in the mountains, he contacted police to tell what he had seen, though was met with a puzzling response. The policeman he talked to told him: Forget her, she was dispatched. The case will never be solved. The man kept his silence for 32 years, only recently speaking out about what he had seen. The police eventually ruled the death a suicide, but in light of the evidence thats been unearthed, that conclusion has always been highly controversial. Overtoun Bridge Theres nothing particularly special about the Overtoun Bridge in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It was built in 1895 for ease of access to Overtoun house, and while it is quite a nice looking bridge, it isnt anything special compared to most historical sites in Scotland. Except for the fact that dogs crossing the bridge feel compelled to throw themselves from the bridge to their inevitable demise. This phenomenon has been occurring since the 1950s or 60s, with the bridge claiming the lives of dogs at an average rate of one per year. At this stage, it has claimed more than 50 dogs lives. Some dogs will even leap off the bridge a second time if they happen to survive the first. There are some similarities in most cases of dog suicides at Overtoun. Most of the incidents seem to happen at the same place between the final two parapets of the bridge on the right hand side. It mostly happens in clear weather, and it also tends to happen with breeds with long snouts such as labs, collies and retrievers. The mystery has been studied in depth, and the best answer anyone could come up with was that dogs were being lured to their death by a potent odor of male mink urine. This is despite a local hunter swearing that there were no mink nearby. Even if there were, mink are not confined to that one corner of Scotland, and this phenomenon doesnt seem to happen anywhere else. The Overtoun Bridge mystery opens up a lot of questions about domesticated animals and whether they would deliberately commit suicide. Considering it only happens at that one spot, there seems to be something else at play here, however. Local legend claims the bridge is haunted, and at least one human victim has experienced its effects. In October 1994, a man named Kevin Moy threw his two week old son from the bridge, condemning the infant to death as he believed the child was the Anti-Christ. Moy then attempted to end his own life in the same way, though was unsuccessful. A sign has been erected in recent years at Overtoun Bridge, warning dog owners to keep their pets on a lead. Gizmodo explores the smart design, breakthrough science and awe-inspiring tech shaping your future. Follow Gizmodo on Facebook and Twitter. By Hayley Williams Gizmodo Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: The Georgian Ministry of Energy has no information on the conclusion of contracts for the import of Iranian gas to the country, Mariam Valishvili, Georgia's deputy energy minister, told Trend. Earlier, the Iranian IRNA news agency reported with reference to the countrys Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh that the test agreement on the export of Iranian gas to Georgia via Armenia has been concluded. Valishvili added that the Georgian government has not concluded the contracts for such gas supply. Theoretically, private companies can sign such a contract, she said. The Georgian legislation does not forbid it. However, in this case, these contracts must be submitted to the Georgian government for registration. But the government did not obtain such contracts. Moreover, the Georgian gas pipeline infrastructure is controlled by the state, she added. Private companies and the Georgian government must sign a contract on gas supply within the country. Such contracts were not signed either. "We have no idea about the volumes, companies which signed a contract and the area from which the gas will be supplied," she said. She also said that in case of the need of ensuring the supply of Iranian gas to Georgia, gas can be supplied via both Armenia and Azerbaijan as there is the necessary infrastructure on the border of both countries. If the issue is swap supplies by using transit infrastructure from Iran to Georgia and from Russia to Armenia, this should be discussed in quadripartite format, rather than bilateral, she added. Such talks were not conducted. She stressed that Iran is a major supplier of gas to the world markets and Georgia has repeatedly talked about its interest in Iranian gas purchases in the future. "The preliminary working meetings on this issue were held, she said. But for several months the meetings were not held and visits were not made to discuss this topic. The Georgian government does not hold any specific negotiations on this issue." At present, Azerbaijan is the main supplier of gas to Georgia. Small volumes are also supplied from Russia. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova Al Qaeda's powerful Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, announced on Thursday it was ending its relationship with the global jihadist network founded by Osama bin Laden, to remove a pretext used by world powers to attack Syrians. The announcement came as Russia and President Bashar al-Assad's government declared a "humanitarian operation" in the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, opening "safe corridors" so people can flee Syria's most important opposition stronghold. Washington said that appeared to be an attempt to depopulate the city and make fighters surrender. The opposition called it a euphemism for forced displacement. In the first known video statement ever to show his face, the leader of the Nusra Front, Mohamad al-Golani, announced that the group would re-form under a new name, with "no ties with any foreign party". The move was being made "to remove the excuse used by the international community - spearheaded by America and Russia - to bombard and displace Muslims in the Levant: that they are targeting the Nusra Front which is associated with al Qaeda," he said. The group would now be called Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Golani appeared in the video flanked by two other Nusra Front figures, in front of a new white flag for the group. Nusra Front's old flag was black, the colour used by ultra-hardline jihadist groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State. Earlier on Thursday, bin Laden's successor as al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, gave the Nusra Front his blessing to break away. In his message, Golani thanked Zawahri for putting the interests of Syrians ahead of organisational concerns. The move appeared to be an attempt to appeal to Syrians who have long had deep misgivings about Nusra's links with al Qaeda and the presence of foreign jihadists in its ranks. It could alter the strategic alignment on the ground if the renamed Nusra gains acceptance among other rebel groups. But Assad and his Russian allies are unlikely to accept the rebranding as a reason to halt military operations that have put the Syrian leader in the strongest position on the battlefield for years. The Nusra Front, one of the most powerful rebel forces in Syria's five-year, multi-sided civil war, was excluded along with Islamic State from a US- and Russian-backed ceasefire this year. Nusra is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the United Nations. Assad's other opponents have long said its presence gave the government and its Russian allies a pretext to abandon the truce and launch advances under the cover of anti-terrorist operations permitted under the ceasefire. The US State Department said Nusra Front fighters remained a legitimate target for US warplanes for now. "We're gonna have to wait and see," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "We judge a group by what they do, not by what they call themselves." Western countries are worried that the announcement of safe corridors for people to flee Aleppo could herald a Russian-backed government assault on the city. "This would appear to be a demand for the surrender of opposition groups and the evacuation of Syrian civilians from Aleppo," Kirby said. "The innocent people of Aleppo should be able to stay in their homes safely, and to receive the humanitarian access, which Russia and the regime in principle have agreed." Syria's largest city before the war, Aleppo has for years been divided into rebel and government zones. Asserting full control would be the biggest victory for Assad so far, and a potential turning point in a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands, spawned the world's worst refugee crisis and drawn in most regional and world powers. Any assault on Aleppo would also probably wreck a diplomatic effort by Secretary of State John Kerry to negotiate military cooperation between the United States and Russia. The Cold War-era superpowers are running separate military missions in Syria against their common foe Islamic State, but are on opposite sides in the wider civil war, with Moscow supporting Assad, and Washington saying he must step down. Leaflets have been air-dropped on rebel-held parts of Aleppo since Wednesday, telling civilians they would be given safe passage out and providing maps to exit routes. Around 250,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the rebel zone. The United Nations says food supplies will run out within weeks. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said helicopters had been dropping baby diapers and meal packs with Russian-language labels over rebel areas. But Syria's main opposition High Negotiations Committee wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denouncing the corridors as "a euphemism for Russia's efforts to alter Aleppo's demographics and ensure forced displacement'', which it called a war crime. Several international relief agencies said exit corridors were not a substitute for aid access. "Some 250 to 400,000 civilians remain in what was once Syria's largest city not all of them want or are able to leave," Mercy Corps said. "If it is a genuine humanitarian proposal, then clearly it will be accompanied by an end to the bombing campaign," the British ambassador to the United Nations, Matthew Rycroft, told reporters in New York. "Clearly, the U.N. and the rest of us cannot be complicit in anything else, for instance any form of emptying of Aleppo or preparing for an onslaught of Aleppo or indeed any continuation of this medieval siege of Aleppo ..." The proposed corridors did not appear to be open so far. Two rebels and aid workers contacted in besieged Aleppo said the army had fired at civilians in one of the safe corridors, in the Salah al-Din district. A doctor for a medical charity that operates in Aleppo also said the army had fired artillery at families gathering near another corridor, in the opposition-held Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood. Hael Asi Hilal, head of the Syrian Red Crescent in rebel-held areas, said no family had been able to leave via any corridor due to snipers firing at them. The army, backed by allied militia forces and air support from Syrian and Russian jets, meanwhile took more ground on the northern edge of the city. State television said the army had advanced in the Bani Zeid district, and the Observatory said pro-government forces were in full control. The United States and Russia jointly sponsored the ceasefire earlier this year that led to UN-brokered peace talks. But that collapsed in May and since then government forces have been advancing with Russian support. Kerry's talks with the Russians, aimed at building a system to jointly identify targets, have been largely fruitless. A Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Washington's stance would allow militants to regroup since it required a ceasefire before distinguishing between terrorists and other opposition groups. "There is an element here of a political ruse at least," he said. One US national security official told Reuters it was difficult to agree as long as Moscow's and Washington's wider objectives diverged. ''The Russians want to destroy ISIS (Islamic State) to save Assad,'' the official said. ''We want to destroy ISIS to eliminate a terrorist threat and start a political process to remove Assad, who President Obama has said must go.'' Following recent terror attacks, the French government is considering a ban on foreign funding of mosques in the country, the media reported on Friday. According to Le Monde, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the prohibition would be for an indefinite period but gave no further details. "There needs to be a thorough review to form a new relationship with French Islam," he said. "We live in a changed era and we must change our behaviour. This is a revolution in our security culture ... the fight against radicalisation will be the task of a generation," The Independent quoted Valls as saying. France was "at war" and further atrocities were predicted, Valls said, following the murder of a priest at a church in Normandy and the attack in Nice in the French Riveira by Islamic State supporters. "This war, which does not concern only France, will be long and we will see more attacks," the prime minister said. "But we will win, because France has a strategy to win this war. First, we must crush the external enemy." The French government has come under increasing criticism for failing to prevent atrocities, including the attack in a Normandy church. Security services were tipped off that Abdel Malik Petitjean, 19, was planning an attack but police were reportedly unable to identify him from photos and a video showing him declaring allegiance to the Islamic State terror group. He was already on country's "fiche S" terror watch list, an indicator used by France law enforcement apparatus to signal an individual considered to be a serious threat to national security. He attempted to travel to Syria in June but was intercepted by Turkish authorities and forced to return to France. Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, 19, took six people hostage at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy and slit the throat of its priest, Father Jacques Hamel. Both were shot dead by police. Kermiche was also known to security services and was wearing an electronic surveillance tag while on bail as he awaited trial for membership of a terror organisation at the time. The church attack came less than a fortnight after the Nice attack, when a Tunisian man killed 84 persons and injured over 300 when he ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was not among the 10,000 names on the "fiche S" but the inclusion of terrorists, among them several of the Paris attackers, the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen and their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly, as well as a lorry driver who beheaded his manager and attempted to blow up a chemical plant, has shown the system to be ineffective, said the Independent. Intelligence officials have admitted that they are under-resourced to deal with the potential threat from each individual, who would need up to 20 people monitoring them every day. France's continuing state of emergency has drastically expanded security forces' detention powers, sparking a wave of controversial house arrests since November. Responding to criticism, Valls said his government would not create a "French Guantanamo" or be swayed by populism. Genetically modified wheat not approved for sale or commercial production in the US has been found growing in a field in Washington state, agriculture officials said yesterday, saying this could pose a possible risk to trade with countries concerned about engineered food, Associated Press first reported. According to The Food and Drug Administration genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, were safe and there was little scientific concern regarding the safety of those on the market. However, according to critics, not enough was known about their risks, and they wanted GMOs labeled so people knew what was in their food. President Barack Obama yesterday signed into law a bill that would require labelling of genetically modified ingredients for the first time. The legislation passed by Congress two weeks ago would require most food packages to carry a text label, a symbol or an electronic code readable by smartphone that indicating whether the food contained genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. US wheat imports had been temporarily banned in several Asian countries after genetically modified wheat was found unexpectedly in a field on an Oregon farm in 2013. In 2014, it was found in a field at a university research centre in Montana. Though it was not immediately clear how altered wheat had ended up in Washington, the US Agriculture Department said there was no evidence it had entered the market. Monsanto said in a statement that the discovered wheat had been used in limited field trials in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2001, though it was never commercialised, noting that its DNA matched strains found in Oregon three years ago. According to commentators, the discovery could impact US wheat trade overseas, where many countries were concerned about the possible safety risks associated with genetically engineered food, with some imposing outright bans on it. South Korea, yesterday, suspended customs clearance for some genetically altered wheat from the US over safety concerns, even as it announced that the distribution and sale of US wheat would also be halted, according to the Yonhap News Agency. 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. 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. Home Four wheelers M&M Developing Left-Hand Drive For KUV100 oi-Kennedy Paul Mahindra & Mahindra exports its range of passenger and commercial vehicles to many countries around the world. The homegrown SUV manufacturer will offer the Left-Hand Drive vehicles to suit the driving conditions of the country. Now, the KUV100 its small compact SUV will be developed with Left-Hand Drive to cater to exports to Hungary. Currently, the vehicle is being exported to South Africa and other countries with 260 units being exported by May 2016. Also Read: Pros & Cons Of Mahindra KUV100 Both the fuel option of petrol and diesel will receive the treatment of LHD and exports will begin soon. South Africa will get it as a kit which will be assembled locally and Hungary will receive it as CBU (Completely Built Unit). The company's passenger vehicles exports grew 137 percent and this has prompted M&M to cater to countries it has been exporting. Mahindra is currently the third largest car manufacturer and has Hyundai and Maruti as competitors ahead of it in the race for the top car manufacturer in India. In the last two years, Mahindra has been aggressive in its model design and the overall package. The KUV100 has had a tremendous response in the domestic market, the company offers it in petrol variant as well. The Mahindra KUV100 comes with the choice of petrol and diesel motor. The petrol is powered by 1.2-litre mFalcon G80 engine which develops 82bhp and 115Nm of torque. As for the diesel unit, it is powered by 1.2-litre mFalcon G75 engine which develops 77bhp and 190Nm of torque. Source: ET Auto Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Turkey imported 10.14 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in January-May 2016, as compared to 11.22 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2015, said the report issued by Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Authority. Russia supplied 26.78 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey in 2015, as compared to almost 27 billion cubic meters in 2014. The report also says Turkey imported 19.94 billion cubic meters of gas in January-May 2016, of which 16.22 billion cubic meters were delivered via pipelines, while 3.72 billion cubic meters accounted for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Russia accounted for 50.84 percent of the total volume of Turkeys gas import in January-May 2016. Russia supplies gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and the Trans-Balkan pipelines. Blue Stream is a major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline with the capacity of 16 billion cubic meters per year that carries natural gas from Russia into Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iran and Guinea have signed 10 documents on economic cooperation during Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarifs recent tour to West Africa. Iran's Ambassador to Guinea Hamidreza Vahid-Kiani said that the sides have also agreed to set up a joint economic commission to expand bilateral ties, IRNA news agency reported. The documents between the two countries were signed for cooperation in the fields of mining including diamond and gold, oil extraction, construction of terminals and highways as well as inexpensive settlements, health and education. Zarif wrapped up his six-day tour to West Africa July 28. A large economic delegation including the representatives of Iranian private sector accompanied the foreign minister during his six-day visit to Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea and Mali aimed at promoting trade ties. 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. Google on Wednesday released an update of its online antipiracy efforts. YouTube has generated more than US$2 billion to content copyright holders by monetizing user-uploaded content through its Content ID rights management system, Google said, adding that more than 90 percent of all Content ID claims result in monetization. YouTube also paid out more than $3 billion to the music industry, which has monetized more than 95 percent of its claims, Google said. Half the music industrys YouTube revenue comes from fan content claimed through Content ID meaning from content posted by fans on YouTube, which the music industry then monetizes. Thanks to advertising, YouTube has transformed the promotional cost of the music video into a new source of revenue that has generated $3 billion for the music industry, and that revenue is growing rapidly, a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Stephanie Shih. Now with YouTubes new subscription service, YouTube Red, YouTube offers the music industry two sources of revenue, the spokesperson said. These two sources will give the industry the opportunity to earn revenue from 100 percent of people who enjoy music. The Discordant Sound of Music On the other hand, Content ID fails to identify 20-40 percent of record companies and music publishers content, according to Frances Moore, CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents the music industry worldwide. Googles search engine continues to direct Internet users to unlicensed music on a large scale, she remarked, and IFPI national groups across the globe have sent Google more than 300 million d-list notices. Despite piracy-fighting changes introduced to Googles search algorithm two years ago, the amount of traffic Google refers to infringing sites in response to music search queries has increased, Moore maintained. The report looks a lot like greenwash, commented Geoff Taylor, chief executive at the British Phonographic Industry. Google is still one of the key enablers of piracy on the planet, he said. It refuses to remove YouTube videos that show how to circumvent Content ID, and Google Search directs fans to illegal music sites in preference to legitimate ones. In a Google search BPI recently carried out in search of the UKs Top Ten singles, 77 percent of the links on the first page of search results went to illegal sites, Taylor alleged. That was worse than the result of the same test conducted in 2013. Google repeatedly has refused to make further changes to its algorithm to improve search results. Its autocomplete and suggested search features push fans toward illegal sites, and its app store has no screening process to remove apps intended for piracy, Taylor noted. The fastest-growing problem area in piracy is stream ripping, a method of illegally converting YouTube streams into downloads, he said. Google continues to point to stream-ripping sites in autocomplete and to host YouTube videos showing how to use them, Taylor charged, and it hasnt taken effective action to counter them. The Case for Google Digitization of content has made piracy much more available to a much larger audience than before, and the content, music, movie, software and video game industries have all been hurt by increased piracy, said Mike Goodman, a research director at Strategy Analytics. That being said, their solution is to take a sledgehammer to the problem. Putting in a blanket filter is not practical, he told the E-Commerce Times, and you have to ask, at what point is it Googles responsibility to be the piracy police? Even if Google could create some magical technical antipiracy solution, the reality is, within a month it would become ineffective, Goodman pointed out. Its always a game of cat-and-mouse, and the antipiracy people are always in reactive mode. You cant ever get ahead of the curve. The Democratic and Republican conventions are history and the epochal 2016 election is now before us. My general theory is less talk and more action, so I hope youll join me in taking this climate pledge, one that will power our efforts into the fall. Peoples Climate March in New York City, Sept. 21, 2014. But since Ive got the microphone, maybe Ill say a few more words. One is, Trump is truly bad news. His insistence that global warming is a Chinese manufactured hoax and his declaration that he will abrogate the Paris treaty mean that hes as much a nihilist on climate change as he is on anything else. In fact, no major party candidate since the start of the global warming era has been as bad on this issue, not even close. Hes also terrifying for many other obvious reasons. Second is, it was a little hard for me to watch Bernies bittersweet speech to the Democratic convention. Hes my Vermont neighbor (where 350.org was born) and he was my candidate and he talked about climate change as no presidential candidate ever has before, declaring forthrightly that it was the greatest problem the planet faced. I wish hed won. But his powerful showing meant, among other things, that he had a significant hand in writing the Democratic party platform for 2016. (In fact, he named me as one of 15 platform writers. Did I say we were neighbors?) And though its far from perfect it is by far the strongest party platform on climate issues Americans have ever seen. This is my third thought. In four years weve gone from an all of the above energy strategy to one that explicitly favors sun and wind over natural gas. The platform promises a Keystone-style test for all federal policy: If it makes global warming worse, it wont be built. And it calls for an emergency climate summit in the first hundred days of the new administration. All those changes are the direct result of your work, showing up to demand action over many months and years. Thursday night Hillary Clinton pledged to enact that platform and she said we have to hold every country accountable to their commitments, including ourselves. Accountability is the right word. Will this platform mean anything more than words? That actually depends on you. If we vote as climate voters this falland if we then show up to demand that those promises are keptthis could turn out to be a ground-breaking political season. Thats why we need you signed on to this pledge and lined up to get out the vote and do the other chores of an election. But remember: election day is just one day in the political calendar. The other 364 count just as much. Our job is not to elect a savior. Our job is to elect someone we can effectively pressure. And as tough as the work of this election will bethe real work starts on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Thats how it seems to me, anyway. Theres plenty to be scared of this election season and plenty to hope for. And most of all theres plenty of work to be done. Considered to be the Ten Best UFO Photos Ever Taken I am sure that we could add more pictures to this list but these are considered ten o... Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: A railroad between Iranian northeastern city of Mashhad and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic will be launched this autumn, an Iranian envoy to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen said. Pak Ayeen has said that the issue will contribute to the development of tourism between the two countries. According to him the tickets will be sold both in Iran and Azerbaijan. He did not provide information on the ticket prices. Pak Ayeen further voiced plans for launching new airways between Baku and Mashhad as well as Baku and Iranian city of Shiraz. He expressed hope that Mashhad-Baku-Mashhad and Shiraz-Baku-Shiraz flights will be launched by the end of the coming autumn. Saying that Tehran-Baku-Tabriz and Tabriz-Baku-Tehran flights have already been launched, Pak Ayeen said, adding that this will contribute to the promotion of trade and tourism between the two neighboring countries. The envoy further talked about marine transportation between Iran and Azerbaijan and called for developing the marine fleet of the Caspian Sea. The tier 4 visa pilot scheme, launched this week by the British Home Office, supports applications from talented students from across the world who wish to study at Imperial College London and three other UK universities. Imperial joins the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Bath in piloting the scheme, which will affect visa applications decided on or after 25 July 2015 for postgraduate courses lasting up to 13 months. It is open to students commencing their studies in 2016/17 or 2017/18. Those who achieve places on Imperials one-year Masters courses will gain access to a streamlined visa application process. Students will also be granted an additional six months on their UK visa after their course ends, allowing for extra time to find work or pursue further study and research. This will initially be a two-year pilot scheme, so students coming to the UK for a Masters degrees in September 2016 and in September 2017 would benefit. Alice Gast, president of Imperial, said: "This pilot scheme is an encouraging step forward. The ability to stay on for six months will bring benefits to the students and to the country as our talented graduates will be able to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas, further study or add to the UKs talent poo" Lobbying by UK universities (including the Russell Group of 24 leading institutions) at the Home Office led to the pilot scheme. "The four universities were selected because of the consistently low level of visa refusals. The Home Office is initially piloting the new visa scheme with Imperial and three others, before considering rolling it out more widely. UK universities are asking the Home Office to expand the scheme to other types of courses and to other universities that have a good record with international students," elaborated a spokesperson for Imperial. To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. Brasilia, Jul 30 (EFE).- Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial for alleged obstruction of justice in a case linked to the Petrobras scandal. Federal Judge Ricardo Leite in Brasilia handed down the ruling Friday, a day after Lula's attorneys filed a motion with the U.N. Human Rights Council accusing authorities in the South American nation of mounting a "judicial persecution" of their client. Lula will be tried along with six other people, including a former senator from his Workers' Party, or PT, and billionaire banker Andre Esteves. All of the defendants are accused of scheming to keep Nestor Cervero, a former Petrobras executive sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering, from accepting a plea deal and revealing all he knew about a massive bribes-for-inflated-contracts scheme centered on the state oil company. Amaral, who was arrested after being heard on a recording trying to dissuade Cervero from cooperating with investigators in exchange for a more lenient sentence, told prosecutors as part of his own plea arrangement that Lula entrusted him with coordinating a payment of 250,000 reais (some $77,000) to "buy the silence" of the former Petrobras executive. Amaral, formerly the leader of the PT's bloc in the Senate, also implicated now-suspended President Dilma Rousseff - who is facing an impeachment trial in the upper house for allegedly manipulating budget to minimize the size of the deficit - as part of his plea deal. Leite, however, did not name Rousseff Friday as one of the defendants in the obstruction of justice case. As part of his plea deal, Amaral also said he and his co-conspirators were plotting to facilitate Cervero's escape to some European country via Paraguay, although that plan never came to fruition. Lula learned of the judge's decision while attending a political event in Sao Paulo, where he took the microphone and said he knew little about the proceedings in that case but was "tired" of responding to accusations. In a statement, the Lula Institute said the former president, a towering figure in Brazilian politics who governed from 2003 to 2010, had made it clear to the Attorney General's Office that he never interfered or attempted to interfere with the Petrobras probe. That investigation, known as "Lava Jato" (Car Wash), has uncovered a scheme whereby major Brazilian construction groups formed a cartel to overcharge Petrobras, splitting the extra money with corrupt oil company officials while setting aside some of the loot to pay off politicians who provided cover for the graft. Lula's attorneys say the source of all the allegations against their client is a confessed criminal with no credibility, referring to Amaral. Lula, who was detained for questioning in March for allegedly hiding ownership of properties stemming from the Petrobras scheme, "cannot get justice in Brazil under its inquisitorial system," prominent British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, who is representing the former head of state, said in a video released this week by the Lula Institute. "His telephones are being tapped, as are those of his family and his lawyers, and the intercept transcripts, even the audio transcripts, are being released for publication by a politically hostile media," Robertson said. La Paz, Jul 30 (EFE).- The governor of Bolivia's La Paz province, the Aimara intellectual and opposition leader Felix Patzi, said that no alternative political force to the party of President Evo Morales exists at present, but predicted the rise of a new leadership capable of unifying a political organization to challenge him. Patzi, 49, an Aimara Indian like Morales, completes this Saturday his sixth day of a hunger strike to demand that the government increase the budget for the region to finance new highways. In an interview with EFE at the office where he is fasting, Patzi referred to Morales's so-called "process of change" and predicted the rise of a new leadership, and also explained why additional funds are needed for the La Paz region. He said there is now no alternative party structure capable of challenging the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS) of Morales, "but there are many leaders that can easily come together in any party so they have the chance to win an election." "They will be leaders of the new generation. And they're not going to be the traditional right-wing leaders," said Patzi, a sociologist with a doctorate in development sciences through an agreement of the UMSA university in La Paz with Mexico's UNAM. Patzi also said that the "process of change," as the government calls the reforms carried out since it took power in 2006, does not signify an ideological adherence of the population to the MAS. "The process of change was always just a slogan, never an ideological project. Never," he said. What unites the population with the so-called process of change "is the discontent sparked between the years 2000 and 2005 by the critical situation in the country caused by the neo-liberals," he said. "All that uniting because of previous discontent has been called the process of change, but in fact it is no ideological alignment and that is precisely what the MAS lacks," Patzi was Education Minister in the first two years of the Morales government, after which he was invited by the ruling party to run for governor in 2010, but his candidacy was unsuccessful. In 2015 he was elected to that position as a representative of the opposition movement Sol.Bo. Patzi also said that it's hard to imagine a new, strong leadership within the MAS that is not run by Evo Morales. As for his hunger strike, Patzi said he is making a "sacrifice" to pressure the government into increasing the regional budget from $43 million to $431 million, but also to "raise awareness" among La Paz residents about local needs. Japan doubled Iranian oil imports in the first half of 2016 compared to the corresponding period last year, Oil Ministry said on Saturday, IRNA reported. The Iranian Oil Ministry cited Japanese Ministry of Oil, Economy, Commerce and Industry report that import of crude oil from Iran hit 1.31 million kilo-litter last June. The figure constitutes 8.8 percent of Japan's total crude oil import, registering 195.8 percent growth compared to the corresponding period last year, it said. Iran exported 308,000 barrels of crude oil and gas condensates to Japan last May and stood the 4th main supplier of crude oil to Japan. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iran's police seized over 3.4 tons of drugs from armed smugglers in the country's south eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan. Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi, provincial police chief, has said that police confronted with three groups of smugglers in the province on July 29, IRNA news agency reported. According to the police chief, in the first operation police seized over two tons of drugs following an armed clash with smugglers near the city of Saravan. In a separate operation on the same day in Khash county police arrested three smugglers and seized 900 kilogram of opium, he added. Police also seized 496 kilograms of opium in Iranshahr country on the same day, Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi added. Iran is situated on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled. The fight against drug trafficking annually costs Iran about $1 billion, according to the official estimates. The statistics also say there are about two million drug users in Iran. Company fined after construction worker's death A risk assessment carried out on a construction site where a worker died in 2013 has been dubbed "completely inadequate". That's according to the Isle of Man's Health and Safety Inspectorate which compiled a report following the death of 55-year-old Gareth Sowden in May of that year. He died from crush injuries at a sewerage treatment site in Kirk Michael - a container fell over trapping him underneath. Sewerage company Tuke and Bell Ltd later pleaded guilty to the health and safety breach of failing to discharge duty - at Douglas Courthouse this week the company was fined 24,000 and ordered to pay 6,000 in costs. Sentencing the company Deemster Birkett said he was satisfied "lessons have been learned" describing it as a "tragic accident". JCK Limited - which had been charged with the same offence - was cleared of causing his death last month after standing trial. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: The court chose a measure of restraint in the form of two-month-arrest for two gunmen who seized a police station in Yerevan Gagik Yeghiazaryan and Aram Hakobyan, RIA Novosti agency reported July 30. The armed group seized the headquarters of the police and interior troops in Erebuni, Yerevan, July 17, demanding the release of the participant of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, coordinator of the opposition Armenian civil initiative Founding Parliament Zhirayr Sefilyan. The offenders are in the detention center of the Armenian National Security Service, the lawyer of detainees said. The lawyer added that Yeghiazaryan and Hakobyan have been charged under such articles as seizure of buildings and illegal acquisition, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives or explosive devices. According to the message, the abovementioned articles of the Armenian Criminal Code envisage imprisonment from 6 years to 12 years and from 3 years to 8 years, respectively. Dessert is the favorite meal of many because of the endless options of delectable treats that they have to choose from, and those who have an affinity for cheesecake could find themselves able to score the creamy and rich treat for a discounted price all day today for National Cheesecake Day. The July 30 celebration will see several places around the country offering discounted or even free slices of cheesecake throughout the day. Here's a full list of places where the treats may be available. Cheesecake Factory: Get any slice of over 30 cheesecake flavors (including Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch, White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut and many more) for half price all day. Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro: Buy any one slice of cheesecake, like red velvet or fresh strawberry, and get another slice of equal or lesser value free. Plus, take $10.00 off the purchase of any whole cheesecake like Cookies & Cream. David's Cookies: Buy one cheesecake and get the second for 50 percent off Eileen's Special Cheesecake: Take half-off the price of all cheesecakes at this New York City establishment Eli's Cheesecake: The company is celebrating through the 31st with a whole Cheesecake Festival, including games, cheesecake and free fun. Junior's Restaurant & Cheesecake: All cheesecake are on sale, with some expected to reach over 50 percent off in price reductions. Peteet's Famous Cheesecakes: The first 100 customers in stores will not only get a free slice of cheesecake, but also 20 percent off all day on other purchases There is finally light at the end of the tunnel for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in India. Tamil Nadu, a state with a substantial manufacturing sector, kept raising its genuine apprehensions from the time the Value Added Tax (VAT) was introduced, emphasising the revenue impact of shifting the levy of sales tax from origin to point of consumption. The Goods and Services Tax Bill will, when enacted, have a similar effect. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh stood with Tamil Nadu at different points in time, while now Tamil Nadu remains the lone consistent dissenter. Political dynamics have been influencing the positions of state governments. Woes of Manufacturing States For states with manufacturing industries, sharing the unified indirect tax base with the union government via the destination-based GST, will mean an outflow of tax revenue along with goods and services produced there, to states that consume the goods and services. In this sense, GST provides no incentive for manufacturing states. The search for a revenue neutral rate (RNR) of GST may be relevant for central GST, as shifting the levy from one state to another is not going to disturb the cumulative collection of tax for the central government. But states cannot have a uniform RNR that will match their present own tax revenue trend, as manufacturing and consumption levels vary from state to state. At the same time the combined GST rate (central GST + state GST) should be fair, reasonable and not regressive. Therefore, the proposed RNR, that is, the standard rate of state GST is not going to neutralise the effects of GST on the revenue collection of all manufacturing states. The worries of the manufacturing states have not been addressed properly by the union government. The revenue loss compensation assured by the union government for a specific period is a rocket booster, but it is doubtful that the proposed GST vehicle would launch the manufacturing states in the revenue trajectory they are travelling in now, especially after the booster runs out. If there is a failure in this mission, with no independent powers of taxation, such states may be left in the lurch. The next major concern is that the GST distorts the basic structure of fiscal federalism provided in the Constitution. The proposed GST Council would become another institution for politicking rather than a rational think tank on indirect taxation. Lopsided Tax Reforms As the volume of business across the borders of the states and the nation keeps growing, the focus is more on the reforms in indirect taxation and there have been perceptible changes effected in the system of indirect tax levies in the form of Modified VAT (MODVAT) and Central VAT (CENVAT) in central excise, VAT in sales tax, allowing cross credit of CENVAT between goods and services, rationalisation of customs duties, reduction of the Central Sales Tax rate and now the GST. No such radical reforms were attempted in direct taxes, as it mainly concerns personal income tax of local entities. Direct taxes are solely in the realm of the union government, which has shown no intent in reforming direct tax systems. It was proposed that a Direct Tax Code (DTC) be introduced to unify and simplify the direct tax laws. The draft bill was released as early as August 2009. After much discussion on the bill, a revised bill was released in March 2014, including the draft General Anti Avoidance Rules. In the budget speech in February 2015, the finance minister explained that most of the provisions of the proposed DTC have already been integrated into existing tax law, and concluded that there was no merit in going ahead with the DTC. The proposed reform of direct tax systems was given a silent burial. Low Direct Tax Revenue Growth This dichotomy in approach to tax reforms has really not done well for the public finances of the nation. India's tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is at 16.6% and is well below the emerging market economy and Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country averages of about 21% and 34%, respectively. The contribution of direct taxes to total tax revenue of the central government has fallen from 60.78% in 2009-10 to 51.05% in 2015-16 (provisional). The direct tax-to-GDP ratio declined from 6.30% in 2007-08 to 5.47% in 2015-16 (provisional). In the assessment year 2004-05, only 4.87 crore people, that is, about 4% of the population have filed income tax returns with 14 lakh individuals paying 80% of the countrys individual income tax. All these facts go to prove that there is a decline in the efficiency of income tax collections, whereas the compliance in indirect taxes is steadily increasing. No doubt, the sudden growth in service sector in the last decade has given momentum to indirect tax collections, but this growth should have been equally reflected in income tax collection, as more tax revenue from services is directly related to income. This opposite trend in direct and indirect tax collections has really hampered the overall tax-to-GDP ratio of the country. Regressive Indirect Taxes Indirect tax is more distributive and the GST would make the tax on goods and services completely a consumption tax. This consumption tax paid by the consumer on taxable goods and services is nothing but a "spending tax" or "expenditure tax," similar to income tax. One key difference is that for a consumption tax, the tax base is expenditure, not income. Everyone who consumes goods and services cannot avoid paying indirect tax, as it is built into the price. However, a majority of the populationpoor and lower-middle classconsume such goods and services daily and tend to pay more indirect tax than the middle class and the rich. People in higher income groups easily avoid paying their income tax dues. This imbalanced compliance between direct and indirect tax in India makes the indirect tax regressive in nature. Purpose of Tax Reform Certainly, taxation should not be a hindrance to business, but the objective of tax reform cannot be confined to the demands of business alone. Tax reform is an important aspect of public finance management, as taxation is used as an instrument of attaining certain social objectives, namely, redistribution of wealth and thereby reduction of inequalities. Taxation in a modern government is thus needed not merely to raise the revenue required to meet its ever-growing expenditure on administration and social services but also to reduce the inequalities of income and wealth. Therefore, partial tax reform to satisfy big business houses is not going to serve any purpose for the 30 crore poor people of this country living below the poverty line. Fiscal prudence demands a matching reform in direct taxes also along with the introduction of GST to achieve a fair, equitable, elastic and progressive tax regime. A comprehensive tax reform keeping in mind the revenue requirement of the governments to meet their social and welfare objectives as well fair distribution of income, and wealth can be the only meaningful tax reform in the public interest. Fragmentary tax reforms carried out only with business interests, ignoring the genuine concerns of state governments are likely to create major hiccups in the public finance management of the governments in the long run. Direct Tax Reform Income tax law in India continues to remain one of the most complicated tax laws. Complexity of the income tax law has no justification and it serves the bureaucracy alone. Such complications have only increased the cost of compliance for the assessees and cost of administration to the government. Direct taxes are only in the domain of the union government and if there is a political will, this law can also be simplified and rationalised without much difficulty. Since the consumption tax of GST is much nearer to income tax, assessees of income may be given a tax rebate of a certain percentage of GST paid by them on their consumption of taxable goods and services. This integration of GST with income tax would complete the chain of the audit trail and make the whole taxation system more self-enforcing. Stabilisation of the present income tax law cannot be the ground for shelving the idea of DTC. If the same logic is applied, the indirect laws of the Centre and States have also been well established and there may not be a need for GST. In June this year, while addressing tax officers in the first ever Rajasva Gyan Sangam, the prime minister sought to double the income tax base to 10 crore assessees. Taking a cue from this, there should be a serious attempt to review the efforts towards direct tax reforms either through the DTC or in any other manner, as we cannot remain silent spectators to large-scale tax evasion when the need for revenue is more than ever before. Share the Direct Tax Base with States GST is essentially a consumption or expenditure tax. Income and expenditure are related and there should be routine functional coordination between direct and indirect tax administrations. When both the centre and the states agree to share the indirect tax base, the direct tax base can also be shared between the two. This would widen the direct tax base and improve the level of compliance as income earners are monitored by both agencies with reference to their consumption of goods and services. In the European Union (EU), from where we have borrowed many components of GST, direct taxation remains the sole responsibility of member states. However, the EU has established some harmonised standards for company and personal taxation, and member countries have taken joint measures to prevent tax avoidance and double taxation. In Canada, another prominent federal nation where VAT has stabilised, both the federal and provincial governments impose income taxes on individuals. The federal government charges the bulk of income taxes, with the provinces charging a somewhat lower percentage, except in Quebec. Quebec administers its own personal income tax system. In the United States, the federal government, most states, and some local governments levy income tax. Following these international models, the Government of India also may share the direct tax base with willing states with due modifications to the devolution formula. This idea was mooted by the present Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar, when he was the Chief Minister of Goa in the beginning of 2014. Now a rethinking has to be made on this important matter by the union as well as state governments. Need for Public Interest in Tax Reform Despite high economic growth, India ranks 130th in the Human Development Index of 2015, below Malaysia (62), Sri Lanka (73), Mexico (74), China (90), Egypt (108), Indonesia (110), Philippines (115), South Africa (116) and Namibia (126). It is said that we are going to gain additional GDP growth of 1% to 1.5% thanks to the proposed GST. Balanced growth in production as well as consumption could lead to sustainable growth. Without increasing the consumption power of a majority of the population, India cannot achieve sustainable economic growth. Therefore, tax reforms should not be aimed only at increasing production. Instead, the reforms should be aimed at augmenting revenue to assure alleviation of poverty and creating a more equitable society. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: Twenty three people, including Armen Martirosyan, deputy head of the Heritage opposition party and Andrias Ghukasyan, former presidential candidate in Armenia, were arrested as part of a criminal case on mass riots in Yerevan, the Armenian Investigative Committee said, RIA Novosti agency reported July 30. The armed group seized the headquarters of the police and interior troops in Erebuni, Yerevan, July 17, demanding the release of the participant of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, coordinator of the opposition Armenian civil initiative Founding Parliament Zhirayr Sefilyan. According to the message, a criminal case was filed upon Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 225 of the Armenian Criminal Code envisaging imprisonment, from four years to ten years and from three years to eight years accordingly. Salaam!I'm a Pakistani Muslim woman, moving from Bur dubai to Barsha with my husband in a weeks time. As exciting this new chapter seems to be for my family, it's equally daunting.Dubai can be such a lonely place at times, especially for housewives. Everyone is so busy! Finally when I made a few acquaintances in the neighborhood in bur dubai, I'm jumping to another location to start all over again. I'm a little clueless as how to find like-minded women up for a chat, a cup of tea, play dates for kids or just a friendly outing together.About me: ive been in dubai for 4 years, live with my husband and 5 year old son (who is quite a handful!). My son is starting school this year which is going to be a big change in of itself.I love baking! Cakes and cupcakes? I'm gameWould love to exchange recipes and try out new things.I really like to swim with the kid too. So I'm up for swimming sessions as well.Im a conservative person though - a hijab taking girl who also happens to have an islamic studies degree. (I've seen that cause discomfort to some so putting it out there!). I even conduct islamic educational sessions sometimes on the Quran and hadith.I have a kid so parenting and schooling advice is always welcome too.Reach out! Hi there, we are moving from AD to Eastern Algarve in October. Having nearly passed out at the cost of 2nd hand cars on our recent visit, I am now looking into costs involved in shipping our 2009 Hyundai Tucson 2.8L, as here it's worth about 4000, and I would be prepared to keep it over there until it fell apart (so to speak!). I can get it shipped pretty cheaply, and it seems whilst it's a complete pain to do, it's cheap to do the matriculation especially as it's already LHD. My questions then relate to how much it would then coat to insure, and for ongoing road tax per annum, bearing in mind it's a V6 engine, and it seems the road tax is related to emissions and engine size? Can anyone help with this please? Also everything I have read about matriculation seems to say you have to go to Lisbon or Porto? But maybe the posts I am reading are from those based in those areas. Can it be done in Faro or Tavira? Oh yes, and then are there matriculation companies who will do the running around fairly cost effectively? Being new to the country (although we lived in Soain for years), and speaking no Portuguese (yet!), I am thinking a few hundred euros could be a wise investment here? Also the Certificate of Conformity required, would I just get that from a HyundI dealer here, or I can get it online with the manufacturer? Never heard of one before.... Thanks for any advice........ Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: The Armenian National Security Service has put forward an ultimatum to the gunmen, who seized a police station in Yerevan, to lay down arms and surrender till 17:00 (GMT+4), TASS agency reported July 30. The armed group seized the headquarters of the police and interior troops in Erebuni, Yerevan, July 17, demanding the release of the participant of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, coordinator of the opposition Armenian civil initiative Founding Parliament Zhirayr Sefilyan. Friday, July 29, 2016 1. The unrestrained cheer-leading from the news media in contrast to its week-long sneer at the Republican is so shamelessly biased that American journalism risks crippling its ability to use its giant megaphone to sabotage Trump. They might at least pretend to be fair and objective. I get it: I find it horrifying that Trump is running too. The immediate and unrestrained effort to go stop him, however, is so openly unprofessional, and shows how far the news medias ethics have deteriorated just since 2008. 2. We could see and hear, during the course of the convention, how Donald Trumps boorishness and propensity for ad hominem attacks and personal insults have degraded both parties and political discourse generally. And to think, in 1988, Ann Richards was criticized for her George H.W. Bush attacks at the Democratic Convention, and her famous jibe that Bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth. The Democrats could have taken the high road, and would have benefited, as well as done the culture a favor. Nah. 3. The most unethical aspect of the convention was the partys tacit embrace of Black Lives Matters, while the BLM protesters outside were directing white journalists to stand in the back while covering its protests, around the country police officers were facing increasing abuse, and in Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby was graphically illustrating BLMs attack on the rule of law. Democrats deserve to pay a high price for this, and I am confident that they will. 4. I owe Senator Eugene McCarthy an apology. I was among the many young supporters of the rebellious anti-war Democrat who felt betrayed when McCarthy refused to address his beaten troops at the 1968 Convention. He stayed in his Chicago hotel room, angry and resentful of how the party had steam-rolled him and his movement. I thought it was cowardly and selfish. Now, after thinking ill of Clean Gene all these years, I realize he might have been right after all. Being gracious isnt ethical when you are required to become a symbolic pawn to the same dark, unethical forces that you have been telling your throngs to resist and battle despite long odds. If you pull a Cruz instead of a Sanders, you look like you are trying to torpedo your own party. Better, perhaps, to do what Gene did. His integrity told him that the best response was to neither to capitulate, nor be petulant, but just to retreat to fight another day. Im not sure he was right, but Im no longer sure he was wrong. Im sorry, Senator. 5. Before the convention was even over, Bernie Sanders announced that he wasnt really a Democrat, and was back to being an Independent. I dont know how to analyze that. Was this his intent all along? If so, he ran under false pretenses. If so, any input he had in the Democratic Party platformas if it matterswas the product of a lie. He was, however, cheated and betrayed by the party, as the Wikileaks e-mails showed, and if I were Bernie, the fact that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was symbolically scapegoated as a sacrifice to the angry Sanders throng would have been outweighed by the more symbolic hiring of her immediately by Hillary Clinton. Why would anyone want to be a member of a party that shamelessly duplicitous? 6. Which reminds me: Why would anyone want to be a member of a party that shamelessly duplicitous? 7. None of the Democratic Partys celebrity speakers were as ridiculous as Scott Baio, or the Duck Dynasty guy, but the spectacle nonetheless fed a national malady that responsible officials should want to cure. Why, for example, should Sarah Silverman have a national forum for her political views? She has no broader experience than performing; shes a college dropout, and a smart aleck without credentials. Is choosing a President a serious matter, or isnt it? With this and some of the other choices of speakers, the Democrats made their desire to dumb-down the electorate undeniable. 8. Anyone who thought Silvermans youre being ridiculous ad-lib was inspired rather than corrupt doesnt know the difference. I would also suggest that a comedienne like Silverman, who appeared on Conan OBriens show to smear Donald Trump by dressing like Hitler, is estopped from calling anyone ridiculous, especially supporters of a candidate unethically undermined by the candidate Silverman says it makes sense to support. Insisting that a candidate be honest and trustworthy is ridiculous, eh? Well, thats why Sarah is a Democrat, I guess. 9. The Bill Clinton Motto: Fool you once, shame on you, fool you 6,789 times, youre an idiot, and I m counting on it. The accolades for Clintons lovey-dovey speech to the woman he has systematically cheated on and embarrassed for decades is a powerful rebuttal to the theory of evolution, as the flat learning curve it reveals demonstrates that human have the intelligence of howler monkeys. How gullible does someone have to be to believe anything Bill Clinton says or any emotion he projects? 10. As yet another exhibition of grief porn, the Democrats gave a speaking slot to the father of an American -Muslim soldier killed in action and posthumously decorated. Let me ask you, he rhetorically asked Trump. Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. He pulled a copy of the Constitution from his pocket. In this document, look for the words liberty and equal protection of law. Democrats would be advised not to use Trumps cavalier attitude to the Constitution against Trump. He probably hasnt read it, so his idiotic remarks about torture and banning Muslims at least have the excuse of ignorance. Hillary, a lawyer and former legislator, has surely read the Constitution, yet attacks the Second Amendment, supports legislation that would violate the Fifth Amendment and due process, advocates the first proposed amendment to the First Amendment in our history so a federal agency can ban books and movies using the law properly declared unconstitutional in Citizens United, and is running under the banner of a party that supports censorship and speech codes on campus, as well as denying due process to students accused of rape. I detect no discernible gap between the two candidates respect for the Constitution and Bill of Rights. AUSTIN The Texas Education Agency wants to dig into records of Harmony Public Schools following complaints the states largest charter school operator has funneled contracts to Turkish-owned vendors who have ties to the organizations leadership. The state agency also wants to explore whether the 31,000-student charter school system has misused federal and state funds after Harmony allegedly guaranteed a $1.9 million bond debt of a Turkish charter school network in Arkansas. Officials with the Houston-based charter operator contend the allegations are baseless and are part of a political move by the Turkish government to discredit the school system. Ive never seen anything like this said attorney Robert Schulman, who represents Harmony Public Schools. Registered foreign agents are using the TEAs complaint mechanisms to malign the largest charter school system in the state of Texas and the largest and one of the most successful STEM schools in the nation. The TEA probe into the inner workings of Harmony stems from a complaint filed by agents of the Republic of Turkey who argue the charter school network has ties to Fethullah Gulen, an expatriate Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania who the Turkish government believes masterminded the recent failed coup to take over that country. Turkish leaders have asked the United States to turn over Gulen. The 38-page complaint was filed in May by Amsterdam & Partners LLP, a law firm hired by the Republic of Turkey at a cost of at least $50,000 a month to investigate the school system. The complaint, which was amended this month to include accusations about how the school system issues bonds, accused Harmony of an illegal hiring scheme, which the state is not investigating at this time. The complaint also accuses the school of supporting Gulen and using state and federal dollars to support what is referred to as the Gulen movement seeking social change in Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly has accused Gulen of trying to overthrow the Turkish government. TEA officials asked the school system for copies of documents pertaining to contracts, bonds, purchasing agreements, vendors and a list of employees involved in purchasing from July of 2014 to July of 2016. Harmony has until Aug. 11 to respond. The department will use the information to decide whether to launch a special accreditation investigation of the network, a spokesperson said. Weve received a complaint and so were asking them for more information to see if theres any substance to the complaint, spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said. State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Cantor, steered attention to the embattled charter school earlier this month, asking the attorney general to begin its own investigation into Harmonys hiring practices and use of taxpayer funds. The attorney generals office on Friday declined to comment on whether it would investigate the school. The charter network, which claims a 98 percent graduation rate, has attempted to bat away criticism from Amsterdam & Partners since the firm first filed a 90-part open records request of Harmony last year. Harmony officials say they welcome the opportunity to repudiate the preposterous claims and clear its name. andrea.zelinski@chron.com twitter.com/andreazelinski The government has released new figures highlighting the growth of the local food and drinks processing sector in Northern Ireland. Bu due to difficulties in key agri-food commodity markets, the rate of growth was lower than in previous years. The Ulster Farmers' Union welcomed the report, emphasising the importance of the food industry to the local economy, but warned about the slowing growth rate. The union explained that farmers have been 'losing money for two years.' UFU president, Barclay Bell said: "We cannot ignore the reality that the farmers who supply the raw materials on which the industry has built its quality image are suffering badly and in most sectors have been losing money since 2014. "This is not sustainable and it is not the foundation we need to have for a successful food industry," said Mr Bell. UFU president, Barclay Bell Heavy losses in recent years The largest sectors contributing to the total gross turnover of Northern Ireland food and drink processing industry continue to be beef and lamb, dairy and poultry, which ultimately help to drive the food industry in terms of exports and employment. Despite the growth of the overall agri-food sector, beef, lamb and dairy farmers have suffered heavy losses in recent years. Northern Irelands pigs, arable and vegetable producers have also fallen victim to dysfunction in the supply chain and low farm gate prices. "The weakening of the pound in recent weeks will improve the competitive position of the industry and farmers. "While there are opportunities, Brexit does pose a huge challenge for the entire industry so it will be important that we work together and tackle it with a collective voice. 'Market access is a great challenge' "Continuing support for farmers is a big issue but market access is just as great a challenge. "Without that we will not have markets for our food, and that would disastrous for farmers, processors and the entire Northern Ireland economy," said Mr Bell. The UFU president underlined that he was not trying to take away from the successes of the food industry, particularly in the year of celebrations for Northern Ireland food and drink. "As farmers we are immensely proud of what the industry does with the quality raw material that comes off farms. "But we are realistic enough to know that the food chain can only succeed if everyone in it is profitable. "That is not the case for farmers now and has not been for some time," said Mr Bell. Asda has confirmed it will stop selling eggs that come from hens in cages by 2025. The move comes after mounting pressure for Asda, which is the last major UK supermarket to announce the move, to follow its competitors in selling barn-reared and free-range eggs only. Asdas parent company, Walmart, announced a company-wide policy to phase out caged eggs by 2025 in April but at the time Asda remained tight-lipped on whether it planned to follow suit. This year has seen a number of high-profile retailers and supermarkets decide to end the sale of caged eggs. A schoolgirl who petitioned Tesco to stop the sale of caged hen eggs earlier this year, with success, has now won over Morrisons and Asda. 14-year-old Lucy Gavaghan, the petition creator said: "2016 will be the year that a total ban on caged hen farming will be closer than it has ever been." 'Year of caged hen farming ban' Last 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, Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Morrisons, Burger King and Walmart - have all announced a complete transition to cage-free eggs. A new study reveals that the EU would need 19 million more hectares of farm land to produce the same amount of food if countries don't start innovating with plant breeding. The report warns of a challenging policy and regulatory framework which needs to be improved to maximize the benefits. Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said: "The report shows that innovation in plant breeding can count for a lot, enhancing overall productivity in EU arable farming by 74% to enable the EU to help combat hunger and malnutrition globally." The same study shows that genetic crop improvements in EU arable farming boosts the EU economy significantly, adding over 14 billion euros to the EUs Gross Domestic Product. It also boosts growth and jobs in the EU and enhances arable farmers annual income by an estimated 30% in the last 15 years. Environmental benefits Substantial environmental benefits are also a result of plant breeding since it helps save scarce land resources around the globe by generating higher yields per unit of area, the study claims. Without plant breeding for the majority of arable crops in the EU in the last 15 years, global agricultural acreage would have to be increased by over 19 million hectares, the study adds. But it warns that EU plant breeders in the EU face a challenging policy and regulatory framework. They should be encouraged to invest in new breeding technologies instead of being hindered. The obviously high societal rates of return plant breeding investments generate need to be recognized more and supported politically through proper administration, sound legislation, higher financial support and overall awareness raising, the study states. The UKs farming unions are co-ordinating efforts to lay out a plan of mapping out the future for post-Brexit farming. The Presidents of the four UK farming Unions will meet at NFU England and Wales headquarters at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire on Monday (1 August) as part of that effort. Ahead of the meeting the four farming Presidents Meurig Raymond of NFU; Allan Bowie of NFU Scotland; Stephen James of NFU Cymru and Barclay Bell of Ulster Farmers Union have issued a joint statement. It reads: "UK farming is a strong, dynamic sector with huge potential. "That is why the coming months and years are vitally important to develop the right domestic farm policies that enable our great industry to prosper. "We will ensure that our collective voice and that of UK farmers - is heard" "Theres no doubt there will be hurdles to overcome which is why the four UK farming unions are committed to working together to ensure that farmers interests are protected in the UKs negotiated exit from Europe. "We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop the right policies and the best trade deals. "Our role now, working together, is to show leadership across our respective borders and help to shape our future. "NFU, NFU Scotland, NFU Cymru and Ulster Farmers Union have a longstanding and close relationship that will be even more important going forward as we face the challenges and opportunities which lie ahead. "We have already engaged on several occasions since the outcome of the UKs vote of the EU Referendum and will come together next week to share plans and our vision for a thriving UK agriculture. "We will ensure that our collective voice and that of UK farmers - is heard. "Agriculture is the bedrock of the UKs largest manufacturing industry worth 108 billion. "With this as our mandate we will continue to push our devolved governments to ensure food and farming is front and centre of any new domestic agriculture policy and for its potential as a real force to deliver the UKs public goods is recognised. "Politics change, sometimes dramatically as we have seen in recent weeks, but farmings absolute importance to the UK does not; farmers will continue to feed our nation and play a part in feeding the world. "Farmers will continue to provide the raw ingredients for a thriving food and drink sector. "Together, the UK farming unions are 70,000 members strong. This combined strength will be vital for the journey ahead." Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: Salvador Khechoyan, an ambulance doctor, taken hostage by the gunmen, who seized a police station in Yerevan, ran away, Taguhi Stepanyan, director of Ambulance CJSC, told RIA Novosti agency July 30. "Khechoyan was not released by the gunmen, Stepanyan added. After two injured gunmen were taken out from the territory of the police station, Khechoyan ran away. According to the message, doctor David Tonoyan was released by the gunmen earlier. The armed group seized the headquarters of the police and interior troops in Erebuni, Yerevan, July 17, demanding the release of the participant of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, coordinator of the opposition Armenian civil initiative Founding Parliament Zhirayr Sefilyan. Pitts: Fayetteville opens senior center with lake view; tennis complex in future The Bill Crisp Senior Center, located in west Cumberland County, wows people who attend its ribbon-cutting on Tuesday. A march to Yerevans Khorenatsi street has kicked off in support of the Sansa Tsrer armed group, which has seized the Erebuni police station. Member of Anti-crisis Initiative Council Albert Baghdasaryan asked the people whether they want to march by the city center or head for Khornetasi street, NEWS.am reports. Finally, Baghdasaryan announced that they will march to the Republic Square, where they will decide which route to take. The march will move along Mashtots Avenue and Amiryan street to the Republic Square. Meanwhile we will decide what to do, Baghdasaryan said. The police used violent force against the protestors gathered in Sari Tagh district and Khorenatsi street on Friday. 165 people were detained, 73 people being hospitalized. Moreover, a dozen of journalists have suffered as a result of the actions by the police. Matt Damon thinks Alicia Vikander is a "once-in-a-generation" actress. Matt Damon The 45-year-old actor has praised his 'Jason Bourne' co-star for her versatility and ability when it comes to her acting. He said: "I just think of these once-in-a-generation actresses who kind of explode onto the scene and what strikes me about her is I can't see where her limits are. There's been six or seven recent performances and they're all really different and they're all going in different places and I don't see the boundaries yet. I'm really excited to see what she does next. "She's going to keep working with great people because great people all want to work with her. In my experience, I knew a lot when I was 27, but the next 18 years were, it was nothing but fun because I was doing what I loved to do and kind of by osmosis, you get better at it because of the people you're around and working with. I don't know where she's going to go but I'm excited to see it." And Matt is so glad the movie's director Paul Greengrass was able to sign up Alicia, 27, for a role in the film. He added to PEOPLE magazine: "We were lucky to get her. Everyone in Hollywood is trying to get Alicia in their movie right now." Meanwhile, Alicia previously admitted she feels "scared" her career dreams are coming true. She said: "To be quite honest, it's nerve-racking, the way these films sort of piled up. It's a mixed feeling when everything you've ever wanted in making films is coming true, and yet you feel scared because it's happening all at once. "Suddenly you're in rooms with people you've looked up to for years, the Judi Denches. You wonder if you're good, if you have what it takes. You carry an anxiety around with you - I've met many actors now who will say this - and the lonely feeling that this could be your one chance." Notwithstanding a special concessional scheme allowing duty-free import of specific textile products from the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean nation has been steadily losing out on its market share of woven cotton bottoms in the US.Although U.S. imports of woven cotton bottoms under the Earned Import Allowance Program (EIAP) tripled to $8.2 million in 2015 from $2.7 million in 2014, the value was less than 25 % of the peak value of $33.1 million in 2010. Notwithstanding a special concessional scheme allowing duty-free import of specific textile products from the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean nation has been steadily losing out on its market share of woven cotton bottoms in the US. Although U.S. imports of woven cotton bottoms under the Earned Import Allowance Program (EIAP) tripled to $8.2 million in...# Quantity-wise too, it was 41 % less than the imports in 2010, the first full year of the program, according to the Seventh Annual Review of EIAP for Dominican Republic by the US International Trade Commission.Industry representatives describe the $5.4 million increase over 2014 to reach $8.2 million as incidental and not attributable to incentives provided by the program.The Review further stated that the Dominican Republic government and industry sources in both countries indicated that the program in its present form is not providing enough incentives to substantially boost Dominican apparel exports to the U.S. market.The Dominican Republic is a small supplier of woven cotton bottoms (pants and trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches and shorts, and skirts and divided skirts) to the United States; it continued to lose U.S. market share in 2015.The EIAP provides an uncapped duty-free benefit for U.S. imports of certain woven cotton bottoms assembled in the Dominican Republic from third-country fabric.In order to qualify under the EIAP, the bottoms must be accompanied by a certificate documenting the purchase of certain U.S.-produced woven cotton fabric at a ratio of 2 for 1.Under this formula, for every 2 units of qualifying fabric purchased for apparel production in the Dominican Republic, a 1-unit credit is received that can be used to import apparel made with third-country fabric into the United States.Based on information available to USITC, since the program's inception, EIAP has not significantly boosted exports of bottoms from the Central American nation to the United States.Although 12 U S and Dominican companies are registered to use EIAP, only 5 firms are currently using the program, the same number as reported in the sixth annual review implying that few entities find EIAP attractive enough to take the plunge. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India As part of its initiative to upscale the outreach of its social progamme for women workers in Myanmar's garment industry, a European Union funded project called Smart Myanmar organized a study mission to women's centres in Bangladesh to exchange ideas and share experiences which could be replicated in their own society.The mission, comprising seven delegates drawn from Smart Myanmar, Thone Pann Hla, a civil society organization of women garment workers and two factory workers, met their Bangladeshi counterparts running women centres or cafes for workers in the garment sector and industry affiliates in Dhaka to gain an insight into best practices on outreach and educational programmes being followed in Bangladesh. As part of its initiative to upscale the outreach of its social progamme for women workers in Myanmar's garment industry, a European Union funded project called Smart Myanmar organized a study mission to women's centres in Bangladesh to exchange ideas and share experiences which could be replicated in their own society. The mission, comprising seven...# Thone Pann Hla has been running a Sunday cafe (womens centre) in Yangon since 2014 and is seeking to expand their approach to provide educational services and community support for a greater number of garment employees with the help of Smart Myanmar and its local partner Myanmar Garments Manufacturers Association (MGMA).In Dhaka, the group was hosted by Awaj Foundation, which is operating more than half a dozen women's cafes in Bangladesh. It visited three women cafes and also met support groups such as legal advisors and medical support officers for the cafes.Later, the group went to a garments factory in the Gazipur Industrial Zone, on the outskirts of Dhaka where the Smart staff met representatives of a Garment and Textile programme called Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry, being implemented by GIZ.On their return from Dhaka on July 27, the delegates said they had found the exchange of know-how and experiences on women cafes and compliance awards very useful and that SMART could learn a lot from them.Describing the exchange trip as valuable, Ms Khine Khine Nwe, Secretary General of MGMA said the timing of the trip was perfect as Smart and Thone Pann Hla, are already preparing to equip a second Sunday Cafe in October this year.Through this women garment workers club, we are expecting to promote the capacity of each and every women garment worker individual to upgrade their lifestyle. The experience they have gained from Dhaka was immensely instructive as we seek to replicate and even strengthen the existing approach, Khine Khine New said in a press release issued by Smart Myanmar.From this exchange trip we have learnt ways to improve our current and future Sunday Cafes, said Ms Than Dar Ko, Director of Thone Pann Hla, observing that it would lead towards women in the garment sector become more efficient and have healthier lifestyle. Diplomats of seven African countries have invited Coimbatore's trading and industrial community to invest in their countries, in different sectors including textiles.The diplomats were speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Industry (CII) in Coimbatore on Africa Seminar Series the Land of Unexplored Potential. Two of them particularly highlighted the textiles and apparel sector where Indian companies can invest in their countries. Diplomats of seven African countries have invited Coimbatore's trading and industrial community to invest in their countries, in different sectors including textiles. The diplomats were speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Industry (CII) in Coimbatore on Africa Seminar Series the Land of Unexplored Potential. Two of them...# Mali's ambassador, Niankoro Yeah Samake said Coimbatore is of special interest to his country because cotton is a major export product for the country and Coimbatore is a hub for textile industry. In February 2017, a trade mission from India will visit Mali to explore opportunities in different sectors including cotton in that country.Minister Counsellor and Charge d' Affairs of the Ethiopian Embassy Molalign Asfaw, pointed out that Ethiopia has registered double digit growth for more than a decade and over 600 Indian companies have registered in the country. Of these, 250 have started operations. He said the country has 12 industrial parks and offers several tax incentives to investors and there are enough opportunities for textiles and apparel industries.Diplomats from Uganda, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Mauritius underlined the resources in their countries and sought investments in fields such as agro processing, leather, mining, road building, manufacturing etc. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The much awaited announcement about Dodmane Huduga has been made, audio will be launched on August 14. The makers are planning a grand event for the launch of the music. Appu fans were disappointed when the news of postponement came out and this announcement of audio release will surely cheer them up. Along with the audio, teaser is also expected to be out. As per the sources, a few sequences featuring Rebel Star Ambareesh as 'don' will be shot very soon. These scenes will be a part of the flashback in the movie and is said to be very important for the movie. Simultaneously, the post-production work is in full swing. Earlier, Suri had planned to wrap the work by the end of July and release the movie in August but Suri is not in a hurry to release the movie, his team is putting extra efforts to make this landmark movie (25th movie) more special for Appu and his fans. V Harikrishna has composed the music and album is being released through his label, D Beats. Jayant Kaikini and Yograj Bhat has penned the lyrics. The song sung by Shivanna, which is shot in multiple cities with fans is said to be the highlight of the album. M Govindu has produced the movie under Ajay Films. Chintan Vikas of Jayammana Maga fame has worked on the script of the movie along with Suri. Deepu S Kumar is taking care of the editing department. Even before the audio release, an announcement of the movie being released widely in Europe was made by overseas distributors. Also, they are planning for a premier show abroad for which Ambareesh and Appu have been invited. Turkeys military has been cleared of Fetullah Terrorist Organization-linked elements after the Supreme Military Council completed its work Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday, Anadolu reported. Speaking at a Martyrs' Memorial Day at the presidential complex in Ankara to commemorate victims of the July 15 coup attempt, Yildirim said life in Turkey had returned to normal after the failed coup was crushed. Those who show tolerance to traitors are also traitors themselves, he said. Yildirim noted that Turkish people were continuing to take to the streets and squares across the country for the sake of protecting democracy in the country. The power of the people has overcome the power of the tanks, he said. On Thursday, the Supreme Military Council had held a meeting under the chairmanship of Yildirim in Ankara, which decided to keep Gen. Hulusi Akar as Turkey's chief of general staff. Turkey's government has repeatedly said the deadly coup attempt, which martyred more than 230 people and injured nearly 2,200 others, was organized by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen's followers and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization. Gulen is also accused of running 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. Mohanlal, the complete actor has once again proved that he is the most popular actor of M'town. Interestingly, Mohanlal crossed 1 million followers in the popular social networking platform, Twitter. He is the first Mollywood star to cross the 1 million mark on Twitter. The Mohanlal fans and the entire industry are extremely excited to know about Mohanlal's new Twitter record. The actor, who always makes sure that he connects well with the audience, is highly active in almost all social media platforms. He is an active blog writer and expresses his views through his official site. Mohanlal is in the third position when it comes to the list of Malayalam actors with the highest number of likes on Facebook. As of now, the actor's official Facebook page has crossed 3.8 million likes. Interestingly, Mohanlal is all set to make a place for himself in the Telugu movie industry, with the two upcoming releases, Manamantha and Janatha Garage. Reportedly, Manamantha will hit the theatres on August 5. In Malayalam, Mohanlal's first release of the year will be Oppam, the upcoming Priyadarshan movie, which is an Onam release. His another highly anticipated movie, Puli Murugan will be released on October 7. NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwired - November 25, 2016) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until January 9, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in securities class action lawsuit against Agria Corporation (NYSE: GRO), if they purchased the Company's American Depositary Shares ("ADRs") between December 16, 2011 through November 4, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. What You May Do If you purchased shares of Agria and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by January 9, 2017. About the Lawsuit Agria and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On November 4, 2016, Agria revealed that it received a letter from the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") stating that the NYSE decided to commence proceedings to delist Agria ADRs from the NYSE. The NYSE's letter further claimed that Agria: (i) through a top executive and other intermediaries engaged in trading intended to artificially inflate Agria's stock price, including to improperly avoid having the company delisted for failing to comply with NYSE's continued listing standards; and (ii) provided incomplete, misleading, or false information in connection with investigations related to these issues. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Contact: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Lewis Kahn Managing Partner lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com 1-877-515-1850 206 Covington St. Madisonville, LA 70447 Back in 1996, I purchased a Royal Enfield Bullet, a shiny red and chrome Standard Deluxe. It was my first motorcycle ever; Ive never owned anything ever since I sold it five years later to a doctor. I loved that motorcycle, then. I know better now. I still see it sometimes, running around in my colony, having passed through several hands. It holds no more joy for me, but I am still amazed to see that almost two decades later, there are others who find joy in her. And that to me is phenomenal; there is no other product in all of India... New Delhi: Tax returns for 2015-16 (assessment year 2016-17) were originally to be filed by 31 July. But in view of the day-long strike at public sector banks, the deadline has been extended to 5 August. For Jammu and Kashmir, the deadline will be 31 August in view of the ongoing turmoil in the state. "In view of today's bank strike and disturbance in Jammu and Kashmir, the due date of IT return filing is being extended," Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said in a tweet on Friday. For assessees across India liable to file I-T returns by 31 July, the deadline is extended up to 5 August, he said. "For assessees in Jammu and Kashmir, this date has been extended to 31 August," he added. Filing tax returns depends on the source of income, i.e whether one is a salaried person or a company. Further the tax forms are also different; IRT-1, 2 and 2A for a salaried person and ITR-5 and 6 for companies. Apart from tax forms, another very important document is Form 16 which an individual receives from the company. The form is divided into Part A and B. Apart from Form 16 one should also have bank statements, interest and housing loan certificates (if any) during the time of filing of returns. Once the various tax return forms have been completed, one needs to the document in the e-filing website. More importantly, for individuals who are not earning more than Rs 5 lakhs, e-filing is mandatory. On the successful completion of 'e-filing', the individual will receive a receipt which one will have to submit online. With inputs from other agencies New Delhi: BCCI President and BJP MP Anurag Singh Thakur was on Friday commissioned into the Territorial Army (TA) in the rank of Lieutenant. He was conferred the ranks by Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag in a 'Commissioning' ceremony held at Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence at South Block in the presence of military dignitaries and his family members. Lieutenant Thakur cleared Services Selection Board (SSB) and was found fit for joining the Territorial Army. The officer has been commissioned in 124 Inf Bn (TA) SIKH, a statement by the Army said. "I think it is an honour to be in the Indian army. It was my childhood dream which has come true today. I come from Himachal Pradesh which is known as 'veer bhoomi' and many soldiers have scarified their life for the country, especially the first Param Vir Chakra awardee was from Himachal Pradesh Major Somnath Sharma," Thakur later said at a separate event. He said that during the Kargil War, the maximum number of people sacrificed their lives for their country came from Himachal Pradesh. "Out of four Param Vir Chakras, two were given to Himachali youths. I feel honoured today and I pledge myself towards my country every step I will take will be in the direction where I can serve my country," he said. Territorial Army is part of Indian Army and is manned by officers and men who are embodied for training for two months in a year. Their actual role is during national emergencies, war and in support of Army when they relieve Regular Army for operations. The Territorial Army also guards vital installations like Headquarters, Ammunition Dumps, Airports among others as also vital lines of communications. Dhubri: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday visited flood affected areas in Dhubri and Chirang districts and directed the district administration to accelerate relief and rescue operations. The Chief Minister visited a relief camp set up at Pratap Chandra Higher Secondary School at Gauripur and took stock of the medical, drinking water and other ancillary facilities being given to the people lodged there. Asking the administration to take special care of all kinds of medical emergencies and the health of the infants, children and elderly people in the relief camps, Sonowal directed the medical department to keep an eye to tackle the outbreak of any epidemic. He also directed the veterinary and animal husbandry department to supply fodder stock in adequate quantity. The Chief Minister convened a review meeting with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and other line departments and took stock of the relief and rescue operations pressed in to help the marooned people. Since the current wave of flood compelled several people to take shelter in the relief camps, Sonowal asked the administration to provide them with adequate relief materials and even dispatch relief materials to the houses of those who were not rendered homeless but have suffered in the deluge. He has asked the DC to keep vigil on embankments and other vulnerable areas likely to inflict more damages, besides the district administration to undertake repair work on the dykes if there is any breach and ensure security at the relief camps round the clock. In his second lap of tour on Friday, Sonowal held another review meeting with the district administration of Bongaigaon and Chirang and took stock of the measures. Sonowal asked the DCs to provide all facilities including sanitary and security to the camp inmates and emphasised that from the next year monitoring and supervision of embankments will be undertaken well ahead of the onset of monsoon. After the review meeting, the chief minister visited Dooma village under Sidli revenue circle and inspected the breach on the embankment of the Aie river which displaced nearly 40 families. Sonowal directed the Water Resources Department and district administration to repair the breach on a war footing and take steps to redress the erosion. Pointing out any kind of breach poses danger to public sector Bogaigaon Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd and other areas, he stressed the need for a permanent solution to the problem. Sonowal also visited a relief camp at Subaijhar Higher Secondary School and interacted with people taking refuge there. Guwahati: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who arrived here on Saturday to review the flood situation, went on an aerial survey of flood-affected areas with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. "Home Minister accompanied by CM Assam Sarbananda Sonwal and Jitendra Singh (DONER minister) conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas (in Assam)," the Home Minister's office (HMO) tweeted. HM accompanied by CM Assam Shri @sarbanandsonwal and Dr. Jitendra Singh conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas pic.twitter.com/E7YNVfCzSD HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 Singh is also to visit the Bhagatgaon camp set up for the flood-affected residents in Morigaon district and meet the state government officials before returning to Delhi in the evening. "He will survey Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga. Home Minister will also meet the people affected by the Assam floods at Bhatgaon camp in Morigaon district," HHMO said in another tweet. HM reached Guwahati to visit the flood affected areas of Assam. He will survey Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga pic.twitter.com/f0pFnl4Ilt HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 The Home Minister Shri @rajnathsingh will also meet the people affected by the Assam floods at Bhatgaon camp in Morigaon district HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 Singh on Saturday morning left for Assam to take stock of the situation following heavy rain and floods that have left at least 20 persons dead and over 17 lakh affected across the state's 21 districts. Earlier in the morning Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said he would be accompanying Singh during his visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. "Leaving with Rajnathji for Arunachal-Assam flood survey," Rijiju tweeted. Ahmedabad: Dalit rights groups will hold a mass gathering in the Sabarmati area of Ahmedabad on Sunday to register their protest over the brutal thrashing of community members in Una on 11 July, after organisers agreed to hold the event at a changed venue for which police gave their nod. Earlier, the organisers had decided to hold the event outside the collector's office, to which the police had denied permission saying it might lead to major traffic snarls. The gathering will now be held at a ground near Acher depot in Sabarmati. Among the special invitees are family members of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from Hyderabad Central University who had committed suicide early this year. Family members of victims from Thangadh in Surendranagar district who were killed in police firing during a protest gathering in 2012 have also been invited, the organisers said, adding leaders from both BJP and Congress have been asked to stay away from the event. "The state government and police have been trying to prevent Dalits from uniting and coming under one banner, but considering the anger and mood of Dalits, police had to surrender and allow us to hold the event," a Dalit leader and convener of the event, Jignesh Mevani said. He said the response from community members from across the state has been immense. "Family members of Rohith Vemula and Thangadh victims have been contacted to participate in the Sunday gathering. Rohith's mother is not well, but his elder brother will participate. They will expose BJP's role in Rohith's suicide. Valjibhai Rathod, a member of the family of Thangadh police firing victims has also been requested to come," Mevani said. The event is being organised under the banner of 'Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti' to protest the recent incident where Dalit youth in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district were thrashed and to highlight cases of atrocities against community members in the state, organisers said. Govind Parmar, another member of the organising committee, urged that those participating in the gathering should see that the event passes off in a peaceful manner. The situation in flood-ravaged Assam continued to be grim on Saturday as the death toll climbed to 25. Union home minister Rajnath Singh arrived in the state on Saturday to review the flood situation. He also took an aerial survey of the flood affected areas alongwith chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and held a review meeting. Guwahati (Assam): HM Rajnath Singh holds review meeting over flood situation in the state, CM Sonowal also present pic.twitter.com/Nbs0eg1M3g ANI (@ANI_news) July 30, 2016 HM accompanied by CM Assam Shri @sarbanandsonwal and Dr. Jitendra Singh conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas pic.twitter.com/E7YNVfCzSD HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 He also met the inmates of a relief camp at Bhakatgaon in Morigaon district. HM meeting the family members of those affected by the floods at Bhagatgaon relief camp in Assam pic.twitter.com/h1xRimmsNC HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 The floods have affected nearly 19 lakh people across more than 3,300 villages in 22 districts of Assam. The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Guwahati, Nematighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns. NDRF, SDRF and the Indian Army are helping the district administration in evacuating the affected population to safe places. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams with deep divers have also been sent to the 27 fire stations of the state. Sonowal declared an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the families of each of the deceased. He visited the flood affected areas in Dhubri and Chirang districts and directed the district administration to accelerate relief and rescue operations. Inspected flood affected areas in Chirang & Dhubri distrct. Met district admin to review relief & rescue operation pic.twitter.com/db39x1CcZ2 Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) July 29, 2016 Asking the administration to pay special attention to all kinds of medical emergencies, including infant healthcare, and of children and elderly people at relief camps, Sonowal directed the medical department to keep an eye to tackle the outbreak of any epidemic. Assam is not the only state paralysed by incessant rain and floods; Bihar, Haryana and Karnataka too have been hit and are struggling to provide relief to the affected people. Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh too have reported incidents of flooding. Thousands of people are living are in makeshift shelters in western Meghalaya after over 23,000 households were submerged. However, no loss of life has been reported from the state so far. The flood situation in Arunachal Pradesh too continues to be grim. Most of the roads have been damaged severely and movement of vehicles on NH-52 was suspended due to flood water. Here's an overview of all the states which have been hit by incessant rains: Bihar About 22 lakh people have been affected and 26 have died in Bihar. Kishanganj alone accounted for eight flood-related deaths, while seven others perished in Purnia district, the state's disaster management department said. An area of 1.83 lakh hectares has been submerged, while crops spread over 0.83 lakh hectares were damaged, though the quantum of loss was being assessed. The value of damage to houses and hutments stood at Rs 67.91 lakh, even as assessment was being made about value of damaged public properties. The state government has deployed 102 medical teams to treat sick people in the flood-affected areas. Arrangements have been made for food and related materials for the flood-affected people. Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday conducted an aerial survey of the five flood-hit areas. He held a review meeting with district magistrates and superintendents of police of Purnia division to take stock of the pace of relief and rehabilitation work in the inundated areas. Bengaluru Bengaluru has also been battling floods and traffic jams after the incessant rains on Thursday and Friday. Areas around the Bellandur lake, Hosur Main Road, NICE road junction below Electronic City fly-over, Old Madras Raod, Hulimavu, Arekere, Bannerhatta Road, Bommanahalli-Silkboard are all flooded. Over the past two days, the city's vast Bellandur lake has not only been overflowing but has started frothing. The fire department deployed boats in Kodichikkanahalli to evacuate stranded people from their buildings, officials said. Home Minister G Parameshwara said that he has instructed traffic officials to be on field to ease traffic. Agreeing that lack of proper infrastructure was also adding to the problem, he said government was taking steps in this regard. "I have spoken to the corporation's commissioner in the morning; he has deployed his staff at places. They are working to pump out water from clogged areas wherever possible," he added. Chief minister Siddaramaiah said that he is closely monitoring the flood situation and has spoken to his Cabinet to visit the affected areas. (2/2)Govt.also sent senior IAS officers to GGN to coordinate &speed up operations earlier,following CM @mlkhattar 's call for prompt action CMO Haryana (@cmohry) July 29, 2016 Gurugram The chock-a-block traffic situation at Gurugram eased slightly on Saturday with police officials deployed at 14 crucial points in the city, including the Hero Honda Chowk, to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Traffic jams on account of waterlogging were reported from Sohna Road and other major roads. Long tailbacks were witnessed in gridlocked roads in Gurugram over the last two days due to severe waterlogging on National Highway-8 after heavy rains lashed Delhi's satellite city, leaving thousands of commuters stranded and forcing authorities to clamp prohibitory orders near Hero Honda Chowk. The met department has predicted lighter rain over the weekend but expects intense showers again on Tuesday. Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi said the situation aggravated on Friday evening due to an unexpected 46 mm of rainfall that was recorded within three hours as against 190 mm rainfall recorded between 1 June and 27 July in the city. Schools were also shut for two days. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda blamed the Manohar Lal Khattar government for the chaos. "It is a serious situation, I went to Parliament on Thursday and learnt from various journalists and other people that they were stranded for long. Who is responsible for this situation? The government could have avoided this situation," he told reporters. The Khattar government said that they have deployed SDRF and India Reserve Battalion to ensure smooth flow of traffic. (1/2) Govt. deployed State Disaster Response Force & India Reserve Battalion to ensure smooth flow of traffic in Gurgaon earlier today. CMO Haryana (@cmohry) July 29, 2016 (2/2)Govt.also sent senior IAS officers to GGN to coordinate &speed up operations earlier,following CM @mlkhattar 's call for prompt action CMO Haryana (@cmohry) July 29, 2016 With inputs from agencies. Thane: Thane Police has frozen at least eight bank accounts--holding over Rs 90 lakh -- of former film actress Mamta Kulkarni in Gujarat, Mumbai and some adjoining areas in connection with the multi-crore ephedrine racket. Kulkarni has already been named as a prime accused in the case linked to international drug lord and her partner Vicky Goswami. According to a senior police official, all the eight bank accounts were frozen this week as part of the probe in the case, as her properties and bank accounts are suspected to have helped the drug cartel. Police found that Kulkarni held a sum of Rs 67 lakh (in foreign currency) in a single account with a private bank in Malad. The rest -- Rs 26 lakhs -- were stowed away in seven other seized bank accounts at Kalyan, Badlapur (in Thane), Parel, Nariman Point, Dharavi, Rajkot and Bhuj (in Gujarat). Investigators are also questioning the elder sister of Kulkarni and others who dealt with the bank payments, he said. Also, police have approached authorities to get details of properties owned by the accused and are expected to attach it. In all, there are 17 accused in the case, of whom 10 were arrested and rest are still at large. Police has already filed chargesheet in the Thane district court against the arrested accused. Police had earlier stated that Kulkarni who had a significant role to play in the racket attended crucial meetings at Kenya and Dubai, where drug deals were struck and the modalities for logistics were finalised. The arrests were made when police seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra's Solapur district in April. According to police, ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing. The ephedrine power is used for sniffing and is also used to produce popular party drug methamphetamine. The accused who are currently in jail are: Sagar Suresh Powle, Mayur Suresh Sukhdhare, Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri, Dhaneshwar Rajaram Swami, Puneet Ramesh Shringi, Manoj Tejraj Jain, Hardipsingh Indersingh Gill, Narendra Dhirajlal Kacha, Babasaheb Shankar Dhotre and Jai Mulji Mukhi. Those on the run include Kishore Rathod, said to be the son of a former politician, and an accused identified only as Abdullah, who is based abroad, as well as two of his associates, police said. The entire drug racket first came to light when Thane Police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug case on 12 April. His interrogation led police to Solapur, where they conducted raids in the premises of Avon Lifesciences on 14 April. An Istanbul court on July 29 arrested 17 Turkish journalists over links to the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is blamed for this month's failed coup, charging them with membership of a "terror group", Hurriyet reported Twenty-one journalists had their cases heard by the court, with four being freed and 17 placed under arrest ahead of trial, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Those arrested include the veteran journalist Nazl Ilcak as well as the former correspondent for the pro-Gulen Zaman daily Hanm Busra Erdal, it added. Among the four freed was commentator Bulent Mumay and Hurriyet reporter Arda Akn, who was released on the condition of judicial control. Some 11 wanted journalists have reportedly fled abroad while the search for nine others is ongoing, according to officials. Detention warrants were issued for 42 journalists on July 25, as part of ongoing investigations against members of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) says was behind the failed coup attempt. Meanwhile, a total of 131 media organizations were shut down over suspected links to the U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday left for Assam to take take stock of the situation in flood affected areas of the state. Rajnath Singh tweeted Leaving New Delhi for Guwahati to take stock of the situation in flood affected areas of Assam. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) July 30, 2016 At least 20 persons were killed and over 17 lakh affected due to floods in the state's 21 districts. The minister is expected to make an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga in Assam. He will also visit Bhagatgaon camp set up for the flood-affected residents in Morigaon district and meet Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and state government officials before returning to Delhi in the evening. New Delhi: Government on Friday said in Rajya Sabha that the possibility of sabotage in the mysterious disappearance of AN-32 aircraft of IAF was "comparatively very less" and informed that the help of the US has also been sought in locating the plane. All types of techniques are being used to locate the aircraft, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said while replying to clarifications sought by members on his suo motu statement on the disappearance of the aircraft on 22 July. As members expressed concern and raised questions over how the plane went missing, he said, "I can't speculate because we are searching for it and I will not like to speculate. But I can say only this much. The possibility, although we are checking all angles, of any sabotage is comparatively very less because they have standard operating procedures." While sharing the concern of the members, he gave details of the operation being carried out for the last one week in trying to locate the plane, carrying 29 people, which went missing during a flight from Tambaram in Tamil Nadu to Port Blair. "I appreciate anxiety of members. I am also disturbed at the sudden disappearance of the plane. I have spoken to several experts and former air chiefs who were also puzzled by the sudden disappearance," Parrikar said. The Minister said that at the time of disappearance, the aircraft was on "secondary/passive radar" and that "There was no SOS or transmission of any frequency. It just disappeared so that is the worrying part". The Government has sought help from the US for detection of images and is seeking help from American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites had picked up any signal before the disappearance of the plane. "It is total blank. There was not even a single signal recorded. That is the reason we are contacting American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites picked up any signal," Parrikar said. "Besides our own satellite imagery, we have asked the US for their imagery for the detection of emergency frequency to space based assets. Foreign countries we have already asked. I only hope that our efforts succeed," he added while replying to queries whether foreign help has been sought. Queried about the age of the aircraft, the Defence Minister said it was "almost as good as new aircraft". Elaborating he said, "I don't know exact age but it is well within lifetime. It has undergone first overhauling. Lot of replacement has been done.... They are considered as one of the safest aircraft." He said the accident rate of Indian Air Force is 0.23 out of 10,000 hours of flying against the global rate of 0.023 and assured the House that maximum efforts would be made to ensure that the mishaps come down. "If aircraft is not fit for flying we don't fly it. We have decided to check up whether we can improve the signalling system," he added. About the missing aircraft, Parrikar said that after the first overhaul, the plane had already done 279 hours and the pilot was experienced, having put in 500 hours on this route. The Defence Minister, who had made suo motu statement on the plane's disappearance in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday, said, "Let us hope that we track it down. I can assure that maximum efforts will be taken." Sharing details of the search operation so far, he said 10 Indian Navy ships as well as submarine 'Sindhudhwaj' are carrying searches and "virtually checking up everything". 23 inputs had been located, out of which 6 were of the nature of blinks and all inputs have been checked, he said. "If we locate something, then we can send deepwater equipment to pick up. We have also diverted 'Sagar Nidhi' (vessel) from Mauritius. It will reach on August one and it can go upto 6,000 metres depth. But we have to locate objects. We have to locate it because at this depth you cannot keep on scratching the bottom," Parrikar said. The Defence Minister said he was personally monitoring the situation. "We owe that much to the people, I have seen (to it) that every family is kept in touch." On Thursday, he had said that "several inputs and leads" regarding floating objects have been picked up but there is no concrete evidence so far with respect to missing AN-32 aircraft of the IAF. A Delhi court on Saturday convicted Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui for raping a 35-year-old US woman who had come down to India for research related work. According to a Hindustan Times report, the woman told the police that she was raped by Farooqi at his South Delhi residence on 28 March last year. Delhi Police had arrested Farooqi last year, after the Columbia University research scholar who had come down for her doctoral thesis complained to the police on 19 June, 2015. Farooqi had denied the allegations, saying he was being falsely implicated. However, on 9 September, the Saket court started the trial after the police framed charges against Farooqi under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The victim had initially met Farooqi in Varanasi, through a friend who is also a witness in the case. One of the investigating officers said that Farooqi got drunk in the party and took the woman in a room where he 'forced' himself on her. The court has scheduled 2 August as the date to declare the quantum of punishment. Imphal: Three inmates, including two Saudi Arabian nationals, were killed on Saturday in violence at Sajiwa Central Jail in Imphal East of Manipur, a police spokesman said. Two inmates, Yusuf (21) and Abdus (22), killed one undertrial prisoner Thangminlien Zou of Churachandpur district by hitting him with blunt objects at about one AM in the jail, Additional DGP (Prison) P Doungel said. As the death news of Thangminlien, imprisoned in connection with a murder case spread some inmates stormed into the prison cell and killed the two attackers, Doungel said. The reason behind the attack was yet to be ascertained, the Additional DGP said. Doungel said that two of the inmates killed in the jail violence were Saudi nationals. Jail Superintendent Wungkhal Phanitphang said Yusuf and Abdus were nabbed in the border town of Moreh, neighbouring Myanmar in 2012. They had completed their prison term and were awaiting deportation, he said. Three jail personnel, including jailor Th Brojen, were injured while trying to control the situation, the jail superintendent said. They received minor injuries and were given first-aid by jail doctors, he said. All the three bodies have been taken to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi: Congress on Friday asked Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to refrain from playing politics on the issue of terrorism, dubbing as "unfortunate" her remarks over the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. "It is unfortunate and sad. Elected governments should not play politics on the issue of terrorism," party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters. He at the same time held the PDP-BJP government responsible for the situation in the Kashmir Valley. "On one side, you talk of showing red eyes ... and on the other shed tears for the traitors". His remarks came amid reports that Mehbooba, in a bid to control the damage over continuing protests, yesterday said the security forces were not aware of Wani's presence during the raid at his hideout in which he was killed. Mehbooba had also indicated that had the security forces known about Wani's presence the situation could have perhaps been controlled better. She had said had the security forces known about Wani being present inside the house in Kokernag area of South Kashmir's Anantnag district, it would have been possible to keep the situation "from turning to what it is today". The statement from the Chief Minister had come immediately after opposition National Conference Provincial President Nasir Wani said the Chief Minister was aware of the operation and had also rewarded the officials who led the operation in which 22-year-old Wani was killed on 8 July. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has finally come out of her self-imposed isolation to declare that if security forces knew beforehand that one of the holed up militants on that fateful evening of 8 July in south Kashmirs Kokernag was Burhan Wani the notorious Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander things would have been different. Speaking to the reporters in Srinagar on 27 July, Mehbooba said, "As far as I know, what I heard from the police and the Army, who said they only knew that there were three militants inside the house but did not know who they were. I feel if they knew, perhaps we would not have such a situation when the overall situation in the state was improving, so it could have been a chance." How one wishes that she should have just remained in her private cocoon, rather than making such vacuous remarks. Burhan or no Burhan, the security forces would have reacted in the same manner in that situation. In counter-terrorism duties they are trained to respond as per the needs of the mission, not as per the compulsions of the political establishment. In fact, excessive political interference in counter-terrorism operations has imperiled Indias response to the terrorism menace. What Mehbooba should have talked about is the utter failure of her administration and the disappearing act it did in the immediate aftermath of Burhans encounter leading to uncontrolled mobs protesting and torching police stations and damaging public property. She should have asked where the battery of KAS officers were, which she is always surrounded with, during the unfolding crisis and what role did it play in accentuating the already bad situation. The typical attitude of Kashmirs successive political establishments be it the Congress, National Conference or the PDP-BJP has been that they think they are the unquestioned satraps of Kashmir, blessed by New Delhi. That is evident in their attitude towards ordinary Kashmiri masses and how they perform their duties - if they do it at all. However, at the first whiff of a crisis, the entire administration disappears with no trace or whatsoever, leaving the security forces to deal with the unfolding situation and giving the field day to the Hurriyat-led separatists. This was evident in 2008 and 2009 protests, 2014 floods and now again in 2016. Obviously security forces the Army, the paramilitaries and the police have their own axes to grind. The Army-paramilitary rivalry, the distrust between the IPS bureaucracy and the Army generals and the overall attitude of disdain that the government has towards the training and welfare of the paramilitaries. All of these factors play out on the ground when a CRPF jawan holds on to his antiquated rifle with a rampaging mob in front of him armed with stones. As a representative of the Indian state, there he is with a responsibility to enforce the authority. And not always he does his job in a satisfactory manner. What New Delhi and Srinagar New Delhi particularly have to understand that it is not the job of the security forces to carry out administrative tasks and do political outreach, at least not in the Kashmir Valley, where they are always viewed with suspicion. The Army and the paramilitaries will ensure that a right atmosphere is created for political outreach, but after that the administration and the government will have to perform their responsibilities by way of governance and statecraft to ensure that the law and order situation does not vitiate. This can be done in two ways: (i) Peoples grievances towards the government and administration do not manifest in street protests and (ii) those protests which take place are tackled effectively by a paramilitary, well-trained in crowd control along with an outreach to the sections in Kashmir, which are inimical to government. Anything short of this strategy has the potential to worsen the situation in Kashmir, which is already witnessing its another 'summer of discontent'. The author is a former intelligence officer with the government of India. Views expressed are personal. It takes one good monsoon shower to show us what we are, the shallowness we all are steeped in and the collective hypocrisy that drives our lives as citizens. A longish spell of rain leaves civic life in a gigantic mess, from Delhi-NCR to Mumbai to Bangalore to Chennai. Roads and areas get inundated, residents in localities keep scrambling for higher safe ground, traffic comes to a grinding halt; in short normal life gets choked in every possible way. We are leaving out remote places such as Assam or Odisha which face the fury of rain and floods every year because the cities mentioned above are the loci of Indias political, financial and technological power, the show pieces of Indias urbanisation story. If things can go so bad at these places then the condition of the rest of India is only left to one's imagination. Every time s normal life gets thrown out of gear due to rains we get the usual drivel as the dominating narrative. Ruling parties point to legacy issues and the opposition to the incompetence of the incumbent government. Organisations pass the buck and officials concerned cook up alibis and seek to make them palatable. The tribe of experts point to the flaws in town-planning, the same ones they had mentioned last year and the year before. All we get are grand excuses and explanations and the impression that everyone is biding for time, waiting for the trouble to pass. After that all would be back to the world of wonderful illusion which gets different names under different governments. Smart City is the one is circulation now. The country loves to be on the beautiful rocking horse, seriously believing things are moving forward, making our lives incredibly better. No one would ask the question why things are the way they are, why spells of heavy rainfall have been causing urban chaos year after year after year. Mumbais infamous potholes have been making big news for long. Governments have changed. How come the problem remains where it is? Poor civic planning is cited as the major lacunae behind all that have been going wrong by now we know every other single reason, thanks to extensive media coverage but why havent we seen corrective action? The biggest reason perhaps is citizens indifference. Political apathy rides easy piggyback on that. Heres an example: Womens safety in Delhi, the National Capital, became a national concern after the December 16, 2012, gang rape of a paramedical student. There was unending television outrage, street protests, candle light marches, political rant and what not. More than three years on, Delhi continues to be as unsafe as before. As reports in newspapers suggest nothing has changed on the ground. Citizens demanded a tough anti-rape law, the political class was happy to provide that. It knew making a law is the easiest part, the real challenge is to improve the quality of policing. Since there has been no demand for that things remain where they were. One wonders when the next such crime against women hit the headlines what will be the demand from the citizenry. The matter is the same with the disruption of life due to monsoon showers. The citizenry has no idea what or how to demand or its just too indifferent to its own woes. Like other stakeholders it just wants the trouble to go away. A bit of sunshine and dry roads, things are back to normal for him. Its also possible that he is too powerless to keep on fighting the official machinery. But whatever the case, what we finally get is empty talk, inaction and a repeat of the past. Next monsoon, stay prepared to hear more of the same, maybe in better prose or with an added dash of political guile. Rains will never stop showing us our reality in all its nakedness but its for us to choose whether we learn any lessons. Guwahati: Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who arrived in Assam on Saturday to review the flood situation, went on an aerial survey of the affected areas. Rajnath was accompanied by Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonwal. "Home Minister accompanied by CM Assam Sarbananda Sonwal and Jitendra Singh (DONER minister) conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas (in Assam)," the Home Minister's office (HMO) tweeted. Singh will also visit the Bhagatgaon camp set up for the flood-affected residents in Morigaon district and meet the state government officials before returning to Delhi in the evening. "He will survey Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga. The home minister will also meet people affected by the Assam floods at Bhatgaon camp in Morigaon district," the office said in another tweet. Rajnath had left for Assam on Saturday morning to take take stock of the situation following heavy rain and floods that have left at least 20 persons dead and over 17 lakh affected across the state's 21 districts. Earlier in the morning, union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju said he would be accompanying Singh during his visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. "Leaving with Rajnathji for Arunachal-Assam flood survey," Rijiju tweeted. New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has expressed shock and deep anguish over the passing away of Rakesh Siddaramaiah, son of the Karnataka Chief Minister. Extending her condolences to Siddaramaiah, Gandhi said that she and the entire Congress party stood with him and his family in this moment of loss. Gandhi prayed for the peace of the departed soul and hoped that the almighty gives strength to the bereaved family. "My heartfelt condolences to Siddaramaiahji on the passing away of his son. My thoughts & prayers are with his family in this time of grief," party Vice President Rahul Gandhi tweeted. Rakesh died of multi-organ failure at a hospital in Belgium on Saturday. Rakesh, 39, was undergoing treatment at Antwerp University Hospital in Brussels, where he was rushed on Tuesday after he developed sudden pancreas-related complications. Imphal: Two Saudi Arabians were among three undertrial prisoners killed early on Saturday in violence inside the Sajiwa Central Jail in Imphal East district of Manipur, highly placed sources said. The union home ministry has sought a report about the incident from the Manipur government since Saudi Arabia is seeking information on the killings of its two citizens, the sources said. The incident occurred at about 1 am on Saturday. Sources said two Saudi Arabians identified as Sushak Ahmed and Abdul Salam, in their mid 40s, allegedly killed a local man, Thangmilien Zou of Churachandpur district of Manipur, shortly after midnight. Zou's skull was smashed apparently with both blunt and sharp weapons, they said. It is yet to be established how the killers managed to smuggle the weapons into the prison. On learning that Zou had been killed other inmates beat the two foreigners to death, sources said. Though the mayhem continued for more than an hour, there was no intervention from the prison staff and security personnel, they said. The two Saudi Arabians had been arrested by police at Moreh, the border town, for entering Manipur without valid travel documents in 2013. They have been in judicial custody facing trial. Zou had been arrested in 2010 in connection with a murder case. The bodies were taken to J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences hospital for post mortem. While the body of Zou will be handed over to his family members, India is in touch with Saudi Arabia about the bodies of the two Saudi Arabians. The police station at Heingang has registered a case. Though there had been group clashes among inmates and even a revolt against prison authorities in the past, in which several persons including the IGP (Prisons) were injured, this is for the first that inmates have been killed. Manipur Home Minister Gaikhangam refused to comment on Saturday's incident. Security measures have been beefed up in the central jail to ensure that there is no further violence. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Twelve out of 20 earlier detained lawyers have been arrested in the Turkish city of Konya due to the involvement in the military coup attempt, Sabah newspaper reported July 30. Other detained lawyers have been released after being examined by prosecutors. Earlier, Turkeys Interior Minister Efkan Ala said that the number of detainees over the military coup attempt has reached 18,000, and 9,677 of them are arrested. 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: @o_quluzade A complaint has reportedly been filed against Uttarakhand's BJP leader Harak Singh Rawat for allegedly raping a 32-year-old woman in Delhi. Delhi: Woman filed rape case against BJP leader Harak Singh Rawat last night, with Safdarjung Police. FIR has been registered in the matter. ANI (@ANI_news) July 30, 2016 The woman filed a written FIR against him with the Safdarjung police on Friday, saying that Rawat misbehaved with her and touched her inappropriately, a report in The Indian Express said. Before BJP, Rawat was a Congress MLA. He was one of the rebel MLAs, who destabilised the Harish Rawat government. Her statement has been recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC, reports said. This is not the first time when a complaint has been registered against Rawat. In 2014, he was booked for molesting a 30-year-old woman in New Delhi. Rawat was the agriculture minister in Vijay Bahugunas Cabinet and continued as a minister when Harish Rawat took charge of the Uttarakhand government. By Ila Ananya On 23 July, Ekalavya Choudhari, an undergraduate student of Jadavpur University (JU), was exposed via Facebook for sexually harassing several women in JU both physically and online. Women uploaded screen shots of conversations with Choudhari, and others wrote Facebook posts about being physically harassed by him. Two days ago, news began to circulate that he had been suspended for a few days until the university had finished its investigation. A few days after Choudhari was exposed, an ex-student of St Xaviers College, Mumbai, put up a post with screenshots on Facebook about how she had been sexually harassed online by Rex Fernandez, a Mumbai-based musician, and St Xaviers alumnus, and stalked by him in the college. Her post was taken down after it was reported by Fernandez brother, but a few women had already come out in her support, and three others told her that they had also been harassed by Fernandez. When she put up the post on Facebook again on 27th July, she was barred from putting up any news posts for 24 hours. Ever since these women started telling their stories online, Ive wondered what it must be like for them to sit in front of a screen and type out what has happened to them. I realise these women are now not just talking to one person, or a room full of people, but to many, many more, most of whose faces they have never seen, and whom they might never even meet. It isnt the same as their stories being discussed by the mainstream media because they have written these stories themselves. Perhaps they will find support, or something will be done, or, as in the case of the woman who called out Fernandez, the story can just disappear. For me,the women sitting before their screens creates a brave but terrifying image. The cases of Choudhari and Fernandez are similar to that of Manik Katyal, photographer and editor of Emaho magazine, who was accused of sexually harassing many women in 2015. In this case too, women took to Facebook to call him out, before the blog, I Was Harassed by Manik Katyal, was created to publish accounts from all those women who had been harassed by him online, offline, or both. The accounts on this blog, called testimonials, are short, precise descriptions of exactly what Katyal said or did to the women. Some of these testimonials are screenshots of conversations in these, the women appear obviously uncomfortable, while trying hard not to be disrespectful, and are worried for their own careers. Anybody who still wants to ask why the women chose to call out Katyal on his harassment years after it had happened, these testimonials should be enough. Then there are those who havent been subjected to the experience themselves; for them online harassment may appear less real, when compared to a similar situation in real life. There is no right way of immediately responding to harassment when it is happening: maybe youre terrified, confused, upset, or angry; or maybe, youre all these things. The men accused in all these cases seem to have a history of being sexual harassers that has initially gone unreported. Or may be, the case was reported but inaction from authorities (like in the case of Choudhari, where a student had filed a complaint against in August 2015, but nothing was done) may be the reason, the issue didn't make it to the headlines. It seems as though the confidence in these men that they can get away with their acts comes from their own positions of power: Choudhari is the son of a professor (who was due to become Head of Department) in the Department of English in JU, Katyal is a well-known photographer with influence in the photography community, while Fernandez is a well-known musician. In many ways this is similar to the RK Pachauri case. Pachauri, the former head of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), has been accused of sexually harassing several junior colleagues there, creating an atmosphere that encouraged silence on his behaviour from within the institution itself. What does it mean for as many as 13 women to call out Choudhari, or more than 36 women to expose Katyal? Perhaps these women were not thinking about how the world will respond to them, whether they will be supported or further harassed, or whether their story will be heard or forgotten, and what will happen from there on. Or perhaps they were. As I see it, these women seem to actively call out their harassers because they wanted to shame them, and because they wanted to draw attention to what has happened to them, and have something done about it. As one of the women who was harassed by Choudhari wrote in a Facebook post (which was later removed), Friends in need, do remember that the shame is not ours, it is theirs. We will work together and find justice. In an atmosphere like the present times, where colleagues are made complicit in the crime, and when institutional sexual harassment cells often do not redress complaints, it seems as though social media has emerged as a space where women can really voice out the wrongs they been subjected to. Social media is now a platform for women not only to voice their complaints, but also to draw together women who have faced similar experiences, and to encourage other women to speak out loud for themselves. The more complex stories we hear, the more we understand the nature of sexual harassment, and we are no longer required to imagine the perpetrators as monoliths of power. We will no longer require women to be perfect victims to get sympathy, empathy and support. Ramon Magsaysay Award winner for 2016, Dr Bezwada Wilson as a 10-year old boy grew up listening to the derogatory word Tothi (bhangi in Hindi, sweeper) caustically aimed at him by others at school and in the society. When he moved out of his native Kolar Goldfields township in Karnataka to Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh to attend his middle school, nothing changed. He was made to believe that since he belonged to a family of manual scavengers, even if he wasnt pursuing the profession, he was no less than an untouchable and an outcaste. Wilson, who was born in a Dalit family and was the first in his family to pursue higher education, chose to channelise his seething anger to a crusade to eradicate manual scavenging. During his earlier days as a social worker aiming at bringing a change in his community by asking people not to adopt to manual scavenging as a profession, Wilson first confronted with the problem of alcoholism amongst scavengers. It was during his attempts to find out the cause of drinking, he discovered the underbelly of the profession of manual scavengers. Every person had a story to tell, that of pain, neglect, apathy, insult, inequality, discrimination and their compulsion to do the job that the society looks down upon as degrading for human civilisation. I tried to convince them to give up the job of removing by hand human excrement from dry latrines and carrying them on head in baskets, and physically getting inside septic tank to clean it. But, I failed as they too had no other option of earning livelihood. This made me sad and depressed, and at one point of time I thought of committing suicide, but didnt have the courage, Wilson shares. It was next morning while looking up at the sky that he decided to fight out this social ill. And, this gave birth to his movement of eradicating manual scavenging in 1984, and in 1992 it officially got the name Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA). Then there was no looking back for Wilson, who travelled across states, held meetings and demonstrations for a crusade, leading not only with a sense of moral outrage but also with remarkable skills in organizing the masses, and working within India's complex legal system. The award citation aptly describes his work stating, In electing Bezwada Wilson to receive the 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognises his moral energy and prodigious skill in leading a grassroots movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India, reclaiming for the dalits the human dignity that is their natural birthright. Wilson (50), the convener of SKA speaks at length during a one-on-one interview with Firstpost at his office in West Delhi, where one can see posters in Hindi on the walls asking Sewer mein hatyaon ka zimmedar kaun? (Whos responsible for the killings inside sewer lines?). Excerpts: You have been involved in the manual scavengers movement (Safai Karmachari Andolan) for three decades. Has there been any difference in the situation since then? Yes there has been much difference to the situation then and now. Now, the manual scavengers listen to what I have been telling them for decadesof giving up this work. Many of them have left doing manual scavenging; threw away the baskets they used for carrying night soil; and staged demonstrations against this ill. Now they have gathered the courage of openly declaring that they dont want to do it any further, nor would they let the next generation pursue this profession. What has been the response of political class and government to your movement? Nothing much has been done by the elected governments. The political will to change the situation is still missing. Mere lectures wont help in eradication of manual scavenging; it needs a systematic approach to address the problem. Since the manual scavengers are scattered in pockets and are not in big numbers in any particular constituency, they are not considered as vote bank. For the politicians, unless its a vote bank issue, nothing much is done for a particular section of the society, like in the case of scavengers. On the other hand, if politicians ask manual scavengers to give up this profession, they would have to provide an alternative to it and they have nothing to offer. What is the status of this problem? At present in this 21st century India, there are 1.80 lakh dalit households manually cleaning the 7.90 lakh public and private dry latrines (not the modern flush ones) across India; 98 per cent of scavengers are meagerly paid women and girls. The states like UP, MP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir have the maximum number of manual scavengers, and that too in urban areas. While the Constitution and other laws prohibit dry latrines and the employment of manual scavengers, these have not been strictly enforced since government itself is the biggest violator. What kind of hurdles do the scavengers face, who decide to give up the profession in their assimilation in mainstream society? What is the societys perception towards them? Its extremely tough for those who are giving up this work to switch over to doing something different. They have to toil three times harder to earn livelihood. The mainstream society is never ready to accept them. Rather, the society sees them as victims and expresses sympathy towards them. However, there are exceptions, who have lent helping hands in their rehabilitation. There is complete apathy on governments part towards those who have left this job. Theres no rehabilitation plan. The government provides skill development training in computers to them. What can scavengers do by undergoing computer training, who have been engaged in this job for years? Its a sham. Like, Swachh Bharat Mission, the government should launch a Livelihood mission for them by creating a comprehensive action plan for their alternative livelihood. The five-year budget outlay to rehabilitate manual scavengers was surprisingly reduced to Rs 10 crore in the Budget 2016, from Rs 4,656 crore that was allocated in 2013! Given the fact that there are still people living as manual scavengers in the country, do you think the ultimate goal of Swachh Bharat Mission is a pipe-dream? Swachh Bharat Missions aim is to build 12 crore toilets by 2019. Its about corporatization of toilets, where government is not bothered whether people are actually using them or not, whether there is provision of water in the toilets or not. The mission doesnt talk about eradication of manual scavenging. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call on 2 October, 2014 asking everyone to do the cleaning. But, after that day, who has been doing the actual cleaning of toilets? Its the scavengers alone; but they havent got any recognition yet. Nobody is bothered about their deaths on duty. The government is talking of building Smart Cities. But in most parts of India, basic sewage system is not right and scavengers have to physically get into septic tanks and manholes for cleaning Unless you make smart sanitation, you cant make smart city. We talk of urbanization, building smart cities, but unless there is proper underground drainage system, cleaning of sewer system with minimum human intervention and mechanized system to clean septic tanks and sewer lines, the smart city that the government is talking about is meaningless. Even today, people are dying while physically cleaning manholes. Should we call it modernization of urban infrastructure? Do you think stricter laws are required towards eradication of manual scavenging? Laws are already there. After our consistent efforts through our movement --Safai Karmachari Andolan for years, The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993 came into existence. It was followed by The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. I had been a member of four task forces to enforce proper implementation of the acts. But, nothing happened. No one has been punished for violation of the act. Our Indian bureaucracy always ensures an escape route for itself, whenever a law is made. Same is in this case too. The act is good, but implementation is extremely poor. Violators of law have not been punished. In the last three years, 1370 manual scavengers have died while doing the job. What is the ultimate solution to bring an end to this ill? We know everyday safai karmacharis are entering the sewer lines and many are dying. We have gathered this data of 1370 deaths in last three years after the Supreme Court judgment that said entering the sewer lines without safety gears should be made a crime even in emergency situations, and for each such death, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh should be given. When everyone knows about this and we have reported it to various governments, none of them took the smallest step to stop us from getting killed inside the sewer lines. As safai karmacharis were asking the government, wholl take responsibility of these deaths? A deceaseds family is supposed to get a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the government, but as per our records only 36 families got compensation. The state governments moved Supreme Court to review the decision on compensation. You can imagine the level of insensitivity of state governments. We declare it very clearly that these are political murders by the governments. Despite knowing that they will die by entering septic tanks, why are they being allowed to do so day after day? We demand the government to come up with a comprehensive action plan where the family of a deceased (scavenger) doesnt have to run from pillar to post, and their killing can be stopped. Your work has got recognition and you have won Magsaysay Award for your movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India and reclaiming human dignity for the dalits in India. Whats your plan now? Our next plan is Direct Action. Well demand the government for actual implementation of the Acts at the earliest. These dry toilets and manual scavenging are the symbols of shame. We want the government to built flush toilets. If government fails, well go and demolish these dry community toilets, where a scavenger is forced to work manually. In fact by doing so, well be working as per the law mentioned in the Act. Manual scavenging is a blight on humanity in India and it has to end now. 31 July is the 136th birthday of world famous short story writer and novelist Munshi Premchand. Each year this day routinely comes and goes. There are some articles on his life and times which surface or at best on his literary works and then as the day fades away waiting to appear next year. The present day, when communalism is raising its ugly head, and the whole society is threatened by parochial forces, Premchand remains glaringly relevant as a progressive figure, with his writings showing us the way to live in communal harmony and peace, keeping the social fabric steadfastly intact. To reinforce this observation, let's dwell upon few works of Premchand which prove our point in question. Idgah, one of Premchand's most popular short stories, is about a young boy Hamid, who goes to the city with his friends to offer Namaj on the occasion of Eid and join the festivity. The scene of Idgah where Hamid offers prayers is so graphically described. Praising the religion as classless, Premchand goes on to say that the seating on the floor is not based on any hierarchy. Everyone is seated in rows next to each other irrespective of one's position or affluence. They all are praying together. All heads are bowing and rising in harmony and in perfect synchronisation. Describing and praising one religion in such a forthright, bold and fearless manner was Premchand'a forte. Premchand was a Hindu Kayastha. He need not have gone overboard to extol the virtues of a religion that did not belong to him yet he emphasised the positivity of the faith. This is perhaps as a writer, he wanted to highlight equality in the religion so that his wider readership understood the message of unity and harmony which he subtly put across. When Idgah was written in the early twentieth century, the society was perhaps not so polarised on communal lines as it is prevalent today. Premchand, the visionary that he was, wrote this piece for posterity and peace. That's why he remains relevant even today and would continue to remain so in years to come. Another short story by Premchand Juloos (the procession) stands pertinent in view of the forthcoming Independence Day celebrations as this story was written by him when Mahatma Gandhi had stirred the nation by his non-cooperation and civil disobedience movements. India was reeling under a vibrant phase with satyagrahis pitching in on the streets defying authorities by resorting to non-violence yet stepping up their call for independence. Against this backdrop, Juloos has Ibrahim as the central character and the story revolves around a dedicated band of freedom fighters. Premchand choosing a Muslim figure (Ibrahim) as the main protester and satyagrahi mobilising public protests and agitation in a Uttar Pradesh city speaks all. The description is heart rendering on two counts. One, Ibrahim is the local leader of the movement with a mass following of all religions and castes. He is also progressive and farsighted. He is respected by one and all. Two, he is a Gandhian - a hardcore non-violent character who received fatal lathi blows from the hands of a majority high caste ambitious police officer. Till his death, Ibrahim did not physically hit back at the authorities though the agitators had sufficient provocation to do so. None of the followers dared defying Ibrahim. That's the beauty of Premchand wherein he had so succinctly weaved the story conveying a loud and clear message for non-violence, tolerance and national unity. He sacrificed his life without compromising principles essential to forge communal amity. Another significant feature of Juloos is the role of women. Ibrahim' wife is equally dedicated to the cause of freedom struggle. Similarly, the police officer who inflicted lathi blows on Ibrahim was ostracised by his wife for being violent on a freedom fighter. Women force is aptly demonstrated in this story. They are part of the Juloos in good number and in a proactive and constructive manner . It is nearly eight decades since Premchand's demise but his works live on and they are getting more and more worthy of emulating as the fissiparous forces are constantly looking for space and opportunity to foster communal discord and disunity. Such forces need to be defeated. Best tribute to Premchand on his birthday will be to widely disseminate his literature harping for a pluralistic society with tolerance and peace as the hallmarks of an exemplary national unity. Such dissemination includes story telling of Premchand's works to the students and youngsters lest they are not drawn towards the parochial forces with limited vision, who are constantly threatening to split the society on communal and caste lines. The author is a retired police officer and a freelance writer. Views are personal. In a bid to clamp down on the perpetrators of liquor ban, Bihar government has apparently gone overboard with the Bihar Excise Act 2016. On Friday, the draft of a new amendment to the Excise act was circulated in the Assembly for the lawmakers' comments. The draft bill seeks to introduce certain stringent clauses, which includes arresting a woman even if her husband is found consuming alcohol. That the man could have consumed liquor without his wife's knowledge or consent, doesn't seem to be a possibility considered while drafting the bill. Among other bizarre proposals of the bills is the clause, wherein all adult members of a family can be arrested if alcohol is consumed, sold, manufactured or even stored at a home. If the draft gets the State Assembly's nod, it will be presumed that all adult members of a family are aware that alcohol is being consumed/ stored at the house. How will justice be delivered in a state like Bihar, where the culture of joint families and large households is common, escapes one's imagination. It is also unclear, how the state administration plans to decide who among the family were actually complicit in the act. Besides, as The Times of India reported, state officials remained tight-lipped when asked as to how can all adults be arrested and how will the children in the family will stay alone. Taking things up a notch, another controversial provision in the draft states that a collective fine can be imposed on a village, community or town if it has repeat offenders. The Bihar Excise Act 2016 which came in effect from April this year has outlawed sale and possession of liquor in the state, however, the current amendment seeks to give more teeth to the already stringent law. The draft bill already has Bihar cabinet's nod. However, the BJP has called the law "draconian" and announced it will protest against such bizarre provisions. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters the provision of putting all adult members above 18 years of age of a family behind the bars in case of seizure of liquor was "draconian" and his party would protest it. He further alleged the government brought the Amendment Bill "without wider consultation with all political parties". Meanwhile, reports of rift within the grand alliance have also surfaced. According to Economic Times, although Nitish Kumar's key ally and RJD chief Lalu Yadav has denied any knowledge of such provisions, he is of the opinion that all adult members of a family cannot be arrested for the offence of one person. Lalu Yadav is also reprotedly against the ban on toddy, country made palm-liquor, which is a prime occupation of the Pasi community in Bihar. Also, according to a report in Patrika, a Hindi news website and daily, grand alliance has a divisive array of voices on the issue. According to their report, some Congress and RJD MLAs have argued that these provisions will not only promote fear in the public but will also give rise to undue harassment by the police forces. There are also reports of a double-standard being followed by the Nitish Kumar government. Calling the law "lopsided" Times Now reported that Nitish Kumar has also done a U-turn on the toddy ban. The 44-page draft of Excise Amendment Bill also has stern punishment for giving illegal advertisement in support of liquor or other intoxicant. It said whosoever gives advertisement in media, which includes film and TV, or from any social platform advertises directly or obliquely about liquor or intoxicant, would face a jail term of five year or Rs 10 lakh penalty or both. It further has a provision of life sentence for those engaging minor below age of 18 year or a woman for sale, hide, transportation and distribution of intoxicant. Various reports have also surfaced claiming that smuggling of alcohol from neighbouring states is rampant in Bihar, despite the ban. As reported in Hindustan Times and Aaj Tak state authorities continue to battle undue sale of liquor smuggled from neighbouring states like Jharkhand. Liquor trade has also become a lucrative business near the India-Nepal border, according to a report in NDTV. Therefore, it can't be denied that the liquor ban has contributed to the consumption and sale going underground, how amid this will things pan out of the new provisions are implemented, remains to be seen. With inputs from PTI New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia on Friday took a dig at the BJP government in Haryana over the massive rain-induced traffic jams in Gurgaon and said it "reflected the quality of governance in the state". "That's BJP's governance (on traffic jam and water-logging in Gurgaon)," Kejriwal said, quoting a tweet from a journalist who said his friend slept in the office because of traffic jams in Gurgaon since Thursday evening. Taking a potshot at the Bharatiya Janata Party's claim on "good governance", Sisodia tweeted: "Merely changing the name of Gurgaon to Gurugram does not bring development. For development, it is necessary to formulate policies and ensure their proper implementation." "Jumlo se jam nahi khulega (Glib talk will not end traffic jam in Gurgaon)," Sisodia quipped. The remarks from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders came in the wake of suffocating traffic jams on National Highway-8 in Gurgaon, which connects the Millennium city with Delhi. Following heavy rains in Gurgaon and resultant traffic snarls, Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to rush a team of officers to the area. The Haryana government has declared a two-day school holiday on account of water-logging on Gurgaon's roads. The police told people to avoid needless travelling. Armed with in-principle support from most of the political parties, the government has listed the Goods and Services Tax Bill for introduction in the Rajya Sabha next Tuesday, according to media reports. Junior Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the Upper House earlier that the Bill will be taken up next week. The government is gearing up for the five-and-half hour discussion in the Rajya Sabha. As part of this, prime minister Narendra Modi held a meeting finance minister Arun Jaitley, home minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief Amit Shah ith at his residence, a report in The Indian Express said on Saturday. However, with the Congress still playing its cards close to its chest, the government is keeping its fingers crossed. A report in The Hindustan Times on Saturday said the Congress is yet to take a final decision on the Bill. "I would advise the media to wait till the negotiations and discussions are concluded," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala has been quoted as saying in the report. Surjewala's words are an indication that the Rajya Sabha will see a heated discussion when it comes up for discussion. In the amended Bill approved by the Cabinet, it is to be noted that only one of the three Congress demands has been met. The Congress demands were removal of the 1 percent additional state levy that seeks to compensate the revenue for manufacturing states such as Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, including the GST rate in the Constitutional amendment and setting up a dispute resolution mechanism headed by a high court judge. Of this, the only one fully accepted is the first one. The other two have been met only partially. In this context, it is no surprise that the government is keeping its fingers crossed. According to a report in the Business Standard, when asked about the prospects for the passage of the Bill, Jaitley said: I am keeping my fingers crossed. On 27 July, the Cabinet had cleared changes in the legislation, including removal of the 1 percent manufacturing tax and providing guarantee to compensate states for any revenue loss in the first five years of rollout of the ambitious indirect tax regime. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May 2015 and vetted by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee. However, the measure got stuck in the Upper House where the government does not have majority of its own, as the main opposition Congress sought certain changes in it. The government has been making all efforts to hammer out a consensus on the bill by reaching out to opposition parties. The Congress has described the exercise as "constructive and positive". The GST legislation, which intends to convert 29 states into a single market through a new indirect tax regime, was earlier planned to be introduced from 1 April this year, but the deadline was missed as the legislation to roll it out remained in limbo in the Opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha. With PTI inputs Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other, Oscar Ameringer Yes, this is one of the bitter truths that applies to our polity as well. We have all come to accept it as a norm not an exception. And almost every party does it in varying degrees. Little wonder then that neither the Yamuna nor the Gomti caught fire when two otherwise little-known MLAs belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party Romi Sahni and Brijesh Verma disclosed at a press conference in Lucknow earlier this week that their party was busy auctioning poll-tickets for money in Uttar Pradesh. We were called to Lucknow by the party supremo, Mayawati ji, and asked to pay Rs four and five crores for the Mallawan and Palia Assembly seats respectively, they said adding that, all this happened in the presence of Behenji and her trusted lieutenant, Naseemuddin Siddiqui. It was hardly surprising then that the two rebellious legislators were suspended from the party within minutes of their expose. Now, please take a look at the reaction of the BJP, which has been smarting under the heat and wave generated by Dayashankar Singhs abusive onslaught against the BSP supremo: What the two MLAs have said only re-establishes the fact that Mayawati ji sells party tickets, BJP spokesman Shrikant Sharma thundered the next day. He conveniently chose to forget what his own party MP and former Home Secretary of India, RK Singh, had said in the run-up to the Bihar elections late last year. Tickets have been given to criminals and muscle-men in exchange for money, the BJP MP from Arrah in Bihar had said and held his ground even in the face of his party leaderships wrath. That the BJP and its allies were swept away by the Lalu-Nitish wave is a different story altogether. But RK Singhs charges had stuck. The state of affairs within the BJP and the BSP apart, Tarun Gogoi, Assams vanquished chief minister had come out with a damning allegation against the Asom Gana Parishad 20 days before the State Assembly elections: The AGP is a sold out party. Last time, they had come to us for an alliance in return for money. But we didnt accept. They went to the BJP to fight polls. Nobody can prove the veracity of Gogois vague allegations. But one thing is certain: that money and politics spin inseparably in a circle. And we all know about it. Its a different thing if it doesn't make a difference. More often than not, politicians tend to take journalists viewpoint lightly for two reasons: First, our knowledge is based on press conferences, statements and counter-statements and what knowledgeable sources want us to believe. And second, we are carried away by propaganda. We dont distinguish between truths and half-truths. The role of money in politics is too serious a subject. So, lets focus our attention on findings of some research papers on the subject. One such paper, titled Money, Muscle and Elections in India, written by Milan Vaishnav of Columbia University says: Parties have an array of potential candidates to choose from. So why do they choose candidates with criminal records? A major reason motivating this calculation relates to money. Rather than viewing money and muscle as independent forces shaping Indias electoral politics, these forces are inexorably linked. Parties place a premium on muscle, in part, because it often brings with it the added benefit of money. Vaishnav further writes, quoting from James Manors empirical analysis: Parties recruit criminals because criminals bring in money and the capacity to raise it, often through extortion. Furthermore, legislators have gotten mixed up with criminal elements because such individuals can assist in generating funds to meet the soaring costs of elections. Another noted author, P. Sainath, who never talks through his hat, wrote an article highlighting three rather startling trends in Indian politics: First, if you are worth Rs 50 million, you are 75 times more likely to win elections to the Lok Sabha than if you are worth under 1 million. Second, as many as 23 out of 64 cabinet ministers assets fall in the Rs. 50 million plus category. (The article was written before the recent cabinet expansion). And third, the 543 members of the current Lok Sabha are worth Rs. 80 billion together. These are some serious points to ponder. Where are we heading to as a nation? Cant say? Maybe, imagine? Yes. The Shah Faisal award is an international annual prize sponsored by the King Faisal Foundation in Saudi Arabia. It is presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". This is the most prestigious prize in the Muslim world similar to the Nobel Prize through which the committee of the King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) recognises the outstanding work of individuals and institutions in five major categories: Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic Language and Literature, Medicine, and Science, as clearly stated in the official website of KFIP. The Indian Islamist televangelist Zakir Naik has also been accorded this most prestigious and lucrative award. According to a report in Arab News, the president of the Islamic Research Foundation of India, Naik won the 2015 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for his Service to Islam. It was announced by the Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and KFIP Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Othaimeen. The official website of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) has detailed the awards and prizes that Naik has received from the wealthiest Arab Shaikhs throughout his clerical career as Islamist televangelist. Among scores of money prizes and lucrative awards, he was given the two most prestigious awards. The first is the King Faisal International Prize 2015 which was presented by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud for Service to Islam on 1st March 2015 in Riyadh. It comprised a commemorative 24-carat 200-gram gold medal and Saudi Riyals 750,000 ($200,000). The second most lucrative prize was the Dubai International Holy Quran Awards Islamic Personality of 2013 which was presented by Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE. This was also for Zakir Naiks outstanding service to Islam and Muslims at a global level in Media, Education and Philanthropy. He received UAE Dirhams one million ($272,000) which he donated to start a Waqf (endowment) fund for the Peace TV Network. Interestingly, the King Faisal International Award was first conferred upon the pioneer of modern political Islamism, Sayyid Abul Alaa Al-Maududi in 1979 in recognition to his momentous service to Islam and his renewal of Islamic thought in such a way that it dominates the lives of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, as clearly stated on the official website of the KFF. Afterwards, in 1980, it was also accorded to Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadawi, the former rector of Darul Uloom Nadwa in Lucknow, and in 1982 to Shaikh Abd Al-Aziz Ibn bin Baz, the former Saudi cleric, and in 1994 to the leading Salafist jurist (mufti) Shaikh Mohammad Bin Saleh Al-Uthaimin, and in 2010 to the current Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among many other global Islamist figures. One thing is common among all the recipients of this most prestigious Saudi award. They all espouse political Islamism in their actions and words. The content of the website about the first category Service to Islam is very interesting and stimulating for the avowed Islamist preachers rendering service to Islam in aspiration to achieve the award from the kingdom. It writes that the award is meant to encourage those actively engaged in services to Islam through knowledge and deeds and other outstanding services leading to the domination of the religion over the globe. It reads: In awarding the Service to Islam prize, the selection committee recognizes individuals and institutions with outstanding records of service to Islam and Muslims, worldwide One is considered qualified to win the King Faisal International Service to Islam Prize, if they rendered exceptional services to Islam and Muslims through knowledge and deeds, or provided other outstanding services leading to far-reaching benefits to Islam and Muslims, and meeting one or more of the prizes objectives as determined by the respective Selection Committee The website explains the reason the first Shah Prize for service to Islam was given away to the 19th Century radical Islamist theologian and promulgator of the political Islamism throughout the Indian subcontinent: Abul Alaa Al-Mowdoodi was awarded the Prize in recognition of his services to Islam as following: 1. The laureate contributed extensively to Islamic journalism since his early youth. 2. He has effectively advocated the renewal of Islamic thought, such that it dominates the lives of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. 3. He is considered by many as the most influential Islamic philosopher of the 20th Century. His life and thoughts have been researched ever since by scholars worldwide. Reproduced below is the translation of the fundamental excerpts from Maulana Maududis Arabic letter that he wrote to the Saudi Kingdom in appreciation of its award. Owing to his failing health, it was presented to his son Hussein F Mowdoodi in a ceremony on 28 February, 1979: In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate Praise is to Allah the only God, praise be to the Almighty God, the Lord of heavens and earth and everything existent in them, who says in his Holy Book: Let there arise of you a group of people inviting to all that is good enjoying Al-Ma'ruf and forbidding Al-Munkar. And it is they who are the successful. Your Majesty King Khalid Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, Your Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Chairman of the King Faisal International Prize Board Your Excellencies, the members of the reverend committee I would have been very delighted to attend by myself this pleasant event, but my severe illness forced me to delegate my close colleague, his eminence Sheikh Cahill Ahmad AL-Hamada, to head some of my sons on behalf of me to attend this good event.I ask Allah to always bestow upon him goodness and success, and convey my best regards and earnest longings to His Majesty and the group of my brothers, my colleagues, in propagating call for God's religion. My good brothers, I was very impressed when your reverend committee recruitment chooses me to win the King Faisal International Prize for what I did of a modest service to propagate the religion of truth, strength and freedom with a support and help of God the Almighty. What I did deserves no praise, because it is a part of my duty towards my religion as much as it is the duty of every Muslim, whether he is a man or woman. Each must do it as possible as he can; using all what he was granted by God of capabilities. How much the work was great, it looks tiny compared to what we must do to suit the high rank of Islam that we belong to. I congratulate, in particular, the sons of the late King Faisal who established this great charitable work, which is the first philanthropic work, as far as I know that has been established in the contemporary Muslim world". I ask him also to make this benevolent work a strong incentive to develop the efforts for Islamic studies, and an effective circle in the international Islamic movement which exerts great efforts to curb the destructive principles and the secular systems, and sacrifices a lot to revive Islam and ensure its dominance on this globe as a system, civilisation and Shari'ah. In conclusion, I am pleased to pronounce, in front of you, that this prize will be spent for the sake of serving Islam and supporting efforts exerted to apply the Islamic rules in Pakistan. Two points in particular need to be noted in this letter of appreciation by Maulana Abul Ala'a Al-Maududi, the founder-idealogue of Jamat-e-Islami and the winner of King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam in 1979: First, Maulana Maududi begins to express his deepest gratitude to the Saudi Kingdom by reciting a verse from the Quran (3:104), which is the one of the most misinterpreted Quranic verses used by the extremist Islamists the world over. As mentioned in Maududis translation of the Quran, called Tafhim-ul-Quran (Towards Understanding the Quran), he has translated this verse as following: And from among you there must be a party who invite people to all that is good and enjoin the doing of all that is right and forbid the doing of all that is wrong. It is they who will attain true success. This verse (3:104) does exist in the Quran but the translation as well as the commentary has been misconstrued by the political Islamist ideologues. In fact, Quran has evolved a coherent and consistent doctrine in this verse with a spiritual and moral trajectory. Known as Amr bil Ma'ruf wa Nahi an al Munkar (Enjoining good and forbidding evil), there is an essential Islamic doctrine enunciated in this Qur'anic verse. A modernist Quran exegete Muhammad Yunus, who has been engaged in an in-depth study of the Quran, explains the rationale behind this verse in his book Essential Message of Islam (Amana Publications, USA, 2009) co-authored by Ashfaque Ullah Syed: The Quran enjoins what it calls Maruf which it connotes with doing good to others and behaving in the most decent and reasonable manner in the community, forbids the Munkar: all acts, gesture, and behaviour that run counter to reason and contradict all norms of good behaviour (3:104, 3:110, 7:157, 9:112, 22:41, 31:17). For simplicity, we render these terms as the good (Maruf) and the evil (Munkar). But the question arises: Who will be responsible for 'enjoining good (Maruf)' and 'forbidding the evil (Munkar)'? Is it left to the discretion of a political Islamist party like Jamaat-e-Islami or an extremist Islamist outfit like the Islamic State to declare what is good (Maruf) and what is evil (Munkar)? Of course, it is not actually so. But this is what the translation of Maulana Maududi connotes, as he rendered the Quranic term ummah in this verse, which actually means nation or community, into party. And, therefore, he founded his political Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami in 1941 in the undivided India which continues to operate today in many parts of the world where Muslims live in majority or minority including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Great Britain, and Afghanistan. Noteworthy is that Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in India on the same ideological base of political Islamism which the Islamist outfit Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan-ul-Muslimin) of the Islamist theologian Hasan al-Banna established in 1926 Egypt. Bereft of its moral trajectory and deeper spiritual exhortation, this verse has long been misconstrued by the political Islamist ideologues and preachers to accord the political authority to a political Islamist party or religious police or what is called Mutawwa or Mutaween in Saudi Arabia. The pioneer of political Islamism and founder of the Saudi state religion Wahhabism Shaikh Ibn Tamiyyah has written a complete book on this subject titled Enjoining Right and Forbidding Wrong. He was the first to propound a totalitarian theology misconstruing the Quranic concepts of al-maruf (good) and al-munkar (evil). It was later championed by his ardent follower Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab. Ibn-e-Taimiya writes on in his book Enjoining Al-Maruf And Forbidding Al-Munkar (page number 6): Since jihad is part of the perfection of enjoining good and forbidding evil, it, too, is a collective obligation. As with any collective obligation, this means that if those sufficient for the task do not come forward, everyone capable of it to any extent is in sin to the extent of his capability in that area. This is because its obligation, when it is needed, is upon every Muslim to the extent of his/her ability. However, a majority of the progressive Islamic thinkers like the Quran exegete Muhammad Yunus delegitimise it. Muhammad Yunus writes that the notion of a communitys selective group, elders or Religious Police actualising the bidding to Maruf on behalf of the whole community does not appear to be compatible with the Quranic message. He buttresses his point with concrete theological underpinnings: One of the major paradigm shifts in religious thought the Quran introduced was the personal accountability of each individual for his/ her deeds and moral uprightness (Taqwa). Accordingly, the Quran commands individuals to do good deeds, exercise Zakah and Taqwa, and abide by its social, moral and ethical tenets and behavioural paradigms (eschewing greed, arrogance, slander, calumny, foul talk, backbiting for example). As illustrated in the foregoing by referencing Quranic verses, it commands the Muslims to conduct themselves in the most honourable (Maruf) manner in day to day family life and cites a man of wisdom, Luqman advising his son to enjoin good (Maruf) and forbid evil (31:16), pointing to the personal onus of compliance. A number of Quranic verses reinforce this notion by declaring: no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another (6:164, 17:15, 35:18, 39:07, and 53:38). Moreover, there is no word, practically anywhere in the Quran about any collective responsibility in any matter pertaining to religion. But, brazenly violating the spiritual essence of the Quranic doctrine enjoining good and forbidding the evil political Islamists have taken it upon themselves to correct whatever they view as evil (al-munkar) in socio-political affairs of their countries. One of the gravest evils in their sight is secularism or democracy which is included in their scheme of al-munkar. Note the above reference to Maulana Maududis speech in which he despises secularism, encouraging the Saudi Kingdoms initiative of running an international Islamic movement which exerts great efforts to curb the destructive principles and the secular systems, and sacrifices a lot to revive Islam and ensure its dominance on this globe as a system, civilisation and Shari'ah. When the Jamaat-e-Islamis founder-ideologue has shown an unequivocal abhorrence of secularism replacing it with the so-called Shariah and encouraging every Muslim individual to exert efforts to apply the Islamic rules as in Pakistan, the political Islamists anti-secularism and their dance of destruction against pluralism in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are no surprise. It is not least expected even in India. In all these countries, extremist political Islamists, emboldened by the governments indifference to this divisive worldview, have slaughtered free-thinkers, secularist bloggers, progressive intellectuals, non-militant social activists, feminists, non-Muslim preachers and moderate Islamic scholars. This is how a party or group of political Islamists have been enjoining good and forbidding the evil. A few instances of this widespread phenomenon of violent jihadism in the name of enjoining good and forbidding evil will shock a normal rational human. On 11 March, 2002, the Religious Police in Saudi Arabia (Mutaween) did not allow school girls from escaping a burning school, because they were not wearing headscarves or black robes (abayas), nor they were accompanied by a male guardian. As a result, 15 girls died and 50 were injured. And this is how the Mutaweens religious zealots were enjoining right and forbidding the evil. This nefarious incident which took place in Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, was brought out by the progressive Saudi newspapers. For instance, the mainstream Saudi daily in Arabic Okaz published it considering it a brazen violation of human right and urging the government to launch an investigation into it. In Bangladesh, the largest radical Islamist outfit Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, badly mistreated a Bangladeshi woman journalist, Nadia Sharmeen, a staff reporter for Ekushey Television (ETV). In his book Political Islam and The Elections in Bangladesh, Francis Harrison has given a distressing account Sharmeen in her own words: I am a crime reporter and I know that I might find myself in a difficult situation now and then. But this wasn't anything I had ever experienced. They were like a bunch of hyenas, or wild dogs, not human. I thought then, and I think now, that they wanted to kill me. They (Hefazat-e-Islam members) wanted to tear me apart, limb by limb. Why else would they start beating me from Paltan all the way to Bijoynagar? They hit every conceivable part of my body. I had to have two CT scans and ultrasonography to see if my abdomen and some other parts inside my body were alright, four X-rays of my left knee joint, left shoulder, neck. Hefazats goons attacked on Nadia Sharmeen because she happened to be a woman journalist and went to cover an Islamic event of the political Islamist outfit that does not approve of this liberty for a woman. This was self-evident when the Hefazats volunteers shouted to her: "Haven't you read our 13-point demands? Why are you here? Don't you know women can't be here?" More deplorably, the Hefazats chieftain misused a Qur'anic verse of the Surah al-Ahzab (33:33) to justify this un-Islamic restriction on women. He addressed women of Bangladesh in his speech: Oh women, if you believe in the book of Allah, remain within the four walls of your home. Do not stray outside the home.....You must stay in your husbands home, protect your husbands belongings, and raise children. These are your duties. Why should you go out? .... O people! Your women are educated in schools, colleges, and universities. You should educate them up to grade four or five. That way, after you marry her off, she can do bookkeeping for her husbands earnings. That is enough. Formed in January 2010 with an aim to protest against the women's equal rights policy of the Bangladeshi democratic government, Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh has been vehemently opposed to all schemes of the government focused on women empowerment in the country. The Emir of the Hefazat Maulana Shafi, a graduate of Darul Uloom Deoband of India, warned the government with 13-point demands including a blackout ban on women working outside and girls going to schools, colleges or universities after Class IV or V. Noteworthy is Maulvi Shafis quotation from the Quran that is the verbatim translation that Maulana Maududi had done in his Tafhim al-Qur'an. He translated and interpreted the aforementioned verse in a clear contradiction to the essential Qur'anic spirit. The actual meaning of this verse, as many Islamic scholars like Dr Tahirul Qadri tell us, is that women are exhorted to live in their houses with calm and peace, and not within the four walls of house. The Arabic verb 'Qarna' used in this verse has been driven from the root word al-qarar meaning peace, calm and comfort. Hence, the Quran does not restrict women within the four walls of their homes, nor does it prohibit them from going or working outside, as the Hefazats leader Maulana Shafi says in compliance with the translation of Maulana Maududi, the founder-ideologue of Jamat-e-Islami. One wonders if this is the exceptional service to Islam and Muslims for which the Saudi Kingdom has honoured Maulana Maududi and the ilk with its most prestigious award, King Faisal International Prize. What outstanding services and far-reaching benefits to Islam and Muslims these ideologues of political Islamism did in the view of the Kingdom? The author is a scholar of Comparative Religion, Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies Pune: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said the recent act of Chinese troops entering the border district of Chamoli in Uttarakhand was "transgression" and not "incursion". Rubbishing media reports of Chinese "incursion" in the hill state, Parrikar said, "It was actually a transgression and not incursion. Media used the word incursion, but actually it was transgression." "I am happy that not a single bullet has been fired at the border from either side of India and China in last many years," said Parrikar, who was speaking here after releasing the Marathi version of journalist-author Nitin Gokhale's book on Siachen. Meanwhile, the Defence Minister described the Indian Army as one of the best forces in the world with "highest morality, standards, capabilities and trainings". "When some area is given to Army for protection from insurgency, the Army will be able to control it by firing straight and cannot keep their hands tied at their back," Parrikar said. Stating that the Army does not indulge in brutality, he added, "We do not kill someone just for the sake of killing." "Though it is one of the best forces in the world, it needs equal support from the people of the country," he said, adding, "if anybody talks against the force, do not indulge in a physical fight with him, but just say bugger off." Terming America as a mighty nation, Parrikar said, "The US has not faced any border conflict and it is because they have might and India also should look to grow economically along with a focus to increase its might." Chinese troops had transgressed the border on land and by air in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand earlier this month when its men stationed themselves in a demilitarised zone and its helicopters flew in the Indian air space for over five minutes. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Turkish Armed Forces killed 35 terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) during a special operation carried out in the countrys southeast, Dogan agency reported July 30 citing Turkeys General Staff. Twenty-three terrorists were killed during an air attack, while four terrorists were killed during the militarys ground strikes in the Hakkari province. Meanwhile, eight terrorist were neutralized in the countrys Bayburt province. On July 29, five servicemen were killed and other five were wounded during an attack by PKK militants in the Hakkari province. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade Muslim and Christian groups will hold vigils Saturday for a French priest murdered by jihadists in his church, as police charged a man in connection with the brutal attack that has plunged the nation into mourning again. Father Jacques Hamel had his throat slit on the altar by Islamic State-inspired attackers who stormed his church in a Normandy town during mass Tuesday. A regional Muslim council has planned a "brotherhood march" in Lyon, while a church in Bordeaux said it would hold a non-denomination vigil for 85-year-old priest. Prayers were also planned at the Eglise Saint-Etienne where the killing took place, the latest in a nation shaken by three major extremist attacks in the last 18 months. French authorities on Friday filed the first charges tied to the attack against a 19-year-old man accused of "criminal conspiracy with terrorists" over a mobile phone video that police discovered at his home, a judicial source said. Three days before the church attack authorities discovered the video that showed one of the assailants, Abdel Malik Petitjean, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and speaking of "a violent action". Petitjean and his accomplice Adel Kermiche, both 19, were both killed by police in the attack. Three other people are also being held by authorities for questioning. The charges came as Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he would weigh a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam after a spate of jihadist attacks. In an interview with Le Monde newspaper, Valls said he was "open to the idea that for a period yet to be determined there should be no financing from abroad for the construction of mosques". 'Share your pain' The Socialist prime minister also called for imams to be "trained in France, not elsewhere". He said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, whose portfolio also includes religious affairs, was working on building a "new model" for France's relations with Islam. And Salafism an ultra-conservative brand of Sunni Islam "has no place in France," Valls said. France has just over 2,000 mosques, for one of Europe's largest Muslim populations which numbers around five million. Some large mosques have been financed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf or northern African countries, according to local media reports. After meeting with President Francois Hollande earlier this week, the rector of the Paris Mosque Dalil Boubakeur himself suggested "certain reforms of the institutions" of Islam. In northern Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where Hamel was killed, Muslims and Christians gathered in mourning after the attack that hit their town. "You share our pain. This pain is also yours," Father Auguste Moanda said, in a rare speech given during Friday prayers at the local mosque. Both Valls and Cazeneuve have faced calls to resign after the second jihadist attack in less than a fortnight raised questions over France's vigilance and preparedness. The government has come under fire since it emerged that both church attackers had been on the radar of intelligence services and had tried to go to Syria. 'You take a knife' On Friday, L'Express magazine revealed that Kermiche had described the modus operandi of the attack on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. "You take a knife, you go into a church. Bam!" says a chilling message recorded just a few days before the attack. A source close to the investigation confirmed the authenticity of the message, according to L'Express. Other messages speak of the influence of a "sheikh" Kermiche met in prison, his wish to set up a terrorist cell and details of his failed attempts to reach Syria. Some 200 people were in the Telegram group receiving the messages, L'Express said. The church attack came as the government was already facing a firestorm of criticism over alleged security failings after the Bastille Day truck massacre in Nice that left 84 people dead two weeks ago. Meanwhile, French authorities filed terror charges on Friday against two suspected members of the same Islamic State cell that massacred 130 people in Paris last November, a judicial source said. The Nice attack was the third mass killing in France since the January 2015 jihadist assault on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 dead. In all, 230 people have been killed and several hundred wounded, a toll never before seen in peace time in France's modern history. Washington: Democratic Party officials said on Friday they have been targeted by a fresh cyber attack, similar to a breach at the Democratic National Committee that resulted in an embarrassing leak of party emails. The revelation will raise further questions in the United States about the activities of Russian hackers after Hillary Clinton's campaign blamed Moscow for the initial breach that revealed how party leaders sought to undermine her potential White House rival, Bernie Sanders. The emails were made public by WikiLeaks and the Kremlin has dismissed as absurd allegations that it was behind the hack. President Barack Obama has refused to rule out that Russia is trying to sway the US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the target of a "cyber security incident," its national press secretary Meredith Kelly confirmed Friday. "The investigation is ongoing. Based on the information we have to date, we've been advised by investigators that this is similar to other recent incidents, including the DNC breach," she said in a statement. The DCCC was working to enhance its network security and "cooperating with the federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation," she said. When asked if the two breaches were connected, White House spokesman Eric Schultz referred reporters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Obviously, they've confirmed an investigation into the intrusion at the Democratic National Committee," he said. "So if there are connected events that they would look at, that would be part of their investigation." "Obviously, we expect that investigation to be thorough and deliberate, and to look at all the facts and look at all the fast where they lead." US Secretary of State John Kerry raised the DNC hack with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Laos earlier this week. "Secretary Kerry has noted that we've been concerned about Russia's activity in this space for quite some time," Schultz said Friday. "I suspect that won't be the last time they have a conversation about this," he added. There was no immediate comment from the FBI. CHICAGO The state of Florida, the first to report the arrival of Zika in the continental United States, has yet to invite a dedicated team of the federal government's disease hunters to assist with the investigation on the ground, health officials told Reuters. Coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the state reported possible local Zika transmission on July 19 has been conducted largely at a distance, they said. That is surprising to some infectious disease experts, who say a less robust response could lead to a higher number of infections. While Florida has a strong record of battling limited outbreaks of similar mosquito-borne viruses, including dengue and chikungunya, the risk of birth defects caused by Zika adds greater urgency to containing its spread with every available means, they say. Other states have quickly called in CDC teams to help track high-profile diseases. "You only have a small window. This is the window" to prevent a small-scale outbreak from spreading, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who expressed impatience with the pace of the Florida investigation. Florida on Friday said that four cases of Zika in the state were likely caused by mosquito, the first sign that the virus is circulating locally, though it has yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the disease. The current Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of the birth defect microcephaly, and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. Florida Governor Rick Scott said the state health department was working with the CDC as it continues its Zika investigation. CDC said it is closely coordinating with Florida officials who are leading the effort. Dr Marc Fischer, a CDC epidemiologist, has gone to Florida at the state's request. But the state has not invited in the CDC's wider emergency response team of experts in epidemiology, risk communication, vector control and logistics, according to Florida health department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri. In its plans to fight Zika nationwide, CDC stressed that such teams would help local officials track and contain the virus. Similar teams were sent to Utah earlier this month to solve how a person may have become infected while caring for a Zika-infected patient, before local officials went public with the case, and quickly joined an effort to contain an Ebola case in Dallas in 2014. "Should we need additional assistance, we will reach out," Gambineri said in an email. She did not reply to questions about why the state decided not to bring in a CDC team. CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency has several teams ready for when states request help with Zika, including Florida. "If invited, we've got a team ready to go," he said. FUNDING BLAME GAME Florida health officials publicly disclosed the first case of suspected local transmission on July 19. They have since been testing hundreds of area residents to identify other possible infections, in some cases knocking on doors asking people to provide urine samples, and studying local mosquito populations to see if they are carrying the virus. The state has warned residents to protect themselves against mosquito bites, and distributed Zika prevention kits for pregnant women at local doctors' offices. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert from the University of Minnesota, said the two counties involved in the Florida probe Miami-Dade County and Broward County - have extensive mosquito control experience. But he was surprised that the state had not yet sought CDC's help in quickly gathering information about where people were when they were bitten. "When cases like this occur, it's critical that there be rapid epidemiological investigations to determine the likely location where the mosquito exposure occurred," Osterholm said. "Only with that can you identify the breeding sites and eliminate them." As Zika's arrival in the United States loomed in recent months, Republican and Democratic leaders have blamed each other for holding up funding to fight it. President Barack Obama's administration asked Congress for $1.9 billion to fund a Zika response. Republican lawmakers proposed much smaller sums, and talks with their Democratic counterparts stalled before Congress adjourned for the summer. Scott, a Republican, said on Friday he had asked top officials in the Obama administration, including CDC Director Tom Frieden, for more resources to fight Zika. He has allocated$26 million from the state's budget. On July 20, the White House said that Obama had called the Florida governor to discuss the possibility that Zika was circulating in the state, and promised an extra $5.6 million in federal funding in addition to about $2 million provided by CDC. The statement praised Florida's record of responding to mosquito-borne outbreaks and its close coordination with federal partners, including the CDC. "Florida does what Florida does," said one public health expert familiar with the investigation. "If I were health commissioner, I would have asked for their (CDC's) help immediately." (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Bernard Orr) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Pakistan: Officials say a roadside bomb has exploded near a vehicle carrying paramilitary rangers in southern Pakistan, killing a security official and wounding three officers and five civilians. Major General Bilal Akbar, the director-general of the rangers, told reporters Saturday that a search operation has been launched in the city of Larkana where the attack took place. Hours after the attack, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility. In a statement, he warned more such attacks in the future. Larkana is a main city in Sindh province where Pakistani militants often target police and paramilitary rangers in response to an operation which was launched years ago to eliminate militants and criminal gangs. Pakistan has said this operation will continue until peace is fully restored there. Washington: Asserting that the US is the "best-placed" country in the world to seize the future, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has attacked her Republican rival Donald Trump for running a negative campaign as she embarked on a bus tour with her running mate. "Donald Trump says America is weak, that we're in decline. Well, all I can tell you is, we are the best-placed country in the world to seize the future," she said in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, launching a three-day bus tour with her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. 68-year-old Clinton, who has been the secretary of state, first lady and senator, said her campaign is build on positive energy and alleged that Trump's campaign reflects negativity. "And if you're looking for a kind of pessimistic, downbeat vision of America, we're not your folks. We do not buy into that dark, divisive image that was presented at the Republican convention last week," said Clinton, who is the first woman presidential candidate of a major political party. In her maiden public appearance after officially accepting the presidential nomination of the party in Philadelphia at the party convention yesterday, Clinton questioned Trump's claims on jobs creation and economy. "Donald Trump goes around with that hat on, 'Make America Great Again'. Everything he makes he makes somewhere else besides America. The only thing he makes in America are bankruptcies." he said. "And it really is shocking. I didn't know any of this before he became the leading Republican candidate. But then I started running into people who told me stories," she said and and listed out some of the stories about Trump. "I tell you those stories because if someone runs for president and says their primary qualification for being president is because they claim to be a successful businessman, then it's only fair to ask, how did you become successful? We don't resent success in America. But we do resent people who take advantage of others in order to line their own pockets on the way up," Clinton said. Joining Clinton, vice presidential nominee Kaine alleged that a lot of companies owned by Trump are pushing more and more jobs overseas. "The American economy has climbed back up the ladder to climb out of it, but we have a long way to go," Kaine said. "She has laid out very clearly a set of strategies from the education strategies I talked about earlier to important strategies to make sure that those who are working are treated fairly in their benefits and their wages and also to investments to grow the economy, whether those be investments in innovation and research or investments in infrastructure to build the society that we want," he said. LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Myanmar's decision to shake up its multi-billion dollar jade business is a ground-breaking opportunity to stop human rights abuses and increase transparency, but more needs to be done to create a more inclusive economy, activists said on Thursday. The government announced late on Wednesday it will not renew mining permits for jade and other gemstones and that no new permits will be granted until a reformed legal framework is in place, local media reported. "This is a game changer," Juman Kubba, senior campaigner at British-based charity Global Witness, said of the announcement. The poorly-regulated industry, estimated to be worth $31 billion, almost half of Myanmar's economic output, has been accused of looting the country's mineral wealth with little regard for local people and the environment. A 2015 Global Witness report said a string of military figures and drug lords secretly controlled and profited from the trade in jade, a green stone mainly used for ornaments and jewellery. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was swept into office in April after winning a landslide election last year, but the military, which ruled Myanmar for nearly half a century until 2011, still holds immense power. "It suggests Aung San Suu Kyi's government is serious about reform and could help turn the page on the ruthless military rule, cronyism and human rights abuses of the recent past," Kubba said. Deadly accidents in Myanmar's jade mining areas, where small time prospectors and big firms vie for the precious stone, have underscored the sector's lax safety rules and a lack of accountability. Last November, a massive landslide swept through a mining encampment in Kachin State, which produces some of the world's highest-quality jade, killing more than 100 people. The jade industry has also been accused of creating social problems since narcotics addiction is rife among gem scavengers who come to the mining areas in hope of finding lumps of jade overlooked by big miners. The struggle over control of the jade business also remains a major driver of armed conflict between the Myanmar army and the Kachin Independence Organisation. Matthieu Salomon, Myanmar manager for U.S.-based charity, the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), said the reported announcement opened the door to reform of the gemstone industry and an end to human rights abuses in the sector. "It has the opportunity now to set up a framework for a responsible and sustainable business, which forms part of a broader, more inclusive economy for Myanmar," said Salomon. Campaigners urged the government to follow up the announcement with an agreement on how to share the benefits of the jade industry in a transparent way. The government should also introduce environmental and social measures to protect against landslides and to address local grievances fairly, the NRGI said. As a participant in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a global standard to promote accountable management of natural resources, Myanmar should publish more data on permit holders, owners of jade companies and detailed sales records, the NRGI said. (Reporting by Astrid Zweynert, @azweynert; Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Islamabad: Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch who was killed for bringing "shame" to the family by posting risque videos and posts on Facebook was strangled to death by her cousin and not by her brother, a polygraph test found on Saturday. The main accused of the case Muhammad Waseem had earlier confessed that he had strangled his 26-year-old sister. However, the claim was rejected after a polygraph test of both the suspects. According to the test, it was her cousin Haq Nawaz, not Waseem, who had strangled the social media to death on 15 July this year. They said Waseem was holding the hands and feet of the slain model at the time of murder while Haq Nawaz strangled her, Geonews reported. Before killing Qandeel, the suspects had drugged her and her parents, they added. Sources said video and written statements of both suspects have also been recorded. According to them, it was shown during investigation that the elder brother Arif, who resides in Saudi Arabia, had pressurised Waseem into killing their sister Qandeel for the "honour of the family". They said that after the conversation, Waseem and Haq Nawaz planned the model's murder. Prior to her death Qandeel, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, spoke of worries about her safety and had appealed to the interior ministry to provide her with security for protection. In Facebook posts, Baloch spoke of trying to change "the typical orthodox mindset" of people in Pakistan. She faced frequent abuse and death threats but continued to post provocative pictures and videos. The so-called 'honour-killing' has sent shockwaves across the country and triggered an outpouring of grief on social media for Baloch. Pakistani police also recorded written statement of cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi who made headlines for appearing in a controversial video with the slain Pakistani model, on Saturday gave a written statement to police. Qavi did not appear before police to record his statement for the ongoing investigation of the murder of model Qandeel Baloch. The investigation team then sent him a 14-point questionnaire. Turkey on Saturday released more than 750 soldiers who had been detained after an abortive coup, state media reported, while President Tayyip Erdogan said he would drop lawsuits against those who had insulted him, in a one-time "gesture of unity". More than 60,000 people have been detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, when a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets and attempted to topple the government. Turkey's Western allies have condemned the coup, in which Erdogan has said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 were wounded, but have been rattled by the scale of the crackdown since. The purges have targeted supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the failed coup. The cleric denies the charges and Erdogan's critics say the president is using the purges to clamp down on dissent. State-run Anadolu Agency reported that 758 soldiers were released on the recommendation of prosecutors after giving testimony. A judge agreed, calling their detention unnecessary, Anadolu said. Another 231 soldiers remain in custody, it said. Turkey's military, the second-largest in NATO, has been hard hit in the wake of the coup. On Thursday, 99 colonels were promoted to the rank of general or admiral, following the dishonourable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged roles in the coup. About 40 per cent of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup. Turkish defence minister Fikri Isik told broadcaster NTV on Friday that the shake-up in the military was not yet over, adding that military academies would now be a target of "cleansing". Turkey's military is already stretched, given the violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and threats from Islamic State attacks on its border with Syria. The army killed 35 Kurdish militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on Saturday, military officials said. The head of the pro-Kurdish opposition told Reuters that the government's chance to revive a wrecked peace process with Kurdish rebels has been missed as Erdogan taps nationalist sentiment to consolidate support. In an unexpected move, Erdogan said late on Friday he would drop, as a one-off gesture, all lawsuits filed against people for insulting him. He said the decision was triggered by feelings of "unity" against the coup attempt. It could also be aimed at silencing his Western critics. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said earlier this year. Those targeted include journalists, cartoonists and even children. It was not immediately clear whether Erdogan would also drop his legal action against German comedian Jan Boehmermann, who earlier this year recited a poem on television suggesting Erdogan engaged in bestiality and watched child pornography, prompting the president to file a complaint with German prosecutors that he had been insulted. Erdogan also lashed out at the West on Friday, accusing his allies of failing to show solidarity with Turkey over the failed coup, saying those who worried over the fate of coup supporters instead of Turkish democracy could not be friends of Ankara. "The attitude of many countries and their officials over the coup attempt in Turkey is shameful in the name of democracy," Erdogan told hundreds of supporters at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital. "Any country and any leader who does not worry about the life of Turkish people and our democracy as much as they worry about the fate of coupists are not our friends," said Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and perhaps death on the night of the coup. He also criticised the European Council and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to be a part of, for their failure to pay a visit to offer condolences, saying their criticism was "shameful". Erdogan has blamed Gulen for masterminding the attempted coup and has called on Washington to extradite him. Turkish officials have suggested the US could extradite him based on strong suspicion while President Barack Obama last week insisted Turkey must first present evidence of Gulen's alleged complicity in the failed coup. On Saturday, 56 employees of Turkey's constitutional court were suspended from their jobs as part of the investigation into the alleged coup, private broadcaster Haberturk TV reported. Among those, more than 20 court reporters were detained, it reported. The number of public sector workers removed from their posts since the coup attempt now stands at more than 66,000, including some 43,000 people in education, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. Interior minister Efkan Ala said more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup, and that 50,000 passports had been cancelled. The labour ministry said it was investigating 1,300 staff over their possible involvement. Erdogan has said that Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a secretive "parallel State" that aimed to take over the country. The government is now going after Gulen's network of schools and other institutions abroad. Since the coup, Somalia has already shut two schools and a hospital believed to have links to Gulen, and other governments have received similar requests from Ankara, although not all have been willing to comply. WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force asked industry on Friday for proposals to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile and the nuclear cruise missile as the military moves ahead with a costly modernization of its ageing atomic weapons systems. The Air Force said in a statement it expected to award up to two contracts for a new ICBM weapons system, or ground-based strategic deterrent, sometime next summer or fall. It also expected to award up to two contracts in the same time frame for a new nuclear cruise missile, or long-range standoff weapon. Modernization of the U.S. nuclear force is expected to cost more than $350 billion over the next decade as the United States works to replace its ageing systems, including bombs, nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines. Some analysts estimate the cost of modernization at $1 trillion over 30 years. The new ICBM system would be a follow-on to the Minuteman missile, whose launch systems and physical infrastructure first became operational in the mid-1960s. The system has been upgraded over the years, but much of the infrastructure is original, the Air Force said. The most recent versions of the Minuteman III date from the late 1990s and early 2000s and had an intended 20-year life span, the Air Force said. The missile will "face increased operational and sustainment challenges until it can be replaced," it said. "This request for proposals is the next step to ensuring the nation's ICBM leg of the nuclear triad remains safe, secure and effective," said Major General Scott Jansson, who leads the Air Force programme office for strategic systems. Opponents of replacing the nuclear cruise missile have argued that its missions could be handled by other legs of the triad. Others say it is an unnecessary expense at a time of shrinking budgets and smaller deployed nuclear arsenals. The military insists the new cruise missile is needed to enable older bombers to deliver nuclear weapons to targets whose air space is heavily defended and difficult to reach with gravity bombs. The missile is "needed to replace the ageing air launched cruise missile, which has far exceeded its originally planned service life ... and is required to support our B-52 bomber fleet," Admiral Cecil Haney, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, told lawmakers earlier this year. (Reporting by David Alexander) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Seventy-four policemen accused of their links with Fethullah Gulen movement have been detained during a special operation in Turkeys Ankara, Haberturk newspaper reported July 30. There are former deputy heads of Ankara police and other high-ranking officials, whose names have not been made public. Earlier, Turkeys Interior Minister Efkan Ala said that the number of detainees over the military coup attempt has reached 18,000, and 9,677 of them are arrested. 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: @o_quluzade 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . OnePlus might be working to provide VoLTE support for its older flagships OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 and so as the mid-range OnePlus X as well. In a reply on OnePlus forums to a user query (first reported by TechPP) about VoLTE support for OPO,OP2 and OPX, OnePlus Forum Administrator / staff member Helen noted: We are working with Reliance Jio right now on VoLTE support. Will update you all once we have a more concrete timeline worked out. However, it appears that there is no certain timeline as of now but the Chinese firm seems in process of making VoLTE available on its older devices. Since the OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X are already VoLTE ready, all what is required by the OnePlus is to enable the feature through a software update. Now that the Reliance Jio is almost ready to launch commercially, we are sure that OnePlus wont disappoint its loyal consumers by not providing VoLTE support. So we are expecting OnePlus to share the news very soon. Source | Via For investors in the automotive industry -- whether you own stock in major automakers, parts suppliers, or dealership groups -- AutoNation (AN 2.74%) remains a good barometer. It's the largest new-car dealership in America and generates a significant chunk of its business in key markets such as California, Florida, and Texas. If you haven't listened to one of AutoNation's conference calls, you should, because chairman, CEO, and president Mike Jackson gives detailed and unscripted insight into the industry. Let's dig into AutoNation's second-quarter earnings report and see if there's any indication of whether or not the U.S. new-vehicle market is plateauing. By the numbers Starting from the top: AutoNation reported revenue of $5.44 billion, a 4.2% increase compared to the prior year, but short of 10 analyst estimates by Zacks that called for $5.56 billion. Looking at the bottom line, AutoNation reported second-quarter net income of $112 million, or $1.08 per share. While the earnings per share were above last year's $1.00 mark, results were a decline compared to last year's total net income of $115 million. Investors can largely thank AutoNation's share repurchase program for the earnings-per-share gains. During the second quarter the company repurchased 1 million shares of its common stock, for a total of $50 million, and it has roughly $116 million remaining on its authorization. Another factor for investors to keep tabs on is AutoNation's new and used vehicle gross profit per unit, as it gives insight into discounting pressure within the retail environment. During the first quarter its new and used gross profit per unit declined 8.2% and 7.7%, respectively. In the second quarter, that pressure lightened, but was still more intense than a year ago -- declining 3.3% and 4.7%, respectively. The surge is slowing Investors in the automotive industry have been outspoken about 2016 being the year that new-vehicle sales in the U.S. plateau, and there is some evidence of that within AutoNation's results. During the first half of the year, AutoNation's domestic segment income dropped slightly, from $164 million to $163 million. Its import segment income dropped 3%, from $155 million to $151 million. Worse yet, its premium luxury segment dropped 7%, from $189 million to $176 million. Even as new-vehicle sales plateau in the U.S., they remain at elevated and healthy levels. But that does mean that AutoNation, like its competitors, is going to have to grow its top and bottom lines in other ways. One method is acquisitions, which AutoNation has been consistent about. Just recently, in July, the company completed the previously announced acquisition of four stores, which are expected to generate $190 million a year in additional revenue. Another method will be expanding its auto repair business, which generates a higher margin. Lastly, the company's investment in AutoNation Express could pay off by attracting more consumers, thanks to an easier online-to-in-store shopping experience. What management had to say Jackson said in a press release: We achieved record EPS from continuing operations. We benefited from our opportunistic capital allocation strategy, including acquisitions and share repurchase, and we began to see the results of adjusting our cost structure and inventory levels to the current industry selling environment. We remain focused on our strategy to manage costs and reduce our inventory levels going forward and we will continue to take advantage of capital allocation opportunities. He added: The Takata airbag recall continues to be disruptive to our business. However, in the second half of the year we anticipate improvement due to Takata airbag parts availability and compensation paid by certain manufacturers that will partially offset our costs. It was clear from Jackson's comments on the conference call that going forward, the most concerning factor for investors will be how major automakers match supply and demand. It's critical that automakers tone down inventory if sales plateau; otherwise, excess inventory would negatively impact retail values, and perhaps heat up an incentive war that results in pain for everybody within the automotive industry. Since its inception, the Affordable Care Act has been a veritable punching bag for a skeptical American public. The ACA, which is probably better known as "Obamacare," has regularly proven unpopular in polls that analyze public opinion surrounding the health law of the land. The Kaiser Family Foundation's Health Tracking Poll has examined the favorability of Obamacare nearly every month since it was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. You can count on just two hands how many months the number of "favorable" respondents outnumbered the "unfavorable." Obamacare has been a punching bag for skeptics The law's unpopularity stems from a number of key factors. For starters, consumers aren't thrilled with the individual mandate and attached Shared Responsibility Payment. In plain English, the mandate requires you, as an individual, to purchase health insurance. If you don't, you'll potentially face a penalty that, in 2016, is the greater of $695 or 2.5% of your modified adjusted gross income. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) forecast that the 2016 SRP should average $969 per person. Being "forced" to buy health insurance, and being penalized for not doing so, hasn't sat well with some Americans. Millions of Americans also lost their coverage under Obamacare despite President Obama's reassurance that Americans "would get to keep their plan." Beefed up minimum benefit requirements pushed a number of plans out of compliance, and coerced some physicians to stay out of Obamacare networks. The result was a major headache for these millions of Americans who were forced to change plans. However, the biggest criticism of Obamacare is the affordability of the plans, which was expected to be its selling point. Under Obamacare, insurers were expected to compete in an open and transparent marketplace designed to allow consumers to make informed decisions that would maximize the value they received from their health plans. Unfortunately, a number of insurers, including national giants UnitedHealth Group (UNH -0.25%) and Humana (HUM 1.00%), have been losing money hand over fist on Obamacare. Subsequently, both companies are reducing the states they're offering insurance in next year. Tack on the failure of 16 of Obamacare's 23 healthcare cooperatives, and we have a scenario where competition is decreasing, and insurers are rapidly increasing their prices in order to turn a profit. For instance, KFF's analysis of the lowest-cost silver plans in 14 major cities in mid-June predicted a premium increase of 11% next year. The "affordability" of the Affordability Care Act clearly seems to be in question. Or is it? Surprise! Obamacare actually lowered premiums According to a newly published study from Loren Adler and Paul Ginsburg of the Brookings Institution in Health Affairs, Obamacare has actually had a surprising effect on premiums: it's pushed them substantially lower. Adler and Ginsburg admit that there are components of Obamacare that have worked to increase premiums compared to the standard of care prior to Obamacare. The aforementioned minimum essential benefits for health plans, and mandating guaranteed acceptance even if you have a pre-existing condition, are two examples of premium-increasing benefits tied to the ACA. However, other features of the ACA have worked to lower premium prices. The individual mandate that requires consumers to buy health insurance, and the expansion of Advanced Premium Tax Credits to consumers and families earning less than 400% of the federal poverty level, has increased the size of insurers' patient pools and decreased prices. Additionally, making plan comparisons more transparent should allow consumers to make educated decisions. What Adler and Ginsburg found by analyzing the second-lowest-cost silver marketplace plan in 2014 was that there was an immediate drop in premium costs of between 10% and 21% from 2013 (i.e. before Obamacare). All the while, the amount of benefits the consumer received increased. Looking in the rearview mirror, Adler and Ginsburg estimated that annual healthcare expenditures for a plan that covered roughly 60% of healthcare expenses was $3,480 in 2009. The same premium in 2014 for the second-lowest cost silver plan was about $3,800. Though this is a 9% increase, a silver plan covers 70% of expenses, not 60%, thus making an Obamacare silver plan a more affordable and valuable option for the consumer. Furthermore, the authors estimated that Obamacare premiums would have to increase an almost unfathomable 44% in 2017 just for ACA prices to catch up with the trajectory we were on prior to the implementation of Obamacare. In sum, Obamacare is actually saving Americans money. Is the ACA sustainable? There are, as to be expected, a few caveats with Brookings' analysis of Obamacare. To some extent, it's comparing apples to oranges when factoring in the pre-ACA environment, where people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage, and the post-ACA environment, where acceptance is guaranteed. A meta-analysis from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has shown that Obamacare enrollees are 22% more expensive than employer-based enrollees. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that sicker individuals, who were previously excluded, are now able to enroll. Additionally, as noted in the Los Angeles Times, premiums don't tell the entire story when it comes to healthcare costs. Lower premiums have been balanced in many instances by higher copays or deductibles. Thus, consumers who are healthy and don't head to the doctor often tend to benefit from low premiums. Sicker individuals might perceive low premium costs to be in their favor, but higher deductibles could be costing them quite a bit of money. The big question, though, is whether this program is sustainable -- and to that end, the jury may be out for two reasons. First, political uncertainty could push Obamacare to the brink. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has every intention of keeping Obamacare and building upon its success. Her rival, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, wishes to repeal Obamacare in its entirety. That certainly creates some concerns for investors and insurers until, at least, the first week of November, when the election will be decided. The second reason, which assumes Clinton heads to the Oval Office, is that competition is being adversely impacted within the ACA. UnitedHealth is shrinking from 34 state exchanges to just three by 2017, and Humana is shedding its operations in at least eight of 19 states by next year. The failure of two-thirds of the co-ops has also reduced low-cost options for Americans. With fewer choices, the remaining insurers have little incentive to be competitive with their premium pricing, which is bad news for the consumer. If there's one factor working in favor of the survival of the program, it's that approximately 85% of people enrolled through a marketplace exchange (federal or state) are receiving a subsidy. These subsidies create an allure to the program, and they can largely help shield lower-income consumers and families from premium hikes. Based on this premise, Obamacare may have the capacity to continue chugging along just fine. We should know a bit more by November, but it remains uncertain times for investors, insurers, and even consumers. What: Crude oil quietly fell into bear market territory this week after slumping 20% from its recent high. A glut of oil and gasoline supplies in storage reignited fears that oil market fundamentals are not improving quite as fast as hoped; that weighed on the entire energy sector. Meanwhile, earnings season was in full force, which brought along with it concerning outlooks from several in the industry. These two factors drove dozens of oil stocks down double digits this week. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, among the biggest movers were Seadrill Partners (SDLP), Whiting Petroleum (WLL), Pioneer Energy Services (PES), Baytex Energy (BTEG.F 0.56%), and California Resources (CRC): So what: Investors pummeled offshore drilling MLP Seadrill Partners after it announced its second distribution cut in the past six months. Seadrill Partners' cut pushed the payout down 60% from its recent rate and a whopping 82% lower than its peak rate. Two recent rig contract adjustments left Seadrill Partners with no choice but to reduce the payout again. That decision did not sit well with analysts at Morgan Stanley, which downgraded Seadrill Partners from overweight to equal weight. Investors also hammered shale driller Whiting Petroleum's stock after it reported weak second-quarter results. The company lost $0.70 per share, which missed the consensus estimate by $0.25 per share. Further, the company unleashed three surprises on the market, which included the signing of another well participation agreement, the sale of a non-core asset, and the decision to boost its capital expenditures budget by 10%. It is that capex increase that's causing the most concern, with investors growing worried that Whiting Petroleum is getting ahead of itself by boosting spending when the oil market is still weak. Onshore contract driller Pioneer Energy Services, likewise, reported poorly received second-quarter results. While the company's $0.31 per share loss was $0.01 per share better than the consensus estimate, the company's outlook was not that great. In particular, utilization in Pioneer Energy Services' drilling services segment continues to decline, slumping from 46% in the first quarter to 39% last quarter, with the company expecting it to fall to a range of 35% to 38% in the third quarter. Canadian oil producer Baytex Energy also reported lackluster second-quarter results. Production declined by 7.6% due to the shut-in of uneconomic wells and a reduction in development spending. That production decline, along with weak oil prices, led to the company reporting a $0.41 per share loss, which was a significant drop from its breakeven results last quarter. That said, unlike Whiting Petroleum, Baytex Energy sees the weakening of oil prices as a sign to cut spending further, with it reducing its capex budget by more than 13% at the midpoint, which will cause its production to decline by another 1%. Finally, the overall bear market in crude prices weighed on California Resources' stock this week, as its oil-fueled rally reverses. The Golden State-focused oil driller's stock had run up more than 300% from its bottom in February through early May, as a result of the more than 50% rebound in oil off its bottom. However, California Resources' stock has been cut in half over the past three months as a result of oil's bear market slump. Now what: With crude prices sinking, the outlook for the oil sector is starting to deteriorate a bit. That is making investors nervous, causing many to sell at any sign of weakness. Already troubled companies, such as the five mentioned above, are really getting slammed: These stocks need much higher crude prices to survive long-term. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Seventy-eight employees of Turkish Ground Services Inc. (TGS, a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines) have been dismissed in connection with the military coup attempt in Turkey, Hurriyet newspaper reported July 30. TGS said that the dismissed workers were involved in Fethullah Gulen movement, according to the newspaper. Dismissals will be continued in the company. Earlier, Turkish Airlines dismissed 211 employees, involved in 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 Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade There aren't a lot of companies that can say they have more than 40% market share in their industries, yet still have enormous growth potential. But that's the case with Trex Company, Inc. (TREX 1.09%). The Virginia-based company, which manufactures wood-alternative decking, railing, and related accessories, is indeed in that position. As the company reminded us last quarter, it may have 41% of the alternative decking industry, but the real opportunity is traditional wood. And the entire wood-alternative industry only makes up about 16% of the 2.4 billion linear feet of decking sold in North America every year. So yes, there's room to grow. Trex is set to report second-quarter financial and operating results on August 1. When we last heard from the company in May, management described how the company was shifting its marketing and advertising message to be less about differentiating Trex from its wood-alternative competitors, and more about differentiating Trex from traditional wood. Considering how much bigger that slice of the pie is, it could pay off in a very big way. What Trex has accomplished Over the past several years, Trex has grown at a much-faster rate than its competitors, leading to pretty substantial growth in market share: Again, this only measures share of the wood-alternative segment, which, in its entirety, only makes up about 16% of the entire decking industry. In other words, Trex only has about 6.6% of the addressable market -- and that's only North America. This is Trex's financial performance since 2012: That's a laudable performance that has generated over 200% in returns for Trex shareholders. What Trex is doing now to drive growth As described above, Trex management has made a conscious decision to shift its marketing focus directly to wood versus just differentiating its own products from those of its wood-alternative competitors. In part, this shift is likely because of the company's strong brand recognition as a result of years of effective advertising and marketing. And it's not just traditional advertising, but also social-media impressions: As you can see above, Trex is far-more recognized than its competitors, with far-more awareness and engagement on social-media platforms. This is likely a big reason why visits to Trex's website have increased so much over the past several years. This strong brand recognition, as well as the company's broad distribution, should help the company maximize its new marketing focus on being superior to plain old wood: If there's a risk to this kind of marketing approach, it's that Trex's competitors will benefit, too, because it's more about differentiating wood alternatives from traditional wood. But I think that's where the benefit of the company's name recognition and industry-leading distribution come into play. Trex is also the only manufacturer that offers a full selection of branded accessories, including railing, lighting, color-matched storage and pergolas, and other licensed products. It's a true "one-stop shop," and when someone is prepared to spend upwards of $20,000 on a deck, the importance of the aesthetic -- of everything being designed to work together to accomplish the proper visual appeal -- can make a big difference. What to expect for the second quarter Trex's guidance for the second quarter is for $145 million in sales, an 8% adjusted increase from last year's quarter. Profits jumped 33% in the first quarter on similar revenue growth, largely due to lower costs and manufacturing cost savings, and CEO Jim Cline said that he expects the second quarter would see similar benefits to operating leverage. While he wouldn't pin down a particular earnings number, it's not unreasonable to expect it to be above 20%, though 33% may be on the high side because the company deferred some first-quarter marketing spend to the second quarter. Nonetheless, the company continues to benefit from a strong market for housing and home improvement, its long-term focus on innovative products and building strong brand recognition, and a relentless focus on cost control and lean manufacturing, which has played a big role in driving incremental profits. That's worked incredibly well during the past several years. Considering the market opportunity, it's likely to continue paying off for years to come. Image source: White House on Flickr. Since its inception, the Affordable Care Act has been a veritable punching bag for a skeptical American public. The ACA, which is probably better known as "Obamacare," has regularly proven unpopular in polls that analyze public opinion surrounding the health law of the land. The Kaiser Family Foundation's Health Tracking Poll has examined the favorability of Obamacare nearly every month since it was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. You can count on just two hands how many months the number of "favorable" respondents outnumbered the "unfavorable." Obamacare has been a punching bag for skeptics The law's unpopularity stems from a number of key factors. For starters, consumers aren't thrilled with the individual mandate and attached Shared Responsibility Payment. In plain English, the mandate requires you, as an individual, to purchase health insurance. If you don't, you'll potentially face a penalty that, in 2016, is the greater of $695 or 2.5% of your modified adjusted gross income. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) forecast that the 2016 SRP should average $969 per person. Being "forced" to buy health insurance, and being penalized for not doing so, hasn't sat well with some Americans. Millions of Americans also lost their coverage under Obamacare despite President Obama's reassurance that Americans "would get to keep their plan." Beefed up minimum benefit requirements pushed a number of plans out of compliance, and coerced some physicians to stay out of Obamacare networks. The result was a major headache for these millions of Americans who were forced to change plans. Image source: Getty Images. However, the biggest criticism of Obamacare is the affordability of the plans, which was expected to be its selling point.Under Obamacare, insurers were expected to compete in an open and transparent marketplace designed to allow consumers to make informed decisions that would maximize the value they received from their health plans. Unfortunately, a number of insurers, including national giants UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) and Humana (NYSE: HUM), have been losing money hand over fist on Obamacare. Subsequently, both companies are reducing the states they're offering insurance in next year. Tack on the failure of 16 of Obamacare's 23 healthcare cooperatives, and we have a scenario where competition is decreasing, and insurers are rapidly increasing their prices in order to turn a profit. For instance, KFF's analysis of the lowest-cost silver plans in 14 major cities in mid-June predicted a premium increase of 11% next year. The "affordability" of the Affordability Care Act clearly seems to be in question.Or is it? Surprise! Obamacare actually lowered premiums According to a newly published study from Loren Adler and Paul Ginsburg of the Brookings Institution in Health Affairs, Obamacare has actually had a surprising effect on premiums: it's pushed them substantially lower. Adler and Ginsburg admit that there are components of Obamacare that have worked to increase premiums compared to the standard of care prior to Obamacare. The aforementioned minimum essential benefits for health plans, and mandating guaranteed acceptance even if you have a pre-existing condition, are two examples of premium-increasing benefits tied to the ACA. Image source: Getty Images. However, other features of the ACA have worked to lower premium prices. The individual mandate that requires consumers to buy health insurance, and the expansion of Advanced Premium Tax Credits to consumers and families earning less than 400% of the federal poverty level, has increased the size of insurers' patient pools and decreased prices. Additionally, making plan comparisons more transparent should allow consumers to make educated decisions. What Adler and Ginsburg found by analyzing the second-lowest-cost silver marketplace plan in 2014 was that there was an immediate drop in premium costs of between 10% and 21% from 2013 (i.e. before Obamacare). All the while, the amount of benefits the consumer received increased. Looking in the rearview mirror, Adler and Ginsburg estimated that annual healthcare expenditures for a plan that covered roughly 60% of healthcare expenses was $3,480 in 2009. The same premium in 2014 for the second-lowest cost silver plan was about $3,800. Though this is a 9% increase, a silver plan covers 70% of expenses, not 60%, thus making an Obamacare silver plan a more affordable and valuable option for the consumer. Furthermore, the authors estimated that Obamacare premiums would have to increase an almost unfathomable 44% in 2017 just for ACA prices to catch up with the trajectory we were on prior to the implementation of Obamacare.In sum, Obamacare is actually saving Americans money. Is the ACA sustainable? There are, as to be expected, a few caveats with Brookings' analysis of Obamacare. Image source: Getty Images. To some extent, it's comparing apples to oranges when factoring in the pre-ACA environment, where people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage, and the post-ACA environment, where acceptance is guaranteed. A meta-analysis from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has shown that Obamacare enrollees are 22% more expensive than employer-based enrollees. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that sicker individuals, who were previously excluded, are now able to enroll. Additionally, as noted in the Los Angeles Times, premiums don't tell the entire story when it comes to healthcare costs. Lower premiums have been balanced in many instances by higher copays or deductibles. Thus, consumers who are healthy and don't head to the doctor often tend to benefit from low premiums. Sicker individuals might perceive low premium costs to be in their favor, but higher deductibles could be costing them quite a bit of money. The big question, though, is whether this program is sustainable -- and to that end, the jury may be out for two reasons. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Image source: Flickr user Evan Guest. First, political uncertainty could push Obamacare to the brink. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has every intention of keeping Obamacare and building upon its success. Her rival, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, wishes to repeal Obamacare in its entirety. That certainly creates some concerns for investors and insurers until, at least, the first week of November, when the election will be decided. The second reason, which assumes Clinton heads to the Oval Office, is that competition is being adversely impacted within the ACA. UnitedHealth is shrinking from 34 state exchanges to just three by 2017, and Humana is shedding its operations in at least eight of 19 states by next year. The failure of two-thirds of the co-ops has also reduced low-cost options for Americans. With fewer choices, the remaining insurers have little incentive to be competitive with their premium pricing, which is bad news for the consumer. If there's one factor working in favor of the survival of the program, it's that approximately 85% of people enrolled through a marketplace exchange (federal or state) are receiving a subsidy. These subsidies create an allure to the program, and they can largely help shield lower-income consumers and families from premium hikes. Based on this premise, Obamacare may have the capacity to continue chugging along just fine. We should know a bit more by November, but it remains uncertain times for investors, insurers, and even consumers. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The contract signed by China may finally provide some certainty for the potash market, and could even be a sign that the bottom has been reached. Image source: Getty Images. China finally signed a contract for potash delivery this year with Belarusian state-producer Belaruskai, but at $219 per metric ton, the price is 30% below last year's and is one that's not been seen in nearly a decade. But it could've been a lot worse, and PotashCorp (NYSE: POT) even sees this as a sign that that market has reached a bottom. Historically low prices Since the 2013 breakup of the Belarusian Potash Company, a cartel comprised of Belaruskali and Russian producer Uralkali, pricing has been in freefall. Potash that sold for about $400 per metric ton before the cartel's collapse tumbled to $315 per metric ton immediately afterwards,and with China delaying signing a contract this year, analysts speculated pricing might even fall to around $200 per metric ton. Although there was some hope when Belaruskali recently signed a contract with India for $227 per metric ton, all eyes remained on China because, as the world's biggest importer of potash, it tends to command the best prices.Thus the announcement last week it signed one with Belaruskali for $219 per metric ton came as a relief, even if the agreed on price was historically low. Many felt it could have been worse. Potash producers have reported receiving dramatically lower prices on a global basis. PotashCorp, for example, had said its average realized price was just $178 per metric ton in the first quarter, 37% below the $284 it had realized a year ago. Both Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) and Agrium (NYSE: AGU), PotashCorp's partners in Canpotex, the North American marketing organizationfor potash, also reported lower average selling prices of $207 and $199 per metric ton, respectively. Expecting a price turnaround Although the potash market is still in oversupply, PotashCorp believes there's a good chance this year's contract is actually the bottom. At a recent fertilizer industry conference, the crop nutrient producer laid out a bullish case for potash pricing to rise next year. Image source: PotashCorp Southwestern Fertilizer Conference presentation. It noted that over the past decade and a half, there have been a handful of times when China has delayed signing a contract, or even didn't sign one at all (during the depths of the Great Recession). But when that happened, the following year demand tended to increase and the industry saw prices rise. PotashCorp believes that situation will run true to form next year as the delayed contract sets up "the potential for a strong demand recovery in the coming year." Perhaps, but miners have been digging in for a protracted pricing slump. Mosaic just announced it was putting its Colonsay mine in Saskatchewan into care-and-maintenance mode and laying off 330 workers. That follows PotashCorp's decision earlier this year to similarly suspend operations at its Picadilly mine in New Brunswick, Canada, followed by Intrepid Potash(NYSE: IPI) announcing in May it was idling its Carlsbad, New Mexico, facility. And Canpotex itself said it had cut by 8% potash exports over the first half of 2016. In commodities markets, just as in investing, past performance is no indication of future results. As events in the potash industry during the Great Recession -- and even between 2014 and 2015, when pricing remained flat -- prove, there's no guarantee prices will rise next year. Investors need to see whether production cuts ease the supply glut and if lower pricing boosts demand. There do appear signs the worst is over, and with even Belaruskali and Uralkali possibly reuniting their cartel, this might be the time for investors to look at the sector again. With shares of both Mosaic and PotashCorp having lost about a third of their value over the past year, they might be just as good a place to startas any. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Trex is set to announce what should be another strong quarter on August 1. Image source: Trex Company. There aren't a lot of companies that can say they have more than 40% market share in their industries, yet still have enormous growth potential. But that's the case withTrex Company, Inc.(NYSE: TREX). The Virginia-based company, which manufactures wood-alternative decking, railing, and related accessories, is indeed in that position. As the company reminded us last quarter, it may have 41% of the alternative decking industry, but therealopportunity is traditional wood. And the entire wood-alternative industry only makes up about 16% of the 2.4 billion linear feet of decking sold in North America every year. So yes, there's room to grow. Trex is set to report second-quarter financial and operating results on August 1. When we last heard from the company in May, management described how the company was shifting its marketing and advertising message to be less about differentiating Trex from its wood-alternative competitors, and more about differentiating Trex from traditional wood. Considering how much bigger that slice of the pie is, it could pay off in a very big way. What Trex has accomplished Over the past several years, Trex has grown at a much-faster rate than its competitors, leading to pretty substantial growth in market share: Image source: Trex. Again, this only measures share of the wood-alternative segment, which, in its entirety, only makes up about 16% of the entire decking industry. In other words, Trex only has about 6.6% of the addressable market -- and that's only North America. This is Trex's financial performance since 2012: TREX data by YCharts. That's a laudable performance that has generated over 200% in returns for Trex shareholders. What Trex is doing now to drive growth As described above, Trex management has made a conscious decision to shift its marketing focus directly to wood versus just differentiating its own products from those of its wood-alternative competitors. In part, this shift is likely because of the company's strong brand recognition as a result of years of effective advertising and marketing. And it's not just traditional advertising, but also social-media impressions: Image source: Trex Company. As you can see above, Trex is far-more recognized than its competitors, with far-more awareness and engagement on social-media platforms. This is likely a big reason why visits to Trex's website have increased so much over the past several years.This strong brand recognition, as well as the company's broad distribution, should help the company maximize its new marketing focus on being superior to plain old wood: Image source: Trex Company. If there's a risk to this kind of marketing approach, it's that Trex's competitors will benefit, too, because it's more about differentiating wood alternatives from traditional wood. But I think that's where the benefit of the company's name recognition and industry-leading distribution come into play. Trex is also the only manufacturer that offers a full selection of branded accessories, including railing, lighting, color-matched storage and pergolas, and other licensed products. It's a true "one-stop shop," and when someone is prepared to spend upwards of $20,000 on a deck, the importance of the aesthetic -- of everything being designed to work together to accomplish the proper visual appeal -- can make a big difference. What to expect for the second quarter Trex's guidance for the second quarter is for $145 million in sales, an 8% adjusted increase from last year's quarter. Profits jumped 33% in the first quarter on similar revenue growth, largely due to lower costs and manufacturing cost savings, and CEO Jim Cline said that he expects the second quarter would see similar benefits to operating leverage. While he wouldn't pin down a particular earnings number, it's not unreasonable to expect it to be above 20%, though 33% may be on the high side because the company deferred some first-quarter marketing spend to the second quarter. Nonetheless, the company continues to benefit from a strong market for housing and home improvement, its long-term focus on innovative products and building strong brand recognition, and a relentless focus on cost control and lean manufacturing, which has played a big role in driving incremental profits. That's worked incredibly well during the past several years. Considering the market opportunity, it's likely to continue paying off for years to come. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Jason Hall owns shares of Trex. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Trex. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. On Tuesday night, the mother of Trayvon Martin praised Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia for having the courage to lead the fight for common-sense gun legislation. Numerous other speakers also raised the gun control issue at the DNC, too. But Wednesday night was clearly gun night. From Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) to former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to former Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband, NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly to others, a string of speakers pushed for more gun control. When President Obama addressed the crowd he also pushed the notion of changing background checks on guns. Hillary Clinton spoke about how We should be working with responsible gun owners to pass common-sense reforms and keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and all others who would do us harm, on Thursday night. Democrats are angry about what they claim to be mass, systematic racism by the police. But they overlook the discriminatory effects of background checks. These regulations disproportionately prevent law-abiding black and Hispanic males from getting guns. It is President Obamas theme in each of his speeches after mass public shootings. Hillary Clinton has regularly made the same claim during her presidential campaign. In June, ABCs Jon Karl asked Murphy a simple question about his legislative proposal for background checks on private transfers of guns: So why -- why are we focusing on things that have nothing to do with the massacres we're responding to? Murphy couldnt point to a single mass public shooting that would have been stopped by his bill. Indeed, I checked back to 2000 and also could not find a single such shooting. But it is worse than that. In my new book, The War on Guns, I show that the European Unions 28 member nations already have these background checks on private transfers. Yet, they suffered a 50 percent higher casualty from mass public shootings than did the U.S. From 2000 to 2015, the U.S. states with these background checks also experienced higher frequencies of mass public shootings. They also had more injuries and deaths from these attacks. Instead of additional background checks and creating problems for more law-abiding citizens, let's acknowledge and fix the broken system that we already have. Virtually everyone who fails a background check is someone who is legally eligible to buy a gun. Law-abiding minorities, particularly blacks, are the ones most likely to be stopped from buying guns. Hillary Clinton claims that background checks have stopped 2.4 million dangerous or prohibited people from buying a gun. But what she ought to say is that there were 2.4 million initial denials. These initial denials are akin to being stopped from flying because your name is similar that of someone on the No Fly list. This happened five times to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. By Hillary Clintons method of counting, five terrorists were stopped from flying. About 96 percent of initial denials are dropped after the first two stages of review. Many more are dropped during the three remaining stages. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and President Obama have all been criticized for not prosecuting prohibited purchasers. In 2010 (the year of the last full, annual report on the Brady Act), 76,152 denials resulted in only forty-nine federal prosecutions. State prosecutions were also few in number. But there wasnt really any failure to prosecute. The vast majority of these denials were not real cases. Sharing a name and birthdate with a felon isnt the same thing as actually being a felon. Certain racial groups will encounter this problem more often than others. With some 40 percent of Vietnamese people bearing the name Nguyen, the problem of duplicate names is very likely to exist among people with this national heritage. Hispanics are more likely to share names with other Hispanics, and the same is true of blacks. Also, because 30% of black males are forbidden from buying guns because of their criminal records, law-abiding black males are especially likely to have their names confused with those of prohibited people. For many of these 2.4 million people, a mistaken denial might be a mere inconvenience. But some people really do have an urgent need to protect themselves from stalkers or enemies. The solution? Hold the government to its own standards the same standards that private companies are held to. Private companies would be sued out of existence for making even a tiny fraction of the governments mistakes. Moreover, the current government system is clearly unfair to certain races. The Obama administration hasn't done anything to fix this system. Indeed, it has pulled everyone off of checking for mistakes. It is difficult to appeal denials without the help of a lawyer, and few poor minorities can afford to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees. Gun buyers and sellers are stuck with all of the fees for universal background checks. In New York City and D.C., these fees are at least $125. In Washington state and Oregon, the costs of transferring a gun are about $60 and $55, respectively. But background checks are supposed to benefit everyone, so why not pay for them out of general revenue? It isnt as if gang members are the ones paying the fees. These are law-abiding citizens who may really need a gun for protection. Some of them are poor people living in high-crime urban areas. Often, the most likely victims of violent crime can least afford these costs. Paying for these background checks out of general government revenue would not only be fair, it would go a long way toward putting opponents minds at ease. This should be an easy fix, but gun control advocates seem to be hell-bent on increasing the costs of owning a gun. They're the ones who are unwilling to compromise on this issue. Its almost as if some Democrats want to use these fees to disarm poor minorities the very people who are the most likely victims of violent crime. In 2013, Republican legislators in Colorado proposed to exempt people below the poverty line from paying the new state tax on background checks. In the Colorado House of Representatives, all but two Democrats voted against the amendment. Democrats not only keep pushing a dangerously flawed background check system, they have also consistently opposed fixes that would make the system less discriminatory against minorities. They ignore academic studies which show the ineffectiveness of background checks on private transfers. These rules are clearly designed to reduce gun ownership. This time, bleeding-heart liberal Democrats dont seem to care if the poor are disproportionately affected. Its been almost a hundred years since my grandmother, then a teenage suffragette, marched in the streets of Milwaukee for the right of women to vote. Among the young feminists with her was a schoolmate, Goldie Myerson, who later moved to Tel Aviv, changed her name to Golda Meir and became the first (and, so far, only) female prime minister of Israel. Golda is often cited as a precedent for a Hillary Clinton presidency. The comparison is natural, but misleading. Golda Meir was a woman in a mans world, the one significant female in a party dominated by men. Hillary, on the other hand, is now the leader of a Democratic Party whose powerreal and symbolichas largely passed into the hands of women. Golda Meir was a woman in a mans world, the one significant female in a party dominated by men. Hillary, on the other hand, is now the leader of a Democratic Party whose powerreal and symbolichas largely passed into the hands of women. This was on display, in matters large and small, from the start of the party convention in Philadelphia. The opening invocation was delivered by Doctor Cynthia Hale. Baltimore mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake gaveled in the proceedings. Congresswoman Marcia Fudge chaired the convention in place of the discredited head of the Democratic National committee, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Party stalwart Donna Brazile was named interim chair of the DNC. When furious Bernie Bros threated to upset the convention on opening night, comic Sarah Silverman took the stage and silenced hecklers with a cuttingly accurate squelch: (To the Bernie or bust people. Youre being ridiculous). Sanders himself was one of three featured speakers on the first night but he looked less like a historic figure than a historical artifact. The stars of the conventions first night were two powerful women, keynote speaker, Senator Elizabeth Warren and First Lady Michelle Obama. Warren ripped into Donald Trump with undisguised contempt and scorn. What kind of man cheats students, cheats investors cheats workers? she demanded. Ill tell you want kind of man. A man who must never be president of the United States! This was blatant man- baiting, and it won the Senator loud cheers from delegates--not all of them women--infuriated by Donald Trumps dismissive attitude toward women who are not members of his family. Michelle Obama closed the show, that first night, with a strong and gracious speech that put the conventionand the new Democratic Partyin historical perspective. Because of Hillary Clinton, she said, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take it for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. But Hillary doesnt deserve all the credit. Her nomination isnt a one-off or a strictly personal achievement. Winning politics takes a village, and women comprise a majority of the Democratic village. In presidential elections, more than half vote for the party. They have earned their leadership the old fashioned way: At the ballot box. The highest ranking Congressional Democrat is Nancy Pelosi, minority leader in the House of Representatives. Three of the four senators from the two leading Democratic states--New York and California--are women (so, for that matter, are three of the four Supreme Court Justices appointed by Democratic presidents). Women now run the party machinery, set its agenda, control its private deliberations and determine its public image. This female ascendency didnt happen overnight, but it became clearly visible in Philadelphia. It is too early to say how long it will last or how it will affect American the 2016 election and beyond. But theres one thing I know for sure. It would have tickled the hell out of my grandmother. The media and pundits went wild when Donald Trump expressed his hope that Russian hackers might find those 30,000 emails that Hillary Clinton and the State Department claim are lost forever from her bootleg private server. Trump later said he was making a joke. Well, it may have been in poor taste but Trumps joke is really not a joke at all. Regardless of who actually broke into and leaked those DNC files that embarrassed the Clinton campaign on the eve of the Democratic convention and forced the resignation of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Trump was pointing out a sober reality: as a nation we have become increasingly defenseless in the face of what cyber experts call Advanced Persistent Threats in the cyber sphere, particularly Russia but also China. Those two countries have in effect declared cyber war on us, and after seven years the Obama administration still has not come up with a serious plan to halt or even slow their attacks. President Obamas Cybersecurity National Action Plan unveiled with great fanfare back in February, never even mentioned Russia or China, let alone ISIS and other terrorist groups ... If you cant admit who poses the principal threat, you cant deal effectively with the problem. In fact, President Obamas Cybersecurity National Action Plan unveiled with great fanfare back in February, never even mentioned Russia or China, let alone ISIS and other terrorist groups who are increasingly looking to the cyber sphere as a way to bring America to its kneesor in ISISs case, to recruit its lone wolf killers. If you cant admit who poses the principal threat, you cant deal effectively with the problem. Its a problem that goes way beyond cyber security. Trying to stop cyberattacks by safeguarding information systems has become a multi-billion dollar industry. In the private sector alone, itll grow to $170 billion by 2020. Over the past decade the federal government itself has spent $100 billion on cyber security, and yetas we all learned last year with the cyber break-in at the Office of Personnel Management when 22 million Americans had their identities stolenthe government, busineses, banks, even our power grid, remain as vulnerable to attack as ever. This is a powerful opening for a new president to take a new, more proactive approach to threats in the cyber realm, to start thinking in terms of national cyber deterrence, i.e. making cyber aggressors like Russia and China to think twice before they attack at all. The commander of U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency head Admiral Mike Rogers has called for a national cyber deterrence strategy. Ironically, so has Hillary Clintons running mate, Senator Tim Kaine. What is a cyber deterrence strategy? First of all, it warns persistent bad actors in the cyber realm that their misdeeds will be met by escalating responses, depending on the seriousness of the attack. That has to include responses outside the cyber realm, up to and including military actioneven nuclear action if the attack, e.g. permanently maiming our power grid, is existential enough. Second of all, it has to include a presumption of guilt regarding national bad actors. Russia in particular has done a good job of covering its cyber tracksone reason discovering who exactly hacked into the DNC, and whether the Kremlin knew about it, is proving so elusive. Effective cyber deterrence tells Moscow and Beijing in uncertain terms, if we trace a cyber hack attack back to a URL address inside your borders, we will presume it has your knowledge and/or approval (in police states like Russia and China, a reasonable inference) and we will retaliate accordingly. Above all, an effective deterrence strategy must inspire fear. Herman Kahn, the granddaddy of Cold War nuclear deterrence, used to say that the most important characteristic of a good deterrence strategy is that its frightening. Thats what our nuclear deterrence did in the Cold War. Its what the Obama approach to cyber threats doesnt do now. Instead, hes left an open invitation to cyber criminals as well as Russia, China, North Korea, and ISIS to keep on hackingeven perhaps to the point of influencing our presidential election. So dont shoot the messenger, in this case Donald Trump. Get a new administration that takes cyber threats seriously, and makes our enemies fear us at last. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 30 Trend: A total of 758 out of 989 soldiers who had been detained on suspicion of being involved in the coup attempt were released in Turkey, RIA Novosti agency reported July 30. According to the message, the soldiers, including military students, had been detained under an investigation by Istanbul prosecutors, and were released on the prosecutors recommendation after giving testimony. An Istanbul judge decided to release 758 soldiers, calling their detention unnecessary. Meanwhile, 231 soldiers remain detained, the message said. 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. A computer system used by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was hacked, a spokesman for the Democratic nominee said Friday. Nick Merrill said in a statement that the cyber breach was part of a larger hack attack on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that was made public earlier this week. The violation concerned a DNC analytics data program used by the Clinton campaign and "a number of other entities," Merrill said. He added that security experts hired by the campaign had found "no evidence" that the campaign's own internal systems were compromised. However, such third-party, connected systems represent appealing options for hackers searching for less-protected routes to attack an organization. Soruces familiar with the incident confirmed to Fox News that the FBI is investigating the breach as well as another cyberattack on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The investigation was first reported by Reuters, which said that the Justice Department's national security division was investigating whether the cyberattacks threatened the U.S. An FBI statement did not mention the Clinton campaign specifically, but said it was aware of reporting "on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters." It is not clear what types of data the DNC service was analyzing, but partnerships with modern e-commerce companies can allow sophisticated tracking, categorization and identification of website visitors. This can help organizations tailor their online content, advertising and solicitations to be more effective. The report that Clinton's campaign was hacked comes the same day that the cyberattack on the DCCC, which raises money for Democratic congressional candidates, was made public. Sources told Fox News Friday that the DCCC hack bears similarities to the breach of DNC files. President Barack Obama has said Russia was almost certainly responsible for the DNC hack, an assertion with which cybersecurity experts have agreed. Two private cybersecurity firms have said they found evidence pointing to Russian government involvement in the DNC hack when they analyzed the hackers' methods and efforts to distribute the stolen emails and other files. The hacker groups, identified as Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear, used different but sophisticated techniques to break into the DNC and try to avoid detection. Most of the DNC emails appeared to have been stolen May 25. The DNC breach led to the leak of 19,000 internal emails by WikiLeaks that appeared to show a pro-Clinton bias in the organization -- and, in turn, led to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepping down ahead of this week's Democratic National Convention. The hack of the DCCCs web server allowed the hackers to create and redirect traffic to a fake donations page, made to look and feel authentic, sources said. From there, hackers were able to capture all data entered on the page. Sources said the objective behind the hack is not clear, though it could be to harvest data on Democratic donors and supporters. Additionally, Fox News has obtained analysis of the DCCC hack from private sector cybersecurity firm FireEye that suggests the intrusion was carried out by a Russian-government aligned hacking group dubbed "Tsar Team (APT28)." In its research, FireEye notes it previously confirmed that malware analyzed from the DNC hack was also consistent with "Tsar Team", which has been implicated by FireEye in numerous cyberattacks aimed at foreign targets on behalf of the Russian government in the past. Computer hacking, emails and indications of Russian involvement have evolved into a political issue in the presidential campaign between Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. This week, Trump encouraged Russia to seek and release more than 30,000 other missing emails deleted by Clinton, the former secretary of state. Democrats accused him of trying to get a foreign adversary to conduct espionage that could affect this November's elections, but Trump later said he was merely being sarcastic. Clinton deleted the emails from her private server, saying they were private, before handing other messages over to the State Department. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Clinton over her email practices, though FBI Director James Comey called her "extremely careless" in handling classified information. Fox News' Matt Dean, Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report. With the general election campaign just hours old, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump began focusing their attention this weekend on Americas Rust Belt -- hoping their separate plans to restore prosperity to the all-important region will sway enough voters there to help them win in November. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, started a three-day Pennsylvania-to-Ohio bus tour Friday with vice presidential nominee Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Were going to create jobs in Pennsylvania and across America, especially in places that have been left behind, Clinton said at a rally Saturday at a factory in Johnstown, part of Pennsylvanias western, industrial region, home to a large conservative voting bloc that Trump needs. I believe with all of my heart that the economy should work for everyone, not just the top 1 percent. Were going to support steel workers, continued Clinton, who also touted her campaign promise to, in her first 100 days in the White House, make the largest investment in jobs since World War II. Clinton won the Democratic labor and blue-collar vote in her failed 2008 presidential primary bid. But those voters have been more difficult for her to reach in this election cycle. Primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders populist message repeatedly tried to portray Clinton as less receptive to middle class needs. The Vermont senator in fact scored a major suprise win over Clinton in the Michigan primay. Meanwhile, Trump, the Republican nominee, and running mate Mike Pence continued to argue that electing Clinton would continue the Obama administration's failed economic policies -- marked by stagnant wages and bad international trade deals that are sending manufacturing jobs oversea. The second-quarter numbers came out -- 1.2 percent growth in the American economy, Pence, Indiana's governor, said Friday night at a rally in Lima, Ohio. We cant keep doing the same thing and expect a different result People are restless for change. Most political analysts predict that the general election will again be decided by four so-called battleground states, among them Ohio and Pennsylvania. Clinton and Trump are deadlocked in those states, according to two recent Quinnipiac University polls, though an NBC survey released July 13 shows Trump trailing by 9 percentage points. It will be interesting to see if Clinton can hold off Trump in the Rust Belt by going back to the blue-collar vote, Caleb Burns, a Republican strategist and partner in the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, said earlier this week. If she can, it will be extremely difficult for Trump to find a path to victory. To be sure, Trump already has a narrow path toward getting the requisite 270 electoral votes to take the White House. Beyond winning the 13 states that GOP nominees have taken in the past six presidential races, Trump must also win some combination of battleground states -- including Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. No Republican has won Pennsylvania since 1988, and no Republican nominee has won the White House without winning Ohio. And this election will be no different, Fox News contributor and senior Bush administration policy adviser Karl Rove recently wrote in The Wall Street Journal editorial pages. If Mr. Trumps appeal to blue-collar, white swing voters is real, he could paint Pennsylvania red. If so, he is likely to win the White House with 273 electoral votes. However, a loss in Pennsylvania would mean Trump would have to find wins in such Midwestern industrial states as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, all Democratic strongholds. Clinton and Kaine continued their Stronger Together tour Saturday with a late-afternoon rally in Pittsburgh and an evening event in Youngstown, Ohio. Their tour concludes Sunday in Columbus. At a rally in Colorado on Friday, the day after Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination in Philadelphia, Trump went after Clinton and Kaine on economic issues. We have to go over some numbers, he said at a rally in Denver, a liberal stronghold. Hillary was talking last night about how wonderful everything was. She didnt talk about all of the unbelievable long-term unemployment, the fact house ownership is the lowest in 51 years. He also argued that Kaine is not popular in his home state of Virginia, considering that unemployment nearly doubled in his one term as governor and that his first move after getting elected to the post in 2005 was to increase taxes by $4 billion. Trump plans to visit Columbus and Cleveland on Monday. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, a top Hillary Clinton booster and head of the Democratic Governors Association, returned from a starring role in his partys national convention to gathering storm clouds back home amid a federal investigation into fundraising surrounding his 2014 reelection campaign. The Hartford Courant first reported that a federal grand jury is being convened to investigate whether the Connecticut Democratic Party broke campaign finance law by illegally using contributions from state contractors to benefit Malloys campaign. Its the latest chapter in a controversy that began when Republicans filed a complaint arguing Democrats wrongly funded Malloy mailings with $250,000 from an account thats allowed under federal law to take state contractor money. Because Malloy chose to accept public financing through the state's clean elections law, he was not permitted to receive additional donations. The matter is now causing political headaches for the governor who already faces low approval ratings, and grappled earlier this year with the fallout from GE moving its headquarters out of Connecticut as state Republicans try to tie the case to other controversies in the headlines. The Connecticut Democratic Party, Gov. Malloy and Hillary Clinton all think there is a political class to which they belong that allows them to play by a different set of rules. They did not admit guilt. They simply said that we do not think we broke the law, so we did not break the law, JR Romano, spokesman for the Connecticut Republican Party, told FoxNews.com. Malloy addressed the Democratic National Convention on Monday as a surrogate for Clinton. In the campaign finance case, state Democrats have said it was unclear whether it was against election law to get funds for the party from state contractors. Last June, the Democratic Party reached an agreement to make a $325,000 payment to the state to settle the complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SSEC). The fine also effectively ended attempts by the State Elections Enforcement Commission efforts to obtain emails and other documents related to the case. After the SEEC voted to approve the settlement, Connecticut Democratic Party Executive Director Michael Mandell issued a statement saying it would clarify a fundamental legal question about the conflicting intersection between state and federal law. The agreement was reached around the time Malloys approval ratings hit an all-time low. Connecticut Republicans believe the federal investigation and payment of the fine show Democrats simply chose to follow their own rules. But the state Democratic Party insists it fully complied with state and federal laws during the 2014 cycle. We believe this agreement provides a sound framework for dealing with the conflict between state and federal campaign finance laws, and also strengthened a campaign finance system in which both parties operate. In regard to recent action by federal authorities, we have advised authorities of our intent to cooperate and will continue to do so in order to bring this to a close and continue to do the work of our party to elect Democrats on all levels," Leigh Appleby, Connecticut Democratic Party spokesman, said in a statement to FoxNews.com. The controversy continues to spawn new issues for the party and the governor. On July 27, Trumbull, Conn., First Selectman Timothy M. Herbst claimed in a complaint filed with the SEEC that the Connecticut State Democratic Party did not properly account for legal fees incurred when Democrats hired lawyer David S. Golub in its defense. The Connecticut Democratic Party paid a $325,000 fine to keep their emails out of public view and the conduct leading to that fine is now being investigated by a federal grand jury to determine if laws were broken, stated Herbst. Sen. Bernie Sanders declined Friday to say whether hell make another White House run but made clear that hell continue to focus on the sweeping, political issues that were the cornerstones of his failed 2016 bid. Four years is a long time off from now," the former Democratic presidential candidate said on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher, one day after frontrunner Hillary Clinton accepted the partys presidential nomination at its convention in Philadelphia. "Whatever my political future may or may not be, I will be fighting as hard as I can to stand up for a declining middle class to take on the grotesque levels of income and wealth and equality that we are seeing right now, he said, according to AOL.com, to demand that the United States join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right, to make public colleges and universities in this country tuition-free. Those are issues that we've got to continue the fight for." The 74-year-old Sanders would have been the oldest elected president had he won in November, and hell be 79 in November 2020. Still, Sanders continues to have a devoted, passionate following. Even hours after Clinton accepted the nomination, Sanders supporters continued to protest and chant outside the convention that the Democratic National Committee had rigged the primary for Clinton and tried to crash the security gates. Sanders, who switched from Independent to Democrat for his 2016 White House bid, also said this week that hell seek reelection in 2018 for his Vermont Senate seat and that hell run as an Independent. Despite Sanders having a diehard following, their long-term support already appears in doubt. Many backers in Philadelphia had already turned their support to third party candidate Jill Stein, in a last ditch effort to keep Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump out of the White House. Its always been about the movement, Quintin Lynch, a Democratic activist from Oregon, told FoxNews.com. Bernie was a leader, not the leader. Donald Trump is taking issue with a speech at this week's Democratic National Convention by Muslim lawyer Khizr Khan, whose Army captain son was killed in action and who said on stage that Trump has sacrificed nothing and no one" for America. But Democrats and advocates for veterans families say the Republican presidential nominee went too far in his response. Khan made the comment during his tribute to his son, Humayun, who posthumously received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after being killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. As Khan spoke, his wife Ghazala, Humayuns mother, stood silently by his side. Trump, during an interview with ABCs This Week, said: "She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me." And Trump challenged Khizr Khans claims about having sacrificed nothing. "I've made a lot of sacrifices, Trump said. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures." Ghazala Khan has said she didn't speak because she's still overwhelmed by grief and can't even look at photos of her son without crying. Trumps comments sparked immediate outrage on social media -- both because they critiqued a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has previously raised concerns about Trumps previous comments about Muslims. On Saturday, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said: "The speaker has made clear many times that he rejects this idea, and himself has talked about how Muslim Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country." Hillary Clinton campaign spokeswoman Karen Finney tweeted: Trump is truly shameless to attack the family of an American hero. Many thanks to the Khan family for your sacrifice, we stand with you. Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, later said in a statement: "I was very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son on Thursday night. ... This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country." Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who served on active duty and is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, criticized Trump and Ryan Saturday. Slandering a mom and dad who lost their son in service of our country is a new low even for Donald Trump, Lieu said What is more surprising is that Speaker Paul Ryan continues to stand by Donald Trump I call upon Speaker Ryan to do what his heart has been telling him all along and withdraw his endorsement of Donald Trump." Karen Meredith, a member of Gold Star Families, a support group for families who lost loved ones in the Iraq War, said Humayun Khans parents showed great courage by standing up in front of the Democratic convention and that for Trump to insult their culture by saying that is why she did not speak is offensive. This is an attack on all Gold Star Families, Meredith also said. Trump's comments come a day after he attacked retired four-star general John Allen while holding a rally in front of military aircraft in Colorado. The Republican nominee also slammed a Colorado Springs fire marshal for capping attendance at his event. Last week, during the Republican convention in Cleveland, Trumps children repeatedly said their father had sacrificed to run for president, particularly in setting aside his successful business operations. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A small medical plane crashed in Northern California early Friday, killing all four people on board, authorities said. Humboldt County's chief deputy coroner, Ernie Stewart, confirmed to the Associated Press that his office had received four victims from the wreckage of the Piper PA31. Stewart declined to identify the bodies until next of kin has been notified. The plane's wreckage was found on remote land owned by a private timber company about 280 miles north of San Francisco. The plane was carrying a flight nurse, a transport medic and a patient about 360 miles from Crescent City, near the Oregon border, to Oakland when the pilot reported smoke filling the cockpit and declared an emergency around 1 a.m. The plane lost contact early in the flight path, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The pilot planned to return to Crescent City before the plane vanished from radar 5 miles north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport on the far northern coast, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. The plane was part of Cal-Ore Life Flight, a small company of about six planes that transports patients throughout Northern California and Oregon. Don Wharton, a spokesman for parent company REACH Air Medical Services, previously said flights at night are common. He was not immediately available for comment on the deaths. The National Transportation and Safety Board was notified of the crash. Texas is investigating a charter school system that the Turkish government claims has ties to a moderate Islamic cleric it's accused of inspiring a military coup attempt. The Texas Education Agency said Friday that Turkey alleges Harmony Public Schools gave preferential treatment to Turkish owned and operated vendors in violation of competitive bidding requirements. Turkey also alleges the school system misused U.S. and state funds by guaranteeing a $1.9 million bond for a Turkish operated charter network in Arkansas. In a statement, Harmony calls the claims "preposterous" and "welcomes the opportunity to fully cooperate with the Texas Education Agency." Harmony has more than 31,000 students at 48 campuses in Texas. Turkey says Harmony has ties to Fethullah Gulen, the alleged mastermind of a July 15 coup attempt who's living in Pennsylvania. A 90-year-old woman who was found dead in a South Carolina pond after disappearing from her assisted living home was killed by an alligator, officials said Wednesday. The Charleston County Coroner's Office ruled that Bonnie Walker's death was accidental and caused by "multiple sharp and blunt force injuries". The state's Department of Natural Resources said it had conducted a necropsy on the alligator and confirmed it was involved in Walker's death. DNR says they believe Walkers death is the first alligator related fatality in South Carolinas history. https://t.co/FeDvpXR6cA WBTW News 13 (@WBTWNews13) July 29, 2016 Walker was reported missing from the Brookdale Senior Living Center in Charleston Wednesday morning. Her body was found in a retention pond behind the property a little more than three hours later. Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said in a statement that investigators believe Walker slipped or fell into the pond, which drew the alligator's attention. State Department of Natural Resources spokesman Robert McCullough told the Post and Courier newspaper that the case was the first alligator-related fatality on record in the state. Brookdale issued a statement saying they extended their deepest sympathies to Walker's family and are helping the investigation into her death. It was not immediately clear how Walker was able to leave the facility. The Associated Press contributed to this report. It all started, and ended, on this day 41 years ago. It was a hot July afternoon, nearly 92 degrees, when Teamsters president and labor icon Jimmy Hoffa is said to have opened the rear door of a maroon 1975 Mercury in the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. and climbed in. He was never seen again. The FBI has expended countless resources in the ensuing decades in the hopes of finally solving this enduring American mystery with no success. But I believe, based on my 2004 investigation, that Frank Sheeran did it. "Suspects Outside of Michigan: Francis Joseph "Frank" Sheeran, age 43, president local 326, Wilmington, Delaware. Resides in Philadelphia and is known associate of Russel Bufalino, La Cosa Nostra Chief, Eastern Pennsylvania," reads the 1976 HOFFEX memo, the compilation of everything investigators knew about Hoffa's disappearance that was prepared for a high level, secret conference at FBI headquarters six months after he vanished. Sheeran, known as "The Irishman," told me that he drove with Hoffa to a nearby house where he shot him twice in the back of the head. Our investigation subsequently yielded the corroboration, the suspected blood evidence on the hardwood floor and down the hallway of that house, that supports Frank's story. No one who has ever boasted about knowing what really happened to Jimmy Hoffa has had their claims tested, scrutinized, and then corroborated by independently discovered evidence ... except Frank. He is also the only one of the FBI's dozen suspects who has ever come forward and talked publicly about the killing, let alone admitted involvement. Every other claim that you have ever heard about, from Hoffa being buried in the end zone of Giants Stadium to being entombed under a strip of highway asphalt somewhere, came from people who were never on the bureau's list of people suspected of actual involvement. For that reason, Frank stands alone. Six weeks after Hoffa disappeared, Frank, along with the other suspects, was summoned before the Detroit grand jury investigating the case. He took the Fifth. When I met him in the spring of 2001, Frank freely talked. My meeting with Frank was arranged so that I could take his measure, and he mine, for a possible in-depth investigation, interview and news story about his claims. He was accompanied by his former lawyer Charlie Brandt, the author of Frank's then-proposed biography, which tells the Hoffa story. Charlie had been able to spring Frank from a Mafia-related federal racketeering prison sentence, and for that reason was taken into Frank's confidence. It would be three years before the book, "I Hear You Paint Houses: Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran And Closing The Case On Jimmy Hoffa" would be published by Steerforth Press, and before the first of my many news stories about Frank, and our investigation, would air on television. Frank's story is this: He and others were ordered by the Mafia to kill Hoffa to prevent him from trying to run again for the presidency of the Teamsters union. Hoffa had resigned after serving prison time for jury tampering, attempted bribery and fraud convictions. Frank picked Hoffa up at the restaurant, accompanied by two others, to supposedly drive Hoffa to a mob meeting. When they walked into the empty house together, with Frank a step behind Hoffa, he raised his pistol at point-blank range and fired two fatal shots into his unsuspecting target, turned around and left. He said Hoffa's body was then dragged down the hall by two awaiting accomplices, and that he was later told Hoffa was cremated at a mob-connected funeral home. Frank had an imposing, old-school mobster way about him that even his advanced years -- he was 80 at the time of our first meeting -- did not betray. His menacing aura was also not diminished by a severe case of arthritis that crippled him so badly that he hunched over when he slowly walked with two canes, struggling to put one foot in front of the other. I found Frank tough, determined, steely. As I listened to his matter-of-fact recounting of what he said went down at that house, and giving such detail, I remember thinking what he was saying could actually be true. Here's why: There is no doubt that Frank was a close confidant of Hoffa, someone who Hoffa trusted. And Hoffa didn't trust very many people. Frank was both a top Teamsters Union official in Delaware and an admitted Bufalino crime family hit-man, a top aide to the boss himself. The FBI admits that Frank was "known to be in Detroit area at the time of JRH disappearance, and considered to be a close friend of JRH," as the HOFFEX memo states. Hoffa's son, current Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, told me in September 2001 that his father would have gotten into the car with Frank. He said that his father would not have taken that ride with some of the other FBI suspects whom I mentioned. In the book, Frank says that he sat in the front passenger seat of the car as a subtle warning to Hoffa, who habitually sat there. He felt a deep friendship and loyalty to Hoffa, yet knew what his own fate would be if he failed to carry out the lethal order from his mob masters. So he sat in the front seat hoping Hoffa would realize something was wrong. Hoffa did not. The FBI did find "a single three-inch brown hair...in the rear seat back rest" of that car that matched Hoffa, and three dogs picked up "a strong indication of JRH scents in the rear right seat." I asked Frank if he remembered how to get to the house where he said he killed Hoffa. I thought finding where Hoffa was shot, and investigating everything about the house, could be key to the case. Frank rattled off the driving directions from the restaurant and described the house's interior layout. Killers may not remember an exact address of a murder scene, but they never forget how they got there and what they did when they arrived. "Sheeran gave us the directions," Charlie wrote in the book. "This was the first time he had ever revealed the directions to me. His deepened voice and hard demeanor was chilling, when, for the first time ever, he stated publicly to someone other than me that he had shot Jimmy Hoffa." A year after our meeting, Charlie and Frank drove to Detroit to try to find the house, and when they did Frank pointed it out to Charlie. They did not go inside. Three years later, in 2004, Charlie, Fox News producer Ed Barnes and I first set foot into the home's foyer, looked around the first floor and saw that Frank's description fit the interior to a tee. Ed and I arranged with the homeowners to take up the floorboards in the foyer and hallway and remove the press-on vinyl floor tiles that they had put down over the original hardwood floors when they bought the house in 1989. We hired a forensic team of retired Michigan state police investigators to try to find any blood evidence. They sprayed the chemical luminol on the floors, which homicide detectives routinely use to discover the presence of blood. We found it. The testing revealed a specific pattern of blood evidence, laid out like a map of clues to the nation's most infamous unsolved murder. Little yellow numbered tags were placed throughout the first floor foyer and hallway, to mark each spot where the investigators' testing yielded positive hits. The pattern told the story of how Hoffa was killed. The greatest amount of positive hits were found right next to the front door, where Hoffa's bleeding head would have hit the floor. Seven more tags lined the narrow hallway toward the rear kitchen, marking the drops that perfectly mimic Frank's story of Hoffa's lifeless body being dragged to the kitchen by the two waiting accomplices, who then stuffed it into a body bag and carried it out the back kitchen door. We arranged for the Oakland County prosecutor's office to remove the floorboards for DNA testing by the FBI, though Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca cautioned that it would be "a miracle" if Hoffa's DNA was recovered. I knew those odds. A DNA hit was beyond a long shot. Experts told me that such tiny samples of genetic material, degraded by the passage of 29 years and exposure to air and the elements under a homeowner's heavily trafficked floor, would likely not provide enough material to result in a DNA match. The FBI lab report says that chemical tests were conducted on 50 specimens; 28 tested positive for the possible presence of blood, and DNA was only recovered from two samples. The FBI compared what was recovered to the DNA from a known strand of Hoffa's hair. One sample was found to be "of male origin," but it was not determined from whom. The other result was "largely inconclusive." Was I disappointed that a DNA match was not possible? Yes. Was I surprised? No. Did I think this disproved Frank's claim? No. Think about it. What are the chances of any random house in America testing positive for blood traces from more than two dozen samples, in the exact pattern that corroborates a man's murder confession? What would luminol reveal under your home's floor? There are other reasons to believe why Frank's scenario fits. The house was most likely empty on the day Hoffa died. It was built in the 1920's and owned for five decades by a single woman, Martha Sellers, a teacher and department store employee. By the summer of 1975, Sellers was in her 80s, and not living there full time. Her family told The Detroit News and Free Press that she had bought another home in Plymouth, Mich., where she would move permanently the next year. Frank says that a man he called "a real estater" lived in the house. The Sellers family remembered that boarder, who they recalled resided in an upstairs bedroom. He was described as "a shadowy figure...who would disappear. He never said more than a few words and they know nothing about him, not even his name." It is quite possible that "the real estater," was the link between the house and the Detroit mob, providing an empty house as needed, when Sellers was absent, for whatever purpose including using it as a Mafia hit house to murder Jimmy Hoffa. The FBI clearly believed Sheeran had credibility. Agents visited him in his final years in an unsuccessful attempt to secure his cooperation. While we were conducting our investigation in Detroit in 2004, the FBI, I was told, had tried to find the house even before we aired our story. And the views of those closest to Jimmy Hoffa, his son and daughter, seem especially relevant when assessing Frank's credibility. Not only did James P. Hoffa confirm that his father would have driven off with Frank, but his sister, Hoffa's daughter, Barbara Crancer, wrote Frank a poignant letter begging him to come clean about their father's fate. In the one-page handwritten note dated March 5, 1995, she wrote: "It is my personal belief that there are many people who called themselves loyal friends who know what happened to James R. Hoffa, who did it and why. The fact that not one of them has ever told his family -- even under a vow of secrecy, is painful to me..." She then underlined: "I believe you are one of those people." Crancer confirmed to me that she wrote that letter. Sadly for the Hoffa family, Frank never directly honored her request. When I sat with him, he said that his No. 1 priority was not to go back to "college," meaning prison. He decided that the best way to avoid that possibility, while also revealing his story, was to share his secrets for the book and my reporting. Frank died on Dec. 14, 2003. He was 83. While authorities no doubt will continue to respond to more tips, as they should, I believe that we already know what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. Frank described the most precise and credible scenario yet to be recounted, and the evidence that we found in the house backs up his confession. In the four decades since, Hoffa's life and legacy as a pivotal part of the American labor movement has been overshadowed by his disappearance. But it seems clear that organized crime bosses did not want him to resume the mantle of the Teamsters presidency, and went to the ultimate length to prevent his return. Today Hoffa's union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, represents 1.4 million workers and continues to be headed by his son. Last year, a milestone was marked in its attempts to shed any specter of possible organized crime. Federal Judge Loretta Preska approved the Department of Justice and union agreement that will end the U.S. government oversight of the Teamsters that has lasted for more than 25 years. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at the time that the union had made "significant progress" in "ridding ... the influence of organized crime and corruption," though he cautioned that "the threat ... persists." Hoffa called it "an historic agreement ... our union is committed to the democratic process, and we can proudly declare that corrupt elements have been driven from the Teamsters." Sadly, it was those corrupt elements that took the life of his father as he tried to take back his union. "Jimmy Hoffa raised millions of workers and their families out of poverty and into the middle class, noted the Teamsters Union in a statement to Fox News. He gave his life while fighting to remove corrupt elements from the union and return power to the members. This tragic anniversary is particularly difficult on his family who lost a father and grandfather much too soon. They want nothing more than to have the closure that they so deserve." Franks story will soon be told in a major motion picture, The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro as Frank, directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Irwin Winkler. Tribeca Films, in association with Paramount Pictures, will bring this story to the big screen in 2018. Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel are also reported to also have roles, uniting the legendary actors of the mob movie genre in one film. Follow Eric Shawn on Twitter @EricShawnTV Eric Shawn is a New York-based anchor and senior correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He anchors "America's News Headquarters" on Saturdays at 6 pm and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m to 5 p.m ET. and "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo." He anchors frequently during the week on the Fox News Channel and reports on politics, terrorism, and foreign affairs. Shawn has provided live coverage from both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions since 1992 and anchored convention coverage this summer. In 2004 he led the Fox News investigative team that uncovered new evidence in the murder of Jimmy Hoffa, based on the claims of hit-man Frank Sheeran. Click here for more information on Eric Shawn. San Diego police were trying to determine whether a shooting that killed a veteran officer and wounded another was a deliberate attack. Jonathan DeGuzman, a 16-year veteran of the force, died Thursday night when a gunfight erupted after he and his partner stopped someone on a street in a blue-collar area of town. Hours later, a trail of blood led to a wounded suspect who remained hospitalized in critical condition, while a second man described only as a potential suspect was captured after an hours-long SWAT standoff Friday. The death of DeGuzman, 43, came as departments around the country are on high alert following the killing of officers this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Our thoughts & prayers are with the family & colleagues of @SanDiegoPD Off Jonathan DeGuzman & the Officer wounded pic.twitter.com/Iv3GS96yI0 IrishAmerPolice MA (@IAPOA) July 30, 2016 The chain of events started about 11 p.m. Thursday when DeGuzman and Wade Irwin, 32, stopped someone in a southeastern neighborhood, although it wasn't immediately clear whether the gang officers stopped a pedestrian or a car, police said. Almost immediately a shootout ensued and the officers called for backup. "We're talking very, very quickly. Seconds to a minute or so," Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said. Both men were wounded despite wearing bulletproof vests. Zimmerman said it was unknown whether the San Diego attack was premeditated. She also said video was recovered from the officers' body cameras. DeGuzman died at a hospital. Irwin, a nine-year veteran who had joined the gang suppression unit in June, underwent surgery with his wife at his side, Zimmerman said. "The good news is that he is going to survive and he is going to recover," Zimmerman said. Police swarmed the neighborhood where the shootout happened. About a half-hour after the shooting, they followed a trail of blood to a ravine and found Jesse Gomez, 52, with a chest wound. He was in critical condition Friday but was expected to survive. Police gave no further information about Gomez or his role in the shootout except to say he was a suspect. During the search for a second man described as a "potential" suspect, residents were ordered to stay in their homes throughout the night as San Diego police and officers from other law enforcement agencies scoured yards, streets and alleys. A helicopter hovered over the neighborhood. About nine hours after the shootout, heavily armed officers surrounded a house about a half-mile (about 1 kilometer) away, one of them using a loudspeaker to urge a man they called "Marcus" to surrender. Authorities also detonated several gas bombs at the scene to draw him out and used tools to break windows and pound on the roof. Then, about a dozen heavily armed SWAT officers raced to another house about two blocks away, positioning an armored truck and robots outside. The possible suspect wasn't there either. Marcus Antonio Cassani, 41, was finally found several blocks away and held on an Anaheim arrest warrant. Zimmerman said police were investigating whether Cassani, who has a criminal record that includes drug, weapons and burglary convictions, had any role in the police shootings. Zimmerman told reporters that she went to DeGuzman's home to tell his wife and two children of his death. "I can tell you he is a loving, caring husband, father. Talked about his family all the time," Zimmerman said. "I know him, and this is gut-wrenching. He cared. He came to work every single day wanting to just make a positive difference in the lives of our community and that's why he lost his life." DeGuzman received the purple heart in 2003 after he was stabbed by a man he had stopped for speeding. The man was convicted of attempted murder on a peace officer in 2004. He was the 33rd San Diego police officer killed in the line of duty since 1913. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer denounced the latest shootings. "Violence against the men and women who wear the badge is violence against us all," he said. Turkey's deputy prime minister Saturday laid out four steps in democratization the country should take in the wake of the July 15 failed coup, Anadolu Agency reported. In an interview with daily Hurriyet, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said they would fulfill the needs for democratic foundations. "First, civilians will be stronger in civil-military relations. Second, the Turkish Armed Forces will be transformed into military specialists. Third, preventing the massing of too much military power in a single hub. Fourth, diversifying the Turkish Armed Forces' personnel pool," he said. Kurtulmus underlined that they would strengthen integration, solidarity, and the relationship between the government and opposition as well. When asked if members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, or FETO -- blamed for the coup -- had infiltrated the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, he said it was possible that it had, but added: "Now they are being cleansed from all places of the state and of course the AK Party will do whatever is necessary." Turkey's government has repeatedly said the deadly coup attempt, which martyred more than 230 people and injured nearly 2,200 others, was organized by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen's followers and FETO. 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. Turkey declared a state of emergency following the overthrow attempt. Approximately 13,000 members of the military, police, and judiciary, as well as civil servants, have been detained since the failed putsch, and tens of thousands more removed from their posts. An 19-year-old gunman who killed three people and injured another person at a house party outside Seattle early Saturday had recently broken up with one of the victims, witnesses and neighbors said. The Associated Press identified the shooting suspect as Allen Christopher Ivanov, who was booked into the Snohomish County Jail and held for investigation of three counts of murder, including one count of aggravated murder. He has not yet been charged, but is expected to be arraigned Monday. Victor Balta, a spokesman for the University of Washington, said a student matching that name and age has been enrolled at the university's campus in nearby Bothell, where he was going into his sophomore year. Authorities had not released the identity of the deceased victims. The injured victim was in intensive care at a Seattle hospital. Susan Gemmer, whose 18-year-old granddaughter Alexis survived the shooting, told the Associated Press the gunman arrived with a rifle at the party of about 15 to 20 friends from Kamiak High School -- mostly recent graduates aged 18 to 20. She said the gunman walked through the house to the fire pit out back, where he shot two of the victims. Gemmer said party-goers knew the gunman and said he and one of the victims had broken up last week. Q13Fox reported that other neighbors confirmed that to be the case. "She was hiding in the closet and called me from the closet while it was going on," Susan Gemmer said "We were texting back and forth, telling her to stay quiet, stay calm, we're on our way. She kept saying, `They're dead, they're dead, I saw them, I was right there and I saw them."' The shooter then made his way onto the roof, where some of the friends were hanging out, Gemmer said. The young man who lived at the home tried to lead Alexis Gemmer to safety by escaping out the garage. As they rolled under the garage door and the boy bolted across the street, the gunman began shooting at him from the roof, her granddaughter told Gemmer. "She panicked and ran back in the house and hid in the closet until police arrived," Gemmer said. The young man made it across the street. "Our community has suffered a great loss tonight," Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said. "There were many young people who saw and heard things that no one should ever experience." The shooting happened in the upscale Chennault neighborhood of Mukilteo, a waterfront town of about 20,000 people, 25 miles north of Seattle. Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn said the suspect was pulled over at around 2 a.m. heading south on Interstate 5 near Chehalis, about 113 miles away. Finn said troopers returned him and the vehicle he was driving to the custody of Mukilteo police. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from Q13Fox.com. Muslims have refused to bury one of the terrorists who murdered a French Catholic priest this week as he celebrated Mass. Community leaders in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy said they did not want to "taint" Islam by having any association with Adel Kermiche, the 19-year-old jihadist who killed Father Jacques Hamel in his hometown in northern France. Mohammed Karabila, president of the local Muslim cultural association and imam of one of the town's mosques, told Le Parisien newspaper: "We're not going to taint Islam with this person. We won't participate in preparing the body or the burial." In a separate conversation with Sky News, Karabila reiterated there would be no involvement by the mosque's religious leadership in any funeral. However, he added that if the mayor's office were to request the mosque receive the body, and Kermiche's family were to indicate they wanted a burial, they would be obligated to assign an individual from the community to oversee the process. As yet Kermiche's family have not indicated whether they want a funeral for their son. Muslims in the town were supportive of the community leaders' decision. Khalid El Amrani, a 25-year-old technician, said he thought it was "normal" that the mosque would refuse to help with the burial. "What this young man did was sinful, he is no longer part of our community," he said. The mayor's office will have the final say on whether Kermiche can be buried in the town. Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, also 19, stormed into the 17th-century stone church on Tuesday, taking hostages before killing the priest and seriously wounding another captive. They were shot dead by police as they exited the building using nuns as human shields. The two nuns who were in the church when Hamel had his throat cut said one smiled as he carried out the attack. Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie: "I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy." At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. She said: "I asked for my cane, he gave it to me." Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Koran. "Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I've read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace," Sister Helene responded. One of the attackers replied: "Peace, it's what we want ... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop." Click for more from SkyNews. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Slovenia, a member of both the European Union and NATO, testing Western unity in maintaining sanctions against the Kremlin for its role in Ukraine. Slovenia, a small Alpine nation where U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's wife Melania was born, has kept friendly relations with Russia even as it joined EU sanctions against Moscow for the annexation of Crimea. While in Slovenia his only third visit to an EU nation this year Putin will attend a centenary commemoration for a chapel in the Julian Alps. The church was erected to honor 100 Russian World War I prisoners of war who died in an avalanche while building a mountain pass for the Austrian army. Slovenia has carefully portrayed Putin's visit Saturday as informal. F1 Grand Prix of Belgium - Qualifying (Photo : Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) Scientists have made an important genetic discovery in relation to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). It has been made possible by the funds generated through the ice bucket challenge that took the social media by storm two years back and saw millions, including celebrities, participating in the challenge. Advertisement The ice bucket challenge raised awareness about ALS around the globe and led to the accumulation of over $115 million for a foundation called the ALS Association. The association is involved in creating awareness about the disease and takes steps to fight it. The association utilized 67 percent of the money, that is $77 million for research, which resulted in the discovery of gene NEK1, according to New York Times. The donations helped the scientists to fund "Project MinE," which involved 11 countries and 80 researchers. It was the funds that helped research team maintain a large archive of samples of people affected with ALS thereby, leading to this significant discovery of NEK1 gene. Now, it is being touted as an important milestone by the researchers. They have said that it is among the most common genes that lead to the disease and has been found to be responsible in 3 percent of the cases. Researchers are of the view that NEK1 variations, in people with ALS, disable this gene, which performs many important roles in the human body. Moreover, with this breakthrough, steps can be taken in the direction of gene therapy treatment in which the faulty genes could be replaced or new ones added to fight the degenerative condition, according to Live Science. Notably, ALS is a degenerative nerve disease that affects the ability of a person to control muscle movement, thereby, leading to an eventual breakdown of the entire nervous system. It has been found to cause death within 2 to 5 years of diagnosis as there is no cure available and very few effective treatments exist. Till date, some 30 genes tied to the disease have already been identified and researchers say that about 1 in 400 people will be affected with ALS in their lifetime. The following video talks about ALS, what it is, its causes and what happens after: Spectrumwise Announces Free Security Assessments Business owners can now discover the security status of their network and learn how to protect their assets free of charge, reports http://www.spectrumwise.com/. -- Spectrumwise, a premier IT services provider serving businesses in Charlotte, North Carolina and the surrounding areas, has recently announced that they are now providing security assessments free of charge to local business owners. These free assessments are designed to help business owners see where they stand with their own network security and help them learn what steps they need to take to better protect their assets. Those who are interested in taking advantage of the free security assessment should get in touch with the Spectrumwise team via the company's website. Charles Tomlinson, a representative of Spectrumwise, commented "Tech giant IBM reported earlier this year that the average consolidated total cost of a data breach is now nearing $4 million. Many business owners wouldn't have the kind of cash flow it takes to dig themselves out of such a devastating financial and legal disaster. This is what makes having a business continuity plan in place all the more important. We don't want business owners to wait until disaster strikes to react. Instead, offering a free security audit is our way of encouraging them to be proactive about this issue." The free security assessment offered by the team at Spectrumwise will ensure that proper security controls are integrated into a business' technology environment. Once completed, the business owner will receive a comprehensive report that focuses on the following: the design and security requirements of the current environment, the results of a general control review, vulnerability test, and risk assessment, and the recommended actions that Spectrumwise believes the business owner needs to take to ensure better network safety. Business owners can learn more about Spectrumwise's continuity plans and other worry-free services at http://www.spectrumwise.com/worry-free-solutions/managed-services/. As Tomlinson goes on to say, "Business owners are more at risk than they have ever been, which makes now the perfect time to learn about their security status and fix any gaps or vulnerabilities in their systems. Our goal is see businesses grow, and in order to achieve that goal they need to have the peace of mind that comes with knowing they are protected from things that may threaten what they've invested so much of their lives in building." Business owners who are interested in discovering all that Spectrumwise has to offer or would like to schedule their free security assessment can log on to http://www.spectrumwise.com/worry-free-solutions/voip/. About Spectrumwise: Founded in 2001, Spectrumwise began with the vision to help small and medium-sized businesses get a real return on their technology investments. Since then, their team has remained dedicated to providing state-of-the-art IT support, service, and products that allow their clients to get ahead of the competition and achieve greater success. Spectrumwise is dedicated to providing worry-free IT Solutions that give business owners the peace of mind to focus on what really matters. For more information, please visit http://www.spectrumwise.com/ Contact Info: Name: Charles Tomlinson Organization: Spectrumwise Phone: (704) 527-8324 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/spectrumwise-announces-free-security-assessments/125791 Release ID: 125791 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. Chinese Troops made a Transgression and not an Incursion into Indian Territory Uttarakhand state (in red) along the border with China. There remains some confusion if armed Chinese troops really entered Indian territory in the state of Uttarakhand a week ago, but the Indian government said the issue has been clarified. "There was no incursion, just transgression which has been settled," said Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar. "There is a well defined mechanism to settle such transgressions." Advertisement He dismissed early reports of an armed incursion by troops of the People's Liberation Army along the ill-defined border. Parrikar pointed out the India-China border is not formally demarcated. "There are areas where both sides have differing perceptions of LAC (Line of Actual Control). Barhoti (Uttarakhand) is one such area," said Parrikar at the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament. Uttarakhand shares a 350 kilometer long boundary with China. There have been Chinese incursions in the past, however. Early reports claimed armed Chinese troops violated the border on land and by air in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on July 19. It said Chinese troops took up positions in the demilitarized zone while Chinese helicopters flew in Indian air space for over five minutes. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat at first confirmed an incursion by the Chinese troops into the Chamoli district immediately following the incident. He described the development as "something to worry about." Rawat later corrected his allegation, however, and instead said they had noted an increase in the number of Chinese troops along the border. He said there was no incursion into territory held by India. For its part, China said there is a need to verify authenticity of the reports alleging the incursion by its troops. "We still need to verify the authenticity of the report you mentioned," said Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, the Chinese spokesman. "I would like to emphasis here that Chinese border defense troops always abided by relevant agreements signed between the two countries." He asserted Chinese troops "always conducted activities on the Chinese side of Line of Actual Control. We are committed to maintaining peace and stability along the China-India border." Despite many misgivings about so much of the way Brussels is run, I was on balance on the remain side of the Brexit debate and as such was inevitably surprised and disappointed at the result of the referendum. But on reflection, we are where we are and we have to move on as a United Kingdom. What is needed now is strong leadership and pragmatism, not self-indulgent retrospection, gloating or bitterness. We undoubtedly face a long and winding road, renegotiating our terms of trade with both Europe and the rest of the world. We should, if we havent already, quickly disabuse ourselves of any thought of achieving quick and favourable free-trade deals. Equally, the notion that there will be some sort of bonfire of EU regulations to light the way forward into our brave new world, unencumbered by eurobureaucracy, should also be similarly set aside. David Alvis is managing director of Yorkshire Dairy Goats is managing director of Yorkshire Dairy Goats Since our entry into the Common Market in 1974, successive British governments have earned an unenviable reputation for gold-plating EU regulations and complicating the processes by which they are administered. The ongoing farce that is the BPS is testament to this, as is our track record on dealing with bovine TB or the unilateral early introduction of higher animal welfare standards. With the relative lobbying strength of UK agriculture outside the EU significantly reduced, rest assured we are not going to be given any sort of free rein to rewrite the rule book. Furthermore, HM Treasurys desire to reduce what it sees as market-distorting Pillar 1 direct payments will only have been bolstered by the Leave vote, and the distinct unease with which any questions directed to politicians on this issue have been answered post-referendum should give us a hint about what we might expect in future. But its not all bad news. The weakening of sterling may have wiped billions off the value of the UK economy in a matter of hours, but its certainly perked up the markets a bit and made our exports look decidedly more competitive. After all, agricultures historical track record of counter-cyclical good fortune in times of recession should lift the spirits as the country teeters on the precipice of another one. Now is not the time for UK agriculture to be holding out the begging bowl. Expecting UK taxpayers, facing all manner of uncertainty, to happily sanction a domestic facsimile of the CAP is unrealistic and hardly progressive. While providing a certain degree of historical market stability, the CAP has undoubtedly fostered a dependency culture and diverted attention away from the real market for what we produce, be it at home or abroad. It is a relic of the past and we need to look forward, not back. See also: We have neglected our soils for too long While developing export markets where we have a genuine competitive advantage will remain an important component of any future UK food and farming policy, it is our home market that is our biggest and hitherto perhaps most underexploited asset. Whatever peoples reasons were for voting to come out of the EU, and Im sure they were legion, it has ignited a sense of national identity that we must turn to our advantage. Some 64 million still relatively affluent consumers need to eat every day and the better we understand and address their needs, the brighter our future will be . We have a great opportunity right now to cast off the yoke of decades of support dependency and engage positively with consumers, riding the wave of post-Brexit national pride. Surely that is one legacy of Brexit that is worth capitalising on? French farmers are expecting their worst wheat yields in more than a decade, with analysts forecasting a 26% drop in production from last year. Wet weather and high levels of humidity between May and June had fuelled diseases and pests, damaging wheat crops, especially in central and northern regions of France. Speaking at a press briefing this week, Philippe Pinta, president of Orama, the wheat sector branch of Frances national farming union FNSEA, said: The situation is very serious. Ive never known anything like this before. See also: Currency gives UK grain prices steady gains Cereal growers are facing catastrophes that are difficult to imagine, some with [soft wheat] yields three times less than average. Yields are down for the majority, or even three-quarters [of wheat growers]. The big cereal-growing regions of the Ile-de-France and Centre-Val-de-Loire have been particularly affected. Lack of sunlight A lack of sunlight during the grain-filling period has also prevented crops from growing correctly. As a result, the soft wheat crop in France is expected to fall to 30 million tonnes this year, down 26% from a record 41 million tonnes last year, according to FNSEA. It means French farmers are going to struggle to meet milling quality specs and wheat will end up in feed. Media reports have suggested that France may have to resort to importing milling wheat. Milling wheat premiums have risen in the past few weeks, partly as a result of the poor French yield and quality reports. In the week to 29 July, the average price for full-spec breadmaking milling wheat (September delivery) rose by more than 4/t to average just over 143/t. Feed wheat prices rose by about 1.50/t to average 113.50/t ex-farm for September. Photographs emailed to Farmers Weekly from French co-operative Cerepy, based in central France, show the impact of the poor weather on wheat crops. French wheat grown in the Aube region, east of Paris, has smaller heads with fewer grains than wheat grown in Ireland. Other pictures reveal the extent of shriveled grains and high disease pressure. National plan The French agriculture ministry has launched a plan to help the countrys cereal farmers. This includes tax breaks, measures to refund VAT and help to guarantee banking loans. Concerns about wheat crops in France are also being mirrored in the UK, with reports of a lot of fusarium, which could affect quality. However, the picture should become clearer in the UK over the next few days as early wheat crops are harvested. 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Latest Spoilers, News & Updates: Jake Peralta In Trouble; Sequel In Trouble? Fox network's famous cop sitcom, "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" is anticipated to comeback this season for its fourth sequel, together with Jake Peralta and with the group to scrutinize more intriguing crisis. Moreover, rumors have surged that characters would also have some troubles while prepping up for the upcoming episodes. Apart from brawling cases and the characters' humorous jokes, the production also inputs the romantic affiliation within the precinct. In a dialogue with Gold Derby, show producer of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", Dan Goor, expressed that even though Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago's (Melissa Fumero) affair is a compelling inclusion to the plot, he does not intend on revolving the story around the lovers. Show producer of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", Goor, cites some peaks that divided groups of writers are presently busy doing the fresh storyline. "Literally right now as we break season four, I have one room breaking episode two, and then I have another room talking about arcs that could motivate the whole season. It's a balancing act," Goor said. "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" Season 3 ended with Jake and Captain Holt situated in witness protection, but to Goor said, almost of the matters in the rising season will still be taped in Brooklyn. Also, since the series was successful for its previous runs, the fans and followers are expecting more thrilling scenes to dominate the storyline. With the additional seconds, Jake and Holt are anticipated to get closer this season. "We're going to be in Florida for at least a few episodes, but obviously, it's "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and they're going to end up being put back in Brooklyn," Goor said in Yahoo! TV. "We will see how it turns out, but I'm trying to use this also to sort of change certain dynamics. Like, what happens to Jake and Holt when they're in Florida and Holt is no longer technically Jake's boss?" "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" season 4 starts this September 20, Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on Fox. Stay tuned for more updates. U of T Scarborough Professor Herbert Kronzucker has helped identify superstar varieties of rice that can reduce fertilizer loss and cut down on environmental pollution in the process. (Photo : Ken Jones) A new study has identified "superstar" varieties of rice that can reduce fertilizer loss and cut down on environmental pollution in the process. The study authored by University of Toronto Scarborough Professor Herbert Kronzucker in collaboration with a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences looked at 19 varieties of rice to see which ones were more efficient at using nitrogen. Advertisement "We have this bucolic idea of agriculture -- animals grazing or vast fields of majestic crops -- but the global reality is it's one of the biggest drivers of environmental pollution and climate change," said Kronzucker. Nitrogen, when applied as fertilizer, is absorbed inefficiently by most crops. In tropical rice fields, as much as 50 to 70 percent of the nitrogen can be lost. The problem is nitrogen degrades water quality by contaminating nearby watersheds or leaching into ground water. It's also a significant source of gases such as ammonia and nitrogen oxide, which are not only harmful to aquatic life but also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. While nitrogen is one of three main nutrients required for crops to grow, it also costs the most to produce, adds Kronzucker. "Anything we can do to reduce demand for nitrogen, both environmentally and for farmers in the developing world struggling to pay for it, is a significant contribution." Kronzucker's study for the first time identifies a novel class of chemicals produced and released by the roots of rice crops that directly influence the metabolism of soil microbes. It found that key microbial reactions that lead to an inefficiency in nitrogen capture can be significantly reduced in certain varieties of rice plants through the action of those specific chemicals released from root cells. One of the main reasons crops waste so much fertilizer is that they were bred that way. In the past fertilizers were relatively inexpensive to produce because fossil fuels were abundant and cheap. As a result, plant geneticists bred crops that responded to high fertilizer use regardless of how efficient they were at using nitrogen. "These inefficiencies used to be of little interest, but now, with fluctuating fuel prices and growing concerns over climate change, it's a much bigger issue," said Kronzucker, who is the Director of the Canadian Centre for World Hunger Research at U of T Scarborough. There are more than 120,000 varieties of rice stored at the germplasm bank at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, but Kronzucker's team only focused on varieties that met important criteria. For one they concentrated only on Japonica (the rice used in sushi) and Indica, the world's most popular rice type commonly grown in China, India and Southeast Asia. The varieties also had to be currently grown by farmers, have a high yield potential, be disease and pest-resistant, grow to the right size and have strong enough roots to withstand monsoon-force winds. "They had to be proven in the field as viable options. It's not practical if a rice farmer isn't going to touch it," adds Kronzucker. The hope is for this study to inform rice-growing strategies throughout Asia. One option could be to provide farmers with government incentives like tax credits, to switch to a more nitrogen-friendly variety. Another outcome could be better breeding programs where even better species of crops can be produced. "There's no reason a crop can't result in less pollution while also saving farmers money; the two aren't incompatible," said Kronzucker. "If we can produce more responsible plants that don't waste fertilizer needlessly, everyone wins." Pre-Order Online; See the 'iPhone 7 Release Date' Here September is approaching and Apple fans are eager to know when the iPhone 7 release date and preorder online will be confirmed. Fortunately, for fans who can't wait any longer, the preordering of the iPhone 7 will start on the 9th of September with a release date set on the 16th of September. If things will go according to the scheduled iPhone 7 release date, we can expect Apple to release a statement or even make a soft launch as early as the 7th of September. Forbes mentioned that in 2015, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus were introduced on September 9, Wednesday. Pre-orders at the time came on the 12th of September and the new iPhone 6 series were launched on September 25, 2015. Based on the above schedule, the supposed iPhone 7 release date this year will come early. Currently, the iPhone 7 remains to be called that way, truth is that it is still unknown to this day whether Apple will call the next line as iPhone 7 or go by another monicker. Forbes on the other mentioned that, recent news online suggested; the next iPhone 7 series will however be called iPhone 6SE. Another reason why the next line of iPhones might not be called iPhone 7 is the fact that the original iPhone will celebrate its 10th year anniversary. And the plans for a complete redesign, something tells; Apple will go for a totally different name. Meanwhile, out of the several leaked information about the iPhone 7 design, we can almost count on the full glass casing as one of the key new feature of the device.Asia Nikkei previously reported that Allen Horng, chairman and chief executive of iPhone chassis maker Catcher Technology confirmed the glass casing saying "As far as I know, only one [iPhone] model will adopt glass casing next year." 'Girl Meets World' Season 4 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Series Now Cancelled? Season 3 is the Last Installment? Disney is known for creating lovely series and movies and "Girl Meets World" is one of them. Diehard fans of the said series know for a fact that the storyline of "Girl Meets World" was picked up and modified from the hit 90's Disney show, "Boy Meets World." "Girl Meets World" fans are definitely dying to get their hands on juicy details about what's going to happen to Riley and Maya, the BFFs in the next for the series. As reported by Parent Herald, Uriah Shelton and Rowan Blanchard, stars of the said series, have been giving their fans a sneak peek on the future of the series on social media. The much-awaited trailer for "Girl Meets World" Season 3 toys with the childhood memories and emotions of viewers, bringing forth a warm fuzzy feeling. The third season for "Girl Meets World" offers a bunch of neat surprises for the audience as it promises a reunion for the cast of the two related series. Although the reunion might tug at the heartstrings of devoted viewers, it also has a dark side as some are thinking that the reunion might be a sign that it might be the farewell season their beloved series. To put all the speculations from the fans and viewers, Disney has officially released a statement pertaining to "Girl Meets World" Season 3 and Season 4. TV Line reports that a representative from Disney network said that the cast and crew of "Girl Meets World" have been very busy for the past few months filming the remaining scenes and episodes of Season 3 which are set to air on Disney Channel on 2017. "Girl Meets World" fans are definitely not letting their guard down, letting the creators and producers of the said series know that if ever it will not be renewed on Disney, they will still support the series on Freeform. Street Fighter 5 Latest News & Update: New Favorite Fighter Juri Combos Revealed! New DLC Arriving Next Month? Juri is most likely the new most favorite fighter in the Street Fighter saga. Most of the fans know that Juri, the much-loved character was first introduced in "Street Fighter 4" and now it is confirmed that Juri will be joining the "Street Fighter 5" game official list of characters with more damaging attacks. Juri is confirmed coming back to 'Street Fighter 5' game vg247 reports that Juri is among the most-loved characters that were added in the "Street Fighter 4" game. Hence, her imminent return in "Street Fighter 5" is not a surprise. Making her comeback more interesting is the same strong character she previously had but with almost entirely different and nearly unrecognizable, powerful and unique move set. Juri is a character that's created to rush-down, getting in the opponent's face and not giving them any time to breathe or stop whatsoever. The next "Street Fighter 5" character has strong means for getting in, solid punches and a V-Trigger in the right hands power up that makes her a very tough one-touch-to-death character. However, these killer moves are being balanced out by other special skills that have more precise and limited utility, and a fairly high execution level. Juri to return with impressive moves in 'Street Fighter 5' Here are some of Juri's moves, according to vg247: V-Trigger: Feng Shui Engine Type Alpha (HP, HK Simultaneously when V-Trigger Gauge is full; V-Skill: Kasatsushu (MP, MK Simultaneously); Tensenrin (Z-Motion + Kick / Forward, Down, Forward + Kick); Fuharenkyaku (Quarter Circle Forward + Kick); Critical Art (Super) - Sakkai Fuhazan (Quarter Circle Backwards x2 + Kick); Ryodansatsu (Quarter Circle Backwards + Kick) and Air Throw: Zankasen (Light Punch + Light Kick near an airborne opponent). Aside from that, the "Street Fighter 5" character also has the right moves and skills to do the Kyoretsushu (Medium Punch > Backwards + Heavy Punch OR Forwards + Heavy Punch), Korenzan (Back + Heavy Kick), Senkaiyaku (Forward + Medium Kick), Enkushu (During Jump > Medium Punch > Heavy Kick). Capcom stated previously that they are looking to improve more new features in the "Street Fighter 5" game. Matt Dahlgreen the product manager promised gamers that address the concerns regarding advantage and invincibility bugs as he reassured fans that they will do whatever they can to meet their expectations. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for more "Street Fighter 5" news and update! CSULB alum wins gold at the 38th Long Beach Marathon which was his first Monsoon rains in India. (Photo : Rajarshi Mitra) Variations in the ability of sand particles flung into the atmosphere from deserts in the Middle East to absorb heat can change the intensity of the Indian Summer Monsoon, said new research from The University of Texas at Austin led by Chinese researchers. The Indian monsoon from June to September is a period of intense rainfall. Over a billion people rely on the monsoon to bring rains to farmlands, especially in India. The monsoon accounts for up to 80 percent of the annual rainfall in the Indian subcontinent. Advertisement But increasing the strength of the monsoon can lead to flooding that can cause massive losses in life and crops. The study was led by Qinjian Jin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who conducted the research while earning his Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences. He collaborated with Zong-Liang Yang, a professor in the Jackson School's Department of Geological Sciences and Jiangfeng Wei, a research scientist in the department. The deserts of the Middle East are a large source of "mineral dust," small particles of sand brought into the atmosphere by wind and thermals. Once in the atmosphere, the dust can heat parts of the atmosphere by absorbing energy from sunlight. Researchers found that mineral dust from the Middle East can strengthen the Indian Summer Monsoon by heating the atmosphere above the Iranian Plateau and the Arabian Sea. But the dust's ability to absorb heat affected how much the dust influenced the monsoon. Dust that absorbed heat more efficiently was linked with increases in monsoon rainfall. Jin said the heating ability of dust aerosols largely determines how the monsoon responds to dust. He and the other researchers examined the impact of mineral dust on monsoon strength by creating seven high-resolution computer simulations that varied the heat absorption of mineral dust. Jin said that for climate models to accurately capture monsoon behavior, they must account for the variability in mineral dust's heat absorption. "This heating is represented in very different ways in different climate models, and is one of the factors responsible for inconsistency of climate model results," said Jin. "This study addresses the necessity for developing a new method to represent dust heating in climate models." Jin said he is planning future research on how dust particles can influence climate by changing cloud formation and behavior. He noted dust particles have been shown to be efficient ice nuclei, which may influence the monsoon by changing clouds' properties. Future research also needs to consider other dust processes, such as the surface erodibility of different dust source regions and how dust enters into the atmosphere, both of which have been studied by Yang and his other collaborators. "Ultimately, this integrated research will improve our understanding of complex dust-monsoon interactions," said Yang. The results of the study could help improve monsoon prediction models, which usually use a constant value for sand particles' heat-absorbing ability. When disaster strikes and communication lines fail, a little-known team of volunteer amateur radio enthusiasts and hospital staff members could be the difference in getting Corvallis the help it needs to save lives. During a catastrophe, hospital staff at Corvallis Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center are likely to rely on smartphones and Wi-Fi to communicate with other agencies. But in a worst-case scenario like the Cascadia subduction zone 9.0-magnitude earthquake the entire citys infrastructure could be decimated and cellphone towers could be knocked out. And thats where the hospitals amateur radio team, known as the Amateur Radio Emergency Services club, comes in. Each month, the group tests its timeworn amateur radios in a small room tucked away in a corner of the hospital, training on disaster scenarios, preparing in case one day the worst has happened and its members need to get the word out. This is one of those things that everybody finds annoying and nobody thinks about, said club member Samantha Hendrickson, a certified nursing assistant. But when it gets really, really, really bad and you are literally just down to radio, suddenly all of the little tiny things weve been asking for and training for in our tiny closet become very important. During a disaster, a separate county amateur radio group likely would be deployed to monitor the county and there are no guarantees the county team could assist the hospital with all of its needs. So, wanting to be prepared for all possible scenarios, Vicky Lyons, the hospitals emergency management coordinator, organized the hospitals own amateur radio club last year that would focus exclusively on the hospital while still communicating with the county team. Samaritan's hospitals in Albany and Lebanon have had their own amateur radio groups onsite for several years and each group has more than a handful of seasoned veterans. The Corvallis group doesn't have that level of experience. I consider the clubs in Lebanon and Albany like college graduates with masters degrees, said Sonny Dawson, a member of the fledgling organization in Corvallis. In comparison, I consider myself to be in the second grade. And I think weve got the Corvallis operation into the first grade. Dawson, now 72, said he first found a love of amateur radio nearly 60 years ago when he built his first radio and heard a report from Russia about a car race. In the report, they said the Russian car came in second and the American car came in second to last, Dawson said. Then I listened to another report on my radio that said the American car had won. Turns out it was a two-car race so coming in second to last was winning and second was losing. I learned right then how valuable the right kind of communication could be. Dawson said that, because the group is so new and is using decades-old technology, some hospital staff consider the preparations of the group to be redundant. But if the emergency happens, were kind of the key to get things happening. And I think we saw that in June," he said. That was when emergency management coordinators at Good Samaritan took part in a tabletop training drill that was part of the nationwide four-day exercise known as Cascadia Rising 2016. It was the clubs first major test, Dawson said, and the clubs first major success. I ran the operation at Samaritan and I was blown away at how these kids did on that exercise based on the little training and experience they have, he said. They might be ready for the second grade. Club member Craig Christensen, a Samaritan security architect, received his amateur radio license roughly six months ago. Christensen, who served for three years in the U.S. Navy as a radioman, said the club provided him with an opportunity to restart a hobby and perhaps do some good. I think everyone has a skill and should do some type of community service with it if they can, he said. This is what Im good at. I can contribute doing this. And a call we could make in a huge disaster could save our own family member or friend, so why not give your best effort? Christensen noted that in the last several months hospital officials have provided unprecedented support for the group. We have a lot of people in the community that want to contribute to this, but Im very thankful that Samaritan actually puts the resources together to help us, he said. Weve had our ups and downs but the people at Samaritan have really helped us to grow and become better. The groups next test is set for September, when Good Samaritan staff members are planning another tabletop disaster training exercise. We prepped a lot for the last one and I think we impressed a lot of people, Christensen said. I'm really excited because we're doing a lot of work prepping for the next one. We're going to be ready." LEBANON The College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest welcomed 108 new medical students at its sixth annual convocation and white coat ceremony Friday afternoon at the First Assembly of God Church. Western University President Daniel Wilson, who was hired on July 1, made his first public appearance as he hosted the ceremony. Wilson is the second permanent president of WesternU. He said that he and his wife plan to keep the welcoming family atmosphere established by founding president Philip Pumerantz, who retired in September 2015 after 38 years. "We are all in this together," Wilson said. "The family atmosphere will always be a hallmark of WesternU. We will be here for you." Wilson had met several of the students earlier in the week during an ice cream social, a tradition started by Pumerantz. Convocation officially begins the academic year, while the white-coat ceremony signifies a student's commitment to medicine. In Lebanon, students officially begin their journey to becoming doctors as they don short white coats and receive medical bags. The keynote speaker for the convocation was Dr. Alissa Craft, American Osteopathic Association vice president of accreditation, who also serves as a COMP associate professor. Before the students received their white coats, Craft explained their significance, encouraging the students to feel the coats' weight as they donned them onstage. "That weight is the responsibility of the profession," she said. Although the coats were freshly pressed and clean, she said they should not remain that way. They'll get stained with blood from patients in the emergency room, and stained with tears from family members after a patient has died. "And some of those tears may even be yours," Craft said. "A pristine white coat is not a pristine white coat at all. You are always wearing the white coat, stains and all." The Oregon State University Extension Small Farms Program will be hosting a pair of demonstrations in Corvallis on Tuesday, Aug. 9, as part of Dry Farming Field Days. From 3 to 5 p.m., the OSU Vegetable Research Farm at 34306 N.E. Electric Road will demonstrate a project to identify high yielding, long storing and good tasting winter squash varieties when grown under dryland conditions. From 4 to 7 p.m., the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture (844 S.W. 35th St.) will offer information about the Dry Farming Collaborative. Participants will be able to see crops (such as tomatoes, squash, melon, and potatoes) grown without any supplemental irrigation in the field. Both events are free. For more information and to RSVP, visit smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/wmws. Contact Chrissy Lucas at the Benton County Extension office with any questions at 541-766-3556. US Navy to Produce More of its Deadly Mark 48 Heavyweight Submarine Torpedo A Mark 48 torpedo detonates beneath the keel of a decommissioned U.S. Navy ship during a test. (Photo : US navy) The U.S. Navy will re-start production of its long-lived Mark 48 heavyweight submarine torpedo to build a newer and more modular version of this already excellent weapon. The 45 year-old Mark 48 torpedo arms all U.S. Navy submarines but was recently upgraded to sink deep-diving submarines and high performance surface warships of the Chinese and Russian navies. Advertisement This huge, wire-guided torpedo weighing 1,600 kilograms has the unique ability to circle around and again attack a surface warship it failed to hit on its first try. The torpedo is nicknamed "the keel buster" because its warhead is designed to explode beneath the keel of an enemy ship, thereby breaking its back and sinking it more quickly. The newest version of the torpedo, the Mk-48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS), is optimized for both the deep and littoral waters and has advanced counter-countermeasure capabilities. The modular Mod 7 increases sonar bandwidth, enabling it to transmit and receive pings over a wider frequency band. It takes advantage of broadband signal processing techniques to greatly improve search, acquisition and attack effectiveness. More important, the version is a lot more resistant to Chinese or Russian countermeasures. Lockheed Martin, which developed the new version of the Mk-48 in 2011, will also be in charge of the production re-start. Under the terms of the contract, Lockheed Martin will deliver 20 Mod 7 CBASS kits to the Navy every month. The company expects selling some 250 torpedoes to the Navy over the next five years. There are some 760 Mk-48 torpedoes in the U.S. Navy's inventory. The Mod 7 can deliver a 290 kg high explosive warhead at an enemy surface ship out to a maximum range of 38 kilometers at a speed of 102 km/h. It can also destroy enemy submarines hiding at a depth of 800 meters. The Mk-48, which is 5.8 meters long, arms all U.S. Navy submarines, including Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and Seawolf-, Los Angeles-, and Virginia-class attack submarines. It is also used by Canadian, Australian and Dutch submarines. Turkey demonstrations in Cologne : Police will clamp down on any form of violence Cologne Erdogan supporters will gather in Cologne on Sunday. While there are no indications pointing towards disruptions, police say they are prepared to deal swiftly and firmly with any violence that may arise. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Cologne police say they will clamp down on any form of violence at the pro-Erdogan demonstration on Sunday. Up to 30,000 people are expected to show up in support of the Turkish president following an attempted military coup in mid-July. Until now there has been no evidence that demonstrators plan to disrupt public order but police indicate that they are prepared for any eventuality. On Friday, Police Chief Jurgen Mathies said, We are prepared for all types of violence. 2,300 police will be on duty in Cologne and eight water cannons will be available. While Mathies did not rule out banning the demonstration, he said, At the moment, I dont see any reason for a ban. However, if the Turkish government decides to fly in members of its government, this could cause the already heated situation to become even worse. In that case, the police might not be able to guarantee public safety. Then they would be forced to make a last resort decision and call for a ban. Aydan Ozoguz, a federal minister for integration in Germany, warns of attempts by the Turkish government to exert influence on the Turkish population in Germany. Cologne is often used as a site for Turkish demonstrations because of its central location. In North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) alone, there are a million people with Turkish roots, most of them living in the region called Ruhrgebiet. Almost all Turkish and Muslim associations have their main offices in Cologne, including the Ditib which is an arm of the Turkish religious authorities. Cologne is effectively the capital of those with Turkish roots who live in western Germany, explained Yunus Ulusoy from the Center of Turkish Studies and Integration Research at the University Duisburg-Essen. Why do second or third generation immigrants feel the need to go out on the street to support Erdogan? General Secretary of the European-Turkish Democrats (UETD), Bulent Bilgi says that many are upset about how German media reported on the military coup. They said, ok, there was a coup and 264 people were killed, and then pushed that away as if it were only an aside. Ludwig Schulz, a Turkish researcher at the German Institute for Oriental Studies says that many German Turkish people saw the failed coup as a mark of success for their society and democracy. Counter-ISIL Strikes Continue in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, July 29, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Strikes in Syria Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 22 strikes in Syria: -- Near Shadaddi, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb storage area. -- Near Manbij, 19 strikes struck 19 separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 17 ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun and two ISIL vehicles. -- Near Mar'a, two strikes struck two ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, one ISIL rocket rail and an ISIL vehicle. Strikes in Iraq Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position. -- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker. -- Near Hit, two strikes destroyed an ISIL supply cache. -- Near Mosul, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL assembly areas, six ISIL weapons caches, four ISIL vehicles, three ISIL-used roads and two ISIL command-and-control nodes. -- Near Qayyarah, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL rocket rails, five ISIL boats, three ISIL mortar systems and an ISIL rocket system. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Scaparrotti Discusses Russian, North Korean Threats at Aspen Forum By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, July 29, 2016 The participants in the Aspen Security Forum received a "two-fer" last night as Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti and "Washington Post" journalist David Ignatius spoke about the general's experiences Korea and Europe. Scaparrotti took over as commander of U.S. European Command and as Supreme Allied Commander Europe in May. His previous assignment was as commander of Combined Forces Korea. The title of the Aspen, Colorado, presentation was "From the Frying Pan to the Fire." The two men started by discussing Russia and the challenges that President Vladimir Putin's country poses to global security. The general said his career has almost come full circle. He noted that when he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, the enemy was the Soviet Union. "I knew their formations, and as a young officer went to Reforger on a number of occasions," he said. Reforger -- the REturn of FORces to GERmany -- was the annual exercise aimed at practicing reinforcing NATO in case of Soviet aggression. 'Russia is Back' Then the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union dissolved and his next interaction with Russian forces was in 1996 when his airborne unit conducted a relief-in-place with a Russian airborne brigade. "Then you come full circle to the job I had today, and Russia is back," he said. And the Russian military is back with improved equipment and discipline in its ground forces, Scaparrotti said. "They are learning, they are pretty agile and thinking," he said. "They are taking a look at the world as they see it and adjusting their doctrine which is impressive." The Russian military has been reorganized and is more professional, and they have clearly modernized their equipment and are learning from U.S. operations, he said. "We have an adversary we need to take very seriously," Scaparrotti said. "They are going to continue to improve in their capabilities." Invest in Capabilities The United States and NATO have to be strong and continue to invest in capabilities to outpace the capabilities of the Russian military, he said. Russia is using asymmetric tactics against Europe and NATO as well, Scaparrotti said. "We see the activity in cyberspace, we see influence in Europe in terms of political parties funding, [we see] some misinformation to build facts on the ground that really aren't true, and I believe that is part of their doctrine," he said. "When you look at the spectrum of conflict, it begins at activities below the threshold of conflict in order to set conditions and perhaps even be successful in their objectives without even approaching a conflict." The general believes the West can combat this doctrine, but it will be difficult. Freedom of the press, truth and rule of law must be at the heart of any counterstroke, he said. Turkey Situation Scaparrotti also addressed Turkey, noting he has been in touch with Turkish chief of defense Gen. Hulusi Akar since the attempted coup earlier this month. The Turkish general pledged to continue Turkey's strong support of NATO and of countering Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant operations, and he invited Scaparrotti to visit soon. Ignatius then steered the conversation to the topic of North Korea. In the next few years, Scaparrotti said he believes North Korea will develop nuclear warheads and the means to launch them. "[North Korean leader Kim Jong Un] is very focused on developing his military capability in specific areas that are difficult for us," Scaparrotti said. "He's focused on developing his ballistic missile capability. My estimate is that he is testing and he is solving problems. He has a submarine-launched missile that he is working on, as well." North Korean Developments North Korea also is continuing work on its nuclear capabilities, Scaparrotti said. "I think we need to continue in every way we can to put pressure on this country to bring them to follow the United Nations Security Council resolutions," the general said. "I am very concerned about what he has today, but I am more concerned about what he will have in three or four years -- when he has a proven intercontinental capability, when he has perhaps figured out the submarine capability and when he has built more nuclear devices." The general said he believes that the sanctions brought against Kim Jong Un was a good step and looks for ways to bring China into the mix to control North Korea. He also agrees with the decision to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system to South Korea. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Centcom Assessing If Airstrike in Syria Accidently Claimed Civilian Lives By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, July 29, 2016 U.S. Central Command has begun an assessment to determine if a U.S. airstrike yesterday near Manbij, Syria, resulted in unintentional civilian deaths, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters today. "That assessment is still in its early phase and we do not have all the facts at this time and we do not have any conclusions," the press secretary said. The assessment was prompted by Centcom's internal reporting, he said, adding that the assessment "only highlights the seriousness with which our forces take the issue of civilian casualties and the obligation to protect innocent lives on the battlefield." The United States and its coalition partners have taken exceptional measures to minimize the risk to civilians in the conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant, he said. Serious Issues "It's important to contrast the seriousness with which we treat these issues, the care we take to protect innocent lives and our accountability and transparency with the enemy that we are fighting," Cook said. "ISIL has launched a series of attacks in Iraq and Syria in which civilian deaths were not an unintended consequence; civilian deaths were the intent," he said. ISIL, Cook said, "has proudly claimed responsibility for attacks just this month that have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, including the July 4th attack in Baghdad that killed more than 140 people, and a bombing just this week in Al-Qamishli, Syria, that killed more than 40." ISIL has also claimed responsibility for horrific terror attacks Iraq and Syria, he added. "We will continue to work hard every day to execute our mission, while doing our best to minimize the risk to innocent civilians, and to be transparent and accountable about those efforts," Cook said. "We do not expect ISIL to do the same." There have been a total of 202 allegations of civilian casualties during Operation Inherent Resolve, according to a DoD spokesman. Of those 202 allegations, 143 were deemed to be not credible. Of those deemed credible, 23 allegations remain open and 36 have been closed. The 36 closed allegations resulted in the announcement of a total of 55 civilian deaths and 29 civilian injuries, the spokeman said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Amphibious Landing Operation Conducted at Sea Breeze 2016 Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160729-09 Release Date: 7/29/2016 11:44:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Justin Stumberg, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs ODESSA, Ukraine (NNS) -- Over 220 U.S. Marines and Ukrainian forces participated in an amphibious landing operation in Odessa, Ukraine, July 27. The amphibious exercise was designed to simultaneously coordinate multiple warfare elements while adapting to unpredictable environmental conditions. Quotes: "This wasn't just tracked vehicles coming ashore, we had both fixed wing and rotary aircraft providing maritime air superiority for that landing site to ensure the safety of the marines as they landed. This event was constructed so that they could not only establish a safe beachhead but also transition to the final objective which was a critical infrastructure protection drill. In a 24-hour period we saw the flawless execution of a very difficult and complex event." -U.S. Navy Capt. Richard Dromerhauser, Sea Breeze 2016 co-director "The objective of the exercise was navigation through the water, going through techniques, tactics, and procedures of transitioning the Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) from sea mode to land mode, and interoperability with Ukrainians." -U.S. Marine 2nd Lt. Marco Valenzuela, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit "It's always good to get out here with our guys and do our training, but it's dually better to get out here with foreign countries and build relationships and share experiences." -U.S. Marine Sgt. Spencer McGalliard, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit Quick Facts: -U.S. Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) attached to USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) participated in the exercise. -15 Amphibious Assault Vehicles launched from Whidbey Island established a safe beach then moved inland and set up a defensive position around a bridge during a critical infrastructure protection drill. -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 Nancy Kissel (Photo : YouTube) Women in different prisons in China have been in the news lately, from a Chinese model jailed for drug use to a beauty queen caught smuggling cocaine and a transgender woman sexually assaulted in a male prison. The latest to one to make the new was in the headlines in 2005 for the death of her husband. Nancy Kissel made a fresh legal challenge to her life imprisonment term, citing the special circumstances related to her case, reported South China Morning Post. Advertisement Kissel, an American woman, is serving her term at the Tai Lam Centre for Women for the death of her husband, Robert, a Merrill Lynch investment banker, in 2003. She was found in 2005 guilty of murder for bludgeoning Robert to death at their apartment in Tai Tam. First, Nancy incapacitated Robert by giving him milkshake laced with drug, earning her the nickname milkshake murderer. She then bludgeoned him to death using a lead ornament. She ordered workmen to bring Henrys corpse to the storeroom, wrapped in an old oriental rug. She admitted during the trial that she killed Robert to escape their messy divorce so she could be with her lover, Michael Del Prioer, a TV repairman who lived in a trailer park in Vermont. Her defense lawyer, Alexander King, cited Nancys mental state at the time the crime was committed. Before the murder, King said that Robert, who used cocaine and hooked on gay porn, forced Nancy into anal sex and assaulted her physically for five years. He cited the womans guilt and remorse for the murder of Robert as grounds to change her sentence to a more definite one than an indeterminate sentence. Nancy sought a transfer to a U.S. prison under a reciprocal agreement which permits the transfer of prisoners between the U.S. and Hong Kong. She attempted to serve her term in an American facility a few years ago but her request was rejected. The lawyer said Nancy is no longer a danger to society and unlikely to repeat her offense. In 2014, Nancy told Bloomberg, I cant spend my time explaining the unexplainable. Id rather try to seek a peaceful heart. Nancy met Robert while vacationing at Club Med in the Caribbean. They got married in 1989. USS Frank Cable Arrives in Goa, India Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160729-02 Release Date: 7/29/2016 9:52:00 AM From USS Frank Cable Public Affairs GOA, India (NNS) -- The submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) arrived in Goa, India, for a port visit, July 29. The visit is aimed at building friendship and goodwill between the U.S. Navy and the people of India. The Frank Cable team, consisting of more than 500 Sailors and civilian mariners, is currently on deployment to provide vital flexibility to the fleet commanders, extending the range and impact of U.S. naval forces. The port visit will allow Frank Cable Sailors and Military Sealift Command mariners to enjoy some rest and relaxation and allow them to experience India's rich culture on trips coordinated by Morale, Welfare and Recreation. "This port visit is an excellent opportunity to interact with our counterparts in the Indian Navy, and enjoy the culture and heritage of one of the world's oldest civilizations and largest democracy," said Capt. Drew St. John, Frank Cable's commanding officer. "Through our varied interactions we hopefully will create, with India, the defining partnership of the 21st century." Besides the tours and interacting with navy counterparts, Sailors will give up personal time to participate in community service projects sponsored by the ship's religious ministries department. "Community service projects are an important part of establishing healthy partnerships between the U.S. and our host nations," said Frank Cable's Command Master Chief Paul Sweeney. "Sailors play an important part when they experience other cultures and act as ambassadors for the Navy and the United States." USS Frank Cable is one of two forward-deployed submarine tenders and is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to conduct maintenance and support of deployed U.S. naval force submarines and surface vessels in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NAVAIR Marks First Flight with 3-D printed, safety-critical parts Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160729-25 Release Date: 7/29/2016 3:26:00 PM From Naval Air Systems Command Public Affairs NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Maryland (NNS) -- Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) marked its first successful flight demonstration of a flight critical aircraft component built using additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, July 29. An MV-22B Osprey completed a test flight outfitted with a titanium, 3-D printed link and fitting assembly for the engine nacelle. This link and fitting assembly is one of four that secure a V-22's engine nacelle to the primary wing structure and will remain on the aircraft for continued evaluation. The flight was performed using the standard V-22 flight performance envelope. "The flight went great. I never would have known that we had anything different onboard," said MV-22 Project Officer Maj. Travis Stephenson who piloted the flight. AM uses digital 3-D design data to build components in layers of metal, plastic and other materials. The metal link and fitting assembly for this test event were printed at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Prior to this flight, multiple V-22 components built by Lakehurst and Penn State Applied Research Laboratory were tested at Patuxent River to validate performance. "The flight today is a great first step toward using AM wherever and whenever we need to. It will revolutionize how we repair our aircraft and develop and field new capabilities - AM is a game changer," said Liz McMichael, AM Integrated Product Team lead. "In the last 18 months, we've started to crack the code on using AM safely. We'll be working with V-22 to go from this first flight demonstration to a formal configuration change to use these parts on any V-22 aircraft." Naval aviation has employed additive manufacturing as a prototyping tool since the early 1990s and in recent years has begun the process of printing non-flight critical parts and tools. Today's demonstration is the first time a U.S. Navy aircraft flew with an AM part deemed essential to maintaining safe flight. Navy officials envision a future where all parts can be made on-demand globally by fleet maintainers and operators, and our industry partners - stocking digital data instead of ordering, stocking and shipping parts. Today's flight is an important step toward achieving that vision. Including the V-22 link and fitting assembly, McMichael and her team have identified six additional safety-critical parts they plan to build and test over the next year for three U.S. Marine Corps rotorcraft platforms: the V-22, H-1 and CH-53K. Three of the parts will be made out of titanium, while the other three will be stainless steel. Even with the success of today's flight, NAVAIR officials advise that there is a lot work to do before deployed aircraft are flying in theater with 3-D printed, safety-critical parts. "Our AM team has done some incredible work in a relatively short period of time - both internally through its production of aircraft components to be used in flight testing and externally through its liaison with industry and other government organizations," said Vice Adm. Paul A. Grosklags, NAVAIR commander. "Although the flight today is a great step forward, we are not trying to 'lead' industry in our AM efforts, but it is absolutely critical that we understand what it takes to successfully manufacture and qualify AM parts for flight in naval aircraft, which we expect will largely be manufactured by our industry partners. Where I believe we can 'lead' industry is in the development of the AM "digital thread," from initial design tools all the way to the flight line - securely maintained and managed through the life of an aircraft program." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Vietnam, China hold joint anti-terror exercise People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 14:45, July 29, 2016 HANOI, July 29 -- Border guard command of Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province and border police detachment in China's southwest Yunnan Province's Wenshan have held a joint anti-terror exercise, local media reported on Friday. The Thien Thanh 2016 (Tianqiang 2016) drill, with attendance of representatives from Vietnam's Ministry of Defense, Command of Border Guard, Ha Giang People's Committee, took place at Thanh Thuy International Border Gate in China-bordering Ha Giang province, some 220 km north of capital Hanoi, on Thursday, according to local Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) newspaper. Thanks to good preparation, the drill was successful in set plans, scripts and intentions, representatives assessed. The drill showed mutual trust between the two neighbors' armed forces and laid foundation for relevant authorities to build legal framework on law enforcement cooperation between border forces in response to emergency situation and coordination in dealing with cross-border cases, the newspaper reported. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemenis' retaliatory attacks leave 4 Saudi soldiers dead Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:57PM Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have reportedly launched two separate attacks against Saudi border guards in the kingdom's southwestern border regions of Jizan and Asir, leaving four soldiers dead. A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni snipers fatally shot two Saudi troops in the al-Farizah and Burj al-Abadiyah areas of Jizan, located 967 kilometers (601 miles) southwest of Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Friday afternoon. The source added that the attack was in retaliation for Riyadh's relentless aerial bombardment campaign against Yemen. Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighters also lobbed a barrage of artillery rounds at a Saudi military camp in Asir, killing two soldiers. The projectiles also caused a raging fire in the camp. The developments came a day after four Saudi soldiers, stationed in military watch towers in Asir's Rabuah region, lost their lives after being targeted by rounds of Yemeni sniper fire. On July 25, Yemeni forces shot down a Saudi Apache military helicopter while it was conducting an operation over a district in Yemen's central oil-rich province of Ma'rib, located 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of the capital Sana'a. The aircraft's two pilots were killed as a result. The Saudi forces involved in operations against Yemen claimed in a statement that the aircraft had "crashed due to bad weather." They identified the slain pilots as Captain Ayman al-faifi and First Lieutenant Mohammed Hassan. Also on Friday, at least five Yemeni civilians, including three women, were killed when Saudi fighter jets struck a residential building in Kushar district in the northwestern Yemeni province of Hajjah. Yemen has been under military strikes by Saudi Arabia since March 26, 2015. The Saudi war was launched in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen's president but seeks to grab power. The Houthi Ansarullah fighters took over state matters after Hadi's resignation and his escape from the capital. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Houthi: Yemeni nation will not surrender Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:35PM Leader of Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has called for a "resolution based on justice" to the conflict in the country, saying the nation will not surrender to the demands by the Saudi-backed party to the peace talks. On Thursday, the Saudi-backed delegation loyal to Yemen's resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, ended the UN-mediated peace negotiations with the Houthi delegation in Kuwait City. "Our national delegation in Kuwait has presented all possible concessions and what they want from us is to surrender and this is impossible," Houthi said in a televised statement on Friday. "We are ready for a resolution based on justice but we will not surrender." Ansarullah and its allies said both the Hadi loyalists and the regime in Riyadh lack the political will to promote a diplomatic process aimed at settling the conflict in Yemen. Elsewhere in his remarks, Houthi held the United States responsible for the deadly Saudi aggression against Yemen, describing Riyadh as a tool in the hands of Washington. He reiterated that the Yemeni nation was determined to confront the campaign. Houthi also stated that the US has returned al-Qaeda to southern Yemen after the militants were expelled by the Yemeni army and popular committees, adding that the militants fight alongside the Saudi forces. Washington and its regional allies, especially Saudi Arabia, were angry when the Yemeni forces managed to purge several areas of al-Qaeda, he said. Houthi said the United States uses the pretext of fighting terrorism to interfere in the internal affairs of the regional countries. He said the US seeks fragmentation of Yemen for its own benefit. Saudi Arabia launched the deadly military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to bring Hadi back to power and crush Ansarullah. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN rights body 'concerned' over Malaysia's controversial security law Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 1:56PM The United Nations Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia says it is "gravely concerned" that the Malaysian government is to enact a security law that grants it extraordinary emergency powers. "We are gravely concerned that... the act may encourage human rights violations," Laurent Meillan, the officer-in-charge of the UN office, said in a statement on Friday. Meillan said the law, which will come into force on August 1, could lead to "unjust restrictions" on free speech and the right of assembly. "We call on the government to revise the act to bring it in line with international human rights norms and standards." The administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pushed the parliament to approve the National Security Council Act in December 2015. The act enables the National Security Council headed by Razak to declare martial law in areas of the country determined to be under security threat. The law will also grant authorities permission to suspend the civil rights of citizens, as well as sweeping powers of search, seizure and arrest. Razak's critics say the scandal-hit premier enacted the law to crack down on any move against his government. The 1MDB scandal The Malaysian prime minister, who is said to be behind a massive financial scandal, has stifled his critics at home by scuttling investigations, and arresting whistleblowers and journalists. There are allegations that the investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or the 1MDB, which the Malaysian premier founded and oversaw, was looted on a massive scandal over several years. Authorities in several countries are investigating the claim. Last week, the US Justice Department launched moves to seize more than USD 1 billion in assets it says were purchased with money stolen from the 1MDB. Najib and the 1MDB deny any wrongdoing in the scandal, but the detailed filings of the US Justice Department include accusations that a high-ranking Malaysian government official, apparently the prime minister himself, conspired in the theft along with his associates, including his stepson. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address MNJTF regains control of Damasak in Nigeria from Boko Haram Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:49PM The Multinational Joint Task Force headquartered in Chad has regained control of a town in northeastern Nigeria from the grip of the Takfiri Boko Haram militants. "[The] MNJTF (Multinational Joint Task Force) troops... have successfully... occupied Damasak," Nigeria's army said in a statement on Friday. The MNJTF is a joint force consisting of soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin. It is tasked with ending the Boko Haram militancy in the Lake Chad region. Damasak is a fishing town and irrigation center which lies close to the border with Niger, about 180 kilometers (120 miles) north of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. On July 21, the Nigerian military said 19 soldiers had gone missing following an ambush by Boko Haram in Borno. The town of Damasak was seized by Boko Haram in November 2014. The Takfiri militants have killed some 200 people there. About 14,000 people have also been forced from their homes taking refuge across the border in the city of Diffa in Niger. In early 2015, Damasak was temporarily freed by forces from Nigeria and Chad, but it later fell back to the militants. In April, Boko Haram attacked Nigerian troops at a military checkpoint in the village of Kareto, about 38 kilometers (24 miles) from Damasak. Over 20 troops were wounded in the assault. UN suspends Borno aid deliveries On Thursday, UNICEF said unknown assailants attacked a humanitarian convoy in Borno. The UN body has temporarily suspended aid deliveries in the Nigerian state, which is the former stronghold of Boko Haram. Doctors Without Borders, also known as the MSF by its French acronym, has said malnourished children are dying in large numbers in northeastern Nigeria, where food supplies are almost running out. Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorists, seeks to overthrow the government and seize power in northern Nigeria. The group has killed some 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million others since 2009. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fresh Saudi airstrikes kill five Yemeni civilians in Hajjah Province Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:11AM At least five Yemeni civilians, including three women, have lost their lives in new Saudi airstrikes after the Saudi side said the peace talks in Kuwait came to an end without a deal. Yemen's al-Masirah TV reported on Friday that the fatalities came after Saudi fighter jets struck a residential area in Yemen's Hajjah Province. Saudi-backed loyalists to the former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi ended UN-mediated negotiations with Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement in Kuwait on Thursday. "The negotiations have completely ended," said Abdullah al-Olaimi, deputy director of Hadi's office and a member of the former government team to the UN-brokered talks being held in Kuwait. "We have participated and exercised patience for the sake of our people and we end the negotiations for their sake," Olaimi said on his Twitter account. A truce meant to facilitate the talks came into force on April 10, but Saudi air strikes have continued almost on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Ansarullah movement and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress party have reached a consensus to set up a governing council to run the conflict-ridden country, with a focus on fighting the Saudi aggression. "The aim is to unify efforts to confront the aggression by Saudi Arabia and its allies," said the Houthis and their allies, adding that the 10-member council is tasked with managing "state affairs politically, militarily, economically, administratively, socially and in security" based on the country's constitution. Disappointed with the role of the Saudi side in the peace efforts, Ansarullah and its allies say both the Hadi government and Riyadh lack the political will to promote the diplomatic process aimed at settling the conflict in Yemen. The Houthi fighters took state matters into their own hands after the resignation and escape of Hadi, which threw Yemen into a state of uncertainty and threatened a total security breakdown in the country, where an al-Qaeda affiliate is present. The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country has seen relentless military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with internal sources putting the toll from the bloody aggression at about 10,000. The Saudi military aggression is aimed at crushing the Houthis and allies and restoring power to Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Israel forces stage secret military drill Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 9:39AM Israel and the United States have reportedly staged a joint secret war game in southern Israel amid growing military cooperation between the two sides. Israeli media said on Thursday that the drill dubbed 'Noble Shirley' was held in Negev Desert to improve cooperation between American and Israeli forces. The drill, which was said to have been conducted during day and nighttime hours over the past week, involved the US Marine Corps as well as special units from the Israeli air, naval and ground forces. During the exercise, the troops and commandos took part in drills simulating helicopter landings behind enemy lines, and urban warfare above and below ground. They also practiced close-range combat and military takeover techniques. Israel's so-called 'David's Sling' missile system, which targets medium to long-range missiles, was also used in the maneuver. Moreover, forces also simulated both night-time and day-time combat situations at the Ze'elim training facility, which was built to look exactly like a Palestinian city. The drill comes some three weeks after Israel's ministry of military affairs and the US Missile Defense Agency completed a test aimed at ensuring Israeli and American missile systems can operate cooperatively in a future war. During the trial, the physical connectivity between the systems was tested. The test involved sites scattered around the United States, Europe and Israel. Elisra Group, which is an Israeli manufacturer of high-tech electronic, led the trial, which was designed to see if Israel's David's Sling and Arrow systems could link up with American systems. Also in February, the US and Israel held joint 'Juniper Cobra' exercise in Israel. The drill is held every two years between United States' European Command and the Israeli military. Israeli and US authorities claim that growing military cooperation is aimed at countering terrorism. However, critics blame the US and its closest ally Israel for pursuing a vicious agenda amid ongoing militancy in the Mideast region. 'Safe zone' in Syria Meanwhile, Kamal al-Labwani, a Syrian opposition figure with strong ties to Israel, has confirmed an increased interest in the creation of a so-called safe zone in southern Syria. On July 11, the Israeli army deployed several bulldozers and a tank 300 meters (328 yards) inside Syrian territory in Quneitra and began digging, threatening to shoot anyone who approached them. According to Labwani, the zone is supposed to run 10 kilometers deep into Syrian territory and approximately 20 kilometers along the Syrian border. The developments come as Damascus government says Israel and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri militant groups operating inside the Arab country. The Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside Syria. Reports say Tel Aviv has set up field hospitals in the Israeli-occupied side of Syria's Golan Heights for the treatment of injured militants. In December 2015, Daily Mail said the Israeli regime had saved the lives over 2,000 Takfiri militants at the cost of around USD 13 million since 2013. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it in a move that has never been recognized by the international community. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Sudan stands on brink of abyss, warns UN chief Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 7:38AM UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed serious concerns about the ongoing violence in South Sudan, saying the African country stands "on the brink of an abyss." Addressing a UN Security Council session on Thursday, Ban said "the promises of the new state for peace, justice and opportunity have been squandered" in South Sudan. Ban also said he was "appalled by the scale of sexual violence" after UN rights officials reported at least 120 cases of rape across the capital, Juba, over the past three weeks. The UN chief also called on the warring parties to abide by their commitments under the peace accord they signed last year, adding, "We demand accountability for all atrocities, and that leaders of South Sudan commit to the peace process." Ban had earlier called for an immediate arms embargo against South Sudan in response to renewed fighting between government troops and rebel forces. He also said that the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) should be strengthened with attack helicopters. The world body has a 13,500-strong force in the country, but the UN peacekeepers have faced criticism for failing to fully protect civilians during the fighting. Nearly 300 people have died since July 8, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and his rival and Vice President Riek Machar, raising fears of a return to a full-blown conflict after a two-year lull. Earlier this week, Kiir replaced Machar with a former peace negotiator, General Taban Deng Gai, in a move that could escalate the violence gripping South Sudan. Machar, a former rebel leader, was sworn in as first vice president in April, eight months after the peace agreement was signed between the government and rebels loyal to him. However, he left Juba with his troops earlier this month after fresh fighting erupted between his loyalists and government forces. Machar said he would only return if an international peacekeeping force guarantees his safety. Thousands of people have been killed and more than three million forced to flee their homes in the war that started in December 2013, when Kiir sacked Machar only two years after the country seceded from Sudan. Despite the August 2015 peace deal, battles persist across the country. There are numerous militia forces that do not abide by peace agreements and are driven by local agendas. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address French authorities filed terror charges on Friday against two suspected members of the same Islamic State cell that massacred 130 people in Paris last November, a judicial source said. The 29-year-old Algerian and the 35-year-old Pakistani were charged with "criminal conspiracy with terrorists", the source said of the men turned over earlier Friday by Austrian authorities. Search Keywords: Short link: Venezuela opposition reinstates 3 MPs banned over fraud allegations Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 7:1AM Venezuela's opposition-run National Assembly has reinstated three lawmakers accused of fraud in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, a move that could heighten political tensions in the country. In a Thursday session, the lawmakers voted to welcome back the three opposition legislators from the southern state of Amazonas, who are facing bans over accusations of fraud in the December parliamentary polls. Early this year, the top court suspended them pending an investigation into the allegations of vote-buying in the parliamentary vote, in which the opposition scored a landslide victory. The court then ruled that any legislation passed in the assembly with the participation of the three MPs would be nullified until the complaint against the trio's electoral win was resolved. During the raucous parliament session on Thursday, pro-government lawmakers shouted "fraud!" and turned their backs in protest at the reinstatement. Opposition MPs, however, applauded and sang the national anthem, with National Assembly President Henry Ramos saying in an address to the session that "we're not going to obey any decision of the Supreme Court that violates the constitution." This is while the former parliament head, Diosdado Cabello, had earlier warned that reinstating the banned legislators could land them in prison. The Democratic Unity opposition coalition says the government's policies have destroyed the Venezuela economy, seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro. It has been collecting signatures seeking to force a recall referendum this year on cutting short Maduro's term and prompting new elections. On Wednesday, hundreds of opposition supporters marched on the downtown headquarters of the National Electoral Council to demand it set a date for the next step in the complicated process, in which Maduro's opponents would have to collect nearly 4 million signatures in a few days. According to the report, the move came after the elections board missed its own Tuesday deadline to certify signatures and the ruling socialist party demanded that the main opposition alliance be disqualified as a political force. Maduro says the opposition, backed by Washington, are seeking a coup and carrying out an "economic war" against his government. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two Senior Abkhaz Officials Resign July 29, 2016 by Liz Fuller The failure earlier this month of a bid by opposition parties to mobilize the population of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia to participate in a referendum on holding an early presidential election has not defused political tensions. On the contrary, the Bloc of Opposition Forces (BOS) -- which initially backed the proposed referendum but called a boycott just days before it was due to take place -- has already announced its intention of convening a rally of at least 10,000 people in October in a new attempt to force de facto President Raul Khajimba to resign. Meanwhile, the standoff between the opposition and Khajimba has shifted to the parliament, which has sought since early February to force a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Artur Mikvabia. Mikvabia finally submitted his resignation on July 26 rather than suffer the indignity of such a vote. Prosecutor-General Aleksandr Lomia stepped down the same day. Mikvabia, 66, is a professional economist whom Khajimba named to head the cabinet in March 2015 following the resignation of Economic Revival Party Chairman Beslan Butba. But he has proven unable to deliver the economic upswing that figured among Khajimba's preelection promises two years ago. Abkhazia's economy has stagnated since the end of the 1992-93 war that culminated in the region's de facto independence from Georgia, and much of the economic assistance Russia has provided since formally recognizing Abkhazia as an independent state in 2008 has not been invested in the economy. Whereas Khajimba's predecessor, Aleksandr Ankvab, gave priority to reviving the agro-industrial sector, with the aim of capitalizing on the region's balmy climate, providing employment for the rural population, and resuming traditional exports of fruit and tea, Khajimba sees no point in reviving agriculture and is betting on tourism, which benefits primarily the population of Black Sea coastal towns. In addition, the region's ambiguous status and the ban on the purchase of real estate by noncitizens have deterred investment. The rationale adduced by opposition lawmaker Alkhas Japua in early February for a no-confidence vote in Mikvabia focused less on the economy than on his imputed bungling of the program to issue new national passports in exchange for old ones. In June, Japua also criticized the work of the cabinet as a whole, and Mikvabia's alleged failure to undertake any measures to eradicate corruption. Mikvabia rejected that criticism as unfair and slanderous. The Prosecutor-General's Office declared it unfounded. Announcing his resignation, Mikvabia claimed his cabinet had done what it could in adverse economic conditions, and with a budget of just 13 billion rubles ($196 million) at its disposal, to tackle the most important problems it faced, including raising salaries and pensions. He subsequently complained to the news site Caucasus Knot that all his efforts to increase tax revenues met with furious resistance. The introduction in January 2016 of a value-added tax, for example, immediately triggered outraged protests from the owners of small businesses. What motivated Prosecutor-General Lomia to resign is less clear. According to parliament speaker Valery Bganba, Lomia did so for a combination of reasons, including that "he felt he couldn't cope." Lomia's office had just completed a detailed assessment of the chain of events in late Mayearly June 2014 that culminated in Ankvab's ouster and formal resignation under pressure from the then-opposition Coordinating Council spearheaded by Khajimba. That assessment exonerated Khajimba and his supporters of acting illegally in seizing control of the presidential administration building, and ruled that the subsequent nomination of Bganba as acting president and the scheduling of new elections did not violate the Republic of Abkhazia's constitution. Aslan Bzhania, one of three rival presidential candidates whom Khajimba defeated in August 2014 and a leading member of the BOS, said that assessment itself is unconstitutional. Khajimba has named First Deputy Prime Minister Shamil Adzinba acting prime minister pending the unveiling of a new cabinet. Journalist Filipp Gromyko opines that Khajimba may take the opportunity to include a handful of opposition politicians in acknowledgment of demands by several opposition forces, including A Just Abkhazia and the People's Front of Abkhazia for Justice and Development, to create a government of national unity. A mini-opinion poll of 1,292 people conducted by those two parties from May 12-15 found that 61.9 percent of respondents assessed the performance of the current government as "bad," 79.7 percent thought its style of work should change, and 66.7 percent advocated the creation of a government of national unity in which all political parties would be represented. Any such concession to opposition demands would stand Khajimba in good stead if he decides to reappoint as interior minister Leonid Dzapshba, whom he suspended in early July, but who reportedly nonetheless continues to discharge his duties. Opposition supporters had demanded Dzapshba's dismissal after he publicly warned his subordinates that they and their relatives risked losing their jobs in the event that they participated in the planned referendum on an early presidential vote. Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/caucasus-report- abkhazia-officials-resign/27888179.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 Old Faithful: Air Force Secretary Says No Replacement Proposal for A-10 Sputnik News 02:42 29.07.2016 The US Air Force, considering an alternative for its aging A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, has no replacement proposal, US Air Force's top civilian Deborah Lee James said. The A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately known as the Warthog, is a versatile, effective and time-tested aircraft, capable of performing various combat tasks. One of its key features is a "built-in redundancy for close-air-support," which made Air Force command decide to keep it in service at least until 2022. The problem with the Warthog is that it is old. The need for constant maintenance for the aging warplanes makes its operational cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000 an hour. Aiming to reduce that cost to some $4,000 or $5,000, the Air Force is reportedly looking into the machine that will replace the Warthog in close air support (CAS). But there have been no proposals, said Deborah Lee James, the Air Force Secretary. "So far, I have read about this in the news," she said during a news conference. "I have not actually seen a proposal on any of this that has come forward to me. So it, for sure, is pre-decisional. It hasn't been decided on. You just put your finger on it, where would we get the money? Not at all clear to me." "We got the backs of the people on the ground who need a [CAS] mission performed. So I'm just going to wait to see whatever this proposal is, to come forward, but of course the money is the important thing and we have the A-10, we have the F-16 you're aware of all the different aircraft [that] are able to perform close air support." Aside from the F-16 Falcon, a possible replacement for the A-10 is the next-generation F-35 jet fighter, although it has been plagued by many flaws and technical problems. The US Air Force performed a thorough comparison of the two warplanes, whose release date is separated by almost fifty years, to determine whether the replacement is justified. When asked about the new Lockheed-Martin jet, James was reassuring, defending a machine that is projected to cost some $1 trillion over its operational life, and claiming that the Air Force will soon declare the F-35 ready for combat. "Part of the declaration of [combat readiness] is that the F-35 can do the CAS missions that were designated as required as part of IOC not the full-up CAS but what's called the limited CAS," she said. The Air Force is also considering different aircraft types to take the CAS role. According to Air Force Chief of Staff Mike Welsh, full time overhead "flying artillery," like the Lockheed AC-130 Spectre, may fit the bill. Welsh also suggested that a drone, capable of delivering bombs on demand, something he described as a "flying Coke machine," is also an option. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Millions worldwide trapped in vicious cycle of violence and hunger - UN 29 July 2016 Two United Nations agencies warned the UN Security Council today that ongoing conflicts around the world have pushed more than 56 million people into "crisis" or "emergency" levels of food insecurity and are hindering efforts to eradicate malnutrition. According to a series of 17 country briefs prepared for the Security Council by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN World Food Programme (WFP), Yemen and Syria top the list in terms of sheer numbers of people whose food security is being negatively impacted by ongoing conflict. "Conflict is a leading cause of hunger each famine in the modern era has been characterized by conflict," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva and WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said today in a joint news release. "[It] undermines food security in multiple ways: destroying crops, livestock and agricultural infrastructure, disrupting markets, causing displacement, creating fear and uncertainty over fulfilling future needs, damaging human capital and contributing to the spread of disease among others," they added. According to the agencies, expressed in terms of the Integrated Food Security Classification Phase (IPC) scale, 14 million people more than half the population - in Yemen are in a state of hunger crisis or emergency. Indeed 8.7 million people 37 per cent of the pre-conflict population in Syria need urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance. Furthermore, a staggering 89 per cent of all Syrian refugees currently in Lebanon also require urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance. The briefs also noted that in South Sudan, where the situation is rapidly deteriorating, 4.8 million people are in urgent need of food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance. Similarly, millions of people are still wrestling with high levels of food insecurity in countries that are coming out of extended periods of civil strife such as the Central African Republic (CAR) and Colombia. The agencies also warned that post-conflict countries with high food insecurity are 40 per cent more likely to relapse into conflict within a 10-year timespan if hunger levels are not addressed. In other countries, while the overall absolute numbers of people facing food insecurity are lower, the share of people experiencing severe levels of food insecurity accounts for over half of the total population. In Burundi and Haiti, 23 per cent and 19 per cent of people are at IPC level 3 or 4, respectively, while in the CAR, 50 per cent of the population is at IPC scale 3 or worse. The IPC scale is an evidence-based approach which allows comparability of situations across countries and over time. According to the scale, levels 3 and 4 represent crisis and emergency levels, respectively, and level 5, the highest level, indicates the famine. The two UN agencies also pointed out that according to recent estimates, approximately half of the global poor now live in states characterized by conflict and violence. In such places, the people can be up to three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in more stable areas. "Addressing hunger can be a meaningful contribution to peacebuilding," emphasized Mr. Graziano da Silva and Ms. Cousin, adding, "The 2030 Agenda [2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development] recognizes peace as a vital threshold condition for development, as well as a development outcome in its own right." The briefs shared with the Security Council cover 17 countries where conflict has significantly affected food security: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Guinea Bissau, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. An additional brief on the regional Lake Chad crisis affecting Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon was also submitted. There, violence associated with Boko Haram has seen the numbers of displaced people triple over the past two years accompanied by rising levels of hunger and malnutrition. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address After attack on convoy, UN suspends aid delivery in areas of restive north-eastern Nigeria 29 July 2016 The United Nations has temporarily halted humanitarian assistance missions in north-eastern Nigeria's restive Borno state after yesterday's attack on a multi-agency aid convoy which had been delivering desperately needed relief aid in a remote area of the region, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). "This was not only an attack on humanitarian workers. It is an attack on the people who most need the assistance and aid that these workers were bringing," UNICEF said in a press statement on the attack, in which unknown assailants in north-eastern Nigeria attacked an aid convoy with UN staff traveling from Bama to Maiduguri. UNICEF also confirmed that one of its staff along with a contractor from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who were injured in the attack were being treated at a local hospital. All other staff from UNICEF and IOM, as well as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA were safe. At today's regular briefing in Geneva, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac noted the importance of conducting missions in the area, saying: "Earlier in July, UNICEF had shared with the press some very alarming information, according to which, 244,000 children were suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Borno state in 2016. Out of those, an estimated one in five, including 49,000 children, would die if not reached with treatment." The spokesperson pointed out that two million people remained inaccessible in Borno state, emphasizing the need to scale up assistance. Mr. Boulierac confirmed that a military escort accompanying the convoy, "which was quite unusual for humanitarian assistance missions," had been able to take UNICEF staff to safety following the attack. "UNICEF's top priority is to reach the children," he underscored, adding that the agency is not in a position to say who was responsible for the attack, only that a security assessment would be under way. He stated that the agencies were screening and treating children for malnutrition and improving access to water and sanitation. UNICEF was also providing medical care, immunization, education and psychological support to the children of Nigeria, especially in Borno state. In response to a question, Mr. Boulierac said that he had no information on any arrests following the attack. Mr. Boulierac stressed that "the convoy had been delivering nutrition, water, sanitation and health support to the more than 25,000 people in Bama who had been displaced by the conflict," noting that it had only recently become accessible for humanitarian assistance. "The situation remains extremely serious and UNICEF wants and needs to do more, but that depends on a range of factors, such as access, security and funding," he explained. "UNICEF wishes to raise awareness among all donors of the gravity of the situation in Borno and to urgently provide resources." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DR Congo: six years on, UN envoy calls for action in Walikale mass rape 29 July 2016 Ahead of the six-year remembrance of a mass rape of more than 300 civilians residents of the Walikale region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by armed groups, the United Nations envoy on sexual violence in conflict has called on the international community to be relentless in seeking accountability for the crimes. "We must never forget the victims of one of the most shocking mass rapes in recent history. To all the victims in Walikale and beyond, we say: justice may have been delayed, but it should not be denied," said Zainab Bangura, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in a press release. "As Walikale remembers today, the world will remember, and will continue to call for the prosecution of all perpetrators, reparations for all victims, and deterrence for the future," she added. In 2010, in Walikale territory, North Kivu Province of DRC, civilian residents in 13 villages on the Kibua-Mpofi road were attacked by a coalition of about 200 soldiers from the Mai Mai Sheka/Nduma Defence of Congo militia, led by Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka; the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), led by Serafin Lionso; and a group of army deserters. Over a period of four days from 30 July to 2 August 2010 387 civilians, including 300 women, 55 girls, 23 men, and 9 boys, were systematically raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence by the assailants in one of the worst mass rape incidents in the country. During the attacks, other human rights violations, including murder, ill-treatment, abduction and looting also occurred, with 1,429 total victims affected, Ms. Bangura said. "The gravity of these crimes indicates that they were not only orchestrated under the command of Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, but were used as part of a deliberate strategy to target and intimidate the civilian population particularly women and girls," the envoy said. "Six years on, we salute the resilience of the survivors as they continue to wait for their perpetrators to be brought to trial. The international community stands with them and will not relent in its quest for accountability for these crimes," she added. The Special Representative noted that the Congolese Government has already completed investigations into the rapes and has issued eight arrest warrants for the crimes. She also said that in March, the military justice authorities in North Kivu Province included the Walikale rapes among a list of priority cases of the gravest international concern for immediate domestic prosecution. "It is, therefore, time for the Government to enforce the existing warrants and bring the perpetrators to justice, including Mr. Serafin Lionso, who is currently in detention," Ms. Bangura said. "Moreover, with regional and international support, efforts must be made to immediately arrest Mr. Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka who is currently under sanction by the Security Council and continues to commit further crimes." "My Office will pursue its support to the DRC's efforts to address all sexual violence crimes," the Special Representative also said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghan IDPs Suffering Due to Government Inaction, Donor Fatigue by Ayesha Tanzeem July 29, 2016 The Afghan government has been unable to help some of its most vulnerable citizens, those displaced internally by violence, due to resistance from provincial governments, lack of capacity in key ministries, and corruption, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. In an audit letter sent to the U.S. State Department and The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) this week, SIGAR also pointed out the lack of coordination in non-governmental organizations trying to help internally displaced persons (IDPs). One-point-two million Afghans are internally displaced due to conflict according to an Amnesty International report released in May. That number has doubled in the last three years, up from 500,000 in 2013, pointing to a sharp increase in people leaving their homes due to violence. "Even after fleeing their homes to seek safety, increasing numbers of Afghans are languishing in appalling conditions in their own country, and fighting for their survival with no end in sight," Champa Patel, South Asia director at Amnesty International said. Afghanistan developed a National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons in 2013, which was supposed to address both the urgent and long term needs of IDPs and their host communities. The situation for the IDPs, however, has "dramatically worsened" since then, according to Amnesty. Donor fatigue With the international community also gradually losing interest in Afghanistan, and other crises around the world catching the attention of donors, aid to the country has dropped significantly. IDPs today lack basic essentials, including food and shelter, human rights groups say. On top of that, provincial governments that were required to help IDPs in their areas either ignored them or made the situation worse, according to SIGAR. "[A]ccording to State, some provincial governments have not accepted that IDPs have a right to stay in their provinces and were more inclined to regard the IDPs as economic migrants who do not have the same rights, such as the right to food, water, adequate shelter, and health care, as other Afghans," SIGAR's letter said, adding that in some cases these governments demolished IDP settlements claiming they were supposed to be temporary. Management failures The letter also pointed out that the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, MORR, which was supposed to distribute pieces of land to IDPs have so far only allocated a little over 50,000 plots, in response to half-a-million applications. "MORR did not have the budget and lacked proper planning and procedures" to manage a medium- to long-term response to IDPs, according to SIGAR. However, Sayed Huseen Alimi Balkhi, the Afghan minister of refugees and returnees, said his government was working hard to help the IDPs, despite difficult conditions. "Based on the National Policy for the Resettlement of IDPs, they should be resettled, but in the past two years intensification of war has prevented the Afghan government from taking effective steps for resettlement of IDPs," he said. He added, the Afghan government had worked hard for the rehabilitation of IDPs in Herat, Nangarhar, and Kabul provinces and work continued on shelter, and other infrastructure. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Diplomatic Victory Could Be Short Lived by Joyce Huang July 29, 2016 With assertive rhetoric, China appears to have scored a diplomatic victory in the past week, defying the Permanent Court of Arbitration's (PCA) ruling against its sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which some argue may run the risk of making the tribunal award irreverent. But others believe China will still have to face the ruling's long-term impact, which will strengthen cases where its claims in the disputed waters will continue to be contested. And Beijing's upcoming bilateral talks with other claimants including the Philippines and Vietnam will be made on the basis of international law, said Tim Huxley, executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Asia. "In other words, they [the Philippines and Vietnam] are saying, 'Okay, we can talk. But we are not going to speak on your terms. We're going to speak on our terms and our terms are on the basis of international law," Huxley said. Thus, it would be misleading to expect immediate development as the ruling's long-term implications may take years, if not decades, to materialize, the Singapore-based researcher added. Diplomatic maneuver Earlier this week, Beijing "flexed its muscles" in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) decision to delete any reference to China or the arbitration case on ASEAN's joint communique after its meeting of foreign ministers in Laos. That was seen as another diplomatic win for China after it had pressured the 10-nation group into retracting a statement in mid-June. Upon the communique's release Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters he believed "the fever has finally come down," while "pointing fingers" at what he called outside forces, which he accused of having stirred up the fever among the waterway's claimants. Wang described the tribunal's award as "prescribing a dose of the wrong medicine, which will not help cure the disease." He then lambasted the trilateral statement issued by the U.S., Japan and Australia later Wednesday for "fanning the flames" of regional tensions after the three allies urged China not to construct military outposts and reclaim land in the disputed waters as a show of support for other Asian claimants. The Chinese military on Thursday announced plans to hold joint exercises with Russian forces in September in the South China Sea. The drills are aimed at deepening relations between the two militaries and boosting their capacity to respond to maritime threats, ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a monthly news briefing. All in all, China has pushed hard on every possible front to rally support behind its 'non-acceptance' stance in the dispute. That includes the premier of a three-minute publicity video on Time Square playing 120 times a day till next Friday, which some in the U.S. media have mocked as a level of boredom exceeding human tolerance. China's integrity questioned It may have saved China's face by pressuring ASEAN into issuing a watered-down statement, but whether Beijing gets to keep its integrity is in question, observers said. "In the short term, countries may be intimidated, but these are bullying attempts that are remembered, and certainly will not win China points in the end," said Walden Bello, a senior research fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies in Kyoto, Japan. "The problem that China faces here is that the more it denounces the ruling, the more credibility it loses," added Bello, who was formerly a member of the House of Representatives in the Philippines. The former Philippine parliamentarian, nevertheless, welcomed China's calls for the resumption of talks with the Philippines, which he said should aim at addressing military de-escalation and territorial claims in the disputed waters separately. But he also expressed concerns about the difficulty of asking China to demilitarize or denuclearize the area after the Philippines itself has inked an Enhanced Security Cooperation Agreement with the U.S., which he said has done nothing but fuel China's security fears of the so-called U.S. encirclement. Collateral damage The Philippine's legal issue and ASEAN's reaction to the tribunal ruling are perfect examples of how Asian countries are caught between the U.S. security assurance and China's economic cooperation as collateral damage, said Dan Steinbock, a research director of international business at the India, China and America Institute. "Focusing on one or the other has never been constructive, but balancing between the two has proved conducive to peace and prosperity in the region," Steinbock said in an emailed reply, adding that he believes, ever since Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, successful ASEAN leaders have all excelled in the ability of hedging between the two superpowers. And ASEAN's member states have known only too well that "international law is one thing while policy realism in the region is another," he added. So, the probability of accidental conflicts in the region continues to rise, which requires the cooperation of all concerned parties to de-escalate through confidence-building and negotiations, Steinbock argued. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Analysts: Cambodia to 'Pay Price' for Siding With China by Luke Hunt July 29, 2016 Cambodian diplomacy may have succeeded in watering down an ASEAN communique aimed at tackling Chinese maritime ambitions, but some analysts call it was a hollow victory, which has split the 10-nation trading bloc. Cambodia's refusal to back a multilateral approach aimed at resolving disputes in the South China Sea, they said, have also cost the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) its political bite and that it's now time for a rethink. "When you actually look at ASEAN as a single unit, it can have the potential to be a regional if not a global power player," said Taiwanese academic and independent analyst Billy Chia-Lung Tai. "However, this dispute has created, in my view, a lot of resentment that perhaps hasn't surfaced yet but it will come into play at some point." That resentment follows this week's annual ASEAN meeting in Laos, where Cambodia ignored its neighbors and used its support for China to water down a traditional statement in regards to the South China Sea dispute. The communique failed to mention China's July 12 defeat in The Hague where an international tribunal ruled "there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea falling within the nine-dash line." China refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the courta move backed by Cambodiaor the legal action initiated by the Philippines. Money talks The South China Sea, known as the East Sea in Hanoi and the West Philippine Sea in Manila, is home to thousands of mainly uninhabited tiny islands, atolls, reefs and rocks divided by international waterways. That includes the Paracel Islands off the east coast of Vietnam, the Philippine-hugging Spratly Islands and Indonesian-held Natuna Island in the south. All three ASEAN members, plus Malaysia and Brunei, have overlapping claims with China. Southeast Asian parties, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines, want to negotiate multilaterally with China through ASEAN. But Beijing refuses and, with Phnom Penh's support, insists on bilateral talks, a move strategists say would give China a substantially stronger hand over its much smaller neighbors at the negotiating table. It's a dispute where Cambodia, a political and economic "minnow," has found rich pickings. China has disbursed about $15 billion in aid and soft loans to Cambodia over the last two decades, and in recent years has virtually matched foreign aid contributions from the West, dollar-for-dollar. Beijing also announced a further $600 million aid package almost immediately after The Hague verdict and thanked Hun Sen's government for its support. A week later, following the meeting in Laos, China indicated it would finance a request from the Cambodians for a 12-story administration building to be constructed for the National Assembly, the country's parliament. Prime Minister Hun Sen insists Chinese largesse comes with no strings attached, unlike Western money, which is usually tied to Cambodia's human rights recorda constant source of complaints by advocates, the opposition and government critics. Business as usual Spokesman for the Council of Ministers Phay Siphan said Cambodia had simply maintained the position it had adopted after a significant shift in his country's foreign policy in 2002, amounting to improved ties with Beijing once China had written-off Cambodia's then debt. He said his country's posturing would help ensure security over the sea-lanes, where about half the world's shipping trade passes, by maintaining the status quoa loose doctrine known as the Declaration on the Code of Conduct (DOC). "Well, I'm happy that ASEAN is together right now, back to what the DOC they are agreeing, as a consensus," he said. "I hope that the COC is going to happen soon because it will give a chance of peace, security as well [as] free navigation of that area we don't want to see war on there." The DOC is the forerunner to establishing the Code of Conduct (COC)binding laws designed to prevent conflictover which ASEAN has been sharply rebuked as a "toothless tiger" by commentators of all shades for its inability to push forward on dispute resolution in the 14 years since the DOC was initiated. Much of that criticism was aimed at Cambodia. Phnom Penh, however, is increasingly fed-up with the critics, an ever growing chorus complicated by increasing anti-government sentiment at home following recent revelations of the fantastic wealth enjoyed by Hun Sen's family and the killing of independent analyst and activist Kem Ley this month. Phay Siphan also said Cambodia is a poor country and has every right to accept Chinese generosity, telling a recent debate at the Goethe Institute in Phnom Penh that "no money smells bad." Cambodia, with a population of just over 15 million and a GDP of only $18 billion, is still blighted by poverty and remains among the poorest nations in ASEAN, which boasts a total population of 633 million people and a GDP of $2.4 trillion. What next? Bernd Schaefer, from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, echoed Chia-Lung Tai, saying it went "against the grain" to have Cambodia playing such an important role when it is not a claimant in the dispute and the only country in ASEAN yet to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). "This multilateral forum of 10 countries, having to deal with this issue, leaves them open to all kindswith certain countries like Cambodiaof outside pressure, and it's actually detrimental, I think, to the future of ASEAN," he said. Schaefer said Cambodia had to decide whether to continue pushing the same resolutions or to hold back and let a more pragmatic approach to the dispute take hold. This, Schaefer added, could include unprecedented bilateral talks between the Philippines and China, given Manila's reinforced and much stronger hand following its victory in The Hague. He also urged China to take a more pragmatic approach with ASEAN. "I think China should be more concerned about its international reputation that it pretended to be in recent weeks because these decisions by the court are actually really damaging I think to China's international reputation," he said. Chia-Lung Tai stopped short of saying what repercussions Cambodia could face as a consequence of its support for China, but analysts who declined to be named said other ASEAN members would be less inclined to promote Cambodia's agenda within the bloc. Cambodia has a range of unresolved issues with its neighbors, including border treaties covering oil and gas, the movement of workers, tourism, military, construction of rail lines and dams, and even trans-national crime. All require regional consensus. Chia-Lung Tai said Cambodia had "clearly decided" China was a more attractive benefactor than its neighbors within the ASEAN bloc, the United States and the West, where aid carries a price in terms of satisfying human rights standards that Cambodia "does not necessarily want to pay." "It is interesting to see in the medium- to long-term what price Cambodia will have to pay for their alliance, or perceived alliance, with China," he said. "How that will impact ASEAN as an alliance, which we have seen over the last few yearsfracturing, I guessin light of the South China Sea." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Agency Says Afghan Forces Lost Territory in 2016 by Ayaz Gul July 29, 2016 The Afghan government lost control of approximately 5 percent of the country's districts in the first five months of this year, and high attrition within the national army is affecting the experience level of front-line troops, a United States federal oversight agency reported Friday. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that "approximately 65.6 percent of the country's districts are under Afghan government control or influence as of May 28, 2016, a decrease from the 70.5 percent reported as of January 29, 2016." The agency noted that despite U.S. expenditures of nearly $70 billion to build and sustain the Afghan Defense and National Security Force (ANDSF), the force that is intended to stand on its own by now still needs help and struggles to retain soldiers. "Annually almost one-third of the force is lost to attrition," the agency said. The assessment attributed to the U.S. military is part of SIGARs latest quarterly report that is submitted to the U.S. Congress. Of Afghanistan's 407 districts, 268 districts were under government control or influence, 36 districts (8.8 percent) within 15 provinces were under Taliban insurgent control or influence, and 104 districts (25.6 percent) were "at risk," according to the audit. Nine districts of the 36 are directly under the control of the Taliban, with a total population of more than 524,000, it added. The report identified the districts in Helmand, Badakhshan, Ghazni, Sar-e-Pul and Zabul provinces. The Taliban have been exceptionally active in 2016, particularly after launching their annual spring offensive "Operation Omari," SIGAR noted. In its mid-year report released earlier this week, the United Nations noted a 4 percent increase in civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The SIGAR report also revealed that war-torn Afghanistan has one of the lowest rates of electrification in the world, with only about one in three Afghans connected to a power grid. Washington has since 2002 obligated nearly three billion dollars for power-sector projects in Afghanistan. The United States and other donors will contribute nearly $5 billion in the 20132018 period to develop Afghanistan's energy resources, SIGAR said. However, it added, delivering electricity to the poor and war-torn country has proven almost as much of a struggle as delivering security. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The delegation paid a visit to Sharm El-Sheikh in preparation for resuming British flights to the resort town A British parliamentary delegation left Cairo Saturday after a four-day visit where they met with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and other top government officials to discuss Egyptian-British cooperation, Egypt's state news agency MENA said. The UK House of Commons delegation, headed by MP Gerald Howarth, paid a brief visit to the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh on Thursday to pave the way for the resumption of British flights to the city in the coming period. The British government was among several foreign governments who suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh last year after a Russian passenger jet crashed in central Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224people on board. The crash was claimed by the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State militant group. A delegation of British aviation experts visited Cairo International Airport earlier this month for security inspections and are expected to issue a report on security procedures. Egypts struggling tourism industry, a critical source of hard currency, was dealt blow by the ban on flights. Search Keywords: Short link: Dunford Arrives in Baghdad for Counter-ISIL Talks By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity BAGHDAD, July 30, 2016 Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford arrived here today for talks with Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve leaders on the status of the counter-ISIL campaign. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is making his fifth visit to the region since he was confirmed in October 2015. Combatting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been on of the focuses of Dunford's tenure. Dunford is meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones and his country team and with Army Lt. Gen. Sean McFarland, the OIR commander. The Army's 3rd Corps -- a significant part of the OIR forces -- is turning over responsibility to the XVIII Airborne Corps next month. The chairman will also meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Defense Minister Kahlid al-Obeidi and Iraq's chief of defense Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ganimi. The counter-ISIL situation has changed since Dunford's first trip to Iraq as chairman. In October 2015, the Iraqi military was still in the process of planning to retake Ramadi, a key city in Anbar province, and fighting to retake Beiji, a key city north of Baghdad. No one knew how Iraqi security forces, Shiia militias and the Kurdish Peshmerga would work together, or even if they could cooperate. Last year, ISIL had some momentum. Yet even then, Dunford was working to find ways for indigenous forces to apply pressure on ISIL at multiple points in Iraq and Syria. Coalition aircraft provided support to Iraqi forces on the ground and coalition trainers worked to ensure Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga had the training and equipment needed to do their jobs. Coalition Successes By his April visit, Dunford said the momentum had shifted. Iraqi forces had taken Ramadi, had taken Beiji and had pushed on to take Hit and areas up the Tigris River Valley. "The momentum has swung and my experience tells me once you've got somebody in a headlock, you don't let them go," Dunford said following his April visit. And it appears coalition forces haven't let up. Iraqi forces retook Fallujah and pushed further up the Tigris valley, taking the key airfield of Qarayya. Iraqi and Peshmerga forces are now aimed directly at retaking Mosul -- the second largest city in Iraq. Coalition aircraft continue operations against ISIL and are increasingly effective with the better intelligence they are getting from successes on the ground. In a recent Pentagon news conference, Dunford said the success of the counter-ISIL military campaign can be measured using three metrics: territory retaken, resources taken from ISIL and cutting the number of foreign fighters trying to join ISIL. All those measurements are trending the right way for local forces and the coalition, he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Citizens, politicians, media in S. Korea raise voices against THAAD deployment People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 16:49, July 29, 2016 SEOUL, July 29 -- South Korean citizens, politicians and news organizations are raising a dissenting voice over the decision between Seoul and Washington to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in their homeland. Villagers living in the site where one THAAD battery is scheduled to be installed by the end of next year continue their protest against the U.S. missile defense system, while civic group activists and student groups who advocate peace and stability rally against the U.S. weapons program. Opposition lawmakers call for the retraction of the THAAD deployment decision, and in several TV programs, panelists are divided over pros and cons of the installation, which reflects the nationwide split between people over the untested, environmentally hazardous U.S. anti-missile system. Park Wan-joo, first vice floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party, told a party meeting on Thursday that the THAAD deployment raised risks of easing isolation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), asking to form a special parliamentary committee to discuss countermeasures against possible negative effects. Following the DPRK's fourth nuclear test in January and its launch in February of a long-range rocket, which was condemned as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, the international community adopted tougher-than-ever UN Security Council resolutions. The agreed-upon THAAD installation raised concerns here about difficulties that South Korea could face in winning cooperation from China and Russiato achieve the goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. China and Russia have expressed strong oppositions to the deployment as it breaks regional strategic balance and damages security interests of the neighbors. THAAD's X-band radar can spot Chinese and Russian territories as the forward-based mode radar has a detectable range of at least 2,000 km. Seoul has claimed that it would introduce a terminal mode radar with a coverage of 600-800 km, but it can converted at any time into the forward-based mode as the two use the same hardware. The modified version even doesn't need any conversion, according to a local media report. Local newspaper Hankyoreh reported that the AN/TPY-2 radar can range 3,000-4,000 km, citing Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) emeritus professor Theodore Postol. It confirmed Chinese and Russian worries about the damaging of security interests. Moon Jae-in, former Minjoo Party leader and presidential candidate during the 2012 presidential election, said in his Facebookaccount that the THAAD deployment would cause more losses than gains and that the Park Geun-hye government's adherence to the U.S. anti-missile system endangered international coordination in resolving the peninsula's nuclear issue. Minority political parties more strongly express their objections to THAAD, while liberal activists and peace advocates voiced dissents almost every day from different places nationwide. Panelists appear in TV discussion programs, raising awareness among ordinary people over why THAAD is useless for the protection of South Korean people. Public opinion is changing into more objections to the THAAD deployment. According to a survey of 1,000 adults conducted by local newspaper Media Today between July 21 and 22, 53.1 percent demanded re-negotiation of the deployment decision. Calls for the installation as planned took up 42.6 percent of the respondents. Younger generations overwhelmingly objected to the THAAD deployment, with 78.3 percent of those in their 30s expressing opposition. The dissenting figures for those in their 20s and 40s were 66.7 percent and 63.1 percent respectively. It was in contrast to the Realmeter's February poll that showed 49.4 percent in favor of and 42.3 percent against the THAAD deployment. The growing awareness about what THAAD is helped more people change positions, but older generations, especially those aged over 60, remain in favor of it as the government hypes up public fears. The government has claimed that without the THAAD battery, South Korea will fall victim to growing nuclear and missile threats from Pyongyang. Dissenters express worry about the belief that THAAD could be a cure-all to protect from DPRK missiles. THAAD is designed to shoot down missiles at a relatively high altitude of 40-150 km using a hit-to-kill technology, while DPRK missiles can travel at a lower altitude of 20-30 km. There is no reason for Pyongyang to propel its short- and medium-range missiles high in the sky in times of emergency with Seoul and Washington. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korean soil. "Without THAAD, there are enough military assets of (South) Korea-U.S. alliance to defend against North Korea (DPRK)'s missile threats," said Cheong Wook-sik, director of Peace Network and co-chair of steering committee of Civil Peace Forum during a press conference with foreign correspondents. Cheong called for Seoul's dialogue with Pyongyang and its retraction of the THAAD deployment decision, saying fears for the DPRK's nuclear weapons would disappear with improved inter-Korean relations like South Korean people having no fear for the U.S. nuclear weapons thanks to the bilateral alliance. College student activists took to the street to hold rallies against THAAD. One of the student dissenters told Xinhua earlier this week that relevant parties should return to dialogue to ease tensions and reduce war risks in the Northeast Asian region. "If denuclearization (on the Korean peninsula) is an ultimate goal, (South Korea) 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 Jowoon, 24, who declined to be identified further. Residents living in Seongju county, where the THAAD battery will be deployed, continue their protests against it. Two weeks earlier, Seongju villagers threw water bottles and eggs at Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and Defense Minister Han Min-koo who visited the country, some 250 km southeast of Seoul, to appease angry people. The residents, mostly farmers, were infuriated at the deployment of hazardous radar without any prior notice and discussion. The THAAD radar is known to emit super-strong microwave detrimental to human body. It can also cause an environment hazard, boosting worries among villagers about the oriental melon farming, the economic mainstay of the county. According to local news agency Newsis, Seongju residents plan to show a performance of plowing up a melon field on Saturday to protest against the THAAD deployment. Tonsure and candlelight rallies have been held, and will be done, continuously in the county in protest against the deployment. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Advanced New Surveillance Satellites to Keep an Eye on US Carriers Sputnik News 19:40 29.07.2016(updated 19:53 29.07.2016) The Russian Defense Ministry has plans to launch a new orbital surveillance system aimed to bolster the reconnaissance capabilities of the Aerospace Defense Forces. What kinds of capabilities will the new system have? One of Russia's leading online news and analysis portals spoke to military experts to try and find out. On Thursday, Kommersant newspaper provided a few details about a new orbital surveillance system being developed for the Russian Ministry of Defense. The new system, consisting of three brand new Razdan-class satellites, is set to be lifted into orbit between 2019 and 2024 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The system will complement and eventually replace the Persona-class optical-electronic satellites presently used by the military. The new satellite is being developed by the TsSKB-Progress research and production center. Unfortunately, very little information has been made public about the new surveillance satellite's capabilities. In any case, Kommersant reported that the Razdan will feature a significant improvement over the capabilities of its predecessors, including a new high-speed secure radio channel. The second and third satellites launched are also expected to feature new optics with an objective lens diameter of 2 meters. Much more is known about Razdan's predecessor, the 14F137 Persona. Between 2008 and 2015, the Russian military launched three Persona-class surveillance satellites. The first was lost in 2008 due to a technical fault. The second and third devices (launched in June 2013 and June 2015, respectively) remain in perfect working order, and rumor has it that they are being actively used in Russia's anti-terrorist operation in Syria. The satellites are charged with providing the Russian General Staff with highly detailed operational imagery. Moreover, the military's need for operational intelligence in Syria has proven so great that the military has turned to using civilian satellites of the Resurs and Kanopus class. Prior to the late 2000s and the launch of the Persona, the Russian military was forced in large part to rely on obsolete Soviet-designed satellites with a short lifespan and a primitive, capsule-based method of capturing imagery. During this period, the military was effectively left without the capability for real-time operational monitoring in combat situations. According to military experts speaking to the independent online newspaper Svobodnaya Pressa, the launch of the new satellites is expected to significantly enhance the Russian military's space-based surveillance capabilities. Viktor Murakhovsky, retired army colonel and member of the expert council of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission, began by admitting that "as far as optical-electronic intelligence is concerned, we have fallen far behind the Americans." "In the US," Murakhovsky noted, "military satellites are the charge of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). This organization has a separate budget, whose size is equivalent to about one third of the entire Russian military budget. This should give you an indication of the scale of the US approach." "If we subtract the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites, designed for early warning detection of ballistic missile launches, military communications satellites and electronic intelligence satellites, what's left are the satellites used for optical-electronic reconnaissance." According to the defense analyst, "the Americans have achieved outstanding results in the creation of such satellites both in their design and in the creation of high-resolution digital matrices (matrices with a resolution of 36 megapixels are considered obsolete), as well as in the field of optics, and the synthesis of so-called multispectral imaging. Our military satellites aren't even close to matching these indicators, and this is something we must admit." Russia also lags behind the US in the number of satellites it operates, Murakhovsky noted. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has had 11-12 optical-electronic satellites in space at any one time, some of them capable of monitoring regions of interest to the US military in real time. The expert explained that the US's multispectral capabilities, which allow them to operate in optical range (using visible light) as well as in infrared and ultraviolet mode, allow the satellites to see through clouds, rain, fog, and other adverse weather conditions. The complex, synthesized images emerging from multispectral imaging also allow military planners to identify military equipment located under trees, bushes, and those covered by camouflage netting. They even make it possible to identify some underground structures and facilities. "We do not have precise data on the exact resolution of modern US satellites. But the images from space we have seen allow us to talk of a resolution of about 20-30 cm per pixel. A person can clearly be seen under this resolution. That was the result of US systems operating 7-8 years ago." According to Murakhovsky, Russia's anti-terrorist operation in Syria would have been significantly easier to carry out if the country's armed forces had access to the kind of space surveillance equipment the US has. "On May 10, President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with military and defense industry officials, where he said that the operation in Syria had revealed some problems in the use of our weapons. Putin instructed officials to conduct a thorough investigation of these issues, and to address deficiencies. Some of these weaknesses could undoubtedly be eliminated if we had satellites with high resolution and multi-spectral matrices." At the same time, Murakhovsky said, Russia has great potential, since along with the US, it is the only other country with advanced optical-electronic capabilities. "China is now working on the creation of its own space reconnaissance grouping, but they do not have a real optical electronic capability yet," the analyst concluded. For his part, Mikhail Alexandrov, a senior researcher at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations' Center for Military-Political Studies, suggested that in the field of optical-electronic satellites, Russia stands to benefit from the experience gained during the Soviet period. "In Soviet times, we had an extensive network of optical-electronic reconnaissance satellites. They may have been inferior to their American counterparts in terms of some of their characteristics, but in principle they worked well," the analyst said. "After the collapse of the USSR, the country's political leaders were faced with a completely different task. This consisted primarily with the defense of our own territory. And for this purpose there was no longer any point to having satellites monitoring areas of the Atlantic Ocean or the Middle East." At the same time, "space-based reconnaissance for the defense of one's own territory isn't necessary. For border areas, the intelligence gathered by military aviation, plus ground-based electronic intelligence, is enough. Furthermore, it's possible to launch aerostats to help 'see' through the territory of neighboring states to a decent depth." "But far away regions are primarily the work of human intelligence, which warns us about dangerous concentrations of troops," Alexandrov noted. "Plus there are special reconnaissance ships monitoring the situation in relevant areas of the oceans." "In other words," the analyst explained, "until now, we've had enough intelligence sources for the defense of our own territory. But now, as I understand it, more ambitious goals have been set before the Russian Armed Forces. Among them is participation in peacekeeping and anti-terrorist operations in various regions. Moreover, we are once again facing with a global confrontation with NATO. And this requires the effective tracking of US carrier groups stationed around the globe, preferably in real time." In Syria's case, Alexandrov suggested that given the country's small size, combined with the intel provided by intelligence ships, is generally enough. "In my opinion, the Syrian operation in this case has been used as a convenient pretext for the deployment of a new system of space surveillance." "Factually, space intelligence satellites carry a global strategic importance, and provide nations with a significant advantage in this area. It's not enough to find the target; it's also necessary to be able to target it with your weapons (for example, by means of the Kalibr long-range cruise missiles). As a rule, such an attack must be applied quickly, and only satellites are capable of receiving the target's coordinates almost instantaneously." Asked whether the three planned Razdan-class satellites will be enough for Russia's needs, Alexandrov suggested that "in combination with other intelligence tools, three satellites will be enough. Optical-electronic intelligence satellites are expensive of course, but not that expensive they do not cost billions of dollars." In any case, "if the Defense Ministry required more, I'm confident that the funds necessary would be found." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, China Warn Against Placing US Missiles in South Korea Sputnik News 16:29 29.07.2016(updated 16:46 29.07.2016) Russia and China condemn US plans to missiles to South Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia and China condemn plans to deploy US missiles to South Korea, a move they believe will hurt the strategic security in the region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday. Russian and Chinese foreign affairs officials held a fourth round of talks on security in northeastern Asia earlier in the day in the aftermath of the US-Seoul decision to bring Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles to the Korean Peninsula. "There is concern on both sides [in Russia and China] about the US-South Korean decision to deploy THAAD missiles in the country's south. Such actions by the US and South Korea do not correspond to their stated goals and threaten to deal serious damage to the strategic security of neighboring countries, including China and Russia, and worsen the situation in the country," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Russian ministry said that Chinese and Russian officials had thrashed out a wide range of security issues the region currently faced, and agreed that the situation in northeastern Asia had markedly deteriorated. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese soldiers to join anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Guinea People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 16:34, July 29, 2016 LOME, July 28 -- Chinese soldiers will assist Western African countries in securing navigational safety in the Gulf of Guinea at a time when the region is facing an increasing threat from pirates, a visiting Chinese major general said here Thursday. China will join the international anti-piracy effort in the Gulf of Guinea by helping littoral states in the region build necessary infrastructure, said Qian Lihua, former head of the foreign affairs office of China's Ministry of National Defence. Speaking at a meeting on African peace and stability, the Chinese major general also put forward a few proposals on fighting piracy in the region. He called on the international community to help regional countries strengthen their capacity by training maritime security troops, putting more financial and technical resources into anti-piracy efforts and expanding development aid to those countries so as to rid poverty and raise the employment rate among young people. China will continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace and security in Africa based on the principles of respecting the will of African countries, not interfering in African internal affairs and observing the basic norms governing international relations, he noted. China welcomes third-party initiatives regarding cooperation on peace and security in Africa, but "that can only be done on the bases of African consent and African dominance," he added. The two-day meeting which began on Wednesday, was co-sponsored by the Carter Center in the United States, Togo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN office for West Africa. It was a preparatory event for a maritime security summit of the African Union in October. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Military enthusiast's blog shut down for revealing classified information People's Daily Online (Global Times) 08:31, July 29, 2016 The blog of a military enthusiast from East China's Anhui Province was reportedly temporarily shut down for leaking military intelligence, highlighting concerns about citizens unintentionally revealing military secrets on social media. An army official from a military regiment in East China's Shandong Province found an online article that provided detailed information of its troops and subsequently contacted authorities in Anhui, where the blog was registered, to shut it down on July 22, China National Defense Daily reported Thursday. According to the report, the blogger had written 579 articles on the Chinese navy, air force, armored forces, artillery, engineering corps, seven military regions and Chinese military history, and many involved confidential information. The Global Times found that the blog, "tanker-01," was still accessible online as of press time on Thursday, though only 318 articles were available on it. Gao Jiandong, head of a military contracting company based in Shandong, told China National Defense Daily that many military enthusiasts are obsessed with digging into Chinese military history and are eager to share their discoveries on social networking platforms. "A good deal of information is not yet outdated and is still confidential," said Gao, adding that military bases and local authorities should jointly strengthen supervision to prevent leaks. "It's good to see that these enthusiasts are so interested in our country's military, but they should be prudent," Song Zhongping, a military commentator, told the Global Times. According to the National Security Law, Chinese citizens have a duty to safeguard security and must not commit any act endangering the State's security. Although the blogger used an old regiment name, information on the regiment's history, location and organization were consistent with its current form, the report said. Song confirmed to the Global Times that such information on a military regiment's designation and property is legally confidential. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pyongyang Executes Six Officials After Workers Escape From China to S Korea Sputnik News 09:18 29.07.2016(updated 12:57 29.07.2016) Pyongyang publicly executed six officials after several North Korean restaurant workers escaped from China and fled to South Korea, the chairman of the South Korea-based Abductees' Family Union said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Pyongyang publicly executed six officials responsible for supervising North Korean employees abroad after several people from the North who worked in China fled to South Korea in April, Choi Seong-yong, the chairman of South Korea-based Abductees' Family Union, said Friday. In April, 13 North Korean workers employed in a restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo escaped to South Korea. "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered six officials, including intelligence officials, to be executed publicly on May 5 due to their lack of control over overseas (North Korean) workers," the chairman said, as quoted by Yonhap news agency. On Thursday, Pyongyang faced another scandal with its workers employed overseas, as Malta refused to renew the visas of 20 North Koreans who worked at construction sites amid allegations that they sent two-thirds of their pay to their government. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korean Seeking Refuge at South Korea Consulate in Hong Kong by Hai Yan July 29, 2016 An 18-year-old North Korean man who went to Hong Kong to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad took refuge in the South Korean consulate there Wednesday, according to local news media. As a precautionary measure, the South Korean Consulate General, located in the Far East Finance Centre, asked Hong Kong authorities for enhanced security. Police quickly deployed a large number of officers, including an anti-terrorist SWAT team. Details remain sketchy, but on Thursday afternoon, VOA reporters took the elevator to the 5th floor consulate's office where they were turned back by plainclothes officers. The consulate has suspended visa distributions and other services. Some reporters have camped outside the building's entrance. A few reporters have said the defector's situation remains unclear, and that neither Hong Kong officials nor the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong has responded to press inquiries. According to the "one country, two systems" policy between mainland China and Hong Kong, all incidents involving diplomatic issues are to be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. China and South Korea have refused to comment on the situation. Beijing in the past has come under fire from human rights groups for sending alleged North Korean defectors back to their homeland, where they are widely believed to face severe penalties. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Mandarin Service. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia in Talks With India on Delivering 3 New Guided Missile Frigates Sputnik News 18:08 29.07.2016(updated 18:16 29.07.2016) Russia and India are discussing a delivery of three new guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy, the deputy chief of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) India has six frigates of the Talwar class, the forerunner of Project 11356, which are built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia's westernmost Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. "The final decision on handing them over to a third country has not been taken yet, but we know that talks involving Rosoboronexport [Russian state-run arms exporter] are in progress," USC Vice President Igor Ponomaryov told RIA Novosti. The first sea trial of a Project 11356 frigate took place last year in the Barents Sea. The frigate, displacing 3,850 tons, is designed for anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare as well as for air defense missions. It can operate independently and as part of convoys or naval task forces. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fighting Near Iraq's Mosul May Force up to 1Mln People Flee - ICRC Sputnik News 20:13 29.07.2016(updated 20:23 29.07.2016) According to International Committee of the Red Cross, clashes between the Iraqi army and the Daesh terrorist group near Mosul may force up to 1 million people leave their homes. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Clashes between the Iraqi army and the Daesh terrorist group near Mosul may force up to 1 million people leave their homes, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Friday. "The situation is unpredictable but we must prepare for the worst. There's the likelihood that fighting will intensify, particularly in the Mosul area. Hundreds of thousands of people may very well be on the move in the coming weeks and months, seeking shelter and assistance," the ICRC quoted Regional Director for the Near and Middle East Robert Mardini as saying. Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city populated by 500,000 people, was turned by the Daesh group outlawed in many countries including in Russia in one of its stronghold. Iraqi forces supported by Kurdish Peshmerga militia are carrying out operations in the ancient city of Nineveh in preparation for an assault on Mosul. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Egypt's Conservatives Party said the government should consider granting asylum to exiled Turkish opposition figure Fethullah Gulen if asked Egypt's Conservatives Party urged the government to consider giving political asylum to exiled Turkish opposition figure Fethullah Gulen should he submit an official request. According to the partys deputy chairman Mohsen Fawzi, "if Gulen decided to submit an official political asylum request to Egypt, the government should consider it and it has the right to approve or reject it." The Conservatives Party is an Egyptian opposition party with six MPs in parliament led by business tycoon Akmal Qortam. "Egypt's historical, regional, and international standing should force it to adopt certain positions, but these positions must go in line with international laws," said Fawzi. "Political asylum can't be granted to Gulen unless he submits an official request." However, Fawzi said that "until Gulen decides whether he wants to seek political asylum in Egypt or elsewhere, there should not be a special debate on this issue in parliament at the moment." "The Gulen affair is the last thing Egypt needs at the moment because it Erdogan might exploit it, as he exploited the failed coup against him to impose his dictatorship, to portray it as a battle [waged by] Egypt against the Turkish people," said Fawzi. "Our battle for improving the economy and rebuilding the state should get the government's paramount attention and it should not be distracted by any other battles." Fawzi added that "we should not care too much about the Muslim Brotherhood regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan's hostile attitude towards Egypt." "This regime will leave power one day, but the Turkish people will stay and we have historically strong relations with this people," said Fawzi. The Conservatives Party's statement comes after Egypt MP Emad Mahrous demanded last week that the government grant political asylum to 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. The statement also comes after 337 MPs more than half of deputies called on parliament last week 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." MPs said 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. Prime minister of Egypt Sherif Ismail said last week that Egypt has not received political asylum request from Gulen, whom Erdogan and his government accuse of orchestrating the attempted coup of 15 July, though he denied having any connection with the incident. Turkey has officially asked the United States to extradite Gulen, some Western media speculating that Gulen may leave the US to avoid extradition. Egypt Prime Minister Ismail said that if Gulen submits any asylum request, Egyptian authorities would consider it. Search Keywords: Short link: Russian Yasen-Class Nuclear Submarines to Be Ready by 2023 Russian Navy Sputnik News 16:27 29.07.2016(updated 16:44 29.07.2016) Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief said that a series of Russian Yasen-class (NATO reporting name: Severodvinsk-class) nuclear-powered submarines will be ready by 2023. SEVERODVINSK (Sputnik) A series of Russian Yasen-class (NATO reporting name: Severodvinsk-class) nuclear-powered submarines will be ready by 2023, Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice Adm. Viktor Bursuk said Friday. "The series will have been ready by 2023 and then technologies always imply further development," Bursuk told journalists during the laying ceremony of the sixth Yasen-class submarine. He said that seven submarines of the class would be constructed. The submarine laid down earlier on Friday will be called Perm. The first submarine of that class called Severodvinsk was delivered to the Russian Navy on June 17, 2014. The Severodvinsk vessel has a submerged displacement of 13,800 tons, a length of some 390 feet, can travel at speeds up to 31 knots (about 36 miles per hour), and can dive to depths of more than 1,700 feet. The submarine is armed with naval mines, the Oniks and Kalibr anti-ship missiles and a range of torpedoes. According to Russia's Naval Doctrine, the Yasen-class submarines will become the main multipurpose nuclear-powered subs in the Russian Navy. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian New Yasen-Class Nuclear Subs Able to Carry All Sea-Based Cruise Missiles Sputnik News 15:08 29.07.2016(updated 15:28 29.07.2016) According to the sub's designer, Russia's new Yasen-class nuclear submarines are able to fire all sea-based cruise missiles from the country's arsenal. SEVERODVINSK (Russia) (Sputnik) Russia's new Yasen-class nuclear submarines are able to fire all sea-based cruise missiles from the country's arsenal, the sub's designer said Friday. A sixth Yasen-class submarine, the Perm, was laid down in Severodvinsk earlier today, with four more vessels of this class under construction. "Yasen subs can be fitted with all types of cruise missiles that can be fired from submarines," Vladimir Dorofeyev, the director general of the Malakhit Design Bureau, told RIA Novosti. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Putin Visits Slovenia Amid Simmering Tensions With West July 30, 2016 by RFE/RL Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun a visit to the small Balkan state of Slovenia amid tensions between Moscow and the West over the Kremlin's role in Ukraine. Slovenia, an EU and NATO member, has maintained friendly relations with Moscow even as it joined EU sanctions against Russia for its support of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Slovenia has described Putin's one-day visit as strictly informal, but said his talks with officials would also focus on economic and bilateral issues. But EU diplomats told Reuters that they fear Russia is lobbying friendly European states, including Slovenia, to erode the bloc's unity on sanctions against Moscow. "Russia is constantly trying to find a way around the sanctions, targeting countries it thinks are softer. They are trying to kill the sanctions with a soft approach," one of the diplomats said. The diplomats said Italy, Greece, Hungary, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria were among Russia's main targets. Putin on July 30 attended the centenary commemoration of a chapel in the Julian Alps that was erected in honor of over 100 Russian and other World War I prisoners of war who died in an avalanche while building a mountain road for the Austrian army in 1915. At the small, Orthodox-style wooden church, Putin said Russia was ready to help strengthen security in Europe and the world. "So that we not only remember the horrors of war, but together work on strengthening mutual understanding, trust and security in Europe and the world," he said as hundreds looked on, including Slovenian President Borut Pahor. Earlier, Pahor had told Russia's TASS news agency that Putin's visit was a chance to pay "respect to the traditional friendship of Slovenia and Russia, despite some differences in the two countries' relations over their positions on certain pressing issues," The tight security for Putin's visit included closing the country's main highway to Austria, which caused huge traffic backups. Putin's trip has angered Ukrainians living in Slovenia, who protested on July 30 in front of the Russian embassy in the capital, Ljubljana. Dozens of protesters held banners reading "Putin is a Terrorist" and chanted "Long live Ukraine!" Before Putin's arrival, Ukraine's ambassador to Slovenia, Mykhailo Brodovych, said the Russian president's visit was "negative." "These commemorative events are just a pretext for Putin to demonstrate that he is normally accepted in the country that is a member of the EU and NATO," Brodovych wrote on his webpage. While in Slovenia, Putin was also due to unveil a memorial to Russian soldiers who died during World War II at the main cemetery in Ljubljana. The Russian president is expected to meet with top Slovenian officials during his visit. Slovenia, a country of 2 million people, became independent from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. It joined NATO and the EU in 2004. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Interfax Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/putin-seek- divide-slovenia-eu-on-sanctions- during-visit-july-30/27889575.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 Militants prevent civilians from fleeing Aleppo: Monitor Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:38PM Foreign-sponsored Takfiri militant groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are preventing civilians from fleeing Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo through humanitarian corridors set up by the government, a UK-based monitoring group says. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Friday that humanitarian corridors opened to allow civilian evacuation are effectively shut in the militant-held areas of the strategic city, located some 355 kilometers (220 miles) north of the capital Damascus. It added that civilians, along with militants who have chosen to surrender, are provided the opportunity to leave Aleppo in government-controlled districts. Since they were set up "around 12 people managed to use the Bustan al-Qasr corridor before militant groups reinforced measures and prevented families from approaching the corridors," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the monitoring group's director. The report came only a day after Syria and Russia announced the opening of aid corridors in besieged Aleppo. Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian forces were coopering with the Syrian army to open three humanitarian corridors "to aid civilians held hostage by terrorists and for fighters wishing to lay down their arms", adding that a fourth such corridor would be set up to the north of Aleppo. Shoigu further noted that medical and food assistance would be offered along the corridors to civilians and surrendered militants. President Assad says the government will pardon militants who turn in their weapons, stressing that the policy has been exercised by Damascus since the outbreak of the crisis in the Middle Eastern country. "If they want to return to normal life and lay down arms, they will get amnesty," he told the Greek ITV television network on Wednesday as cited by the official SANA news agency. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures that it receives from various sources. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Daesh executes 24 civilians in Syrian village' Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:46AM Daesh terrorists have executed at least 24 civilians after seizing a village in northern Syria from a US-backed alliance, a monitor says. The executions have taken place "in the last 24 hours" in Buyir northwest of Manbij which is mostly populated by Syrian Kurds, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. According to the London-based monitor, Daesh seized control of several villages northwest of Manbij on Thursday from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Arab and Kurdish militants which are supported by the US. Buyir lies between the Turkish border and Daesh's self-proclaimed capital of Raqqah city in Syria. The executions came on the same day in which aircraft belonging to the US-led coalition killed 28 civilians, including seven children, in another village northwest of Manbij. According to the observatory, the aircraft struck the village of al-Ghandour, 24 kilometers from Manbij, late on Thursday. Observatory's chief Rami Adurrahman said another 13 people were killed in US-led strikes but it was not clear whether they were Daesh militants or civilians. The US Central Command said in a statement that its aircraft had conducted airstrikes in the area of Manbij and was looking into whether they had targeted civilians. The bombings came a week after US airstrikes killed at least 56 civilians in northern Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US-led air raids leave 15 civilians dead in northern Syria: Monitor Iran Press TV Fri Jul 29, 2016 2:1AM More than a dozen civilians have lost their lives and many more sustained injuries when fighter jets from the US-led military coalition launched airstrikes against purported positions of the Takfiri Daesh militant group in Syria's strategic northern province of Aleppo. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that the airborne attacks struck the town of Ghandour, which is more than 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) away from the violence-ridden city of Manbij, leaving at least 15 civilians dead and dozens of others wounded. The development came after at least 15 people were killed and injured in US-led airstrikes against al-Nawajah village east of Manbij on July 23, a few days after another deadly US-led raid left over 100 civilians dead near Manbij. The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in statement on July 20 that French warplanes had struck the village of Tukhan al-Kubra north of Manbij, killing 120 civilians. Scores of other civilians remain unaccounted for following the attack. A day earlier, a US airstrike killed 20 civilians in Manbij, the statement further noted. At least 30 civilians lost their lives when the so-called US-led coalition launched an aerial attack purportedly against a position of the Daesh terrorists in Manbij on June 9. Eleven children were reportedly among the victims. Ten members of a family also lost their lives on May 21, when the coalition bombarded the village of Arshaf, which lies just eight kilometers (five miles) from the embattled town of Mare'. The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be the Daesh terrorists inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The coalition has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Aleppo's Liberation is Close, But It'll Be a Tough Slog Sputnik News 21:50 29.07.2016(updated 21:54 29.07.2016) The Syrian Army has surrounded the jihadist-held portions of the city of Aleppo. Offering fighters a chance to lay down their weapons and leave the city, the government is hoping to liberate the area and help put an end to Syria's long war. However, analysts are warning against too much optimism. Encirclement, they note, does not mean victory. On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Moscow and Damascus has launched a massive humanitarian operation in Aleppo, establishing exit routes for civilians and any militants wishing to leave the jihadist-held portions of the city. Three routes were designated for civilians, along with a fourth for militants with weapons and equipment. The minister explained that "since our US partners have not provided information on disengagement between the Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army, we will create the fourth corridor in the north of Aleppo toward Castello Road for the safe passage of armed militants." In accordance with the humanitarian operation, the Russian Defense ministry has called on the Syrian government to guarantee amnesty for those militants who choose to voluntarily lay down their arms, so long as they do not belong to groups accused of war crimes. In turn, Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree providing amnesty for all armed parties, if they surrender and lay down their arms, and release any persons who are being forcibly held. The amnesty will be valid for a three month period. The Syrian Air Force has also begun dropping leaflets calling on militants to surrender their weapons and leave the city through the specially designated routes. Earlier this month, assisted by Russian air support, the Syrian Army succeeded in cutting off the main route used by insurgents in the north and eastern quarters of the city. On July 28, the Syrian Army continued their advance through the outskirts of Aleppo, liberating the areas of Bani Zaid and Layramun. At the same time, Kurdish YPG forces successfully dislodged militants from an Aleppo youth housing complex, adjacent to the Kurdish quarter of Sheikh Maqsood, thus helping to form a tight ring around the insurgent-held areas. However, as Svobodnaya Pressa contributor Anton Mardasov pointed out, "the destruction of the militants blocked off in eastern Aleppo is still a long way off." The journalist recalled that "according to Western analysts, the surrounded territory is populated by about 270,000 civilians and 10,000 opposition militants. It's up in the air whether or not they will agree to leave" the city. At the same time, liberating a large urban area takes a great deal of time and military resources. "For example, the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, with US support, has been storming the city of Manbij for two months, having surrounded it in a tight ring, and even cut it into two enclaves. But the Daesh militants are holding, and even forcing the Kurds into negotiations, given the heavy losses taken by their troops. Manij, by its size and density, can't be compared to the Aleppo pocket, and has significantly fewer militants." Asked to comment on the military operation to free the city and the parallel large-scale humanitarian operation, CIS Institute deputy director Vladimir Evseyev suggested that the latter effectively serves as a preemptive measure, aimed at disarming Western critics talking about a humanitarian disaster in Aleppo once the military operation heats up. At the same time, Evseyev added that hopefully, "the provision of a corridor for insurgents will help to minimize losses among both civilians and the Syrian Army, which will also be mauled in case of a sweep through the city. After all, militants actively use civilians as human shields, and use snipers, mines and improvised explosive devices as well." Evseyev believes that while the operation to surround militants in Aleppo was carried out on the ground using exclusively Syrian Army and Kurdish troops, the effort to clean the city from militants will also involve the use of Hezbollah fighters, who are well-versed in urban combat, and possibly even Russian special forces. At the same time, he said, "some reports have indicated that the Syrian Army has concentrated artillery units in the area. We should probably also expect active operations by the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Air Force." Ultimately, the analyst noted that he is optimistic about the prospects for Aleppo's liberation. "Moreover, President Putin is expected to meet in St. Petersburg with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 9. In this connection, we can assume that active support for the militants from Turkey will not be forthcoming." For his part, independent military expert Anatoly Nesmiyan suggested that the operation to provide civilians and fighters passage out of the city is an indication that strategists are actively working to try to find a solution to the problem without storming the city, since they understand that clearing the city of militants will be difficult and costly. "The pocket, in addition to civilians, has about seven to ten thousand fighters, who will fight desperately, hiding behind civilians as they do so. It's not necessary to look far for a similar example," Nesmiyan noted, pointing to the painfully slow operation to liberate Manbij. "And this is the case despite the fact that unlike Syrian troops, SDF forces are not dispersed along several fronts." "In Aleppo, the situation is much more complicated, and storming the eastern part of the city will require an assault group twice the size of the defending force." As a result, the analyst suggested, Damascus and Moscow are instead trying to convince the 'Fatah Halab' militants to get out of town. "If this occurs, organized resistance will not be possible, and the city can be taken." Unfortunately, Nesmiyan noted that he does not expect militants to accept the offer any time soon. "On the contrary, they'll likely reject it. As a result, a situation similar to the one in Manbij may develop. There, the Kurds offer the militants the opportunity to leave the city for the Daesh capital of Raqqa what seems like every other day, but they refuse. Subsequently, [in Aleppo] too the situation can get hung up for a long time." The analyst pointed out that even isolated pockets of militants can hold out for a very long time. Effectively, Islamist militants in both Iraq and Syria have been resisting in pockets for years at a time. Ultimately, Nesmiyan suggested that everything will depend on how many units take up the government's offer to surrender or withdraw. In any case, "losing Aleppo is not something the opposition wants to do. There will probably even be attempts made to break through the blockade from the outside. For example, three weeks ago, groups from the Salafist Jaish al-Fatah coalition broke through a portion of the Castello Highway, thus managing to get several thousand fighters out of Latakia." At the same time, the analyst noted, militants are likely to make attempts to cause chaos on other fronts to distract from the Aleppo operation. "This is a standard tactic of spoiling attacks which, incidentally, is also used by government troops." Finally, Semyon Bagdasarov, the director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia, suggested that he believes that militants are likely to dig in, rather than leave Aleppo. Worse yet, "it's obvious that the militants will also discourage the civilian population from leavingsince they use them as human shields in their defensive operations." The analyst also warned that wide holes in the Turkish-Syrian border continue to exist, and suggested that the flow of militants and equipment from Turkey is thus set to continue. "In addition, the US too remains watchful, having again offered a seven day ceasefire recently. It's obvious that this would be used for the redeployment of terrorists and the regrouping of forces." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Cabinet Approves Gov't Agreement to Deploy Air Grouping in Syria Sputnik News 13:49 29.07.2016(updated 14:05 29.07.2016) Russia will deploy the its air grouping in Syria, a document published on the official portal for legal information Friday said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian cabinet approved an agreement with Syria on the deployment of the Russian air grouping in the Arab Republic, and has submitted it for President Vladimir Putin to refer to lower house of parliament's approval, a document published on the official portal for legal information Friday said. "Approve and submit to the President of Russia for ratification in the State Duma an agreement between Russia and the Syrian Arab Republic on the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces aviation group on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, signed in Damascus on August 26, 2015," the decree states. The text points out that the Hmeimim air facility, its infrastructure and territory are granted to Russia free of charge. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UNICEF deplores 'shocking' attacks in northern Syria towns that leave scores of civilians dead 29 July 2016 The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has deplored recent shocking attacks in northern Syrian cities of Qamishli and Idlib, which killed more than 60 people including many children; reiterating that all parties to the conflict should respect international humanitarian law and protect children and civilians. "UNICEF is informed that 32 children are being treated at the main hospital in Qamishli city, many with serious injuries," said a statement issued by the agency. According to reports, the 27 July attack in Qamishli killed more than 50 people, including many children, while the 20 July attack in Idlib killed a schoolgirl along with eight other civilians, when airstrikes hit the school where she was taking her exams. Local hospitals in Qamishli have been overwhelmed treating more than 150 injured people, and injured civilians remain trapped under the rubble as rescuers continue to work to save lives and recover bodies, noted the statement. "UNICEF teams in Qamishli are coordinating with local partners to provide support for the urgent medical treatment of the injured," said the statement. Every day in Syria, children face the deadly threat of violence everywhere and have nowhere safe to go. They continue to be killed and injured in many parts of Syria by attacks in civilian populated areas and against civilian infrastructure. "UNICEF again urges all parties to the conflict in Syria to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and protect children and all civilians," underscored the statement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Allegation of DoD Official's Support in Attempted Turkey Coup Untrue, Spokesman Says By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, July 29, 2016 Turkey is a key United States ally and any suggestion of a Defense Department official supporting a recent military coup there is unfounded, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters today. Cook reiterated a statement issued today by Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, who said in a release today, "Any reporting that I had anything to do with the recent unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey is unfortunate and completely inaccurate." Again quoting Votel, Cook added, "'Turkey has been an extraordinary and vital partner in the region for many years. We appreciate Turkey's continuing cooperation and look forward to our future partnership in the counter-ISIL fight.'" DoD Condemns Coup The United States has repeatedly condemned the failed coup in Turkey and it continues to convey its absolute support for Turkey's democratically elected civilian government and democratic institutions, Cook emphasized. Turkey is a close NATO ally and a vital member of the counter-ISIL coalition, said Cook, noting the U.S. military has worked very closely with its Turkish allies for decades to counter a wide range of threats to common security. "At all levels of our military hierarchy, we are in regular communication with our Turkish counterparts. As General Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado yesterday, Turkey's been an extraordinary and vital partner, and any reports that suggest [he] expressed support in any fashion for the actions of Turkish military officers who undertook illegal military action against the Turkish government are factually inaccurate," Cook told reporters. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford have made clear previously, Cook said, that "any suggestion anyone in the department supported the coup in any way would be absurd. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with Turkey going forward." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Activist Hamdy Kamal, AKA Hamdy Qeshta, was acquitted Saturday by an appeal court of charges related to protests that took place in April against a deal that put two Red Sea islands into Saudi hands. Qeshta, along with nine others, had been sentenced in May by a lower court to three years in prison and a EGP 100,000 (approximately $11,250) fine each on charges of "belonging to a terrorist group that incites to topple the regime, spreading false news, disturbing public peace and security and inciting protests." Qeshta, who was arrested for taking part in demonstrations against a government decision to transfer islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, will not be released since he still faces separate criminal charges in a different case. The Egyptian governments decision last April to transfer the islands to Saudi Arabia sparked widespread public outcry. At demonstrations against the deal in Cairo and elsewhere, dozens were arrested and subsequently tried. Most of those arrested have received suspended jail sentences and hefty fines. Egypt's government insists the islands belong to Saudi Arabia and that Cairo has merely been administering them temporarily since the 1950s. Last month, an administrative court "cancelled the signing" of the deal and said the two islands "remain Egyptian." A higher court started on 3 July to hear the government's appeal against the verdict. Search Keywords: Short link: Turkey's Prime Minister Confident Gulen to Be Brought Back From US Sputnik News 21:37 29.07.2016 Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that Ankara will succeed in bringing US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen back to the country. ANKARA (Sputnik) Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed confidence on Friday that Turkey will succeed in bringing US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen back to the country. Earlier in the day, White House spokesperson Eric Schultz said that US authorities are assessing the request by the Turkish government to extradite Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding a recent coup plot. "We will bring back the perpetrator of the coup a leader of terrorist group [Gulen] who is now at the United States," he was quoted as saying by the NTV broadcaster. On July 15, the coup attempt took place in Turkey and was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed and more than 2,100 injured during the failed coup excluding the victims among the coup plotters, according to the country's authorities. 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 his extradition by the United States. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Identifies Percentage of Military Ankara Claims Took Part in Coup Attempt Sputnik News 02:18 29.07.2016(updated 10:41 29.07.2016) As the Turkish government continues a widespread purge of its countrymen following last week's coup attempt, precise numbers of those implicated are becoming clearer. In the wake of the failed coup, Ankara has launched an unprecedented crackdown on those they claim were involved. In moves that many note appear to be well-scripted enough to have been planned in advance, approximately 1,684 military personnel have been dishonorably discharged, and tens of thousands of civil servants have been fired. On Wednesday, the Turkish military provided a statement to Turkey's NTV television and said it believes 8,651 soldiers took part in the coup, roughly 1.5% of Turkey's forces. The statement also provided figures for military hardware used. At least 35 planes were used, 24 of which were fighter jets. Other aircraft included refueling tankers, as well as 37 helicopters. On the ground, coup-supporters commandeered 37 tanks and 246 armored vehicles. The statement affirmed that Turkey maintains the strength to put down future threats. Writing for AntiWar.com, Jason Ditz isn't so sure. "With Turkey continuing to sweep up more and more people in its purge, particularly from the military, many analysts are calling Turkey's military a 'broken force,' and with so much of the military leadership swept up, it's going to take a long time for it to recover," he writes. The coup attempt saw at least 246 people killed and over 2,000 injured. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the attempt on religious and political figure Fethullah Gulen, currently living in exile in Pennsylvania. Ankara has requested Gulen's extradition, but Washington has so far refused to comply. Speaking during a panel organized by the Rossiya Segodnya News Agency on Thursday, German political scientist Alexander Rar suggested that Ankara may be forced to reconsider its geopolitical alignment if it ultimately discovers that a foreign government was behind the coup attempt. "If it turns out and it is no longer possible to hide anything that the attempted pitch against Erdogan was somehow sponsored by Saudi Arabia, or by other states," he said, "if it turns out that once again, as in 1980, US intelligence is behind the coup, I think that the question of Turkey's exit from NATO can be put on the agenda." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Releases Over 800 Soldiers After Failed Coup July 30, 2016 Turkish courts have released over 800 enlisted conscripts who were under arrest as part of the investigation into the July 15 failed coup, state media has reported. In Istanbul on July 30, 758 out of 989 conscripts under arrest in the coup investigation were freed by the chief public prosecutor's office following a court decision. The prosecutors recommended their release on the grounds they had delivered their testimony and did not pose a flight risk. Among those released were military high-school students. Another 47 enlisted conscripts were released by a court in Ankara on similar grounds. According to the latest figures from Interior Minister Efkan Ala, over 9,000 people, mostly in the military, have been put under arrest in the aftermath of the failed coup, which caused the deaths of more than 200 people. Thousands more have been detained, but not formally arrested. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-coup- releases-800-soldiers/27890330.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 Crimea's Merger With Southern Russia Will Complicate West's Sanctions Game Sputnik News 15:31 29.07.2016(updated 15:43 29.07.2016) Russian authorities have announced that the special Crimean Federal District has been merged with the neighboring Southern Federal District. According to experts, the move, designed to improve administrative efficiency, could also mean big headaches for Western governments' anti-Russian and anti-Crimean sanctions policies. On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin instructed the Russian government to implement a decree on the merger of the Southern and Crimean federal districts into an enlarged Southern Federal District. Crimea, listed as a special 'federal' administrative subject of the Russian Federation after 2014, when the peninsula's residents voted to rejoin Russia in a referendum, has been merged into the Southern Federal District, one of the country's nine federal level districts. Federal districts consist of groupings of the federal subjects of Russia, including regions, republics, territories, autonomous areas, and federal cities. They are designed mainly to enhance the efficiency of governance by federal agencies. Most experts say that the decision on Crimea was mainly an administrative move, designed to optimize the efficiency of the federal bureaucracy. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, political analyst Alexei Martynov suggested it was actually only a matter of time before the Crimean Federal District's status was changed. The initial status was only a stopgap intended to provide the peninsula with time for an effective transition to the laws and institutions of the Russian Federation, according to the expert. Others analysts, however, believe that the decision may have wide-ranging geopolitical implications, specifically as far as Western countries' anti-Russian sanctions are concerned. After the peninsula's merger with Russia in March 2014, many Western governments including the United States, Canada and the European Union imposed sanctions specifically targeting Crimea in addition to those against Russia. These have included targeted measures against the Crimean tourism and infrastructure sectors, with some companies and service providers also prohibiting the sale of their products or services inside Crimean territory. Now, with the peninsula officially merging with the neighboring Southern Federal District, Crimean political consultant Sergei Yukhin says that it will be much more difficult for Western governments and companies to maintain their targeted sanctions against the peninsula. "It's possible to impose sanctions on Crimea and refuse to recognize it [as part of Russia]. But how do our partners expect not to recognize Russia's entire Southern Federal District? There are a whole bunch of foreign companies working there." Essentially, Yukhin noted, the decision will result in "a bunch of unpleasant moments for our Western partners. But for us, the residents of Crimea, it's great." For their part, international law experts speaking to the RIA Novosti news agency have also suggested that it will not be possible to issue targeted sanctions against the Southern Federal District, since it is not a body subject to international law. Naturally, the Russian authorities' administrative decision has already led to threats of more sanctions from Kiev. On Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kislitsa warned that Western countries could extend sanctions targeting Crimea to the entire Southern Federal District. At the same time, Russia blocked a Ukrainian initiative in the UN Security Council to issue a statement protesting the move. Kiev authorities have adamantly refused to recognize Crimea's decision to break off from Ukraine and rejoin Russia in March 2014. Crimean authorities organized a referendum on the issue in the midst of a political crisis in Kiev, which culminated in the overthrow of unpopular but democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych in February of that year. The March 2014 referendum saw over 95% of voters from Crimea and Sevastopol voting to secede from Ukraine, with an estimated 83% of the peninsula's residents turning out for the vote. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, political analyst Viktor Pirozhenko suggested that Kiev's efforts are nothing more than a comical attempt to interfere into Russia's internal affairs. Effectively, the analyst suggested, Kiev is getting up in arms about an administrative decision made between two Russian territories. In any case, Pirozhenko suggested that it is unlikely for Western countries to agree to adopt sanctions against the Southern Federal District. In fact, he noted, many European countries' parliaments are already adopting resolutions asking their governments to lift the costly sanctions against Moscow. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Saudi-led Arab coalition battling rebels in support of Yemen's UN-backed government has denied accusations from rights groups that it is blocking aid and goods bound for the conflict-scarred country. "The coalition is not imposing a siege or an economic boycott on Yemeni territory," the Riyadh-based coalition said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency. The coalition "is fulfilling its duties towards implementing UN resolutions that aim to prevent weapons and ammunitions" reaching Yemen, it added. Rights groups have repeatedly accused the coalition, which controls air and sea access to Yemen, of preventing basic goods from reaching the country, especially in territories controlled by Iran-backed Huthi rebels. The statement named Human Rights Watch and Paris-based Doctors Without Borders in particular for "belittling the efforts of coalition forces and their positive role in delivering humanitarian aid and facilitating access for commercial goods and fuel products." The coalition launched a military campaign against Yemen's Shia rebels in March last year after the insurgents advanced on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's refuge in Aden. The insurgents had overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014. "Coalition forces give immediate and regular permits to all aid ships to reach all Yemeni ports, without being inspected," said the statement released late on Friday. As for commercial shipments, it said that teams from the UN, the coalition and Yemen authorities inspect them, insisting that 1,462 permits have been so far granted, including for ships heading to the rebel-controlled Red Sea port of Hudaida. The "humanitarian catastrophe" in Yemen is not caused by a lack in food or fuel supplies, the coalition said, accusing the rebels of "creating a black market." More than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of Hadi's government. Another 2.8 million people have been displaced and more than 80 percent of the population urgently needs humanitarian aid, according to UN figures. Search Keywords: Short link: EDEN, N.C. The Rockingham County Department of Social Services and the Rockingham County Sheriffs Office are seeking the whereabouts of two Eden boys and their mother. Billy Penn Jr., 13, and Jesse Penn, 11, were last seen at 2024 Mill Ave. in Eden. Their mother, Donna Still, 44, was ordered to turn over custody of the two children to the Rockingham County Department of Social Services by Rockingham County District Court Judge Strader on Wednesday, according to a sheriffs office news release. DSS reported the boys were reported missing on Thursday. Authorities believe the children are with Still, and believe she is actively avoiding social workers in an attempt to circumvent the court order, the news release states. Still has reportedly stayed at the Colonial Inn Motel in Reidsville, but may also be in Walnut Cove or an unknown location in Tennessee. Billy Penn Jr. is described as white, approximately 55 tall, 120 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes. Jesse Penn is described as white, approximately 51 tall, 100 lbs., with blond hair and blue eyes. Their mother is described as a white, approximately 56 tall, 135 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone who sees the children or Still, or knows of their whereabouts, is asked to call the Rockingham County Sheriffs Office at 336-634-3232, the Rockingham County Department of Social Services at 336-342-3537, or Rockingham County Crime Stoppers at 336-349-9683. As of 4 p.m. Friday, no criminal charges were pending against Still; however, the matter is under investigation. Forced to close his restaurant: Heston Blumenthal. Photo: Supplied TV chef Heston Blumenthal has shut his gourmet London restaurant after it was hit by an outbreak of the same vomiting virus which forced him to close the Fat Duck five years ago. The "culinary alchemist" apologised to customers at his exclusive two Michelin-starred Dinner, which will remain closed for a week after 45 diners and members of staff were infected with norovirus. The award-winning Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, was left out of action for two weeks in 2009 following an outbreak of the winter bug that left over 500 people feeling sick. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, the 47-year-old said his personal experience and knowledge of the virus meant he knew that it was best to "err on the side of extreme caution". "I am very sorry for the inconvenience to those customers affected by cancellations," he said. "However, I will reopen the restaurant safe in the knowledge that we have done everything we can do to continue to strive to create the perfect environment and food for my guests to enjoy." Blumenthal said that he aimed to amaze guests with "taste sensations beyond their imagination" rather than exposing them to a "really nasty couple of days of heaving". A total of 24 diners and 21 members of staff were taken ill at the restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Hyde Park. Dinner's website said that it was expected to remain closed for a week. Advertisement Opened to critical acclaim in 2011, the restaurant specialises in historical English food and caters for about 1000 customers a week. A meal for two can cost around 190 ($360), and signature dishes include the Meat Fruit recipe from 1500 - a chicken liver mousse made to look like a mandarin orange. An investigation into the Fat Duck outbreak in 2009 found that norovirus was brought into the restaurant by shellfish contaminated with human sewage. The three Michelin star establishment was shut for 10 days, with 529 customers reporting symptoms in what was one of the largest known outbreaks of the bug in a restaurant. The highly-contagious norovirus is the most common stomach bug in the UK. It causes vomiting and diarrhoea and can be spread from contaminated surfaces and equipment or if an infected person does not wash their hands before handling food. PA SHARE By Bill Tinsley I love stories. The best are those told outside on summer evenings while fireflies flicker in the gathering dusk. Children listen to adults who reminisce with laughter and tears. When my wife and her sister get together, they stay up through most of the night retelling stories of their youth. Sometimes we find them there in the morning, asleep where they left off. When our children were growing up, we read to them. All children, it seems, love books. Of course they love video games, iPhones and iPads, but there is something about turning pages and touching pictures in a book. How else can you "pat the bunny?" Our children memorized many of the stories long before they could read: "Goodnight Moon," "Little Engine That Could," "Snowy Day," "Corduroy," "Bible Stories for Little Eyes." If I went "off story" and made up my own lines, they knew it and corrected me. We inherited storytelling from our ancestors. Settlers gathered around camp fires. Old men sat in rocking chairs whittling shapeless sticks. And whole families gathered in the summer shade to shell peas. They were storytelling moments that shaped life. For many, Hollywood has become the primary source for stories. While there are some wonderful movies that portray courage, hope and faith, the ones that often prove to be blockbusters are based on comic book heroes. They portray super powers in a world of violence, vengeance and retaliation. The stories and their special effects often have little to do with the real world. Sometimes they twist history. A few years ago we visited Philadelphia and encountered a group of high school students overlooking Independence Hall. One of them pointed to the clock tower and exclaimed to another, "Look! That's where they hid the map!" A young college student, who did not grow up attending church, once asked to meet with me for lunch. He was pursuing a degree in English literature and now, he lamented, he had discovered that the great English classics were filled with references to the Bible, stories he had never learned. How will the next generation learn the stories that inform human behavior, faith and character? Most children do not attend church and parents themselves often lack knowledge of the Bible. They neither read the stories nor do they tell them to their children. Public schools are not allowed to teach them. Who will tell the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and the flood, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the Exodus, Ruth and Boaz, David, Elijah, Jonah, Jesus' life, death and resurrection? Much of the uncertainty about our nation and the world may be due to the fact that we are losing the stories of our heritage that give direction for the future. The Bible says, "I will utter hidden things, things from of old things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. ... so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands" (Psalm 78:2-7). Bill Tinsley is former associate executive for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Email him at bill@tinsleycenter.com. SHARE By The Kansas City Star (Tns) Q. Why are there so many arguments about what's in the Bible? Elder Brian L. Rawson, of the Seventy, North America Central Area, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: As Christians, we appeal to the Bible to inform our decisions about how to live our lives. We realize that our decisions determine our destiny and that our decisions that align with God's will lead to happiness and peace. We search the Scriptures for unchangeable truth doctrine to inform our decisions. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints love and revere the Bible as the word of God. We study it diligently, teach its timeless principles and doctrines to our children, and we rejoice in the Bible's witness of the life and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not believe the Bible, as it currently exists, to be without error. As the Bible was compiled, organized, translated and transcribed, many errors entered the text. The existence of such errors becomes apparent when one considers the numerous and often conflicting translations of the Bible in existence today. Careful students of the Bible often are puzzled by apparent contradictions and omissions. Consequently, diverse and sometimes divisive interpretations of the same Bible passages arise. So, what are we to do? We believe that God's pattern from biblical times has not changed and that he continues to reveal his will through his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). We believe that the scriptural canon is open. In addition to the Bible, Latter-day Saints revere and study the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the words of modern prophets and apostles. All these sources of eternal truth work together to establish, clarify and testify of the plan of our heavenly Father and to bring people unto Jesus Christ. The Rev. Duke Tufty, pastor, Unity Temple on the Plaza: The 66 books of the Bible were written over a 1,300-year time period by many authors with many viewpoints. Since that time the Bible has been tweaked, touched up, added to and deleted from to fit the viewpoints of the ruling class as well as serve the personal interest of religious authorities. When King James oversaw the translation of his version he chose to leave out more than 500 pages that he disagreed with and added many that supported his beliefs. In regard to this, Psalm 50 comes to mind, where God says, "I will accept no bull from your house." It is important to remember, when we read the Bible today we are reading a translation of a translation of a translation into a language that didn't exist when the original Bible was written. Scholars agree there are more than 20,000 inconsistencies in the Bible as a result of different people with different viewpoints. There are many ways to interpret the Bible. Some people believe every word is literally true, some people believe it is a compilation of stories that serve up a moral. The agnostic questions everything in the Bible, and the atheist disputes it. From this we end up with arguments, conflicts, even battles and wars over its contents. Yet in all of this the Bible is not to be discounted. It is a moral compass that can serve all civilizations and with an open mind can be a source of comfort and inspiration to every person. Clinton SHARE Trump Outcome continues to be unpredictable By David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS) PHILADELPHIA America is about to endure the closest, nastiest, most unpredictable presidential election in more than three decades. Not since Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan ran against each other in 1980 has the choice been so stark, the warnings from each candidate about the other so dire, the likely outcome so murky. As this year's political conventions end, there is no clear victor. But watch upcoming polls. The leaders in the first polls conducted after Labor Day, which in most recent election cycles is the first after both conventions end, has won the White House every election year since 1952. "That's when the dust settles. That is the person who ends up taking the oath of office," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, at a breakfast hosted this week by McClatchy. There is one exception. In 1980, the parties were tied at Labor Day, and the election didn't swing until the final days. On paper, Clinton wins if she follows the age-old Democratic playbook: Make sure African-Americans, Latinos, women and labor union members turn out in big numbers. Then she needs to add the liberals and young voters who so adamantly favored rival Bernie Sanders, voters who still need convincing. "We need now to talk to people one on one," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. Trump wins if he can keep the campaign focused on the anti-establishment narrative that boosted him from long-shot outsider to nominee, a plotline that helped boost him a bit despite a discordant GOP convention last week. "There's something different this year," said Brandon Bell, chairman of the Republican Party in Rhode Island. "People are fed up." But Trump also needs still-wary mainstream Republicans to back him. Clinton, her supporters said, has to leave Philadelphia relentlessly reminding Democrats and undecided independents, who make up about 20 percent of the electorate, of her history fighting for their causes and by painting Trump as unusually dangerous. "Tell everyone to make a reality check," said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, whose congressional district is about one-third African-American. Remind minority voters, he said, of the party's history of strong support for civil rights. Tim Kaine, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee, put the choice in stark terms Friday. "The thing I do best is when the civil rights lawyer in me gets engaged. This is a civil rights battle," he told a Democratic National Committee meeting. Getting African-Americans to turn out in the sort of numbers President Barack Obama got, though, is going to be tough. "There is only one Obama," said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, South Carolina, though Obama can be a big help if he gives Clinton the sort of full-throated support he offered at the convention. Obama got 93 percent of the black vote in 2012 while winning 41 percent of the white vote. Black turnout was 66.2 percent, 2 points higher than whites. In 2004, black turnout was 60 percent. Clinton this year has outpolled Trump among African-Americans by about 7 or 8 to 1. Trump's path to victory has two lanes: Pound away at the anti-establishment message and woo back Republicans who have been sharply critical and stayed away from last week's convention. That remains difficult. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who didn't attend the convention in his home state, still hasn't endorsed Trump or even spoken well of him. He recently told The Associated Press that Trump "would have to change everything he says" before that could happen. More importantly, Trump needs to keep the campaign narrative focused on the throw-the-bums-out mood that rocketed him from politically nowhere to the GOP nominee. Trump's other challenge is to keep people outraged for three more months. Circumstances can help. WikiLeaks is promising more data releases aimed at embarrassing Clinton. Democrats had better be ready, said Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, a former Democratic chairman. "I hope they're going through every single email that they've had and to look at it and get on top if it ahead of time," he said this week in Philadelphia. Democratic leaders were split Friday on the controversy's impact. "I'm hoping we'll learn from this and be more transparent," said Jeri Shepherd, a DNC member from Colorado. Asked whether it would have an impact on elections, she said, "Time will tell." But Maureen McKenna, a DNC member from Sebring, Florida, was more upbeat. "The players may change," she said, "but the system remains the same." SHARE PHILADELPHIA If the Republican convention resembled a shaky shotgun marriage, the Democrats are like a sprawling modern family with the adults on the same page and a few unruly siblings and children doing as they please. But their mostly solid outward unity reflects weeks of intensive behind-the-scenes work and didn't come without some continuing stress. For weeks, Hillary Clinton's campaign worked closely with runner-up Bernie Sanders, accepting compromises on the party platform and some contentious rule conflicts to ensure this week's unity. But a firestorm from last weekend's release of thousands of embarrassing internal party emails dominated pre-convention news, forcing party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation. When the Rev. Cynthia Hale mentioned Clinton's name in her opening invocation, many Sanders delegates booed, chanting, "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie." "The Democrats are in a total meltdown," Republican nominee Donald Trump gleefully tweeted. But after several raucous hours with Clinton-deriding outbursts provoking counter chants of "Hillary, Hillary, Hillary" a Sanders email urging respect helped quiet the protests, and her forces gradually regained control of the Wells Fargo Center. When Democrats formally made Clinton the first major-party woman nominee Tuesday night, both sides' nominating speeches accentuated the positive. And Sanders himself like Clinton eight years ago moved to give Clinton the party's presidential nomination. The motion was loudly endorsed by all but several dozen reluctant Sanders supporters, who left the hall and groused loudly outside. That underscored the fact that, like the Republicans, the Democrats still show scars from their intense primary battle. But there are significant differences. GOP holdouts included many top leaders former Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush, past nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain, defeated rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich. Republican disunity was vividly on display when Cruz pointedly refused to endorse Trump, setting off loud boos on the eve of Trump's acceptance speech. Here, every significant Democratic leader backs Clinton, starting with Sanders. Unity appeals from his supporters Monday included a memorable scold from comedian Sarah Silverman, telling "the Bernie or bust people: You're being ridiculous." The Vermont senator provided the climax by detailing reasons for backing his yearlong rival, concluding: "Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close." Second, leaders of the dissident factions have very different motivations. Cruz's seemingly stem primarily from personal ambition, reflecting his calculation that Trump will either lose or be an unsuccessful president, opening the way for a second presidential bid in 2020. Kasich also may be looking ahead. But Sanders, three decades older, wants mainly to press his agenda of economic and political reforms, which Clinton said she will fight for. Third, the Democrats proved more efficient in controlling and channeling threats to the facade of unity. Trump and top aides took nearly three days to acknowledge Melania Trump's lifting of lines from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech. But Democrats took barely 24 hours to force Wasserman Schultz's resignation, convincing her before the convention began to prevent an ugly scene by relinquishing the opening gavel. In contrast to heavy-handed GOP efforts to squelch floor challenges, the Democrats let the Sanders forces voice their support on Tuesday's roll call. And they quickly reiterated Tuesday that Clinton opposes the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, after longtime backer Terry McAuliffe suggested the contrary. Finally, while speeches at both conventions hailed their nominee and denounced their rival, the Democrats highlighted domestic issues barely mentioned in Cleveland income inequality, climate change, the student loan crisis. Every day, figures from Clinton's life plus her presidential husband testified to her personal history, compared with Trump's family and business associates. But, as Trump himself pointedly noted Wednesday, Democrats only minimally decried instability abroad, making few references to terrorism and the Islamic State until Wednesday night, while challenging GOP allegations of a breakdown of law and order at home. This week's polls show Trump's support up among recalcitrant Republicans and independents; Clinton's strategists hope next week's will show similar gains with Democrats. But conventions matter, Democratic pollster Peter Hart noted on a Wall Street Journal blog, declaring the tenor often foretells the ultimate outcome. Citing the "potential for a strong finish" from speeches by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Clinton, he said, "If that happens, Democrats would head into the general election with history on their side." Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News. Contact him at carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com. Dozens of civilians left the besieged and battered opposition-held east of Syria's Aleppo city on Saturday through a "humanitarian corridor" to the government-held west, state media reported. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that "a number" of civilians had crossed into government territory. The crossings were the first major movement of people from the besieged districts of the city after regime ally Russia announced Thursday that passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering fighters. State television broadcast footage showing civilians, mostly women and children, walking under the watch of government troops and boarding buses. "This morning dozens of families left via the corridors identified... to allow the exit of citizens besieged by terrorist groups in the eastern neighbourhoods," state news agency SANA reported. "They were welcomed by members of the army and taken by bus to temporary shelters," it added. It said that "a number" of women over the age of 40 had left in addition to the families and were taken to shelters. SANA added that "armed men from eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo" turned themselves over to army soldiers in Salaheddin district, without specifying a number or giving further details. State television broadcast footage of a handful of men entering government territory carrying their weapons aloft, some with scarves wrapped around their faces. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. It has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. Eastern neighbourhoods have been under total siege since July 7, when government forces seized the only remaining supply route. The encirclement has caused food shortages and spiralling prices in the east, and raised fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people still living there. But the humanitarian corridors announced by Russia have been met with suspicion by residents, as well as countries including the United States. Many residents said they were afraid to leave via government-controlled routes into regime-held territory. "I want to leave, but not to government-held areas," said Abu Mohamed, a 50-year-old father of four living in Al-Shaar district. "I'm very afraid that they will take my 17-year-old son and force him to sign up for military service where they'll send him to the frontlines," he told AFP. "The humanitarian situation is more and more desperate and it's hard to find food," he added. No aid has entered east Aleppo for weeks, and international agencies have warned that residents there risk starvation. The UN voiced provisional support for the humanitarian corridors, but its Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura urged that the body be allowed to take charge of the routes. "Our suggestion to Russia is to actually leave the corridors being established at their initiative to us," he said. "How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing, fighting?" On Saturday, regime war planes continued to hit opposition positions, with the Observatory reporting air strikes on two rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Aleppo. The group also reported clashes in the two neighbourhoods, saying the government was attempting to forestall any rebel bid to bring in reinforcements to try to break the regime siege. Syria's opposition has dismissed the humanitarian corridors initiative as a ploy and part of the government's bid to recapture all of Aleppo city. "Be clear -- these 'corridors' are not for getting aid in, but driving people out," Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Commission, said Friday. "The brutal message to our people is: leave or starve." Analyst Karim Bitar from the French think-tank IRIS, also said residents of the east faced "a terrible existential dilemma... between risking starvation or risking to die while fleeing." More than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria's war which erupted five years ago.C Search Keywords: Short link: Yemen's government delegation has quit talks in Kuwait with Shia Houthi rebels despite resuming them earlier this month. Officials with Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi told The Associated Press they were considering proposals to reconvene the talks, which have failed to bridge the gap with the rebels, in Oman. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters otherwise. Hadi's government is backed by a U.S. assisted Saudi-led military campaign against the Shia rebels. The war has killed some 9,000 people. Hadi's negotiators are demanding the implementation of a U.N. Security Council resolution which stipulates the withdrawal of militias from all cities. The Houthis want the Saudi-led offensives to stop first, and also a share of power in a transitional government. Search Keywords: Short link: New York states pension fund announced a mediocre year. Investment earnings were essentially flat, and as a result the fund lost $5 billion because its other receipts -- contributions from government and from current employees -- didnt cover retiree payouts.The New York pension system was the victim of a global event that began halfway across the world a year ago this month. In August 2015, the worlds second-largest economy officially began to stumble. Chinas central bank stunned investors by devaluing the yuan, lending credence to what outsiders had long been suspecting: Chinas years of astounding annual economic growth -- at times cresting at double digits -- was slowing down.Toward the end of that month, Chinas stock market endured its biggest one-day fall since 2007. The state media dubbed it Black Monday and the result shocked the world. Emerging market currencies slumped, commodity prices fell and Western financial markets reeled. At one point, General Electrics stock was down by more than 20 percent. The markets seemed to recover just in time for a January report from China that the countrys growth rate for 2015 -- 6.9 percent -- was the weakest in a quarter-century. Although robust by U.S. standards -- GDP growth in the United States last year was 2.4 percent -- the bad news from Beijing once again sparked market volatility here and abroad.In short, China has made it a difficult year for institutional investors, public pension plans prominent among them. But financial markets arent the only way Chinas economy can impact states and localities.For the last decade, with China a reliable engine for economic growth, other countries around the world have been feeding off it. China is the leading destination for a handful of states exports and accounts for more than $115 billion in goods shipped annually from the U.S. The country is a key consumer of U.S.-made airplanes, cars and medical equipment. Meanwhile, Chinese companies have stepped up their investment in U.S. cities and industries, building auto plants, investing in oil fields and buying real estate -- a Beijing-based company now owns the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. There is essentially no region in the U.S. without some connection to China, and at least some vulnerability to a downdraft.U.S. economists and state development officials are familiar with the ways negative economic events in Europe, such as Britains recent vote to leave the European Union, can have an effect here at home. And for the near future, events in Western Europe and some other developed powers, such as Japan, will continue to have the greatest impact on states and localities. But if things in China worsen, the economic pain for governments in this country could be severe.Even before Chinas crisis rattled the U.S. stock market, state and local pension plans were struggling. Last year, annual investment returns were meager. Because of the 2015 market plunge in China, most pension plans in the United States will likely report even worse returns for 2016. The two-year hit, says a Moodys Investors Service analysis, will effectively wipe out the funding improvements seen in 2013 and 2014.Under Moodys most optimistic scenario, according to which U.S. investment returns average 5 percent for this year, overall pension plan liabilities will increase by 10 percent. Under the credit rating agencys most pessimistic outlook, where investment losses are 10 percent for the year, Moodys sees liabilities growing by more than half. In that case, governments would be faced with demands to put significantly more general fund money into pension plans than was previously forecast.Market volatility doesnt just affect pension plans. A number of state governments find their tax base is significantly exposed when investment income -- capital gains revenue -- has a bad year. California, Connecticut and New York all tend to get clobbered when financial markets have a down year, says Donald Boyd, the Rockefeller Institute of Governments fiscal studies director. These three states and Oregon (which banks heavily on personal income tax payments in general), have the highest reliance in the nation on capital gains revenue. If you have a lot of rich people and you tax them relatively heavily, Boyd says, then youre going to be most affected by this kind of scenario.While theres unlikely to be anything like the 20 percent revenue drops seen during the U.S. financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, states are already starting to feel the revenue impact of the past years stock market reactions to Chinas slowdown. Income tax collections make up about one-third of the average states total revenue. In April, the single biggest income tax collection month for states, the average states income tax revenue was down nearly 10 percent from the previous year, according to a Reuters analysis.Its a taste of what could happen if China falters further. California had to trim its overall income tax revenue expectations for the 2016 fiscal year by nearly $2 billion, thanks to an April shortage of about $1 billion in collections. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania also announced declines in actual or projected income tax receipts after April.What made this issue doubly challenging was that the news came in around the time state lawmakers were in the midst of the tricky business of drawing up the next years budgets. This throws a monkey wrench into it, Boyd says, noting that it creates future problems as well. When youre dealing with a budget shortfall with only a few weeks to go in the fiscal year, theres a good chance lawmakers arent going to find some kind of [permanent] solution. So that sets them up a year down the road for more trouble.states and localities have jumped at chances to increase their business with fast-growing China. U.S. merchandise exports to China increased by 177 percent between 2005 and 2015. Chinese investment in U.S. companies and properties went up exponentially over the same time period, from $2.5 billion in total investment across 24 states to nearly $63 billion spread over all but three states.Admittedly, the growth represents only a tiny slice of overall U.S international business. Exports to China account for less than 8 percent of overall outbound U.S. shipments. Chinese foreign direct investment totals less than 1 percent of all foreign investment here.Some regions, however, have more established business ties. When it comes to exports, Washington state-based businesses are by far the most exposed to fluctuations in China. Last year, Washington businesses exported $19.4 billion in goods to the Asian nation -- about one-fifth of all the states exports. Over the past year, Washingtons dealings with China have been ratcheting down. Last year saw a 5 percent drop in exports to China; data through May of this year shows exports to China down by about 25 percent. Robert Hamilton, Gov. Jay Inslees trade adviser, says trade activity is being driven down from weak economies everywhere -- not just China. Indeed, overall U.S. exports fell 5 percent last year, the largest decrease since the recession.Still, Washington states exposure creates some concerns. Trade directly and indirectly accounts for one out of every four jobs in the state. Last year, Moodys flagged it for being an at-risk state thanks to a slower China. This year, Moodys has been careful not to sound apocalyptic about Washington states situation. Theyre pretty well insulated, says Moodys Washington analyst Kenneth Kurtz. But China-watchers in the state remain nervous.Other regions in the U.S. will see an impact if Chinas demand for consumer products wanes significantly. Computer equipment, for example, is a top export to China. Companies based in San Jose, Calif.; Boise, Idaho; and Austin, Texas, are the nations top producers of those products, and will feel a pinch if Chinese shoppers stop buying. Detroit and other regions reliant on auto manufacturing could also see a dip in business if Chinas high demand for U.S.-made cars slows.Chinese investment in the United States has grown rapidly over the past decade, although it has been concentrated on a limited number of targets. The vast majority of the investments from China have been in mergers and acquisitions. These ownership changes tend to grab headlines -- like when Chinese insurance giant Anbang bought the Waldorf from the Hilton hotel chain for nearly $2 bllion last year. In most cases, new Chinese ownership does not change a companys economic footprint. Hilton, for example, remains the Waldorfs operator.One other area where Chinese investment has had an impact is in so-called greenfield purchases. Those are investments where the parent company builds its operations here from the ground up, such as Yuhuang Chemicals $1.85 billion methanol plant in Louisiana or Tranlin Papers $2 billion paper plant in Virginia, both of which broke ground last year. In the San Francisco Bay Area, which has long been a favorite of Chinese companies, more than one-quarter of greenfield investment value in the region comes from China, according to the Brookings Institutions Joseph Parilla. Other top areas in the country for greenfield purchases are Chicago, New York City, San Jose and Seattle.Most greenfield investments are typically made with a long-term view, so a Chinese slowdown like the current one might not have much immediate effect on them. Its possible that a slower economy at home could cause Chinese companies to direct more new investment toward stable economies like the United States and away from riskier markets in emerging countries. But its also possible that a weaker economy at home could force Chinese investors to pull back in all world markets as foreign development becomes a more expensive proposition than the countrys corporations want to make.From time to time, there are fears about a local real estate market in the United States being gobbled up by the Chinese and other private global investors. If they all pull back, then all of a sudden, youve got this glut of really high-end real estate built for folks who are not necessarily in your metro area, Parilla says, adding that this is something to watch in New York City and San Francisco, and to a lesser extent Chicago and Seattle.For now, China is a lesson in perspective. Long isolated from the rest of the world, it has taken advantage of its rapid growth and fast-growing connections to other countries to become a major force in global markets. As state and local governments in the United States have become more enmeshed with the Chinese economy, opening offices in China to attract more direct development, they have increased their exposure. Fears about the effects of a prolonged Chinese downturn played a big role in the psychological contagion that roiled U.S. financial markets last year.So far, most of the negative fallout in this country has been confined to a limited number of regions and economic sectors. But if the Chinese economy remains sluggish for a long period, the effects will be felt much more broadly by American investors and state and local governments. That is why even governments that havent felt the effects so far may want to train a wary eye on the fiscal picture in Beijing. With perennially challenging budget environments and fierce competition for funding, government is well known for stretching legacy technology systems past their useful life, and then paying to maintain what should have been put down years before. But it isnt necessarily the fault of those in government IT. When faced with the dilemma of struggling to procure the latest functional tech or scratching together the funding to simply keep things running status quo, it can be hard to tip the scales in the right direction.And the rapid pace of technology hasnt helped this conundrum either. The gravitational pull of the often ill-defined cloud is a prime example of this larger predicament. Cloud technologies offer flexibility and scalability that can help government run programs more efficiently while benefiting from the latest innovations. But the barriers to government adoption of cloud services are considerable. Chief among them is a procurement process built for more traditional on-premise system deployments.But that hasnt kept government from trying, and there are plenty of examples of successful government cloud deployments over the past few years. Government and industry, however, have struggled to speak the same language in the purchasing process. From basic definitions to understanding what each side really needs from a contract, the case-by-case approach was nothing if not time consuming and costly for vendors and public-sector buyers alike. In 2014, the Center for Digital Government (CDG), a research and advisory institute on public-sector IT under the e.Republic umbrella (e.Republic is also the parent company of), began work with a collection of state, local and industry officials to develop best practices around cloud and as-a-service procurements . The goal of the effort was to remove 80 percent of the terms and conditions contracting workload, leaving only 20 percent for public-sector organizations to iron out with their vendors. A second, refined iteration of this document is currently in the works and is expected to be released in October 2016. Former New Jersey CIO Steven Emanuel, now with Alliant Technologies, was a key player behind the collaborative effort after struggling through lengthy procurement efforts in his own state a process he openly referred to as painful.In addition to taking more than 18 months to acquire software through a major vendor, Emanuel said the team and supplier had difficulty effectively defining what they were after. The search for clarity and a streamlined process would launch an effort that included some 30 representatives from the public and private sectors.In the first document, the groups defined and outlined issues around service models, data, breach notifications, personnel, security, audits and operations. As time passed and technology evolved, working groups are taking a second look at audit requirements, encryption, flow through, service level agreements and implications around hybrid cloud environments.We learned early on that the first and largest hurdle is just defining what cloud is or what as-a-service is, because there are three primary variations of that, said CDG Executive Director Todd Sander. "There is software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-a-service. And while they are all related, there are nuances and differences over who is responsible for what and what is actually being purchased.Sander said the work would go on to be used in a highly anticipated National Association of State Procurement Officers (NASPO) multi-state cloud services contracting vehicle being organized by the state of Utah.Michael DeAngelo, deputy CIO for the state of Washington, explained that cloud services have dramatically changed the business models of technology companies and forced change in the way governments access their products. Rather than simply buying a product and redistributing it to internal clients, the cloud enables government to scale services up or down according to changing needs.DeAngelo also pointed out that the new business model has taken away some of the bargaining leverage that data-rich government tends to have around these types of purchases. With companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google at the forefront of the as-a-service environment, case-by-case contracts no longer work for companies focused on low operating costs and scalability.While DeAngelo said the resulting low costs are certainly appreciated when it comes to taxpayer dollars, the disadvantage is that agencies are no longer able to make asks like allowing auditors to review providers systems to ensure they meet governments traditional requirements. What one organization sees as a piece of required compliance procedure poses a very real security risk to other companies and organizations hosted in the data center.Though he sees why vendors must limit access to their servers, he feels the need to carefully shepherd constituent data. To work around limitations like this, DeAngelo and Georgia Chief Technology Officer Steve Nichols said third-party audits have been a focus of this collaborative process since the beginning.Weve got a department of auditors, but realistically, they are not going to fly up to Virginia or Chicago and walk around with a clipboard in an Amazon data center or a Microsoft data center. And likewise, Amazon doesnt want to be flooded with a bunch of auditors either, Nichols said. So, this is one of these things where we have to meet in the middle and say, Heres an industry standard setup to deal with exactly this, lets just agree to it. Many states also have requirements that data and personnel with access to it be U.S.-based, which had been a point of concern when contracting with global companies. Additionally, Nichols said he has high hopes for conversations around flow through, or the layer cake-esque structure of modern technology contracts composed of a strata of subcontractors with their own responsibilities and terms and conditions. In the 2014 guide, we didnt really contemplate that some things may be passing down or passing up and what to do about that," he said. "Now I recognize that at least for software-as-a-service, its quite common that a software-as-a-service vendor is behind the scenes and they dont own their own data center, that they are using an infrastructure-as-a-service vendor another cloud vendor to actually provide the servers. Working group members hope to provide better guidance on what is expected at all levels on complex cloud contracts. Yolo County, Calif. home to 200,000 people and the University of California, Davis didnt just lower its electric bill. It turned it inside out.With perhaps one of the most aggressive programs for deploying solar power for government operations in the country, Yolo County actually generates about 50 percent more electricity than it uses. According to County Administrator Terry Vernon, the county started deploying solar panels in its general services department in 2010. That means it actually makes money from selling electricity to a utility on top of essentially zeroing out its own power expenditures.The program, which Vernon said was born of both concern for the environment and a desire to lower government costs, has led to 7 megawatts of solar capacity on government roofs and on government-owned ground. Not only does Yolo County get to reap the benefits of paying minimal electric bills, it also gets to avoid the peak demand charges that come from having a large utility account.I did an analysis on if we did nothing versus the 7 megawatts and we actually reduced our electric bill by $2.7 million (over multiple years) and then we generated revenue in excess of $600,000, Vernon said.Yolo Countys approach is unique. It takes advantage of a state environment that includes net metering, where customers who generate their own power can sell it back to utilities for as much as they buy it for. That structure means solar customers including homeowners can more easily justify the up-front cost of solar panels even if they are generating the most power when the roof-owner isnt using it.But the county took advantage of other programs too.We did net energy metering, we did bill crediting on a large scale and we sell power to the utility, he said. And that was a first [for county governments].The trick, he said, was securing the financing for up-front costs. From the very first day of operation, the county wanted the panels to be at least revenue-neutral. Instead of dipping into capital accounts, Vernon turned to financing mechanisms credit bonds, state energy commission loans, qualified energy conservation bonds from the U.S. Department of Energy and the like and piled on so much generation capacity that the arrays would, even with conservative estimates, create revenue for the county.For example, Vernon was counting on the 1 megawatt system that has powered the justice campus since 2010 to generate $93,000 per year after paying off debt. In its first year, it generated $162,000 instead.Thats an attorneys salary, or a captains, he said.The tariff rates Yolo County locked in when it set up the panels means that other government entities might not be able to do things exactly the same way. But Vernon still thinks others can take the same tack as Yolo when thinking about going solar.The project I did can be duplicated in a smaller or larger fashion. It cant be duplicated exactly, but for the most part you can duplicate almost everything that I did, he said. The way that we [generate] electricity and buy and sell it, thats all changing. But a city, a county or an agency could put in a solar array and with the right approach and the right financing and everything else, they can generate a revenue stream just like I did ... and they can reduce their electric bill substantially.However, thats just one approach local government entities are taking to use solar panels in a way that works out in the governments favor. Next, this series will look at two city governments that found ways to benefit from solar under different circumstances than Yolo Countys. F1's top teams are pleading with race director Charlie Whiting to ease his stance when it comes to 'track limits'. In Thursday's Strategy Group meeting, officials for Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull thought they had made progress when it comes to not always penalising drivers for simply putting wheels over the lined extremities of the track. But then in Friday practice at Hockenheim, the FIA's Whiting was once again strictly enforcing so-called 'track limits'. "We all asked Charlie to stop this thing of punishing a driver for being a few centimetres over a line," F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda told Brazil's Globo Esporte. "We said seeing drivers pushing is spectacular and good for F1. Charlie said he didn't agree but would meet our request, but it wasn't true," he added. Indeed, there are suggestions other top teams are similarly losing patience with the ever strict and constantly changing rules of F1, with Ferrari and Red Bull also backing Lauda and Mercedes. "We need to end this 'under investigation' for every moment we see," said Lauda. "Like the stupid situation in Budapest, where six hours after qualifying we didn't know if Nico (Rosberg) was really on pole. "How do we explain all this to the viewer? It's crazy. "F1 needs more easily understood rules so that what people watch on TV corresponds to reality. We can no longer keep changing the outcome as we go. "It's a serious mistake," Lauda insisted. (GMM) With the ongoing terrorist attacks and the rising anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe, will governments shift towards a tougher approach on immigration? In September 2014, the Islamic State (IS) militant group revealed its willingness to take revenge on the countries that joined the US-led coalition carrying out military operations against the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq. A wave of bloody militant attacks has been seen in several Western states. These attacks, mostly claimed by IS, have killed dozens and injured hundreds of civilians. But what about the Muslims in Europe? Large numbers of Muslim refugees have fled their war-torn countries in the Middle East for Europe. Meanwhile, IS continues its attempts to persuade potential supporters in Europe to either join them in Syria and Iraq or execute attacks at home. However, according to analysts, the rising negative sentiment towards Muslims in Europe has not been translated into actual state policies, at least not so far. France In October 2014, the IS group spokesman Abu Mohamed Al-Adnani posted an audio recording calling on Muslims in Western countries to kill the "nonbelievers," particularly in countries that have taken military action against the group, "especially the spiteful and filthy French." "Kill them in any manner, whatever it may be," he told potential recruits. Since December 2014, around 240 people have been killed in France, and hundreds more were injured in multiple terrorist attacks. The latest attack occurred in a church in northeast France, as two gunmen took hostages and slaughtered a priest before they were shot dead. The attack came one week after another attack in Nice, one of the worst terror attacks targeting France. The attacks resulted in the death of 85 people and the injury of hundreds when a man allegedly inspired by IS drove his cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. "Growing Islamophobia in Europe is now the concern," Mia Bloom, professor of communications at Georgia State University, told Ahram Online. The vast majority of attacks are perpetrated by people with citizenship, not refugees, but when it's a refugee it excites the far right-wing parties against migrants,'' Bloom said. After these rising attacks, "there will be a backlash against Muslim communities and refugees in the West that only feeds IS, [which aims to foster the idea] that the only place where Muslims are truly welcome is the [groups] caliphate," Bloom expects. In an earlier interview with Bloom on CNN, conducted shortly after the Nice attack, the professor noted that, "the majority of IS group victims are Muslim. Not us. Not the West." Bloom concluded to Ahram Online that a short-term solution to avoid letting terrorists into Europe is to interview asylum seekers or give priority to women and children, which Bloom suggests would decrease security risks. Germany An unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks in Germany recently has galvanised far right-wing parties against Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy. On Thursday, Merkel cut short her summer holiday at her cottage north of Berlin after a week of brutal assaults, returning to the capital to face anger against the government's policy of admitting refugees, stating that such attacks are "shocking, oppressive and depressing," but not a sign that authorities have lost control. She also firmly refused to overturn her stance on refugees in reaction to the attacks. The anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) has been blaming Merkel and her supporters for the current situation in Germany. "Merkel's welcoming policies have brought too many young, uneducated and radical Muslim men to Germany," an AfD leader told Reuters after a 17-year-old Afghan refugee committed a lone wolf axe attack on a train, injuring 5 people. Marwan Al-Ghafory, a Yemeni doctor in Germany, told Ahram Online via email that although no actual violence is committed against Muslims and foreigners in Germany, the German people's outrage is obvious on social media and from their comments on news websites. Al-Ghafory, who moved to Germany six years ago, said that this outrage could be reflected in a political choice in the coming election, with the anti-immigrant AfD Party seeing growing opportunity." Sara Yassin, a Palestinian student living with her family in Germany, says that "German authorities have not changed their policies regarding Muslims and especially Muslim refugees, at least officially, but on the ground the situation differs from one state to another." According to Yassin, Germany's eastern states take a hostile approach against foreigners in general, and Arabs and Muslims in particular. She added that the AfD Party won 25 percent of parliament seats in Baden-Wurttemberg state last March after terrorist violence escalated in Germany. "We fear the impact of such terrorist attacks, as I've been noticing that waves of hatred are escalating after every terrorist attack; especially on social media websites," she added. Nearly 90 mosques in Germany many of them with Arabic-speaking worshippers are under surveillance, the president of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen said in an interview published last May on the news site Deutsche Welle (DW). He added that Germany is in need of a coalition of moderate Muslims to fight terrorism and extremism. Belgium "Regardless of the terror attacks in Brussels, Europe's civilised and peaceful communities have not [displayed vitriol against Muslims overall]," Maged Shalaby, a 22-year-old Egyptian Masters student in Leuven, Belgium, told Ahram Online. Last March, three attacks targeted Belgium: two bombs went off in a Brussels airport and one exploded in the Maalbeek metro station. The three bombs killed 32 people and injured hundreds. Following the attack, far right-wing parties and their supporters pressed the government to change its policies on the influx of refugees. "There will be pressure on the government from parties across the political spectrum to heavily restrict the flow of immigrants, depending on the outcome of political struggles," Shalaby said. With the rise in attacks, there are worries of government-imposed restrictions on Muslim communities, "like tightening the measures on building mosques, finding jobs or education. There will probably be heightened action against the so-called "terrorist neighbourhoods," Shalaby said. "The important effect of these attacks on Muslim communities is that [Muslims] will work harder than ever to fight extremism from within," he predicted. Muslims should portray to the global community the positive teachings of Islam, Shalaby said. Search Keywords: Short link: Belgian police arrested two men "suspected of planning an attack" in Belgium following raids late Friday ordered by an anti-terror judge, federal prosecutors said on Saturday. Belgium has remained on high alert following deadly March bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in Brussels and a wave of deadly attacks in the last month in France and Germany, some of them claimed by IS group. The two men, identified as Noureddine H. and his brother Hamza H., were arrested following house searches in the French-speaking areas of Mons and Liege, a spokesman for the federal prosecutors said. "Both are suspected of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium," the spokesman said in an English version of the statement. The French version referred to "planning attacks" in the plural. The prosecutor's office said there was for now no connection with the bombings on March 22 at Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters that left 32 people dead. No weapons or explosives were found in the raids ordered by the judge specialising in counter-terror cases, it said. A judge will review the arrests of the brothers later Saturday and decide whether to keep them in custody. Several of those involved in the Brussels bloodshed were directly linked to the November 13 attacks in Paris which left 130 dead. Belgian authorities last month charged two men with terrorist offences amid reports of a planned attack on a Euro 2016 fanzone in central Brussels. Belgium then beefed up security for its July 21 national day celebrations after the truck attack that killed 84 people in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14. Belgian authorities had previously anticipated a possible truck-style attack before the Nice carnage. Search Keywords: Short link: More than a dozen potters participated by donating their time and talent to create more than 170 bowls and pottery pieces for the Feast of Caring, the ministrys annual fall fundraiser. Many pieces were created on a pottery wheel, while some were created by hand. On July 24, some of the potters were trimming the pieces they had created in preparation for the next steps of the process, which includes glazing and firing, while other potters continued to make bowls. WASHINGTON The railroad industry is attempting to halt a proposed safety rule requiring two-person crews in its tracks, but Connecticut lawmakers say the change is essential. This rule is long overdue and my hope is the FRA will stand strong and enforce this significant safety measure, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee. The cost is well worth the long term savings in injuries and other expense that would result from a failure to follow the rule. Citing a pair of 2013 freight accidents in Cassleton, N.D and Lac-Megantic in Canada near the U.S. border with Maine, the Federal Railroad Administration announced the rule in March. The rule is more applicable to freight lines than passenger railroads like Amtrak or Metro-North, which typically have two crew members or more. The proposed rule does not require two persons in the cockpit as long as engineer and extra crew members are in constant communication. More News Fiery derailment leads to hold on oil trains The proposed rule is a textbook example of unnecessary regulation, said Edward Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads, in testimony earlier this month. In fact, while perhaps well-intentioned, the proposed rule is actually misguided and will undermine the very goal of both (federal regulators) and the freight rail industry _ making a safe rail network even safer. With a string of accidents involving Metro-North, some of which have resulted in passenger deaths, rail safety has become a high-profile issue in Connecticut. Its not clear the rule would have prevented any of those mishaps but Connecticut lawmakers say the industry cannot afford to take any chances. In Connecticut, eight freight lines including CSX, BNSF and Canadian Pacific operate over 364 miles of track. Freight trains move 1.2 million tons of material in Connecticut annually everything from waste and scrap to stone, sand and gravel. They deliver 1.3 million tons to locations throughout the state. The FRA projected the two-crew-member rule would cost railroads an extra million a year. But the industry said the agency massively underestimated the cost, pegging it at $48 million a year or $264.7 million over 10 years. The industry argues the freight train derailment rate on the countrys 140,000-mile track network is at an all-time low, down 25 percent from 2010 to 2015. The government will close the comment period on the rule on Aug. 15. An FRA spokesman said there is no timetable for modifying or issuing the rule thereafter. At least 26 people, mostly children, were killed Saturday when a vehicle carrying wedding guests was washed off a mountainous road by floods and flung into a gorge, officials said. The dead included 18 children and six women. "Rescue operation has been completed, dead bodies of 26 people had been retrieved," Rahimullah Mehsud, a local government official of Khyber tribal district, where the incident took place, told AFP. Mehsud earlier said rescue workers and residents were facing difficulties as the "area is remote and mountainous". The accident happened when a pick-up truck carrying the groom's party of 29 was hit by floods in a remote village in Khyber, one of Pakistan's seven tribal districts bordering Afghanistan. Three people who survived were taken to hospital. Hekmat Khan, another government official, confirmed the new death toll and told AFP that the child victims were aged up to nine years. The heavy monsoon rains began earlier this month, drenching the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and central Punjab provinces, which have been badly affected by flooding in recent years that some scientists have linked to climate change. Search Keywords: Short link: GREENWICH A contract for the dredging of the clogged Mianus River channel is close to being signed, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In all, about 50,000 cubic yards of sediment are expected to be scooped from the federal channel, which has not been dredged in more than 30 years. The project, requested by the town and sponsored by the state of Connecticut, must be carried out between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, because of environmental conditions, the Corps said. Cos Cob resident Valerie Cella has won the 2016 National American Miss Southern New England Jr. Teen Cover Girl at the state pageant on July 23 in Springfield, MA. The 16-year-old, who is the daughter of private investor and radio host Gary Cella and Dr. Christine DelPin Cella, is the youngest third-degree black belt in Taekwondo in the state of Connecticut as well as a volunteer with Greenwich Medical Emergency Service and 21 Strong! which provides support to families embracing Down syndrome. She has been invited to compete in NAMs National Pageant in California. Out there Retired Attorney and Westchester resident A. Roger Charles has published a political novel, "Protective Order: The Disarming of America and Destruction of the American Way of Life. The recently released book, inspired by actual events, takes place in the communities of Bedford and Armonk, N.Y., focusing on an innocent man facing off against a corrupt local government. It chronicles the violations of the Second Amendment rights and judicial system. To purchase a copy of the book, visit https://www.amazon.com/Protective-Order-Disarming-Destruction-American/dp/152288310X/. Scene The Avon Theater on Bedford Street in Stamford will present a special screening of the new film Equity on Aug. 16 followed by a question and answer session with Alysia Reiner, producer/star; Sarah Megan Thomas, producer/Star, and Grenewich resident Linda Zwack Munger, co producer. Greenwich residents Susan Bevan, Audrey McNiff, Linda Munger, Urling Searle and Susan S. Hinrichs have funded the movie starring actors James Naughton of Weston, Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) and Alysia Reiner, among others. The movie, released in New York on Friday, will appear in select theaters throughout August with a full release in September. For more info and tickets, visit www.avontheatre.org or call 203-661-0321. Out there Greenwich United Way and Wu and Y (www.wuandy.com) are looking for artists with a connection to Greenwich to submit designs inspired by reading for a chance to have their design featured on Wu and Y joggers and yoga pants during the month of October. Submissions will be accepted Monday through Aug. 26. Wu and Y founders Eric Wu and Michael Mantell will offer the unisex joggers and yoga pants with specialized print for one month and donate 50 percent of net proceeds from sales to Greenwich United Way Reading Champions. For more info, visit Greenwich United Way online (www.greenwichunitedway.org). Out there Regina and Michael Kirshbaum, owners of Agabhumi the Best of Bali in Stamford, have organized the Unbreakable Line of Unity in an effort to bring members of the community together in support of police officers and acceptance of all races, colors and creeds. The joining of hands of all participants begins at 6:45 p.m. at the end of Shippan Point in Stamford and ends at 7:30 p.m. at Washington Blvd. For more info and to volunteer, call Agabhumi at 1888-242-2254 or visit www.agabhumi.com. Out there The Glen Miller Orchestra is performing at The Ridgefield Playhouse on at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The 18-member orchestra, under the direction of vocalist Nick Hilscher, will perform hits from the Glen Miller Orchestra Library including Moonlight Serenade, In The Mood and Rhapsody in Blue. Tickets are $38. For more info and tickets, call 203-438-5795. And thats all for now. Later Got a tip? Seen a celebrity? E-mail Susie Costaregni at thedish2@yahoo.com. Introduction Lenovotorola. Motonovo. Motorola. We should stop dwelling on what to call them as it really doesn't matter now. Since Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola has been completed, Lenovo has developed a successor to the Moto X lineup which had a great three-generation run. Sure, other aspects of Motorola's Moto X have been phased away, namely, Moto Maker. It allowed consumers to customize (aesthetically) their Moto X exactly how they wanted, but we haven't heard it mentioned for the Moto Z. It seems that Lenovo doesn't think Moto Maker is worth the trouble, anymore. Well, at least for now. Maybe the company will bring it back or launch it later closer to the holiday season. The Moto Z is one of two devices part of the Moto Z lineup. The Moto Z Force is near-identical to the Moto Z, in fact, both Verizon models share the same XT1650 model number with a "-01" or "-02" to differentiate the two. The Z Force has a larger 3,500mAh battery, shatter proof display, and higher-resolution 21MP rear facing camera. Sidenote: This review is based on the Moto Z Droid, which is the US version of the internationally available Moto Z. The phone is available exclusively on Verizon's network in the US. The carrier has successfully held onto its exclusive 'Droid' branding for about 7 years now which kicked off with the Motorola Droid, then the Droid RAZRs, and more recently the Droid Turbo 2, all of which were Verizon exclusives in the US. This is also the first time a "Droid" device shares the "Moto" branding as well. It looks like Verizon's terms with the Droid branding have changed seeing as there is no sign of "Verizon" branding on this phone. Key features 5.5" AMOLED screen, QHD (1440x2560 / 535 ppi), Gorilla Glass, Water-resistant nano-coating (splash-proof but not submersible) Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 - dual-core 2.15 GHz Kyro & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kyro w/ Adreno 530, 4GB of RAM 32 or 64GB of internal storage, microSD expandable up to 2TB Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Moto Enhancements (Moto Voice, Moto Display, and Moto Actions) 13MP camera, f/1.8 aperture, 1.12-m pixels, OIS, laser autofocus, dual-tone LED flash. 1080p video @ 30 or 60fps, 4K @ 30fps. 5MP front-facing camera with wide angle, front-facing LED flash Fingerprint sensor U.S. Version - CDMA: 850, 1900MHz, GSM/GRPS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz), UTMS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100MHz), LTE Bands: 2, 3, 5, 7, 13 2,600 mAh battery, Moto 15W Turbo Charger USB Cons Below-average battery life No USB transfer cable included (charger and its cable are one piece) No standard 3.5mm audio jack (an adapter from USB Type C is provided) Moto Mods aren't cheap Exclusive to Verizon in the US (for now) As many Snapdragon 820 devices as there are on the market right now: Galaxy S7 (US), LG G5, HTC 10, Sony Xperia X Performance, and possibly one of the two upcoming Nexus devices, The Moto Z brings Motorola's own flare to the marriage of software and the Snapdragon 820 chip. As for the Moto Z's camera, we are expecting major improvements as the Moto X lineup has been infamous for awful low-light performance when taking pictures. So we are curious to see if Lenovo's touch will help to deliver a camera experience better than "average". The Moto Z is now available at Verizon for $624 or $26 per month when you opt to pay for the phone in installments over 24 months. While the Moto Z won't include any Moto Mods out of the box, Best Buy is currently offering the Moto Z at $200 off AND it includes the JBL Speaker Moto Mod. As for the rest of the world, there is no pricing or availability information for the Moto Z's worldwide launch. Offical photos of Moto Z in Fine Gold and Lunar Grey The Moto Z also brings another implementation of modular accessories which add functionalities to the phone by simply expanding. It's quite different than LG's execution of such modular accessories with LG's "Friends". We're excited to see how Moto Mods work with Motorola's Moto Mod platform. Head over to the next page where we dig into the Moto Z's retail box and get a closer look at the device that will carry the 'Moto' name into the future. The SM-G5700, which was spotted on Zauba late last month and is alleged to be the 2016 iteration of Samsung's Galaxy On5 (SM-G550) smartphone from last year, has been certified by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), suggesting that it could be launched sooner than later. For those who aren't aware, the device has already been spotted on benchmarking website Geekbench, revealing some of its key specs, including Exynos 7570 chipset with quad-core 1.4GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The Zuaba listing for the device revealed a 5-inch display. Via Tarek El-Dewiri's Zombie And The Ten Sins, which was performed in Cairo last week, is one of many works where the director embeds politics in physical theatre Following studiying theatre at Helwan University, Tarek El-Dewiri has been continuously involved in Egypt's theatre scene, working first as an actor, and then director, with troupes performing at the Hanager Arts Centre on a stage that in the 1990s was among the first spaces to embrace many young independent theatre makers. It is in Hanager that El-Dewiry made his directorial debut with Zaman Al-Taoon (Time Of The Plague), an adaptation of Brecht's The Life of Galileo. The play brought him the National Encouragement Award in 2003. El-Deweiry then continued his creative journey, directing an array of important plays, including Al-Muhakma (The Trial), a play that earned five prizes at the 2014 National Theatre Festival. Most recently, El-Dewiri directed Al-Zombie Wa Al-Khataya Al-Ashra (Zombie and The Ten Sins), which is one of the plays participating in the ongoing 9th National Theatre Festival. Ahram Online talked to El-Deweiry about his latest play and discussed his artistic journey and creative choices. Ahram Online (AO): In Zombie and The Ten Sins, you choose physical theatre rather than something classical that relies mainly on dialogue. Why so? Tarek El-Deweiry (TD): Our first trial was originally based on 1984 by George Orwell, and other works, but 1984 was the basis of our work. It was hard for us to use dialogue; we wanted to experiment outside of dialogue. Getting the story across doesn't have to be done orally, it can be done through an image with all of its details, through cinematography, movement, dancing. That can have an even greater impact than a simple conversation. AO: Besides 1984, the play is also based on the novels Farenheit 451 and Brave New World. What different elements of these works did you incorporate into your production? TD: In 1984, the people in control were coercive and used violence, in Farenheit 451 they burned books, thus suppressing people's ideas and replacing them with glamour, publicity, television and what not, and in Brave New World they created a model of happiness for people to aspire to: material happiness from the consumption of their products. It's like capitalism in a way, which gives us a model for happiness, a model for beauty, etc. There are three tools of control often used in the world: fear, consumption in materialistic societies, and religion in societies like ours. AO: What do the giant white figures seen on stage represent? TD: They are people controlling the world, like unlimited businesses and capitalists who control the world's wealth because they determine economic policies and what societies should aspire to, how people should be born, the way they should look, and what color they should be. They determine what is right and what is wrong. And around the world you'll find different ideals. In the West, the ideal is material happiness. Here, there's the use of violence and religion, as well as consumerism. So we have a mix of all those tools of control. AO: What message stands behind Zombie and the Ten Sins (Al-Zombie Wa Al-Khataya Al-Ashra)? TD: It's not really a message. We need to find out where we are and where we're going as a society. This is the general meaning of the play. There are several levels of understanding. One way of understanding it that is specific to our society is what happened with the revolution, its violent consequences, and the imagery plays a big part in that. There's a connection between what happened during the revolution and what is happening in the rest of the world. We're definitely in the age of the zombie. The age of many sins, not just 10. AO: Politics is among the dominant themes returning in the plays you direct or those you play in. Besides Zombie and the Ten Sins, we can give examples of Al-Muhakma (The Trial), and Hafalat Al Tawakuf Aan Al Ghunaa (Stop Singing Parties) which is about the torture of political prisoners or Nora Amin's Ado Al Shaab (2013) in which you acted and which is also a very political play. Why those choices? TD: Whether we like it or not, politics is part of our lives. We talk about water, air, food and drink with politics. Everything we do and talk about is, whether we like it or not, affected by the material, economic reality that surrounds us. AO: Your previous play, Al-Muhakma was supposed to premiere during the year when the Muslim Brotherhood was still in power, and it was very relevant to those times. What was the reason behind mounting this play and during this time? TD: Al-Muhakma is an adaptation of Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. The country went through a revolution, then came the military council, then the Islamist movement took over. I thought that we needed to look into the freedom of expression. AO: But then the play was delayed for about a year ... TD: True, but this was due to many administrative reshufflings that paralleled the political changes. The Ministry of Culture went through a lot of changes as well; each few months we had a new theatre committee and new directors. Nasser Abdel Moneim was the first to give blessing to my project but he left the committee chair before its implementation. People were coming and going. Without quoting names and recalling a different situation, what is important now is that it finally saw daylight and earned several awards at the 2014 National Theatre Festival. AO: But with Al-Muhakma you also faced some criticism with people objecting to the ideas presented in it, correct? This also brings us to the question of censorship, and whether youve experienced it before. TD: Many people wanted to make clear divisions based on a concept that if you were against the military, you were with Morsi, and if you were against Morsi, you were with the military. And the truth is, the revolution, which I supported, never chose Morsi nor Shafiq; it neither asked for the army nor the Muslim Brotherhood. As for censorship, I think government censorship at the time of Morsi wasn't too preoccupied with culture. Morsi focused on other fields, such as mass media, the police, the military. Censorship was indirectly involved in 2006, at the time of the regime crackdown, when, for example, my play Hafalat Al-Tawakuf Aan Al-Ghunaa was coming out, at times when the director of Al-Hanager Arts Centre was Hoda Wasfi. State Security told her the play was making fun of them and the system. So she told them the play could very well be interpreted as something about Guantanamo. In the end, it was not included in the 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: Smart keyboard and prediction tech company SwiftKey has said that it's working quickly to resolve an issue that causes "unfamiliar terms" as well as other users' email addresses to show up as text predictions. "While this did not pose a security issue for our customers, we have turned off the cloud sync service and are updating our applications to remove email address predictions. During this time, it will not be possible to back up your SwiftKey language model," the company said in a blog post. According to Swiftkey, most users aren't affected by the issue, and those seeing unfamiliar predictions can contact the company through email - for email address, head to the Source link below. Source | Via | Image The defendants were sentenced over the killing of a senior police officer during a 2013 raid in Giza A Giza criminal court sentenced on Saturday 13 people to death in a retrial over the 2013 killing of a senior police officer during a raid on an Islamist stronghold in Giza. The defendants stood trial over the death of high-ranking police officer Nabil Farag, who was killed in a shootout with militants during a security raid in Gizas Kerdasa district. Kerdasa has been known to be a stronghold for supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The defendants faced other charges including the attempted murder of police personnel and the possession of firearms and explosives. The court said on Saturday that it referred the death sentence against the 13 defendants to the Grand Mufti, the country's highest official interpreter of Islamic law, for his opinion, a judicial source said. Under Egyptian law, the Mufti is consulted for his religious opinion on verdicts of capital punishment, though his opinion is not binding. The court set 24 September for the final ruling in the case The defendants were first sentenced to death in absentia in 2014, and then retried after they were in custody. Saturday's sentences can still be appealed. Short link: Published on 2016/07/30 See how a North Korean defector uses webtoons to breakdown barriers, Asia-Pacific examines whether or not Korea is returning to its authoritarian past, DMZ guards take up ballet to relax and stay frosty, and see how 'soft' masculinity is depicted in Asian pop culture. Advertisement "[Interview] North Korean defector uses humor to spur 'cultural reunification'" Choi Seong-guk, a North Korean defector, is using the curious power of comedy to help encourage a unified Korea through webcomics: "The ups and downs of Yong-cheol's experiences illustrate the differences of culture and attitude between North and South Koreans, and many of the responses describe the comic as both instructive and highly entertaining". ...READ ON THE HANKYOREH "South Koreans fear return to authoritarian past" Is South Korea in danger of returning to its authoritarian past? Song Jung-a examines the fear as well as the facts in her analysis of Korea's current socio-political climate. "Censorship has become more widespread across the cultural sector under the current administration", says Kim Jong-gil, an art critic. "Many artists have a fear about expressing themselves freely through political satire or parody". ...READ ON ASIA-PACIFIC "South Korean soldiers practice ballet to relax after guarding the world's deadliest border" What can the U.S. learn from South Korea's military culture? Chris Weller covers a group of South Korean soldiers who are taking up ballet to relax after their shift along one of the world's most dangerous borders, the DMZ: "By putting on thin, padded shoes and learning the graceful art, they forge deeper relationships with one another and ease their minds after dealing with turmoil". ...READ ON TECH INSIDER "The new face of masculinity in East Asian pop culture" The previous story suggests that maybe South Korea's ideas around masculinity are slowly shifting, but what about in Korea's pop culture? Geng Song takes a detailed look at what's happening in Korea's idol scene: "Pan-East Asian soft masculinity has its roots in the Confucian tradition of scholar masculinity shared by many East Asian cultures, such as the "wen" (literary attainment) masculinity in China or "seonbi" (scholar-officials) masculinity in Korean history..." ...READ ON TODAY ONLINE Published on 2016/07/30 | Source Added episode 4 captures for the Korean drama "W" (2016) Advertisement Directed by Jeong Dae-yoon Written by Song Jae-jeong Network : MBC With Lee Jong-suk, Han Hyo-joo, Jung Eugene, Lee Tae-hwan, Park Won-sang, Cha Kwang-soo,... 16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00 Synopsis A mysterious melodrama about a parallel universe which depicts a man and a woman who live in the same Seoul but in different environments. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2016/07/20 More Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 11:01, 28 OCT 2022 Im no longer a regular reader of European daily newspapers. But I read their magazines and remain a watcher of their television serials and of their political debates. The message they deliver goes like this: the European Union is a ambitious political project and an economic necessity. If people reject it, this is due to irrational fears, which are to be explained by a reluctance to envision and to accept the necessary restructuration of economy and societies, to adapt (this is the key word) to the new realities. Sometimes somebody says the No is the symptom of a racist attitude that does not want to die. The No, according to the pundits, has a social basis: the old and the losers, those egoists or poorly educated people who do not need or do not want to think about the future and who do not have a political project. Many tend to blame the outlook of European economies for the "No." An outlook will sooner or later change, so the solution is to wait. Sometimes observers admit that the European Union is too oligarchic, and say a solution should be found. Others say most European leaders shy from taking unpopular but necessary decisions, leaving this to Brussels and hiding behind it. This had and has a negative impact on the projects popularity. Others concede that the European bureaucracies are overlapping, obscure entities that have created a strange technocratic terminology with a lot of new empty concepts, initials and acronyms. But this is not enough to dismiss the project. This one is necessary, as the traditional nation state is ill-equipped to face the new challenges, climatic change, ecology, terrorism, migrants, economic globalisation, multi-ethnic societies and so on. The pundits also admit the European Union is actually failing to deliver security, but they add we must not forget it was, after 1945, a force for peace, and we must see the solution is more union, not less. The overall message basically says three or four different things: the European Union is a good idea and a great project, the future Europeans cannot escape, and those who do not accept it are simply not serious, as they do not want to admit that the traditional nation state formula is no longer appropriate. Although I agree on many points, I have a structural problem with this narrative. First of all, we all know European populations, when asked by referendum, express frank hostility or at least strong scepticism. Second, if, as suggested, British, French, Dutch, Europeans lack political consciousness, it is difficult to see who on this planet would deserve the honour of being labelled lucid by the pundits. Third, I claim to have personal access to some of Frances brightest political thinkers, and an overwhelming majority has problems with Europe and they are neither old, nor marginal, nor losers. Fourth, the media tend to blame poor communication skills for the public opinions attitude, but this is too easy to be true. If you are, since 1990, unable to find the right convincing message, then maybe the problem lies elsewhere. Of course, the European Union project has a strong social basis (between a third and a half of the population) and has achieved a lot. The young people from the middle class are staunch defenders: they like the kind of life that is now possible, thanks to the free circulation of persons and goods, to the single currency, to the single market, to the common programmes, to the mingling of various people. They like the underlying political project and its values: cultural liberalism, human rights discourse and advocacy, multiculturalism, peace through various exchanges, be it commercial or not. It is equally obvious that the new challenges are too complex and need answers that are too costly for each single country alone. Division of labour, pooling of resources, sharing of information, joint efforts are increasingly necessary in many fields, mainly economy, defence and security. It is also true that Europeans blame the Union for problems that were not caused by its existence or by its practices: for instance, migration and newcomers are due to the demographic disaster, not to the Brussels bureaucrats naivete. The worrying weakening of the states sovereignty is not all due to the European Union the internet, communications and media revolutions are to be blamed for this. The crisis of the classical assimilation of foreigners model is not generated by the existence of the Union. It should be noted the European Union is not the child of a single political and cultural project, but of many competing ones. For instance, from the very beginning a fierce conflict opposed those who wanted a tool against American hegemony and those who wanted to be an efficient ally of the US. At its start, the project was the child of the Christian Democrats who wanted to guarantee peace and who were afraid of seeing Germany trying to exact revenge, or accept the Finland option. Now it is to a great extent a multiculturalist leftist project. We can also say that the idea had two widely different lives: the one before the single act treaty (1987) and the one after it, strongly influenced by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany. Last but not least, a collapse of the Euro would be terribly costly. Nevertheless, the sceptics have a very strong case, which cannot be dismissed. It deserves a serious examination. To be followed. Search Keywords: Short link: Story and Photos by Jessica Isaacs | [email protected] The Rev. Delmar James is one of four preachers who will be honored with their wives at a community-wide pastor appreciation event set for Saturday, Aug. 6 at the National Guard Armory in Boone. Click here to read more about the event and check out the July 2016 edition of High Country Magazine for the full story. The Journey Begins Born and raised in the Sugar Grove community, Delmar James grew up in his familys home church at Willow Valley. I used to go to Willow Valley. Thats where I was saved and thats where I was raised, he said. When we moved up to Vilas, I got to meet some of the young people at Willow Dale. I dont remember exactly how it got started, but I visited there and eventually moved my membership there. Thats where I was first placed in leadership. By his late teens and early 20s, Delmar was already closely involved with Willow Dale Baptist as a deacon, a youth director and a music director. I would do all of the announcements and everything. He would preach and he told me one day, Youre my right hand man, he said. I didnt understand what he meant, but now I do. It was during this time that he made the acquaintance of Dianne, a girl he often saw traveling between churches and programs to sing with her family. The Craig family would go around signing to a lot of the churches and a lady she worked with was trying to get us sort of hooked up. Id heard she was going to be at a singing one night, so I used to go to the church to see her, he said. Whenever Id hear she would be there singing, Id go. I cant remember exactly when, but eventually I asked her out for a date. The rest was history for these two, who were both in their mid-20s at the time. With her family being a singing group, we went to a lot of singings together. That was our dating, he said. We dated for about six months and we did most of our dating at church. They were married in late June, and, together, their strong faith and trust in the Lord were the beginning of what would soon become a lifetime of ministry. As he continued to take on more responsibility at Willow Dale, he drew closer and closer to God and felt more and more that there was a call on his life. I was at a revival at Willow Dale. Id always had this tug about preaching, he said. I would dream about preaching, and every time an invitation was given at the church it seemed like it was always pointing at me, like I needed to rededicate my life to the Lord. Although ministry was clearly on his heart, he still didnt feel ready to preach. Eventually, it got to the point where my pastor said, Youre gonna have to quit rededicating and start doing what the Lord calls you to do, he explained. So, that was when I answered the call. Surrender After preaching in a few local churches, he received his first invitation to a fulltime pastorate, but he will still doubting his abilities. There was a little church in Tennessee called Bethel Baptist. They called me over to fill in and I went over there for a few months, he said. They called me as their pastor and I was so shy and so scared of being that, even though Id announced my call to preach, that I rejected that call. So, I came back and thought maybe just doing the youth ministry, leading the choir and being a deacon was what I was supposed to do. God has a way of really getting our attention when He needs us, and thats exactly what he did for Delmar. When he was forced to undergo emergency surgery after complications following a nearly ruptured appendix, he found himself hospitalized for more than a month. That was back in the gas crisis when youd have to stand in line a long time to get gas. I dont remember exactly when that was, but I remember my wife telling me how long she had to wait, he explained. I was in the hospital for 35 days. While I was there, God really got my attention. He said, You need to surrender your life to me. Following that message, just when Delmar was feeling discouraged enough to believe he might not make back home, an angel of his own showed up to speak to him. There was an orderly in the hospital. He came to me and he saw that I had given up. He said, Youll never get out of here. Youll never get out of here, said Delmar. He made me so mad that I was determined to get up, and I surrendered my life to the Lord then, and I told Him I was willing to go anywhere. Shortly thereafter, he received an invitation to preach at a little brick church in the Meat Camp community called Proffits Grove Baptist. In March of 1976, they called me to be their pastor. I currently working at the Coca Cola Company, and I had worked there for about 10 years. I dont know how long it was before I quit my job to be fulltime at Proffits Grove, but the church started growing, said Delmar. I intended to go to Fruitland Bible College in Hendersonville, but God was just blessing the church so much that I felt like I didnt have time to do that. I was working fulltime at Coca Cola and pastoring fulltime for a while. Eventually, he started preaching part-time at Laurel Fork, too. I did that for a while, but I felt led by the Lord to preach both Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, he said. The church decided to do that, and thats when I felt the need quit my job at Coca Cola. Unsure how to proceed with maintaining their responsibilities without the income of Delmars job, he and Dianne took a leap of faith and put their trust in God. I stepped out on faith as far as finances were concerned. My wife was working at ASU in the registrars office and I didnt know how it was going to affect us, but we stepped out, he explained. We went to fulltime, the church voted us in, God took control of our finances and weve been there ever since. Spiritual Growth This year makes four decades that Delmar and Dianne have been at Proffits Grove. Its become their home, and they have seen it blossom in so many ways since they first arrived in 1976. When I first went there, there were around 60 or 70 people. Since I first started there, a lot of our older folks that where there when I came have passed on, he said. We have had a lot of folks join, though, and our attendance now is averaging around 110. Weve been up and down in attendance, but we have really some really great deacons and really great leadership. More than a growth in numbers, however, Delmar has been privileged to witness a spiritual growth at Proffits Grove and in its community. I have a praying church. I have a loving church. I have a giving church, he explained. You can ask them at the last minute, as long as you tell them the details and as much as you know, and they will help. There have been times wed find out on Wednesday about a certain need, so Id tell the church and they would always, always help. While Proffits Grove is nestled into a unique community on the outskirts of the county, it draws in a regular crowd of members and visitors who travel outside of their own areas to be a part of the family. We have several people that come to church here that dont live here in the community. They drive from outside of it, and thats another thing that has changed since Ive been here, he said. We also have a good youth group and young adult group. Proffits Grove is home for Delmar and Dianne, thats for sure. Ive seen spiritual growth here, but the loving and giving nature was probably here before I came. I didnt have anything to do with it, thats just who they are, he said. They are a fine church and theyve been so good to us. I have made a lot of mistakes as a pastor, and they have forgiven me and overlooked that. We have had our ups and downs and issues like any other churches, but everyone always seems to come together and agree to work it out. They love being part of the Proffits Grove family, but they know they wouldnt have been able to make it 40 years on their own. To be at a church that long is not because of the pastor, but because of the Lord keeping him there and a good church supporting him, said Delmar. At Proffits Grove, Delmars mission remains the same as it would if he were anywhere else: to preach the gospel, to get the truth out and to help people in need. Thats not just for the pastor, but its also for the church, he said. The couple says theyre flattered to be honored by the greater faith community this summer for their continued service, although theyve never felt comfortable standing in the limelight. Ive never felt worthy of any recognition because God knows our hearts. It feels really backward to think of our name in the headlines, said Delmar. Dianne is the same way. We are no different from any pastor thats been in their church for one year, but we do feel very honored to be considered. As for the future, the two say theyre very attached to their Proffits Grove family, but they are, first and foremost, servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have never felt that strong urge to leave Proffits Grove, although that could change tomorrow. We are such a family. After being there for 40 years, you become really connected, Delmar explained. These people are not my blood kin, but Im as close to my church family as I am to my own relatives; not because we dont love each other, but because the church treats us like family and we feel like family. Ive told my deacons this before. If my health ever gets to the place where I dont think I can pastor I will resign for the churchs sake; but, when and if that time comes, it will be the hardest thing Ill ever have to do. They have always taken care of us. I know every pastor should feel that way, but all I can says is that, to me, this is the best church in the world. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket Health The field of health is rapidly changing and increasingly complex. Our content helps you keep up with the latest trends in health care in ways you can understand. Thomas Grimes from Ferryman's Crossing Dublin 1, pictured after he appeared at Swords Court on charges of theft A shoplifter stole a high-end speaker system to help pay for cocaine after he had "a slip" following the death of his sister. Thomas Grimes (46) had been drug-free for years, but he found it difficult to cope after his sister died as a result of her own drug use last January. A court heard the defendant was stealing to feed his own addiction. Judge Dermot Dempsey ordered Grimes to complete 240 hours of community service in lieu of two months in prison. The defendant admitted before Swords District Court to stealing a speaker system valued at 399. The theft took place at Harvey Norman, Airside Retail Park, Swords, last March 11. Gda Gerard Oakes told the court that Grimes entered the store shortly after 11am, picked up the speaker system and walked out without paying for it. He said Grimes was not stopped in the store and he was later identified as the culprit from CCTV footage. The officer said the speaker system was not recovered. The court heard that the defendant, of Ferryman's Crossing, Seville Place, Dublin 1, has 20 previous convictions, including six for theft-related matters. Mourning Defence lawyer Patrick Jackson said Grimes has not been in trouble since 2013. He said the defendant is a father of two grown-up children and is in a relationship with a long-term partner. He added that he previously had a cocaine problem. The lawyer said Grimes had been clean of drugs for several years and had been doing very well. However, Mr Jackson said the defendant's sister died tragically last January, and Grimes had "a slip" and began using cocaine again. The lawyer said Grimes did not cope very well with his sister's death, and he was mourning her loss at the time of this incident. In relation to the theft, Mr Jackson said Grimes took the speaker system so he could sell it and buy drugs for his own use. Mr Jackson said the defendant was no longer taking cocaine and was receiving treatment and counselling for his addiction. He said Grimes wished to apologise to the court and to the staff in Harvey Norman for his behaviour. Judge Dempsey ordered urinalysis and adjourned the case to a date in September to allow the probation service to assess the defendant's suitability for community service. The judge who jailed three former banking executives for a 7bn conspiracy criticised State authorities for "turning a blind eye". Handing down sentences to the three men, Judge Martin Nolan said former Anglo Irish Bank executives John Bowe (52) and Willie McAteer (65) and the former group chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent plc (ILP) Denis Casey (56) took part in a scheme that was "deceitful, dishonest and corrupt". He said the conspiracy potentially affected thousands of people and that the starting point for his sentence was eight years. The judge said certain State authorities turned a blind eye to "optically driven balance sheet management" which he said was a euphemism for banks entering into transactions which have little or no effect. Attitude The evidence during the trial was that Bowe believed the attitude of the Financial Regulator was one of "I'm not looking" and that Casey became involved with the transactions after being told by the Regulator that Irish banks needed to "don the green jersey" and help each other out during the unprecedented global credit crunch. Judge Nolan also criticised the auditors who signed off on the bank's books. He said it beggared belief that Anglo's auditors, Ernst & Young (now EY), had signed off on Anglo's end-of-year accounts. "They should have known what was occurring if they were doing their job properly," he said, and commented as to whether it was a case of "blindness or wilful blindness". During proceedings, he said the three men had failed to act with honesty and integrity by manufacturing 7.2bn in deposits in what were obviously "sham transactions". The deals were done in September 2008 in order to make Anglo's books look healthier than they were. Judge Nolan said it was a serious matter that two blue-chip companies conspired together to manipulate public accounts. He said individual depositors and investors relied on and made decisions based on the public accounts of companies. He said that if the public cannot rely on probity of blue-chip companies and banks, we lose all trust in them. He added that money was important to people, especially to older people who have nest eggs invested in banks. "They are entitled to rely on honesty and integrity. In this case honesty and integrity were sorely lacking," Judge Nolan said. He added that Anglo's former CEO, David Drumm, was the driving force behind the scheme. Bowe, of Glasnevin, Dublin; McAteer, of Greenrath, Tipperary town; and Casey, from Raheny, Dublin, had all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with others to defraud by setting up a 7.2 billion circular transaction scheme between March 1 and September 30, 2008 to bolster Anglo's balance sheet. Jailing McAteer for three-and-a-half years, Judge Nolan said he had authorised the transactions when he knew what he was doing was underhand, deceitful and corrupt. He told Bowe that he was the chief man in Anglo's treasury room and he had failed to act with honesty. He told him that, in law, following orders was no defence. Grave He imposed a two-year sentence on Bowe, telling him the lower sentence was because he was "a lesser functionary" and not a board member. He told Casey that he had made a grave error of judgment in authorising the transaction with Anglo. He said he was a man who should have known better. He jailed him for two years and nine months after telling him that Anglo was the author of the scheme but that he had behaved disgracefully and reprehensibly in cooperating with it. Casey told gardai that he only agreed to the 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. A Dublin woman left "devastated" by the death of her father - who was killed by a motorist who broke a red light - has appealed to people to slow down this Bank holiday weekend. A total of 12 people have lost their lives on Irish roads in the past six days and gardai have appealed to anyone travelling this weekend to drive with care. Mum-of-three Lisa Marie Maher has spoken of the heart-break that her family experienced after her beloved dad Eugene Maher (62) was killed at a pedestrian crossing in Clontarf. She described as "bitter-sweet" the fact that she had her third baby, a little boy, on the one-year anniversary of his death on June 30, 2016. She named him Ollie Eugene as a tribute to her dad. "On July 2, a couple of days after I had the baby, we formally buried my dad's ashes and the whole family got together for a ceremony," she told the Herald. "It just felt like, you say goodbye to one soul but you say hello to another." Last month, Christopher Coleman (27) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Maher at the junction of Clontarf Road and the Howth Road. Coleman, who has 15 previous convictions, also admitted leaving the scene of the crash and to driving without insurance. He was banned from driving at the time of the accident and never held a licence. Coleman was jailed for two-and-a-half years for his crime. Lisa Marie said her family was "absolutely shattered" with the outcome of the case and felt it should have been a longer sentence. "I tried to be strong for my family but we just felt the justice system completely failed us on the day," she said. "He sent us a letter before the court date apologising for what happened. "It didn't mean anything to us. I didn't want to touch the letter. I was still too raw for me. "I feel that a car or a mechanically-propelled vehicle is a deadly weapon and should be treated as such. I want to ask people to slow down, put away the phone and be more aware when they're driving." Crossing She said her dad loved going down to Dollymount Strand on his bike from their home in Drumcondra and it was one of his favourite past-times. Lisa-Marie, who runs the Opportunity Company with fiance Darren Foy, said he had been crossing at the same point for over 20 years. "Even though he was on his bike, he wanted to be extra careful so he'd cross at the pedestrian crossing," he said. "So it was ironic that the guy driving the car broke the lights at considerable speed. My dad didn't stand a chance." Jockey Ruby Walsh pictured with his wife Gillian, after the funeral mass for jockey JT McNamara at St Michaels Church in Manister, near Croom, Co Limerick. The devastated wife of jockey JT McNamara received a standing ovation at his funeral as she paid an emotional tribute to her husband's courage. Caroline McNamara said, that while they had faced "many, many difficult days" since the accident left him paralysed three years ago, they had been able to spend the time together as a family, creating "special memories" for their three young children, Dylan, Olivia and Harry. Expand Close St Michaels Church in Manister / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp St Michaels Church in Manister JT (41) had continued to set himself goals "all the time", and getting back home and out to his yard had been one of his major achievements, she said. She thanked the Irish Injured Jockeys' Fund, the Turf Club and the Injured Jockeys' Fund UK, saying that without their assistance "JT's return would not have been possible". Honour Tears slid down the cheeks of mourners as little Harry said a prayer of the faithful, thanking God for "my Dad". "We ask the angels to take good care of you. We love you, Dad," he said. Expand Close Jockey Barry Geraghty pictured with his wife Paula as they arrived at St Michael Church for the funeral mass of jockey JT McNamara at St Michaels Church in Manister, near Croom, Co Limerick. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jockey Barry Geraghty pictured with his wife Paula as they arrived at St Michael Church for the funeral mass of jockey JT McNamara at St Michaels Church in Manister, near Croom, Co Limerick. President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny were represented at the funeral in Manister, Co Limerick by their aides-de-camp. Other notable mourners included JP McManus, trainers Ted Walsh senior, Mouse Morris, Tom Taaffe, Willie Mullins, Enda Bulger and Gordon Elliot. Around 30 jockeys formed a guard of honour as the remains left the church for burial. Among those who attended were Ruby Walsh, Barry Geraghty, Nina Carberry, AP McCoy, Davy Russell, Robbie Power, John Joe O'Neill, Robbie McNamara and former jockey Mick Kinane. Canon Gary Bluett, chief celebrant of the funeral, paid tribute to JT in the words of Shakespeare. "Goodnight sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest," he said. Expand Close Jockey AP McCoy pictured after funeral mass for jockey JT McNamara at St Michaels Church in Manister, near Croom, Co Limerick. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jockey AP McCoy pictured after funeral mass for jockey JT McNamara at St Michaels Church in Manister, near Croom, Co Limerick. "That was Hamlet - Prince of Denmark, John - Prince of Manister. May he rest in peace," he said. Afterwards, JP McManus said JT's death has not been in vain because "so much good has come out of it". Ruby Walsh spoke of JT's courage and fortitude in the face of such hardship. "Today is a very sad day, but three years ago in Cheltenham was a very sad day," he said. "His mental strength and his willpower for the last three years have been incredible," he added. Couples looking for a wedding venue in Albuquerque, New Mexico, used to be able to consider the modern, high-tech facilities at Desert Springs Church. That was then, before the word marriage became a legal landmine. This is now. This nondenominational flocks leaders recently decided that they needed to update their foundation documents for the age after the U.S. Supreme Courts 5-4 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Thus, their written policies now specify that the only weddings held there will be rites requested by church members as in believers who have vowed to honor its doctrinal statement. On marriage, that doctrinal statement now states: We believe that God created human beings in his image in two embodied sexual kinds male and female (Genesis 1:26-27). We believe that God designed men and women to unite in marriage, which is complementary, involving one of each sexual gender, exclusive, and permanent. A detailed support document adds: Gender is a part of Gods good creation and is bound to its roots as a biological reality. It is identifiable at birth. ... In other words, the churchs leadership realized that, in this litigious day and age, they would have to define, in highly specific terms rooted in doctrine, who could get married in their church. That would be safer than trying to define in a legal crunch who could not hold a wedding rite there. In some ways, all of this is a bummer, explained the Rev. Trent Hunter, the churchs pastor for administration and teaching. You dont go into ministry to be restrictive. You dont want to do things that limit the scope of your ministry. But were learning that you cant take any of this for granted, because the government is forcing us to be very open and specific about what we believe and why. ... So were wearing our beliefs on our sleeves. We have to serve our members with great clarity, and were trying to serve the public by being as honest as we can be. Theres more to this than weddings. Desert Springs Church also changed its printed policies on what civic or faith groups can meet in its buildings. Once again, church leaders created a direct link between the policy and their doctrinal statement, stating, Our facility is only available for ministries of our church or for ministries we formally partner with after evaluating the doctrinal commitments of these groups. All of these changes were based on advice in Protecting Your Ministry from Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Lawsuits, a short legal guide prepared for churches, schools and parachurch ministries by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Alliance Defending Freedom think tank. Another key issue, especially for religious schools, is clarity in job descriptions. The Supreme Court has clearly stated that religious organizations have every right to take doctrinal issues into account when hiring and firing staff members. However, Desert Springs heeded the legal guides advice to anticipate future changes, should the government attempt to distinguish between explicitly religious roles in a church and roles that are not spiritual in nature, wrote Hunter at the Canon and Culture website. Thus, the church now specifies in writing that staff must sign the church doctrinal statement and that all employees are expected to provide spiritual counsel from the Scriptures over the phone or in person as needed. ... In other words, every employee of our church represents Christ in their role and does so in concrete ways. In the past, the leaders of many religious organizations may have feared clarity on these kinds of issues, in part because they associated ink-on-paper doctrinal statements with ancient creeds and ecclesiastical hierarchies. Now, Hunter said, some clergy and laypeople may fear negative publicity and even protestors at their front doors. Weve been running on autopilot for a long time and things were going pretty well, or so we thought, he said. But things have changed. ... Its not just legal stuff. We have to change how we explain what we believe to people inside our churches and to the public, as well. We must become more aware as pastors when we are dealing with people who are involved in all of these issues. BRISTOL, Tenn. They come when its hot. They come when its cold. Theyre hungry and theyre in need. Theyre young and theyre old. But for the grace of God, said Barbara Knoll, there go I. Knoll founded and serves as the director of Sharing Christ Worship Center as part of Sharing Christ Ministries on State Street in downtown Bristol, Tennessee. We started in April 1990, she said. At 5:30 in the afternoon each Saturday, Knoll and a rotating lineup of volunteers from throughout the community prepare food for the hungry. Between 90 and 150 people typically show up for a free meal and a bag lunch to go. Last Saturday, 150 lined up to dine. Oh, Id say at least half of them are homeless, said Dee Curtis, a volunteer at Sharing Christ Worship Center. Ive known of them to live under bridges, train tracks, in tents, behind buildings. A simple cross draped gently from a necklace around Curtis neck. Im just a volunteer, she said. Im the hands and feet of Jesus. The Bible says, if your brother is in need, you help him. My passion is to love people and to show love, letting that light shine through. Local churches and civic organizations help provide the light by volunteering from week to week. Mom is the staff, said Ted Knoll, Barbara Knolls son. She coordinates 52 weeks a year, every Saturday night. We have businesses, civic clubs and churches which come in. It gives them an outlet to reach out to the less fortunate in the community. About 35 to 40 groups occupy the pool of volunteers, Barbara Knoll said. Tonight theyre from Woodlawn Baptist (of Bristol, Tennessee), she said. They prepare the meal. Theyll serve it and clean up. Consider their clientele. A line extended from the front doors of and well down the side of Sharing Christ Worship Center on Saturday afternoon. None smiled. They are the tired, the poor, this huddled mass. A lock clicked, two doors opened at 5:30, and they streamed in like immigrants off the ship in pursuit of some liberty. Heads bowed. Perhaps some were deep in prayer for that which they were about to receive, perhaps more in shame. Doubtful few if any enjoyed being there. After finishing a meal that included sausage gravy and biscuits, one woman approached. Im here to share the message about prayer with these people, the woman, Diane Braun, said. Do you come every Saturday? Just about every Saturday, Braun replied. I go up to them and tell em about God. I share the word of God with them. T.J. Hutson, youth minister at Woodlawn Baptist Church, handed Braun a white bag lunch that contained a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, banana, potato chips and a snack cake. God bless you, he said. God bless you, she replied. Most within the furtive crowd took no notice of the exchange. Eyes cast downward, forks in hand, they ate quickly amid a quiet hubbub. Some sat in wheelchairs. Babies cooed from strollers. A few folks limped in, sat, ate and left as they came, limping. One woman, identified only as C.J., paused while receiving a bag lunch to express the need that Sharing Christ Worship Center addresses in her life. They were here for me in a desperate situation, C.J. said. I was nearly homeless. Didnt have food. Somebody told me about this place. Ive been coming ever since. It has meant the world to me. She grasped the strangers hand with whom she spoke. A mix of gratitude and pleading canvassed the sadness in her eyes. I would have gone hungry, she said. A God bless you spoken and C.J., back to who knows where, was gone. Think of the stuff we take for granted, things we get to appreciate and have that so many dont have, Hutson said. Its a slap of reality to see how many people need these meals. Hutson stopped, handed a bag lunch to someone, voiced and received a God bless you, and continued. Every Saturday night, theyre here, he said. It may be the only meal they have today. All folks earn invitations to attend Sunday morning church services on-site and upstairs, which begin at 9 a.m. Barbara Knoll bears no qualms about the fact that in addition to feeding the hungry for food, she intends to feed the hungry of spirit, as well. Absolutely, she said. I encourage them to come to church every Sunday morning. Theres an altar call at both services. I pray for all of them, that they would come and join our services. Knoll references the Bible. From the table to the altar, food for the belly and food for the soul hers is a purpose with a higher calling in mind. Matthew 25 says to feed the hungry, Knoll said. Christians know the passage, Matthew 25:35, For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Consequently, Matthew 25 serves as the mission statement for Sharing Christ Worship Center. Out of this building, we are carrying out that passage, Knoll said. Jesus said to do this. Thats exactly what were trying to do. Underscore trying to do. While volunteering groups bring the food they serve from week to week, its left to Knoll to purchase paper cups and plates, plastic utensils, cleaning supplies and so forth. Shes not a wealthy woman, therefore cash donations are welcome. Meanwhile as the steady hands of time tick tock by, heartbreak passes through the feeding hands of Sharing Christ Worship Center each Saturday at 5:30. They come, they pray, they eat and they leave to a life thats far unkind thus far. You can see it every week, Knoll said. We pray for them. A number of years ago a man walked in and said, I dont want anything to eat. I just want to thank you for praying for me and putting things back together. He was a man of men with no name. In the summer, they sweat a salty river while in wait for food and prayer. In the winter, many with hands as blue as blueberries wait for food and prayer. Thats life for many in our daily midst. They wait for food and prayer. Would you print this? said one raw-boned fellow. A lone tear dropped to fill one of many lines that mapped his face. Bless this place, he said. And then as quickly as he came, he was gone. Tom Netherland is a freelance writer. He may be reached at features@bristolnews.com. If In Need What: A meal and a prayer When: Every Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Where: Sharing Christ Worship Center, 536 State St., Bristol, Tenn. Info: 423-764-1442 Send donations to: Sharing Christ Worship Center P.O. Box 3487 Bristol, Tennessee 37625 BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. Lakeem Scott was void of emotion Friday when his attorney entered a plea of not guilty during his first court appearance since being accused of a deadly shooting spree on the Volunteer Parkway in Bristol. Scott has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted first-degree murder and seven counts of employing a firearm in the commission of a felony in the July 7 shootings, which killed one woman and injured three others. Police believe that Scott walked from his Bristol, Tennessee, apartment and just after 2 a.m. fired randomly at passing motorists one was hit and died later while another was injured by flying glass shot a motel clerk, and then a police officer, who sustained only a superficial wound, before being shot by police. Scott, who was hospitalized for two-and-a-half weeks, is believed to have acted alone and may have been troubled by recent issues across the country between black people and police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said earlier. The 37-year-old Army veteran was brought into the courtroom for the arraignment in a wheelchair flanked by five Sullivan County Sheriffs deputies, who stood behind him. County District Attorney General Barry Staubus said he wasnt surprised that Scott pleaded not guilty. Its standard, he said. The arraignment is to put the defendant on notice to what hes being charged with. Its routine for a defense attorney to have the person plead not guilty because they have just been appointed to the case. Staubus added that he has not decided whether he will seek the death penalty in the case. I havent made that decision yet, he said. There are a lot of factors in every murder case. I have to review case law and talk to the victims family before the decision is made to seek the death penalty, life without parole or a life sentence there are a lot of factors I have to take into account before I make that decision. Staubus plans to talk to the family of Jennifer Rooney, the 44-year-old mother of two who was killed in the shootings. David Rooney, Jennifers widower, declined comment Friday, but quietly looked at Scott for the duration of the arraignment. Scott, who said he doesnt have any assets, lives on a veterans pension and Social Security disability, was appointed a public defender, Andrew Gibbons, by Criminal Court Judge James Goodwin. Staubus said Gibbons was in court Friday, but a specific attorney will be designated at a later date. Scott is being held on a $5 million bond in the county jail. His next court date is set for Sept. 16. University students are taking longer to finish their degree as opportunities for travel open up. According to figures by the National Statistical Office in July, 39.3 percent of university students had taken a leave of absence, and the average time it took to graduate from a four-year university was 5.3 years. The first generation of university students who took a leave of absence appeared in 1989 with the liberalization of overseas travel, which allowed students to attend language course and other programs abroad, but the number was minimal. However, with the tide of globalization in the mid 1990s, companies began to require fluent English from new recruits, and the number of students taking leave to study English abroad started to snowball. But the real threshold came in 1997, when the Asian crisis forced the country to seek help from the International Monetary Fund. A frozen job market and suddenly impoverished homes forced increasing numbers of students to take a leave of absence. The trend continued in the 2000s. Students in other countries also take leave to earn money for tuition, but the difference in Korea is that taking a leave of absence to prepare for the job market is now practically taken for granted. "American and Japanese university students prefer to gain professional experience while maintaining the status of enrolled student by doing internships during the summer vacation or going on exchange programs abroad. But it seems that Korean students prefer to temporarily hang up their studies due to the extreme stress of finding job," says Park Shin-suk, a professor of mechanical engineering at Korea University who studied in Japan and the United States. The primary factor was the chronic difficulty finding jobs. The fall of universities from ivory towers to job market preparation mills is another reason. One professor said, "Because universities failed to function as the place for advanced studies, students do not put too much meaning in university life, and their goal is just to get a degree. That is why so many university students are prolonging their status as students meaninglessly by taking a leave of absence." 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. According to the Science and Technology Policy Institute, 8,931 science and engineering PhD holders have left Korea, up almost three times compared to a decade ago. And four out of 10 are planning to leave if given the chance. "Talented researchers are leaving, and we can't attract foreign researchers," Hong Sung-min at STEPI said. Academics are turning their back on Korea even as the country requires more highly educated workers in the tech sector to keep abreast of the Chinese. The Chosun Ilbo and the Biological Research Information Center polled 1,005 science and engineering PhD holders and found that 47 percent would prefer to work abroad. Only 31 percent said they would definitely stay in Korea. The U.S. National Science Foundation conducted its own study in 2013, which showed around 60 percent of Korean science and engineering PhD holders in the U.S. saying they had no intention of returning to Korea. In yet another study by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning of 97,000 science and engineering PhD holders, 36 percent said they would like to leave. Why? Some 59 percent in the Chosun Ilbo poll complained of pressure to achieve short-term results and a lack of independence. And 41 percent complained about a shortage of job opportunities here, and 33 percent cited poor work conditions compared to advanced countries. "If I propose a new experiment or note an error, I'm told to just do things the way they've always been done. Young researchers have a tough time adjusting to this culture, which is a bigger consideration for young professional jobseekers than the pay," one researcher at a state-run research institute said. One programmer who plans to move to Amazon said, "A lot of my colleagues are drawn by the equality offered by foreign companies regardless of age or rank." R&D personnel in private enterprise are also leaving, especially young game developers. One CEO at an SK subsidiary said, "The most-popular company among science and engineering school graduates these days is Google, followed by Naver and big conglomerates." Meanwhile, businesses are having a tough time attracting talented workers from abroad. One Samsung staffer said, "It takes two to three years of negotiations. The higher the degree, the more their families prefer to live abroad as they worry about Korean corporate culture and high workloads." Samsung instead set up a research center in Silicon Valley in 2014 to attract talented programmers in the U.S. who could not be persuaded to move here. The Southern state of Florida has reported four cases of the Zika virus, seemingly not linked to travel, Florida Governor Rick Scott told a press conference Friday. "Florida has become the first state in our country to have a local transmission of the Zika virus," Scott said. Until now, about 1,650 cases of Zika reported in the U.S. had been linked to travel to countries in Latin America or the Caribbean that are facing outbreaks. The four Florida cases are contained to a small area north of downtown Miami, Scott said, quoting state health officials. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said President Barack Obama was briefed about the situation Friday morning. He said the Obama administration is supporting the efforts of Scott, who he praised for aggressively testing the area for the Zika virus and preparing for quite some time for a potential outbreak. 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. Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, on Thursday became the world's third-richest person as of the market close for the first time, Forbes magazine said, passing Warren Buffett, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway. Bezos' fortune was $65.3 billion as of 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT), compared with Buffett's $64.9 billion. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates remained the world's richest person, at $77.7 billion, while Spain's Amancio Ortega, who founded the Zara clothing chain's owner Inditex SA, was second at $72.7 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's co-founder and chief executive, was fifth at $54 billion. Bezos, 52, owns close to 18 percent of Amazon. Its stock has risen by roughly 50 percent since early February. The world's largest online retailer has continued to upend retailing as more people take to the Web rather than the mall to shop. Amazon's share price rose further in after-hours trading, after the Seattle-based company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ The fight against child labour has succumbed to complacency, an old mindset and apathy of lawmakers. This is perhaps for the benefit of employers and private parties. On July 26, Parliament passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016. I had hoped that after 36 years of struggle, the last four of which were devoted to engagement and deliberations with the government regarding this Bill, we would create a strong and robust law. I had expected to work alongside the government for its effective implementation. It was heartening to see that in both houses of Parliament, the peoples representatives spoke up for the rights of children. However, these opinions were not considered. Irrespective, I applaud their commitment and effort. I had hoped that the elected leaders of our country would acknowledge that the value of freedom and childhood is greater than that of a vote. However, a large section of our politicians remained undeterred in their disregard for child rights. Despite progressive elements, the lacunae in this Bill are self-defeating. Read: Child labour law: We have once again failed our children The definition of family and family enterprises is flawed. The Bill uses Indian family values to justify the economic exploitation of children. It is misleading society by blurring the lines between learning in a family and working in a family enterprise. Between January 2010 and December 2014, my organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, rescued 5,254 children from exploitative labour. Twenty-one per cent of those below 14 were employed with family members. Eighty-three per cent of the children were rescued from home-based units. These children will now be outside the protection of the law. Also, most of them were working below subsistence wages. For example, in a raid in northwest Delhi, we rescued 11 children who were being paid only a rupee an hour. In addition, children of any age can now legally work in brick kilns, slaughter houses, beedi making, glass furnaces and other hazardous workplaces under the garb of their being family enterprises. They are permitted to work and be employed after school hours or during vacations, and the reduction in the number of hazardous occupations from 83 to three will only delimit the protection that can be provided to these children. It is also in contravention of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, which was amended by Parliament six months ago. According to the new law, a person selling tobacco or tobacco products to a child will be imprisoned for up to five years. But, the same person can now employ a child to manufacture beedis. These loopholes in the new Bill defeat the purpose of the ban. Read: The new child labour law goes against childrens rights In 1999, I had led a global march against child labour across 103 countries. The world leaders responded to the plight of children and my humble efforts and, in principle, agreed to pass an international law. This resulted in the adoption of International Labour Organisation Convention on the worst forms of child labour, also known as Convention 182. I am deeply saddened that even after 17 years, our government has not ratified this convention. However, on behalf of our countrys most marginalised children, I am really disappointed. The new Bill reinforces the status quo by hindering the socio-economic mobility of the marginalised and furthers the rigid norms of social hierarchy. There is a re-feudalisation of power whereby society is being deluded into believing the amendments will serve the oppressed. What we are witnessing is commercialisation of children by viewing them from an economic perspective. Read: Everything you need to know about Child Labour Amendment Bill Eliminating child labour is not a problem to be solved, but a purpose to be served. The state must understand that sustainable development can be built only around shared democratic values and support for human rights. There is an urgent need for a humanistic, moderate and constructive Bill, with a reasonable degree of clarity. As the world progresses towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, India threatens to unravel the pace of progress by opening a back door for a large number of children to enter the workforce. Development must encompass social and human development as well. A large section of our Parliament seems to have disregarded this thinking. But, I am a hopeful man. I have faith in the people of India. In the country of Mahatma Gandhi and Gautam Buddha, we must protect and cherish the childrens right to childhood. There is no greater violence than to deny the rights of our children. Today, justice must rise above the law. Kailash Satyarthi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is honorary president of the Global March Against Child Labour and the founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child releases on July 31, the day one of the most famous wizards was born (it may be happening in your head but why on earth does it mean its not real?). No, its not a novel and Harry probably has a few grey hair 19 years later, but the scar and round spectacles persevere. The Cursed Child opens -- a day before its publication as the Special Rehearsal Edition -- at Londons Palace Theatre at the West End in an elaborate stage production that stays true to the franchise. Those who cant wait till 2017 to get tickets for the play, the script will be available at book stores from 11:30am on Sunday. A scene from preview of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in London. (Pottermore) Heres everything you need to know about the Cursed Child: Like the Deathly Hallows movie, the Cursed Child is also divided into Part 1 and 2. Luckily, the gap wont be as torturous as the movie (remember when you nearly killed yourself waiting for the second Deathly Hallows movie). Both parts will be played out on the same day and the script comes in one consolidated form. Although the dates arent known, the definitive and revised edition of The Cursed Child will be published in early 2017. Christine Jones gives us a peek at the extraordinary craftsmanship at the heart of the #CursedChild theatre set.https://t.co/xh3bVDVlo3 Harry Potter Play (@HPPlayLDN) July 8, 2016 How do you get it? According to reports, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is already a best-seller, courtesy pre-bookings. Heres how you can order yours: Priced at $17.99 in the US, it costs Rs 580 on online portals in India (Amazon, Flipkart) Rs 674 on Crossword bookstores website, 10% off on Oxford stores. Just pop into a book store if you cant wait a few days to receive your copy of the script. Read | A fans take: Why Harry Potter was the chosen one Whos who in the play? Conceptualised by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will unveil 42 characters -- old and new. The synopsis reads: While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. Jamie Parker, Sam Clemmett and Poppy Miller pose for a Potter family portrait. (Pottermore) Draco and Scorpius Malfoy played by Alex Price and Anthony Boyle. (Pottermore) Paul Thornley, Noma Dumezweni and Cherrelle Skeete play Ron, Hermione and Rose. (Pottermore) Whats new Is that Hermione? Apart from the glaring, staring-at-your-face return of Harry Potter, theres a whole new Hermione to imagine. In a controversial decision, black English actress Noma Dumezweni was chosen to play Hermiones role in the Cursed Child. Dumezweni as the nerdy character we grew up to love and idolise in Emma Watson surely complicates the existing image of Hermione. While most have lauded the move, others have argued the need for a change this drastic when there are fresh characters to experiment with. Read | Dear JK Rowling, I disapprove of the new Hermione, and I am not a racist Combination image of Emma Watson and Noma Dumezweni Play soundtrack One of the most soul-rending elements of Harry Potter movies was its soundtrack. Alexander Desplats hauntingly-beautiful symphonies were perfect to elevate the sense of foreboding and lend an ominous and sombre atmosphere to the Deathly Hallows. And one cant simply forget the magical Hedwigs Theme by John Williams -- a tune that is now emblematic of the franchise. This time around, makers have roped in Imogen Heap for The Cursed Child. The woman is a genius with a delicate voice and an admirable list of credits to her name. We cant wait to find out if the soundtrack will do justice to the play! Read | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child gets a standing ovation in first preview SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Anupam Kher attended the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2012 for the premiere of his Hollywood film Silver Linings Playbook, which also starred Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. He is now set to attend the festival yet again, this time for the premiere of his new film, The Headhunters Calling, which stars Gerard Butler. Read: It needs courage: Anupam Kher backs Rishi Kapoor on renaming assets The movie, which has been directed by Mark Williams and written by Bill Dubuque of The Judge fame (2014), will see Anupam in the role of an Indian-American pediatric oncologist. The premiere will take place on September 14. Im part of the films main cast, and have an interesting role. It is an honour that our movie is being premiered at such a prestigious festival. Anupam Kher with Hollywood actor Gretchen Mol. The two will star in The Headhunters Calling. It is a proud moment for me in particular, because whenever I am part of such events, I feel that Im there as a representative of India. This makes me even happier. Also, it is great that this is my second international film that is being premiered at such a huge event, says Anupam. Read: Eternal optimist: Anupam Kher not demoralised after Srinagar refusal The actor, who has earlier worked in international films such as Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Bride And Prejudice (2004), among others, says hes looking forward to attending the event. Actor Arshad Warsi, who will next be seen in the upcoming film The Legend of Michael Mishra, recently lashed out on social media for being misquoted and clarified that he did not confirm Deepika Padukone or Alia Bhatt as the leading ladies in the fourth instalment of the Golmaal franchise. Read: I may do special appearance in Jolly LLB 2, says Arshad Warsi On being asked about it, Arshad, 48, was earlier quoted by DNA, as saying, Yes, its true. Either of the two will be playing the lead in Golmaal 4. I have heard the discussions and its almost certain that it will be Alia or Deepika this time. I did not confirm any leading lady for Golmaal 4. Media gave me @aliaa08 & @deepikapadukone name and I said could be... WTF Arshad Warsi (@ArshadWarsi) July 29, 2016 On a related note, the fourth instalment titled as Golmaal Again would reunite Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty after five-long years. Watch: Trailer of The Legend of Michael Mishra The film, which also stars Shreyas Talpade and Tusshar Kapoor, is likely to go on floors in December this year. Actor Sharman Joshi, who has been part of Bollywood for over a decade, says that he still feels he can act better on screen. The 37-year-old says that he is never satisfied with his performances. I am never happy with what I do on screen. I always feel I could have done better. Sometimes, you get a different perspective when you see yourself later, he says. With time, you gain experience and maturity. Thats how you realise how you can make your performances better. In fact, there are very few scenes where I feel I have acted well, adds Sharman, who has been seen in films such as Rang De Basanti (2006), Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012) and 3 idiots (2009). Read: Sharman Joshis fan buys all the tickets to his play However, he has no qualms about how his career has shaped up. There is nothing that I would like to change. I am not satisfied with my career and I hope that I never am. This helps me perform better. I dont have the power to change anything other than my performance. Thats the extent to which I can craft my journey, the rest I have no control over, he says. Read: Sharman Joshi eagerly waiting to work on 3 Idiots sequel The actor says that he is looking for challenging roles to play in movies, television and on the web. The medium is irrelevant. I feel now with time, the lines between different platforms are disappearing and there is equally interesting work everywhere. If the role is exciting and interesting, I am open for it, says Sharman. Actor Vivek Oberoi has donated computers to the underprivileged girls in a bid encourage them to study and bring them better growth opportunities. These girls are really hardworking and talented. Providing technology support will give them add-on benefits in the future. Nowadays they need to be trained in computer courses. Computer skills are necessary along with the regular studies and I will do whatever it takes to help them build a bright future, says Oberoi, whose project in Mathura supports young girls. Watch: Vivek Oberoi in a song from Company The actor, who was last seen on the silver screen in the film Great Grand Masti and has been part of films such as Krrish 3 (2013), Zila Ghaziabad (2013) and Prince (2010), feels strongly about providing best facilities for young girls. When he got to know that they want to learn more through better technology. As an actor it is important that I contribute as much as I can to the society. Bright children are waiting for opportunities to showcase their talent and in such cases, I will do whatever it takes to help them, he says. Read: Vivek Oberoi has been training hard for his next film Vivek Oberoi is happy to know that these girls have some goals in their lives. And many of them needed computer systems to pursue further. Now Vivek is placing computers in Devi accommodation house where the girls reside, so that they can practice even after their school time, says Oberois spokesperson. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Veteran journalist Saeed Naqvis new book thats part memoir and part rumination on the othering of Muslims in India looks at everything from the syncretic culture of Awadh to the creation of Pakistan and the emergence of the Indian middle class. A book that will make the reader review whats known of the nations post independence history, it is erudite and wide in scope; a truly rewarding read. Watch an interview with the author and listen to the podcast where he reads excerpts from the book. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Id been dreaming of a holiday in Morocco for as long as I can recall. I wanted to discover the labyrinth-like medinas, sip tea with the Berbers, gorge on couscous and tagine, drink my body mass in mint tea, and get a grip on the wonders of the country for ages. But I held off for one reason: I wanted to travel to Morocco in opulence. That meant my chef husband had to work extremely hard (read: feed many more people) to book the trip in the style to which we all wanted to become accustomed. In this, he was helped by our daughter, Akanksha, who cooked his favourite dish for him whenever she judged his motivation was flagging. And eventually, the family Dean found itself on its way to magical Morocco from Paris in business class seats on Air France, being pampered to pieces. It is just a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Morocco from Paris, and the night we landed, we ate our dinner under a million stars by the coast in Casablanca, thrilled that we were finally where I had fantasised about being from beneath the same stars thousands of miles away in India. MESMERISING MARRAKECH Wed booked a Peugeot 508 for the trip and our driver and guide Imad Jamal never felt like a stranger. (Not a bad deal for `60,000.) He was so enthusiastic that he would send us informative WhatsApp messages even after doing his duty for the day, and first of all taught us two very useful Arabic words: Choukran (thank you) and Salam Alikome (peace be with you), which is used as a greeting. Marrakech is the quintessence of all that is meant by the word exotic, especially because we stayed at the gorgeous La Mamounia, the last word in extravagance and grandeur. Here the husband got full marks for his efforts to make us feel rich and famous (travelling offseason has its advantages too). One evening, we even had a meal at the hotels Italian restaurant, where Akanksha invited herself to help the chefs in the kitchen. Outside the hotel, our first stop was of course the Jemaa El Fna, the central square, a jumble of souks and tanneries, where the whole gamut of Moroccan life is visible, from snake charmers to henna designers and more. While I put on my bargaining hat in the numerous craft and jewellery shops, the husband was wandering the picturesque alleys, clicking away. The babouche (local slippers) shop guy seemed enchanted by Akanksha, and she took full advantage of her allure and bought us two pairs at a rate even I couldnt bargain for! She had a picture clicked with him and waved a choukran (pronounced shoukran) as we left. A snack of snails being prepared at the Jemaa El Fna Square A hearty lunch of lamb tagine and fluffy couscous drowned by some mint tea later, we walked around some more till we came across a horse carriage. Could the horse pull all of us along, I asked the driver, who said yes, of course, and proceeded to prove it by taking us to all the landmarks of the city. With a break for a snack of fresh cactus, peeled and served by vendors, we were back at the square by dusk. At night, the regular stalls were replaced by street-food kiosks vending meat skewers, simmered snails and sheeps head. The square is enclosed within rows of bright orange juice and spice stalls. I was amused to see little boys (and big ones too) singing Shah Rukh Khan numbers to capture our attention. The husband was nicknamed Amitabh Bachchan and when he told the stall owner that his name is Bakshish and hes a chef, word spread like wildfire and he somehow became the brother from another mother in the boulevard, opening us to the finest hospitality ever! Bakshish Dean standing in front of Bakchich Cafe in Marrakech The stall owners also recommended the Bakchich Cafe, where I literally forced the husband to pose for some Facebook fun. Some people actually believed that we were in Marrakech for the launch of our cafe! COASTAL OUTPOST Next on the list was Essaouira, a pretty town by the ocean that has a charming centre complete with quaint little shops, minus the endless stir of the souk in Marrakesh where it is recommended that you must jump out of the way whenever you hear the words ballak, ballak, because that means a cart loaded with goods wants to pass you. This special coastal outpost felt like a place to just chill, and years earlier, Jimi Hendrix had done just that here. We had the most amazing fish barbecue at La Terrasse, where we watched the sea as we drank some local beers, and then goofed around, clicking pictures with a piece of the vertebra and the rib bone of a blue whale. A DAY THE BERBER WAY! Berbers are a community native to North Africa, so off we set to Ourika Valley to savour the beautiful Berber countryside an easy 45 minutes drive from Marrakech. En route we stopped at the famous Argan oil cooperative store and also a Berber home where a local showed us how they lived. Though shes 20 years old, Akanksha just didnt seem to want to leave the swings, so while she had her fill, the husband and I bought some souvenirs to bring home. After a visit to a hammam, where the skin is intensely cleansed, purified, and softened with an old-style Moroccan scrubbing ritual, we enjoyed a remarkable outdoors dining experience. EL JADIDAA HIDDEN GEM Our next destination was El-Jadida. We made the most of it: we each paid our 10 dirhams and made our way into the cistern which is famous particularly for the thin layer of water that shields the floor, and which generates exhilarating mirror images of the pillars and the roof in the little light there is. It is so beautiful that several movies have been shot within the echoing space, of which Orson Welles Othello is the best known. A souk stroll and Akankshas henna application later, we spent the entire day lazing at the beach. Back in the Mazagan resort, Bakshish offered to teach chef Mohammed an Indian dish if he would teach him how to make the tagine, and the chef obliged. Truly, the language of food connects anyone anywhere! THE LAST STOP Casablanca is where most tourists land and exit from, and its worth spending at least a day here. It happened to be Eid that day, so most of the malls were shut (not that we had any intention of going to a mall). We spent the morning admiring the Hassan II Mosque, sitting on the brink of the Atlantic Ocean, an architectural marvel that took seven years to build. Its unbelievable. No, its downright crazy! The Hassan II Mosque, located on the brink of the Atlantic Ocean, is an architectural marvel that took seven years to build. We were still discussing the mosque when a little walk brought us to the coast, where we immediately felt as though we were in heaven. We returned in a daze, mesmerised by the beauty of this coastline. Our last dinner was at the Four Seasons speciality restaurant Mint, where we had the tagine yet again, but with greater understanding of its flavours, thanks to chef Mohammeds class. There is a lot happening in Morocco and I am hoping to return soon to discover other areas, such as Fez and the Sahara Desert. I hope the husband is reading this and gearing up to feed more people to pay for the next trip. Photographs by Bakshish, Rupali and Akanksha Dean From HT Brunch, July 31, 2016 Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch His not-so-modest eatery is the only one from India to be featured in the coveted Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list. In celebration, chef Manish Mehrotra takes us to Old Delhi and traces the flavours that make Indian cuisine a global favourite Saturday morning, 9.30 am. The rest of the city may still be snoozing from the aftermath of a late Friday night. But Old Delhi is already abuzz. A scooter carrying its rider, his wife and three kids, zips in from the wrong direction, brushing past us by inches. A tuk tuk bursting at the seams with passengers honks maliciously, as if to say that were trespassing on its territory. Damn! No rules apply here, no? says chef Manish Mehrotra, 42, sidestepping a cycle rickshaw-wallah, whose stunts can rival even Rajinikants. Mehrotra is, as Brunch columnist Vir Sanghvi put it, the most exciting modern Indian chef in the world today. His Delhi-based restaurant Indian Accent has become the only Indian restaurant to feature in the prestigious The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list this year. Its a relief to see at least one name from India among the worlds best... especially, when we have such a rich food culture, Mehrotra says. But its not just another feather in my cap, its also another weight on my shoulder. Your level of expectation from me goes up one more notch now. To satisfy that expectation day after day is a very tough job. The recently-opened New York outlet of his restaurant is also raking in the ratings and rave reviews already. But when youre trying to zig zag your way through the meandering lanes of Old Delhi, even the greatest chef in India can get just a little baffled and very amused! When we finally arrive at the famed and overhyped Paranthe Wali Gali, Mehrotra pauses for a moment to peep into one of the large frying pans. A stuffed round parantha is swiftly dropped into the piping oil, and as it sizzles, we make our way deeper into the lane, past the stack of little parantha joints. The other shops here are yet to pull up their shutters, but street vendors selling vegetables, spices, tea and kachoris have begun to swiftly occupy their favourite spots on the lane. At one such vendor, Mehrotra halts and picks up a handful of tiny, unusual seeds. What is this, boss? he asks. Yeh lehsun hai babuji, ek kali ka lehsun. Mehrotra peels one of the single pod garlic and takes a sniff, reeling back almost immediately. Whoa! This is super strong, he exclaims, looking excited. Its going to make some brilliant garlic-infused oil. Sau gram dena bhaisaab. From another vendor down the lane, he picks up a bunch of colocasia or arbi leaves. Maharashtrians and Gujaratis make a dish with this, sort of a leaf roulade, he says, giving me a quick recipe of the dish. Chef Manish Mehrotra at his restaurant kitchen All in the roots Mehrotras extensive knowledge of vegetables and their myriad uses comes from his upbringing in a shuddh vegetarian household. He was born and brought up in Patna in a big joint family; his father owned a petrol pump, mother was a homemaker. But his grandmother ruled the kitchen. There were a lot of rituals during her time, he says. Before cooking dinner, shed bathe, wear a special saree that shed have made in Banaras, do puja and then start making dinner. Nobody was allowed in the kitchen. It was only when she passed away that my mother and aunts took over. Onion and garlic were strict no-nos, but we had the freedom to eat anything outside, including non-veg. Growing up in a vegetarian household instilled in him the appreciation of the fact that vegetables can be delicious too and can be made into a variety of dishes. We Indians have such pre-conceived stereotypes about our own food, he says. For instance, we think Bengalis eat only fish. But you cant imagine how well they do vegetables and such a huge variety of them too! Were quite ignorant when it comes to our own cuisines. He asserts that as a chef, you dont even need to invent dishes you just need to travel across India to explore them. During one such trip through Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, Mehrotra came across Dal Muradabadi sold as a snack by hawkers on cycles, and often served with chutney and papdi or jalebi. He loved it so much that he put it in his menu, with a little twist by adding some crisp moong dal and serving it with flaky bread with parmesan cheese. The good thing is that the Indian palate is evolving and our cuisine is moving forward. So a lot of traditional dishes which were lost or are in the process of being lost, are being revived now in modern avatars, he says. But he also believes that you cant arrive at modern Indian cuisine without having your roots in tradition intact. Old Delhis famed Paranthe Wali Gali (Saumya Khandelwal) The art and its science We arrive at the legendary Natraj for their even more legendary dahi bhalla. Its been a while since I have had their dahi bhalle, Mehrotra says, in anticipation. Unluckily, the hole-in-the-wall shop is still shut, so we go to the Haldirams next door instead for a quick walk-through of its colourful displays of sweets. Making mithai is an art and a science, Mehrotra says. You talk about science in molecular gastronomy, but few have any idea how much science goes into the making of a traditional mithai! We take a lot of inspiration for our desserts from mithai shops. Take Indian Accents doda barfi treacle tart, for instance. Or besan laddoo cheesecake, for that matter. Mehrotra reminisces that back home in Patna, nothing was store bought, not even mithais. Everything was made in-house pickles, jams, jellies, squash, murabbas, snacks, mathris, papdis Food may have been an integral part of his growing up years, but the decision to become a chef didnt stem from that. Many chefs would tell you that they were inspired by their grandmothers or that theyd cook with their mom in the kitchen as a child. I did nothing of the sort. It was a simple career decision to do hotel management I just didnt want to sit in a petrol pump and sell petrol all day, thats all. Mehrotras first tryst with professional cooking began with Pan Asian, which helped him break the rigidity and rules of an Indian kitchen later in life. Because I didnt learn to make a kebab or butter chicken in the specific way theyre made, I could interpret them my way. I had no mental block. Plus exposure to different types of ingredients in Pan Asian helped me break the boundaries and restrictions of Indian cuisine. Which is why when Indian Accent was conceptualised, the first trial menu had items like galawti kebab with foie gras, red snapper moilee and Chawanprash cheesecake. Now when I see my first menu, I laugh, he says. Im still reading, travelling, learning, innovating, evolving. Not just another gimmick We decide to give Khari Baoli, the spice market of Old Delhi, a miss. And instead head through Dariba Kalan, the silver market, towards Gali Kababian that gorgeous lane of biryani and kebab-selling shops where the tried-and-tested Karims and Al Jawahar are located. At Dariba, the twinkling silver jewellery in glass cabinets fails to draw the chefs attention. His interest is instead drawn to a vegetable vendor selling a mound of berries. This is karonda. Iska chutney, achaar, murabba banta hai, he says, adding with a smirk, Now theyre sold in India as fresh cranberries. Mehrotra remembers when, as a child, he and his siblings would accompany his cousin to her dance class. While shed learn how to dance, wed be pillaging the nearby karonda bushes and eating the berries raw. Such memories of home, of his years in Mumbai as a student, of his travels across the world later, have inspired many of his dishes at the Indian Accent. His cuisine may be categorised as fusion, but Mehrotra says he doesnt fuse dishes without reason. He insists that every dish should have a story behind it. Take the popular soy keema served with a quail egg and lime leaf buttered pav at his New York restaurant, for instance. Soy keema used to be made at home in Patna regularly, as it was a vegetarian household. Then later during my college days in Bombay, wed grab a plate of keema ghotala pav at Dadar station before rushing off for classes. So those two stories, the memories, the two dishes came together in the creation of this dish. But how does he know when to stop with his experiments in fusing elements from different dishes together? You cant go overboard, youve to keep it simple, make sure that whoever is eating the food whether they are Indian or a global guest should relate to it at some level. And that the ultimate rule is not compromised that the food is not just another gimmick but is actually tasty. For now, having completed the last leg of our morning walk through Old Delhi, Mehrotra is already envisioning his next creation. Inspired by the pile of offal being sold at a corner of Gali Kababian, the chef is looking forward to putting goat brain in his menu next. Brain, when done well, is like butter in texture. I think itll make for a marvellous dish, he says, adding with the politeness that youve come to associate with him, This tour was long overdue. Its been a wonderful experience! *** A tribute to his mentor, Ananda Solomon (Vidya Subramanian) My first job after college was with Taj President and I was fortunate that I got to work under Ananda Solomon at the Thai Pavilion. The first day we met him, he told us that if we wanted to make it big, we must forget everything love life, social life for the first two-three years, at least. And just completely immerse ourselves in work. We used to go to work in the morning and leave at night. Solomon himself was such a dedicated person. Sundays used to be his day off, so we would be very excited. But lo and behold, there comes in chef with a newspaper tucked under his arm. Hed drive all the way from Malad to Cuffe Parade even on a Sunday! His dedication was amazing. He was a terror too, we used to be scared of him. But we learnt a lot the really hard way too. I used to grate 70 coconuts, every single day. After six months, I couldve challenged anyone in grating coconuts. So we learnt everything very hands-on. And not just cooking, with Ananda Solomon, we really learnt how to guess psychology, read guests minds, how to judge their needs. But the best part was that he could recognise peoples potentials. When you are the leader of a team, you should know the potential of each of your team members and use them in the best way. If someone is good at batting, you cant ask him to bowl at a crucial moment. That was what Ananda Solomon was so good at. He truly was a gem of the industry. Now that he has retired, well miss him dearly! *** Ask Chef Mehrotra: Why does street food often taste better than five-star food? (HT Archives) Because, I guess, on the street, people arent so conscious about making mistakes. Also, many times I find that good street food vendors are perfectionists as they do one thing over and over for many years. In a five-star restaurant, we do 10 different things and as the saying goes, were probably Jack of all, master of none. But the street food vendor is a master of one and he does it perfectly. Then of course, theres the fact that you pay way less for street food! *** From the reporters notebook Mehrotra walks through Old Delhi clicking photos of interesting ingredients (like goat brain!); (above, right) here he is striking a pose for the cover shot (Satarupa Paul) The horizon had only just started to light up when I dragged myself out of bed and to Golcha cinema hall in Daryaganj. Youre late! Rohit Chawla, the photographer who shot our cover photo, said to me annoyed. I looked at my watch; I was late alright by exactly seven minutes! From behind him, chef Manish Mehrotra came out of the car, wearing his chefs jacket, his eyes puffy from lack of sleep, but his smile big and warm, and almost apologetic. Dont mind Rohit. Hes tough on everyone, he tells me conspiratorially even as Chawla goes about, at lightning speed, getting hold of a rickshaw wallah, arranging a cup of tea and a plate of bedmi puri to act as props. Sitting atop the red rickshaw, with the imposing Jama Masjid in the background, chef Mehrotra sincerely obeys the swift commands that Chawla throws at him for the perfect cover shot. An hour later, having changed into a printed shirt and a pair of Lennon sunglasses to complete the look, Mehrotra sits with me at a coffee shop in Connaught Place. Were biding our time, drinking coffee, nibbling on sandwiches, waiting for the shops in Chandni Chowk to open so we can go back to walk our planned flavour trail through the old, other Dilli. And then in true foodie fashion, the greatest chef in India today tells me, This sandwich is no good. We shouldve had a couple of plates of those delicious smelling bedmi puri, instead! So we head back to Old Delhi. For bedmi puri. And then some more! From HT Brunch, July 31, 2016 Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch To understand the present politics of the cow in India, the place to start is an article written in October 1952 by MS Golwalkar, the long-serving sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Earlier that year, the RSSs political affiliate, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, had won a mere three seats in the first Lok Sabha elections. Seeking to stem demoralisation amongst his flock, Golwalkar made a public appeal through the press, asking young Hindus to revive the fundamental values and ideas of their faith. What issue would prompt Hindus to, as Golwalkar put it, be readily prepared to sacrifice our all for the honour and glory of the motherland? The RSS chief believed that such a point of honour in our national life is none else but MOTHER COW, the living symbol of the Mother Earth that deserves to be the sole object of devotion and worship. To stop forthwith any onslaught on this particular point of our national honour, and to foster the spirit of devotion to the motherland, [a] ban on cow-slaughter should find topmost priority in our programme of national renaissance in Swaraj (emphases added). Read: In state after state, cow protection vigilantes pick on Dalits, Muslims Orthodox Hindus venerated the cow, but Muslims and Christians ate its flesh. For Golwalkar and the RSS, cow worship thus became another stick to beat the minorities with, to make them accept that India was essentially a Hindu nation. In the 1950s the aura of Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress was such that this RSS campaign never took off. However, after Nehrus death, the RSS organised a nation-wide movement on the issue of cow protection, culminating in a mob of angry Hindutvawadis storming Parliament in November 1966. Beaten back by the police, the mob then burnt buildings and homes, as well as hundreds of vehicles. This attack on Parliament by fanatical Hindus was a (now mostly forgotten) precursor to the much better-known attack on Parliament by jehadi Muslims in December 2001. Narendra Modi grew up in the RSS, where he was taught to venerate Golwalkar. In fact he even wrote a series of laudatory essays on him. However, at the same time, as chief minister of Gujarat he worked rigorously to marginalise the RSS and its even more hardline offspring, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, from the political life of the state. Read: Gau rakshaks in Gurgaon hold Muslim migrants to ransom over beef By the time he launched his prime ministerial campaign in 2013, Modi had at least in the public eye distanced himself from the RSS. Voters were invited to forget his sectarian past and focus instead on industrial investment and agricultural growth in his state. It was this Gujarat Model that Modi promised to extend to all of India if he were elected prime minister. Modi did not need the RSS to win him elections in Gujarat. But to achieve success at a countrywide level he had perforce to reach out to them. After an initial hesitation, Mohan Bhagwat (who held the job Golwalkar once did) decided to throw the weight of his organisation behind Modi. RSS as well as VHP cadres responded enthusiastically; across India, and especially in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Hindutva activists played a major role in winning seats for Modi and the BJP. In May 2014, Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister, heading a government in which the BJP, successor to the Jana Sangh, commanded a majority for the first time. Modi may have believed that the general election was fought and won on the issue of development, but, as that astute political analyst Chandrabhan Prasad notes, a section of Hindu society, which is pre-dominantly upper caste and conservative has assumed that this mandate is for a Hindu Rashtra. Hence the renewed emphasis on making the cow the sole object of devotion and worship, as prescribed by that most influential RSS ideologue, MS Golwalkar. Read: Dadri lynching has raised troubling questions on Indias secularity Golwalkar died in 1973, but his ideas were kept alive by radical Hindus. A recent article in Mint profiles the Bharatiya Gau Raksha Dal, whose mostly Brahmin members pledge to save the cow because she is our mother. Now, with their government in power at the Centre, these activists are emboldened to attack Muslims perceived to be eating beef or transporting cattle. After Modi took office, such lynchings have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Himachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, newly elected BJP state governments have made cow protection and a ban on beef their priority. So long as the victims were Muslims, those who protested could be dismissed as pseudo-secularists or anti-nationals. But then the manic rage of the gau rakshas turned on a group of Dalits in the prime ministers home state, Gujarat, who were skinning dead cows. Indeed, the young men who beat up Dalits in Una were so intoxicated by hubris that they actually filmed the flogging and uploaded it on social media. Since Dalits are (in theory) part of Hindu society, and since the prime minister and the BJP president have both made a great deal of their concern for Dalits, this latest incident has brought the BJP much ignominy. Yet in many ways the BJP have brought it on themselves, by staying silent all these months when other Indians, albeit non-Dalits, were attacked by cow protection activists. The BJP president stayed silent even when his own MLAs beat up an independent MLA in Kashmir for eating beef, this endorsement of violence by party legislators emboldening Hindutva activists even further. Read: Govt should not encourage vigilante mobs Narendra Modi hoped to bring his Gujarat model of economic growth to the rest of India. What has happened instead is that the Sangh Parivar has sought to apply its own Indian or Bharatiya model of religious majoritarianism to the whole country, including Gujarat. Ramachandra Guhas most recent book is Gandhi Before India. The views expressed are personal. Twitter: @Ram_Guha SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON I dont know how often Ive heard this said because the truth is Ive lost count. However, if I was to hazard a guess Id say on average once a week. So, today, I want to address the critical question it raises: Is this the right response or an attempt to wriggle out of a difficult situation and duck wider responsibilities? The Prime Minister doesnt have to comment on everything is the sentence Im alluding to. Alternative versions include the claim Mr Modi doesnt have to speak, his ministers have spoken and Not every issue needs the Prime Minister to speak out. This is how journalists are answered when they ask why the prime minister is silent on an issue that has become a matter of national concern. This was the case when Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched or the ghar-wapsi and love-jihad campaigns were underway or when authors and historians were returning awards. Its, again, the case now when Kashmir is paralysed with unrest and Dalits are attacked by gau rakshaks believed to be ideologically close to Mr Modis party. Read: Why do you kill humans? Minister Athawale asks gau rakshaks Is prime ministerial silence the right way of handling these situations? Only if what the prime minister has to say would offend, disturb or inflame. Not for a moment do I believe that is the case. Instead, silence only serves to raise questions, create doubt and fuel conspiracy theories. People wonder whether the PMs silence is deliberate: Does he support the gau rakshaks? Is he unsympathetic to the Dalits? Does he appreciate the gravity of the situation in the Valley? Read: Lalu hits out at Modi for his silence on violence against Dalits On the odd occasion when Mr Modi has spoken as he did to reassure Christians or to distance himself from Sadhvi Niranjan Jyotis foolish comments many feel he was forced to do so. It wasnt a spontaneous or genuine response. It was dragged out of him under pressure. This means he doesnt get the benefit of taking a position. Worse, the questions and conspiracy theories linger. When the country is troubled we look to the prime minister to articulate a position around which the rest of us can rally. This is not to see him as a sage or prophet but you do need the imprimatur of his authority on the right position or the right course of action, particularly when the wrong option is gaining credence and attention. In Britain this is institutionalised through the tradition of Prime Ministers Question Time. Every Wednesday, for half an hour, the PM is questioned by members of parliament on any issue they wish to raise. It starts with six consecutive questions by the Leader of the Opposition, followed by two from the leader of the second-biggest party before its thrown open to every single member of the House of Commons. Read: Will protect every Indians life, says Modi as he begins tour to woo UK Not only is the prime minister questioned on issues of national concern, she also often seeks this opportunity to make her views known. Thus is her leadership seen, recognised and acknowledged. I believe the time has come to create something similar in the Lok Sabha. Its a way of making the government respond to issues of concern. Its a way of ensuring accountability. And it could be the finest show-casing of our democracy. The views expressed are personal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Aam Aadmi Partys well-oiled social media and public outreach engine paid off again, with thousands of parents walking into Delhi government schools on Saturday to meet their childrens teachers. The AAPs door-to-door campaigns, personalised text messages and radio advertisements over the past month prompted the heavy turnout. Parents, teachers, kids - all happy, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted as he shared a YouTube video of education minister Manish Sisodia in action during the parent-teacher meeting initiative. With the party active on Twitter and Facebook, a week before the event the minister started sharing preparation details with pictures from different schools and retweeting stories around it. The hash tag that trended on Saturday #MegaPTMinDelhi was started by the government. The Delhi government used school management committees (SMCs) to engineer success. An SMC comprises the school principal, a teacher, the local MLA, a social worker and 12 parents. Every school has an SMC and MLAs usually send their representative, as there are more than 15 schools in every constituency. REad: Bridging the gap: When teachers met parents The SMCs went to the house of every child and convinced the parents to join (the PTMs), an official said. Parents going to convince other parents helped us a lot, the official added. Radio advertisements, too, worked well. I never got any invitation. Last week, when I had gone to my neighbours house, I heard about the PTM on the FM (radio), said Mona, a parent at a government school in Sunder Nagri. The AAP would also hope to leverage the PTM outreach on social media for subtle political mileage. The next target in the partys crosshairs is the Punjab assembly election. The party has already put in place a large team of core members who are training volunteers in each constituency of Punjab, according to a report. Virender Soni walked up to one of the teachers during a parent-teacher meeting (PTM) at a government school in the city and asked, Madam, why are you dividing the children of the class into groups? Sonis child studies in Class 9 of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Soniya Vihar. The teacher said, This is a part of the governments new scheme, Chunauti 2018, wherein children are assessed as per their reading and writing skills. Before we start teaching them the syllabus, they will be taught how to read and write. Not quite convinced, Soni shook his head and left. For teachers, letting parents know about the scheme was the most important task at the first-ever PTM. We cant explain the scheme to the parents in one go. So this time, we only showed them the assessment test results. We also told them about the childs weaknesses, said a science teacher. The government launched Chunauti 2018 to address the diverse learning needs of children in the same class. Children would be regrouped according to their learning profile. This strategy is being adopted to allow teachers to proceed at varied pace so every child can learn. There will be three groups in Class 9, and two in Classes 6-8. However, teachers are not convinced. Read: A meeting, a start: Parents, teachers get together in Delhi govt schools We do not have enough rooms, desks, and chairs. We have to teach the children in corridors. Now this scheme makes our task even more difficult. We dont know how it will work, said an English language teacher at a Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Yamuna Vihar. In some schools, teachers were briefed about what they should tell parents at the meeting. Chunauti was a must to explain. But teachers failed to give the education ministers letter to the parents. The letter urged the parents to help the government improve the learning levels at school. Chunauti 2018 has been launched to help children who dropped out of school after Class 9. We are improving the quality of education in our schools every day, through policies, new infrastructure (CCTVs, classrooms & furniture) and school visits. Now we want to involve the parents in the education of their children, said education minister Manish Sisodia in his first official announcement to the press. For this school, PTM is a usual event The Veer Savarkar Govt .Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya at Kalkaji in New Delhi on Saturday. PTMs are a regular feauture here. (S .Burmaula / Hindustan Times) The government may have been calling it the first-ever mega parent-teacher meeting, but for parents at Veer Savarkar Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Kalkaji, it was an usual event that takes place once in two-three months. The school has been conducting such meetings for the past few years so the parents knew exactly what the PTM was all about. The only difference was that the participation of parents was higher than usual, said the teachers. Wading through waterlogged roads, parents turned up in large numbers at the school, where 2,300 students are enrolled. Located in south Delhi, this school is also one of the 54 model schools selected by the government. Even in comparison to other SKVs, the school is of the better lot. Students were asked to make cards and get them signed by parents, so we know that the invitation had reached the parents. It was important for us that parents of all students come for the meet, said Tavinder Kour, a schoolteacher. --Sohil Sehran Happy faces in this overcrowded school The Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Sonia Vihar. (Hindustan Times) Ambika Prasad Shukla, a proud father, walked into the Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Sonia Vihar on Saturday to attend his first ever parent-teacher meeting (PTM). The school is overcrowded and children sit on corridors to study. There are nearly 5,400 students here. But he said he had no complaints from the school or the teachers. He was just excited to see little efforts made by the school to host them despite problems. At home we cannot even manage 4 children. In this school one teacher is managing 100-150 children and even teaching. I will just get details about my daughter and go, said Shukla. Like Shukla, there were many such happy faces who visited classrooms to meet teachers. Many only wanted to know about their childs progress and there were some who talked about cleanliness in the school. The PTM was a first in the history of the school located across the Yamuna. Being the only school covering several neighbourhoods, including resettlement colonies, the PTM was an experience of sorts even for many teachers. Such experiences are good as we get to know about the children more properly, said a teacher at the school. --Shradha Chettri SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a scene straight out a Bollywood potboiler, over a dozen unidentified aides of an undertrial prisoner freed him from police custody by throwing chilli powder in the eyes of the cops escorting him in Haryanas Bahadurgarh on Saturday morning. Four Delhi Police personnel were escorting murder suspect Jitendra Goga from Tihar to Jinds Narwana town for a court hearing in a Haryana Roadways bus when his accomplices struck in Bahadurgarh. They also snatched a weapon from a policeman. The incident took place at about 6.15 am at a secluded place between Parley Biscuit factory and Surya Roshini factory in Bahadurgarh, Ashok Malik, DCP (3rd battalion) said. Goga was booked in over 10 cases, including murder, and hailed from Delhis Alipur area. The policemen said they were attacked by 10-12 men. A group of men came in two cars and stopped them in front of the moving bus on the outskirts of Bahadurgarh. They divided themselves into two groups and boarded the bus from the front and rear gates. Before the policemen realised what had happened, the goons threw chilli powder at them. Passengers said four of the suspects accomplices were already in the bus and they threw the chilli powder, Bahadurgarh police investigating officer Telu Ram said. Ram said they took around 60 passengers in the bus hostage and fired several gunshots in the air to scare them. They took away the keys of the bus. The injured policemen tried to retaliate by opening fire but the miscreants managed to escape with their accomplice and took away an MP5 machine gun of the police, he said. Police said a case had been registered in Bahadurgarh and hunt was on to nab them. The area where the incident happened is secluded and so there were no CCTV cameras around. But we are trying to locate their vehicle at other points, police said. Three of the four attacked policemen were admitted to Bahadurgarh hospital after they complained of irritation in the eyes, police said. A team from the Delhi Police 3rd battalion had been sent to the crime scene. A parallel probe has been launched by Delhi Police and the role of the four policemen was being verified, said a senior Delhi police officer. A man working at a jewellery unit battered his co-worker to death after he allegedly made indecent comments about his wife in a drunken state in north Delhis Shastri Nagar near Sarai Rohilla on Saturday. . Gautam Kumar,24, was battered to death with a cooking gas cylinder, allegedly by his friend Aryan, who felt offended after hearing the remarks about his wife, police said. According to police, the two friends were consuming liquor at Aryans home when a scuffle broke out between them . The two worked at a jewellery manufacturing unit in Karol Bagh. The accused, 32, fled after killing his friend but he was caught later in the day by the north Delhi Police. Police recovered the blood-stained gas cylinder. A murder case was registered at the Sarai Rohilla police station and Aryan was arrested, police said. A police officer said that on Friday night, Aryan and Gautam consumed alcohol after work. They returned to Aryans home and decided to continue drinking. Around 2 am, Gautam made some indecent remarks. Aryans wife, who was present, felt offended and objected to Gautams comments. Aryan felt insulted and entered into an argument with Gautam. Soon, their argument snowballed into a scuffle and Aryan rained blows on Gautam. Aryan sent his wife to her room while he picked an empty gas cylinder and repeatedly attacked Gautam, said the officer. A neighbour called up the police. By the time neighbours could intervene in the fight, Aryan had collapsed. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors confirmed his death. Parent-teacher meetings were held across 1,000 government schools in Delhi on Saturday. For many of them, it was their first experience of an interaction that is routine in most educational institutions. Attendance was high to the joy of the Aam Aadmi Party government that organised the event. Parents turned up despite the heavy rain, many of them skipping work for the special day. Catering to 16,00,000 students, these schools are categorised as Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas (17), Sarvodaya Vidyalayas (686) and government / girls / boys senior secondary schools (297). The first two hold PTMs every few months but attendance is usually thin. This year, 90-95% of parents turned up, said the Directorate of Education. In the senior secondary schools that were hosting parents for the first time, attendance was between 65% and 70%. Red carpet for parents Rakesh Maurya, who has two daughters at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School in northeast Delhis Sonia Vihar, said, I rarely get time to help them with their studies. Such meetings will help me know where they stand. The only thing that matters is a good education for my girls. First-timer Mohammad Akram, whose daughter is in Class 7 in the same school, said, I was told my daughter comes late for classes and I also saw her marks. Now I know where I need to help her. The teachers, too, said they were now better informed about students backgrounds and problems. The schools made a special effort. Some rolled out the red carpet, others welcomed the parents with tilak, hand-made cards and banners. The tea and biscuits on offer were a hit. Parents were given a copy of a letter from deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia listing the governments achievements and its vision for improving education in Delhi. Sisodia promised to organise such an event twice every year, saying, I visited a lot of schools and there is enthusiasm among parents. We will continue this effort so that the quality of education improves in government school. Room for improvement And there is room for improvement, as the event exposed the schools infrastructural inadequacies. Despite staggered timings for better crowd management, parents in some schools had to line up on playgrounds for lack of space. The government which had publicised the event on radio, social media and through door-to-door messages called the event a win-win for parents and teachers. But a section of the Government School Teachers Association called it a flop show. Its president CP Singh said, The teachers were busy deciding who will serve tea instead of focusing on teaching. Why call it a mega event when PTMs are being held in schools every quarter since last year? Ravinder Malik, a parent at Veer Savarkar Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in south Delhis Kalkaji, said, It was not surprising for me to attend a parent-teacher meeting in a government school. The management has held such meetings in the past. The only difference was that all schools across Delhi were involved. (Inputs from Sohil Sehran ) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An undertrial, being taken from Tihar Jail to Narwana in Haryanas Jind, escaped on Saturday after his associates threw red chilli powder in the eyes of the policemen accompanying him. The prisoner, Jitender, was to be produced in a local court in Narwana where he is facing trial in a murder case. The incident took place this morning about 8 km from Parle G factory in Bahadurgarh area when two cars overtook the Haryana Roadways bus in which he was being taken. DCP third of armed battalion, Ashok Malik, said he managed to escape after around a dozen people entered the bus and threw red chilli powder in the eyes of the policemen. According to sources, the miscreants also snatched arms from policemen. A 39-year-old property dealer was stabbed to death in full public view on a busy street near his home in Lajpat Nagar-I in south Delhi on Friday night. Manish Chhabra was repeatedly stabbed in his right thigh by two unidentified men with an ice pick. He died due to excessive bleeding, police said. Police have not ruled out business rivalry or property dispute behind the murder. A case of murder was registered at the Lajpat Nagar police station against unknown persons. Three teams have been formed to identify the killers, a senior police officer said. The incident happened around 8.30 pm on Friday when Chhabra was returning home in his Swift car. He stopped his car outside a kiosk near his house to buy cigarettes. Chhabra was waiting to get cigarettes when two men came from behind and stabbed him in his thigh. Eyewitnesses said Chhabra fell on the stairs of the shop and started bleeding. The attackers escaped on a motorcycle. A bystander rushed to inform Chhabras family about the attack. The property dealer was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre by his brother Ashish in an auto-rickshaw. He died of stab wounds during treatment, the officer said. Chhabras family said this was the fourth attack on him in the past few years. Ashish told the police that his brother was last attacked in March this year. Ashish claimed the police had registered FIRs in connection with two of the three alleged previous assaults but failed to identify anyone. The police, however, said they were looking into the allegations. We are trying to identify the attackers. Our teams are scanning CCTV cameras installed in the area to get some clues about the suspects, the officer said. Chhabra lived with his mother and brother at their E-block home in Lajpat Nagar-1. He ran a real estate business from his office in Nehru Place. Police claimed Chhabras wife and children lived elsewhere and the couple were not on cordial terms. Some took leave from work, others nervously looked at their watch. But all made sure they met the teachers. Thousands of parents trooped into government schools across the Capital on Saturday morning, talking to teachers and discussing ways to improve their childrens academic performance, the first such exercise in the city. Many beaming parents said such parent-teacher meetings should become a regular exercise. Some saw their childrens report cards and attendance registers for the first time. I rarely get time from work to help my children in studies. Such meets will help me know where my children stand. For us the only thing is our children should get good education, said Rakesh Maurya, whose two daughters study at Government Girls Senior Secondary School in northeast Delhis Soniya Vihar. Indias school education system is in crisis, studies show, with a third of children enrolled dropping out before Class 10 and half of all students between Class 3 and 5 unable to do basic maths. State-run schools are often considered worse than their private counterparts because of poor infrastructure, inadequate teacher strength to deal with massive student numbers and overworked parents who dont have enough time to monitor their childrens studies. The Aam Aadmi Party administrations parent-teacher meeting exercise is aimed at plugging this gap in government schools, which are crucial to improving learning standards because they cater to huge chunks of the population who cannot afford private institutions. Now I know where my child stands so I am going to take special care. Even though I have not studied I will send her for tuition now, said Rajbeti Sharma, a parent. Government teachers interact with parents of school students in a school in Kalkaji. (S Burmaula / HT Photo) Many parents also talked about the lack of infrastructure such as drinking water facilities -- in schools. My daughter complains about the lack of proper drinking water and toilet so I told this to the class teacher, said Vinod Kumar, a parent. His daughter studies on class 10 at the Soniya Vihar school. It was the first time that such a meeting was held in the school. Many schools shifted their schedules, divided roll numbers and allotted specific timeslots to parents, in order to avoid overcrowding. Other institutions rolled out the red carpet with large welcome boards, decorations and a serving of tea and biscuits. The Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Yamuna Vihar had students of senior classes as volunteers taking parents to different classes. The exercise also pleased the teachers, who said they were now better informed about a students background and specific problems with studies. One parent told me her daughter is irregular because she takes care of the house as her mother is frequently unwell. I explained to her that she cannot make her child stay at home as she was in Class 10, said Suman Gupta, a science teacher at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Yamuna Vihar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Traffic movement returned to relative normalcy after two days of waterlogging on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, barring some spots near the Hero Honda Chowk and a three-kilometre stretch from the crossing till the Kherki Daula toll plaza, after Saturday noon. A large force of civic officials, police and construction workers were on the job throughout the day to undo the damage after the incessant rains. Morning rain along with kanwarias movement caused traffic snarls towards Gurgaon. But there was lesser traffic due to the weekend and most stretches were clear after 11 am. At many stretches on the crisis epicentre Hero Honda Chowk and stretches near Kherki Daula roads had caved in. The Badshapur drain breach had caused a lot of water stagnation on the service roads. At least 50 police officials (including traffic police) were present at the Chowk to clear traffic throughout the day. Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon officials and their contractual workers were also repairing roads. The caved roads were barricaded, potholes were covered with metal sheets to let vehicles pass, a few damaged roads were cemented and bricks were laid as an interim measure to make a path to junctions. Traffic moved slowly on the stretch, but it was a lot faster compared to a day before when it took two hours to cross. Read: Gurgaon: Long journey home that they will never be able to forget The services lane on either side of Kherki Daula Toll was unusable because of knee-deep water stagnant on them. Many pumps were flushing out the water. It will take at least 48 hours for the water to drain away completely, provided it doesnt rain anymore, said MCG and NHAI officials at the spot. Heavy traffic moved slowly through the plaza. But there was no stagnation of water. At low-lying areas near Rajiv Chowk, heading towards New Delhi, water levels were still high near the service lane. At many places, people had created artificial embankments to stop water from entering their houses or offices. MCG workers were pumping out the water and desilting drains. Heavy police deployment on either side of the main road ensured smooth flow of traffic. There was heavy traffic from Mahipalpur in New Delhi till Signature Towers (Exit 7) between 9 am and 11 am. There were no major defects on the stretch. But traffic returned to normalcy only after another 100 policemen were deployed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The rivalry between Tamil Nadus big parties the AIADMK and DMK led to a scuffle between two parliamentarians at the Delhi airport on Saturday. Sasikala Pushpa, an MP of the states ruling AIADMK party, slapped DMK parliamentarian Tiruchi Siva after he refused to travel in the same aircraft, airport security officials said. The two, both Rajya Sabha members, were scheduled to fly to Chennai. Airline officials said Siva requested them to offload him because he didnt want to share an aircraft with Pushpa. Seeing Siva emerge from the security hold area, the upset AIADMK MP ran towards him and slapped him. Security personnel separated them before things got out of hand. While Siva left the airport without lodging a complaint, Pushpa proceeded on her journey. The matter can also be probed by a panel if any MP lodges a formal complaint with the house chairman, a Rajya Sabha official said. Neither Siva nor Pushpa could be reached over the phone. AIADMK and DMK MPs dont even talk to each other in Parliament. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa said on Saturday the government has filed a case in the Supreme Court against Andhra Pradeshs act of raising the height of the check dam across the Palar river, saying it is impacting the fundamental rights of the people of her state. In a statement issued here on Saturday, Jayalalithaa said that the state government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court. She said the state government has asked the apex court to declare Andhras action of raising the height of the check dam across the Palar river without Tamil Nadus permission as affecting the fundamental rights of the people of her state. Jayalalithaa said the petition also requested the apex court to order Andhra Pradesh to bring down the height of the check dam to previous levels. The petition had said the Supreme Court should order Andhra to ensure that the water from Palar and its tributaries reaches Tamil Nadu. Contradicting Mehbooba Muftis stand, the BJP on Saturday said the security forces had knowledge of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wanis presence at the encounter site. Terming the killing of Wani as success, Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Sat Sharma said the identity of the terrorist doesnt matter in such operations. As far as the question of the event (killing of Wani) is concerned, definitely the security forces had the knowledge... they knew who was inside and they undertook their job after taking everything into consideration, he said, adding security forces do not act without information. He added, The people who take up the gun to disintegrate the nation and dont consider Jammu and Kashmir to be part of India, they are terrorists and deserve to be killed. Sharma said the security forces deserved commendation for dealing with the terrorist. On Thursday, Mehbooba had said the security forces were not aware of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Wanis presence during the July 8 raid at a hideout at Kokernag in South Kashmir in which he was killed. Mehbooba also said had the security forces known about Wanis presence, the situation could have perhaps been handled better. As far as the statement of the chief minister is concerned, we must keep the morale of the security forces high. As the president of the state unit of the BJP, I can say the identity of the terrorist does not matter for the security forces, Sharma said. He said Wani carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head and his killing was a success for the security forces. However, he added that while security forces were doing a commendable job, it should be ensured that no innocent civilian was killed. About unrest in the Valley, he said the government was trying hard to bring peace in the state. Some people tried to disrupt the environment in Jammu but people from various walks of life came together and foiled such designs, he said. Rejecting the demand of governors rule, Sharma said the need of the hour was that all political parties work towards bringing peace in the state. Protests broke out across the Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Wani was killed in the encounter. In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 47 people, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured. The United States has asked India to do everything in its power to protect its citizens, expressing concern over reports of rising intolerance and violence in the country. We stand in solidarity with the people and government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in confronting all forms of intolerance, US state department spokesperson John Kirby said. He was responding to questions on reports of increasing incidents of violence over beef in India. Most recently, two Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh were thrashed by cow protection vigilantes on the suspicion of carrying beef, which was revealed to be buffalo meat on forensic examination. A few days earlier, four Dalit youths were tied up and thrashed allegedly for skinning a dead cow. This resulted in widespread protests by the Dalit community in Gujarat. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has repeatedly been accused by opposition parties of adopting a kid gloves treatment when dealing with Right-wing extremist groups, who openly dispense mob justice, mostly on members of minority communities. Were obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence..., Kirby said. As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable. Kirby said the US looks forward to continuing to work with the Indian people to realise their tolerant and inclusive vision, which was in the interests of both India and the US. Read | US expresses concern over Kashmir unrest, says in touch with Indian govt With inputs from PTI A court in Uttar Pradeshs Jaunpur on Saturday sentenced to death a Bangladesh national convicted in the July 2005 Shramjeevi Express blast which had left 12 passengers dead. Additional Sessions judge Budhiram Yadav, who had convicted Mohammad Alamgir aka Ronny on Friday, pronounced the sentence amid high security. The other accused, Ubaid-ur-Rehman, will be sentenced on August 2. Ronny was convicted for murder, attempt to murder and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, and under various sections of the Explosive Material Possession Act and the Railway Act. As many as 53 witnesses testified in this case. More than 60 others were injured in the blast on board the train, which runs from New Delhi to Patna, on the Hariharpur crossing on the Lucknow-Varanasi rail section on July 28, 2005. Police filed an FIR against former Uttarakhand legislator Harak Singh Rawat on Saturday after a woman accused the BJP leader of raping her at his south Delhi residence. The woman told Delhi Police that Harak Singh called her to his home in Green Park on Friday and raped her. Sources said she approached police on Friday night and registered a complaint. Sources said the woman had alleged about a decade ago that Harak Singh, then a minister in the Congress government, was the father of her son. The minister had to resign from the government in 2003 and face a CBI probe but was cleared later. Harak Singh then claimed that he knew the distressed lady but was not the father of her child. Rawat, who started his political career as student leader, has often found himself linked to scandals involving women. In February 2014, a woman had filed a police case against Harak Singh for allegedly molesting her. The 56-year-old was a prominent leader of a rebel MLA group that walked out of the Congress in Uttarakhand earlier this year, plunging the government into crisis and prompting the Centre to clamp Presidents Rule in the state. But the Supreme Court scrapped the central rule and chief minister Harish Rawat won a crucial floor test in the assembly after the rebel legislators were disqualified from voting. Harak Singh and the other rebels formally joined the BJP about two months ago. The Congress government is after Rawat and others even since they raised their voice against the Harish Rawat government. Let law take its course but we feel the fresh case was filed to frame him, said Vinay Goel, BJP spokesperson. But the Congress that had backed Harak Singh on various occasions said politicians facing sexual allegations wasnt good for politics. It ironic that a politician (Harak Singh) is embroiled in such controversies, said Mathura Dutta Joshi, a Congress spokesperson. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday expressed hope to soon trace Jai, the iconic tiger that has been missing since April 19. Speaking at an International Tiger Day event in Nagpur on Friday, CM Fadnavis said, We are hopeful and confident this time also the missing tiger will soon be tracked and traced. Jai, the seven-year-old tiger went missing from Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagpur on April 19. The forest department launched a massive search operation, which hit a roadblock due to incessant rainfall in the region in the last one week. Jai likes to roam in the jungle and frequently changes his location, he said. We are happy that the missing of tiger has created awareness about the wild animal among people from all walks of life and they have evinced interest in the entire missing episode, the chief minister added. The principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife), Shree Bhagwan, who is also the state wildlife warden, has directed all the chief conservators of forests (CCFs) in the region to seek help from volunteers of various NGOs working for wildlife conservation, to trace the missing tiger. Read | Missing tiger Jai that migrated 150km may have starved to death (HT Photo) The Conservation Lenses and Wildlife (CLaW), an independent group of wildlife lovers and photographers, has announced a cash prize of Rs 50,000 for anyone who can help find Jai, provide physical evidence and credible information about his whereabouts. CLaW thinks the incentive will encourage people to come forward with information. Named after Amitabh Bachchans character in the movie Sholay, Jai travelled over 150km from Nagzira-Navegaon tiger reserve in Gondia-Bhandara district to the Umred forest, crossing several villages and even the Mumbai-Kolkata national highway, in September, 2013. Read | Pug marks in Bhandara could be that of missing tiger (HT Photo) Dr Bilal Habib, a expert of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), who fitted radio-collar on Jai last year, said the beast may have passed under high-tension transmission lines, which has damaged its radio collar. So the authorities are not able to track its location and other details. The possibility of Jai succumbed to the dangerous radio waves is not completely ignored. A Sundarban tigress in West Bengal was found dead last year because of infection caused by her radio collar. Similarly, two big cats were found dead in Bangladesh due to use of radio collars recently, pointed out a wildlife conservationist, Mohan Kothekar. Rains lashing northern and eastern parts of the country have aggravated the flood situation in Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and West Bengal, killing around 58 people while lightning strikes in Odisha have claimed 27 lives. Floods in Assam have killed 29 people and affected nearly 37 lakh people across more than 3,300 villages in 28 districts of the state, officials said. Home minister Rajnath Singh went on an aerial survey on Saturday of flood-affected areas in Assam and said that the situation is grim. According to official reports, flood waters have risen following heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan as well as in the state. In Meghalaya, at least three people were killed and two went missing as flood waters submerged the West Garo Hills district on Saturday, an official said. Even though back flow of Brahmaputra and Jinjiram rivers has gone down marginally, many villages were inundated due to incessant rainfall. Villagers try to cross a flooded road in Katihar district of Bihar on Saturday. (PTI Photo) In Bihar, many rivers are flowing above danger level as floods continued to wreak havoc, affecting 26.19 lakh people. Two more districts of East Champaran and Muzaffarpur were declared as flood-hit on Saturday. Read | Rajnath says Assam situation very serious Twenty-six deaths were reported in Bihar due to drowning and home collapses in 10 districts bordering Nepal, news agency AP reported on Saturday. Two minor girls were swept away by waters of Burhidangi river in Bihars Kishanganj district following incessant rains, an official said, adding that their bodies were fished out with the help of NDRF personnel. According to the MeT office, Patna has received 18.3 mm rainfall since Friday, while Purnea witnessed 28.9 mm rains during the same period. The ripple effect of the massive gridlock in Gurgaon due to flooding of streets continued to be felt, with several areas witnessing crawling traffic which received highest rainfall in 10 years. Palam observatory recorded 144mm rainfall in a span of 24 hours from 5.30pm Friday out of which 80mm of rains were recorded in a span of mere three hours from 5:30am to 8.30am on Saturday. Prior to this, the record stood at 126mm of rain on July 28, 2009. A roadside food vendor waits for customers as he sits next to his partially submerged food stall during a rainstorm in New Delhi. (AP Photo) The chock-a-block situation in Gurgaon eased on Saturday but overnight rains contributed to slow traffic movement, an official said. In Odisha, 27 people were killed in lightning strikes -- eight from Bhadrak district, seven casualties in Balasore district, five in Khurda, three in Mayurbhanj and one each in Kendrapara, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, police said. Read | Bihar: Over 26 lakh affected by floods as rivers flow above danger mark Last Sunday, the Dalit villagers at Mota Samadhiyala had a surprise visitor, one they thought hated the community. The guest was Purshottam Roopala a loyalist of BJP chief Amit Shah, the partys tallest Patidar leader in the state and a key pacifier of the Patel agitation last year who was rewarded with a berth recently in the Union council of ministers. But just four years ago, Dalits across Gujarat were burning his effigy after Roopala quoted from a Hindu text to say, Dhol, Pashu, Shudra aur naari; Sab Taaran ke adhikaari.(Drums, animals, lowered castes and women were made so that they could be beaten up) Roopala visited Balubhai Sarvaiya, one of the five Dalits publicly flogged on June 11 by a self-styled cow protection group in Una, on Sunday. This time he had a new message,The Narendra Modi government is with the Dalit Samaj (society). We will not rest until the people who have attacked you are punished. The change was so drastic that it had people wondering if a horrifying video of Balubhai and his relatives being flogged like animals melted Purshottam Roopalas heart? After spending a few minutes with Balubhai at his hut, Roopala and his entourage spent the next few hours at the house of the village Brahmin. The senior police and revenue officials, and the media followed him there, leaving Balubhai and the other Dalits behind. He was briefed there. Dalits thrashed in Una diagnosed with depression in Ahmedabad hospital He ate in their house not ours, says Jeetu Sarvaiya (24) suggesting the obvious. Have you noticed? Some of the journalists who have come from Una and Ahmedabad have also not been eating in the houses of the Dalits, says a Dalit journalist from Rajkot. A few minutes after Roopala left the village on Sunday, a 13-year-old Dalit girl, Disha Sarvaiya, told Gujarat parliamentary secretary and Kodinar MLA, Jethabhai Solanki, what the Dalits think of the BJP government. Solanki, who was forced to sit through the girls two-page presentation, kept an impassive face as the girl ended with an ode to Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and the slogan Jai Bhim. Despite the public posturing, there is some sourness over Mayawati within the community members who were told twice that their true leader and sister will come to meet them. She cancelled both the dates. Disha Sarvaiya, a school girl in Mota Samadhiyala village, makes a presentation before government officials about Dalits. (Sudipto Mondal/ HT photo) The BSP cadre camping in the village have been pacifying them, saying Mayawati doesnt believe in attracting media attention. The Dalits have been told that she will invite them to her home as soon as the other four victims of the Una attack are discharged from hospital. Love for Mayawati, who raged in Parliament about Una and Rohith Vemula - is evidently greater among Dalits here. And not just because she is also Dalit but because of how some of the other leaders have behaved. Take, for instance, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, who didnt grit his teeth and sit like Jethabhai Solanki but stood up and started arguing loudly with Dalits who threw barbs at him. Dalits in Gujarat village have battle cry: Let Mayawati hold Delhi Sharad Yadav came in with CPI leader D Raja on Saturday, greeted Balubhai and started assuring him of support when a Dalit in the gathering shouted out, In your Bihar, they urinated over our people. Isnt Nitish Kumar from your party? Yadav immediately stood up and said, Who are you? Which (political) party are you from? The man said he was a resident of Nano Samdhiyala, the next village, and Balubhai is his relative. Rajya Sabha MP Derek OBrien from the Trinamool Congress, who left a few hours before Sharad Yadav arrived, quickly told those gathered that his party is firmly behind Mayawati in Parliament on the issue. They then made OBrien say Jai Bhim before left. Although he was spared a public attack, there was some criticism later because of how he treated his party colleague who had travelled with him. OBrien came with Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Pratima Mondal, a Dalit. But he did all the talking. He should have allowed her to take the lead, says Piyush Sarvaiya whose brother was burnt alive by an upper caste mob in 2012 in a neighboring village. This is what Babasaheb (Ambedkar) had predicted when he demanded separate electorates for Dalits in 1932. Under the present electoral system, parties give tickets to only those Dalit leaders who are obedient and servile, adds Piyush. He only studied till the Class 7th and was introduced to Ambedkars ideas by activists who helped him with his brothers case. He tells his relatives in Mota Samadhiyala during a clan meeting that leaders from all political parties visited him but only the Ambedkarites saw his case through. Dalits from the surrounding villages-- many of whom are from the Sarvaiya family clan to which the victims belong-- are angry with a lot of people, national and local. One of the few politicians who has managed charm them a little is Rahul Gandhi. He gave me his personal mobile number, brags one of the residents. Has he tried calling that number? I dont know if I can, he sheepishly confesses. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visits Balubhai Sarvaiya on July 21 after he was assaulted by self-styled cow protectors. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO) They have loudly mocked the health workers who have come for the first time in years to sprinkle DDT and distribute chlorine; the police who have been conducting lengthy interviews; the armed guards who are on 24 hour duty; officials arriving to help them with securing BPL cards, building toilets, water lines, LPG connections. Arvind Sarvaiya fought loudly with the officer who came with the offer to build toilets on Tuesday for the 27 Dalit families here. First you give us land, then build toilets on that land, he yelled as the others stood behind him in support. The embarrassed officer couldnt say anything to them, so he turned to us and said, You media people are the ones creating all the trouble. An unusually large number of Hindu religious gurus are visiting the Dalit colony in Mota Samadhiyala. The response is mixed. Conspiracy to grab land behind Una Dalit youth thrashing: Relatives We cant walk into the temple in the village. Thats why the temple has come walking up to us. What a great sight, Nanjibhai Sarvaiya sarcastically told Kothari Swamiji, visiting from a monastery in Amreli on Tuesday, even as his uncle Balubhai fell at the godmans feet. When another seer from Ahmedabad visited over the weekend, Ransivade, a local Dalit activist, shouted, You are the ones who beat us and then sing hymns to soothe us. The Dalits are not sure if the priests and godmen will drink tea or water from them so they dont offer them any. The Dalits in Mota Samadhiyala have been visited by thousands of people from across, Saurashtra, Gujarat and India but they have been waiting only for three visits. Mayawati, Rohith Vemulas mother Radhika Vemula and the four others who were attacked along with Balubhai on June 11 and admitted to a hospital in Rajkot. The four others - Vashram Sarvaiya, Ramesh Sarvaiya, Ashok Sarvaiya and Bechar Sarvaiya - were discharged and returned to the village on Tuesday night amid celebrations. But they were rushed back to the hospital in the morning because they once again developed extreme pain. Rohiths mother is also quite ill and has been postponing her visit. As for Mayawati, it doesnt look like she is coming. Police officials on Saturday forcibly took away four media persons attached to Asianet TV channel from a magistrates court here to the Town Police station, in a fresh turn to the already tense relations between lawyers and the media in Kerala. Sub-inspector of police PM Vimod allegedly manhandled the media persons who had entered the court premises to cover the days important cases. The police official said the Kozhikode district judge had asked them to remove the media personnel from the court premises. Following a huge media outcry, the four Asianet TV officials were allowed to leave the station and a senior official attached to the Town Police apologised for the turn of events. We demand appropriate action against the inspector and two police officials who acted rashly towards us, said Binuraj, the Asianet correspondent. Recounting the events, Binuraj told reporters: We had just arrived in the compound of the magistrate court. Soon after the local sub-inspector came menacingly towards us and said they are taking us and the driver of our vehicle to the police station. They behaved with us as if we were terrorists. In the station too they behaved very badly with us. The Kozhikode district judge clarified via the registrar general that there was no direction to police to prevent the media from entering the court premises. In the state capital, journalists took out a silent protest march, with their mouths covered with black cloth. Relations between the media and the lawyer community in Kerala have gone from bad to worse in the past 10 days after trouble first began in the Kerala high court premises in Kochi. Tensions also erupted in the state capital, and a few days ago the lawyer community prevented the media at Kollam from covering the judgement of a controversial murder case. Former lawmaker, advocate and fellow traveller of the CPI-M, Sebastian Paul said the current situation in the state reminds him of the scenario in 1975 (Emergency). The sequence of events happening in our state does not augur well and its time the state government acts, said Paul. John Brittas, who heads Kairali TV channel the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-backed TV channel and is also media advisor to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, deplored the events at Kozhikode. This should not have happened; the media should get the space and the freedom to work, said Brittas. Leading lawyer Udayabhanu said to his knowledge there has been no written order from the Kerala high court to ban the entry of media personnel into the courts. Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala urged the chief minister to speak out on the incidents. He has turned out to be an abject failure in resolving the issue and remains a mute spectator. He should ask the advocate general to settle the issues between the media and the judiciary as its spreading to all parts of the state. Such a situation has never happened earlier, said Chennithala. J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti skipped a symposium on Kashmir organised here by RSS-affiliated forums, where speakers deliberating on solutions launched a broadside against Pakistan, pushed for a harder stance on Kashmir. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, who was to be chief guest, was also absent from the event titled Peace, People and Possibilities in Kashmir. BJP MP Satyapal Singh, who was Mumbai police chief, and Prof. JS Rajput, the former National Council of Educational Research and Training head, were among key speakers. Two retired army generals TN Hoon and Amin Naik also spoke. The event was organised by Vishwagram, a cultural forum, and RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who heads the Muslim Rashtriya Manch. The function began with a short video on Kashmir which featured an archival clip of former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf, in which he praises the Taliban and Osama bin Laden as heroes. Singh said: Kashmir is not the only beautiful place? Why do we call Kashmir a paradise? It is paradise because even the smallest sesame-seed sized piece of land there is land of tirth (Hindu pilgrimage spot). I dont want to say this but Hindu villages are being given Islamic names, Singh added. Singh called for an iron hands in velvet gloves policy on Kashmir. He questioned concessions to Kashmir. If you want to go to Gulmarg, you cant take a taxi from Jammu. You have to hire only a local taxi. You cant buy land. What is all this? Former NCERT director Rajput said the focus of education should be character building. I have been to Pakistan. Parents there teach hatred to children. We dont have any control over what is taught in Kashmir. We need to check if textbooks in Kashmir indeed teach brotherhood. General (retired) Hoon said India could finish Pakistan anytime. I am more worried about China. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Authorities were trying on Saturday to rescue people stranded in flooded areas after a week of heavy rain and lighting killed at least 81 people and uprooted thousands of others from their homes in Assam, Bihar and Odisha. Twenty-six deaths were reported in Assam, where incessant downpours have damaged roads and snapped telephone cables in several districts, a government statement said. Home minister Rajnath Singh flew over the worst-hit Assam areas on Saturday and said the floods were very serious. Singh said at least 28 districts of the state have been affected by floods. The Home Minister said he had asked the state government to adequately utilise the money in the National Disaster Relief Fund. At least 29 people were killed after being struck by lightning in different parts of Odisha on Saturday, police said. While eight deaths were reported from Bhadrak district, there were seven casualties in Balasore district, five in Khurda, three in Mayurbhanj, three in Jajpur and one each in Kendrapara, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, the police said. Twenty-six deaths also have been reported in Bihar due to drowning and home collapses in 10 districts bordering Nepal. The Bihar government was running more than 350 relief camps providing food and other necessities to the flood victims. The central government-run National Disaster Response Force was helping with relief efforts. Vast tracts of Assams Kaziranga National Park, home to the rare one-horned rhino, and another wildlife reserve were under water, the state government said in a statement. Forest officials found the remains of six rhinos drowned by floodwaters in Kaziranga, the statement said. Another rhino was killed in another national reserve in the state. The Brahmaputra river and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of Assams districts, washing away roads and highways and toppling power pylons. Floodwaters entered homes in at least 14 districts, leading to house collapses. Flooding is an annual problem during the monsoon season in the region, but the impact has been worsened by crumbling civic infrastructure, clogged drains and uncontrolled urban expansion. Dr Sundaram Natarajan, a leading Mumbai-based ophthalmologist who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2013, alone conducted 40 retinal surgeries on Kashmirs pellet victims in three days. Dr Natarajan and his team of four doctors were brought to Kashmir amidst the ongoing turmoil on July 26 by the Pune-based non-government organisation Borderless World Foundation (BWF). Since its arrival in Srinagar, the team had conducted more than 69 surgeries at the SMHS hospital till Saturday afternoon. All the surgeries were done free of cost, the BWF and doctors at SMHS said. The lead doctor operated on 40 patients himself and led procedures on six others over the hectic three days. Three members of the team, including Dr Natarajan, left Srinagar on Saturday, while the remaining two doctors are still working at the SMHS. Read | Despite Rajnaths plea, pellet firing continues in J-K Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dr Natarajan explained how complicated and multidimensional the pellet injuries were. He said, The centre of the eye is the sensitive zone. Patients with a damaged central part might not get their normal vision back but they will get side vision. But patients whose macula (central part of retina) and optic nerve are intact and lens and cornea are clear will get back their normal vision, added the doctor, who is chairman-cum-managing director of the Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital in Mumbai. Dr Natarajan added that he and his team would return to the Valley to follow up on the patients, serious retinal surgery cases required a follow-up after six weeks. Use of pellet guns by security forces in Kashmir has become a cause for concern for activists. In the ongoing unrest, more than 600 people have been injured by pellets, and 185 people suffered eye injuries with 20 sustaining damage in both eyes, according to the latest government data. When a pellet cartridge bursts, hundreds of tiny metallic particles jet out and penetrate skin and eyes, rupturing them before getting lodged. Dr Natarajan described the resulting injuries as a quite serious problem. Read | Doctors perform 58 eye surgeries on Kashmir pellet victims in three days Dr Tariq Qureshi, head of the department of ophthalmology, Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, said, Dr Natarajans expertise in this field is unparalleled. And his visit and work has been very fruitful in these times of crisis. He added that when patients go to Chandigarh or Amritsar with pellet injuries, they are charged lakhs of rupees, which was why Dr Natarajans visit and the free surgeries have been so useful for the patients. Haris Abrar Kashmiri, a senior program officer of the BWF in Kashmir, said after seeing the plight of pellet victims that the organisation had thought of getting the patients flown out of Kashmir for better treatment but encountered logistical problems. We spoke at length with senior doctors at SMHS and BWFs officials. It was decided that we approach Dr Natarajan since he is an expert in this field. Two minutes into our conversation with the doctor, he had agreed, Kashmiri said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Srinagar court issued on Saturday a non-bailable warrant against the citys top police officer for defying judicial orders to register cases against his officers and investigate charges that they shot a young man at point-blank range during this months protests in Kashmir. The court asked police to lodge an FIR and probe the death of Shabir Ahmad on July 10. But police didnt investigate the charges and booked Ahmad under charges of armed rioting and attempt to murder, among others. Police also refused to file an FIR against deputy superintendent of police, Yasir Qadri, who Ahmads family says shot him dead in the lawns of their house in Srinagar. Read: US expresses concern over Kashmir unrest, says in touch with Indian govt Many eyewitnesses have told local media that Ahmad was killed because he had a history of stone pelting and that he was shot at from a close range. The case is likely to fuel anger in the Valley that has been rocked by violent protests after Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani was gunned down on July 8. Tens of thousands of people have clashed with the police, leaving close to 50 people dead and nearly 2,000 injured. Ahmad was the only casualty in Srinagar. The court directed Srinagar senior superintendent of police Amit Kumar first on July 18 and again July 28 to file the FIR and appear personally if the complaint was not lodged. But on Saturday, the police asked for the SSP to be exempted from personal appearance and did not submit a copy of the FIR, as directed by the court. This infuriated chief judicial magistrate Masarat Shaheen, who issued the non-bailable warrant and asked the deputy inspector general of central Kashmir to file a compliance report in two days. Shaheen also asked the SSP why contempt proceedings shouldnt be started against him. The SSP is further directed to show cause as to why contempt proceedings shall not be initiated against him for not obeying the court directions whereby he was directed to lodge the FIR & file a copy of the FIR within 24 hours, the order said. The application by Ahmads family said on July 10, a police team headed by Qadri barged into their house when they were watching television and started smashing windowpanes and doors. Ahmads mother tried to stop Qadri but he assaulted her, the petition read. Ahmad couldnt tolerate the thrashing of his mother and tried to rescue her. The police officer then took out his pistol and fired two shots at him, resulting in his death, it said. Full coverage: Kashmir unrest SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Telugu matinee idol and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh NT Rama Raos widow, Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi, is all set to wage a legal battle with Raos family members over his 8,000 square feet bungalow at Bajulla Road in Chennai, now worth over Rs 20 crore. While NTRs sons are reportedly contemplating selling the building which is now in a dilapidated condition, his son-in-law N Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, is said to be toying with the idea of renovating the building and use it as the Telugu Desam Party office unit in Chennai. Lakshmi Parvathi, who married NTR just two-and-a-half years before his death in January 1996, stakes claim over the property as it is still in the name of her husband and she was his legal successor of the property. I have engaged a lawyer to file a suit in the Chennai civil court and I am confident that I will get justice, she said. However, Lakshmi Parvathi does not have the registered documents of the property to prove that it was NTRs personal property. When he moved to Hyderabad in 1982 after entering politics, he allowed his elder daughter Lokeshwari to stay in his Chennai house. But, he did not write it in her name. She later vacated the house and shifted to a new house. The documents must be with her or her brothers. I am applying for a duplicate set of documents, she said. Nobody bothered to take care of this house in the last 30 years. Now, NTRs sons are trying to make money by selling it, Lakshmi Parvathi said. She made a vain bid to continue the legacy of her husbands political career by floating NTR TDP, she had to disband it as she had no resources to run it. She joined the YSR Congress party headed by YS Jaganmohan Reddy only to take on Chandrababu Naidu, but she does not have much role in it. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Tripura government suspended till August 1 the odd-even system introduced to stop black marketing of petroleum products after a series of protests in demand of petrol throughout Friday. The transport system suffered due to a lack of petrol in different areas of the capital city. Angry mobs protested outside the residences of chief minister Manik Sarkar and food and civil supplies minister Bhanulal Saha on Friday night. Though none of the ministers met them, West District magistrate and SP came to intervene. They managed to control the situation and assured protesters that petrol would be available in eight pumps of the capital city by Saturday. The government finally suspended the odd-even system after the situation. The state introduced the odd-even system for rationing fuel products. According to this, vehicles with odd registration numbers would get fuel on odd dates and those with even numbers on even dates. Government official sources said that a total of two lakh litres of petrol would reach the state by Saturday through an alternative highway. By Friday night, approximately 393 vehicles carrying petroleum products entered the state. A Delhi court convicted on Saturday Mahmood Farooqui, the co-director of popular Bollywood movie Peepli Live, for raping an American woman when she was in India for research in 2015. The sentence will be decided on August 2. The 35-year-old woman, a student at Columbia University in New York, had told the police that she was raped by the filmmaker at his Sukhdev Vihar house in southern Delhi on March 28 last year. She alleged Farooqui raped her when she had gone to meet him to get help for her research work. She claimed to have met Farooqui in Varanasi where she had gone to collect information. Last September, a senior police officer told HT that the woman returned to the US soon after the rape and wrote an email to Farooqui who apologised for misbehaving with her. The woman later approached Delhi Police through diplomatic channels. She then returned to India and lodged a formal complaint on June 19. The woman alleged that Farooqui got drunk at a party and took her to a separate room where he forced himself on her, the officer said. The Supreme Court on Friday sought a status report from the Centre on the ground realities in Jammu and Kashmir as protests continued for a 23rd day following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani. The Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur, asked the solicitor general Ranjit Kumar to file the report in response to a petition filed by Bhim Singh, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), seeking governors rule in the state. The bench, however, did not issue notice on the petition and cautioned Singh against taking political mileage out of the court proceedings. Make sure, you make no political overtones in this proceeding or we will come down heavily on you if we come to know that you are taking political mileage, the bench said. The situation in the Valley was different and kept changing on an hourly or a daily basis, said the bench which had earlier wondered if it could command the Governor to take over the administration. Close to 50 people, including two policemen, have died so far in the protests that erupted on July 8, immediately after Wanis death. More 2,000 people were also injured in the violence that saw political opponents corner the ruling BJP-PDP coalition. Read | Curfew re-imposed in Kashmir to thwart separatists planned march In his petition, Singh contended that governors rule under section 92 of the Constitution should be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. He had requested that assembly be dissolved for failing to discharge its duties and functions. There is literally rule of the gun and the people in the Valley have no access to even water taps or to medical stores. The people in J&K have been forced to stay inside their homes without food, medicines or other essential commodities needed for human survival, he stated. The petition alleged the State government had virtually imposed martial law in the Kashmir valley for the past two weeks resulting in demolition of all fundamental rights of the Indian citizens being residents of the State in the entire saffron painted valley of Kashmir. Singh further argued due to the use of pellet guns, people were being blinded due to improper medical facilities. However, the court challenged Singh on several grounds. Bring us one person who is unable to go to the hospital due to the prevailing condition. Bring before us one such person who has specific grievance. For one whole year, you have not visited Kashmir and you are coming to the court, it commented. Earlier, the court had agreed to hear the plea seeking imposition of governors rule in the state on account of prevailing law and order situation there. Read more | Kashmirs disturbing new reality Prime Minister Narendra Modis call for making India clean by 2019 does not seem to have inspired corporates and individual donors to loosen their purse strings. A special corpus set up by the government two years ago to mobilize funds for the Swachh Bharat Mission is drying up owing to lukewarm response from potential donors comprising public and private companies besides philanthropists. Set up in September 2014, the Swachh Bharat Kosh (SBK) has so far received Rs 412 crore which includes interest. Of this, the Union finance ministry that administers the fund has already sanctioned Rs 382 crore to different states for implementing sanitation projects. With corporate and PSUs shying away from making contributions, the corpus is presently left with just `30 crore. The paltry fund has set alarm bells ringing in the government with the governing council of SBK, headed by expenditure secretary, recently holding a meeting with corporate and PSUs to impress upon them to donate more generously. Swachh Bharat Mission that aims to make urban and rural areas clean and open defecation free has a total outlay of Rs 1.96 crore till 2019, to be shared by the Centre, states and the private sector. Industry insiders say corporate houses tend to spend CSR money on initiatives they patronize directly. Veteran banker Naina Lal Kidwai, who heads the India Sanitation Coalition that FICCI under her founded 13 months ago, said that corporate houses by and large like to run CSR programmes on behalf of themselves. They are reluctant to donate to a fund where they do not have control over where the money is going. Corporates are skeptical of large central-run corpuses, Kidwai added. The total contribution from the private sector so far is a measly Rs 125 crore. One of the biggest donor is Larsen & Toubro with Rs 60 crore contribution followed by the Bajaj group with Rs 20 crore. Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayis organization has donated Rs 100 crore. Over two dozen Public Sector Undertakings have donated Rs 101 crore. General Insurance Corporation takes the lead among PSUs with a donation of Rs 15 crore. Individual donors have contributed Rs 6.27 lakh. The government, too, has initiated ways to resolve the crisis. The ministry of drinking water and sanitation, which is implementing the program in rural areas has prepared a framework to engage the private sector. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Forest officials have sighted a royal Bengal tiger at an unusually high altitude of above 12,000 feet in the Himalayas, prompting ecologists to sense another disturbing instance of climate change. A senior bureaucrat said the tigerthe animal typically lives at a height of 3,000-4,000 feetwas spotted in the upper ranges of Uttarakhand, adding to the faunal diversity of the rugged state bordering Chinas Tibet on the north. The big cat was seen in a picture shot from a camera fixed in Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in March this year, Divisional Forest Officer (Pithoragarh) IP Singh informed. One of the pictures showing the tiger that was spotted in March (Uttarakhand forest department) Usually, it is other varieties of big cats, like snow leopards, you find at altitudes above 12,000 feet, he told Hindustan Times. The image was captured on March 13. The sanctuary, 55 km from Pithoragh in the states Kumaon administrative division, lies at an altitude between 2,000 ft and 6,900 ft. Famous for its musk deer population and conservation, its 600-sq-km habitat is home to leopard, jungle cat, civet, barking deer and brown bear besides the antelope-like and serow and goral among other mammals. A 2014 data put the countrys number of royal Bengal tiger--Indias national animalat 2,226, registering a 30% jump in four years. Scientists say tiger sighting at 12,000-ft height indicates an effect of global warming. Read | Uttarakhand fire: Foresters worried over two missing tiger cubs DP Dobhal of Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology said the tiger-spotting meant the animal found it warm at an elevation of 12,000 feet. Its not healthy news, he told HT. Now more animals may scale up. That will pose threat to other animals of the upper Himalayas. The numbers of tigers in Uttarakhand has grown, as per an all-India estimation last year. The state, formed in 2000, reported 340 tigersthe countrys second, after Karnataka (406). Another wildlife expert pointed out that tiger-sighting in higher pose a challenge for the forest department in monitoring big cats. Already, we are struggling to conserve tigers in their know territories, he added. Wildlife activist Abhishek Kumar said the Uttarakhand forest department has repeatedly failed to conserve tigers. Seizure of tiger skins from the Corbett National Park this year is a classic example, he noted. Read | A day in the life of Krishna the tigress Two soldiers and two militants were killed in a gunfight in Kashmirs Kupwara district on Saturday morning, as the army said it foiled yet another infiltration bid along the Line of Control from Pakistan. Alert troops intercept terrorists attempting to infiltrate in the intervening night of 29-30 July. In an ensuing gunfight, two terrorists killed. Two soldiers attained martyrdom. One was soldier injured, said an army spokesperson in Srinagar. Two AK-47 rifles were recovered along with other warlike and administrative stores, he said. The operation is ongoing. Read: Big terror catch: Militant caught in Kashmir is Pakistani national The infiltration bid came days after the National Investigation Agency said it arrested a suspected Pakistani national who had crossed over to India to attack security forces and fuel more unrest in the Valley. Described as a big terror catch, Bahadur Ali was arrested on Tuesday following an encounter with security forces, also in Kupwara district. Four other terrorists were gunned down. The terror suspect was believed to be on a suicide mission in Kashmir, which has witnessed a wave of violence after security forces gunned down Burhan Wani, a poster boy of the militancy in the Valley, on July 8. Close to 50 people have died and more than 1,500 people injured in the past three weeks. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At least three inmates, including two foreign nationals, were killed in a Manipur jail in two separate clashes among prisoners in the wee hours of Saturday. Three officials of the Manipur Central Jail Sajiwa and an under trial were also injured in the scuffles. According to official sources, Saudi Arabia nationals Yusuf and Abdus Salam allegedly bludgeoned a local inmate, Thangminlian Zou alias Bobon, to death on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. When other inmates got to know about Zous death, who was imprisoned in connection with a murder case, they attacked the Saudi duo and killed them. Yusuf and Abdus were arrested in 2013 for entering the state from Mynamar without valid documents. The two had received a one-year jail term each, which got over in 2014. The process of deporting them was underway. Were trying to contact the concerned (Saudi Arabian) authorities for deporting the bodies of the deceased. If there is no positive response we will go according to the rules, said the additional director general of police (DGP) (prisons) P Doungel. Prominent Muslim body Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind has declared support for a massive public rally being organised in Ahmedabad on Sunday by around 30 different Dalit groups of Gujarat to protest against atrocities against the community, especially the July 11 flogging of four youth by cow vigilantes. We have announced our wholehearted backing to the rally tomorrow and many of our members and community are likely to attend it, Nasir Ansari, general secretary of the Gujarat unit of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, told IANS on Friday evening. Ansari did not speak of the numbers, but according to sources more than a thousand Muslims are expected to be present. We have been victims of political conspiracy in the past. Religion and caste have been abused. Political parties have only attained power by using our emotions, vice-president of Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind Mohammed Hanif said. Forging a joint front to fight atrocities against the Dalits after the July 11 public flogging of four Dalit youths, as many as 30 different Dalit groups from across Gujarat will come together under the banner of Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti (Una Dalit Fight against Atrocities Committee) and hold a big public rally in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The convener of the joint front, Jignesh Mevani, said at least 10,000 people from across Gujarat are likely to be present at the rally. Mevani told IANS, You might feel the number of people is much less, but this should be understood from the point of view that it is for the first time there has been such a Dalit uprising in Gujarat, and that too without the support of any political party. Even the support from Muslims has been on their own volition. They came and expressed their solidarity, he said. Mevani added that Dalits and Muslims are travelling in the same boat in Gujarat. Earlier, the state government was refusing permission for the rally proposed in front of the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, but amid pressure, approved it on Saturday evening with a change of venue. The venue has now been moved in Sabarmati area, and we have agreed since our focus is not publicity but to speak about our problems. This is a rare opportunity for us to be able to represent our case before the people of Gujarat, Mevani said. The Dalits have decided to stop collecting dead animals for skinning from Sunday and stop doing sanitation work. The organisations announced that they would not collect dead animals anywhere in Gujarat and also launch a Jhadu down (broom down) agitation, with people involved with sanitation stopping work across all local government bodies. They have already stopped it in Surendranagar and some villages of Mehsana district. Among the key demands of the newly-formed joint action group, expected to be raised on Sunday, would be to invoke the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, against those responsible as well as the conspirators of the Una torture. They also demand that any person convicted of terrorising Dalits anywhere in the country should be sent outside their respective district limits, appoint sanitation workers in Gujarat as permanent government employees and extend the benefits of Pay Commission to them, set up colonies for Dalits who have been forced to migrate from villages due to caste discrimination in rural Gujarat and relocate them to posh localities of the cities. Amid a debate on the role of the Rajya Sabha, its chairman Hamid Ansari said on Saturday that the Upper House was required to check haste, cool passion, control legislation and flag interests of individual states. Unlike the Russian Federation, India is a Union of states which is indestructible, he said. So under the Union of States, purposes are specified, the intentions of specified. But because it is a Union, the states have certain interest which are not necessarily reflected in the other House of the Parliament. Therefore, it is expected and happens on many occasions that individual states interests are flagged in Rajya Sabha, Ansari said. Citing the example of Andhra Pradesh without taking its name, he said the issue of giving special status to the state was discussed at great lengths in the Rajya Sabha. As far as my reading of the Constitution goes, the two Houses are equal. And if you read the text carefully, wherever the two Houses are mentioned, the Council of States or the Rajya Sabha is mentioned before the House of People, or the Lok Sabha, he said addressing an Orientation Programme for newly-elected and nominated members of the Upper House. Emphasising the importance of committee system in the Parliament, Ansari said it helps refining the legislations. Ansari said often it is asked why Rajya Sabha is needed, but there are several reasons for its existence. Citing a comment of a first generation American legislator, he said it was required to cool the tea. The purpose of the other House is to check haste, cool passions and control legislations. All three are important. Very often it happens that for this reason or for that reason sufficient attention is not given either to the purpose of legislation or to the wording, he said. The United States has expressed concerns over the recent unrest in Kashmir and called on all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to the issue. Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in southern part of Jammu and Kashmir. At least 47 people, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured in the ensuing violence. Full coverage: Kashmir unrest Kashmiris have alleged atrocities by Indian armed forces during street protests, and the use of pellet guns has been under the scanner. We encourage all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to this, state department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. We have obviously seen reports of the clashes between protesters and Indian forces in Kashmir. And were, of course, concerned by the violence, as you might expect we would be, he said. Kirby said the US was in close touch with the Indian government over the issue. But were obviously concerned by the violence and we want to see the tensions de-escalated, Kirby said. Pakistani leaders have criticised India over the Kashmir unrest, and the country observed on July 20 a black day to protest against the killings. The move drew angry reaction from India, which accused Islamabad of interfering in New Delhis internal affairs and backing terrorism. On Friday, protesters took to streets at many places in Kashmir and clashed with security forces defying curfew and restrictions. Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were taken into preventive custody. (With PTI inputs) A wave of recent attacks on Dalits by self-styled cow protectors have perturbed a new Union minister, who wants the Narendra Modi government to strictly implement laws and initiatives for the welfare of Scheduled Castes. Ramdas Athawale, in an interview to The Indian Express, expressed shock that human lives are at risk amid vigilantes guarding an animal Hindus consider holy. All the same, the Dalit leader, who recently became the minister of state for social justice and empowerment, does not trust all pro-downtrodden politicians, dubbing them opportunist and insincere. Athawale, who has converted to Buddhism, condemned the July 11 assault on Dalits in a village in Gujarat bordering his native Maharashtra. Read: Conspiracy to grab land behind Una Dalit youth thrashing: Relatives Why do you kill human beings? he asked gau rakshaks (cow protectors). The protectors, who attacked Muslim women in Madhya Pradesh too, should focus on cow safety, he said. The 56-year-old president of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) said the BJP, which leads the NDA administration at the Centre, is no longer a Brahmin-Baniya party. Also, the prime minister, personally, is not anti-Dalit, the newspaper quoted him as saying. Athawale, a Rajya Sabha member, said the BJP is not scaring Dalits, who have become very strong now in Uttar Pradesh after a senior leader of that party made a dirty remark against former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, though, is not a true Ambedkarite, as she has not accepted Buddhism while doing politics over social reformer Babasaheb, the chief architect of Indias Constitution. The Modi administration must necessarily spend 15% of budgetary allocation for SC plan, and ensure reservation for promotion in government jobs, Athawale said. Also, in view of agitations for reservation by Jats, Patels, Thakurs and Marathas among others, we should apply the creamy layer criteria and keep economically forward people out of the scheme, he added. Read: Why BJP was quick to show the door to Dayashankar Singh The Man Booker Prize longlist for 2016, which was announced on July 27, is less diverse in its selection this year as compared to 2015. There are five American and six British authors on the list and one each from Canada and South Africa. Unlike the longlist, the diversity in themes and genres (historical fiction, allegorical tale, dystopia, psychological crime thriller, satire) continues. There are six women writers on the list and four debut novels. The shortlist of six books will be out on September 13 (each author will receive 2,500 and a specially-bound edition of their book), and the winner will be announced on October 25. Heres a brief introduction to the 13 books in the running for the 50,000 Prize: The Sellout, Paul Beatty Paul Beattys novel The Sellout won the American National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in March 2016. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) Paul Beattys fourth novel, The Sellout, is a satire about race relations in America. Its black narrator-protagonist, Bonbon aka Sellout, tries to bring back slavery and segregation in Dickens, a fictional town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, after his father is shot dead by cops and the town removed from the map causing an identity crisis among its mostly black and Latino residents. Bonbons actions land him in the Supreme Court. Beatty, 53, who teaches writing at the Columbia University, New York, started his literary career with poetry. He has written two books of poetry Big Bank Take Little Bank (1991) and Joker, Joker, Deuce (1994). His first novel The White Boy Shuffle (1996), a coming-of-age story of a black boys search for identity, is considered a cult classic. Opening line: This may be hard to believe, coming from a black man, but Ive never stolen anything. The Schooldays of Jesus, JM Coetzee This is the third time that JM Coetzee is in the running for the Man Booker. He won it twice earlier for his novels Life & Times of Michael K (1983) and Disgrace (1999). (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) Two-time Booker Prize winner (Life & Times of Michael K, 1983; Disgrace, 1999) and 2003 Nobel laureate JM Coetzees yet-to-be published The Schooldays of Jesus is a sequel to his 2013 novel The Childhood of Jesus. In the first allegorical novel, two refugees a man and a five-year-old child arrive in a socialist city Novilla where they try to settle down and search for the boys mother. The adoptive father finally offers the childs upbringing to a woman they meet in a park. In the sequel, the odd family of sorts moves to a new town where David, the boy, now nearly seven, is enrolled in a dance academy where he will make troubling discoveries about what grown-ups are capable of. The Schooldays of Jesus will be released in UK in September this year and USA in February 2017. Serious Sweet, AL Kennedy AL Kennedy has featured twice on the Granta list of Best of Young British novelists. (Photo: Marcus Lyon) Scottish writer AL Kennedys eighth novel is a love story which unfolds across the course of a day and follows the inner and outer lives of two dysfunctional Londoners trying to keep their date. Jonathan, 59, is a civil servant whose personal and professional life is a mess (he hates his job, had a bad marriage, has had a bitter divorce), and Meg, a bankrupt accountant and recovering alcoholic. Kennedy, 51, has a prolific body of work: six literary novels, a sci-fi novel, seven short story collections and three works of non-fiction. Twice on the Granta list of Best of Young British novelists, she is also a stand-up comedian who currently teaches creative writing at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. Opening paragraph: A family sits on a Tube train. They are all in a row and taking the Piccadilly Line. They have significant amounts of luggage. They seem tired and a little dishevelled, are clearly arriving from somewhere far away: a grandmother, a father, a mother and a daughter of about twelve months. The adults talk in Arabic. Hot Milk, Deborah Levy Deborah Levys 2011 novel Swimming Home was on the 2012 Booker shortlist. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) South Africa-born British writer Deborah Levys latest novel Hot Milk (2016) is her second book to make it to the Booker list, her previous Swimming Home (2011) being the first (It was on the 2012 Booker shortlist.). Hot Milk explores a complex mother-daughter relationship, that of British woman Rose and her half-Greek daughter-carer Sofia, who arrive in a Spanish village to seek a cure for wheelchair-bound Roses mysterious paralysis. Levys body of work spans across genres, and includes plays, short stories, poetry and even a libretto, besides six novels. Opening line: Today I dropped my laptop on the concrete floor of a bar built on the beach. His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet A psychological crime thriller, His Bloody Project (2015), is GM Burnets second novel. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) In 1869, a 17-year-old farm tenant in a Scottish village is arrested for a brutal triple murder. Roderick Macrae is covered in the blood of the parish constable and his children when he surrenders. There is no doubt of his guilt but no clear idea as to his motives. The narrative put together through documents Rodericks prison memoir, police statements, contradictory testimonies by villagers, medical reports plays with perception, and makes it difficult for the reader to arrive at the truth. A psychological crime thriller, His Bloody Project (2015), is Burnets second novel. His first book, The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau (2014), was a literary crime thriller set in a small French town. Burnet taught English in Prague, Portugal, France and London and has worked as a researcher in television. He has a Masters degree in English Literature/Film and Television Studies from Glasgow University and an MLitt in International Security Studies from St Andrews University, Scotland. Opening paragraph: I am writing this at the behest of my advocate, Mr Andrew Sinclair, who since my incarceration here in Inverness has treated me with a degree of civility I in no way deserve. My life has been short and of little consequence, and I have no wish to absolve myself of the responsibility for the deeds which I have lately committed. The North Water, Ian McGuire UK-based Ian McGuire teaches creative writing at The University of Manchester. (Photo: Wolfgang Webster) In this work of historical fiction, a disgraced ex-Army surgeon finds himself onboard as a medic on a whaling ship with a sinister, violent harpooner as a crew mate. The clash between the two, set against the testing Arctic landscape, forms the crux of the novel. UK-based Ian McGuire teaches creative writing at The University of Manchester and co-directs its Centre for New Writing. He has a PhD in nineteenth-century American Literature. His first novel Incredible Bodies (2006) was an academic satire set in a fictional university. Opening line: Behold the man. He shuffles out of Clappisons courtyard onto Sykes Street and snuffs the complex airturpentine, fishmeal, mustard, black lead, the usual grave, morning-piss stink of just-emptied night jars. Hystopia, David Means David Meanss dystopic debut is set in America of the 1970s. (Photo: Beowulf Sheehan) This dystopian novel-within-a-novel begins with a series of editors notes and statements from relatives and friends about the authors struggles to come to terms with his experiences in the Vietnam War. It is 1970 and Eugene Allens manuscript has been found by his mother after his suicide. It imagines an alternative course of history where the Vietnam War continues and US president John F Kennedy has survived multiple assassination attempts. Traumatized soldiers returning from war are subjected to a process called enfolding wherein their war memories are erased. Means has a MFA in poetry from Columbia University. He is the author of four short story collections: A Quick Kiss of Redemption (1991); Assorted Fire Events (2000); The Secret Goldfish (2004), which was short-listed for the Frank OConnor International Short Story Prize; and The Spot (2010). He is a visiting associate professor of English at Vassar College in New York state. Hystopia is his first novel. Opening line: Aprils the cruelest month, they say, but I wouldnt go that far. The Many, Wyl Menmuir Wyl Menmuir is a UK-based freelance editor and literacy consultant. The Many is his first book. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) Just 160 pages, The Many is set in an insular coastal village where maritime pollution has led to a decline in fishing. Timothy Buchannan buys an abandoned house in the village and becomes obsessed with the mystery surrounding its previous dead owner, Perran. The village in turn grows fixated with this outsider. He then befriends a fisherman, Ethan, who knew Perran and is still grieving for him. But there are no easy answers. This little-known debut work of fiction has been praised for its sparse prose and Gothic-folk horror elements. Menmuir is a UK-based freelance editor and literacy consultant. Opening line: A thin trail of smoke rises up from Perrans, where no smoke has risen for ten years now. Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh California-based Moshfegh, a short fiction writer, won the 2016 PEN/Hemingway Award for Eileen. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) Eileen is already being touted as the next Gone Girl. The film rights to Ottesa Moshfeghs 2015 literary thriller have been bought by film producer Scott Rudin (of The Social Network (2010) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) fame). The story is set over the course of a week in 1964. Eileen works as a secretary at a correctional facility for boys in a small coastal town in Massachusetts. She is a troubled loner who lives with an overbearing, alcoholic father and dreams of moving to New York. Things begin to look up for her when the charming Rebecca Saint John joins the prison as the education director and strikes a friendship with her. But there is more to Rebecca than what meets the eye. Born to a Croatian mother and Iranian father (both musicians), California-based Moshfegh, a short fiction writer, won the 2016 PEN/Hemingway Award for Eileen. Her 2014 novella McGlue is about an alcoholic sailor who gets embroiled in a murder. Opening line: I looked like a girl youd expect to see on a city bus, reading some clothbound book from the library about plants or geography, perhaps wearing a net over my light brown hair. Work Like Any Other, Virginia Reeves Virginia Reeves teaches middle and high-school English at the Khabele School in Texas, USA. (Photo: Suzanne Koett) Virginia Reevess debut novel is a tale of redemption set in Alabama of the 1920s. Roscoe T Martin loves being an electrician, but is forced to turn farmer after his wife inherits her family farm. He hates it at first but soon begins to steal power from the state for the farm. After a state power board employee is electrocuted, Roscoe is jailed for theft and manslaughter for 20 years. Virginia Reeves has a Masters degree in teaching and an MFA in creative writing from the Michener Center for Writers, University of Texas, Austin. She teaches middle and high-school English at the Khabele School in Texas, USA. Opening line: The electrical transformers that would one day kill George Haskin sat high on a pole about ten yards off the northeast corner of the farm where Roscoe T Martin lived with his family. My Name Is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout My Name Is Lucy Barton was longlisted for the 2016 Baileys Womens Prize for fiction. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) Elizabeth Strouts fifth novel is set in a hospital and explores the nuances of a mother-daughter relationship. Lucy Barton is in hospital due to an undiagnosed illness when her estranged mother pays her a visit. The two reconnect but talking of the past also brings back bitter childhood memories. The book was longlisted for the 2016 Baileys Womens Prize for fiction. Strout won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories, which was adapted into an HBO mini-series and won eight Emmy awards in 2015. Her first novel Amy and Isabelle (1998) was adapted into a film for TV, and her 2013 novel The Burgess Boys is being made into a mini-series by American actor-director Robert Redford. Opening line: There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks. All That Man Is, David Szalay All That Man Is interconnects nine stories of men of different ages and nationalities across 13 countries. (Photo: Martin Figura) Canada-born David Szalay moved to the UK when he was one. He studied English at Oxford University and has written radio plays for the BBC. In 2013, he was on Grantas list of Best of Young British novelists. His first novel London and the Southeast (2008) was about the life of an advertising salesman, which was followed by The Innocent (2009; set in Stalins USSR ) and Spring (2011; the anti-thesis of a romantic comedy). His latest All That Man Is interconnects nine stories of men of different ages and nationalities across 13 countries dealing with their inner lives and personal crises. Opening line: Berlin-Hauptbahnhof. It is where the trains from Poland get in and the two young Englishmen are newly arrived from Krakow. They look terrible, these two teenagers, exhausted by the ordeal of the train, and thin and filthy from ten days of Inter Railing. Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien Canada-based writer Madeleine Thiens fourth novel looks at China under Mao Zedong. (Photo courtesy: the manbookerprize.com) Of Chinese-Malay descent, Canada-based writer Madeleine Thiens fourth novel looks at China under Mao Zedong and his subsequent legacy through the tragic lives of three musicians. Thiens first book, Simple Recipes, was a collection of short stories. Her other works include The Chinese Violin (2002), Certainty (2006), and Dogs at the Perimeter (2011; it won the Frankfurt Book Fairs literary prize LiBeraturpreis in 2015 ). Opening line: In a single year, father left us twice. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tallulah Director - Sian Heder Cast - Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard, David Zayas, Zachary Quinto, Uzo Aduba Rating - 3/5 Talllulah lies. Tallulah steals. Tallulah kidnaps. Tallulah has nowhere to go. Tallulah has no place to call home. Tallulah drifts, from one seedy gas station to another, accompanied by her boyfriend, as the world around her leaves her behind. When Nico abandons her, as you sense many others in her life have, our movie begins. Abandonment, and the wake of devastation it leaves behind, is the theme that binds Tallulah, the new film by Sian Heder, whos best known for her work on Netflixs Orange is the New Black. Its her first feature film, and like many other first time directors whove come before her, her reach often exceeds her grasp. Read more movie reviews here Ellen Page is Tallulah. It seems like it was years ago that she was Juno, and while she stills looks like an aimless high schooler, her performances, like her characters, have matured. Here, she is heartbreaking. As cliched as her Tallulah is and lets face it, shes basically the same lost, rebellious stock-character weve seen so many times before (pick any Kristen Stewart role from the last few years) - its Pages sympathetic performance that sets her apart. Like hundreds of characters before her, Tallulah finds herself, lost in New York City. On an impulse, she takes she doesnt kidnap the baby of a spoilt, rich, trainwreck of a woman. With no one to turn to, she ends up at the door of Nicos mother, played by Allison Janney. Ellen Page is just as comfortable in big blockbusters as she is in tiny indies. Its a Juno reunion of sorts, but this time, theyre both adrift. It doesnt matter that one of them is, and always has been, of the streets, and the other has lived a life of privilege in her Manhattan apartment theyve both been abandoned. And thats what brings them together. But here is where the problem lies. You see, while its not being a quirky indie movie like something Nicole Holofcener or Lynn Shelton mightve directed, its still and we cant ignore the gravity of this plot element a story of a childs kidnapping. And so every time the film cuts to the investigation and small-scale manhunt that is being staged to locate Tallulah and the baby, it shifts tones quite abruptly. So essentially, Sian Heder has directed two movies. And shes equally in command with either one, which is an encouraging sign for whatever she does next. But a part of me wanted her to take the plunge and be brave, like her characters. This is a movie about people finding the courage to finally make decisions that will save them from the lives theyre living, and its frustrating when the movie itself shies away, after showing signs of more ambition. Its great to see Netflix stay in the Sundance business after their Adam Sandler flirtation (which unfortunately hasnt ended), and this movie is a solid entry to their slate of original acquisitions after the very pleasant The Fundamentals of Caring. Tallulah, the movie, works more often than it doesnt. And whenever it shows any signs of fumbling, the cast elevates it. Allison Janney is incapable of delivering a bad performance. I challenge you to find one. Read Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Sword of Destiny review: Haiyaa! Read Special Correspondents review: Is Ricky Gervais Adam Sandler now? Read The Fundamentals of Caring review: Paul Rudds road trip is worth taking Allison Janney has been an indie darling for years now. (Coco Knudson/Netflix) Were all terrible, and were all just people, she says at one point. Its a moment of stark, brutal honesty. Most of us have convinced ourselves that its never our fault. How could it be? Weve been nothing but honest and sincere to everyone weve ever encountered. But thats probably what the other person is thinking too. And that, Tallullah would like to remind you, is the bittersweet truth of life. Follow @htshowbiz for more The author tweets @NaaharRohan ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A day after they arrived at the controversial Adarsh building in plush Colaba, Army officials completed the process of taking over the 31-storey skyscraper from its housing society on Saturday. The move came after the Supreme Court on July 22 asked the Centre to secure the building which means the structure cannot be torn down during the pendency of the special leave petition (SLP) filed by Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society, an official said. On behalf of the Centre, the Indian Army took over the possession of the building to ensure its security and prevent any encroachment. The process was supervised by a registrar nominated by Bombay high court, which had earlier asked the ministry of environment and forests to demolish the building due to misuse of power by politicians and senior bureaucrats. It had also directed the government to initiate criminal proceedings against the accused. The high court had, however, stayed the demolition for 12 weeks to enable Housing Society to appeal in the apex court. Directing the society that it will not be permitted to deal in the matter, the apex court had given the reigns to the government. The Adarsh scandal first came to notice in 2003 when it was reported that a highrise building was coming up in Colaba, close to military installations, riding roughshod over environmental concerns. The society was meant for war heroes and Army widows. The fiasco also led to resignation of the then chief minister Ashok Chavan in 2010. Complying with the Supreme Court order, the Indian Army on Friday took possession of the controversial 31-storied Adarsh Society building, an official said. A team of Army officials along with the registrar of the Bombay high court went to the skyscraper in Colaba, took it over from Adarsh society and secured it against any encroachments or demolition during pendency of the societys special leave petition (SLP) in the apex court. The Supreme Court has ordered the Central government to take over possession of the Adarsh building, during the pendency of the SLP filed by Adarsh society in the Supreme Court. On behalf of the government of India, the Indian Army is taking over the possession of the building from Adarsh society to ensure its security and prevent any encroachment, a defence ministry statement said. The Army team made an inventory and handed over all records and documents of the building to the society. Last week, the Supreme Court had ordered the Central government to take possession of the building before August 5 with the entire process supervised by either the Bombay high court registrar or his nominee. READ: SC directs Centre to take over Adarsh Society within week, no demolition It had also ordered the society to refrain from dealing in the matter anymore and hand over to the government all responsibility of the building, situated in the vicinity of sensitive defence installations in Mumbai. The development came after the Bombay high court on April 29 ordered the building to be demolished, upholding the January 2011 order of the ministry of environment. This was challenged by the society in the apex court and is currently pending disposal. The Adarsh Society scam in which the prime flats meant for Kargil war widows or war heroes were doled out to politicians, bureaucrats and army personnel, came to light in 2010 and claimed the scalp of then Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan. Under the police scanner for an alleged kidney transplant case, Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital has approached the state governement to revoke its suspension orders to conduct organ transplant. The Powai-based hospital has transferred patients awaiting a transplant to other hospitals. Two days after the kidney racket came to light, Directorate of Health Services (DHS) authorities suspended the organ licence of the hospital on July 16. DHS also appointed a three-member committee to inspect and submit a report to take the final call on the suspension. Sources said the report was submitted to DHS on Monday. Acting on a tip-off by activist Mahesh Tanna, the Powai police halted the kidney transplant at the hospital on July 14. Surat-based businessman Brijkishore Jaiswal, 48, the recipient, was supposed to receive a kidney from the donor, Shobha Thakur, 42, from a Gujarat village. The documents were forged to show both of them as couple by four touts, led by Bhijedra Bisen. The police have arrested eight people, including a transplant coordinator from the hospital. Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO of Hiranandani Hospital, said the hospital approached Dr Sanjay Jadhav, director of DHS, requesting him to allow transplants. We had a considerable number of patients, awaiting transplant procedures when the suspension order was released. The hospital was fooled by a gang of cons and there is absolutely no problem with our transplant process, said Chatterjee. Dr Jadhav remained unavailable for a comment despite numerous attempts. A member from the DHS committee said the suspension is unlikely to be revoked since the incident took place inside the hospital. We cannot reveal the contents of the report, but we have inspected all the necessary documents, video footage and probed the concerned officials. The chances are slim, the member said. . Its here! If youre a die-hard Potterhead, you probably have your copy already. If not, this is to let you know that the eighth book in the Harry Potter series hits the shelves on Sunday morning. Its the first Potter book in nine years, and for some that long gap has dulled the excitement, while for the more ardent, it has, of course, just intensified it. Suchita Agarwal, 26, for instance, decided to celebrate the end of a long wait by re-reading all seven previous books. And, having turned the last page on The Deathly Hallows, she is now all set to line up at the nearest Crossword an hour early, at 10 am on Sunday, to pick up her crisp copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in person. Read: Heres what you need to know about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Think youre a Harry Potter fan? Prove yourself with this quiz I have all the JK Rowling books, but they were all ordered online. This time I wanted the experience of standing in line and waiting eagerly for my copy, says the freelancer writer. Others, like businesswoman Abha Shah, 31, decided to take the easier way out. She pre-ordered her copy a week ago and is now waiting for it to hit her doorstep. I have a perfect Sunday planned, where I will stay indoors, lapping up every word of my favourite series, she says. The response from customers has been encouraging, adds Rishi Khiani, MD of delivery app Scootsy, which has partnered with India Book Distributor to deliver a first wave of copies on Sunday. We have had over 1,000 pre-orders, he says. Book stores and event spaces are cashing in with a slew of events. The Crossword bookstore at Kemps Corner is offering fans a selfie spot against a replica of the Hogwarts School of Magic, and free butter beer, sorting hat cupcakes and lightning scar cookies with every purchase on Sunday. The Landmark store in Vashi, meanwhile, is hosting a magic show and handing out Harry Potter-themed bags and stationery to customers. And the Trilogy bookstore in Lower Parel had so many takers for its Sunday Potter party including best costume contest, quiz and special reading that it turned its single event into four events over this Sunday and next weekend. Over 500 people have registered, says co-founder Ahalya Momaya. Among them is content writer Ritika Parekh, 27. With so many spoilers and rumours doing the rounds, I cannot wait to meet others who will be as excited as I am to discuss the plot at the Harry Potter party at Trilogy, she says. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Satish Mathur, a 1981-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, has been appointed Maharashtras new director general of police. He will take over from Praveen Dixit, who took over the job last December and will retire on Sunday. The state home department issued the order on Saturday morning after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis signed it. Mathur, 58, has about two years to go before he retires in June 2018. He earlier headed the states anti-corruption bureau (ACB) for three months but the government has not named a replacement. Instead, the additional director general of police, ACB, will hold the post for now. Read: Maha ACB plans to include vigilance officers to curb corruption According to a source, though former police commissioner Rakesh Maria is the states senior-most director general, he is unlikely to be made the head of the ACB. Ever since he was unceremoniously removed from the post of police commissioner last September, Maria has been heading home guards department, considered to be a relatively insignificant posting. His sudden transfer from the post of police chief had raised many eyebrows as it took place when the investigation in the Sheena Bora murder case was at its peak. Maria will retire in January 2017. MAHARASHTRAS NEW POLICE CHIEF Satish Mathur began his career as an assistant superintendent of police in Kolhapur began his career as an assistant superintendent of police in Kolhapur In 1985, Mathur was promoted to deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Pune Mathur was promoted to deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Pune Over the next few years, he held the posts of zonal DCP, DCP headquarters, and DCP special branch few years, he held the posts of zonal DCP, DCP headquarters, and DCP special branch Mathur also held the posts of DCP, anti-corruption bureau, and superintendent of police (SP), Aurangabad before he was appointed DCP, crime and special branch, in Nagpur held the posts of DCP, anti-corruption bureau, and superintendent of police (SP), Aurangabad before he was appointed DCP, crime and special branch, in Nagpur During his time there, the investigating agency secured convictions in two high-profile murder cases one in which the accused was a sitting MLC, and one in which the accused was the brother of a sitting MLA there, the investigating agency secured convictions in two high-profile murder cases one in which the accused was a sitting MLC, and one in which the accused was the brother of a sitting MLA Mathurs planning also led to the arrest of a gang of armed Sikh extremists of the Khalistan Liberation Front, who carried out 17 terrorist attacks across the country also led to the arrest of a gang of armed Sikh extremists of the Khalistan Liberation Front, who carried out 17 terrorist attacks across the country In April 1996, Mathur worked with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on deputation, holding the ACB office of the CBI in Mumbai as superintendent of police Mathur worked with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on deputation, holding the ACB office of the CBI in Mumbai as superintendent of police He has also served in the CBIs Economic offences wing, Delhi, and the agencys special task force in Mumbai served in the CBIs Economic offences wing, Delhi, and the agencys special task force in Mumbai He had a stint as joint commissioner of the Mumbai traffic police and was instrumental in launching an interactive voice response system and the traffic departments website stint as joint commissioner of the Mumbai traffic police and was instrumental in launching an interactive voice response system and the traffic departments website From October 2002 to October 2012, Mathur served as director, Air India, during which time he restructured the airline and its finances to October 2012, Mathur served as director, Air India, during which time he restructured the airline and its finances He served as commissioner of police, Pune, from March 2014 to April 2015 commissioner of police, Pune, from March 2014 to April 2015 In April last year, he was promoted to the rank of director general of police and was posted in the states prosecution and forensics department he was promoted to the rank of director general of police and was posted in the states prosecution and forensics department On September 30, was made managing director of the Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation. Other claimants to the post of director-general of police, ACB, are Mumbai police commissioner Datta Padsalagikar; Meeran Borwankar, who is currently on central deputation; Prabhat Ranjan, director-general, legal and technical; and VD Mishra, managing director, police housing and welfare corporation. Mathur began his career as an assistant superintendent of police in Kolhapur and went on to become the sub-divisional police officer at the Panvel sub-division in Raigad. In 1985, Mathur was promoted to deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Pune, where he also held the posts of zonal DCP, DCP headquarters, and DCP special branch over the years. Mathur also held the posts of DCP, anti-corruption bureau, and superintendent of police (SP), Aurangabad before being appointed DCP, crime and special branch, in Nagpur. During Mathurs time in Nagpur, the investigating agency secured convictions in two high-profile murder cases one in which the accused was a sitting member of the legislative council, and one in which the accused was the brother of a sitting member of the legislative assembly. Mathurs planning also led to the arrest of a gang of armed Sikh extremists of the Khalistan Liberation Front, who carried out 17 terrorist attacks across the country. He also raided the hideout of a Naxalite from Andhra Pradesh. In April 1996, Mathur worked with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on deputation, holding the ACB office of the CBI in Mumbai as superintendent of police. Mathur has also served in the CBIs Economic offences wing, Delhi, and the agencys special task force in Mumbai. During his stint with the Mumbai traffic police, as joint commissioner of police, he was instrumental in launching an interactive voice response system and the traffic departments website. Between October 2002 and October 2012, Mathur served as director, Air India. He initiated the separation of ground services into a self-sustaining subsidiary known as Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL). He also restructured the airlines finances and initiated cost-saving methods. Mathur served as commissioner of police, Pune, from March 2014 to April 2015. In April last year, he was promoted to the rank of director general of police and was posted in the states prosecution and forensics department. On September 30, was made managing director of the Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation. The United Nations will soon reverberate with the music of Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman who will perform at the UN in August to pay homage to legendary vocalist M S Subbulakshmi on Indias Independence Day. Indias ambassador to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted about the event. Jai Ho to echo UN? AR Rahman to perform at UN in homage to MS Subbulakshmi on Indias 70th Independence Day, the tweet read. Jai Ho to echo @UN ? AR Rahman to perform @un in homage to MS Subbulakshmi on India's 70th Independence Day. pic.twitter.com/DuNaCsBLMQ Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) July 29, 2016 The tweet is accompanied by a poster showing the images of Rahman and Subbulakshmi superimposed on the image of the UN headquarters. Rahman will perform on August 15 in the UN General Assembly, the iconic hall from where global leaders address the world and legendary performers enthral an international audience. Watch: AR Rahman makes music out of thin air The concert aims to commemorate the birth centenary of the legendary Carnatic music vocalist and Bharat Ratna awardee. The gala musical evening also coincides with the completion of 50 years of Subbulakshmis performance in the General Assembly hall in 1966. She was invited by the then United Nations Secretary General late U Thant and then Chef de Cabinet late CV Narasimhan to perform in the UN General Assembly, becoming the first Indian artist to perform at the UN. Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) militant Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, convicted in the 1993 bomb blast in Delhi, got 21-day parole on Friday. This is the second parole Bhullar got in three months. He had got 21-day parole on April 23 as well. Additional deputy commissioner (ADC) TP Sandhu said, Bhullar has been given 21-day parole after he requested that he wanted to meet his family. Bhullar was shifted to the Amritsar central jail from Delhis Tihar jail in June last year. Soon after, he was admitted to the psychiatry ward of the local Guru Nanak Hospital and has been receiving treatment for depression since then. Before being shifted to Amritsar, Bhullar was admitted to the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences in New Delhi as he was suffering from depression. He was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people in a bomb blast in 1993 in Delhi. Also read | After 45 minutes in jail, Bhullar admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital; kept in psychiatry ward Forming Kisan, Jawani Te Pani Bachao Morcha (save farmers, youth and water front), the farmers organisations having inclination toward left ideology staged a protest on Friday outside deputy commissioner office here against the governments policies in agrarian field. Criticising the Centre as well as the state governments for their ignorance toward the crisis of farmers, activists of Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, Sarab Hind Kisan Sabha and Punjab Kisan Sabha alleged that the governments are responsible for the suicides committed by the farmers who reel under debt. Jamhoori Kisan Sabha state president Satnam Singh Ajnala said the policies being adopted by the governments since decades have pushed the farmer community into deep mess. As costs of cultivation is higher than the income in the occupation, the farmers cannot get rid the debt on them without the help of the government, which does not take the issue seriously, he added. The governments are pro-corporate and do not care for the interests of the farmers as well as labourers. It resulted into suicides which are being witnessed in a large number in Punjab and other agrarian state of country, said Ratan Singh Ajnala, another farmer leader. Many other leaders also addressed the protesters and urged the governments to review their approach toward agriculture, otherwise the farmers, on whom the economy depends, will destroy and yield dire consequences. They also handed over a memorandum containing various demands to deputy commissioner Varun Roojam. Farmers hold rally in Gurdaspur Gurdaspur: Members of the local units of the Pagri Sambhal Jatta Lehar, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, All India Kisan Sabha, Punjab Kisan Union and Doaba Kisan Sangarsh Committee jointly held a rally at the Nehru Park in Gurdaspur and took out a march in the main markets of the town and staged a dharna outside deputy commissioners office here on Friday to press for their demands. The speakers Kanwalpreet Singh Kaki, Gurpartap Singh, Gulzar Singh Basant Kot, Baldev Singh Khehra Sultan, Ajit Singh Thakkar Sandhu, Sukhdev Singh Bhagokanwan, Balbir Singh Randhawa alleged that the SAD-BJP alliance government was ruining the farming community in Punjab. They said the then Badal government itself had made the SYL and now it was kidding by filling it up with earth. They said the outstanding payments against sugarcane supplied to cooperative sugar mills have not been made to the farmers. They demanded that a government job and Rs 5 lakh grant be given to the family of the farmer who has committed suicide. They demanded that the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission be implemented and the fixation of prices of the farm produce be linked to price index. Lt Gen KJ Singh, Western Command commander, who is retiring on Sunday, has said that the role of army in tackling the terrorists at Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) on July 27 last year was underplayed. He said the light machine gun (LMG) bullets that killed at least one of the three terrorists were those of army. At Dinanagar, Punjab Police wanted to tackle terrorists on their own. But by the time they reached there, our jawans had taken positions. Of the three terrorists, our LMG fire killed at least one (or it can be two) as we backed the police, he said. He said a bomb too was disposed of by the army, but all the credit went to the police. At Western Command, to deal with terrorism was my main task. Pakistan wanted to alter the arc of terrorism by including Gurdaspur, Samba. We had terrorist incidents at Arambag, Arnia, Samba, Dinanagar and Pathankot. We thwarted Pakistans designs, he said. At his farewell ceremony, Lt Gen KJ Singh at Chandimandir. (Sant Arora/HT Photo) Will ride the tank he was commissioned on I will spend some time on the tank at Amritsar on which I was commissioned, said Lt Gen KJ Singh. He will go to Amritsar on Sunday for fulfilling his wish. On how did he find the tank, he said, Like people find their ex-girlfriends on Facebook, I also found ZX 1685. Its a T-55 tank and is still in service. My journey with the Army started 50 years ago at an age of 14 when I joined the Sainik School at Chittorgarh, in 1966. On May 30, 1973, I left the school and joined NDA on June 30 the same year. I never went to college. The only college I went to was Army War College, he said. Lt Gen Singh will hang his boots after 39 years of service. On successor Only I am retiring, not the Western Command. I cannot comment on why a permanent commander has not been appointed. But Lt Gen Jagbir Singh Cheema, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Vajra Corps, who has been given the charge as an interim arrangement, is fully competent. The only thing is that he doesnt have a fixed tenure. He has been GOC of 11 Corps for a year and before that he was Chief of Staff, Eastern Command, he said. On China Western Command shares 200-km border with China. But we dont have any boundary dispute with China in this areaAt Kaurik and Shipki La, we are eyeball to eyeball with them. We have to remain vigilant, he said. Lt Gen KJ Singh and his wife at his farewell function. (Sant Arora/HT Photo) On future plans Lt Gen KJ Singh said he wanted to settle down in Gurgaon, but after coming here, he changed his mind. As of now, I dont have a house of my own, but I have invested in DLF Valley, Pinjore. I will settle down there, he said. He thanked Panjab University for offering him the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Chair chair to him. The Amritsar (rural) police on Saturday claimed to have unearthed a nexus in which Indo-Pakistan trade through Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch was used to make payment of drugs smuggled into India from across the border. This emerged after interrogation of five persons, including a woman, the police arrested recently in this connection. Must read | Chitta ve? Study shows Punjabi songs driving youth towards drugs Addressing mediapersons here, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Jasdeep Singh said, After we received inputs, we formed two teams. On July 20, Dilbagh Singh and Rashpal Singh were arrested with 50 gram and 40 gram heroin. We got a major breakthrough when we nabbed Kulwinder Singh and Reena, both Ferozepur residents, with 700 gram and 500 gram heroin on July 23. During interrogation, it came to light that they were into drug smuggling and also had links with smugglers across the fence. They sold the narcotic after getting the consignments from Pakistan, said the SSP. Three drug-trade accused nabbed by Amritsar rural police, on Saturday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo) Also read | Facts, figures and falsehoods of states drug problem The SSP said, The payments were not made through bank but through a broker who was involved in Indo-Pak trade through the Poonch checkpost in J&K. Then we arrested Naveen Bhatia, a broker, who worked in the local Majitha Mandi. It was found that Naveen, who exported some items to Pakistan through the border in J&K, received payments of exported goods from Indian smugglers who had received heroin from across the border. Naveen exported goods to a Pakistani trader, Rana Rashid. He had received around Rs 2 crore. He received money from Harjinder Singh, a smuggler from Daoke village. He had also received Rs 50 lakh from Kulwinder Singh, the SSP said. Naveen Bhatia received money from Indian smugglers. In return, he sent goods to a Pakistani trader who gave it further to Pakistani smugglers, the SSP said. We are also probing whether any other trader is involved in this, he said. Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal on Friday said the SAD-BJP government in Punjab has looted the state with both hands and now they were trying to woo the people by doling out freebies. Bhattal, who was addressing Congress workers meeting in the Jalandhar Cantonment segment as zonal in-charge, cautioned the people against getting happy by the last-ditch effort of the SAD-BJP government to distribute funds and said time has come that Punjabis stand against the government to settle scores for their loot and kill policies. People of the state must keep it in mind that SAD-BJP leaders looted them for nine years and now in a bid to show that they are working for their welfare, the government is claiming to take pro-people decisions. Its like you keep on thrashing someone for long and at last offer him a sweet toffee and make him happy, said the former chief minister. She said such was the desperation of the government to put its image on track that special loans are being taken secretly to pace up the development works. This government has not done anything in the last nine years and now with only six months left for the polls they are distributing funds to keep everything on record. This is the worst way of using public money, she said. The seniormost Congress leader from Jalandhar Cantonment and district Congress committee chief, Jagbir Brar, who organised the workers meeting, attacked the SAD-BJP government of not sanctioning even a single college for the entire Jalandhar district in last ten years. The government has opened colleges in all other parts but for Jalandhar, the SAD-BJP government doesnt have money. Since its Dalit dominated area, this government is worried that if children of downtrodden people will get cheap education in the government sector, they will become a threat for their dispensation, said Brar. Brar organised this meet that saw unity of show in the Congress with all sitting Congress councillors of Jalandhar Municipal Corporation attending the meeting to show solidarity with Brar. Meanwhile, another claimant from the seat and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary, Tejinder Bittu remained absent from the meeting. Fatehgarh Sahib MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra who is co-in-charge with Bhattal for Jalandhar zone, Jalandhar MP Santokh Chaudhary also addressed the meeting. The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought fresh response from the Centre and the Punjab government on the procurement of maize under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme. During the hearing, the Punjab government produced a 2015 letter, wherein the central government had stated that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should be informed in advance about the proposed procurement. The letter also stated that the procured maize could also be used for the public distribution system (PDS). The Punjab government told the court it did not have money for procurement and if the procurement was for the central pool, then central agencies should be roped in. As of the procurement for the PDS, the state government said the people are disinterested in getting the crop under the PDS system. The court also asked the central government counsel to clarify on how on one hand the Union government was saying that crop should be procured for the central pool and at the same time also wanted the state to use it for the PDS. Procure it so that farmers do not suffer. It does not matter, whether it is put in central pool or utilised somewhere else, the high court observed coming down heavily on both central government and Punjab stating that farmers were incurring losses and the Centre and state were busy in blame game. Later, the court asked Punjab as well as Central government to tell by the next hearing as to how they plan to procure maize from farmers. The matter will be taken up on August 23. The matter had reached court as a Kurukshetra resident sought court intervention alleging that farmers were incurring heavy losses as government agencies have failed to procure crops in Punjab and Haryana despite the fact that the minimum support price had been announced by the central government. With politicians making a beeline for the house of Gurdip Singh, who is facing death sentence in Indonesia, at Khehra Mohalla in Nakodar town, his family is waiting for an appointment with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in a last-ditch attempt to bring Gurdip back home alive. The family said they have also moved a clemency petition to the Indonesian authorities through the Indian embassy. Read | Death row convict Gurdip Singh awaits final decision in Indonesia Since Friday morning, Gurdips wife Kulwinder Kaur (41) and his nephew Gurpal Singh (19) have called Swarajs personal assistant (PA) many times, requesting him to fix a meeting with the minister, but to no avail. Kaur said Sushma is their last hope as she can take up the matter with the Indonesian authorities and make efforts to ensure a safe return of Gurdip. She (Sushma) phoned me on Thursday evening and made effort to save him (Gurdip) from the firing squad and it worked, Kulwinder said. Gurpal claimed that he called the ministers PA thrice and was given assurance by him. Uncle (Gurdip) called me in the evening and informed that he has been shifted to another cell. He asked us to approach the minister immediately to save his life, said Gurpal. Activists light candles around posters with the names of death row inmates awaiting executions, including that of Indias Gurdip Singh, during a vigil against death penalty outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. (AP Photo) Local leaders of various parties visited the family and assured to take up the matter with the Union minister. A delegation of district BJP also met the family and asked them to talk to state BJP president Vijay Sampla to get an early appointment with Swaraj. Gurpal said local MLA and chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Gurpartap Singh Wadala was to visit their house, but did not arrive. A call was also received from the office of Congress leader and former Nakodar MLA Amarjeet Singh Samra. Also read | Be strong: When Indian man on death row made last call to kin from Indonesia He said they (politicians) were visiting them now just for the sake of politics and nobody was there when Indonesia police were going to shoot his uncle. Gurdip was among 14 people who were taken out of their cells to face the firing squad on Thursday night (India time). Four had been shot dead before a storm forced the executioners to take the death row convicts back to their cells, according to reports from Indonesia. Singh was awarded capital punishment by a court in Banten province in February 2005. His appeals were turned down by the Banten high court and the Indonesian Supreme Court. Gurdip has second wife, 2 daughters in Indonesia It has also emerged through a letter Gurdip wrote to his family through the Indian embassy on Thursday that he had a second marriage in Indonesia. His second wife, Marwati, visited India with her two daughters in 2012 but had introduced herself as Gurdips friend, the family said. Earlier, Gurdip had told his family that Marwati took care of his uncle there, a family member said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi chief minister and national convener of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal visited Sukhera Bodla village, situated about 8 km from Jalalabad, a sub-division of Fazika district on Friday, to visit the SC family and the woman who was allegedly thrashed by police on Monday. Jalalabad is the home assembly segment of Punjab deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and their aide Akali Dal (Badal) are allegedly hand-in-glove in doing atrocities on Dalits throughout the nation, charged Kejriwal, after interacting with the victim family for around 12 minutes. He was accompanied by Punjab party incharge Sanjay Singh, state convener Succha Singh Chotepur and party MP Bhagwant Mann. Its saddening that drug trade was so openly carried out in a village in the home assembly segment of Sukhbir Badal and if anyone (like this family) raised an alarm against the rampant sale of drugs, police force was used to snub their voice, said Kejriwal. The AAP chief demanded, The fake case against the family should be withdrawn and they should also be given due compensation besides taking action against the guilty policemen into the matter. Meanwhile, hearing the news of Kejriwals visit to the village, a number of party workers and general public thronged the house of Sunita, the woman who, with her uncle Inder Singh and cousin Gurnek Singh was allegedly thrashed by police. When contacted, Narinder Bhargav, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Fazilka, rebuffed the charges of police atrocities against them. The SSP claimed, On Monday, two ladies of the village called the police helpline to seek assistance in a clash between two parties at village Sukhera Bodla. The police arrived there and tried to intervene, but Sunita and others obstructed the cops from doing their duty and attacked them, tore their uniform and threw the turban of a policeman. A case was registered against them under Sections 353 and 186 of the IPC while later, on the plea of the family, an inquiry had been marked to SP (investigation), Fazilka, to probe the matter and report, added the SSP. The SSP further said, Sunita was booked under the NDPS Act in April 2016 as 250 grams of narcotic powder was recovered from her. So she created the entire drama to take undue favour in that case. Meanwhile, Charanjit Singh Brar, OSD (officer on special duty) to Sukhbir Singh Badal while talking to HT said, For gaining political mileage, AAP is making an issue out of a street fight between two parties belonging to thereserved category. No one could have thought that a carriage on an Innova and the three words Om Sai Ram on its windshield will lead the Panchkula Police to solve a murder and robbery case that, initially at least, offered no clue. Read more: Kalka jewellers 19-yr-old son bludgeoned to death Now, as the prime accused Iqbal Ahmed, and Mohd Abid cool their heels in jail within two weeks after they murdered a jewellers son in Kalka inside his shop and decamped with Rs 50-lakh jewellery, police have revealed the clues that helped them crack the case. It was only the black-and-white CCTV footage of Toyota Innova which ultimately led investigators to accused, said Panchkula deputy commissioner of police Anil Dhawan. Crime Investigation Agency (CIA)-2 in-charge inspector Arvind Kumar handled the case. The first step, CCTV and more CCTV To start their investigation, the police scanned CCTV footage of cameras at the jewellery shop. It was then known that a Innova was used in the crime, but the registration number was not visible. There was a carriage on the top. And something was written on the windscreen. We later found it was Om Sai Ram. There were no wheel covers. We had just this, said Arvind, adding that even the vehicles colour could not be seen in the footage. Later, the police found that,Jagdish Kumar of the had driven the accused in the Innova and dropped them outside the jewellery shop. He had waited for some time outside the shop and then had driven away till the Kalka bus stand. Inspector Arvind scanned all the CCTV footages of the Kalka market till Chandimandir toll plaza. A CCTV near Chandmimandir had the Innovas footage at 5.36am on July 5. At the same point, footage shows Innova had entered Kalka around midnight. Footage at Dappar toll plaza was scanned and finally at the Panipat toll plaza, we had a clear view of the accused and the registration number of the vehicle was found to be of Delhi, said Dhawan. The owner was traced and Jagdish was nabbed. The owner claimed he had loaned his SUV to Jagdish for some months. He told the police that he and Abid had stayed at a hotel in Dadua village in Chandigarh on June 3 when they postponed their plan for the crime due to the rain. Their IDs have been found in hotel records. After the murder and loot, Abid had called Jagdish, who had reached Ambala to get some passengers for Delhi. Then, they all went to Delhi. After Jagdishs arrest, Ahmed and Abid were also nabbed soon, the DCP said. The police claim Abid, who had done a recce of Kalka, knew welding and had previously robbed hardware shops in Madhya Pradesh, Faridabad, Ludhiana, Rewari. The crime A 19-year-old youth, Shivam Verma, was bludgeoned to death during a robbery at his fathers jewellery shop on the intervening night of July 4 and July 5. Jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh was looted SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The two men charged with killing sacrilege-accused woman Balwinder Kaur on Tuesday (July 26) outside Gurdwara Manji Sahib at Alamgir village in this district surrendered before the court on Friday. The Dehlon police sought the custody of accused Gurpreet Singh Jagowal of Amargarh (Sangrur) and Nihal Singh of Patiala to recover the murder weapon. The court of judicial magistrate Lovejinder kaur gave them three days. Police commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said relentless pressure had forced the two men to surrender. Dont miss | Sacrilege accused murder: Assailants promised to pronounce her clean We dont regret of killing the woman. It was to avenge the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, said Gurpreet Singh, while moving out of the court. Both accused asked expatriates to beware of people collecting money in their name. Balwinder Kaur (47) of Ghawaddi village, who was shot dead on Tuesday, had won bail in the sacrilege case last December. The shooters were identified from security-camera footage. Desecration cases had set off a wave of unrest in Punjab last year. On October 19, 2015, baptised Sikh woman Balwinder Kaur and granthi (priest) Sikandar Singh were arrested over sacrilege at the gurdwara of Ludhianas Ghawaddi village, where she had been doing sewa for seven years. Earlier, her elder son, Ranjit Singh, was gurdwara priest. After new committee took over, it appointed a new priest and the family stopped earning from the gurdwara. Police says it was then that she plotted to tear the pages of a copy of the holy book to get the priest sacked and her son reinstated. City residents will soon see smart poles on roads if the municipal corporation gives a go-ahead to the proposal that it received from a private company on Friday. This will be a pilot project in the state. However, MC authorities will take the final call. Ludhiana was the first city from Punjab to make it to the first list of smart cities announced by the Centre. This proposal includes installation of LED lights on 1,000 smart poles. These poles can also be fitted up with CCTV cameras, Wi-Fi networks and devices by telecom companies. MC commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said, In its proposal, the company has stated that it will replace 1,000 traditional streetlights with smart LED lights at no additional cost to the civic body. These streetlights will act as smart poles. Thori further said telecom companies can fix their devices for mobile networks on these poles. Similarly, Wi-Fi routers can also be fixed on them through which residents nearby can use these hotspots, he added. MULTIPURPOSE A private company has proposed to replace ordinary streetlights with LED lights. (HT File ) The company has also offered to install a CCTV network considering safety measures, e-governance mobile phone app, improved aesthetics through elimination of aesthetics pollution by existing cellphone towers, charging ports for electric rickshaw/vehicle, smart parking management, centralised control and management system, for all the above applications. Jayant Saha, general manager, Energasia Power India Pvt Ltd, said the company had made a proposal for 1,000 streetlights to be replaced with smart LED lights with control rooms to monitor their functioning. The MC commissioner also said the proposal was at its initial stage, adding that they were looking into it and will take a decision after weighing all pros and cons. What are smart poles? These could be regular streetlights replaced with smart LED lights, with the provision of fixing mobile network sevices, Wi-Fi routers and CCTV cameras. A massive rally was held here in front of State Bank of Patialas head office to protest against Centres move to merge SBoP with State Bank of India. The BJP-led Centre in June had given the go ahead to merger of five associate banks of SBI with the parent bank. The banking operations in public sector banks got affected with this one-day strike as a large number of bank employees were out on the street, protesting against the decision. Punjab Bank Employees Federation general secretary S K Gautam said that the strike was held at all India level and it was a complete success. He regretted the inconvenience caused to the people but said that the Centre was forcing employees to protest due to its anti-banking policies He said that instead of recovering bad loans and to take stringent measures against loan defaulters, the Central government was deliberately trying to shift the focus by merging associate and public sector banks We strongly oppose banking sector reforms which are aimed on privatisation and anti-worker labour law reforms, he added. Another member Vinod Sharma told that banking activities throughout the country remained paralysed on Friday and its responsibility lies with the Union government. The associate banks have grown and developed as exclusive banks with unique geographical and historical contexts and have existed for so many years efficiently. The merger is anti-peoples move, he said OBC Employees Union general secretary Ram Kumar said that they would intensify their agitation if the Centre does not stop the merger. He said that their next protest would be held on September 3 along with central trade unions. The UT Police have registered a First-Information-Report (FIR) in a case involving the leak of question papers of selection tests during the recruitment of 1,150 Junior Basic Teachers (JBT), Trained Graduate Teachers (TGT) and Nursery Trained Teachers (NTT) in Chandigarh in January-February 2015. Hindustan Times was first to highlight the scam. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) had written to the UT education secretary Sarvjit Singh and inspector general of police Tejinder Singh Luthra regarding the scam and asked for the registration of a case and further probe into the matter. The vigilance is probing a recruitment scam in Punjab government departments with Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, entrusted with conducting the selection tests where it came during the investigations that a question paper was leaked to at least 25 candidates, all of who were selected and are now serving in government schools in the city. We have registered a case under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the Sector 11 police station, said Ram Gopal, DSP (central). He added that the police had booked all those who had been named by the vigilance in a communication to the police. Vigilance officials claim that these candidates, all from two districts of Haryana, were taken in a mini-bus by one conduit to Lucknow, where the question papers were leaked. There could be other candidates who managed to access the question papers through other conduits, officials added. PU conducted these tests on the behalf of Chandigarh administration over two days in January and February last year. Vigilance has discovered two modules of the scam: one run by Mithilesh Pandey, in Lucknow, and another by Suresh Yadav in Najafgarh, Haryana. The two are on the run. The Chandigarh link was revealed when VB was questioning one Satinder Hooda, a resident of Manimajra, who was in touch with Pandey. Hooda and his wife Poonam were selected as teachers allegedly using leaked question paper. Vigilance officials told Chandigarh police that Pandeys man Naresh Yadav (already arrested) got in touch with a Sonepat resident, Brijender Nain to find candidates appearing for teacher tests. Actor Gautami Kapoor says that her husband actor Ram Kapoor is a strict father and the kids listen to him. She, however, doesnt have the same authority. Ram says something once, and it is done immediately. I am not that strict, says Gautami, who has two children - daughter Sia, 10 and son Aks, 7. Read: TV actors should be given a say in the creative process: Gautami Kapoor Gautami says that she has always tried to become more of a friend to her children, rather than a parent. I am a very strict person and follow a strict routine. But as far as my kids are concerned, I try to be more of a friend. In todays day and age, that is more important, she says. Talking about being a parent, the actor says that she has to deal with a lot more today, than what her parents went through. Today we need to combat many issues. With the internet boom, it has become tricky to bring up kids in the correct way. I am always freaking out. Now that my daughter is growing up, we are constantly hoping that she tells us everything, she says. Read: Audiences enjoy fantasy stories: Gautami Kapoor Meanwhile, the actor, who was last seen in Parvarrish - Season 2, says that she concentrates on doing one show at a time. I am glad that there are seasonal shows now. A show continues for six months and then you can move on to your next. This is a good move for television, she says. A computer network used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign was hacked as part of a broad cyber attack on Democratic political organisations, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The latest attack, which was disclosed to Reuters on Friday, follows two other hacks on the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, and the partys fund-raising committee for candidates for the US House of Representatives. A Clinton campaign spokesperson said in a statement late on Friday that an analytics data programme maintained by the DNC and used by the campaign and a number of other entities was accessed as part of the DNC hack. Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised, said Clinton campaign spokespersons Nick Merrill. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine wave during a rally at Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. (AP) Read: Hillary Clinton makes history as first woman White House nominee Later, a campaign official said hackers had access to the analytics programmes server for approximately five days. The analytics data programme is one of many systems the campaign accesses to conduct voter analysis, and does not include social security numbers or credit card numbers, the official said. The US Department of Justice national security division is investigating whether cyber attacks on Democratic political organisations threatened US security, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The involvement of the Justice Departments national security division is a sign that the Obama administration has concluded that the hacking was sponsored by a state, people with knowledge of the investigation said. While it is unclear exactly what material the hackers may have gained access to, the third such attack on sensitive Democratic targets disclosed in the last six weeks has caused alarm in the party and beyond, just over three months before the November 8 US presidential election. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally at Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. (AP) Hackers, whom US intelligence officials have concluded were Russian, gained access to the entire network of the fundraising Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, said people familiar with the matter, detailing the extent of the breach to Reuters for the first time. Cyber security experts and US officials said earlier this week they had concluded, based on analysis of malware and other aspects of the DNC hack, that Russia engineered the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to influence the US presidential election. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday it was aware of media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters. The FBI takes seriously any allegations of intrusions, and we will continue to hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace, the agency said in an emailed statement. The hack did not involve the private email system Clinton used while she was secretary of state. Supporters attend a rally at Broad Street Market for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Harrisburg. (AP) Read: Russia should find Clintons missing emails, says Trump Russian hackers The new disclosure to Reuters that hackers gained access to the full DCCC network means they would have had access to everything on the network from emails to strategy memos and opposition research prepared to support Democratic candidates in campaigns for the House. The hack of the DCCC, which is based in Washington, was reported first by Reuters on Thursday, ahead of Clintons speech in Philadelphia accepting the Democratic partys nomination. Russian officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Several US officials said the Obama administration has avoided publicly attributing the attacks to Russia as that might undermine Secretary of State John Kerrys effort to win Russian cooperation in the war on Islamic State in Syria. The officials said the administration fears Russian President Vladimir Putin might respond to a public move by escalating cyber attacks on US targets, increasing military harassment of US and allied aircraft and warships in the Baltic and Black Seas, and making more aggressive moves in Eastern Europe. Some officials question the approach, arguing that responding more forcefully to Russia would be more effective than remaining silent. The Obama administration announced in an April 2015 executive order that it could apply economic sanctions in response to cyber attacks. Republican President candidate Donald Trump addresses supporters at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, Colorado. (AFP) Trump on emails The hack on the DNC, made public in June, led to WikiLeaks publishing more than 19,000 emails last weekend, some of them showing favouritism within the DNC for Clinton over US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on Sunday as a result, creating a rocky start for the partys convention in Philadelphia this week. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday invited Russia to dig up thousands of missing emails from Clintons time at the State Department, prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging foreigners to spy on Americans. On Thursday, Trump said his remarks were meant as sarcasm. Earlier in the week, Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan had criticized Trump and called the hacking a national security issue. Trump campaign spokesperson Jason Miller said on Friday the reported breach showed cyber security is a problem wherever Hillary Clinton goes. Hopefully this time there wasnt classified or top secret information that puts American lives at risk. Supporters of Republican President candidate Donald Trump listen as he addresses the audience at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, Colorado. (AFP) In Washington, the DCCC said early on Friday it had hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network, the DCCC said. We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation. The DCCC had no additional comment late on Friday. Officials at the DNC did not respond to requests for comment. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, told CNN on Friday she had not heard about the hack of the Clinton campaign. But she said: It wouldnt surprise me. I think it should be pretty clear that both campaigns should be aware that theres a problem out there. Everybody should be cautious. (Additional reporting by Dustin Volz, Susan Cornwell and Emily Stephenson in Washington, Grant Smith in New York and Amanda Becker in Hatfield, Pennsylvania; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Bill Rigby and Mary Milliken) A delegation from the Taliban visited China earlier this month to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, where the insurgent movement is fighting the Western-backed government in Kabul, sources in the Taliban said. A delegation led by Abbas Stanakzai, head of the Talibans political office in Qatar, visited Beijing on July 18-22 at the invitation of the Chinese government, a senior member of the Taliban said. We have good terms with different countries of the world and China is one among them, said the Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. We informed Chinese officials about the occupation by invading forces and their atrocities on Afghan people, he said. We wanted the Chinese leadership to help us raise these issues on world forums and help us get freedom from occupying forces. The visit was confirmed by other senior Taliban figures who did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the Qatar political office. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Along with Pakistan, the United States and Afghanistan itself, China is a member of the four-country group that tried to restart peace talks with the Taliban earlier this year. That effort never got beyond exploratory talks between the countries themselves and appeared to break down definitively when former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in May. However in public statements, the Taliban have said that they wish to have good relations with Afghanistans neighbours, many of which are concerned at the threat of local Islamist or separatist militant movements. China has long been concerned that instability in Afghanistan will spill over into the violence-prone far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, where hundreds have died in recent years in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist extremists. (Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by James Mackenzie) A probe by Bangladesh authorities into a gun battle between security forces and suspected militants earlier this week has thrown up key information about six suspected militant commanders, investigators and a news report said on Saturday. During a major drive on Tuesday, nine suspected militants were gunned down in an apartment in Dhakas Kalyanpur area. Authorities described the overnight operation as very successful as only one police official was slightly injured. A tenth suspected militant, Rakibul Hasan alias Regan, was captured by security forces as he tried to escape from a multi-storey building that was raided. He was questioned by investigators while being treated for bullet injuries . Jugantor, a leading Bengali newspaper, reported on Saturday that Regan told investigators about militant commanders operating in Bangladesh and details about them had been confirmed by security officials. The newspaper said these commanders, who have all been identified, have arms and grenades. Investigators said they also found some important information in a laptop found at the scene of Tuesdays raid. They also found a detailed plot to target places across the country and an audio message stored in electronic devices, Jugantor reported. The investigators uncovered details about Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Canadian citizen of Bangladeshi origin, who is leading a violent campaign in the country in the name of Islamic State. Chowdhury is believed to be the mastermind of attacks on a cafe in Dhakas Gulshan area and an Eid congregation in Kishoreganj district a few days later. Investigators also uncovered details about Ripon, an operational commander of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) linked to 11 attacks in northern Bangladesh since last year. Ripon is involved in running the JMBs operations in northwestern Rajshahi region. The other suspected commanders are Manik, who acts as an operational commander all over the country, Badal, Asjadul Kobiraj, a resident of northern Gaibandha district, and Khaled, who acts as a regional commander. Kobiraj and Ripon allegedly organise training camps for new recruits and control several recruiters. The investigators also uncovered details about a man named Bijoy, believed to be an accomplice of Khaled. Munirul Islam, head of the newly formed Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, said officials have stepped up the hunt for these suspected commanders and their associates. We are hopeful that they will be caught one by one, he said. Our teams are working to find their hideouts. Tuesdays operation was conducted amid rising fears that Bangladesh could face more attacks following the July 1 attack on the cafe frequented by foreigners and wealthy Bangladeshis in Dhakas upscale Gulshan area. The government has said the suspects killed in Tuesdays drive were preparing for a major assault in Dhaka. They were killed when they resisted an attempt by a SWAT team to enter the apartment, police said. The dead militants were clad in black and two black flags, of the type used by the IS, were found inside the apartment. In the July 1 attack, 20 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed by five suspected militants who the government said belonged to the banned JMB. The IS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying its soldiers conducted the assault, but the government rejected this claim and insisted they were members of JMB. Belgian authorities on Saturday charged a man over an alleged plot to launch a new attack in Belgium as Europe remained on edge following a wave of jihadist bloodshed in France and Germany. An investigating judge charged Nourredine H, 33, with attempting to commit terrorist murder and taking part in the activities of a terrorist organisation, the federal prosecutors office said. It said the charges come in the case opened concerning a possible terrorist attack in Belgium. He was arrested along with his brother Hamza H following raids on Friday in Belgiums French-speaking areas of Mons and Liege, but Hamza was released Saturday without charge, the office said in a statement. It had said earlier that both were suspected of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium, but gave no other details. The prosecutors office said there was for now no link to the suicide bombings on March 22 at Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters that left 32 people dead. Those attacks were claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group that holds swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. No weapons or explosives were found in Fridays raids, seven in the Mons area and one in Liege, that were ordered by a judge specialising in counter-terror cases, it said. But Belgiums French-language broadcaster RTBF reported earlier it had information that one of the brothers had been searching for weapons and other material. He had served in the past as a logistics man for jihadists leaving for and returning from the Middle East, it added. Jihadist springboard Belgium is the main source per head of population of jihadist recruits going from the European Union to fight with IS in Syria, causing deep concern that they will return home battle-hardened and even more radicalised. The interior ministry said 457 Belgian men and women have gone or tried to join jihadists in the Middle East, including 90 who are missing or dead. Belgium launched its first attacks against IS in Iraq in late 2014 as part of a US-led coalition. It joined a similar anti-IS operation in Syria this year. Several of those involved in the Brussels bloodshed in March were directly linked to the November 13 bombing and gun attacks in Paris that left 130 dead and were also claimed by IS. Belgian authorities last month charged two men with terrorist offences amid reports of a planned attack on a Euro 2016 fanzone in central Brussels. Belgium then beefed up security for its July 21 national day celebrations after the truck attack that killed 84 people in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14. The authorities in Belgium, which hosts the headquarters of the 28-nation EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, had previously anticipated a possible truck-style attack before the Nice carnage. In less than two weeks in July, IS jihadists claimed four bloody assaults in France and Germany. Experts say each attack can inspire others, with jihadists egged on further by the media spotlight the atrocities attract. Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch, who was killed for bringing shame to the family by posting risque videos and posts on Facebook, was strangled to death by her cousin and not by her brother, according to a polygraph test. The main accused of the case Muhammad Waseem had earlier confessed that he had strangled his 26-year-old sister. However, the claim was rejected after a polygraph test of both suspects was conducted on Saturday. According to the test, it was her cousin Haq Nawaz and not Waseem, who had strangled the social media to death on July 15 this year. They said Waseem was holding the hands and feet of the slain model at the time of murder while Haq Nawaz strangled her, Geonews reported. Before killing Qandeel, the suspects had drugged the model and her parents, they added. Sources said video and written statements of both suspects have also been recorded. According to them, it was shown during investigation that the elder brother Arif, who resides in Saudi Arabia, had pressurised Waseem into killing their sister Qandeel for honour of the family. They said that after the conversation, Waseem and Haq Nawaz planned the models murder. Prior to her death Qandeel, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, spoke of worries about her safety and had appealed to the interior ministry to provide her with security for protection. In Facebook posts, Baloch spoke of trying to change the typical orthodox mindset of people in Pakistan. She faced frequent abuse and death threats but continued to post controversial pictures and videos. The so-called honour-killing has sent shock waves across the country and triggered an outpouring of grief on social media for Baloch. Pakistani police also recorded written statement of cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi who made headlines for appearing in a controversial video with the slain Pakistani model, gave a written statement to police on Saturday. Qavi did not appear before police to record his statement for the ongoing investigation of the murder of model Qandeel Baloch. The investigation team then sent him a 14-point questionnaire. One of the jihadists who murdered an elderly French priest smiled as he carried out the attack, and nuns who witnessed the grisly murder said the killers spoke about the Quran. The two nuns who were in the church when Father Jacques Hamel was killed, his throat slit on the altar, said the men appeared aggressive and nervous during the attack at the Eglise Saint-Etienne in Normandy on July 26. Then, one of the attackers seemed pleased. I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy, nun Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie on Friday. Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and both were killed by police in the shock attack. The men stormed the 17th-century stone church during mass in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking several hostages before killing the priest and seriously wounding another captive. One nun fled the scene and alerted the police, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, in the church with the jihadists. Muslims put flowers and hold a minute of silence on July 29, 2016 in front of the church if Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, where French priest Jacques Hamel waskilled on July 26. (AFP) At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. I asked for my cane, he gave it to me, she said. Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Quran. Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, Ive read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace, Sister Helene responded. One of the attackers replied: Peace, its what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop. Neighbours and acquaintances said Kermiche was obsessed with going to Syria, where an international coalition including France is carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group. Are you afraid to die? one of the attackers asked. The nun said no, then he said: Why? I believe in God, and I know I will be happy Sister Helene said, as she quietly prayed to herself. Then they started talking about God. Jesus cannot be God and a man. It is you who are wrong, one of the men said. Maybe, but too bad, Sister Huguette replied. At that moment, she prepared for her own death, not knowing what was coming next. Thinking I was going to die, I offered my life to God she added. Colorado Springs, Colorado US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he was taking the gloves off in his battle against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House after taking a scorching from speakers at the Democratic National Convention. Trump wrapped up a seven-state campaign swing in Colorado on Friday, where, for a fifth straight day, his supporters chanted lock her up whenever he brought up Clintons name. Trump supporters say Clinton deserves to be prosecuted for her handling of US foreign policy as President Barack Obamas first-term secretary of state and for her use of a private email server while in that office. All week Trump has sought to tamp down the chants by stressing that his main goal is to simply beat Clinton in the November 8 presidential election. Read | White male grievance is shaping the US presidential election this time But as the crowd chanted the slogan in Colorado Springs, Trump finally relented. Im starting to agree with you, frankly, he said. No more Mr Nice Guy. In Denver later, he changed his tune when he heard the chant. Ill tell you what Id rather do, honestly, is just beat her on November 8 at the polls. She would be a disaster, he said. Read | America first: Trump thunders, accepts Republican presidential nomination Trump was a punching bag at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, which wrapped up on Thursday night, as speaker after speaker -- including some Republicans -- said he lacked the temperament to be president. Clinton herself said in her acceptance speech that the election represented a moment of reckoning for the country. In Colorado Springs, Trump got sidetracked by a couple of disputes from last year as he tried to rebut a Clinton campaign ad. The ad uses a video clip from Trumps attack on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in protest of her questioning him at a debate of Republican presidential contenders last August when he said afterward that blood was coming out of her eyes, coming out of her wherever. I was talking about her nose, Trump said in Colorado Springs. I wanted to get back on the issue of taxes at the debate. Trump also brought up the case of disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, whom Trump seemed to mock publicly in a video used by the Clinton ad. Trump said he was depicting the reporter groveling to him. I didnt know he was disabled. I didnt know it at all. I had no idea, he said. Read | NYT says Donald Trump mocking disabled reporter outrageous Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala were difficult to miss as they moved about the Democratic National Convention: he is very tall, and she wore a distinctive salwar-kurta. But hardly anyone took note. That was before they took the stage and he delivered Donald Trump a brief but profound and powerful rebuke for his remarks against Muslims that have outraged people around the world. Khan asked Trump if he had read the American Constitution, and held up his own copy, offering it to the Republican nominee, asking him to look for the words liberty and equal protection of law in it. Khan, whose son, US Army Captain Humayun Khan, died in a suicide car bombing in Iraq in 2004, went on to tell Trump, You have sacrificed nothing and no one. Neither Trump, who has said he wanted to hit a number of those speakers critical of him at the Democratic convention, nor his campaign, has responded to Khans remarks yet. Both Khan and Ghazala were born and brought up in Pakistan, and then moved to Dubai, where their two elder sons were born Humayun was the second. Their third was born in the US. Khan, a lawyer with an advanced degree from Harvard, has since his Thursday speech become something of a hero among American Muslims long battling the influence of Trump and Trump-like bias. Aftab Siddiqui, also a Pakistani-American, called Khans speech a perfect response to Trump's vitriol and said it will help in softening of American Muslim perception in the society. The community has had to deal with unrelenting hostility and scrutiny since the 9/11 attacks, which have been exacerbated by recent attacks, especially the ones in San Bernardino and Orlando. The community has sought to address the issue through increasing outreach and now, faced with Trumps remarks, mobilising the community to vote to defeat him. Khan said he was first contacted by the Clinton campaign about a December news report on how Muslims were responding to Trumps remarks. He was quoted in it. The Clinton campaign asked him if they could use his comments in a tribute they were planning for his son at the convention, which was still may weeks away. He agreed. They got back again a few months later asking if Khan and his wife would like to attend a speech was still not on the anvil. They were to be simply around to talk to reporters. And then came the speech offer, but with tight time restrictions. Khan offered to keep it short, and declined the campaigns offer, asking if he needed help with framing and writing his speech. I said: I really dont, I have my thoughts in my head, Khan told The New York Times. I wont make it an hour-long speech, just let me say what I want to say. It will be heart-to-heart. Choosing silence to convey his sorrow, Pope Francis visited the former Nazi death factory at Auschwitz and Birkenau on Friday, meeting with concentration camp survivors as well as aging saviors who helped Jews escape certain doom. In a guest book entry he made an anguished plea: Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty! Wearing unadorned white robes, Francis entered Auschwitz on foot, passing through the gate that bears the cynical words Arbeit Macht Frei Work Sets you Free. One by one, he greeted 11 survivors, among them 101-year-old Helena Dunicz Niwinska, who played the violin in a death camp orchestra, and two other centenarians. One survivor, Valentina Nikodem, helped deliver babies born to Auschwitz inmates. Elzbieta Sobczynska, who was 10 when she was brought to Auschwitz in 1944 from the Warsaw ghetto, said that in his silence, Francis spoke volumes. You dont need words. Prayer was enough, Sobczynska said, speaking to Polands TVN24. Francis, she said, came here with humility, he came here to find the shadows of those who were stripped of the most precious thing life. The pope then travelled to nearby Birkenau, a sprawling complex where people were murdered in factory-like fashion in its gas chambers. Pope Francis prays in front of the Memorial at the former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland on Friday. (AP) There he greeted 25 Holocaust rescuers, including Anna Bando, who as a child helped her mother smuggle bread hidden in their handbags to Jews forced by Nazi occupiers to stay in Warsaws ghetto. Francis visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Adolf Hitlers forces put to death more than 1 million people, most of them Jews, came on the third day of a five-day trip to Poland that included meetings with young Catholic pilgrims gathering in Krakow for World Youth Day, a global celebration of faith. Except for the brief exchange with the survivors and rescuers, Francis spent his nearly two hours at the death camps in quiet prayer and reflection. The pope wanted an atmosphere of silence, silent compassion, silent prayer, said Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. This image made available by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum shows the inscription written in the guest book by Pope Francis when he visited the Nazi German death camp. (AP) His only public words were in a guest-book entry, where he wrote in his native Spanish: Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty! He then signed his name in Latin, Franciscus. Later, however, Francis spoke with passion about his Auschwitz visit to a crowd of young people gathered outside the archbishops residence where he was staying for the night. How much pain! How much cruelty! Is it possible that we humans created in Gods image are capable of doing these things? the pontiff said of the atrocities 70 years ago. Then he added: I dont want to make you bitter, but I have to say the truth. Cruelty did not end in Auschwitz, in Birkenau. Even today ... people are being tortured. Many prisoners are tortured, just to make them talk. Today in many parts of the world where there is war the same thing is happening. Francis is the first pope to visit Auschwitz who did not himself live through the brutality of World War II on Europes soil. Unlike his predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who were young men during the Nazi rule and occupation of much of Europe and had a personal or historical connection to the site, Francis was a toddler when World War II broke out far away from his Argentine homeland. John Paul, who visited in 1979, witnessed the unspeakable suffering inflicted on his native Poland during the German occupation. His visit, the first ever by a pontiff, was part of his overall efforts aimed at healing centuries of bitterness between the Vatican and Jews. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, who visited in 2006, was a German who served in the Hitler Youth for a time as a teenager. At Auschwitz, Francis prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before speaking individually to the survivors, shaking their hands and kissing them on the cheeks. He then carried a large white candle to the Death Wall, where prisoners at Auschwitz were executed. At the dark underground prison cell that once housed St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar who sacrificed his life to save a fellow prisoner who had a family, Francis prayed again. A few shafts from a tiny window were the only light cast on the pontiff. Cardinals and bishops walk through the gate of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland on Friday. (AP) He then traveled two miles (three kilometers) to Birkenau, where Christian Poles who saved Jews during the war and other guests stood in respect as the pope arrived, his vehicle driving alongside the rail tracks once used to transport victims to their deaths there. At the Birkenau ceremony, Polands chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, recited, in Hebrew Psalm 130, beginning with the words: From the depths I have cried out to you, Oh Lord. Fridays theme exploring suffering included a Way of the Cross procession that drew 800,000 young Catholics to a Krakow meadow. Calling on the young pilgrims to show mercy to refugees and other persecuted people, the pontiff then asked: Where is God when innocent persons die as a result of violence, terrorism and war. These are questions, he added, that humanly speaking, have no answer. President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Western countries on Friday for failing to show solidarity with Turkey over the recent failed coup, saying those who worried over the fate of coup supporters instead of Turkish democracy could not be friends of Ankara. Erdogan also rejected Western criticism of purges under way in Turkeys military and other state institutions which saw more than 60,000 people detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, suggesting some in the United States were on the side of the plotters. The attitude of many countries and their officials over the coup attempt in Turkey is shameful in the name of democracy, Erdogan told hundreds of supporters at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital. Any country and any leader who does not worry about the life of Turkish people and our democracy as much as they worry about the fate of coupists are not our friends, said Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and perhaps death on the night of the coup. Turkeys Western allies have condemned the coup in which Erdogan said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 were wounded, but have been rattled by the scale of the crackdown in the aftermath. Images of detained soldiers with bruises and bandages have worried civil rights groups over mistreatment. The purges have targeted supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the July 15-16 failed coup, but Erdogans critics say he is using the measures to crack down on any dissent. Erdogan also criticised the European Council and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to be a part of, for their failure to pay a visit to offer condolences, saying their criticism was shameful. The director of US National Intelligence, James Clapper, said on Thursday the purges were harming the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq by sweeping away Turkish officers who had worked closely with the United States. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during an event in Ankara late Friday to honour those killed and wounded during the failed July 15 military coup. (AP) The head of US Central Command, General Joseph Votel, said he believed some of the military figures whom the United States had worked with were in jail. Votels comments drew condemnation from Erdogan. Instead of thanking this country which repelled a coup attempt, you take the side of the coup plotters. The putschist is in your country already, Erdogan said, referring to Gulen, who denied any involvement in the coup attempt. In a statement released by the US military on Friday, General Votel said any claims that he was involved in a failed coup attempt in Turkey were unfortunate and completely inaccurate. White House spokesperson Eric Schultz has also dismissed claims that Votel supported the coup plotters, and referred to US President Barack Obamas comments from last week saying any reports that Washington had prior knowledge of the attempted overthrow were completely false. Erdogan has blamed Gulen for masterminding the attempted coup and has called on Washington to extradite him. Turkish officials have suggested the US can extradite him based on strong suspicion while President Obama last week insisted Turkey must first present evidence of Gulens alleged complicity in the failed coup. Military shake-up Late on Thursday Turkey announced a shake-up of its armed forces, NATOs second largest, with the promotion of 99 colonels to the rank of general or admiral and the dishonourable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged roles in the coup. About 40% of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup. Turkish defence minister Fikri Isik told broadcaster NTV on Friday that the shake-up in the military was not yet over, adding that military academies would now be a target of cleansing. The purges have also hit government ministries, schools and universities, the police, civil service, media and business. Seventeen journalists were formally arrested late on Friday over their alleged links with the coup plot while four others were released. Arrest warrants for dozens of others were issued earlier this week. The number of public sector workers removed from their posts since the coup attempt now stands at more than 66,000, including some 43,000 people in education, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. Interior minister Efkan Ala said more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup, and that 50,000 passports had been cancelled. The labour ministry said it was investigating 1,300 staff over their possible involvement. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan standing in front of guards during his visit to the Police Special Operation department's headquarters in Golbasi district of Ankara. (AFP) Erdogan has claimed that Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a secretive parallel state that aimed to take over the country. Erdogans critics say he is using the purges to crack down indiscriminately on dissent and to tighten his grip on power. With long land borders with Syria and Iraq, Turkey is a central part of the US-led military operation against Islamic State. As home to millions of Syrian refugees, it is also the European Unions partner in a deal reached last year to halt the biggest flow of migrants into Europe since World War Two. Turkey hosts US troops and warplanes at Incirlik Air Base, from which the United States flies sorties against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Those air operations were temporarily halted following the coup attempt. Attempting to reassure the United States, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that Turkeys armed forces, cleansed of their Gulenist elements, would prove more trustworthy ... and effective allies against Islamic State. Nevertheless, there is a growing anti-US mood in Turkey which is likely to harden further if Washington refuses to extradite Gulen. Several hundred flag-waving protesters staged a peaceful protest march near the Incirlik base on Thursday, chanting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and Damn the USA, the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper reported. The protesters burned a US flag. US based cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, US. (Reuters file photo) Power poisoning The crackdown on Gulenists pressed on unabated on Friday. In the central city of Kayseri, a stronghold of Erdogans ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, police detained the chairman of furniture-to-cables conglomerate Boydak Holding and two company executives as part of the investigation into the Gulenist Terror Group, Anadolu reported. Prosecutors in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir issued orders to detain 200 police on Friday as part of the investigation targeting Gulenists, the Dogan news agency said. In the Netherlands, a spokeswoman for the Gulenist community said supporters feared for their safety after dozens of death threats and acts of arson and vandalism in Dutch towns and cities in the past two weeks. Saniye Calkin said supporters in neighbouring Germany were reporting similar incidents. Germany is home to Europes largest Turkish diaspora, while the Netherlands also has around half a million ethnic Turks. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, again maintained his innocence during an interview with Italys Corriere della Sera newspaper, saying he had himself suffered from previous coups in Turkey. Asked why his once-warm ties with Erdogan and the AK Party had turned sour, Gulen said: It appears that after staying in power for too long, (they) are suffering from power poisoning. Gulen, whose Hizmet (Service) movement stresses the need to embrace scientific progress and inter-faith dialogue, said he still strongly backed Ankaras bid to join the EU, saying this would buttress democracy and human rights in Turkey. An Australian mural of US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a revealing, stars and stripes swimsuit may be taken down, after it has reportedly been deemed offensive. The creator of the painting, the street artist who goes by the name Lushsux and who has also painted murals of the likes of Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian, branded calls to remove it pathetic. The provocative mural is on the wall of a small business in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, and reports say the business has been asked by the local Maribyrnong Council to remove it. A mural of Democrat US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton clad in a swimsuit, created by street artist Lushsux, in West Footscray in Melbourne on July 30, 2016. (AFP Photo) We believe it is offensive because of the depiction of a near-naked woman, not on the basis of disrespect to Hillary Clinton, in accordance with the Graffiti Prevention Act 2007, the councils chief executive Stephen Wall told Fairfax Media on Friday. Wall said local police had been asked to urgently provide their opinion on the mural, adding that the council intended to issue a notice to the buildings owner to remove it within 10 days. Lushsux accused the council of being out of control, telling Fairfax the mural was on par offence-wise with a deodorant ad. Speaking on Melbourne radio, Lushsux said he suspected that his Instagram account, which he said had some 1,10,000 followers, was deleted due to him posting a photo of the raunchy Hillary image. Its hard enough to be an artist... to lose your social media following in this day and age is a big loss, he told 3AW on Friday. But the artist shows no sign of changing his style. Asked what he planned next, Lushsux told listeners: I might paint a big mural of Trump in similar style. Lushsux has already rendered a version of Trumps wife Melania, painted topless with the Republican US presidential candidates faces on her torso, with the words, Im with her. A mural depicting Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump over his wife Melania, created by street artist Lushsux, is seen on a wall in West Footscray in Melbourne on July 30, 2016. (AFP Photo) He has in the past earned notoriety for his murals on other celebrities, including Taylor Swift. French authorities have filed terror charges against two men from Pakistan and Alegria who are suspected of being members of the Islamic State cell that massacred 130 people in Paris last November. The 29-year-old Algerian Adel Haddadi and the 35-year-old Pakistani Mohamad Usman were charged on Friday with criminal conspiracy with terrorists, a judicial source told AFP. Usman is reportedly thought to be a bomb-maker for Pakistani extremist organisations, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The men were turned over to France by Austrian authorities on Friday. Investigators believe they travelled to the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat full of refugees as two men who took part in the November 13 attacks. Those two men, thought to be Iraqis, blew themselves up outside Stade de France stadium, one of a series of brazen assaults by around 10 people around the French capital. But Haddadi and Usman were held up, detained by Greek authorities for 25 days because they had fake Syrian passports. Once let go, they followed the main migrant trail and made it to Salzburg in western Austria at the end of November--after the Paris attacks. Austrian police commandos arrested them in December at a migrant centre a few hours after French authorities informed them the men could be in the country. Austrian police said on Friday that during the entire journey and until their arrest the men remained in constant contact with the terror group Islamic State. After his arrest, Haddadi told investigators that he wanted to go to France to carry out a mission, according to a statement seen by AFP. A source close to the investigation said Haddadi was meant to take part in the Paris killings with his travelling companions. After France filed a European arrest warrant, a court in Salzburg approved the transfer of the two men to France at the beginning of July. Usman unsuccessfully appealed against his transfer from Austria, saying he would not get a fair trial in France and that he feared for his safety. India holds LeT, the group to which Usman has been linked, responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Salzburg prosecutors said on Friday two more men, a Moroccan and an Algerian arrested eight days after the others, remained in custody. In December, prosecutors had said that these men, aged 25 and 40 at the time, were being held because of indications of close contact with Haddadi and Usman. A man killed his two sisters on the eve of their weddings in Pakistans central Punjab province, police said on Saturday, in the latest case of so-called honour killings. Kosar and Gulzar Bibi, aged 22 and 28, were shot dead by 35-year-old brother Nasir Hussain on Friday as they prepared to marry men they had chosen themselves, senior police officer Mehar Riaz told AFP. Hussain objected to the love matches and had wanted the women to marry someone within the extended family, he said. The brother shot dead both the sisters yesterday and fled the site, the officer said, adding a search was underway. It is a simple case of killing for honour, Riaz said. Father of the family Atta Mohammad told reporters Hussain had destroyed everything. He ruined my family, he destroyed us, he destroyed everything, Mohammad said. The murders came days after social media starlet Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death by her brother, who said he was not embarrassed to have killed her, reigniting calls for action against the crime. Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in the conservative Muslim nation each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour. Pakistans law minister this month announced bills aimed at tackling honour killings and boosting rape convictions would soon be voted on by parliament, after mounting pressure to tackle a pattern of crime that claims around 1,000 lives a year. The perpetrators of so-called honour killings - in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a relative - often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member. Turkeys army killed 35 Kurdish militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on Saturday, military officials said. The overnight attack came hours after clashes in Hakkaris Cukurca district between soldiers and militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that left eight soldiers dead, the officials said. The militants attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance. An air operation was launched, killing 23 of them, the officials said. Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said. The remaining eight were killed in clashes in Hakkaris Cukurca district. Fridays clashes in Cukurca also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said. Turkeys military -- NATOs second-largest -- is grappling with the insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast as its senior ranks undergo a major shake-up in following a July 15-16 coup attempt. On Thursday, Turkey announced an overhaul of the armed forces, with 99 colonels promoted to the rank of general or admiral and nearly 1,700 military personnel given dishonourable discharges over their alleged roles in the coup. About 40% of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup. In the southeast, the military frequently carried out air strikes after a 2.5-year ceasefire and peace process between the government and the PKK broke down last summer. Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since then. Some cities in the predominantly Kurdish southeast have been engulfed in the worst violence since the 1990s. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK -- designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union -- began its insurgency in 1984. The Vatican has established a new eparchy or leadership structure for the Syro-Malabar community with an ancient church in north England as its cathedral, marking a new high in the little known history of Indian Christians in Britain that began with Goan lascars arriving in the 16th century. The eparchy akin to a diocese has been set up in St Ignatius Church in Preston, north England, 370 km from London. The church, handed over to the community in October 2015, was this week named by the Vatican as the cathedral of the eparchy. Pope Francis also appointed Kottayam-born Fr Joseph Srampickal as the first bishop of the eparchy. He is currently vice-rector of the Pontifical Urban College De Propaganda Fide in Rome. Members of the Syro-Malabar community in Britain number nearly 40,000. Services at St Ignatius Church have been held in Malayalam since it was handed over to the community. Some members of the local community protested against the handover at the time, and said they felt excluded since the services are no longer in English. Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster said: I welcome this exciting news and in particular Bishop Srampickal as the first Bishop of the Eparchy of the Syro-Malabars in Great Britain. I look forward to working with him as a close colleague and friend while he has care of his brothers and sisters throughout the whole country. He said the establishment of the eparchy was a clear indication of the care of the Holy See for the thousands of Syro-Malabar Catholics who have settled in Great Britain. I am particularly pleased that the seat of the new Eparchy will be the wonderful St Ignatius Church. The history of Indian Christians in Britain includes three distinct groups arriving at various times, with origins in south India (mainly Kerala), Goa and Punjab. Each group conducts services in their own languages - Malayalam, Konkani (and English), Punjabi - across the country. The Goan link is the oldest, with members of the community now boosting congregations in Swindon, nearly 130 km west of London, where thousands have settled in recent years after acquiring Portuguese passports (Goans born before the Indian states liberation in 1961 and their two generations are entitled to Portuguese citizenship). Punjabi Christians from the Jalandhar Doaba region mostly migrated from the 1950s onwards and are based in Bedford, Coventry, Oxford and Birmingham. Several denominations of the church in south India are represented across Britain. The story of Indian Christians in Britain includes a reversal of the path trekked by Western missionaries in the 19th century to tribal areas in Indias northeast. The converted tribes now return the favour by moving to places such as Wales to meet a shortage of priests there. One of the first to arrive in recent years was Rev Hmar Sangkhuma from the diocese of Mizoram, who offered spiritual guidance to the local population in Maesteg, near Bridgend in Wales. Several other Indian priests have taken over church services across Britain in recent years. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Southern-born Hinton Helpernot Harriet Beecher Stowewrote the most stinging indictment of slavery. By Joseph Gustaitis The myth probably began with Abraham Lincoln. When he met Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Toms Cabin, in 1862, Lincoln supposedly said, So you are the little lady who wrote the book that started this great war. Ever since that meeting, Uncle Toms Cabin has been considered the most important anti-slavery tract ever published in the United States and the key text in inflaming the passions that brought on the Civil War. No doubt it was a very important book. It sold 300,000 copies in its first year of publication and was translated into at least 23 languages. And yet, another book caused a far greater sensation than Uncle Toms Cabin (1852). It was The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It. Even more surprising, the strident anti-slavery treatise was not written by some stern New England Yankee. The author was a son of the Old South, Hinton Rowan Helper. Although he has been largely forgotten, for several years after his work was published in 1857, Helper was one of the most famous men in America. Uncle Toms Cabin, although detested in Dixie, could be dismissed by many Southerners as sentimental rubbish from a Yankee preachers wife who knew little about the Souths peculiar institution. Helper, however, was born in Rowan County, N.C., on December 27, 1829, and his father, who died a year after Hintons birth, worked a small farm and owned a few slaves. Nor could The Impending Crisis be in any way considered a mawkish romance. This was a book that hammered the reader with statistic after statistic, remorselessly piling up evidence that slavery was the only reason the South had fallen behind the North in almost every area of achievementwealth, productivity, population, literacy, cultureand had descended to what Helper called a state of comparative imbecility and obscurity. Slavery, he said, was the most hateful and horrible word that was ever incorporated into the vocabulary of human economy. To Southerners, Helper was not just a gadfly, he was a traitor. Helper graduated from Mocksville Academy, near his home, in 1848 and then worked in a store in Salisbury, N.C. He went to New York in 1850 and from there sailed by way of Cape Horn to San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush. He spent three years fruitlessly trying to wrest gold from the hills and then returned to the East to publish The Land of Gold (1855), a bitter account written, he said, to warn other would-be gold hunters of the perils and disappointment that awaited them. The same year Helper sailed for the West was the year of the seventh U.S. census. The 1850 census set off alarm bells throughout Dixie. Nearly every statistic showed that in the decade from 1840 to 1850 the North had leapfrogged over the South. In 1840, for example, 44 percent of the total U.S. railway mileage was in the South; by 1850 its share had declined to 26 percent. In 1840 the South possessed 20 percent of the nations manufacturing capacity; in 1850 it had 18 percent. These figures only confirmed what many Southerners already suspectedthey were becoming economic underlings. As one Southern analyst put it, The North grows rich and powerful whilst we at best are stationary. Historians are still debating the reasons for the failure of industrialization in the South, but Helper, who waved the 1850 census like a red flag, echoed the views of the Scottish political economist Adam Smith, who argued that free labor was intrinsically superior to slave labor. Unlike a free worker, Smith said, a slave can have no other interest but to eat as much, and to labour as little as possible. The Impending Crisis drew heavily on the 1850 census to show that slavery was the ruination of the South. It began with a long chapter in which Helper presented a host of tables illustrating the contrast between the two regions of the United States. He cleverly began with statistics showing the difference in agricultural output because, he said, many Southerners liked to flatter themselves that, if in nothing else, the South was superior to the North in agriculture. Not so, Helper pointed out, adding, Such rampant ignorance should be knocked in the head! After parading his tables across his pages, he arrived at the conclusion that in 1850 the North produced some $352 million worth of farm products; the South, about $307 million. So much, he snorted, for the boasted agricultural superiority of the South! The second chapter was the most threatening in a menacing book. Titled How Slavery Can Be Abolished, it scoffed at the notion that any system of emancipation required compensating slaveholders for the loss of their property. The idea, he said, is preposterous. Helper blamed the slaveholders for the wide discrepancy in the value of land between the North and the South. Again using 1850 figures, he reckoned that the average value of an acre of land in the Northern states was $28.07; in the South it was $5.34. We conclude, therefore, he wrote, that you, the slaveholders, are indebted to us, the non-slaveholders, in the sum of $22.73, which is the difference between $28.07 and $5.34, on every acre of Southern soil in our possession. The grand total that the chevaliers of the lash had gypped the non-slaveholders, according to Helpers calculations, was slightly over $7.5 billion. And now, Sirs, he demanded, we are ready to receive the money. Having thus dismissed the idea of compensation, Helper laid out an 11-point plan for abolishing slavery by July 4, 1876. The agenda included organizing nonslaveholding whites into a political force, denying slaveholders the vote, boycotting slaveholders services, banning the hiring of slaves by non-slaveholders, and instituting a tax of $60 on every slaveholder for every slave in his possession. Although there was virtually no chance that such a plan would be adopted, it nevertheless was strong stuff for Southern readers. The book cited numerous authors from both North and Southas well as from other countrieswho concurred with Helpers abolitionism. He marshaled quotations from, among others, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, along with economists, French philosophers and Biblical prophets. Helper returned to statistics to contrast North and South in areas such as manufacturing, exports, canals, railroads, bank capital, public schools, libraries, newspapers and literacy. He ruefully concluded that our indignation is struck almost dumb at this astounding and revolting display of the awful wreck that slavery is leaving behind it in the South. The most notable aspect of The Impending Crisis was its fierce language. Helper railed that five millions of poor white trash' suffered under a second degree of slavery and that every white man who is under the necessity of earning his bread, by the sweat of his browis treated as if he was a loathsome beast. There is not, he charged, a grain of patriotism in the South, except among the non-slaveholders. And since slavery is a sin and a crime, he could not recognize the slaveholders as gentlemen. Slaveholders, he thundered, are more criminal than common murderers. Helper did not even shun the threat of violence. Do you aspire, he asked the slaveholders of the South, to become the victims of white non-slaveholding vengeance by day, and of barbarous massacre by the negroes at night? Helper first intended to publish his book in Baltimore, but was prevented from doing so by a law that made it a crime to excite discontent amongst the people of color of this state. He therefore went to New York in 1857, partly, he says, because he feared that he might be subjected to physical violence if he stayed in the South. In New York, the influential newspaperman Horace Greeley offered his support. In the year after The Impending Crisis was published, it sold some 13,000 copiesa respectable figureand was well-received in several Northern newspapers. But in the spring of 1859 the Republican Party, then gearing up for the election of 1860, realizedwith Helpers proddingthat the volume could be an asset to their campaign. The Republicans followed Greeleys advice that championing the book would prove that they did not seek the ruin of the South, but rather its renovation. Accordingly, they distributed at least 100,000 copies of an abridged (and slightly toned down) version, called The Compendium, and Helper was suddenly the talk of the nation. Abraham Lincoln had a copy and said he was very interested to know that there was a potential schism between slaveholders and non-slaveholders in the South. By contrast, in many places in the South it was a crime to possess Helpers book. Things got hotter during the election of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1859. The Republicans put forth John Sherman of Ohio (brother of the soon-to-be-famous William Tecumseh Sherman), but he was assailed by John B. Clark of Missouri for having committed the dastardly deed of reading The Impending Crisis. Another congressman charged that one who consciously, deliberately, and of purpose lent his name and influence to the propagation of such writings is not only not fit to be speaker, but is not fit to live. The two-month debate grew so intense that the representatives took to showing up in the Capitol armed with pistols and bowie knives. By the time Lincoln took office in March 1861, Helper was famous. But the publication of The Compendium had been basically a nonprofit enterprise, and Helper needed to find regular work. Accordingly, he applied to the Lincoln administration, and in November 1861 he was appointed U.S. consul to Buenos Aires. Helper performed his duties competently in Buenos Aires, where he married a local woman named Maria Luisa Rodriguez. In 1866 he returned to the United States and again took up his pen to address the problems of the South. This time he found a new enemy. The threat to the white working class was no longer the indolent, supercilious slaveholder, but the black freeman. He dashed off three booksNojoque: A Question for a Continent (1867), Negroes in Negroland (1868) and Noonday Exigencies (1871)that revealed him to be a virulent racist. Many reviewers were shocked by Helpers call that by 1876 No Negro nor Mulatto, No Chinaman nor unnative Indian, No Black or Bi-colored Individual of whatever Name or Nationality would find Domicile anywhere within the Boundaries of the United States. For Helper, the black man was An Inferior Fellow Done For, and the color black was A Thing of Ugliness, Disease, and Deatha most hateable thing. Helper had become an embarassment to the Republican Party. Even readers in the South were taken aback by what one reviewer called his wild ravings. No longer a thinker to be taken seriously, Helper eked out a career as an agent for U.S. commercial interests that had claims against various South American governments. He became interested in the construction of a railroad that would run through the Americas from Hudsons Bay to Cape Horn, and the notion, which he claimed would make him the new Christopher Columbus, eventually grew into an obsession. A collection of his writings appeared as The Three Americas Railway in 1881. In his final years, Helper was a bitter and impoverished man. His wife went blind and returned to Buenos Aires with their son in 1899, leaving him alone in Washington. All his funds had gone into promoting his railway dream, and although a commission was appointed to study the idea, he was not named a member of it. On March 8, 1909, Hinton Helper closed the door to his room, wrapped a towel around his neck, and turned on the gas. The maid found him dead the next morning. [ Top | Cover Page ] When the Boer War began on October 12, 1899, Australia was still a collection of separate British colonies with a total population of less than 4 million on a land mass nearly as large as the United States. When each colony immediately offered troops for the war, the War Office in London didnt want unskilled, probably unreliable colonial volunteers. But the British government, facing criticism of its policies and actions in southern Africa from America and most European countries, chose to regard the offers from the Australian colonies as a mark of Empire solidarity, overrode the War Office and accepted the offers. Shiploads of soldiers and horses set sail from Australia for the Cape of Good Hope. The first contingents arrived in South Africa in November 1899; they continued arriving throughout the war until more than 16,000 soldiers had been transported to the Cape. They were not regular soldiers, though; they were militia, part-tithe soldiers with anything from 36 to 80 of hours training or drill a year, depending on the colony they came from. They arrived in small units, since the British government stipulated that the units should consist of about 125 then, with no more than a single captain and three subalterns to each one. If more than one unit carne from a single colonial force, these could be commanded by a major. The Aussies came under such names as the New South Wales Lancers, New South Wales Mounted Rifles, Queensland Mounted Infantry, Queensland Bushmen, South Australian Mounted Rifles, South Australian Imperial Bushmen, Victorian Bushmen, Western Australian Mounted Infantry, Tasmanian Bushmen, and Australian Commonwealth Horse. Ill-trained as soldiers, they would probably not have lasted very long in a conventional war against regular, disciplined troops. The Boers, however, were fighting an unconventional war, one to which the Australians adapted easily and in which they were able to make a contribution quite out of proportion to their numbers. Like the colonial-steeped Boers themselves, the Australians were mostly countrymen, used to the bush, to living rough and living off the land when necessary, able to find their way day or night in any kind of country, and familiar with horses and guns from an early age. Other volunteers for the war came from among Australians living and working in southern Africa. Some joined units such as the South African Constabulary, whose Australian James Rogers was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. Others joined irregular units such as that formed by the Australian Walter D. Karri Davis, the Imperial Light Horse of South Africa. All units, wherever they came from, were dispersed among British units, under British command. The war began badly for the British. Before the war was a month old, Boer General Pieter A. Piet Cronje had led a large force of horsemen out of the Transvaal and laid siege to Mafeking; Orange Free State forces had laid siege to diamond-rich Kimberley; and General Petrus Jacobus Piet Joubert and his 15,000 horsemen had defeated General Sir George Whites Natal Defence Force at Laings Nek, defeated him again a week later at Talana Hill, and by November 2 had laid siege to Ladysmith. And then came Black Week, when between December 10 and 17 the Boers defeated the British at Magersfontein, where the British suffered 1,000 casualties; at Stormberg, where they lost 100 casualties and 600 prisoners; and at Colenso, where General Bullers force took 1,200 casualties in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve Ladysmith. BullerGeneral Sir Redvers Bullerwas commander in chief of all forces, but now the British government decided he had to go. On the first day of January 1900, meanwhile, 200 Australians of the Queensland Mounted Infantry, with a supporting group of Canadians and British, mounted an attack on a Boer camp on Sunnyside Kopje, one of the low hills near the Vaal River west of Kimberley. While the Canadians and British held the Boers attention with a frontal attack, the Queenslanders moved in from the flank, using cover as they moved from ridge to ridge, until they were in position to launch a surprise attack on the Boers. The Boers retreated, leaving 30 dead and 41 prisoners and a large supply of food and weapons. The Queenslander casualties were two dead and two wounded. In another action, on January 16 at Slingersfontein, a Boer commando (group) of 400 attacked a small hill where 20 men of the Western Australian Mounted Infantry were positioned. The Australians, constantly moving in the scrub and rocks, beat off attack after attack from sunrise to sunset, at which time the Boers finally withdrew. These small successes were given much publicity, drawing attention to the unorthodox fighting tactics of the colonial horsemen. General Bullers replacement arrived in mid-January 1900. He was Field Marshal Lord Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Baron of Kandahar. He brought with him General Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener as his chief of staff. Roberts realized immediately that this was no conventional war and that vast changes would have to be made if he was to defeat the Boers. A much more mobile army was needed, and different tactics. The Australian horse soldiers already were working successfully against the Boers, an example of what was needed. Roberts began putting every man he could on horseback and concentrating his forces at Enslin near the Modder River for an invasion of the Orange Free State. Meanwhile, General Buller was still in the field. Disobeying his commander in chiefs order to stay put, he crossed the Tugela River into Nataland there he was badly beaten by the Boers at Spion Kop and at Vaal Kranz. He blundered deeper into Natal. While concentrating his own forces at Enslin, Roberts sent Maj. Gen. John French in a wide, flanking move toward Kimberley, as if intending to relieve the diamond town. Frenchs forces, in addition to British cavalry regiments such as the Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Scots Greys, included the New South Wales Lancers, Queensland Mounted Infantry and New South Wales Mounted Rifles. Then Roberts himself moved with massive force across the Modder taking with him 30,000 infantry, 7,500 cavalry, 3,600 mounted infantry and 120 guns, and a transport unit of 4,000 drivers, 11,000 mules and 9,600 oxen. He sent Lord Methuens 1st Division along the rail line leading to Kimberley to convince Boer General Piet Cronje that this was the main assault and that he should hold his forces at Magersfontein to oppose it. With Cronje taking the bait, Roberts ordered General Frenchs British and Australian horsemen to avoid Magersfontein and spearhead the drive on Kimberley. French drove hard for the Modder River, where a large Boer force was in position. On one of that summers hottest days Frenchs cavalrymen and mounted infantry raced nonstop for the Modder. It was so hot, horses pulling the guns died in their traces. The cavalrymen and infantrymen trotted alongside their horses to give them some relief, with dead and dying horses littering the back trail. Even 21 of the men died on the march. But the Boers were completely surprised and hastily retreated, leaving their supply wagons behind. Roberts forces caught up with French and they moved on toward Kimberley together. Cronje, however, had moved 1,000 Boers, with field guns, into positions in the hills overlooking the pass that led to Kimberley. The only alternative for the British was a long march around the hills, a march inviting harassment and attacks by Boer horsemen and fire from the guns in the hills. Roberts sent French and his British and Australian horsemen into the pass. Lances down, sabers swinging, mounted infantry shooting from the saddle, they charged so fast the Boer gunners could not alter range quickly enough to keep up with them. The Boer riflemen also were beaten by the speed of the charge and the clouds of dust kicked up by the horses hoofs. Reinforcements followed the charge, and the Boers slipped away. The horsemen rode on into Kimberley, raising a siege that had lasted 124 days. Next day French could find only 2,000 horses that could possibly be ridden. Mounting some of his cavalrymen and his Australians, he set off after Cronje, who was making for Bloemfontein. Hampered by the slowness of his supply wagons and the women and children in his column, Cronje reached the Modder River at Paardeberg Drift, and there French, followed by some of Roberts force, caught up with him. The Boers dug in. General Christiaan de Wet and his commando arrived to help Cronje, attacking and skirmishing around the British force. The Australians were sent out to contain them while the main force concentrated on Cronje. He held out for eight days, then surrendered with 4,000 fighting men on February 27. In Natal, General Buller had captured Hlangwane, a dominant height southeast of the Tugela River, and advanced on Ladysmith. The Boers waited for him at Pieters Hill. True to form, Buller sent in his troops in massed attack. They were saved by the Natal Carbineers and the Imperial Light Horse, each unit including Australian volunteers. Those rescuers broke through the Boer linesbut only after 1,900 of Bullers troops were dead or wounded. Ladysmith was relieved on February 28, and Buller at last was sent back to England. Advancing next on Bloemfontein, Roberts caught up with Boer commander Christiaan de Wet, who made a stand at Dreifontein Kopjes (the Hills of the Three Springs). The Ist Australian Horse dismounted and went into the assault, keeping low in the long grass and shooting as they moved while artillery fired over their heads. In the face of this implacable advance, the Boers took flight on their horses, although scene of their guns continued firing until the riders of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles and Queensland Mounted Infantry charged on horseback and silenced them. The Aussies then went after de Wet, but he disappeared in the dark hills. Roberts army moved on to Bloemfontein, where the hills around the town were thick with Boer riflemen, machine-gunners and artillerymen, but when he began shelling their positions they faded away. The army stayed in Bloemfontein for six weeks. A quarter of the army was ineffective because of an epidemic of enteric fever, from which more than a thousand died. The horses were in such terrible condition that the soldiers shot them in batches of 100. Replacement horses arrived from Argentina, but they were mostly of poor qualityand wild. The Australian bushmen were given the job of breaking them, and dazzled the British with their expertise. Out on the veldt, Boer commandos were still skirmishing and attacking. At Sannahs Post, not far from Bloemfontein, three squadrons of British cavalry, two Royal Horse Artillery batteries and some infantry were guarding a large convoy of supplies when de Wet struck with 2,000 men and field guns. In a fast, savage fight, 19 British officers and 136 of their men were killed or wounded and 426 taken prisoner. Seven guns were lost and the whole of the convoy. Roberts got his army moving again, 45,000 men, 11,000 horses, 120 guns and 2,500 wagons. Spearheading it was Maj. Gen. Ian Hamiltons division, which included a brigade commanded by Maj. Gen. Curly Hutton and mostly made up of colonials-New Zealanders, Canadians, and mounted infantry from all the Australian colonies. On May 5, the brigade came up against Boer positions at Coetzees Drift on the Vet River. The Boers, estimated at 1,000, occupied positions along the riverbank while artillery covered them from a hill behind. The Royal Horse Artillery softened up both positions, then the New South Wales Mounted Rifles dismounted and went into the attack. Under heavy fire they pushed the Boers back from the river bank and, after another bombardment of the hill, joined Queenslanders and New Zealanders in clearing the hill. The division moved on. A young reporter riding with the division, Winston Churchill (the future British prime minister during World War II), described how the soldiers lived off the flocks of sheep they drove with them and off chickens and anything else they could find to eat on the deserted Boer farms, while nearly every day there was Boer rifle fire from the front, the flanks or the rear. This, he wrote, made us conscious of the great fighting qualities of these rifle-armed horsemen of the wilderness. In May 1900, a column of Hussars commanded by Colonel Bryan Mahon and a column commanded by Colonel Sir Herbert Plumer (which included Australians) galloped across the border from Rhodesia and relieved Mafeking. Colonel Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (later the founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides), who had commanded during the siege, reviewed the relieving forces. In Natal, the last Boer resistance was crushed at Glencoe and Dundee, and on May 24, the Orange Free State was annexed as a colony of Britain. With Australians leading his spearhead, Roberts now advanced on Johannesburg in the Transvaal. And holding a line on the Klip River south of Johannesburg was Boer General Louis Botha. While the New South Wales Mounted Rifles drew Boer fire as a diversion, the Queenslanders crossed the river and held fast on the other side. Next day, the rest of Ian Hamiltons division crossed the river under heavy fire, and the Australians then raced on to Johannesburg. The first unit entering the city apparently was a troop of South Australian Mounted Infantry commanded by Lieutenant Peter Rowell. It was May 30. Roberts next marched on Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, which he occupied on June 4. The president of the Orange Free State, Marthinus Steyn, Commando Commandant Marthinus Prinsloo and the elusive Christiaan de Wet had all been in the city, but they abandoned it with all their forces when Roberts army came close. The army went after them. New South Welshmen and West Australians caught up with the Boer rear guard in the mountains east of the city at Diamond Hill and attacked with bayonets. They captured the rear guards positions, but the main force kept moving and managed to get away. It was, however, only a matter of time. The Boers, for all their bush skills, could not long evade the huge number of British, Australian, Canadian and other troops searching the mountains for them. Before long, Commando Commandant Prinsloo and 4,000 Boers were rounded up. Even so, the Boers were still not beaten. Boer commandos roamed the veldt attacking outposts and supply lines and disappearing to turn up somewhere else to fight again. In early August, a force of 150 Queensland Mounted Infantry, 100 New South Wales Bushmen, smaller numbers of Victorian and Western Australian Bushmen and 75 Rhodesians under command of a British officer, a Colonel Hore, were sent to guard a huge consignment of stores at the Elands River Post. They arrived at the post after a running fight with Boers front a commando of 2,500 to 3,000, commanded by General Jacobus Koos de la Rey, and quickly improvised a defensive position out of ox wagons and boxes and bags of stores. The commando surrounded the post and during the next two days poured 2,500 artillery shells into it from the hills around. Nearly all of the 1,500 horses, mules and oxen were killed or died of wounds from the shelling, but the troop casualties were very light, since the men burrowed into the rocky ground and stayed down. After the second day the bombardment eased, probably because the Boers realized they were destroying the stores they badly needed, but they kept up intense rifle and machine-gun fire. During the day, the defenders lay motionless in their holes in the ground, but at night they came out. Some ran the gauntlet of fire to bring water from the river, while others repaired shattered defenses and dug deeper holes and others went out into the darkness looking for Boer field-gun and machine-gun positions, which they attacked loudly with grenades or silently with knives and bayonets. Many sleeping Boers and even wide-awake sentries lost their lives in this night stalking and attack. A Boer who had been at Elands River wrote: For the first time in the war, we were fighting men who used our own tactics against us. They were Australian volunteers and though small in number we could not take their position. They were the only troops who could scout our lines at night and kill our sentries while killing and capturing our scouts. Our men admitted that the Australians were more formidable opponents and far more dangerous than any other British troops. On August 8, de la Rey, under a flag of truce, advised the Australians that the whole area was in Boer hands and there was no hope of relief for the post. He offered safe conduct to the nearest British garrison if they would surrender. It was that, or destruction by his artillery. The offer was refused, and the bombardment began again. On the 12th, de la Rey sent another offer of honorable surrender, to which Colonel Hore replied: Even if I wished to surrender to youand I dontI am commanding Australians who would cut my throat if I accepted your terms. During the truce a messenger got through the Boer lines and made it to Mafeking, where he reported that the force was still holding out at the Elands River; it had not surrendered or been taken as was believed at headquarters. General Lord Kitchener himself led a column in relief. When the Boers saw it approaching they withdrew, and the column marched into the post in the afternoon of August 16. Looking about him, Kitchener remarked: Only colonials could have held out and survived in such impossible conditions. The Transvaal had now all but fallen, and like the Orange Free State, it was annexed as a colony of Britain. The war had passed through two phases. In the first phase of some three months, British forces of mainly foot soldiers led by incompetent generals were besieged or defeated by highly mobile Boer mounted infantry. It was a period of bloody fighting in which the only real battles of the war occurred. The second phase was the British offensive, during which British and colonial troops, vastly outnumbering the Boers, smashed and dispersed the Boer forces and annexed their two states. But the war was by no means over. There were still strong Boer commandos at large, led by experienced and successful leaders such as Koos de le Rey, Jan Smuts, Danie Theron, Christiaan de Wet and others. The British held the cities and towns, but a vast amount of territory was left to the commandos, which now broke into smaller groups and began a guerrilla war, intercepting telegraph messages for intelligence, infiltrating bases, making lightning raids on posts and convoys, and sabotaging rail and road communications. Wearing captured British uniforms, Boers of one command rode into a British cavalry post and opened fire, killing or wounding more than 70 troopers. They took supplies and arms and drove off all the horses. After that success, they often wore British uniforms to get close enough to kill. For greater killing power, they used dumdum and expanding bullets. The Boer soldier only needed to hide his rifle to become a farmer again. Many were the times when British soldiers searching farms for weapons were shot in the back by a farmer who had reached for his hidden rifle. And many were the times they were fired on from under a flag of truce. When the Boers went into action, almost every civilian in the area was ready to provide them with intelligence, food, shelter, medical help and hiding places. Field Marshal Roberts put into action his plan to combat this situation. The map of South Africa was marked in squares to show where protected areas would be established. On the ground, blockhouses were built in the squares, each within rifle shot of the next, and barbed wire was strung between them, enclosing the veldt in an interlocking system of armed squares. Then, one at a time, the squares were cleared of Boer guerrillas, and the occupants of farms and settlements were concentrated in camps, their homes and crops destroyed, their wells poisoned, and their livestock slaughtered or driven off. Outside these protected areas, however, the war went on more savagely than ever. At the end of November, Roberts handed over command to Kitchener and returned to England. Kitchener intensified the clearing of protected areas and by the end of the year some 26,000 square kilometers of the Transvaal and north Orange Free State and 10,000 square kilometers around Bloemfontein had been declared free of Boer fighting men. Many Australians took part in this scorching of the South African earth, and many more were in the columns searching the veldt for Boer guerrillas, while others were fighting with irregular units. Under a variety of names, irregular units had existed since the beginning of the war, and now they mush-roomed. They were used mainly on the outer edges of the war, where there was little control. The irregulars fought, as did the Boers themselves, giving and expecting no quarter. One such unit, working in the rough country north of Pietersburg, called the Spelonken, was the Bushveldt Carbineers. It was a unit of tough Australians, British and South Africans. One of its officers was Lieutenant Harry The Breaker Morant. Harry Morant was born in England and arrived in Australia in 1885. His background in England remains a mystery, but he was a well-spoken, charming young man who settled easily into a bushmans life, working on cattle and sheep stations from Queensland to South Australia. He became well-known for his remarkable horsemanship and for his verse. He rode as if he and a horse were one; he could get a horse to do anything it was possible for a horse to do, and he could break the wildest of horses. This skill earned him the nickname The Breaker, which he used to sign the verses, bush ballads, satirical odes and lyrical love poems he wrote for publication in district newspapers and across Australia in the periodical called The Bulletin. He landed at the Cape in February 1900 with the South Australian Mounted Rifles. He was said to be an efficient soldier, skilled in moving and fighting in rough country. When his one-year enlistment ended, he went on leave to England, where he became friends with a Hussar officer, Captain Frederick Hunt. Both returned to the Cape to take commissions in the newly formed Bushveldt Carbineers. A few months later, in the deadly guerrilla war being fought in the Spelonken, Hunt was killed and apparently mutilated. For Morant, the war became a vendetta. On a patrol, Morant stopped and questioned a Dr. Heese, a German missionary who later reported that in one of the wagons with the patrol were the corpses of eight Boers. Shortly afterward, Heese was found shot dead. Six officers of the Bush veldt Carbineers, including Morant, were arrested by the British and charged with looting, manslaughter and the murder of the missionary. Of the six, the commanding officer of the Carbineers was reprimanded and sent back to Australia. The second, the units intelligence officer, had finished his military term and was no longer subject to military law, and the third, a regular British officer, was cashiered. The other three, Lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton, were sentenced to death, although none was ever found guilty of the murder of the missionary. Wittons sentence was afterward commuted to life imprisonment; he spent four years in English jails before a petition secured his release and return to Australia. During his court-martial, Morant argued that the killing of prisoners and wounded was common to both sides and that it was, in fact, done on orders from above. The only rule in the Spelonken, he said, was rule 303 (.303 was the caliber of the British military rifle). None of his arguments was accepted, and on February 27, 1902, he and Handcock were taken before firing squads of British soldiers. Refusing a blindfold, Morant called to his squad, Shoot straight; dont make a mess of it. Then the rifles cracked, and Breaker Morant, bushman, balladist, horsebreaker, soldier, passed into Australian legend. The Boers were still carrying out successful and bloody raids, but the war was going against them. The system of blockhouses and barbed wire was having a telling effect, and no help was forthcoming from the various countries that nominally supported the Boer cause. Then, in April 1902 at Rooiwal (formerly Roodewal), the Red Valley, occurred the last action of any consequence of the war, when 1,200 Boer horsemen charged 1,500 British soldiers armed with bayonets, backed by field guns. The charge was broken, the Boers suffering heavy casualties. A week later peace delegates from both sides met in Pretoria. This article was written by John Brown and originally published in the October 2001 issue of Military History magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today! Two Virginias, two Civil Wars? The state in the forefront of war remembrance still argues over what happened The state of Virginia has been back in the news, again at war with itself and again over issues relating to the Civil War. On the one hand, the states diverse Sesquicentennial Commission masterfully organized its annual conferencea frank, eye-opening symposium at Norfolk State University titled Race, Slavery and the Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American History. On the other, a new textbook for the states fourth graders ignited a firestorm because it included a passage asserting that thousands of African Americans fought for the Confederacya doubtful claim often advanced as evidence that slavery was not the cause of the war. That these two events could have occurred at nearly the same time in the same place suggests yet again that the fight over historical memory is far from over, especially in the bellwether state where more Civil War battles occurred than in any otherand apparently still do (Governor Bob McDonnell, remember, failed to mention slavery at all when he issued his official Civil War proclamation). The Norfolk symposium, attended by nearly 900 peopleand by way of disclosure, let me note that I delivered a 10-minute presentation on the image of Lincoln as an emancipatorhandled tough stuff indeed: the little-known underground railroad that existed along the waterways of coastal cities like Norfolk, the savage cruelties of slavery and the ever-relevant inspiration of brave voices like Frederick Douglass. Historian James O. Horton ably moderated the program, and the presenters included Yale Universitys David Blight, author of the classic Race and Reunion, and Jean Fagin Yellin, who gave a harrowing account of Harriet Jacobs, a slave who exiled herself in a tiny crawl space hideaway for years rather than submit to sexual violence from her owner. No one who attended the event will soon forget these and other riveting presentations, or the discussion they stimulated. Forthcoming conferences at Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia promise to be equally important, and each will be preserved as books. But the book that dominated the news, thanks to reporting by Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post was Our Virginia: Past and Present by one Joy Masoff, which featured the absurd claim: Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson. The author admitted that she researched the subject of black Confederates on so-called Confederate heritage Web sites. Experts hired to vet her text raised no objections. Historian Carol Sheriff, who blew the whistle on the incendiary sentence, branded it an unfounded claim, adding that it concerned her not just as a professional historian but as a parent. Civil War scholar James McPherson pointed out that These Confederate heritage groups have been making this claim for years as a way of purging their cause of its association with slavery. Even University of Virginia historian Ervin Jordan, who contends that some African Americans did fight in Confederate ranks, admitted that Masoff exaggerated the numbers, adding, the claim about Jackson is totally false. Virginia school officials said they would ask their teachers not to teach the controversial sentenceprobably the surest way to get kids to read and believe it. How could these two Virginiasthese two versions of realitycontinue to co-exist, often unnoticed, in the parallel universes of Civil War memory? So much in our society has changed since the whitewashed 100th anniversary of the rebellion that we all but take it for granted that history will henceforth be politically, as well as factually, correct. One explanation may be that the greatest information resource human ingenuity has ever created now also ranks as the most potentially dangerous: the World Wide Web. Writers who substitute URLs for more in-depth research, offering baseless claims as history because they found them online, are but the tip of the deadliest iceberg since the one that sank Titanic. Scary as it is when professionals forego genuine research, think of all the students and aficionados who may now believe that a blog or a Wikipedia entry are just as dependable as, say, a Pulitzer Prizewinning text by McPherson. Until writers and readers alike do as good a job as Wall Street did to burst the tech bubbleuntil we make clear that all Web sites are not created equalwe will face crisis after crisis during the sesquicentennial, and not just in Virginia. No doubt we will soon be hearing authoritatively about 5-year-old recruits dying in battle, battalions of female soldiers cross-dressing in order to enlist, and rampant dont ask-dont tell within the Irish Brigade. Finding facts is more time-consuming, and more challenging, than Googling. But while the Web can lead us to history, it cant substitute for itand heaven help us if it begins to define it. History, as they argued in Norfolk, is complicated. It requires not only passion, but the ability to separate archives from mythology, fact from advocacy. No onecertainly not this writerhas all of the answers all of the time. Governor McDonnell, it should be noted, was brave enough to appear at the Norfolk slavery symposium and reverse himself, apologizing for the clumsy proclamation that got his states Civil War commemoration off to such a bad start. Of course, he said, slavery was the cause of the Civil War. And yet my friend Henry Louis Gates Jr.the countrys most prominent scholar of African-American historyhappens to believe to some degree in what Joy Masoff so casually transferred from Web site to textbook: that some substantial numbers of African Americans indeed fought, and not just when their white owners forced them to accompany them on campaign. Worth discussing and debating? Absolutely. But as adults, in settings like the Norfolk symposium. Not in elementary school classrooms, where innocents are in genuine danger of being educated by the chaff contaminating the Web, and, if were not careful, poisoning forever our ability to separate fact from fiction. Harold Holzer is chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. This is an excerpt. To read the complete article, subscribe to MHQ! HistoryNet store Kindle at Amazon GERMAN TANKS ROLLED toward Stalingrad as if leading a holiday parade in Berlin. Luftwaffe planes had pounded Soviet defenses for weeks, scattering the enemy and clearing the way for the ground assault. Through binoculars, the Germans could see smoke rising from the burning city. Victory seemed almost in hand. Suddenly, shells exploded all around. Soviet antiaircraft crews had cranked down the barrels of their 37mm guns and opened fire. Their aim was a bit wild, but the barrage brought the Germans up short. Halting their advance, the tankers organized a counterattack. Stukas joined in, swooping down on the three dozen batteries, which had no infantry support. The fighting raged for hours until one by one, the Russian guns fell silent. Only later did the Germans learn that the men who had stood against them that day in August 1942 were not men at all. I fear there is a complex against women being connected with lethal work, Churchill wrote to his secretary of war. We must get rid of this What Soviet writer Vasily Grossman described as the first page of the Stalingrad defense had been authored chiefly by teenage girls, volunteers of the 1077th Antiaircraft Regiment, a unit assembled from the citys high schools. A bunch of womenkids, no less. Many had fought to the death, impressing the enemy. Said one Wehrmacht officer, It is completely wrong to describe Russian women as soldiers in skirts. The girls of Stalingrad werent the only women to inspire shock and awe in World War II. Great Britain, the United States, and other combatants put hundreds of thousands of females in uniform; the Soviet Union alone recruited roughly a million, sending many into combat as tank commanders, snipers, and pilots. Desperation, not egalitarian ideals, drove these mobilizations; there simply werent enough men to fight in historys largest conflagration. Today, theres a steady call in the United States and other liberal democracies to put women into combat. The chaos of modern war already throws female support troops into deadly shootouts with the enemy. Still, nations resist letting women fight alongside men. Judging by modern military history, however, they may ultimately have no choice. NOT LONG AGO, military historian Martin van Creveld surveyed thousands of years of warfare and declared true women warriors almost as rare as unicorns. Thats an exaggeration, of course, but his point is well taken: The history of women in combat before the 20th century is a story of exceptions to the rule. The most well known are queens and duchesses who led armies in the roughly 2,000 years from classical antiquity through the end of the Middle Ages, at the close of the 15th century. By and large, circumstances thrust these women into command. Often they were widows of kings or feudal lords and inherited their armies. Others were forced to mount a defense of land or castle while their husbands were abroad. By the 17th and 18th centuries, nations and armies were moving toward their modern form. Laws of primogeniture had begun to guarantee that men alone would inherit land and armies. Royalty gave up campaigning and deputized trained officers to manage their armies. At the same time, military life grew increasingly regimented, with standard-issue uniforms and extensive physicals. As many as a thousand women dressed as men and fought in the American Civil War, but with the dawn of the new century, women were all but shut out of fighting. War is mens business, Hector had said in Homers Iliad, and that was still the attitude of any Western country that considered itself civilized. It was almost inconceivable that women would abandon the kitchen and nursery for the battlefield. THE TWO WORLD WARS of the next half century made such thinking a luxury no nation could afford. The conflicts raged over millions of square miles, across continents and oceans, and for the first time in the air. Each of the major powers built huge war machines that demanded ever more troops but also armies of planners, logisticians, transport specialists, and supply clerks. All together, roughly 150 million soldiers were mobilized. In the face of critical shortages of men, military officials conceded that women had something to contribute. Between the start of World War I and the end of World War II, many of the combatantsincluding Germany, Britain, the United States, Australia, Finland, and Polandcreated auxiliary branches of their armed forces in which women served as nurses, typists, cooks, and the like. When the wars stretched on and losses grew, their work brought them closer to the action. Britain was the first of the Allies to put women into formal military service for anything other than duty as nurses. In 1915, as hopes for a quick conflict faded, women suffragists organized a march through London for the right to join the war effort. They carried placards that announced: the situation is serious. women must help to save it. The next year, within months of the devastating Battle of the Somme (British casualties: 400,000), the government began planning for three auxiliary corpsone each for the navy, air force, and armyof women to work as nurses, ambulance drivers, mechanics, cooks, clerks, and other positions in the rear. Recruitment propaganda promised that every woman who signed on would free one man for combat. By wars end, some 100,000 women had joined. During World War II, Britain leaned heavily on its womens auxiliaries, which were championed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Early in his political career, before becoming home secretary in 1910, Churchill had fought against womens voting rights, winning the enmity of suffragists (one who confronted him with a whip). But his views had evolved over the years. Now, with Britains survival at stake, he pushed for women to take on critical and dangerous roles. I fear there is a complex against women being connected with lethal work, he wrote his secretary of war privately in December 1941. We must get rid of this. That same month, Britain began conscripting unmarried women between the ages of 20 and 30. Those called to duty could choose to work in civilian war industries or join one of the auxiliary corps. Auxiliary ranks eventually totaled 640,000more than 10 percent of British armed forces. Serving in all theaters, these women manned jobs directly related to combatas mechanics, radar and telegraph operators, torpedo handlers, intelligence officers, and more. A handful flew aircraft from factories to bases. Britain still couldnt bring itself to insert women into combat. But it came close. General Sir Frederick Pile, who led the British antiaircraft command, persuaded Churchill that women could serve with men in AA crews. They would load the guns, fuse shells, track aircraft, and operate searchlightsvirtually everything save pull the gun lanyard itself. That might damage the female psyche, the military feared. More than 56,000 women were serving with Pile by late 1943including Churchills daughter Mary, a 19-year-old debutante who jumped at the chance to be a gunner girl. When an AA crew recorded the first kill for a mixed-gender unit in April 1942, Pile observed of the women: Beyond a little natural excitement and a tendency to chatter when there was a lull, they behaved like a veteran party. The United States watched the British deployment of women closely. The navy and Marines had introduced a few thousand women to their reserves during World War IWe will have the best clerical assistance the country can provide, declared navy secretary Josephus Danielsand army general John Black Jack Pershing had posted more than 200 civilian women to France as telephone operators, the so-called Hello Girls. But even as the storm clouds of World War II gathered, public opposition torpedoed efforts to introduce women to any more danger. Opposing a bill to create a womens auxiliary to the army, one congressman said: Think of the humiliation. What has become of the manhood of America, that we have to call on our women to do what has ever been the duty of men? The thing is so revolting to me, to my sense of decency. All those who have survived the 'end of the world prophecy' of July 29, 2016, might remember that it was a repetition of another prophecy regarding Friday the 13th, November 2015. It looks more like an end of the prediction that went viral through a 17-minute, 39-second video posted by a Christian doomsayer through End Times Prophecies on July 9. It got some 5.2 million views in three weeks----and finally did not come true. The warning that was issued was that magnetic poles will flip and lead to the collapse of the world. It would "make the stars race across the sky," the earth would spin and reel, creating a vacuum that would drag the atmosphere to the ground, although no particular time for the event to happen was prophesied. But it is also clear that July 29 has sailed by peacefully with the world spinning cheerfully on. On the other hand, John Preacher of Armageddon News reported that someone had reuploaded their videos and placed a July 29 end-of-the-world date, but it was all false. "Nothing is going to happen on July 29th. We have never claimed such a thing, this date is just another false date being promoted online," clarifies John Preacher. Moreover, before Doomsday, many prophecies need to be fulfilled. John Preacher predicted that Jerusalem would get overtaken by Arab countries around it. The invasion would last for 42 months, according to the last book of the Christian Bible, Revelations 11:2. Revelations 6:15 says, 'The kings of the Earth, the Princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong and every slave and free person hid themselves... from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.' Do some prophecies at least ever come true? Does not seem likely! Two unfulfilled predictions involve one on May 6, when an asteroid was supposed to hit our planet. The second, more hilarious one was the U.S. President Barack Obama to be disclosing in June that he is the anti-Christ. Both the prophecies have been extremely memorable for being excruciatingly wrong, just like the July 29 prediction. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - Environmentalists who once championed biofuels as a way to cut pollution are now turning against a U.S. program that puts renewable fuels in cars, citing higher-than-expected carbon dioxide emissions and reduced wildlife habitat. More than a decade after conservationists helped persuade Congress to require adding corn-based ethanol and other biofuels to gasoline, some groups regret the resulting agricultural runoff in waterways and conversion of prairies to cropland - improving the odds that lawmakers might seek changes to the program next year. "The big green groups that got invested in biofuels are tacitly realizing the blunder," said John DeCicco, a research professor at the University of Michigan Energy Institute who previously focused on automotive strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund. "It's really hard for the people who really - shall we say - hate oil viscerally, to think that this alternative that we've been promoting is today worse than oil." The green backlash could give a boost to long-stalled congressional efforts to overhaul the Renewable Fuel Standard, including proposals to limit the amount of traditional, corn-based ethanol that counts toward the mandate, as environmentalists side with anti-hunger groups and even the oil industry in calling for change. The RFS forces refiners to blend steadily escalating amounts of biofuel into the gas supply. Most of the mandate is currently fulfilled by corn-based ethanol, which makes up nearly 10 percent of U.S. gasoline and provides oxygen that helps the fuel burn cleaner. The Natural Resources Defense Council used a 96-page report in 2004 to proclaim boundless biofuel benefits: slashed global warming emissions, improved air quality and more wildlife habitat. Instead, farmers plowed millions of acres of prairie grasses to grow corn for making ethanol, with fertilizer runoff contributing to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists warned that carbon dioxide emissions associated with corn-based ethanol were higher than expected. And alternatives using switchgrass, algae and other non-edible plant materials have been slow to penetrate the market. "The ethanol policy was sold to environmentalists as something that was going to clean up the environment, and it's done anything but," said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who is co-sponsoring legislation to revamp the RFS. "It's truly been a flop. The environmental promise has been transformed into an environmental detriment." The Environmental Working Group, Clean Air Task Force and Friends of the Earth argue that the program has propelled corn-based ethanol without delivering a similar boost to advanced biofuels with potentially bigger climate benefits. Collin O'Mara, president of the National Wildlife Federation, told a House committee last month that the RFS program, created with "good intentions," has instead wreaked "severe, unintended consequences," including the loss of prairie land and water-supply damage that threatens wildlife. Even the NRDC, which once lobbied for the RFS, bemoans that "the bulk of today's conventional corn ethanol carries grave risks to the climate, wildlife, waterways and food security." NRDC spokesman Ed Chen said the group continues to monitor the RFS "because low-carbon cellulosic biofuels can play an important role in reducing transportation pollution" but added that the organization is "far more focused" on other carbon-cutting strategies with more immediate climate payoffs. For supporters and opponents, the debate over the RFS is politically complicated. On Capitol Hill, it divides Republicans along regional lines, with Corn Belt lawmakers determined to preserve the program they see helping to boost prices for the commodity. Green groups that seek changes risk alienating or angering go-to allies, including environmental champions in the House and Senate who staked out pro-RFS positions years ago. And the push to revamp the RFS creates uncomfortable alliances between Big Oil and environmental groups who fight fossil fuels. Some biofuel proponents say alternatives are worse. "In the absence of ethanol, your next barrel of transportation fuel is going to be coming from petroleum from fracking or tar sands or deep-water drilling," said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. "So you sort of have to assess ethanol in the context of what its replacement would be, and quite frankly, by that measurement we are the stone-cold winner." Experts disagree about the extent to which corn has displaced other crops, wetlands and prairie. But there's no disagreement that corn production is up - boosted by demand from China as well as ethanol sales. In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated this year's crop would be the largest on record: 14.54 billion bushels. And nationwide, farmers grew corn on 88 million acres in 2015 - a 7.6 percent increase since 2005, when Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard. It wasn't supposed to be this way. When Congress expanded the RFS in 2007, environmentalists pushed for safeguards designed to prevent land conversion, including a requirement that biofuels accepted under the program only come from tracts that were in agricultural production before 2007. But instead of tracking the flow of corn from specific farms to refineries, U.S. regulators chose to assess agricultural land use in aggregate - an approach that the Environmental Working Group's Emily Cassidy says "obscures what's happening locally." Jeremy Martin, who leads fuel policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists' clean vehicles program, said the RFS has become a scapegoat, unfairly blamed as boosting demand for ethanol that probably would have reached current levels in gasoline even without the program. He casts the climb in ethanol use and the expanding footprint of corn that accompanied it as a "a one-time transition" as the U.S. fuel sector made a big shift, essentially adopting a 10 percent ethanol blend as the default gasoline. Even if the RFS is dismantled, Martin said, "that's not going to go away." Still, the growing environmental outcry is fueling calls to revamp the RFS. There now may be enough votes in the House to pass an overhaul, despite expected defections from corn-state Republicans, says analyst Tim Cheung, vice president of ClearView Energy Partners. Lobbyists for advanced biofuels manufacturers and refiners have been discussing a possible compromise. And the National Wildlife Federation's O'Mara sees potential for a grand bargain that combines support for advanced biofuels with assistance for farmers, including strengthened incentives to set aside land for conservation. Welch, one of the lead sponsors of legislation that would cap ethanol volumes at 9.7 percent of projected gasoline demand, said the concerns set the stage for congressional action. "For the Democrats who have an environmental constituency, when you have these respected environmental groups change their mind and say corn ethanol doesn't work, that's going to be a big boost that will give them a lot of comfort and cover," Welch said. "You're going to see more Democrats starting to question the wisdom of this mandate." For probably more than a century, a lonely pecan tree grew in downtown Houston. Hidden away behind a couple of old buildings on Louisiana near Texas Ave., its tap root reaching toward a still-flowing underground spring, it may have been the last tree standing from a long-ago orchard in what's now the Theater District. According to legend, it descended from the celebrated "Peaceful Pecan" where Sam Houston attempted to negotiate a peace treaty in 1837 with Chief Bowles of the Cherokees. When the owners of the Lancaster Hotel felt they had to tear down the two historic structures for parking space late last year, the 60-foot-tall tree had to go as well. Michaelene "Miki" Lusk Norton, one of the hotel's owners, told me the family regretted the loss and showed me what's left: heavy, two-foot-tall rings of pecan wood, some of them hollowed out by disease, stacked against the wall the hotel shared with the razed building. I had this vision the other night of shinnying up the venerable tree before it fell and from its topmost branches peering down into the past, into a Houston that used to be. It would be sort of a Bayou City version of the Narnian wardrobe, complete with the sounds, sights and smells of a vibrant, youthful city as the 19th century became the 20th: the clip-clop of horse's hooves on pavement; the rumble of spoked-wheel wagons loaded with barrels, crates and sacks; a few jouncing horseless carriages maneuvering the crowded streets; a steamship's shrill whistle from the nearby docks; the banging, clanging sounds of factories and warehouses; the buzz of people on busy sidewalks; loudmouth newsboys hawking papers; a traffic cop blowing his whistle; and young women who lived and worked in the area watching the passing scene from the open windows of their "boarding houses." Norton, a petite woman in her early 70s, never climbed the tree, but she has peered into the past. It was her great-grandfather, Michele DeGeorge, who put up the hotel in the mid-1920s at 701 Texas Ave. She owns the Lancaster today with her four siblings and has been doing research on the neighborhood for more than 30 years. "It consumes me," she says about her deep dive into local history that began when she was searching for information to justify the hotel's designation as a state historic landmark. Houses of 'Happy Hollow' What she found regarding the blocks around the hotel, known as the Auditorium Hotel when it opened, might have shocked the Narnian kids, might have shocked Norton's late aunts and mother. According to the 1900 census, the "female boarding houses" in the neighborhood weren't residences for single nurses, teachers and shop clerks. They were houses of prostitution in the heart of Houston's unofficial red-light district, the same neighborhood where today world-class musicians play glorious music, actors intone and dancers leap and soar. Bounded by Milam, Louisiana, Capitol and Prairie streets, the neighborhood was "Happy Hollow," the hollow part of the name perhaps alluding to one of seven gullies that knifed through downtown and into Buffalo Bayou. The houses seemed to be tin-roofed shotgun-style cottages on stilts, lined up along the street only a few feet apart from each other. Where the hotel is today was the White Elephant Saloon and an attached two-story brothel. Houses of prostitution likely opened for business in the area shortly after the Civil War. The census listed the lodgers as "inmates;" madams who operated the houses were "lodge housekeepers." Happy Hollow was integrated - white and black women, with a few Hispanics. Most were young and illiterate and given to alcohol and drug abuse. Then as now, there was nothing glamorous about their lives. John Nova Lomax, writing in the Houston Press in 2012, found a 1910 Chronicle story featuring a "secret agent" named George McCann who was on the trail of opium-addled hookers. "There's one house where practically every girl in the place takes an occasional pull on the seductive pipe," McCann told the Chronicle. "Not only are the girls addicted to the use of drugs, but their immediate 'gentlemen' friends do not hesitate to take an occasional wander into dreamland through the medium of the little black stem." Police raided periodically. Rounding up the women, they'd haul them to jail and charge them with vagrancy, opium overdose or keeping a disorderly house. The unfortunate women often were sport for newspaper readers. On May 12, 1876, the Galveston Daily News reported: "In the calaboose this evening, about fifteen or twenty soiled doves were imprisoned, in default of payment of $15 fines, for infraction of the bagnio ordinance." (The Italian word bagnio originally meant bathhouse before evolving into a synonym for bordello.) On Aug. 26, 1885, the Daily News reported the death of Hattie Phillips, "the beautiful quadroon who was killed Saturday morning in the Happy Hollow by James Walker." She was said to be the daughter of a German woman of noble descent and an Indian chieftain. And on Aug. 2, 1899, the paper reported that one Fannie Kingdon "died from the effect of too much opium." She was 55 and had lived in Happy Hollow for more than 30 years. 'Soiled doves' get shooed out Citizens complained now and then. In 1907, the board of directors of the downtown Shearn Methodist Church presented a resolution to Mayor H. Baldwin Rice asking that Happy Hollow be rid "of its resorts and scarlet inhabitants." As the Galveston paper explained, Houston and other cities "have endeavored to herd (the prostitutes) together in a certain locality to make their contact with the respectable element as limited as possible. The present movement would scatter them." The scattering began that fall. "City and county officials, acting independently but toward the same end, have wiped out several dives of statewide infamy. Wine rooms, hop joints, plants and various other refuges of the underworld are being effectually driven out of Houston, and the methods being employed to attain the desired end will apparently hold the keepers of such dives constantly under the ball. ..." By 1910, local business owners had succeeded in persuading the city to flush the soiled doves out of the Central Business District. They were moved to a newly designated area in Freedman's Town, Fourth Ward, on what's now Allen Parkway. Public housing replaced the brothels in the early 1930s. By 1913, police were reporting "that Happy Hollow is not nearly as bad as it used to be, due to the cleaning out of several undesirable characters and moving some who are not so troublesome." But all was still not happy in the Hollow, due to "the spectacular visits of white men, who ride through the section, shooting guns and making night terrifying." Sex trafficking. Drug abuse. Gun violence. Sitting on a pecan-tree stump with a cup of coffee Friday morning, I suddenly realized that Houstonians a century ago were grappling with the same problems we have. The lack of progress is a little depressing. Construction workers remodeling the Lancaster show up to begin their day, and I have to leave my pecan-stump perch. They have work to do, and so do I. So do we all. Luca Bruno/STF It has been a rough few weeks, to say the least. Philando Castile, killed by police during a traffic stop, July 6. Dylan Noble, also killed by police during a traffic stop, July 14. Both unarmed. Five Dallas police officers are killed, and nine others wounded, reportedly as "payback" for police violence, July 7. Some 40 people, including women and children, executed by the Islamic State in Um al-Housh, Syria, July 5. Two dozen local soldiers killed by al-Qaeda suicide bombers in Aden, Yemen, July 6. Noncombatants killed by U.S. bombs against ISIS and unknown US drone civilian victims in up to seven nations. Seven killed and 11 injured in Rashidiya, Iraq suicide attack, July 13. At least 84 people killed in terrorist attack in Nice, France, July 14. Three Baton Rouge, La., police officers ambushed and killed, July 17. Sadly, but surely, there are more. So much heartbreak. So many questions. Pundits and social media alike have discussed that global violence may be "the new normal." In these troubled times, some turn to their faith, as evidenced by the hashtag #prayfornice or the like. I do not write to judge that response, but it is not for me. It's easy to see how these events and the belief that violence is ubiquitous lead to hopelessness and despair. While I understand it, my heart is heavy as well, that, too, is not for me. Texas County Memorial Hospital board members received updates regarding several ongoing projects at its recent monthly meeting. Cory Offutt, MD, and Sheena Painter, FNP, both began working for TCMH in July, Wes Murray, TCMH chief executive officer, told board members. Offutt is a board certified family medicine and obstetrics physician. Painter, a family nurse practitioner, is working in the walk-in clinic on a part-time basis. Renovation work inside the TCMH Medical Complex is ongoing. Space inside the building is being reconfigured to create a centralized registration area and more patient exam rooms and healthcare provider work spaces. We had a minor setback when we received damaged doors for the exam rooms, so there is a little juggling for everyone to use the functioning exam rooms that are available, Murray said. Calling the clinic a full house on certain days, Murray complimented the clinic staff for maximizing the space available. With Dr. Offutt here we are able to accommodate more patients and keep them from having to go other places, said Dr. Jonathan Beers, TCMH chief of staff. Lots of people are being seen in the clinics. Beers said he and Linda Milholen, MD, general surgeon at TCMH, have received several referrals from Offutt for endoscopy, stress testing and other procedures. Sleep studies laboratory equipment has arrived and is being installed. And under Dr. Mellas guidance, we will use the new equipment and also increase operating hours and staffing for the sleep lab, Murray said, Dr. Juan Mella, pulmonologist at TCMH, oversees the Sleep Studies Laboratory, which is in the Office Annex at the hospital. Mella also sees patients at the TCMH Medical Complex three days a week. NEW VEHICLES TCMH recently picked up two new Dodge Caravan minivans to use as Medivans at the hospital. The vans will replace our old Medivans, and through a transportation grant, our cost on the new vans was only 20 percent of the vans total cost, Murray said. The grant funding came through the Federal Transit Administration administered by the Missouri Department of Transportation 5317 New Freedom program, which assists with public transportation projects. The total cost of the two vans was $73,132. TCMH paid $14,626 of that cost. Each van is equipped with a side-entry ramp and a lowered floor to make them handicapped accessible for patients in wheelchairs. One van is configured to hold seven people, and one van is configured to hold five people. These vans will get much better gas mileage than our original Medivans, and patients in wheelchairs will be closer to the driver which is much more personable, Murray said. HELIPAD WORK HALTED Murray reported that plans to put a fence around the new helipad built in front of the hospital have stopped. After a Missouri department of health and senior services hospital survey, DHSS inspectors told TCMH need to put a fence around the new helipad. We did the research and were close to purchasing the fencing material when we heard that a state law was passed stating that hospitals were simply required to provide a safe landing and takeoff zone, Murray said. We already have a safe landing and takeoff zone in place. Hospital officials learned that Missouri DHSS does not have any jurisdiction over helipads. We have always followed Federal Aviation Administration guidelines with our helipads, and we will continue to do so, Murray said. TCMH had two helipads. The newest helipad was added in front of the hospital emergency department in 2013, between the hospital and U.S. 63. The older helipad is located on the northwest side of the hospital between the hospital and the business office. TCMH retained the older helipad because sometimes its necessary for more than one helicopter to land at the hospital at one time. RECRUITING EFFORTS Searches for additional healthcare providers continues, according to Joleen Senter Durham, TCMH director of physician recruiting. We have a second site visit set up this week for a family medicine physician that is seriously considering the Mountain Grove clinic opportunity, Durham said. Durham also reported that she has a date set for a general surgeon to visit in late August. A family medicine resident from the CoxHealth residency program in Springfield has submitted credentialing information to the hospital with hopes of providing some emergency department physician coverage. I am in contact with two physicians that are currently in residency that have ties to our area, too, Durham said. FINANCIAL UPDATE Linda Pamperien, TCMH chief financial officer, presented the financial report for June. The TCMH emergency department was again heavily utilized by patients without an ability to pay. Sixty-five percent of $505,273 in bad debt for June was generated by emergency department patients Inpatient and outpatient volumes were down during the month of June, and there were increased outpatient volumes, Pamperien said. TCMH ended the month of June with a negative bottom line of $205,687 and a negative year-to-date bottom line of $379,614. Pamperien is hopeful that the addition of Offutts practice will increase inpatient and outpatient revenues. She said the hospital census in July has been up. Present at the meeting were Murray; Pamperien; Beers; Durham; Doretta Todd-Willis, chief nursing officer; Amanda Turpin, quality assurance manager; Ron Prenger, Cox-Health representative; and board members Dr. Jim Perry, OD, Mark Hampton, Omanez Fockler and Janet Wiseman. Board member Russell Gaither was absent. 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. 2015 brought a number of new tax provisions that benefit small businesses. Although tax breaks werent included, the new inclusions will help better position small business owners to plan for growth. In late 2015, Congress passed the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes (PATH) Act. This law extends or solidifies more than 50 expiring tax provisions relating to small businesses and individuals. This is good for small businesses because it eliminates uncertainty. For example, the PATH Act solidified the Credit for Increasing Research Activities (The R&D Credit) that qualifies smaller businesses for the tax credit. This will be a boost for US-based companies, since America was one of the last western countries without a permanent R&D tax credit. Beginning this year, startups that have less than $5 million in gross receipts can apply the credit to the Social Security portion of an employers payroll taxes (up to $250,000). New stipulations around whether a business qualifies for the credit will make it available to a much wider array of businesses Congress has effectively increased the number of firms that will be able to benefit. The PATH Act makes the R&D credit something that businesses can reliably count on in the coming years. According to House Small Business Committee Chairman Chabot, The PATH Act gives small businesses a lot of what theyve been asking for. The tax burden small busine... As promised in late-2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) began sending notices in June informing employers when employees who have enrolled in an FFM are determined eligible for premium subsidies. Employer Shared Responsibility Penalties Employers receiving a Marketplace Subsidy Notice should be concerned about the possibility of penalties however a notice does not always mean that a penalty will be assessed. The employer shared responsibility penalties set forth in Section 4980H of the IRC could be triggered when at least one full-time employee obtains a premium subsidy on the Marketplace. There are two potential penalties under the mandate, the A Penalty and the B Penalty. A Penalty: The A Penalty may be assessed against an applicable large employer (50 or more full-time employees and equivalents) if the employer fails to offer minimum essential coverage to at least 95% of full-time employees and at least one full-time employee enrolls in the marketplace and receives a premium subsidy. The A Penalty is generally equal to $180 per month ($2,160 per year) multiplied by the number of all full-time employees, minus up to 30 full-time employees. B Penalty: The B Penalty could be assessed against an applicable large employer even if the 95% threshold is met if a full-time employee is offered unaffordable coverage or coverage that lacks minimum ... A Canadian credit rating agency is maintaining a negative outlook for the country's biggest banks. And it's all because the federal government is looking to protect taxpayers in the event of a financial collapse. Major banks including Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank), the Bank of Montreal (BMO) and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) were all given a "negative" debt rating last year by DBRS, a ratings agency headquartered in Toronto. Advertisement DBRS evaluates banks using "Support Assessment" designations, which are labelled from SA1 to SA4 and reflect how much support a bank would get in the event of a crisis. Last year, DBRS gave Canada's banks an SA3 rating, its second-lowest, which suggests they enjoy "no benefit from systemic support." They maintain that designation in the agency's latest report. And the banks are wearing that label because the federal government is currently working on measures that would keep them from obtaining taxpayer help if they crashed, the report said. Advertisement The governing Liberals announced in the March budget that they would implement a "bail-in" regime, as opposed to bailouts, that would apply to some of the country's biggest financial institutions. Bailouts are what happened in the U.S. amid the 2008 financial crisis. Through an initiative known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the government approved US$700 billion to buy worthless assets from banks in order to save them. A "bail-in" would mean that authorities could convert a bank's long-term debt into common shares so that the bank could keep operating, even as it collapsed. "The Government is proposing to implement a bail-in regime that would reinforce that bank shareholders and creditors are responsible for the banks risks not taxpayers," reads Chapter 8 of the 2016 federal budget. It's an idea that has been in discussions since the previous Conservative government was in power. Back then, some Canadians were concerned that a "bail-in" would mean banks taking some money out of their clients' deposits in a time of crisis, as happened in Cyprus around the same time, The Globe and Mail reported. Advertisement But the Bank of Canada's then-governor Mark Carney reassured Canadians by saying that banks have "substantial capital" they could tap into if a collapse were to take place, reported The Canadian Press. "Shareholders and creditors are responsible for the banks risksnot taxpayers." A bail-in regime would require changes to legislation including the Bank Act, the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, the Financial Administration Act and others. DBRS said it's possible that the banks' ratings could change once it knows what the bail-in regime looks like, and how much support it provides. But for now it doesn't even know when the regime will come into force. Canada's biggest banks will remain in negative territory until it does, the report said. Also on HuffPost: One horse is galloping all over social feeds, after dramatic footage surfaced of Colorado firefighters rescuing a fatigued mare named Cupcake from a muddy demise. Cupcake and her rider Rianne Jaurez were riding through a rural state park when the 13-year-old horse abruptly buckled down in a swampy patch. Exhausted, the mare had slipped on wet grass and was unable to pick herself up. Jaurez, unable to lift Cupcake on her own, immediately started calling for help. Advertisement "I didn't think anybody was going to come," Jaurez told Fox. After screaming for two hours, she managed to alert someone. Fifteen rescuers, including a team of South Metro Fire Rescue Firefighters, arrived on scene. Along with the unhurt rider, they stood in knee-deep muddy water and tried for hours to encourage Cupcake to stand. The South Metro Colorado firefighters livetweeted the rescue, erroneously referring to Cupcake as "Buttercup" for initial tweets. Rescue at Cherry Creek State Park. Horse sunk & fell in the muddy water. South Metro Firefighters on scene helping. pic.twitter.com/zdQFZMX34u SouthMetroFireRescue (@SouthMetroPIO) July 28, 2016 It was no cakewalk for the rescuers, who massaged and assured Cupcake, keeping her head above the muddy water. Like Artax did in "Neverending Story," many were terrified they would be forced to watch the horse drown. Advertisement They tried brute force, but even after harnessing their combined strength the firefighters could not lift the slowly sinking horse. "It was really the first time I'd seen tears in their eyes from a rescue," South Metro Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Eric Hurst told CNN Veterinarian Dale Rice came onto the scene, giving Cupcake a nutritional shot, hoping to energize her to stand up by herself. Inside Edition reports the injection contained steroids, adrenaline medication, and an anti-inflammatory medicine. Buttercup's veterinarian is here! He will administer an injection to give her the energy she needs to stand and walk pic.twitter.com/VdsewGBVpX SouthMetroFireRescue (@SouthMetroPIO) July 28, 2016 Within an hour, Cupcake's strength began to return. Getting closer, Cupcake has more energy and lots of encouragement. Updates to follow. #SavingCupcakepic.twitter.com/NLozhGPezl SouthMetroFireRescue (@SouthMetroPIO) July 28, 2016 Advertisement Suddenly, she made a dramatic recovery. "Up, up, come on Cupcake!" Jaurez screamed, as the horse was pushed upwards by rescuers. Standing by herself, a mostly uninjured Cupcake was led out of the park and returned to her owner. Cupcake sustained a minor cut, as well as sore muscles. Rescue made. Cupcake out of the swamp and in the care of vets and her owner. No apparent injuries! #SavingCupcakepic.twitter.com/BcZ7LBugVq SouthMetroFireRescue (@SouthMetroPIO) July 28, 2016 In an update to Cupcake's condition, Jaurez announced that her horse was on her way to make a full recovery. Advertisement Also on HuffPost Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has called Apples profits a fraud, blaming weak U.S. laws for allowing the company to shift its tax burden to low-tax Ireland. Here we have the largest corporation in capitalization not only in America, but in the world, bigger than GM was at its peak, and claiming that most of its profits originate from about a few hundred people working in Ireland thats a fraud, Stiglitz, a former head of the World Bank and an advisor to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, told Bloomberg TV this week. Advertisement A tax law that encourages American firms to keep jobs abroad is wrong, and I think we can get a consensus in America to get that changed. Apple has been engaged in a practice known as transfer pricing, which works like this: A company sets up a division in a low-tax jurisdiction like Ireland. Then that division charges all the other divisions of the company for some service or good it provides (in Apples case, intellectual property rights), and the cost of those charges just happen to eat up the profit margin of all the other divisions. Thus profits are transferred to the Irish division, to be taxed at a low rate, while the divisions in the rest of the world pay no tax on their profits. Advertisement The transfer-pricing system ... allows them not only to keep their money abroad but, effectively, to escape taxation, Stiglitz said. By employment, Apples Irish office is its second-largest in Europe, with 5,500 employees. It employs 6,500 people in the U.K., 2,400 in France and 2,200 in Germany. Apple is by no means the only company shifting profits to Ireland. Facebook disclosed this week it could be on the hook for a US$3 billion to US$5 billion tax penalty over its shifting of profits to its Irish subsidiary. Among tech companies, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have also been criticized for their tax avoidance strategies. Ireland has a 12.5-per-cent corporate tax rate much lower than the U.S. 35-per-cent tax rate and one of the lowest rates in the world. Some observers have accused Ireland of trying to set itself up as a tax haven. Advertisement If thats the case, its working: Irelands economy grew by an improbable 26.3 per cent over the past year, most of that generated by companies shifting money to the country. Besides transfer pricing, companies are also engaging in tax inversions buying an Irish firm, then making it the new headquarters, effectively shifting its tax burden there. The Obama administration launched a crackdown on tax inversions earlier this year, and it seems to be having an effect: Drug giant Pfizer shelved plans to move to Ireland, a maneuver that would have saved it US$35 billion in taxes. Apple has been unapologetic about its tax practices in the past, with CEO Tim Cook arguing before Congress that we pay all the taxes that we owe. Advertisement Still, Cook has said his company would back U.S. corporate tax reform, even though it could mean a higher tax bill. Also on HuffPost Young girl holding small block letters with message: Vote For my entire adult life, the standard line from Christian conservatives has been for people to vote their conscience. Groups like the American Family Association, Family Research Council, and Focus on the Family have put out voter guides each year for as long as I can remember, encouraging people to vote for the candidate who best reflected where the morals of a Christian politician should be. They have always decried the accusations of partisanship, but rather strictly about voting for the candidate who lined up with what they believed were Christian values about abortion, marriage equality, and inexplicably to me at least, gun rights and tax breaks. Vote your conscience has been in every election I've seen since I was old enough to vote in 1992, always amped up every four years when it's time to elect a president. The subtext has always been that Christians should vote Republican, but it has been a standard line. Advertisement +++++ I watched last week's Republican National Convention through the lens of late night talk show hosts and my Twitter and Facebook feeds. I did the same this week for much of the Democratic National Convention. I did watch Michelle Obama's powerful speech, as well as the uplifting words from Senator Cory Booker, but for the most part political rah-rah'ing isn't my idea of a good time. Catching up with America Ninja Warrior on Hulu after an evening hunting for Pokemon is far more my speed. Anger and dissension just wear me out. There was a lot to take in at the RNC, but the one that rattled around in my mind the most was when Senator Ted Cruz was booed off of the stage as it became apparent he would not endorse Donald Trump, but rather said to the crowd, "Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution." This was met with roars of disapproval from the crowd in attendance. I do understand that part of the job of the convention is to rally around the party's nominee. To come together and present a united front, and the lack of an official, strong endorsement from a prime time speaker is surprising (though the speech was available to the RNC ahead of time). So I can see that some at the convention would be upset that a speaker would neglect that aspect. But barring the lack of an endorsement, the content of Cruz's speech was lifted straight from the Republican platform. Close the borders. Beware of ISIS. States' rights. Gun rights. Small government. I may disagree with most of the policies presented in Cruz's speech, but there is nothing in them that should cause a group of Republicans to boo. Only the mention that they should vote their conscience incited that reaction. Only the idea that voting your conscience might not lead you to vote in the way that stays within party lines. Advertisement The truth is, I'm a single issue voter. When I vote my conscience, it looks like one thing. Voting for a candidate with a strong pro-life ethic. Which has, for most of my adult life, looked like voting for a Democrat rather than a Republican. Yes, in the area of abortion, the Democrats often fail. In order to prove the value of the woman who is pregnant, the value of the life inside of her is devalued. Too often we see life only if it is desired - if not, it becomes an embryo, fetal tissue, a parasite. Abortion is a complex issue, but when we speak of a potential human without respect, we cheapen the cry of equality, especially in the eyes of those who call themselves pro-life. But a pro-life ethic has to mean more than just where a candidate stands on abortion (though Donald Trump's stand on abortion is fairly unclear). A pro-life ethic must respect women. Donald Trump's views of women are abhorrent. If you're unable to see women as people deserving even a modicum of respect, you can't be pro-life. A pro-life ethic must listen to the voices of black men and women. The chants of All Lives Matter when confronted with the assertion that Black Lives Matter must end. Of course all lives matter. But black men and women matter as well, and much of our country's history has belied that. Even Michelle Obama's statement that she lives in a home built by slaves was met with a statement from conservative Bill O'Reilly saying, Sure, they were slaves, but it wasn't that bad. A pro-life ethic can affirm that all lives matter while also saying that yes, black lives matter. Not with comments about "black on black crime" or "more white people are in jail" or "just listen to the police." Instead, those of use who are not black need to shut up and listen. And then see how we can begin to change the system to make things more equal for our black brothers and sisters. Advertisement A pro-life ethic must respect those with disabilities. Donald Trump has openly mocked a journalist with disabilities. I mother several children on the autism spectrum. My heart would be broken if a public leader were to deride them publicly. We cannot offer lip service to a pro-life ethic and sit by while the Republican nominee has shown contempt in his actions for those with disabilities. A pro-life ethic must encourage adoption. One of the ways that we encourage a pro-life ethic is to encourage people to adopt. The GOP platform reaffirms opposition to gay and lesbian couples adopting. My friend Sean and his husband have adopted two gorgeous boys (Sean has written about it in his best-selling book, Which One of You is the Mother?). They adopted children who were older. Children from difficult birth families. They adopted them, they love them, they parent them. Children who, if left in foster care, would have had a 45% chance of ending up homeless. Children who, if left in foster care, would have had a 75% chance of ending up in prison. Children who, because of their adoption by a gay couple, now have the chance to experience family. A pro-life ethic must look at the ways life is cut short beyond abortion. Yes, I'm talking about guns. I am not a gun owner and I didn't grow up in a house with guns, so I tend to speak very little on this issue, because I don't know much about gun laws or the way that guns even work. But when Republicans block even research about gun violence, it is difficult for me to see that as caring about life. When a group covers their ears, refusing to even have a conversation about ways we can make life safer in a world with guns, I cannot call that group pro-life. A pro-life ethic must see people, even our enemies, as people first. During his campaign, Donald Trump advocated war crimes when he suggested that the United States not only hunt down terrorists, but also "take out their families." He has lumped all Muslims into the category of radical, calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States. He has painted with the broad brush that Mexican immigrants are rapists and murderers. Donald Trump has called vast swaths of non-white ethnicities our enemies, and then challenged their humanity. If an unborn child is a person, surely even those who seek to do us harm is are people as well. Advertisement In November, I will be voting my conscience, and it will be based on a pro-life ethic. The last two weeks in American politics and society have been full of controversies and debates, but none engaged with our collective memories and historical narratives more overtly than did the response to Michelle Obama's statement, in the midst of her powerful speech to the Democratic National Convention, that "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves." Putting on his amateur historian hat, Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly took it upon himself to fact-check Obama, admitting that slaves were among the workers who built the White House but arguing that those slaves were "well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government." The responses to O'Reilly's response have been swift and ongoing, and have featured a veritable who's who of historians of slavery and the African American experience. Rice University professor and historian Caleb McDaniel, for example, Tweeted a series of concise and brilliant responses and contexts, offering not only rebuttals to O'Reilly's claims but also and most importantly the kinds of nuance and depth that genuine historical scholarship (unlike the facile variety found in O'Reilly's co-authored "historical" books) can provide. There's no doubt that O'Reilly, and all Americans, would benefit from reading into the impressive and growing body of scholarship on slavery in America. Even a brief glimpse into another historically focused Twitter account run by McDaniel, Every Three Minutes (a reference to how often on average a slave was sold between 1820 and 1860), reminds us all of the kinds of inescapable realities and horrors faced by every American slave, whatever the state of their food and lodgings. Advertisement Yet I would argue that Obama's point wasn't just about slavery--it was also and even more importantly about American identity, and the fundamental interconnections between slavery and our national origins. On that note, O'Reilly and all Americans would also do well to examine a classic and still deeply relevant scholarly work, Edmund Morgan's American Slavery, American Freedom (1975). While Morgan's book (like any scholarly text) has been challenged and critiqued as well as complemented and extended in the four decades since its release, its ground-breaking argument about the relationship between slavery and our Revolutionary ideals remains a vital perspective. That is, it's relatively easy, and not wrong, to note the fundamental hypocrisy of American Framers like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington arguing for equality and liberty while owning slaves. Yet beneath and beyond that contradiction lies the inescapable fact that these historical realities and narratives did coexist, that the best and worst of American identity developed alongside and influenced one another. Morgan was one of the first historians to work to make sense of those interconnections, and his book provides a perfect context for Obama's remark and the White House histories of which she was reminding us. Obama's quote didn't end there, though--she added, "and I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn." While she was of course noting the striking shift that the Obama administration and first family have represented, this image also reminds us of how much every American community and culture has contributed to our identity and society throughout our decidedly cross-cultural history. On that note, O'Reilly and all Americans should also peruse another classic and crucial scholarly book, Mechal Sobel's The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia (1987). A central limitation with Morgan's book and so many of our historical narratives, after all, is that they focus on those (usually European white men) who seemed to hold the political and social power throughout our history. In this understanding, slaves--and all other minority or less powerful communities--were victims whose oppression we should better remember. Indeed we should, but it's just as important that we remember as well the vital contributions that American slaves (like all those communities) made to our society and identity. Sobel's book examines every aspect of life in 18th-century Virginia to make precisely that case, analyzing the ways in which African and European American influences came together to shape that place and time comprehensively and potently. Advertisement This article is written together with Cristian Rosu, a Romanian media expert who works for Kirchhoff Consult Romania, a corporation for Public Relations and Communications. Cristian has a BA in Philosophy from the University of Bucharest. More articles and social media analyses by Cristian can be found on his blog. The faceless aggression There is little doubt that we are witnessing an intense cyberwar against the US, carried by specialized organizations working for various governments. Of specific interest for the American public and US institutions are the actions attributed to the organizations working for the Chinese and Russian governments. The recent scandal regarding the hacked DNC emails and their leak to the public is a clear example of the strong potential impact of the cyberwar actions. The nature of the computer network penetrations are complex and involve various targets. As a general trend, the Chinese cyberespionage focuses mainly on theft of technology, know-how and intellectual property. A report by the cyber security firm Fire Eye indicates that US government actions and exposure of the Chinese actions contribute, at the present time, to a somewhat diminished activity of the Chinese hackers, coinciding with a reorganization of Chinese hacker groups by the government. Advertisement From Russia, with love, however, comes not only the hacking of computer networks belonging to political and commercial organizations and vacuuming of information, data, know-how and technology, but in addition to that, another hugely important element: propaganda. The importance of political propaganda was recognized from the early days of the Russian Revolution. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin created the Communist International organization also known as the Comintern, which used the Communist Organizations formed in the European countries under its direction as agents of influence for propaganda. During the late 1920's and 1930's, the Comintern had formed hundreds of front organizations in the countries of Western Europe, directing through them various clandestine operations and intense propaganda favorable to the newly formed USSR. The success of the propaganda actions went as far as having leading intellectual elites in France, Germany and the UK openly praising the USSR. More details about this intense period of Soviet propaganda can be found in Stephen Koch's excellent book Double Lives Fast forward to present times. A complex geopolitical situation exists in Europe, where the NATO alliance has received new country members previously belonging to the USSR or the Warsaw Pact: Poland, the Czech Republic, The Baltic States, Romania and Bulgaria among others. After the annexation of Crimea, in March 2014, followed by what is considered a covert war against Ukraine by Russian military, US and the EU have imposed economic sanctions against Russia. Among the Russian reactions to this conjecture there is a massive propaganda effort directed at weakening the government support by the population in the EU countries, and inducing cracks in their alliances. As Stephen Collinson writes in his CNN analysis article about the DNC email leaks: "The Russian president has made no secret of his desire to weaken the West, his belief that the U.S. and its European allies have conspired against Russian interests in Georgia, Ukraine, Libya and Syria, and sees a restoration of Russian global prestige at the expense of the West as paramount". Advertisement Jakub Kalenski, a member of the European Commission's External Action Service task force assigned with studying Russian propaganda, quoted by Georgi Botev in an article published on the Euractiv website, explained that Russian disinformation was active in every European country. According to Kalenski, the propaganda actions are tailored to each specific sub-Eurozone: in the Baltic states, Russian TV channels are targeting the Russian speaking population, while in Scandinavia the disinformation is spread via trolling on the existing online discussions. In the Visegrad countries - Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary - there are dozens or even hundreds of disinformation websites. "A Hungarian think tank counted some 100 of them, and there were some 70-80 in Czechia, and a similar number in Slovakia". In November 2014, Russia launched Sputnik Press, a communication channel to work alongside and deepen the penetration of the other two channels, The Voice of Russia and Russia Today which had a lower level of penetration due to a legacy level of suspicion within the Eastern European audience. Sputnik Press has three components: a news agency, a radio channel, and social media accounts with emphasis on Facebook and Youtube. The Sputnik Press radio channels and associated websites are broadcasting in 30 languages and target 130 cities worldwide. Romania and Poland are the subjects of special focus of the Russian propaganda due to the presence of the NATO Missile Shield bases on their territories - a cause for intense Russian irritation. After the coup in Turkey and the potential realignment of Turkey with Russia, Romanian US bases are at the front line of NATO defenses, and therefore Romania constitutes an interesting case study. Advertisement Romanian public opinion - an adverse gradient towards Russia Romanian historical experience with Russia has generated a legacy of mistrust, given the various manners in which Russia has occupied and deprived the country economically from the late 1800's until the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1957. After the withdrawal, during communist times, Romania has attempted a more or less dissimulated dissidence towards the USSR, and was subjected to a large scale disinformation war by the USSR, meant to mask those dissident tendencies form the West. The topic is extensively documented in Larry Watts' book: With Friends Like These: The Soviet Bloc's Clandestine War Against Romania. Given the historical mistrust towards Russia within the Romanian population, the Russian propaganda agents are aware that official information originating from Kremlin is mistrusted. On the streets of Bucharest, the mistrust is so intense that any critique addressed against the US or EU by a news anchor or blog writer will attract suspicion that the person is a supporter of Vladimir Putin. Given this context, the Russian propaganda in Romania is tailored in specific manners, coated in nationalistic ideas, or associated with and expressed in Christian Orthodox religion language and broadcasted via social media - a media in continuous expansion and lacking any control of information accuracy. Online and Social Media in Romania - tools of deep social penetration While in Romania the Voice of Russia was closed, and there is no official branch of the Sputnik Press, the propaganda actions are carried through the Sputnik Moldova branch, which has a special section, "Moldova - Romania", broadcasting analyses and news. However, the deepest and most effective social penetration is achieved by the online media, which has become the main channel of communication for both commercial and institutional communications. According to an assessment by the Romanian Office of Transmedia Audit (BRAT), within the next 10 years the internet usage will be extended to more than 90% of the urban and more than 70% or the rural populations. The rapid expansion of internet communication in the country is due to the aggressive growth of corporations offering mobile phone services and low cost subscription to smart phone devices. The process resulted in a 15% increase in the internet penetration in rural zones within the last 2 years. At this pace, within the next 5 years, the penetration of the online media communication will have exceeded the penetration of standard TV channels. The social media networks recorded a significant growth beginning 2014. While Twitter has a limited number of subscribers in Romania, the number of Facebook accounts displayed explosive growth, with 5.5 million users in 2013, and 7 million in 2014. Facebook played a crucial role in Romanian presidential elections in 2014, where the young citizens were encouraged to vote via Facebook text messaging and have ensured the election of the current president Klaus Iohannis. From then on, Facebook Romania has become a main stream communication channel, where the prime minister, the president and other government officials and institutions are routinely issuing official statements via Facebook exclusively. At the present, Facebook Romania has close to 9 million users, which is, in fact, half of the country's population. Russian Propaganda, the Romanian flavor While the euro-sceptic movements in Central and Eastern European countries (Hungary, Poland, Greece) have grown in strength, the polls in Romania continue to show strong support for further integration with the EU, and a strong tendency for adopting western values and culture. For this reason, Russian propaganda could not use in Romania the same approaches used in the Eurosceptic countries such as Hungary and Greece. Given the pro-western context of Romanian population and observing the specific impact of social media in the country, the Russian propaganda has adopted tactics where a large number of websites, blogs and social media accounts have been initiated, under assumed or fictitious names or pseudonyms, which propagate ideas aligned with Russian interests and ideology. The target of this propaganda effort is the online reading public, and especially the Facebook accounts. Given the above-mentioned public susceptibility regarding information coming from Russia, the ideas and themes of the propaganda are served with wrappers consisting of themes of interests such as public security, terrorism, natural resources, illegal immigration, refugee crisis, and nationalism. The mix of information is first published on the hundreds of websites and online blogs, and then propagated through Facebook. Current social media studies indicate that the average Facebook user logs in several times per day and about 91% of these users are sharing third party content at least once a week. Specific comparative studies indicate more intense Facebook exchanges in Romania than other countries, and therefore the assumption is that sharing is better exploited, especially when the titles of the propaganda posts are using bombastic formulations meant to capture the attention of the browsing public. In this manner, the websites propagating the intended disinformation are recording a significant number of hits. Although varied in format and language, four main themes can be identified in Russian propaganda directed at the Romanian public: i) anti-American ii) Euro-sceptic iii) Pan-Orthodox and iv) miscellaneous spins and fabrications: i.The anti-American and anti-NATO theme promote the idea that having become a strategic partner of the US and NATO, Romania has placed itself into a direction towards significant political and economic loss. By hosting the Missile Defense Shield bases on its territory, the country's relation with Russia has become antagonistic, and is likely to attract sure retaliation. In turn, the threat of Russian action will discourage outside investment in the country. ii.The Eurosceptic postings present the EU as a strong threat to the Romanian industry and agriculture. The anti-EU texts produce references to the Romanian industry prior to 1989 and associate the disappearance of a large fraction of that industry - due in large part to inept and corrupt privatization processes - with the EU integration. This theme resonates strongly with the Romanian population of ages 50 and above, where some level of nostalgia for the "good old times" exists, and where participation to vote is significant. iii.The Pan-Orthodox theme is largely inspired by the Russian and Kremlin ideologue, Aleksandr Dugin. The recurrent theme in Dughin's ideology is that the western values are incompatible with Eastern Europe culture: the West is "ill", and now the West is attempting to "contaminate" the healthy nations of Eastern Europe. The main topics, in Dughin's speeches, are associated with the rights of the LGBT community, and the solution promoted is a "return" to the Orthodox tradition, and of course, in doing so, align with the Russian Orthodox Church. iv.Every event suitable to interpretation is given an anti-US, anti-EU spin, and pro-Russian argumentation. For example the buzzing of the US Navy vessels by the Russian fighter-jets is presented as a lesson given to a nasty aggressor, whereby the military Russian technology is presented as hugely superior, leaving the US ships as helpless ducks in the middle of the Black or Baltic seas. Advertisement It is interesting to note that the Russian propaganda channels in Romania are not mainstream, but densely distributed within the media fringes, an approach meant to increase their credibility. Each article propagating one or a combinations of the themes listed above are recording tens or hundreds of shares, some out of the sincere conviction of the online user, others due to paid clandestine "spreaders" (postacs in local slang). Similar to Scandinavian tactics, intense trolling has been observed in the commentary sections for articles favorable to EU and the US. A nucleus of the commentary appears to target the initiation of extreme right parties similar to Jobbik in Hungary and Golden Dawn in Greece. Countermeasures The Romanian authorities have not yet reacted to this sort of propaganda. On one hand, they're busy with an intense and difficult effort to fight corruption at all levels of government. On the other hand, the fluid nature of the propaganda described herein makes it difficult to formulate legislation and methods to counteract it. However, one initial response comes from the EU where The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) launched a new online portal dedicated to exposing Russian-influenced propaganda in North-Central Europe. According to the CEPA website "In launching the portal, CEPA has brought together leading journalists, civil society experts and media analysts from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. The portal is intended to serve as a resource for exposing and analyzing Russian information warfare directed against U.S. allies in the region. The platform will provide up-to-date information on the methods and techniques of Russian disinformation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. It will fill a gap in the Western analytical community's knowledge of what Russia's nodes of disinformation are saying; and how its false narratives are being disseminated." We argue here that Romania and Bulgaria should be included in the CEPA list of countries where the public media is monitored, and specifically Romania, where the focus of the propaganda efforts is more intense due to the US bases hosting the Missile Shield installations. It is also recommended that the appropriate branches of the Romanian government approach CEPA and initiate closer ties and cooperation. Advertisement HBO has a message for fans of Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm, True Detective and Deadwood. Be patient. But in the meantime, the channel is hoping to keep viewer happy with hits like The Night Of (above) and Veep, plus new shows featuring the likes of Jon Stewart and Sarah Jessica Parker. HBO's new president of programming, Casey Bloys, told TV critics Saturday that creativity requires patience. Sometimes, a lot of patience. Game of Thrones, as previously announced, will not have its usual spring premiere next year. It will arrive later in the year, at least late enough so the show won't be eligible for the year's Emmy awards. Advertisement That's disappointing, Bloys said, "but it's something we have to live with." He confirmed that the seventh season will include 13 episodes, and said there is no firm number yet for season eight. Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David's comedy about his neurotic life, has been taking a break since the end of its eighth season in September 2011. It "is about to begin production" for a ninth season, said Bloys, and will premiere on an unspecified date in 2017. True Detective has only been gone for a year, but the widespread acclaim for the anthology show's first season evaporated in the second and there has been little talk of a third. Bloys said it still could happen. "It's not dead," he said. "It's a valuable franchise for us." He said HBO hasn't found the right idea for a third season yet, and noted that showrunner Nik Pizzolatto has since moved on to other projects. He would probably join any future True Detective seasons in an advisory role, Bloys said. Deadwood has been dormant since 2006, but Bloys said the long-rumored, near-mythic wrapup movie is still percolating. Advertisement "[Creator] David [Milch] is working on the script," said Bloys. "I haven't seen it yet, but I assume it will be very good." What's more definitely on HBO's schedule is the TV series version of the movie Westworld, which will debut Oct. 2. Evan Rachel Wood (above) and Anthony Hopkins are among the stars. Jon Stewart, late of The Daily Show, is creating a new animated series that Bloys said he hopes will premiere for HBO in October or November. It will be built on a parody of a cable news network and Bloys said it will feature "Jon's own voice, both figuratively and literally." The unnamed project will be designed largely for online distribution, incorporating news close to the time it breaks. The material will also be organized into a show for HBO's television channels, probably in a half-hour format. Advertisement Sarah Jessica Parker, an HBO favorite from her years starring on Sex And The City, returns Oct. 2 at 9 p.m. ET with Divorce, a dark half-hour comedy. She plays a suburban wife and mother who wants to break away from her life with her husband, played by Thomas Haden Church (above), and finds it's not easy. Going back to television "was like a muscle that had slightly atrophied," Parker said. "You have to remind it what to do. But it felt very natural, and it reminded me why I love television." Divorce will be paired with another half-hour comedy, Insecure, which debuts at 10:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 9. Insecure was created by Issa Rae and follows the lives of two best-friends black women in their late 20s as they try to figure out what's next. On a more somber note, Bloys said he decided to cancel the expensive series Vinyl because "we weren't sure. . . we could get it from good to great. . . and we weren't sure it was worth our resources to try to move the needle." Advertisement A group of State Department officials recently sent a confidential cable chiding the administration for not adding another war to America's very full agenda. The 51 diplomats called for "targeted military strikes" against the Syrian government and greater support for "moderate" forces fighting the regime. One of the architects of current policy, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, also has turned against the administration's more disengaged approach. She urged creation of a no fly zone, an act of war, as well as greater support for insurgents. Advertisement The conflict is horrid, of course, but no one has explained how U.S. entry into Syria's multi-sided civil war would actually end the murder and mayhem. Nor has anyone shown how America making another Middle Eastern conflict its own would serve Americans' interests. Washington policymakers seem addicted to intervention and war, unable to imagine there is any international problem they cannot solve. In fact, such an admission would be seen as almost obscene in Washington culture. Despite the repeated failure of social engineering at home, leading officials believe that they can transcend culture, history, religion, ethnicity, geography, and more and forcibly transform other peoples and nations. Those who resist America's tender mercies via bombs, drones, infantry, and special operation forces are assumed to deserve their fate. It has become a dangerous bipartisan nightmare. There are occasional outliers--Ron and Rand Paul, for instance, and Donald Trump, who appears ready to break with interventionist orthodox. However, there is little apparent difference between Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush. Advertisement This interventionist impulse is particularly inappropriate for a devilishly complex conflict like Syria. The war hawks contend that if the U.S. had acted, in some theoretical yet far-sighted fashion, there would have been no vacuum to be filled by the Islamic State. The "moderate" rebels would have triumphed, and members of all factions would have joined to sing Kumbaya while creating a democratic, peaceful, and liberal future for Syria. Unfortunately, Washington's early insistence on Bashar al-Assad's overthrow thwarted hope for a negotiated settlement. The claim that the U.S. could have provided just the right amount of assistance to just the right groups to yield just the right outcome is a fantasy, belied by America's failure get much of anything in the Middle East right. Even when Washington seemingly enjoyed full control in Iraq the U.S. did just about everything wrong, triggering the sectarian conflict which spawned the Islamic State. Military action would be even more dangerous today given Russia's involvement. Americans have a humanitarian interest in ending the conflict, but no effective way to do so. Washington has no comparable security interest in Syria warranting military confrontation with Moscow. Syria matters much more to Russia, which has a long relationship with Damascus, enjoys access to the Mediterranean from a Syrian base, and has only limited influence elsewhere in the region. No fly proponents blithely assume that Moscow would yield to U.S. dictates, but America would not surrender if the situation was reversed. A no fly zone would not bring peace to Syria but would risk a military incident with a nuclear-armed power. The State Department dissenters argued for limited strikes on Syria in service of diplomacy, a position more reasonable than that offered by most war advocates. Nevertheless, what if such attacks failed? What if Damascus deployed Russian anti-aircraft systems? What if Moscow escalated against U.S.-supported insurgents? Would Washington concede or double down? Advertisement In fact, no one has a realistic scheme to put the Syrian Humpty-Dumpty back together again. America's allies, like Saudi Arabia, are no more interested than Russia and Iran in democracy. Ousting Assad would effectively clear the way for the Islamic State and other radical factions. So far supporting so-called moderate insurgents has done little more than end up indirectly supplying ISIL and al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, with recruits and weapons. Turkey is at war with the same Kurdish fighters America supports. While horror is the appropriate reaction to Syria's civil war, the U.S. has no solution to offer. No doubt, the conflict is destabilizing--but expanding the conflict would be so as well. Indeed, events in Iraq and Libya, both triggered by maladroit Washington military intervention, also are destabilizing. PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 28:Khizr Khan addresses the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday, July 28, 2016. (Khan's son Humayun S. M. Khan, a U.S. Army soldier, was killed in Iraq. Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images) CO-AUTHORED BY ZACH LOWE, SENIOR ASSOCIATE AT HATTAWAY COMMUNICATIONS Among the many inspirational stories shared this week at the Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan's tribute to his son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, stood out. The younger Khan, an American Muslim, gave his life in Iraq to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. The speech simultaneously conveyed a father's love for his lost child and pride in his country, punctuated by a direct repudiation of Donald Trump. "Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery?" Khan pointedly asked the Republican nominee, referencing the site of his son's burial. "You will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing. And no one." Advertisement Khan's speech has since gone viral, with #KhizrKhan trending on Twitter. His powerful appeal shows how to win over fair-minded Americans bombarded by anti-Muslim fear-mongering. In the space of six minutes, Khan--a U.S. citizen who resides in Charlottesville, VA--offered a rhetorical roadmap for combating Islamophobia in the United States. First, Khan's story overcame what psychology refers to as "cognitive dissonance," in which individuals simultaneously hold incompatible ideas or conflicting emotions. When thinking about Muslims, research shows that some non-Muslim Americans experience cognitive dissonance because they value the ideas of religious freedom and tolerance, but also fear terrorism and harbor a suspicion that American Muslims aren't necessarily loyal to the U.S. Khan's poignant remembrance of his son's military service obliterated the notion of disloyalty. Neutralizing doubts about the patriotism and loyalty of American Muslims creates the space for an appeal to tolerance: Anyone who puts their life on the line for our country deserves to be treated fairly. The message research and development team at Hattaway Communications created the ad below featuring American Muslims who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. As one person who saw the ad in a focus group put it, "This throws the prejudice out the window." Advertisement Beyond the power of his son's story, Mr. Khan and other convention speakers also used powerful language by referring to his family as "American Muslims" rather than "Muslim-Americans." While the order of the words may seem meaningless, our work has shown that these two constructs evoke surprisingly different reactions. Focus group participants discussing this topic associated the term "Muslim-American" with words such as "foreign" and "strict," and raised concerns about a perceived mistreatment of women. With the order of the words switched, however, the same people responded with phrases such as "came to America for a better life" and "contribute to society." These reactions illustrate the importance of the first word in a message, which colors the reactions to every word that follows it. This experiment also showed the power of the word "American" to help counter negative portrayals and perceptions of Muslims who are part of the fabric of our diverse society. In a shocking video released by several news outlets, Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida is caught verbally assaulting and getting physical with a Politico reporter. Although the Congressman accuses the reporter of assault, the video clearly shows that it was the Congressman who pushed the reporter first. What made the Congressman react so angrily? Questions asked by the reporter concerning the multiple allegations of domestic abuse against him ignited the Congressman with instant rage. Congressman Grayson intended on running for Senate and denies all accusations, but progressive groups rescinded their endorsement of the representative last Tuesday, July 26th. This is the first time that Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America have ever revoked an endorsement. Both groups even requested that the representative donate all the contributions he has already received to an organization benefitting domestic violence victims. Although the reaction from the various progressive groups seems positive, Lolita Grayson has called the police on her husband at least four times and in all four incidents, no files were charged. Two of the four times, Mrs. Grayson sought medical attention from the abuse. The representative not only denies the allegations, but further claims that his wife is a "disturbed woman". Moreover, Grayson's wife first reported the abuse over two decades ago, according to the documents she revealed to Politico, yet this is the first time the story has received dramatic media attention. Advertisement Seeing Your Course through Students' Eyes Remember when you were young with your whole life before you; when everything was possible and nothing was certain; when you had no idea of where you were heading, but savored the bliss of getting there while a glorious enchantment sang through your soul? Keep in touch with these youthful feelings to see your course through students' eyes and teach it in ways that will interest them. How would you have liked your teachers to have taught their courses when you were still young? What questions would you have found interesting and wish they had asked? Then ask those questions of your students and see what happens. The secret of holding students' attention in this media-drenched age is doing something radically different - like having good old-fashioned human discussions about issues that matter to seniors impatient for college. What will work for one class may not work for another, since the only predictable thing about class reactions is their unpredictability. Different classes require different approaches since every class has its own personality. The challenge is to teach each lesson differently so that each class responds. Teaching is improvisation before a live audience, a high-wire act with no safety net. It's been said that an actor is a sculptor who carves in snow. So it is with teachers. Teaching is the art of evanescence, writing in water, with no performance ever the same, and if you're daring, burning your notes at the end of each year to keep yourself fresh for next year's students. Teach every year in a different way as you evolve as a person. Every year you're one year older, more deeply steeped in your subject by continual reading, and more insightful by what you've read. Reading the classics in your field is the fountain of youth that will keep you alive and your classes vibrant. As the body needs food, so the mind needs reading to grow and develop. Without it, you'll be running on empty. Advertisement Critical Thinking -- the Soul of a Course Whatever course you're teaching, approach it in a critical way. Teach its controversies by presenting its theories as persuasively as possible. Monday be the liberal, Tuesday the conservative, Wednesday and Thursday somebody else. Or role-play different views in each class; then put each through the wringer with Socratic questions. The point is to keep students uncertain while competing viewpoints battle it out while students intervene whenever they like. One-view presentations put students to sleep, but rubbing two theories together lights a spark and creates a fire. Cognitive dissonance unsettles the mind as students search for an answer. The format you use is unimportant. What is important is making the strongest case possible for every theory by becoming its advocate. Next, give the objections against that theory and then its rebuttal. Repeat this process for all the theories. After making a case both for and against, how will you know you've been fair? The answer's easy: students won't be sure which theory's right. Your role is only presenting the options; theirs is to sort things out for themselves. Give students the big picture so they'll see each theory as only one answer to an overall question, which they won't understand until they first understand the other theories that also attempt to answer that question. More importantly, they'll know that their theory's right only after they've examined the others and can tell if their theory is right -- or it isn't! This is why open-mindedness is always in the students' best interest, for they'll never know which answer's right until they've first examined them all. And, most importantly, they'll realize that blind allegiance to a theory is never the way to an education, but its very subversion. Critical Thinking Can Be Taught, but Not the Courage to Use it While it's possible to teach critical thinking, it's impossible to teach the courage to use it, especially with respect to long-held ideas. The teaching of courage is beyond the practice of teachers, for in matters like this the only physician who can minister to them is themselves. What unfortunately happens is that some simply embrace the only theory they grew up with without ever bothering to question it, especially when everyone they know also grew up with that theory. Advertisement Even more intriguing is the likelihood that had they been born in a different time and place, they'd have believed in a different theory, so powerful is chance in all of our lives. Chance determines which theory takes hold of a person or tribe, and by some mysterious process becomes their "reality," rather than remaining simply a theory. Plato speaks of this in his Allegory of the Cave and how every culture imprisons its people in the cave of that culture, from which three ways of escaping may be open to us. Teaching Against the Bias of a Text Always teach against the bias of the text you've chosen or were assigned to teach. You owe it to your students to expose them to as many different viewpoints as possible in addition to the one enshrined in the text. In teaching the humanities, especially, present at least two or three alternative viewpoints, theories or answers to the question you're teaching. These other views will give students some idea of the problem's complexity when they realize perhaps for the first time in their lives that many answers exist about everything. This realization may be the beginning of students' real education and change them forever by having them discover the life of the mind. This is why the liberal arts are so indispensable to students while they're still young and curious and open to change before the onset of that terrible illness -- the hardening of the attitudes. Teach them how the liberal arts "liberate" us from the tyranny of so-called "truths" by encouraging us to question in the spirit of Socrates and the "Unexamined Life"; how they can lift us out of our own time and place to see ourselves and our thinking as reflections of custom, habit, and perhaps even narrowness; and how they can give us a sense of higher aspiration and the courage to change. Teaching Critical Reading Teach students to peer beneath the surface of words in their text lest they fall victim to their power. Point out theories presented as facts as possible attempts to indoctrinate them. What are presented as "facts" may be only value judgments, opinions, theories, acts of faith, wishes, fears, prejudices, or bigotries that puff themselves up and strut about grandly as "truth." Teach them to be suspicious of words and never to take them at face value for they may be intended to poison them. Teach them how a theory can be read into as well as out of a text. Remind them of that apocryphal story about Cardinal Richelieu, who was alleged to have boasted that on the basis of any six lines by the most honest of men he could find a reason for hanging him. Show them how they can be manipulated by the loaded language of question-begging adjectives that can predispose them to accept or reject an idea by referring to it positively or negatively with words like "patriotic" or "radical." Critically-trained students, on the other hand, are sensitive to word choice and wary about how words can infect them with bias. Advertisement Teaching Different Views of the Same Event If you're using Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, be sure to assign and discuss outside reading by other historians or from conventional history texts for balance to insure a fair hearing of every viewpoint. This crossfire of opinion should be the driving spirit of your course as you juxtapose different views of the same event. This may confuse, mystify, and unsettle students by showing them the naivety of the phrase: "History teaches us that . . . ," when all that history teaches us is that it's a battleground of contested opinions. Using only one text or teaching only one view is consigning students to a never-never land of feel-good illusion, an intellectual ghetto of provincialism, or an ideological gulag of mind control, instead of exposing them to the raging firestorm of dissenting views that is the lifeblood of scholarship. There is no better way of educating young minds than by exposing them to rival opinions of the same event - teaching the American Revolution from both the American and English viewpoints, the Mexican War through both American and Mexican eyes, and the American Civil War from both the Northern and Southern perspectives. Students will learn the meaning of national or regional bias of both sides and the necessity of immersing themselves in all sides of a question. History may be written by the victors, but it needn't be taught that way. A classroom isn't an indoctrination center, but an open forum where all points of view can be heard. Teach all the theories to the questions you're teaching, as well as their standard arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttals, so that students know what to expect from their college professors. Teaching Critical Thinking for Self-Preservation Exposing students to all points of view will give them a visceral understanding of the critical mind that prepares them for college. Given the unlikelihood that students will be taught only one view in a college classroom, they can ask why rival theories aren't also presented to determine for themselves which view is right instead of taking their professor's word for it. If the theory is so compellingly true that no other viewpoints need be presented, why do scholars disagree with it? Students don't want a series of appeals to their professor's authority, but an impartial treatment of the issues in question. Advertisement Critical thinking is the result of long and continual training, so often repeated that it becomes conditioned reflex by constantly dealing with all sorts of theories. Making explicit groundless assumptions, exposing fallacious arguments, and distinguishing between statements that can and cannot be proven are among the skills students will possess from their first day in college. PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 28:Khizr Khan addresses the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday, July 28, 2016. (Khan's son Humayun S. M. Khan, a U.S. Army soldier, was killed in Iraq. Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Statements that resonate, speeches that linger, are not the result of a voice, a wardrobe, a hairstyle, or a handsome face. One of the greatest speeches in human history, was delivered by a man who had none of these things. He had no speech writers, no clever wordsmiths to tell him what to say and how to say it. It was literally written near the last minute on the back of an envelope. It is now carved in stone and in our hearts. It is the Gettysburg Address. Resonance with history is most often produced by an individual with a conviction, with beliefs lodged in the heart, with a sense of honor, integrity, and principle. The person delivering words worth remembering must have something to say and a reason for saying it. Advertisement Powerful truths are often contained in a few powerful words. When Mr. Trump loses this election, it will be because of, as much as anything, these simple words: "You have sacrificed nothing." Mr. Khizr Khan, his silent wife beside him, looked into Mr. Trump's soul and found...nothing. Mr. Khizr Khan, his silent wife beside him, looked into Mr. Trump's soul and found...nothing. Mr. Khan could deliver that message, so far reaching in its implications, such a devastating profile in character, because he spoke with moral conviction and authority. He and his wife had sacrificed something ultimately precious, their son, and they had sacrificed their son because they loved America, an America with liberty and justice for all. Mr. and Mrs. Khan and their son Captain Humayun Khan are and were Muslims. Mr. Khan said he doubted that Mr. Trump had ever read the Constitution of the United States of America and offered to share his copy with Mr. Trump. The picture of Mr. Khan holding up the Constitution should be shown to every voter and in every household in America every day of this election. It is the purest symbol of what this election is about. Mr. Trump should apologize to Mr. Khan for what he has said about Muslims. But he will not. He does not have the courage to do so. He has sacrificed nothing. Advertisement Mr. Trump should apologize to Mr. Khan for what he has said about Muslims. But he will not. He does not have the courage to do so. Moral authority is achieved through sacrifice. It cannot be acquired by immense wealth. It cannot be bargained for in the marketplace. For moral authority, we must look to Tolstoy, to Gandhi, to Martin Luther King. Each of us must look into our own souls for the courage required to achieve that authority. True leadership is never mean, bitter, angry, or divisive. If Mr. Trump wishes to achieve that authority, he might start by begging the forgiveness of Mr. and Mrs. Khan. He will not do so. Searching his soul for courage, you will find nothing. In the end, history remembers the Abraham Lincolns, not the Joseph McCarthys. It takes no courage and no sacrifice to demean and belittle others. Many years from now, the fading figure of Donald Trump will be remembered with these words: You sacrificed nothing. After the election he will have plenty of time to do what Mr. Khan admonished him to do: Visit the Arlington National Cemetery and learn the meaning of sacrifice. In just announced Q2 earnings, Facebook rocketed past analysts' expectations with quarterly ad revenue hitting $6.24 billion compared with $5.8 billion that was expected. Similarly, monthly active users jumped to 1.71 billion compared with the 1.69 billion expected. What's going on? Facebook appears to be firing on all cylinders. From a marketing perspective, it has created a marketing platform that gives marketers what they want while engaging the eyeballs of highly targeted users that advertisers crave. Scale and engagement With its audience that now numbers 1.71 billion, Facebook has unprecedented scale and reach. To give you a point of comparison, the average Super Bowl audience is between 110 and 117 million. Facebook has 1.13 billion daily active users, and unlike Super Bowl watchers that are distracted by parties and food, Facebook users are highly engaged. According to ComScore Media Metri, Facebook dominates the social media landscape Advertisement Lower cost While Super Bowl ads cost a small fortune (a 30-second spot on the 2016 Super Bowl cost $5 million), Facebook ads are far more affordable. According to Digiday, for the same investment, you could buy 500 million Facebook video views and 1.6 billion impressions Not only that, Facebook ads are in the news feed rather in distracting and interruptive places, and users can share their endorsement of the companies and products they like with friends and family. Highly targeted One of the reasons Facebook ads cost considerably less is advertisers are able to better target specific audiences they want to reach. In many other media, advertisers reach an audience that is broader than the segments they prefer to target. While this can be good too, most advertisers do not want to spend money reaching lower-probability targets. Being able to send ads to only those that are most likely to want the product is very attractive to advertisers that know their target audience. Facebook Audience Network Facebook has integrated aspects of its previous media platforms into its Facebook Audience Network (FAN). This enables marketers to purchase ads across the Internet using FB's highly targeted audience data. This gives marketers the convenience of a one stop digital media buying shop while giving Facebook a piece of the ad revenue from all of the transactions. Advertisement Effective measurement tools There are many tools readily available to measure the marketing impact of Facebook. A free tool from Facebook, called Facebook Insights, enables you to measure engagement and social return on investment. Google Analytics provides information on the business you generate from Facebook ads. Better results Using the measurement tools available, those that have measured the effectiveness of their promotion channels have found that Facebook provides a better return on their investment than many other alternatives. Marketing Sherpa and other sources have independent case studies that show the kind of results advertisers can achieve on Facebook. Scratched the surface Since Facebook has only scratched the surface on monetizing its huge, highly-engaged and targeted audience, it appears that it will continue to deliver the results that marketers want from their advertising. If it does, the company stock is likely to continue to experience healthy increases. As of this writing, Facebook's price/earnings ratio is 75.80. While some may consider this to be high, it is well within reason for a fast growing, highly-regarded tech company. To put it in perspective, Amazon has a P/E ratio of 312.78 and Linked In's P/E ratio is 774.89. Win-Win It appears that Facebook and its stock are on a growth trajectory that is likely to excite its constituents for quite some time. What does that mean for marketers? Right now, marketers can (1) reach a highly engaged audience of well-targeted prospects for less than other media and (2) buy the digital media they need using the FAN platform. This is the real basis for Facebook's success. Marketing information system A combination photo shows Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) in Palm Beach, Florida and Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (R) in Miami, Florida at their respective Super Tuesday primaries campaign events on March 1, 2016. Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton rolled up a series of wins on Tuesday, as the two presidential front-runners took a step toward capturing their parties' nominations on the 2016 campaign's biggest day of state-by-state primary voting. REUTERS/Scott Audette (L), Javier Galeano (R) After back-to-back Republican and Democratic conventions, the stage is set for a 100-day mad dash to the November presidential contest. There were telling differences between the two events. To begin with, the conventions revealed the state of play within each party. Both Republicans and Democrats confronted insurgencies with dramatically different outcomes. On the Republican side, one of the insurgent candidates, Donald Trump, vanquished the establishment leaving the party in some disarray. Many national GOP leaders boycotted the convention and refused to endorse Trump. Those who endorsed the victor did so either because they felt they had no choice or because they retained a vague hope that should he win, their congressional leaders would be able to limit the damage that might occur in an unrestrained Trump presidency. Adding to the fractiousness of the GOP's situation, significant components of another insurgent group, prominent leaders of the religious right, also refused to endorse the nominee creating negative press with a walkout on the first day followed by a prime time rejection by Ted Cruz on day three. Advertisement The Democrats fared somewhat better since their establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, won. Because Clinton embraced a good number of her opponent's progressive proposals, Bernie Sanders' felt comfortable enough to give her a full-throated endorsement on the convention's opening night. This display of unity appeared to be enough to mollify many of Sanders' supporters, though a number of movement activists who had embraced the Sanders' cause left the convention unsatisfied. Nevertheless, the Democrats concluded their four-day meeting with the appearance of greater unity than had been found at the GOP gathering. There was another key difference between the two parties' quadrennial events. Modern conventions have been largely stripped of their political functions, reducing them to over-produced infomercials. While Trump had promised a "blockbuster", the Republican convention was a lack-luster affair bringing together a strange collection of minor "celebrities" and drew headlines for a series of unforced errors. On the first day, there was a contentious rules fight leading to a mass walk-out. This opening sour note was later eclipsed by revelations that the initially well-reviewed speech by Trump's wife had been, in part, plagiarized from a speech given by Michelle Obama, 8 years earlier. On the next night, Trump inexplicably decided to call into one of the networks to complain about an unrelated issue in the midst of an emotional speech by the mother of a victim of the embassy attack in Benghazi. Then, of course, there was the pay back speech by Ted Cruz. With most GOP luminaries not in attendance, the key Trump endorsement speeches were given by his children. Advertisement In contrast, the Democrats' event was well produced and, despite moments of tension and controversy, was a nearly flawless affair. Clinton was able to receive validation and support from President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice-President Biden, her main opponent Senator Sanders, leading progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren, and most of the Democratic party's Senators and Members of Congress. In addition, there was a host of major celebrities who performed at or addressed the event. The Democrats were also able to dodge a few potentially disruptive bullets caused by concerns among Sanders' supporters that the establishment had unfairly tipped the scales of the election in favor of Clinton. The Clinton team did this by agreeing with Sanders to form a commission to write new rules for party operations and for the next election and by forcing the party's controversial chair to resign in advance of the convention. The Sanders and Clinton campaigns did compromise on the party platform with Clinton accepting more progressive positions that had been put forward by Sanders. Nevertheless some movement activists who had embraced the Sanders' campaign remained unsettled by concerns like: the absence of strong and clear opposition to unfair trade agreements; a commitment to no more war and universal health care for all; and a firmer position in defense of Palestinian rights. This resulted in a few demonstrations inside the convention and larger protests outside the hall. But while these efforts served as reminders of work that remains to be done, none ultimately disrupted the thematic orchestration of the Clinton convention. A final major differences between the two conventions were in the themes they conveyed. Trumps' insurgency has been predicated on the personality of Trump, hatred of all things Clinton, and the frustration, fear, and anger of those who have felt they are losing ground in today's economy and changing world. They resent the "other"--Mexicans, Muslims, and groups whom they feel benefit from affirmative action programs. They fear crime, terrorism, loss of American power and prestige, and changes in the world and society that have feeling left out and adrift. Sensing this, Trump and his convention preyed on this anger and fear--focusing it on the person of Hillary Clinton. The convention was an angry affair with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ranting about crime and Clinton, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie leading a shocking anti-Clinton floor chant of "lock her up". For his part, Trump's acceptance speech was well-crafted and well-delivered. But it was an anger-filled dark litany of the nation's ills. It was a far-reaching indictment of all that is wrong with America with his solution being to elect him with the vague assurance that he alone knows how to get it right. Advertisement Clinton, on the other hand, developed a more positive message. She acknowledged that problems exist, to be sure, but she proposed specific fixes that involved bipartisan compromise, and communities working together with government to create and expand opportunities and improve the quality of life for all. It was an upbeat message conveyed not only by Clinton but by a stream of speakers--citizens from every walk of life who told of their struggles and how action had been to taken to address their needs. As political and policy events, the Democrats' convention had the clear advantage. Both parties spent considerable time in attacking the others' nominee. But Democrats were better at telling their story, presenting their candidate and their programs, and creating optimism that they had made progress in the last 8 years and would continue to make positive change in the years to come. If anything, the two conventions established was that just as the primary season has been raucous and contentious, the general election promises more of the same. It will be an election like no other. Part 3 Safety. Belonging. Unconditional acceptance, without judgment. Attentive listening. Speaking from the heart. Mutual respect. These are the ingredients that make bearing the unbearable possible. They are the elements of a healing environment in which service members, veterans, their families and their providers transform the traumas of war. Those suffering from post-traumatic stress want nothing more than conditions in which they can allow the traumas to resurface and be held and transformed. We have learned that at the heart of such an environment is community; robust, vigorous, and supple. Accepting and loving, a secular version of what church should be like. Community is the connective social tissue that restores, repairs and regenerates the ruptured connections trauma leaves in its wake within individuals, families, communities, organizations, policy makers and leaders. We've proven it. Alas the VA and the DoD have been clueless when it comes to creating community and incorporating it into serving the mental health needs of service members and veterans. Mental health programs for our violence-torn cities too have commonly not gotten it. So we the people, the grassroots, must generate community in our fractured communities riven by mistrust and violence and mutual suspicion. Coming Home Project has demonstrated how. Advertisement What blinds us to the healing power of community? Is it our individualistic culture? How we seem to thrive on creating invidious divisions? Waiting for the silver bullet that will cure all ills? Blind faith in the medical establishment? All of the above? It's absence is at the root of many of our social and cultural problems. Trauma shatters lives and connections, like an IED blast. The erosion of community is the alpha and omega of trauma; its repair requires reestablishing those connections and the communitas they facilitate. "To sit at a table... and bear the full force of our anguish." Lucia McBath nailed it-- a key element for transforming overwhelming trauma. Lucia is one of the Mothers of the Movement group, made up of women who lost children to gun violence and police violence. She was speaking at the 2016 Democratic Convention about her son, Jordan Davis. It takes a village to fully bear collective trauma but in this case a leader, Hilary Clinton, was able to provide an element of healing for this group of grieving mothers. Barack Obama has grown skilled, if weary, at providing such a compassionate, containing presence. His talk after the Newtown massacre is a case in point. His rendering there of Amazing Grace captured the unspeakable pain and seemed to turn it around, providing a vehicle for helping bind the wounds. At Coming Home Project we have refined an environment that creates a reparative sense of community in which war trauma can be transformed. Our residential retreats are characterized by an element in short supply in some of our own cities today--safety. Along with physical and emotional safety, this environment provides an experience of belonging, feeling understood and unconditionally accepted, without judgment. I have seen it in action hundreds of times. War trauma is not cured or eliminated but transformed-- from a ghost into an ancestor, a memory that no longer haunts and disables. Advertisement I am drawing connections and suggesting that Coming Home retreats, developed and proven effective for the traumas of veterans and their families, can be easily adapted to improve mental and emotional health and wellbeing of our own communities where the environment is too often traumatizing like a war zone. Just as we adapted them to effectively serve burned out care providers. There are of course differences, and I'll point out one. A veteran described how impatient and irate he would become with his fellow workers. They didn't get it. For him, the task at hand was a matter of life and death. Survival hung in the balance. Other vets in the retreat group echoed his experience. Eventually they saw that things being a matter of life and death and the underlying terror were carryovers from experiences in the war zone in Afghanistan or Iraq. The veterans' responses were real but no longer adaptive; their perceptions were no longer accurate. But changing response patterns hewn under the threat of death does not come easy. For the residents of many neighborhoods across our country, the danger persists. Black children and adults fear for their lives on a daily basis. Their experience sadly bears similarities to that of residents in occupied territories such as Gaza (see Part 1 of this three part series) Understand, I'm calling attention to the chronicity, despair, and lack of hope for change. I am not suggesting that the metaphor of occupation applies to U.S. cities. I am saying that when conditions of danger and threat continue, they are compounded and become chronic. Further, the injustice underlying some of these dangers does not seem to go away. Many veterans and family members have experienced and struggled with such injustice on the return home. Is resistance, engaging the struggle to change broken, unjust systems healthier or more adaptive than passivity? This is an important, complex subject for another blog. Many returning service members and veterans struggle with a pervasive sense of threat and the resulting heightened vigilance. Listen as black Dallas physician Brian Williams poignantly describes his ever-present sense of fear in the presence of police, while affirming his support and resolve to care for them, a sign of profound maturity: "I want Dallas Police to see me, a black man, and understand that I support you, I will defend you, and I will care for you. That doesn't mean that I don't fear you. That doesn't mean that when you approach me I won't immediately have a visceral reaction and start worrying for my personal safety. But I'll control that as best I can and not let that impact how I deal with law enforcement." Advertisement I want you to see me as I am. Coming Home Project has demonstrated how powerfully effective is the native force of the beloved community, how reliable the compassionate, skillfully facilitated healing environments at providing the nutriments for stories and experiences never before revealed, including the despair of suicidal urges, at helping bind the wounds and enable a transformative process I call turning ghosts into ancestors. The prevalence of threat, the absence of a reliable sense of safety, an overwhelming and unbearable emotional load, and feeling helpless to do anything about it can generate a wide range of painful, sometimes disabling emotional conditions. Although the best antidote is systemic and attitudinal change, we needn't wait to address the unseen injuries that accompany continuous violence, loss and related cumulative traumas. Test of Iranian Shahab 3 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile The Associated Press recently revealed the existence of a secret agreement that would allow Iran to restore "its full uranium enrichment capacity," utilizing more advanced, faster centrifuges, on the 10th anniversary of signing the nuclear agreement. The leak, from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the organization charged with monitoring Iranian compliance with the nuclear accord, has led a number of intelligence agencies to again issue warnings that it "was highly likely" that Tehran will have a nuclear weapon capability within the next 10 to 15 years. Not surprisingly, the news generated renewed anxiety in the Persian Gulf about Iran's intentions in the region. The rise of Tehran's power in the Middle East has often been conceptualized as an Iranian "arc of influence," which stretches across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. There is also, potentially, a second such arc based on the large Shiite populations along the southern and eastern rim of the Arabian Peninsula. To date, however, the Sunni governments in the Gulf have, for the most part, been able to keep a lid on Shia dissent, and on Tehran's attempts to mobilize those Shia communities, although they did intervene in Yemen to block Tehran backed proxies from seizing control. The prospect of a nuclear armed Iran and the steady expansion of Tehran's influence, however, has underscored the fact that Middle East politics are increasingly reorienting themselves along a Sunni-Shia axis. How will the Sunni governments respond to what they see as the renewal of historic "Persian imperialism" in the Middle East and especially in the Gulf? The evolution of the Syrian Civil War may lend an answer. Advertisement Iranian Arc of Influence across the Middle East Jihadism and its use for political purposes is hardly new. It has been an integral aspect of Middle East history since the eighth century. Even in the 20th century, jihadism has been a recurring theme of Arab nationalism. Wahhabi inspired jihadism played a critical role in the formation of Saudi Arabia. Jihadism was also a prominent and recurring feature of the Muslim Brotherhood led nationalist movements in Egypt and Syria. Its prominence declined during the heyday of the "secular socialist," military led governments that dominated the region from the 1950s through the 1980s, only to reappear as those regimes turned increasingly to Islamic history and culture to establish their political legitimacy. In that sense, the rise of jihadism since the 1980s is simply the reemergence of a long-standing feature of Middle East politics. Jihadism burst onto the international stage when the United States and its Gulf allies funded and organized the Afghan mujahideen prior to and during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Called "Operation Cyclone" by the CIA, the campaign relied on militant Islamic groups organized by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to oppose the Moscow-backed government of Nur Muhammad Taraki, and later the Soviets. Between 1978 and 1992, the ISI armed and trained over 100,000 insurgents. They also recruited volunteers from Arab states to join the Afghan resistance fighting the Soviet invasion. Among the "Afghan Arabs" recruited was a young Saudi national named Osama Bin-Laden. Leaders of the Afghan mujahideen resistance meeting with President Reagen in the Oval Office, February 1983. Picture courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidental Library Advertisement In total, the U.S. supplied some $20 billion to train and arm the Afghan resistance. It also supplied Pakistan with an additional $8.6 billion in economic and military assistance. Additional funds from the Afghan resistance came from Great Britain and China. The Arab governments in the Gulf also contributed heavily. Some of those funds were channeled through the CIA, and others went either to the Pakistani ISI or, on a few occasions, directly to the resistance groups. During this period the orientation of the jihadist groups organized by the ISI were anti-Soviet. While they were not necessarily pro-American, they were not overtly hostile to the United States. The end of the Afghan war, and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, made the anti-Soviet orientation of the jihadist groups irrelevant. In the meantime, the expansion of the American military presence in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf during and after the First Gulf War, and the increased prominence given to the Palestinian cause by jihadist groups, gradually shifted the focus of those militant organizations to opposing the U.S. role in the Middle East. This reorientation gave rise to al-Qaeda and a range of other jihadist groups. This transformation was further reinforced by the subsequent U.S. led invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq, and the emergence of a deep seated insurgency against the U.S. led military coalition there. Between the early 1990s and today, a little less than a quarter century, Islamic jihadism reoriented itself into a virulent anti-American and anti-Western ideology; one that has sparked numerous terrorist attacks throughout the world. Al-Qaeda affiliated, al Nusra Front jihadists in Syria. Middle East politics are increasingly moving toward a de facto proxy war between the Saudi led Sunni governments in the region and Iran and its Shiite allies. The fact that Tehran will eventually develop a nuclear capability as well, threatens to make the Middle East a larger version of the Indo-Pakistani proxy war in Kashmir. It's possible that, like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies will increasingly look to third party jihadist organizations, as they have in Syria, to counter Iranian influence in the region. If that happens, then it may well set the stage for a third reorientation of Sunni jihadism to focus on opposing Iran and its Shiite allies, and possibly move it away from its current focus of opposing U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and Western culture in general. The Islamic State (IS) has been both anti-Western and anti-Shiite. Indeed, one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's singular "contributions" to international jihadism was the demonization and targeting of Shiites. As a result, IS has, to varying degrees, radicalized other jihadist groups, including al-Qaeda, to also target Shiites. A post-Islamic State Middle East, however, could be a very different place. Advertisement Islamic State is unique in that it has become largely self-financing, even if that funding has been steadily declining. Stripped of its territorial domain, however, it would be, like other jihadist groups, dependent on outside aid and financing to be effective. It is unlikely that IS, as a militant insurgency rather than a would-be nation state, would prove to be any less anti-American or anti-Western. But a weakened IS could well be supplanted by a better-financed jihadist organization that would focus more on an anti-Iranian/anti-Shiite theme than an anti-American/anti-Western theme. Former General and CIA Director David Petraeus at 2007 press conference. It's also possible, although probably unlikely, that in a post-Islamic State Middle East, al-Qaeda might seek to fill this role. If that happens then Islamic State will have inadvertently accomplished something that would have been inconceivable a decade ago, the rehabilitation, or at least partial rehabilitation, of Al-Qaeda in Washington's eyes. Interestingly enough, retired Army general and former CIA director, David Petraeus, has already suggested that the U.S. should use "moderate" members of the al-Qaeda backed al-Nusra Front in its fight against the Islamic State. To date, al-Qaeda has not given any indication that it is prepared to abandon its anti-American/anti-Western orientation. In fact, on July 24, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, in an audio interview posted to al-Qaeda's website, urged militants to kidnap Westerners and hold them hostage to exchange for jailed jihadists. He noted that, "kidnapping was a powerful weapon in the fight against the enemy." The interview followed an attempt by two men, believed by police to be Middle Eastern, who tried to kidnap a British serviceman while he was jogging near the RAF Marham base, near Norfolk, East Anglia. On the other hand, on Thursday July 28, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the recently disclosed head of the al-Nussra Front, announced that it was "disassociating" itelf from al-Qaeda and that it would change its name to the Levant Conquest Front (LCF). He added that the decision had the support of al-Qaeda's leadership and that it was designed to allow al-Nusra Front to expand its cooperation with other Syrian rebel groups. It is also a not so subtle signal to Washington that it need not consider the LCF an enemy. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri Al-Qaeda's anti-Americanism, while historic, is also, in part, shaped by its competition with Islamic State for the leadership of the jihadist movement. While the U.S. has decimated al-Qaeda's senior leadership and severely constrained its ability to operate and to launch attacks against Western targets, the U.S. does not ultimately pose an existential threat to al-Qaeda. The Islamic State, on the other hand, does pose such a threat. Advertisement When the time came, she often said, when she was older, she would let her hair go gray. But the time never came, and her hair colorist continued to dye her graying roots to match the rich auburn of her younger self. My mother kept many secrets, and though some of them wounded me and made me hate her at times, on the whole she kept them beautifully. Some had to do with her personal habits, others concerned her actions and interactions, those I witnessed and those that came at me from out of the past. Still other secrets had been thrust on her beyond her control: names she had to keep hidden to safeguard lives and also her own name, given her before her parents or ancestors or anyone in the world knew that the man's name hers was derived from would become synonymous with evil on perhaps as great a scale as the devil's own, because though she was always known as Dolly, they named her Adolfina. I didn't know her birth name or her actual age for many years. I learned how old she was on a day my father's mother came to visit, a rare occurrence because my mother never cared to entertain her. My grandmother mentioned that Dolly had me at 31, though I'd thought she was currently 29. When I later confronted my mother, she explained that she couldn't tell me the truth because I would have told my schoolmates and then everyone would know. I nodded sagely, thrilled to be given such an adult (and mysterious) explanation, and never afterwards told anyone her age or -- when I learned it -- her birth name. In other ways too, I went on lying for her, because she demanded it. When she was dying of multiple myeloma, cancer in the marrow of her bones, she insisted I tell her friends that she had a "bellyache." She believed cancer was "psychological" and was ashamed to be caught with it. But she was also dying quickly, in the hospital and at home with round the clock nurses. I hated having to lie to people on the phone; I was embarrassed for them, for myself, ashamed of that childish word "bellyache," ashamed of the knowledge I had, the dead certainty of what was going on. I couldn't tell anyone, and I couldn't stop what I knew. Advertisement Everyone has secrets. I don't believe, as my mother did, that cancer is a sign of repressed rage or repressed anything else. My cat Corduroy, who was also my best friend, died young of cancer and his rage was never repressed, nor his love either, shown in the way he tried to feed the family, bringing in headless squirrels or birds he'd killed and placing them beneath my seat at the dinner table. But there are other secrets, so big that people spend their lives and countries go to war protecting them. America's secret is racism. It is the darkness at America's heart. Though it can be set aside (look at the President we have!), it continues, since it's easier to blame whatever's wrong (in your life, in the country) on others than on yourself. (This may be one reason to get married, though not a good one.) If other people don't look like you, it becomes even easier. Hitler had to tag the Jews with big yellow stars because they looked (and thought and felt) like other Germans. The star provided a target for German rage, which in truth had little to do with Jews and was mainly caused by devaluation of the currency and loss of jobs. But an enemy is a handy tool for an aspiring megalomaniac dictator. Especially for the newly-blond Donald Trump (who is dark-haired in photos of him in youth and middle age, and whose hair resembled an orange dishrag earlier this year), with his family tradition of racial intolerance, a father and grandfather who didn't like dark people, didn't rent to them, and who were drawn to the ideology of white supremacists. Trump picks up on the American secret and adds the terror of the unknown. All murders are now the fault of foreign darkies, whether or not they had anything to do with it, all part of a world-wide conspiracy against blond white (straight) Christian men. In Trump's hatred of M folk -- Mexicans, Muslims, menstruators, minorities -- he rounds up a lot of dark people. Women make it into the core of his publicly-proclaimed nemeses by being biologically different from other people, in that they ovulate and menstruate, two cycles that Donald Trump would never in his life engage in, and therefore finds disgusting. Different is the bugaboo, and to Trump there is no reality outside of Trump. He presents us with a caricature of the two greatest dictators of the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler (ne Schicklgruber) and Josef Stalin (born Jughashvili), with an added dose of pure American hucksterism. Like Hitler and Stalin, Trump is his own creation, in his case a blown-up cartoon of The Big Male with scowling face, broad chest, lots of sawbucks, lots of broads and a grunter's vocabulary. He's the entertainer, like Hitler in Brecht's play Arturo Ui and also like P.T. Barnum, prankster galore, who toured America with his freak show, entered politics in Connecticut, made millions, lost them and then made them back again in the firm belief that, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public" (though the quote varies and is sometimes attributed to H.L. Mencken). Barnum said of himself: "I am a showman by profession . . . and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me," which shows a great deal more insight into his own nature than Trump has ever demonstrated. His personal aim, said Barnum, was "to put money in my own coffers." The huckster, snake oil salesmen, slimy politicos and purveyors of hype that dotted our frontier probably were natural outgrowths of America's wild Dream: to invent yourself, to become anyone you wanted to be because the old rules no longer applied. It didn't matter who your parents were, where you went to school (or didn't) or any of the values that cosseted Europe in its old ways. Being American was a God-given passport to fun and freedom, to children who refused to eat their spinach because "America's a free country," and, on a more deadly note, to the necessity (for keeping the myth alive) of making sure some of the people are not included as people. The secret remained. Be white, be powerful, and the Dream is yours. Advertisement Adolf Hitler said: If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. Trump also resembles Stalin, particularly in the penchant for putting his name on everything (remember Stalingrad? if things go rotten in November, New York could become Trump City). To every proposed building during his years as Chairman, he added steeples that transformed them into secular churches erected to the greater glory of himself. Stalin, like his latter day successor Vladimir Putin -- a man much admired by Trump -- did not believe in negotiating with perceived enemies. He had a quicker solution. "Death," he wrote, "is the solution to all problems. No man -- no problem." Putin seems to agree. What is great in America is that this country took in my parents when it did; that it welcomed immigrants throughout its history because it is, on a grand scale, a nation made up of immigrants, a tree with many roots that finds its genius in difference. Americans are optimistic and flexible. We'll try anything, which is why we're such rich fodder for entrepreneurs. (P.T. Barnum: There's a sucker born every minute.) But if we screw up in November, we might lose far into the future, with a Trump Supreme Court meting out its justice. Hitler: The victor will never be asked if he told the truth . Truth is a moveable concept to Trump, who controls it as he controls everything around him. The Don sees himself as Czar of this country, Czar of czars, which is as czar-y or crazy as it gets. N.Y. subway: If you see something, say something. Donald Trump. There is only one way for the Republicans to save their party. By voting for Hillary Clinton. If Trump wins, its all over for the now-tarnished Republican brand. Trump will decimate its cherished policies for four years or more. Diehards will never be able to put it back on track. But if Trump loses... IF TRUMP WINS, THE REPUBLICANS ARE NO LONGER THE PARTY OF,,, A TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WILL BE THE PARTY OF... After 4 or (shudder) 8 years of Trumpublicanism, how easy do you think it will be to revert to those bedrock principles? Advertisement The answer: It'll be impossible. By then, those quaint Reaganesque ideas will be in the dustbin of history, replaced by Donald Trump's wall, his authoritarian nature and his history of liberal social policies. Cozy up to Uncle Vladimir, why don't your? HOW ABOUT A VOTE FOR GARY JOHNSON? A vote for Gary Johnson helps Trump win, because it takes a vote away from Hillary. Third parties are currently pulling more voters from Clinton than Trump, so a vote for Gary Johnson makes it more difficult for Hillary to win. HOW ABOUT A VOTE FOR JILL STEIN? Same result. HOW ABOUT NOT VOTING? Same result. HOW ABOUT A WRITE IN FOR TED CRUZ? You're not listening. ONLY A VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON WILL PERMIT REPUBLICANS TO PICK UP THEIR BRAND AND POLISH IT AGAIN. A vote for Hillary Clinton will keep the Republican brand alive. She is the candidate whose policies are most similar to Ronald Reagan who has a credible chance of winning. And if she wins, the Republican party will still be in control of statehouses and governorships who can keep the brand alive. But a President Trump will use the power of the purse and the threat of primarying Republican governors to keep them in line. Many staunch Republicans have come out in support of Hillary. Barbara Bush. Laura Bush. Michael Bloomberg. They know, as we all do, that "lock her up" and Benghazi were all about political posturing. Hillary Clinton is a seasoned professional who can do the job and provide stability to the United States and the world. Advertisement But there's one more major reason to keep Trump out of the White House in 2020. Reapportionment under Donald Trump will kill the Republican brand. GAME, SET, MATCH: THE TRUMP REAPPORTIONMENT IN 2020. If Trump and his Tea Partiers are in control in 2020, they'll be in charge of reapportionment, and Katie bar the door. How do you think districts will be redrawn by Trumpistas? Answer: they'll be gerrymandered to keep out both Republicans and Democrats. For ten more years. The Republican party will have a better chance under a democrat administration than a Trump one. Democrats will do what they can, but they won't be favoring the Tea Partiers, so the outcome is likely to be better under a Democrat administration than a Trump one. So, Republicans. There you have it. Vote for anyone but Hillary and you help Trump win, and drive a stake through your party as you knew it. Vote for Hillary and you keep the party alive, first as the loyal opposition with a likely base of support in the states, and later as a credible alternative. Dinesh D'Souza's latest hate mail to the Democratic Party, the film "Hillary's America" is a tedious, cheesy, self serving slog through the unsavory underside of American History. Dour D'Souza selectively culls, bends and ultimately breaks history in a desperate attempt to show how all evil flows from Democrats. He also uses the film to argue that his great patriotism exonerates him from his conviction for felonious election fraud. D'Souza's two earlier films "America: Imagine the World Without Her" (2014) and "2016: Obama's America" (2012) were similar polemical skewers of history, wrapped in copious American flag images and amped up patriotic music. But no amount of flag waving could save this felonious Fellini from conviction for knowingly making illegal contributions to the Senate Republican campaign fund using "straw donors." D'Souza plea bargained his admitted guilt down to eight months in a half way house near his home . . . which he misrepresents in the film as being a dangerous facility stocked with killers and gang members. In between attacking President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the entire Democratic Party for their immorality, D'Souza was terminated from his position as President of King's College in New York, a Christian College home of the Campus Crusade for Christ. He was discovered conducting an adulterous affair with the already married Denise Odie Joseph while D'Souza himself was married to Dixie Brubaker, the mother of his child. D'Souza ended up with neither woman, as he later married Debbie Francher in a ceremony presided over by pastor Rafael Cruz, father of Texas Senator and Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz. Clearly this staunch Republican moralist has taken to Hollywood ways! Advertisement As he did in his earlier films, D'Souza starts his new work by disingenuously posing objective questions. He claims to want to know the history of the Democratic Party. But anyone viewing his earlier movies knows that D'Souza has already concluded how thoroughly terrible the Democrats are. He can hardly wait to reveal their dastardly deeds! Unfortunately, his breathless revelations have a few problems. Certainly the early Democratic Party upheld slavery 150 years ago and impeded equal rights through the beginnings of the twentieth century. But D'Souza fails to explain how and why the overwhelming majority of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews and immigrants gravitated to the Democratic Party. His failed explanations suggest that these minorities merely could not make the decisions that D'Souza himself knows would be best for them. He obscures the reforms that Democrats won championing the rights of these groups and raising so many out of poverty. Nor does he explain why ultra right wing candidates like the Ku Klux Klan's David Duke or even Donald Trump prefer to run for office under the mantel of the Republican Party. Two thirds of the way through the film, D'Souza awkwardly shifts to attacking Hillary Clinton. He gives full rein to all allegations on Bill Clinton's illicit affairs. But D'Souza, whom we have found is an experienced observer, exonerates Bill and shifts the blame to Hillary. Hillary Clinton is the master mind, using Bill's addiction to promote her own lust for power and riches. A far flung litany of accusations concludes that the reason that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not get help to Benghazi was that she couldn't find a way to profit from it. D'Souza hardly feels bound by the 9 Congressional Hearings and 8000 pages of data that conclusively proved otherwise, even to the satisfaction of Congressional Republicans. Advertisement As the election moves into its final phase, expect candidates to raise the shibboleth of the Islamic State and argue vehemently over who is best able to keep America safe from it. Unfortunately, this important security debate will probably not be based on dispassionate consideration of the facts but on an exaggeration of the threat, a misunderstanding of its nature, and a misguided notion of how to counter it. Critics of the Obama administration insist that the ISIS is growing stronger because Washington has not been aggressive enough in attacking the terrorists in Syria and Iraq. They point to the wave of attacks in Europe, the San Bernardino shootings, and the Orlando night club massacre as compelling evidence that more strident military measures must be employed against this pernicious organization. "Bomb the [expletive deleted] out of Raqqa (the self-proclaimed Islamic State capital)," they insist, "and the problem will go away." It is a highly seductive, feel-good argument but one that does not stand up to close scrutiny. To begin with, ISIS is a problem not an existential threat. The attacks in Europe have as much to do with the ghettoization of its immigrant populations and lack of opportunity for young Muslim men as it does with foreign terrorism. The Orlando massacre was the work of a profoundly disturbed young man struggling with his own identity that latched on to radical Islamist ideology as an outlet for his rage. Background checks for fire arm purchases and better access to mental health will do far more to prevent attacks of that sort than lobbing cruise missile into Syria. Advertisement San Bernardino was a genuine ISIS-inspired terrorist attack but one perpetrated by lone wolves acting without direction from anyone in the organization. That attack and others like it, including the rampage in Nice, reveal an uncomfortable truth about the Islamic State: it is a complex phenomenon with many dimensions, and it cannot be defeated with a single, narrowly focused strategy. It exists as a shadow state, a global terrorist network and a broad ideological movement. Destroying the shadow state in the Middle East will not eliminate the network or the ideology. In fact, the spate of terrorist attacks in Europe that began last Fall correlate fairly closely with ISIS reversals in Syria and Iraq. The more the U.S. and its allies squeeze the Islamic State at home, the more it lashes out abroad. As was the case with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, foreign Mujahedeen are returning to their countries of origin to continue the struggle. Defeating ISIS requires a comprehensive, long haul strategy that combats the threat at all levels. Military force plays a role but it must be employed carefully. Invading Iraq helped to create the problem; invading Syria will hardly fix it. Focused airstrikes, direct action by Special Forces and assistance to regional allies is producing results and with fewer adverse effects than would an increased U.S. presence in the Middle East. Countering radicalization and degrading the ISIS network is just as important as attacking the parent organization and requires painstaking efforts by law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world. There are no easy answers to difficult questions, no quick fixes to complex problems. So when voters go to the poles in November, they should keep in mind the old German saying, "fear is a bad counselor." The Germans certainly understand better than any other people on earth how dangerous it is when leaders manipulate fear to gain power. 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. Page Content Montreal and Kuala Lumpur, 27 July 2016 The focus of ICAOs efforts with the World Customs Organization (WCO) is shifting from the creation of an effective regulatory framework, and evolving toward the fostering of best practices in operations and the provision of assistance to States, ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu told ministerial and industry leaders at a conference on the subject in Kuala Lumpur today. His keynote address at the ICAO-WCO Joint Conference on Enhancing Air Cargo Security and Facilitation: The Path to Effective Implementation, the third to be organized by the two organizations, also highlighted that much progress had been made in conceiving and aligning policies and tools and raising awareness amongst States, industry, and other stakeholders, putting ICAO-WCO cooperation on very firm footing moving forward. We now have in place new provisions for supply chain security, high risk cargo, transfer cargo, and the selection of appropriate screening methods, and efforts are continuing to align these rules and guidance with WCOs related provisions, Dr. Aliu said, underscoring that ICAO and the WCO must do everything they can to prevent the severe delays, disruptions and financial losses which can arise due to lapses in air cargo security. We are here today in order to support a vital and progressive air cargo industry. Above all, this means achieving the right balance between security and facilitation, he stressed. The global economy and the livelihoods of a large percentage of the worlds population depend on the rapid and reliable transport of air cargo. Improving connectivity is a great catalyst for development, and helps to open up new markets, generate commercial expansion, create jobs and raise living standards. ICAO will therefore continue to be in the forefront of air cargo development, protection, and promotion. President Aliu was joined in Malaysia by ICAO Secretary General, Dr. Fang Liu, who participated in the main panel discussion of the Conference. Both senior ICAO officials emphasized that the focus must now be on ensuring new regulations are implemented to the fullest extent possible, notably through on-going support from ICAO. In her later panel presentation, Dr. Liu highlighted the role that ICAO can play in generating the political will amongst States to deploy the necessary structures and resources to contribute to the efficiency of the air cargo industry, including compliance monitoring, through its outreach initiatives and its auditing system. We must also set out clear rules and guidance in National Civil Aviation Security Programmes. ICAO can also assist here, through our assistance to regulatory oversight system , as well as training and capacity building activities, she added, noting that ICAO can also assist States as they review their physical infrastructure, some of which predates current concerns, and IT infrastructure, which is a risk factor given the increasing sophistication of terrorist operations. Dr. Liu also highlighted the value of coordination in realizing a truly secure and efficient cargo supply chain. It can only be achieved through a coordinated global, regional and national approach, she declared, calling for groups of neighboring States such as those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to consult and work more closely while involving suitable industry groups. The same holds true for applicable Ministries within individual State governments, and for international bodies such as ICAO and the WCO, she said. President Aliu further stressed that We will explore ways of further strengthening the supply chain, encourage innovations in screening procedures and equipment, and do all that we can to support the move to electronic documentation and communication. Meanwhile, lets make sure that the current rules are working in all 191 Member States, and that the officials in those States are working with their regional or national counterparts in the 180 Members of the WCO. Resources for Editors About the Third ICAO-WCO Joint Conference on Enhancing Air Cargo Security And Facilitation Hosted by the Government of Malaysias Ministry of Transport and Royal Malaysian Customs Department, the Third ICAO-WCO Joint Conference on Enhancing Air Cargo Security And Facilitation is taking place in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 28 July 2016. The Conference, which will include panel discussions and information sessions, will consider recent collaborative efforts between aviation security and Customs authorities in the field of air cargo and convey best practice information on implementation of the latest regulatory changes. It will provide insight into ICAO-WCO collaborative endeavours which are designed to strengthen air cargo security while facilitating the international flow of goods. About ICAO A specialized agency of the United Nations, ICAO was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency, capacity and environmental protection, amongst many other priorities. The Organization serves as the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 191 Member States. Contacts Page Content ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu is welcomed by H.E. President Obiang Nguema of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, while in Malabo on 28 June during ICAOs Third AFI Aviation Week. Dr. Liu commended Equatorial Guinea for its significant progress in improving its effective implementation (EI) of ICAO Safety Oversight provisions, while President Obiang committed to achieving a higher level of compliance with ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) with ICAOs assistance. The President also confirmed his State would consider a contribution to the ICAO Voluntary Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), which supports civil aviation capacity-building in African States. He further supported the view that civil aviation is a key driver for social and economic development, and noted his States willingness to cooperate more closely with ICAO on aviation Safety, Security and other aviation development projects. Page Content ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu addresses the opening session of ICAOs 2016 AFI Aviation Week in Malabo. MONTREAL AND MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, 5 JULY 2016 Significant contributions towards safe and secure air transport and the prosperity and sustainability of African communities could be achieved if sufficient investment is made towards the development of Africas civil aviation capacities, including infrastructure and skilled human resources, remarked ICAOs Secretary General during the Third ICAO Africa and Indian Ocean (AFI) Aviation Week in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, which concluded last week. I am a firm believer in partnerships, and Africa is one of aviations greatest examples today of what cooperation and commitment can deliver in terms of concrete civil aviation progress, Dr. Liu highlighted. ICAO has been working very hard to foster this type of cooperation in every world region, and we are tremendously grateful that these comprehensive AFI Week events have now established themselves as an essential instrument for Africa-wide civil aviation progress. The 2016 AFI Aviation Week was hosted by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, at the African Union Conference Center in Malabo. The wide ranging series of events convened included: the Third Africa-Indian Ocean (AFI) Aviation Safety and Security Symposium; the Second Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) for Africa Meeting; the Seventeenth Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa (AFI Plan) Steering Committee Meeting; and the Third Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Security and Facilitation in Africa (AFI SECFAL Plan) Steering Committee Meeting. A key agenda item saw the many senior officials in attendance taking stock of the progress and status of regional safety targets, set by the African Ministers of Transport in 2012. Respective participants also reviewed the status of implementation of ongoing initiatives and plans guiding effective cooperation on aviation safety, security and human resources development, discussed the related outcomes from recent African high-level meetings and Declarations, and heard proposals on how the specific work programmes under each area could be further improved in light of latest data and developments. The successful implementation of current Safety and Security priorities are directly linked to States having the necessary human resources at their disposal, inclusive of the required qualifications, competencies and experience to address their responsibilities, Dr. Liu noted. These issues are particularly crucial for African States which are now experiencing significant traffic growth, whether due to increased international or domestic operations. Dr. Liu recognized some key States which have been important early contributors and champions regarding the ICAO Human Resources Development Fund, and she also took time to highlight how valuable ICAOs many partnerships on the African continent have been to the achievement of practical and sustainable civil aviation development, commenting that in supporting African States to meet their obligations under the Chicago Convention, the African Union Commission and the AU specialized agency, the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), as well as Regional Economic Communities, are sparing no effort as we continue to jointly assist national governments in meeting global and regional targets in line with ICAOs Strategic Objectives. Their support and collaboration are greatly appreciated. The AFI Aviation Week setting also provided ICAO with an opportunity to congratulate representatives of several States present, for their improved level of compliance with ICAOs Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). We are seeing an increasing number of States with ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme Effective Implementation rates over 60 percent, and a diminishing number of outstanding Significant Safety Concerns. These are indeed very positive trends, but they must continue to be improved upon, Dr Liu said. Since taking office, Secretary General Liu has been advocating tirelessly with ICAO Member States, UN system agencies, the donor community, and all relevant stakeholders, on aviations relationship to successful sustainable development planning and the attainment of the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Effectively resourced and administered civil aviation systems in States are essential to establishing air transports global connectivity, which in turn serves as a key catalyst for sustainable economic and social development, she commented, adding that a fundamental prerequisite for gaining access to air transports global connectivity and opening up access to international markets and trade flows is a safe and secure air transport system through effectively implementing SARPs and policies. As part of the events, the Steering Committees of the AFI Plan and AFI SECFAL Plan adopted a project- based approach to implementation of these plans and endorsed the outcomes of the Third AFI Week Symposia for the enhancement of aviation safety as well as security and facilitation in Africa. During Dr. Lius courtesy call to President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the Head of State of Equatorial Guinea pledged to make a financial contribution of $200,000 to the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) for the African civil aviation sector. Side meetings were held with various States on on-going ICAO assistance activities aimed at improving safety and security oversight. The occasion was also used to release the Second Edition of the Annual Safety Report of the RASG-AFI; signing of the project document for membership of the African Flight Procedure Programmes (AFPP) by two States aimed at fostering PBN implementation; and of an ICAO Technical Cooperation Bureau project agreement on safety and security assistance with Equatorial Guinea. ICAOs 2016 AFI Aviation Week attracted over 200 participants from 35 States and 25 international and regional organizations. Resources for editors Third ICAO Africa and Indian Ocean (AFI) Aviation Week ICAOs and Aviations Contributions to the UN SDGs ICAOs No Country Left Behind initiative Contact: Page Content ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu was received by South Africas Minister of Transport, the Honourable Ms. Dipuo Peters. Dr. Liu held fruitful discussions with Minister Peters during her visit. The main topics discussed included the importance of safe and secure civil aviation as a key enabler for South African economic development, the States continued civil aviation leadership on the continent and its potential, under ICAOs ongoing No Country Left Behind initiative, to assist neighbouring States in attaining similar levels of effective implementation of ICAO Standards and Policies, as well as efforts to better promote womens empowerment in civil aviation and the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) programme. Dr. Liu also held productive discussions with the Chairman of the Board of South Africa Civil Aviation, Mr. Smunda Mokoena, the Director of the South African CAA, Ms. Poppy Khoza, and the acting Deputy Director General of the Department of Transport, Mr. Johan Bierman. Additional meetings saw Dr. Liu sharing views with the CEOs of Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) and the Airports Company South Africa and other industry leaders, and with members of South Africas Women in Aviation Association. Dr. Liu was accompanied throughout her visit by the Representative of South Africa to the ICAO Council, Mr. Tshepo Peege, and by ICAOs Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAF) Office Regional Director, Mr. Barry Kashambo. iciHaiti - Economy : ADIH discusses smuggling with Privert This week at the National Palace, the de facto President Jocelerme Privert, accompanied by Yves Romain Bastien, Minister of Economy and Finance, met with members of the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH) on smuggling issue. The opportunity for members of ADIH to recall the damage caused by smuggling in the Haitian economy and express their dissatisfaction with the inefficiency of border surveillance. To remedy ADIH proposes to increase the number of police and customs officers at the border; to revitalize the control of goods warehouses; reactivate the notice of prohibition on the import of plates in "Foam" and regularly operate customs staff rotations operating in the different border posts. The smuggling Task Force should meet soon in view of the possible implementation of these proposals and the taking of other measures to combat smuggling in Haiti... IH/ iciHaiti Governor Brown Issues Statement on Death of San Diego Police Officer Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued the following statement regarding the death of San Diego Police Department Officer Jonathan Deguzman: Anne and I were deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Officer Jonathan DeGuzman, who was shot and killed in the line of duty. Each day officers risk their lives to keep our communities safe and Officer DeGuzmans brave service and sacrifice will not be forgotten. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Officer DeGuzmans family and friends, members of the San Diego Police Department and all law enforcement mourning the loss of this dedicated public servant. Officer DeGuzman, 43, was fatally shot yesterday evening during a traffic stop in San Diego. San Diego Police Department Officer Wade Irwin was seriously injured during the stop and is recovering. Officer DeGuzman served as a member of the San Diego Police Department for 16 years and was assigned to the gang suppression unit. He is survived by his wife and two children. In honor of Officer DeGuzman, Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff. San Diego Zoo Celebrates Giant Panda Xiao Liwus Fourth Birthday San Diego, California - This morning (July 29, 2016), giant panda Xiao Liwus exhibit at the San Diego Zoo was filled with decorated gift boxes and treats, in celebration of his fourth birthday. Volunteers painted and embellished the gift boxes, and keepers filled them with various enrichment itemsincluding wood wool, alfalfa and burlap sacks covered in cinnamonand some boxes were just filled with more boxes. Keepers also created a ice cake, flavored with strawberry-kiwi and fruit punch drink mix, and pureed yams, carrots, apples and honey. His cake was topped with apples and four bamboo sticks that resembled candles. Xiao Liwu (pronounced sshyaoww lee woo), also known as Mr. Wu to his keepers and fans, is the sixth panda born at the San Diego Zoo. He is the sixth cub born to mother Bai Yun and the fifth cub fathered by male Gao Gao. His party was witnessed by dozens of early morning guests at the San Diego Zoo, and it was also viewable to people worldwide via the Zoos online Panda Cam, at zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/panda-cam. In the past year, Xiao Liwu has gained more weight and now weighs 160 poundsthe same as his father. The birthday gifts he received today are part of the enrichment that the bear gets on a regular basis to keep the animal active and stimulated, and to encourage natural behaviors like foraging. The San Diego Zoo is home to three giant pandas, on loan from the Peoples Republic of China for conservation studies of this endangered species. Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is inspiring children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in childrens hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global. Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Urges Federal Courts to Protect Transgender Individuals From Discrimination Los Angeles, California - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined friend-of-the-court briefs in two cases supporting transgender rights. The briefs challenge a recently passed state law denying transgender people access to single-sex bathrooms and similar facilities in schools and workplaces consistent with their gender identity, and support the United States in efforts to ensure that transgender individuals are protected against discriminatory practices that threaten their privacy and public safety. California joined nine other states (New York, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont) and the District of Columbia in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina in United States v. North Carolina and Carcano v. McCrory, supporting the United States and the private plaintiffs in these two related cases challenging North Carolinas H.B. 2, the so-called bathroom bill. Attorney General Harris also joined 11 states (Washington, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont) and the District of Columbia in filing an amicus brief in State of Texas v. United States, pending in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, to support the United States guidance that discrimination based on gender identity constitutes unlawful discrimination based on sex and that schools risk losing Title IX-linked funding unless they permit students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity. This bigoted and discriminatory law targeting transgender individuals is a dangerous step backwards in the long march toward equality for all Americans, said Attorney General Harris. I urge the courts to strike down hateful and degrading laws that perpetuate fear and intolerance and to uphold policieslike those in Californiathat protect transgender people from discrimination. I will continue to fight for LGBTQ communities to live free from prejudice. The amicus brief in the North Carolina cases argues that H.B. 2 undermines public safety by encroaching on transgender persons civil rights often relying on invidious stereotypes and exposing vulnerable people to hostile situations. Likewise, the brief submitted in Texas asserts that anti-discrimination laws, like those adopted in California, have enhanced public safety, not detracted from it. For example, California schools are required by state law to permit students to use single-sex facilities consistent with their gender identity. Los Angeles Unified School District (USD), San Francisco USD, Sacramento City USD, and Riverside USD have had similar policies in place for many years to protect the rights of transgender students and none of these school districts have reported any incidents or problems with the policies. Attorney General Harris has a longstanding commitment to ensuring every citizen, including LGBTQ Americans, are afforded equal treatment under the law. In 2014, Attorney General Harris sponsored AB 2501 (D-Bonilla) to outlaw the gay/transgender panic defense. She has filed multiple amicus briefs defending same-sex couples constitutional right to marry. In 2013, Attorney General Harris declined to defend Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure that would have outlawed same-sex marriage in California. When the U.S. Supreme Court issued a historic opinion in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which overturned the Proposition 8 ballot initiative, Attorney General Harris declared that every county in the State of California must recognize same-sex couples right to legally marry. Its Time to Fill the Vacancy on the Supreme Court Washington, DC - In this week's address, retired Federal Judge Timothy Lewis joined Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Vice President talked about his experience as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which every nominee got a hearing and an up or down vote on the Senate floor. Despite having more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history, Chief Judge Garlands nomination has now been pending longer than any other Supreme Court nominee who wasnt withdrawn from consideration. Judge Lewis emphasized that this lack of action is preventing the Supreme Court from fulfilling its duty of interpreting the law and resolving conflicts in the lower courts. The Vice President made clear that for the sake of our Nation, everyone must do their job. That's why the President did his job by nominating Chief Judge Merrick Garland. Now, it's time for the Senate Republicans to do their job. Remarks of Vice President Joe Biden and Retired Federal Judge Timothy Lewis as Prepared for Delivery Weekly Address The White House July 30, 2016 THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hi, folks. Joe Biden here and Im sitting with Tim Lewis, a retired federal judge who was nominated to the bench by a Republican President and confirmed by a Democratic Senatewithin four weeks of a presidential election. JUDGE LEWIS: Hello, everyone. Thats right. And Im living proof that President Obamas nominee to the Supreme CourtChief Judge Merrick Garlanddeserves similar consideration by todays Senate. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Not only because Merrick Garland is recognizedwithout exceptionby the right and the left as one of Americas sharpest legal minds and a model of integrity. JUDGE LEWIS: But also because thats what the Constitution requires. The sitting President shallnot maybut shall nominate someone to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, with the advice and consent of the Senate. That includes consulting and voting. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Heres how it works. For 17 years, I was chairman or ranking member of Senate Judiciary Committee, which overseas nominations to the Court. I presided over nine total nominationsmore than anyone alive. Some I supported. Others I didnt. But every nominee was greeted by committee members. Every nominee got a committee hearing. Every nominee got out of the committee to the Senate floor, even when a nominee did not receive majority support in my committee. And every nominee, including Justice Kennedyin an election yeargot an up or down vote by the Senate. Not much of the time. Not most of the time. Every single time. Thats the Constitutions clear rule of Advice and Consent. And thats the rule being violated today by Senate Republicans. Nobody is suggesting that Senators have to vote yes on a nominee. Voting no is always an option. But saying nothing, seeing nothing, reading nothing, hearing nothing, and deciding in advance simply to turn your backsis not an option the Constitution leaves open. JUDGE LEWIS: And it has real consequences for all of us. In the four months since Merrick Garlands nomination, weve already seen how the Senates refusal to act is preventing the Court from fulfilling its duty of interpreting what the law is and resolving conflicts in lower courts. Historic obstruction is leading to greater litigation costs and delaysthe burden falling mostly on average Americans rather than corporations with endless resources. Unresolved decisions by the Supreme Court are leading to federal laws that should apply to the whole country being constitutional in some parts but unconstitutional in others. If this continues, our freedom of speech, our freedom to practice our faith, our right to vote, our right to privacyall could depend on where we happen to live. THE VICE PRESIDENT: And the longer the vacancy remains unfilled, the more serious the problemwith greater confusion and uncertainty about our safety and security. If you have eight Justices on a case, Justice Scalia himself wrote, that it raises the, possibility that, by reason of a tie vote, the Court will find itself unable to resolve the significant legal issue presented by the case. And if Republican Senators fail to act, it could be an entire year before a fully staffed Supreme Court can resolve any significant issue before it. Folks, theres enough dysfunction in Washington, D.C. Now is not the time for it to spread to the Supreme Court. JUDGE LEWIS: And were better than what were seeing. As a country, were only as strong as the traditions we valuethat we sustain by dedicating ourselves to something bigger than ourselves. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Folks, the defining difference of our great democracy has always been that we can reason our way through to what ails us and then act as citizens, voters, and public servants to fix it. But we have to act in good faith. For unless we find common ground, we cannot govern. For the sake of the country we lovewe all have to do our job. The President has done his. Senate Republicans must do theirs. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. With Just a Hammer and Glass Frame, Artist Creates Dazzling Piece of Sculpture 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 }} The Minnesota judge presiding over Princes estate has narrowed down the pool of potential heirs to six. On Friday, Carver County Judge Kevin Eide threw out individual claims for nearly 30 others who claimed to be heirs. He also ordered genetic testing to be conducted on six others: four of Princes siblings Tyka Nelson, Sharon Nelson, Norrine Nelson and John Nelson will be vetted along with two of his potential nieces Brianna Nelson and Victoria Nelson. Prince died of a prescription drug overdose on April 21, and his estate will be distributed by the courts because the artist has no known will. Judge Eide decided in may that he would use DNA testing as a deciding factor to exclude false heirs from the estate. The testing has already denied one prison inmate in Colorado who claimed to be his son, the Star Tribune in Minnesota reports. 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 }} David Bowies last ever UK performance took place at the Royal Albert Hall in 2006. He appeared on stage for 15 minutes as the guest of Dave Gilmour, frontman of Pink Floyd, to sing Comfortably Numb and Arnold Lane. He would only appear in public a few times after that, surprising people at charity benefits and other people's shows. With the release of The Next Day in 2013 and his final album Blackstar, two days before his death from cancer in January, he stage-managed himself out of the world, becoming a mythical figure in the eyes of his fans even before he was gone. The BBC went hard on Bowies death. BBC 6Music held a day of special broadcasts. BBC2 changed its scheduling. Plans for the Bowie prom must have got underway not long afterwards. Stargaze, an orchestral collective known for their work with pop artists like Owen Pallett and Villagers, were asked to turn Bowies oeuvre into the stuff of proms. Recommended Read more David Bowie musical Lazarus coming to London They start standing in the round at the Royal Albert Hall, playing the brooding Warszawa from Low. Warszawa was conceived by Brian Eno to invoke the desolation of Warsaw at the time of Bowie's visit in 1973. While the ensemble play, Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy enters the stage as Stargaze segue into Station to Station. Amanda Palmer from Dresden Dolls stands behind him on backing vocals. Palmer dispels the somber atmosphere after the song. "The most important thing is that this is not a wake. This is an artful celebration of some of the most beautiful music in the world," she tells the audience, who applaud from the many corners of the venue. Laura Mvula and Paul Buchanan duetted on Girl Loves Me from Bowie's final album, Blackstar (BBC/Mark Allan) It never really gets dark in the Hall. Rather ambient lights drench the tiers of spectators in pinks and blues, breaking the fourth wall. This is a receptive crowd, whooping just as much for Elf Kid, a Lewisham grime artist, as Radio 2 darling Laura Mvula. The former raps over This is Not America, a song Bowie wrote for a film, The Falcon and the Snowman. Mvula does Fame. People are clapping along before she even starts singing. Legendary Velvet Underground veteran John Cale was the last performer to take the stage (BBC/Mark Allan) Think of David Bowie's best orchestral work and it won't take you long to get to Life on Mars, with its furious string passages and ecstatic cello bassline. The Scottish composer Anna Meredith turns the original arrangement on its head for the Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond. He nails the vocal, spreading his arms wide for the high notes. When it's time for the orchestral interlude, all the notes are turned upside down, quietly crashing into one another in the most breathtaking way, until the verse starts up again. It could be disappointing, instead it's a triumph of reinvention. Bowie's UK number ones Stargaze director Andre de Ridder told the BBC he was a bit nervous before the concert, the first prom to be streamed live on BBC Four, Radio 3 and 6Music. "I hope were not overwhelmed!" In the end they are somewhat by John Cale's Space Oddity, which turns out dirge-like for the addition of the house gospel choir. The nimble arrangements cannot survive the number of people onstage. Amanda Palmer even brings our her baby for After All, a nightmarish fan favourite from The Man Who Sold The World, which despite best efforts becomes funereal. Some of the excitement is lost. But there will be plenty here for the BBC to cut and play out on the radio over the weeks that follow, keeping alive the myth of Bowie that was started by the man himself. Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases 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 IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Some of the world's most acclaimed Michelin-starred chefs are descending on London, opening up new outposts of their esteemed world-class restaurants. Here are the top five due to open in the next few months. Chef Eneko Atxa's Basque themed restaurant opens in September Eneko At One Aldwych Michelin-Starred Eneko Atxa of Azurmendi is to open a Basque Restaurant at One Aldwych Hotel. Enekos Azurmendi is currently ranked number 16 in The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants and his Bistro Pret A Porter has a Michelin Bib Gourmand. It will feature his inventive interpretation of traditional Basque country cuisine, inspired by his three Michelin-starred Azurmendi (in Bilbao) but delivered in a relaxed and friendly fashion offering an unpretentious modern take on rustic Basque cuisine. Discover a relaxed, warm and inviting space inspired on the Basque region, design by celebrated firm Casson Mann with many materials sourced from craftsmen in the Basque region. It will officially launch on 1 September with a soft opening throughout August when you can enjoy 50 per cent off food. From autumn, Mayfair will be home to the southern Japanese restaurant Sakagura Sakagura Due to open in autumn 2016 in Mayfair, Sakagura is the first joint venture between the Japan Centre Group, Gekkeikan (holders of a Japanese Royal Warrant for sake), Japanese plum wine brand Choya plus Michelin-starred restaurant The Araki. The menu, created by Shoryu Ramen executive chef Kanji Furukawa, is based on southern Japanese recipes, or washoku, meaning the food of Japan. Dishes include hakata yakitori (grilled skewers), handmade udon and soba noodles and freshly made sushi. Dinners can enjoy a range of handpicked sake by the on-site sommelier, as well as sake cocktails devised by expert Japanese mixologists. With a modern Japanese feel, which includes a dedicated sake bar, the restaurant comprises a theatrical robata grill and open-plan kitchen. You will also be able to watch as the chefs cook, and then have you food served at the traditional wooden kappo counter. Street XO Madrid chef David Munoz (of Hakkasaan and Nobu) is set to open StreetXo, his first venture outside his homeland, behind the success of his three Michelin starred restaurant, DiverXo (in his native Madrid). Serving street-food inspired by his travels in South East Asia, this Mayfair eatery (planned to open in October) features a central kitchen with no waiters or sommeliers allowing diners to interact directly with the chefs. The site (with graffiti-covered walls) will have a large U-shaped bar with two kitchen islands and a trolley that is wheeled through the restaurant showcasing one-off culinary creations. The (continually-changing) menu features 12-14 dishes but Munoz insists its not Asian food, its not fusion food, its just food but in an informal way. The design is open and airy, and the bar has an extensive and innovative cocktail list. Munoz will also open a restaurant in New York later this year. Opening on 1 Carlton Street is the Nordic themed Aquavit Aquavit This winter, the renowned New York Nordic restaurant, Aquavit, will open in the stunning new St. Jamess Market redevelopment on 1 Carlton Street. The restaurant will offer all-day dining, showcasing the very best of contemporary Nordic cuisine and design. The menu will be overseen by Emma Bengtsson, Executive Chef of the two Michelin-starred Aquavit New York, and will be executed by Head Chef Henrik Ritzen (formerly of The Dover Street Arts Club, La Petite Maison and Lutyens). Taking its inspiration from New York, but with a more relaxed and informal setting, Aquavit London will deliver an authentic, contemporary take on Nordic dining serving Scandi-inspired dishes using locally-sourced ingredients and a menu which will constantly evolve in tune with the changing seasons. The expansive dining space is designed to showcase celebrated Nordic designers in an informal environment overseen by the design studio of Swedish-born Martin Brudnizki, whose portfolio includes The Ivy, Scotts and Sexy Fish Aquavit London will have a laid-back feel. An original, wall-mounted textile designed by Olafur Eliasson will be a centrepiece, alongside silverware from Georg Jensen, uniforms by Swedish clothing company, Filippa K, and furnishings designed by Svensk Tenn. Chef Anne-Sophie Pic will open her first restaurant in the UK with La Dame du Pic La Dame du Pic Located at Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square, La Dame de Pic is set to be a vibrant new destination for gourmands in the capital, and showcase Chef Pics creative French cuisine in a classic English environment. Famed for being the only current French female chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, Chef Anne-Sophie Pic began her culinary career in her familys restaurant, Maison Pic in Valence, south-eastern France. Since then she has gone on to open restaurants in Lausanne, Switzerland and Paris, garnering awards and accolades along the way. La Dame de Pic at Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square will be her first restaurant in the UK. At the heart of this spectacular location (opening in December), La Dame de Pic will give a nod to the historical Parisian brassieres but in a dining room that is classically English designed by Bruno Moinard of Paris-based architects 4BI. The restaurant is set to be an impressive yet relaxing space featuring natural wood flooring, carved woodwork, curved leather banquettes, and columns covered with bevelled mirrors. A private wine cellar and private dining room sit alongside the main dining room. Known for continually revisiting ingredients and exploring unusual cooking methods, Chef Pic will be showcasing her distinct culinary identity rich in powerful and unexpected flavour combinations using only seasonal and local ingredients. For more urban news, visit urbanologie.com Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases 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 IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} After reaching the final of the BBC's baking programme aged just 20, Ruby Tandoh offers up her second cookbook, following Crumb. Reflecting the way we cook, the book is separated by ingredients, from lentils and pulses to citrus, spice and sugar, which is designed to help you follow your cravings (or cook with what is in the fridge) and create the best possible flavours while doing so. Ruby also explains the best way to cook each of her key ingredients, including when they are in season and what to pair it with. Recommended Read more Recipes from the Basque country Focusing on flavour and freedom, her recipes include Ghanaian peanut chicken, glazed blueberry fritter doughnuts, and hot and sour lentil soup. Flavour was published on 17 July, and Ruby is currently travelling around Italy. Carrot and feta bites with lime yoghurt Makes 16, serving 4 4 large carrots (roughly 600g/21oz total) tsp salt 6 spring onions, thinly sliced 150g (5oz) feta, crumbled into small chunks Zest of 2 limes 4 tbsp plain flour 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander Small handful of parsley, finely chopped 2 large eggs Vegetable oil, for frying For the dipping sauce: 150g (5oz) natural yoghurt Juice of 1 lime Small handful of parsley, finely chopped Salt and black pepper, to taste These are something like vegetarian meatballs: little bites of carrot married with the heat of spring onion, spice and plenty of tasty feta. A lime yoghurt dip does a good job of cooling the saltiness of the cheese and brightening the flavour of the carrot bites with a zesty, sour zing. Take care not to rush or skip the salting and draining of the grated carrot, as its this stage that draws out the moisture so that the little veg bites hold together without sogginess. Coarsely grate the carrots and mix with the salt in a large bowl (it sounds like a lot of salt, but its just there to draw the moisture out of the carrots, and most of it will be lost). Let the salted carrot sit for 10 minutes, then squeeze it out either in your hands or through a muslin cloth or tea towel removing as much of the liquid as you can. Food and drink news Show all 35 1 /35 Food and drink news Food and drink news Healthy living makes us more inclined to binge, research suggests Gluten-free breads, dairy-free milks and other plant-based products have been some of the most favoured foods in British supermarkets this year. However, while were busy filling our shopping trolleys with gluten-free goodness, were also jamming it with junk food and alcohol, new research suggests Getty/iStock Food and drink news Growing list of Vegan celebs Making the switch to veganism is a major lifestyle choice, one that many claim can improve energy levels, lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and clear up any skin issues. Beyonce, Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain are among the growing list of Hollywood stars who have eschewed animal products from their diets in recent years. Theres also been an increasing number of professional athletes who have gone vegan, such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and David Haye, thus debunking the myth that following a plant-based diet will leave you feeling weak and malnourished. AFP/Getty/NARAS/iHeartMedia Food and drink news McDonald's has announced the launch of a new vegan burger on its menu in Germany This will mark the first time the German franchise of the fast food chain has offered a vegan burger to its customers. The Big Vegan TS burger consists of a patty made from soy and wheat. It is served in a classic sesame seed bun, and contains salad, tomato, pickles and red onion. McDonald's Germany Food and drink news Drinking too many protein shakes could lead to an increased risk of obesity and a reduced lifespan, a new study has claimed Researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre carried out an investigation to determine the impact excessive consumption of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) has on the body. BCAA supplements are often consumed in the form of powder, which is then added to water to make a shake. Published in journal Nature Metabolism, the study found that while BCAAs help to build muscle, they can also negatively impact an individual's temperament, cause weight gain and lead to a shortened lifespan Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Britain consumes more chocolate than any other country Most people love chocolate but it turns out no one does more than the Brits with the average Brit found to have consumed 8.4 kg of chocolate in 2017, according to new data. Chocolate consumption around the world is on the rise, according to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), which found that in the past year alone, Easter chocolate production has risen by 23 per cent Food and drink news 'Easter eggs should be banned for children under four' Dr Becky Spelman, chief psychologist at Harley Streets Private Therapy Clinic, is calling for Easter eggs to be banned for consumption for children under the age of four, claiming that giving them the opportunity to binge on chocolate so young will give them an unhealthy relationship with food later on. "This is a nightmare situation for parents of this generation as they have no idea how to teach their children to delay their response to cravings, she said, explaining that too many young kids binge on these chocolates because their parents dont know how to stop them. "Once a child starts overeating behaviour at a young age its very hard to turn things around for them in terms of food and their eating habits moving forward, leading to obesity from at very young age," she added PA Food and drink news Pineapple overtakes avocado as the UK's fastest-selling fruit According to Tesco, pineapple has overtaken avocado as the UKs fastest-selling fruit, with sales increasing by 15 per cent in 2017. In comparison, avocado sales rose by just under 10 per cent last year. The popular supermarket says the surge in popularity comes as shoppers buying the versatile fruit are beginning to use it as a main ingredient in everything from curries and barbecues, to juices and cocktails Getty Food and drink news Marks & Spencers launches stoneless avocados Rather than the result of genetic modification, the avocados are formed by an unpollinated avocado blossom. The fruit develops without a seed which in turns stops the growth, creating a small, seedless fruit. Whats more, the skin is actually edible, unlike a regular avocado. The flesh is much like that of a normal avocado - smooth and creamy, pale in colour and rich in flavour M&S Food and drink news Office teabags contain 17 times more germs than a toilet seat, reveals study The average bacterial reading of an office teabag was 3,785, in comparison to only 220 for a toilet seat. Other pieces of kitchen equipment also stacked up highly in their findings, with the bacterial readings averaging at 2,483 on kettle handles, 1,746 on the rim of a used mug and 1,592 on a fridge door handle Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New study shows drinking more coffee leads to a longer life There is good news and a final hope for coffee addicts and lovers. You will now be able to drink coffee for longer as new study shows its can lead to a prolonged life. Scientists showed that those who drank between two and four cups of coffee a day had 18% lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers. PA Food and drink news Coke Zero is replaced with Coke Zero Sugar Coca-Cola is pulling the plug on its Coke Zero. The much loved drink will be replaced with a new improved taste. The move, backed with a 10 million campaign, is said to come from Coca-Cola supporting people to reduce their sugar intake. Coca-Cola want people make this move while not sacrificing sugary taste of Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola Food and drink news Starbucks introduce new avocado spread The avocado craze has grown from hipster brunch restaurants to Starbucks. Starbucks have introduced their new avocado spread earlier this year and it has the internet in debate. Some argue that it not a spread but guacamole while others question if there is any avocado in there at all. When buying the new spread you can also buy an optional toasted bagel. It is a must try for all avocado connoisseurs. Starbucks Food and drink news New Mars chocolate bar The iconic British chocolate bar is about to get its partner in crime. The new bar, named Goodness Knows, will replace the gooey caramel goodness of the mars bar with oats. It is said to be more like a Florentine biscuit with a thin dark chocolate bottom. While being moderately healthy Mars says that is has good intentions. One pack has 154 calories and will sell for about 90p. Mars Food and drink news Wine prices could increase because of Brexit Wine lovers across the UK might soon have to shell out close to a quarter more for their favourite tipple after Brexit, as a weaker pound and sluggish economy takes its toll, a new study shows Rex Food and drink news Chocolate may be good for the heart A new study, published in the British Medical Journal: Heart, found that moderate chocolate intake can be positively associated with lessening the risk of the heart arrhythmia condition Atrial Fibrillation Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Brits throw away 1.4 million bananas each year British families are throwing away 1.4 million bananas that are perfectly good to eat every day at cost of 80m a year, new figures have shown PA/Armin Weigel Food and drink news Rosemary sales spike over exam time There has been a surge a surge in sales of the herb rosemary after a recent study found it helps improve memory. According to high street health food chain Holland & Barrett, sales of the herb have increased by 187 per cent compared to the same time last year Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Gluten-free diets 'not recommended' for people without coeliac disease Avoiding wheat, barley and rye in the belief that a gluten-free diet brings health benefits may do more harm than good, according to a team of US nutrition and medicine experts Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Starbucks launches two new coffee-based drinks Starbucks is launching two new coffee-based drinks in the UK, as it strives to tap into consumers growing appetite for healthy beverages. The Cold Brew Vanilla sweet cream and the Cappuccino Freddo, will both be available in stores throughout the UK from the start of May Twitter/@SbuxCountyHall Food and drink news Cadburys Dairy Milk Tiffin is making a permanent comeback after 80 years The Cadbury Dairy Milk Tiffin, first produced in 1937, is making a permanent comeback to the UK. The raisin and biscuit-filled chocolate bar is being launched after a successful trial last summer saw 3 million chocolate treats at the cost of 1.49 for each 95g bar- purchased by nostalgic customers Cadburys Food and drink news Pizza restaurant makes worlds cheesiest 'Scottie's Pizza Parlor' in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Facebook/Scottie's Pizza Parlor Food and drink news A pizza joint in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Why not eating before a workout could be better for your health A study published in the American Journal of Physiology by researchers at the University of Bath found you might be likely to burn more fat if you have not eaten first Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New York restaurant named best in the world A New York restaurant where an average meal for two will cost $700 has been named the best in the world. Eleven Madison Park won the accolade for the first time after debuting on the list at number 50 in 2010. The restaurant was praised for a fun sense of fine-dining, blurring the line between the kitchen and the dining room Getty Images Food and drink news Why you crave bad food when youre tired Researchers at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago recently presented their results of a study looking into the effects of sleep deprivation upon high-calorific food consumption. Researchers found that those who were sleep-deprived had specifically enhanced brain activity to the food smells compared to when they had a good nights sleep Shutterstock Food and drink news Drinking wine engages more of your brain than solving maths problems Drinking wine is the ideal workout for your brain, engaging more parts of our grey matter than any other human behaviour, according to a leading neuroscientist. Dr Gordon Shepherd, from the Yale School of Medicine, said sniffing and analysing a wine before drinking it requires exquisite control of one of the biggest muscles in the body Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news British dessert eating surges after people ditch healthy eating in February : In heartening news for anyone feeling guilty about quitting their New Year diet, it seems lots of us have given in to our sweet tooths once again. New data from nationwide food-delivery service Deliveroo reveals there was a surge in Brits ordering desserts in February compared to the first month of 2017 Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news US congress debates definition of milk alternatives A new bill has been created that seeks to ban dairy alternatives from using the term milk. Titled the DAIRY PRIDE Act, the name is a tenuous acronym for defending against imitations and replacements of yogurt, milk, and cheese to promote regular intake of dairy every day. It argues that the dairy industry is struggling as a result of all the dairy-free alternatives on the market and the public are being duped too Getty Images Food and drink news Cadburys launches two new chocolate bars UK confectionary giant Cadbury has launched two new chocolate bars, hoping to lure those with a sweet tooth and perhaps help combat some of the challenges it faces from rising commodity prices and a post-Brexit slump in the value of the pound.The companys new products will be peanut butter and mint flavoured. They will be available in most major super markets as 120g bars, priced at 1.49, according to the company Cadburys Food and drink news You can now get a job as a professional chocolate eater The company responsible for some of your favourite chocolate brands think Cadbury, Milks, Prince and Oreo have officially announced an opening to join their team as a professional chocolate taster. The successful candidate will help them to test, perfect and launch new products all over the world. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news MSG additive used in Chinese food is actually good for you, scientist claims For years, weve been told MSG (the sodium salt of glutamic acid) - often associated with cheap Chinese takeaways - is awful for our health and to be avoided at all costs. But one scientist argues it should be used as a supersalt and encourages adding it to food. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Lettuce prices are rising Not only are lettuces becoming an increasingly rare commodity in supermarkets, but prices for the leafy vegetables seem to be rising too. According to the weekly report from the Governments Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a pair of Little Gem lettuces had an average market price of 0.86 in the week that ended on Friday, up from an average of 0.56 in the previous week thats an almost 54 per cent increase. Getty Images Food and drink news Do-It-Yourself restaurant To encourage more people to cook and eat together, IKEA has launched The Dining Club in Shoreditch a fully immersive Do-It-Yourself restaurant . Members of the public can book to host a brunch, lunch or dinner party for up to 20 friends and family. Supported by their very own sous chef and maitre de, the host and their guests will orchestrate an intimate dining experience where cooking together is celebrated and eating together is inspirational Mikael Buck / IKEA Food and drink news Ping Pong menu with a twist Gatwick Airport has teamed up with London dim sum restaurant Ping Pong to create a limited edition menu with a distinctly British twist; including a Full English Bao and Beef Wellington Puff, to celebrate the launch of the airports new route to Hong Kong Food and drink news Zizzi unveil the Maamgharita Unique pizza art has been created by Zizzi in celebration of the Queens 90th birthday. The pizza features the queen in an iconic pose illustrated with fresh and tasty Italian ingredients on a backdrop of the Union Jack Food and drink news Blue potatoes make a comeback Blue potatoes, once a staple part of British potato crops, are back on the menu thanks to a Cambridge scientist turned-organic farmer and Farmdrop, an online marketplace that lets people buy direct from local farms. Cambridge PhD graduate-turned farmer, Adrian Izzard has used traditional growing techniques at Wild Country Organics to produce the colourful spuds, packed with healthy cell-protecting anthocyanin, which had previously disappeared from UK plates when post-war farmers were pushed towards higher-yielding varieties Stir the onions, feta, lime zest, flour, spices and parsley into the drained carrot. Whisk the eggs lightly together then add them to the mix. If the mixture is too dry to just about hold together in balls when you squeeze it in between your palms, add a drop of milk or water; if its too wet, add another tablespoon of flour. Heat a little oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Divide the carrot mixture into 16 portions, shaping each little mound into a rough rugby ball shape using your hands. Working in batches, fry over a medium heat for around 4 minutes, giving them a quarter turn every minute, until theyre nicely browned and set on all sides. For the dipping sauce, mix the yoghurt, lime juice and parsley with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Serve with the carrot bites while theyre hot. Rosemary and Olive Hake with Cherry Tomatoes Serves 4 75ml (3fl oz) olive oil 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 4 sprigs of rosemary 1kg (2lb 2oz) cherry tomatoes 125g (4oz) Kalamata olives, pitted and halved 4 skinless and boneless hake fillets (you can also use cod) Salt and black pepper, to taste This dish shows that with a little time and some careful cooking, you can turn just a handful of simple ingredients into a flavourful one-pot meal. Because its braised in the sticky tomato mixture, the hake stays perfectly moist and tender, soaking up the rosemary and garlic aromas as it cooks. Serve with ciabatta to absorb the tomato juices. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. A high-sided pan will do if you dont have a frying pan large enough. Fry the garlic and whole rosemary sprigs for a minute or two, until fragrant but not browning. Add the Cherry tomatoes and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the olives, put a lid on the pan, and cook for 15 minutes more until the tomatoes are meltingly soft. Season the tomato mixture to taste then set the hake fillets in the pan, nestling them down among the veg. Put the lid back on and cook for 6-8 minutes, until the fish is cook through and flakes under a fork. Flavour: Eat What You Love, by Ruby Tandor. Published by Chatto and Windus, 20 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 jewellery expert died after being restrained by medics during a psychotic episode five weeks after giving birth, a court has heard. Alice Gibson-Watt, who appeared on the Antiques Roadshow and worked for Sothebys auction house, was taken to West Middlesex University Hospital, in west London, by ambulance after the episode and transferred to the Lakeside mental health centre on 20 November 2012, where she went into cardiac arrest. The 34-year-old from Fulham, west London, had been suffering from postnatal psychosis, which can cause hallucinations and paranoia. She had also suffered a ruptured liver, the Daily Mail reports. 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. From there, Ms Gibson-Watt was transferred to Kings College Hospital in Camberwell where she died later that day. An inquest into her death has been set for April next year to examine the way physical restraints were used on her by paramedics and the way CPR was administered. At a hearing at West London Coroners Court, a lawyer representing the family asked for an expert to examine the way medics performed CPR. The family suggest the principle purpose of the investigation is the cardiac arrest," said barrister Jonathan Holl-Allen. It seems that [an expert] can express an opinion on the role of CPR in the causation of the liver injury which was sustained. We do know its recognised that resuscitation can cause a liver injury of this nature. Senior coroner Chinyere Inyama said: "We should be hearing evidence around the restraint episodes from the London Ambulance Service and police before admission to hospital." 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 }} Cindy Gallops latest business venture has a surprising and very personal beginning. The advertising chief-turned-adult industry entrepreneur's website came as a result of having sex with younger men. Make Love Not Porn is a user-generated, crowdsourced video-sharing website curating videos of people having real world sex. The website launched in 2009 in conjunction with Gallops Ted Talk explaining the concept behind the site and how her own sexual experiences inspired its creation. Gallop underlined how younger men and women are being led to believe that real world sex should mirror hardcore porn, something she saw first hand in her own sexual encounters with younger men. Gallop told the Independent: I thought Gosh, if Im experiencing this, other people must be as well. I didnt know and Im a naturally very action-orientated person so I went I want to do something about this. Her four-minute presentation quickly became one of Ted 2009s most talked about videos, and for good reason: Im the only Ted speaker to utter the words c*m on my face on the Ted stage six times. What started as a tiny clunky website now boasts 400,000 members globally, more than 800 videos and over 100 Make Love Not Porn stars. The website revolves around a real-world concept where users can submit videos of their sexual encounters and rent videos of others. These videos are rented for a price, of which half goes back to those featured in the videos, affectionately dubbed by Gallop as Make Love Not Porn stars. The stars also pay to upload their content. The rent and stream model is adopted instead of a download one because if those in the video decide they no longer want their private home videos on the internet, Gallop says they will be immediately taken down. She describes the concept as social sex. Any videos which do not convey real world sex or videos filled with porn cliches are rejected by the websites curator. The most memorable sex scenes Show all 10 1 /10 The most memorable sex scenes The most memorable sex scenes 1. Black Swan Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) & The Black Swan (Mila Kunis): Black Swan 49% The most memorable sex scenes 2. The Notebook Noah (Ryan Gosling) & Allie (Rachel McAdams): The Notebook 42% The most memorable sex scenes 3. Brokeback Mountain Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) & Ennis (Heath Ledger): Brokeback Mountain's 39% Rex Features The most memorable sex scenes 4. Titanic Jack (Leonardo Di Caprio) & Rose (Kate Winslet): Titanic 37% The most memorable sex scenes 5. Fifty Shades of Grey Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) & Anastasia (Dakota Johnson): 50 Shades of Grey 35% The most memorable sex scenes 6. Pretty Woman Edward (Richard Gere) & Vivian (Julia Roberts): Pretty Woman 34% The most memorable sex scenes 7. Twilight Edward (Robert Pattinson) & Bella (Kristen Stewart): Twilight 30% The most memorable sex scenes 8. Fatal Attraction Dan (Michael Douglas) & Alex (Glenn Close): Fatal Attraction 28% The most memorable sex scenes 9. Secretary Edward (James Spader) & Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal): Secretary 27% The most memorable sex scenes 10. Dancing Dirty Jonny (Patrick Swayze) & Baby (Jennifer Grey): Dirty Dancing 21% Born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire to a Chinese mother and English father, Gallop is the eldest of four girls. She grew up in Brunei after moving as a child and returned to the UK to read English Literature at Somerville College, Oxford. She later embarked on a successful advertising career which saw her head up the US division of Bartle Bogle Hegarty in the 1990s. But when it came to launching Make Love Not Porn, Gallop has found herself repeatedly hitting a wall. I cant get funded, I cant get banked, I cant put payments in place. Every single tech service, hosting, coding and encrypting that we want to use, the terms of service always say: no adult content. I have to go to people at the top of the company, explain what were doing and beg to be allowed to use their service, she says. Im very vocal about the fact that every bank who refuses to bank a legal, honest, adult venture, every payment processor that refuses to process payments [] every business venture that refuses to partner [] they are directly responsible for all the bad things that happen in the adult industry. Recommended Read more How internet porn affects your romantic life When you force an entire industry into the shadows and underground, you make it a lot easier for bad things to happen and you make it a lot more difficult for good things to happen. She attributes the negative sides of pornography, including the explosive growth in extreme, violent porn, down to the lack of funding and business investment in the adult industry and warns the misogynistic aspects of porn will only disappear when dialogue around the industry is opened up and further innovation and investment are actively encouraged. Gallop also takes issue with the way all variants of porn are categorised under one big homogeneous mass and the resulting stigma that leads people to hide their porn consumption. Porn lacks socially acceptable curation and navigation, there is no Yelp of porn, she says. [There is] no Yelp because it is ok to come by the office water cooler on a Monday morning and go Im really bored of restaurants Im eating at who knows a new restaurant?. It is not ok to come in and go Im really bored of the porn Im watching, who knows some new porn? and thats a problem. The landscape of porn needs navigation especially for younger people. A number of her female pornographer friends are making really innovative, disruptive, fantastic and creative porn but not getting the traffic or income because no one can f**king find them. It is a huge mistake to think porn is all one thing and then to think its all misogynistic [] because it is not. But, again, until we open up nobody gets a chance to find that out and understand. A recent example of this, according to Gallop, was when Emma Watson called for feminist alternatives to pornography in a public discussion with Gloria Steinem earlier this year. Recommended Read more Emma Watson calls for feminist alternatives to pornography Heres the issue again, Gallop says. Because we dont talk about porn, because we dont build the Yelp of porn, Emma Watson had no idea of precisely what, by the way, she was categorically educated about on the internet. She had no idea [] [of] the vast number of feminist pornographer friends I have who are making feminist porn. She had no idea any of that existed because no one had ever told her, because no one talks about it. There is no Yelp of porn, shed never come across it. She had no way of finding her way to it. Gallop says a lot of her feminist pornographer friends felt very upset by Watsons comments. Like women in many other endeavours; journalism, publishing, advertising, film-making, television, there are a whole other host of feminists and women making amazing work, plugging away who never get showcased in mainstream media, who cant get people to come to their sites and pay them money for what theyre doing. So when Emma Watson goes, there should be this and there should be this, no wonder those women feel very, very upset. I completely empathise." Gallop has even tried to get in touch with a contact at the UN (where Watson is a GoodWill Ambassador for women) to meet the Harry Potter actress. I wrote to a friend of mine at the UN and said: If this is appropriate Id love for you to introduce me to Emma Watson because she said this and she doesnt know that for eight years I and my team at Make Love Not Porn have been tackling this issue along with a whole host of other women friends of mine." Gallop says her project is so different to porn because it is so much more than "masturbation material, and the mission of the website is bigger: to help make it easier to talk about sex. The website has aspirations for sex education forums and explainers as well as for crafted sexual content which would include produced erotica in film and art. Were not porn, were not amateur, were building a whole new category on the internet thats never previously existed: social sex, Gallop says. When I say social sex, think about all those celebrations of relationships that crop up on your Facebook timeline every day from friends: engagement announcements , wedding, lovey-dovey couple things. All were doing is providing a platform to celebrate that last area of human relationships that nobody else will let you but the motivations and social dynamics are exactly the same." 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 }} Missing actress Honeysuckle Weeks has been found "safe and well", police have confirmed. The 36-year-old, best known for her role as Samantha Stewart in the ITV wartime drama Foyle's War, went missing on Thursday night. Sussex police launched a search for her amid concerns for her welfare. But her sister Perdita Weeks said over Twitter late on Friday evening that she had been found "safe and sound", thanking those who had expressed concern. Police later confirmed the news, saying: We can confirm missing Petworh woman Honeysuckle Weeks has been found safe and well, and is with police." A police statement said Ms Weeks was found at a relatives address in London at around 7:45pm on Friday. The relative contacted police to notify them of her appearance and she remained with police until 10:45pm and was later returned to West Sussex. We're very grateful to everyone who expressed their concern for Honeysuckle and assisted in our appeal to help find her, the statement added. Weeks was last seen in Graylingwell Drive, Chichester, West Sussex, at 9pm on Thursday and was reported missing an hour later. Police said her recent behaviour had been a concern to family and friends as she had been "feeling anxious". A statement from detective Kate Witt also said it was "unlike her not to be in touch with family". Weeks has recently finished working on shooting Lewis for ITV and Sky mystery The Five. 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 }} In a world dominated by inequality, money and its place in society is increasingly coming under question - by the 99 per cent, at least. Brexit and attitudes towards wealth exposed by it have even prompted stark warnings from the likes of Stephen Hawking that we must learn to share in order for the human race to survive. But some members of the one per cent are perhaps less concerned about reconsidering what value should be placed on money within our society. That view extends to their offspring, who stand to inherit fortunes inconceivable to most. The journalist Mark Dolan has travelled to the US, Dubai, Moscow and Thailand to visit some of the richest teenagers in the world. In pictures: The worlds top billionaires Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: The worlds top billionaires In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 1. Bill Gates (USA) Wealth: US$ 85Bn (Microsoft) Pictured: Seattle home own by Bill Gates Corbis In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 2. Carlso Slim Helu (Mexico) Wealth: US$ 83Bn (America Movil) Pictured: Soumaya museum in Mexico own by Carlos Slim Helu Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 3. Warren Buffett (USA) Wealth: US$ 76Bn (Berkshire Hathaway) Pictured: Warren Buffett also owns Heinz company Rex In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 4. Amancio Ortega (Spain) Wealth: US$ 55Bn (Inditex) Pictured: Amancio Ortega in one of the factories he owns, including Zara REUTERS/ AP In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 5. Larry Ellison (USA) Wealth: US$ 54Bn (Oracle) Pictured: Ellison in his Japanese-style mansion In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 6. Bernard Arnault (France) Wealth: US$ 45Bn (LVMH) Pictured: Bernard Arnault (second from the right) at the Christian Dior fashion show in Paris Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 7. Mark Zuckerberg (USA) Wealth: US$ 44Bn (Facebook) Pictured: The slice of Hawaii, including the Kahuaina Plantation owned by Mark Zuckerberg Kahuaina Plantation/BCM In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 8. Charles Koch (USA) Wealth: US$ 36Bn (Koch Industries) Pictured: Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, talks passionately about his new book on Market Based Management Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 9. David Koch (USA) Wealth: US$ 36Bn (Koch Industries) Pictured: David Koch stands in the future site of the new David H. Koch Plaza during the Fifth Avenue Plaza Groundbreaking at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on in New York City Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 10. Dieter Schwarz (Germany) Wealth: US$ 36Bn (Schwarz Group) Pictured: Supermarket chain Lidl, where Dieter Schwarz is the chairman and CEO Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 11. Alice Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 35Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Alice Walton is a heiress to the fortune of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. She is the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton, and sister of S. Robson Walton and Jim Walton Corbis In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 12. Christy Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 35Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Christy Walton is the widow of John T. Walton, one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 13. Jim Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 34Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, the founder of world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Walmart Corporate/Creative Commons In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 14. S. Robson Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 34Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton is the eldest son of Helen Walton and Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 15. Liliane Bettencourt (France) Wealth: US$ 33Bn (L'Oreal) Pictured: The house of France's L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt at Formentor, in Pollensa, on the Spanish Island of Mallorca Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 16. Li Ka-shing (China) Wealth: US$ 32Bn (Cheung Kong) Pictured: The Cheung Kong Centre in Hong Kong, owned by the Cheung Kong Group which belongs to Li Ka Shing Rex In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 17. Larry Page (USA) Wealth: US$ 31Bn (Google) Pictured: The reception area at Google's offices, owned by Larry Page, in Washington Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 18. Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (Saudi Arabia) Wealth: US$ 30Bn (Kingdom Holding Company) Pictured: Fireworks light up the skyof Beirut during the opening ceremony of the new seafront Movenpick Hotel, owned by Saudi billionaire Al-Walid bin Talal Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 19. Gerard Mulliez (France) Wealth: US$ 30Bn (Auchan) Pictured: Auchan groupe headquarters in Croix, owned by Gerard Mulliez Getty In pictures: The worlds top billionaires 20. Karl Albrecht Jr (Germany) Wealth: US$ 30Bn (Aldi Sud) Pictured: Supermarket chain Aldi, inherited by Karl Albrecht Jr, son of Karl Hans Albrecht, one of the main co-founders of the Aldi company Getty Some of the luxuries afforded to these teens include access to platinum credit cards, Olympic-medal winning personal trainers, a convoy of security, money to fund their music videos and even launch their own businesses. One of these teenagers was Thailands answer to Paris Hilton, whose hotelier family are worth a staggering $3 billion. Their heiress daughter does, however, attend public school, has an allowance of just 3 per day, is expected to save for the things she wants and believes it is important to be modest in Thailand. The worlds youngest billionaire in the world is still a teenager. Alexandra Andresen, 19, entered Forbes' billionaire list in March after receiving 42 per cent of her familys investment company. Despite her impressive wealth, the Norwegian dressage rider is believed to be frugal with money, insisting that she saves all the time, including her weekly allowance. 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 father of an aspiring musician stabbed to death last Halloween has been told by Apple to get a court order if he wants to access songs written by the 20-year-old that are stored on his computer. Colin Hehir, whose son Morgan was attacked and killed in the street while on a night out in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, wants to access the music, memories and pictures on the computer. But he said Apple will not help him open the laptop, which is protected by a password. He sent snapshots of his music and him messing around to his friends, he would send them little skits, so we know there is music on there as well as his photos, its all on this Macbook, he told The Telegraph. Were only asking for our data, that these companies are protecting for us. Morgan owns the computer, Morgan owns the data, but Apple owns the access. Its so frustrating. It essentially means if you store everything on your computer, you lose your history and memories. An Apple spokesman said in a statement given to the BBC: In the absence of permission for third-party access to an account, it is impossible to be certain what access the user would have wanted and we do not consider it is appropriate that Apple make the decision. However, in such cases, we can assist subject to appropriate court order. We understand this kind of situation is extremely difficult and will continue to do everything possible to help. Mr Hehir is now deciding whether or not to go to court to force the multinational company to open up the computer. I believe we are on this planet to help one another, common decency would be for Apple to help us, he said. All we want is to preserve his memories and legacy. We dont want to lose anything that Morgan did. Three men were jailed over Morgan Hehirs death, with one sentenced for murder and the other two for manslaughter. 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 }} Many British farmers are experiencing Regrexit over fears they may lose agricultural subsidies, the Earl of Sandwich has told Parliament. Speaking in a House of Lords debate, John Montagu said many farmers had voted without understanding the consequences and were now in dismay over news they may not receive the same level of payouts made under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. In 2013, farmers received 2.6bn (about 2.2bn) under pillar 1 [an EU funding term] and 637m (538m) for agri-environment and rural development under 'green' pillar 2," he said. How will [the Government] ensure that British farmers continue to receive these payments? We have already heard that they may not. "There are fears that direct payments will be significantly less under the new Government because of the continuing need for austerity. The Earl, who said he had voted in favour of remaining in the EU, added that without farm payments, the countryside would suffer. Perhaps the Minister will clarify that. He may not know the answer yet but he will know that farmers will have to receive this level of support or the whole fabric of rural society and the countryside will collapse we heard of the situation in Wales," he said. Theresa May says she has an 'open mind' over Brexit negotiations He said the majority of people in his home of west Dorset, particularly in the agricultural community, had voted to leave and were now worried about how Brexit would work, and the financial impact it would have on UK farms. Baroness Jones of Whitchurch said the "real challenge for farmers" related to the decision over whether the UK will be "allowed to remain in the single market, with its 500 million customers". "At the moment, 73 per cent of the UKs total agri-food exports are to other EU countries," she said. Seven out of the top 10 countries to which we export food, drink and feed are in the EU. Meanwhile, our EU partners are currently making it clear that we cannot pick and mix the single market rules, so we cannot have access to the single market without also respecting the free movement of EU citizens. If this becomes a deal breaker, farmers will need to find new markets for their products outside the EU in a very competitive world. Lord Gardiner of Kimble, the Undersecretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said he could not provide detailed answers to all of the questions posed. But he told the Lords that British farming was a critical component of the UKs economic success and assured the house the government would strike positive trade deals with the EU. 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 }} Labours shadow Chancellor has accused anti-Corbyn MPs of attempting to subvert the result of the partys coming leadership election. It was reported this morning that some MPs are considering electing their own leader from among their number if Jeremy Corbyn wins the ensuing membership ballot. This semi-split would then be followed by legal action to gain access to the partys name and other assets like property effectively bypassing the result. But John McDonnell said at lunchtime that the plan would amount to derailing the democratic result and called on Mr Corbyns rival Owen Smith to condemn the apparent plan. The democratic process is fundamental to Labour Party values and all candidates must commit to respecting the outcome of this election, he said. We call on Owen Smith to condemn the minority of MPs supporting his campaign who are threatening to subvert the outcome of this election and cause enormous damage to the Labour Party. Mr Smith responded by saying he would not take part in gossip. This leadership process is now entirely about Labour members and supporters. We have a one-member one-vote system, so MPs will have the same amount of say as all Labour members exactly as it should be," said Mr Smith. Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell called on Owen Smith to disown the plan (Reuters) I'm enjoying being out of Westminster talking to people about my anti-austerity pro-prosperity vision for Labour's future, I'll continue to do that and not indulge in gossip. Parts of Labour have already made moves through its ruling National Executive Committee that are expected to hamstring Mr Corbyn in the contest including banning some new members from voting and raising the registered supporter fee from 3 to 25. One Labour donor and former candidate also mounted a failed High Court legal challenge in an attempt to require the Labour leader to gather nominations from his MPs. Owen Smith is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership (Getty Images) However, with YouGov polls still showing Mr Corbyn with a large lead in the contest, there are reports some opponents of the leader are contemplating a pseudo-split following the vote. We can be liberated from the drag anchor and the poison that is Jeremy and his team and would be able to take the fight to the Tories, one anonymous MP told The Daily Telegraph. 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 second MP is reported to have said: The notion that well all go back to happy families is nonsense. A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn struck a more conciliatory tone. He told The Independent: We hope and believe that the vast majority of Labour MPs will respect the democratic choice of party members. The floated approach highlights a split in opinion among anti-Corbyn Labour MPs. Some of the MPs who resigned from Mr Corbyns front bench are understood to be considering a reconciliation in the event of him winning a second leadership election. One resigner, Sarah Champion, has already returned to work as shadow home office minister for preventing abuse. Other MPs are said to be considering following her, pending the election result. Mr Corbyn is going head-to-head with leadership rival Owen Smith in a leadership contest that will last until the partys conference this autumn. 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 names of hundreds of major companies and leading British charities who used a benefits scheme to employ people without paying them have been revealed after the government lost a four-year legal battle to protect their identities. Well-known high street firms were among more than 500 organisations who used the free labour of welfare claimants, after they were forced to take unpaid work under rules brought in by David Cameron's Coalition Government. Their names were revealed after the Court of Appeal ruled against the Department for Work and Pension's attempt to keep them a secret at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees. Recommended Read more List of organisations who used benefits claimants as unpaid labour The list of 534 organisations, which can be read in full here, includes firms such as Tesco, Nando's, Boots, Superdrug, Morrisons, Asda, Co-op, WHSmith, Poundstretcher, Cash Converter, DHL and a host of other major corporations. And it also includes charities such as the British Red Cross, Age UK, Cancer Research, Marie Curie, the National Trust, Oxfam, the RSPB, the Salvation Army and Shelter. Local councils who participated included Essex, Whitby, Leicester, Scarborough, Fenland, Thurrock, Hartlepool and Rochford. They made use of free labour under the scheme for a six-month period between July 2011 and January 2012. Campaigers said the list of companies should be shared far and wide and that the schemes did not help people find jobs. "Workfare provides free labour for businesses and charities, enforced by the threat of destitution through benefit sanctions, and paid for by the public including people on workfare. Workfare doesn't help people find jobs: it's just an excuse for sanctions," a spokesperson for the Boycott Workfare group told the Independent. "The organisations that benefit by exploiting the forced, unpaid work of claimants have been shielded by the DWPs secrecy for far too long. The DWP have been using this case to deny other requests for similar information. "Now that the DWP has at last complied with the law and released the information that was requested in 2012, we should be able to get further details about where workfare it is taking place today. "We encourage everyone who wants to see an end to workfare and punitive welfare policies to use and share this information, and to work together to press all the organisations involved in workfare to pull out immediately, as so many already have. " A spokesperson for Tesco the only organisation out of more than a dozen on the list The Independent tried to contact that have actually provided a comment said: "Prior to deciding the scheme wasn't right for us, we had offered to pay those who were doing placements with us. Cashpoint scam sweeping UK prompts warnings "As a business we remain committed to providing employment opportunities for the long-term unemployed. Debbie Abrahams, Labour's shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said the scheme demonstrated the Conservative Government's "skewed view of the world". "First they thought it was acceptable to force people into unpaid, poor quality work and couldn't see why there was an outcry against the scheme," she told the Mirror. "To then use public money to try and keep the list of companies taking advantage of this a secret is beyond the pale." Under the Mandatory Work Activity, about 120,000 jobseekers had to work for free for 30 hours per week or they would have lost their 73-a-week benefit payment. The scheme was criticised by the Work and Pensions Select Committee when it was introduced in 2011 and was scrapped by the government in 2015. However the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) refused to let the names of the companies who participated in the scheme be known. DWP officials argued that revealing their identities would "hurt their commercial interests" because protesters might boycott them, despite the Information Commissioner ruling just a year into the scheme that the public should have access to the list. After holding out for four years, the DWP was overruled by three judges at the Court of Appeal by a vote of two to one. A DWP spokesman said: "Employment programmes help thousands of people every year gain new skills and experience to get into work." 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 names of more than 500 companies involved in a controversial scheme to make people work without pay for their benefits have been released after a court over-ruled the Government's attempt to keep them secret. Major high street companies and well-known charitable organisations are included in a list made public by the Department for Work and Pensions, four years after it blocked a legal bid to make the information openly accessible. The 534 organisations were signed up to a scheme which required jobseekers' allowance and other benefit claimants to work unpaid for 30 hours a week in order to receive their weekly welfare payment, which could be as little as 73. It is not yet clear under what circumstances the organisations joined the Mandatory Work Activity scheme, and whether they believed it was an employment rehabilitation programme. But Tesco, and charities including Cancer Research, PDSA, Age UK and the British Heart Foundation, have said they pulled out after it was widely criticised. The scheme was eventually scrapped in 2015. The full list is: African Childrens Fund Abacus Childrens Wear ABCAL Ability Ace of Clubs Charity Shop Acorns Action for Disability Action Housing Active Community Team Advocacy Support Afro Caribbean Centre Age Concern Age UK Agnew Community Centre Air Ambulance Aire Valley Recycling Ltd Airedale Computers, Al-Khair Foundation All Aboard Allied Healthcare Almadene Care Home AMF Torquay Bowling Alley Amicus Horizon Housing Association Animal Krackers ARAS German Shepherd Inn ARC Archer Project Arthritis Research UK Arthur Rank Arts Factory ASAN Asda Asha Charity Shop Ashgate Hospice Aspire Community Enterprise Ltd Auchinleck Talbot F.C. Autism Plus Aylestone Park Boys Football Club Babygear Back2Earth Bangladesh People Bangladeshi ass sangag centre Barnardos Basic Life Charity B'Dwe Beaumaris Hostel Bedfordshire Education Academy Belgrave Hall Museum Bernicia Group (Social housing provider) BHF Blaby & Whetstone Boys Club Blue Cross Bluebell Wood Bookers Boots Botanical Gardens Bottle Rescue Aireworth Mill BR Environmental Bradford Autism Centre Bradford Community repaint Breaking Free Brian Jackson House Briardale Community Centre Bright House Brighton and hove wood recycling Britannia College British Heart Foundation British Red Cross British Waterways Brockhurst Community Centre Bryncynon Strategy Bryncynon Strategy Butterwick Hospice Cancer Research Cancer Uk Capability Scotland Care & Repair Carers Centre Caribbean Centre Caribbean Restaurant (Streatham) Carlisle Park Carr Vale Allotments Cash Convertors Castle Gresley Community Centre Cat Haven Cats Protection League Cauwood day services CCA Furniture Outlet Cerebal Palsey Care Changing Lives in Clevedon chapletown youth community centre Chesterfield FC Community Trust Chestnut Tree House Shop Children in Distress Children Scrapstore Reuse Centre Children Trust Childrens Society Chopsticks North Yorkshire Circulate Citizen Advice Bureau Claire House Clic Sargent Comfort Kids Community Association - Trefechan Community Re-Paint Community Resource Centre Community Voice Complete Professional Care Compton Hospice Congburn Nurseries Cooke Computers Cooke E - Learning Foundation Co-op Corby Boating Lake Cornerstone Cornwall Hospice Care County Durham Furniture Help Scheme Croydon animal samaritans CSV Media Cusworth Hall CVS Furniture Dan's Den Colwyn Bay Dapp UK DC Cleaning Deans Debra Demzela Derbyshire Timber Scheme DHL Dial Intake Didcot Railyway Museum Disabled Childrens Services Discovery Community Cafe Dogs Trust Glasgow Dogsthorpe Recycling Centre Doncaster College Doncaster Community Centre Dorothy House Hospice Dorset Reclaim Dovehouse Hospice Shop Dragon Bands Durham Wildlife Trust E Waste Solutions Earl Mountbatten Hospice East Anglia Childrens Hospice Shop East Cleveland Wildlife Trust East Durham Partnership East Midlands Islamic Relief Project East West Community Project Ecclesbourne Valley Railway eco Innovation Centre Elleanor Lion Hospice ELVON Encephalitis society English Landscapes Enhanced Care Training Enterprise UK Environmental Resource Centre Essex County Council Extra care Charitable Trust Fable Family Support Fara Fare share Malmo Food Park Featherstone Rovers Fenland District Council First Fruits FN! Eastbourne Foal Farm Food Cycle Fops Shop forget me not childrens hospice Foundation for Paediatric Osteopathy Fountain Abbey Fox Rush Farm FRADE Frame FRESCH Fresh water christian charity Friends of St Nicholas Fields Furnish Furniture for You Furniture Project FurnitureLink Gateway funiture Genesis Trust George Thomas Hospice - Barry Geranium Shop For The Blind Glasgow Furniture Initative Glen Street Play Provision Goodwin Development Trust Govanhill Baths Community Trust Greenacres Animal Rescue Shop Greenfingers Greenscape Greenstreams Huddersfield/ environmental alliance Grimsby District Health care charity Ground Work Hadston House Happy Staffie Harlington Hospice Hart Wildlife Rescue Hartlepool Council Hartlepool Hospice Hartlepool Prop (Mental Health) Hartlepool Trust Opening Doors Hastings & Bexhill Wood Recycling Project Havens Childrens Hospice Shop Havering Country Park headway Healthy Living Centre Hebburn Community Centre Help the Aged helping hands High Beech Care Home High Wycombe Central Aid Hillam Nurseries Hinsley Hall Headingley Hobbit Hotel Holmescarr Community Centre Home Start Homemakers Hope central Hospice of hope Hounslow Community Transport Furniture Project Hull Animal Welfare Trust Hull Humanity at Heart I Trust Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) Intraining Employers Ipswich Furniture Project Iranian Association Islamic Relief Jacabs Well Care Center Jesus Army Centre JHP Julian House Charity Shop K.T. Performing Arts Kagyu Samye Dzong London Keech Hospice Care Shop Keighley & District Disabled Kier Services Corby Kilbryde Hospice Killie Can Cycle Kingston Community Furniture Project Kiveton Park & Wales Community Development Trust LAMH Leeds & Moortown Furniture Store Leicester City Council Leicester Riders Leicester Shopmobility Leicestershire Aids Support Services Leicestershire Cares Lifework Lighthouse Linacre Reservoir London Borough of Havering London College of Engineering & Management Woolwich Longley Organised Community Association Lyme Trust Lynemouth Resource Centre Mackworth Comm. Charity Shop Making a Difference Marie Curie Mark2 (marc) Martin House Hospice Mary Stevens Hospice Matalan Matchbox Matthew25 Mission Mayflower Sanctuary MDJ Lightbrothers Meadow Well Connected MEC Mental Health Support Midland Railway Trust MIND Miners Welfare community centre Mistley Place Park Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal Regeneration Partnership Scheme Moore Cleaning Morrisons Muslim Aid Myton Hospice Nandos Naomi Hospice National Railway Museum National Trust NDDT Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Necessary Furniture Neighbourhood funiture Neterlands Dog Rescue New Life Church Newham Volenteers Group Newport City Council Nightingale House NOAH enterprise North East Lincs Motor Project North London Hospice Shop North Ormesby Community Shop Northumberland County Council Norwood Old Nick Theatre One 0 One Open Secret Overgate Hospice Oxfam Papworth Trust Partner Shop Paul Sartori Warehouse Paws Animal Welfare Shop PDSA Pegswood Community Centre Pennywell Community Association Peterborough Streets Pheonix Community Furniture Pilgrim Hospice Placement Furniture Project Platform 51 Doncaster Womens Centre Playworks Plymouth Food Bank Plymouth Play Association Plymouth Volunteer Centre Pound stretcher POW Shop Powys Animal Welfare Shop PPE Paving Preen Community Interest Company Primrose PRINCE & PRINCESS OF WALES Prince of Wales Sherburn in elmet Princess Trust Queen Elizabeth Foundation Queens Walk Community Queensland Multi-Media Arts Centre Rainbow Centre Rainbows End Burngreave Real Time Music Recycling unlimited Red Cross Refurnish Regenerate Community Enterprise Remploy Restore Rhyl Adventure Playground Association Right Time Foundation RNID Rochford Council Rosalie Ryrie Foundation Rosliston Foresty Royal Society for Blind. 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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 Sunday afternoon in October, while her mother -- who was using prescription tranquilisers -- was napping in their Arkansas home, 3-year-old Alexis Haney climbed into the washing machine and closed the lid. The young children in the home told police they were used to helping with the laundry. The washing machine, which the family used as a dirty clothes hamper, was programmed to switch on when the lid closed. After the clothes were clean, one child would climb into the open machine and pass the wet clothes to another, who would then toss them into the dryer. Alexis closed the lid -- and hot water started to pour in. Authorities said she died from "scaling and thermal injuries," according to a probable cause affidavit filed earlier this week in Calhoun County Circuit Court. "It hurt my heart to know a little child died like that," Bobbie Holmes, a neighbor, told NBC affiliate KARK. "I couldn't imagine what pain she went through." Brooke Haney, 25, from Hampton, a small town in southern Arkansas, has been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a minor in two separate incidents last year -- one in which she is accused of driving with her 7-month-old child in the back seat while she was under the influence of prescription drugs, and the other in which the 3-year-old died, according to court documents. Following a police investigation, authorities said they determined that she was on benzodiazepines, drugs most commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, benzodiazepines, such as Valium and Xanax, are more often abused by adolescents and young adults to achieve a euphoric sensation, but can cause drowsiness. In the most recent report, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 74,182 cases involving benzodiazepines in 2014; 18 resulted in death. In August 2015, Hampton police said, they pulled Haney over because she was causing other cars to move to the side of the road. Officers determined that she was "exhibiting behavior indicating she was under the influence of prescription medication," according to the court documents. They said she failed "several" sobriety tests and walked into traffic while they were trying to detain her, according to records. Her infant child was in the back seat. Authorities said she had prescription medication in her possession but she did not have a valid prescription, according to the court documents. Two months later, Hampton police received a call about a child in Haney's home who had been severely injured in a washing machine incident. Authorities said Haney, a mother of three, was caring for her 10-month-old and 3-year-old children when she decided to take a nap. When she woke up, authorities said, she noticed her toddler, Alexis, was missing. Haney ran to a neighbor's house and asked for help to search for the child, who was found in the washing machine, according to the court documents. Police said she was rushed to Medical Center of South Arkansas, where she was pronounced dead. During the investigation, Haney's 7-year-old told police about the children's laundry ritual -- one that upset neighbors when they heard about it. "If I would have known that, I could have done something," Holmes, a neighbor, told KARK. "I would have did the clothes for them, you know." After an investigation that lasted months, Haney was recently charged with two felony counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, which carry a maximum penalty of up to six years in an Arkansas Department of Correction facility. It's unclear whether Haney has an attorney. Court clerks in Calhoun County told KARK that Haney's two surviving children are in the custody of the state's Division of Children and Family Services. Haney is expected to have another baby next month. 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 }} The mother of a British man arrested for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump has said she contacted mental health services in the UK to try to stop him travelling to the US. Michael Sandford, 20, was arrested on 18 June after attempting to grab a gun from a police officer. He allegedly told the authorities that he had been planning to kill Mr Trump for a year. Mr Sandford was diagnosed with severe Aspergers syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder as a teenager, and had previously been sectioned after he became anorexic and refused to eat. His mother Lynne Sandford, 41, described the moment she saw her son on TV, having been arrested at a Trump rally in Las Vegas. It was midnight and I saw pictures of him being arrested. Headlines going across the screen. I couldnt believe it, Ms Sandford told The Guardian in an interview. My son, headline news for something so awful, and something just so not him. It broke my heart because it was the most Id seen of him in a year. I just wanted to wrap my arms round him and never let him go. At 16, having become anxious and verbally abusive towards his family, Mr Sandford left home and moved into his own accommodation, claiming disability benefit as he was unable to attend school or work. Ms Sandford said when her son, who also suffers from depression, announced he was going to New York on a sightseeing trip she had "just collapsed on to the sofa". "I said, This is insane what the hell are you on about? she said. She sought help from mental health services and a doctor, but they said, Hes 18; theres no way short of having him declared mentally incompetent, which clearly he was not". Mr Sandfords family became concerned about his well-being just weeks into his trip to the US, when they were contacted by a hospital where he had been taken after suffering a breakdown, although he recovered and continued his holiday. After returning to the UK, Mr Sandford decided he wanted to spend a full year in America. He told his family he had a girlfriend who was in a US prison on a drugs charge and also said a former girlfriend had been pregnant with his child when she died in a car accident, but his mother said she was unsure if either claim was true. But during his second stay in the US, Mr Sandford's family became worried once again as they only heard from him sporadically, with tales that he had run up medical expenses and now feared returning to the UK. They eventually reported him missing in May, and discovered he was in Las Vegas only when they saw him being arrested on the news. Mr Sanfords trial is set for 22 August and he is currently on suicide watch, Ms Sandford said, reportedly telling her in a phone call that all he wants to do is come home and seek psychiatric help. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It wasn't the first time someone claimed a Krispy Kreme doughnut was a type of drug. But the joke wasn't funny for a Florida man who was arrested when an officer mistook doughnut glaze for methamphetamine. Now Daniel Frederick Rushing is looking to sue the Orlando Police Department, which is also facing heat for its inaccurate roadside drug test. Rushing was arrested by Orlando police two weeks before Christmas after they thought he was acting fishy near a 7-Eleven convenience store. Officers had been conducting surveillance on Colonial Drive after reports of a high level of drug activity in the area, according to a police report obtained by The Washington Post. Rushing told the Orlando Sentinel that he had been playing taxi driver for friends that day. He had just dropped off a neighbor at a hospital for a chemotherapy session and was giving another friend who worked at the 7-Eleven a ride home. But when officers saw Rushing go into the store twice without making a purchase, they grew suspicious. Officer Shelby Riggs-Hopkins followed Rushing's car and pulled him over. Rushing told the officer that he had a concealed gun, and she asked him to step out of the car for her safety. That's when Riggs-Hopkins saw what she thought were drugs on the floorboard. "I recognized, through my 11 years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer, the substance to be some sort of narcotic," Riggs-Hopkins wrote in the report. The officer retrieved several pieces of the white substance from the floorboard, ran a test and "received a positive indication for the presence of amphetamines." Twice. As the officer placed Rushing in handcuffs and read him his rights, "Rushing stated that he has never done any drugs in his life," the report said. "Rushing stated that the substance is sugar from a (Krispy) Kreme Donut that he ate." Still, Rushing was booked into jail and had to post $2,500 bail, according to court documents. He was vindicated a month later -- and the meth possession charges were dropped -- when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's chemistry section tested the substance found in his car. It detected no signs of drugs. Rushing, who retired after 25 years as an Orlando parks department employee, spoke about the ordeal only recently and told the Sentinel that he has hired a lawyer and is asking the city to pay him damages. "I got arrested for no reason at all," he told the newspaper. He expects to file suit next month. A New York Times investigation on roadside drug tests found that the testing kits used by Florida officers are far from reliable: There are no established error rates for the field tests, in part because their accuracy varies so widely depending on who is using them and how. Data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab system show that 21 percent of evidence that the police listed as methamphetamine after identifying it was not methamphetamine, and half of those false positives were not any kind of illegal drug at all. In one notable Florida episode, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies produced 15 false positives for methamphetamine in the first seven months of 2014. A spokesperson for the Orlando Police Department told WFTV "there is no mechanism in place for easily tracking the number of, or results of, field drug testing." 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 }} Fox News has been criticised for failing to show a powerful speech attacking Donald Trump by a Muslim American whose son was an army officer killed in Iraq while saving his troops from a suicide bomber. In a speech to the Democratic party convention that was widely covered by other TV stations, Khizr Khan, who moved to the US from Pakistan, told Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: You have sacrificed nothing and no one. But despite being hailed as one of the convention's most powerful speeches for its condemnation of Mr Trump's stance on Muslims and immigration, it was given almost no attention by the conservative channel, which has previously been accused of anti-Muslim sentiment. Danny Schoen, a Minnesota state senator, was among those who noticed. "Fox News not playing the speech by the Muslim soldier's parents who died for America," he tweeted. And Max Rosenthal, a journalist with the Mother Jones website, wrote: "Can't be said enough: last night the father of a fallen soldier gave a speech about patriotism and sacrifice, and @FoxNewswouldn't show it." Mr Khans message to Mr Trump was delivered to rapturous applause from delegates. Let me ask you, have you [Trump] even read the US Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy," Mr Khan said. Look for the words liberty and equal protection of law. Have you ever been to Arlington National Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending this country. Mr Khans son Captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004 attempting to prevent a suicide bomb attack, and was posthumously awarded two medals for saving the lives of his soldiers. Mr Khan pointed out his son would not have been able to do this if Mr Trumps proposed ban on Muslims entering the country had been in place. Despite being screened by most other US channels, Fox News gave the speech just two minutes of air time without the audio during its rolling news broadcasts as adverts played. However, Jay Wallace, the channels executive vice president of news editorial, told the Huffington Post: We reported on the speeches and cited them throughout the evening and into today, as well. 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 gunman has been arrested after attacking a gathering of young adults at a suburban Seattle home early Saturday. He killed two people at a fire pit before firing more shots from the roof, the grandmother of one of the witnesses said. A total of three people were killed and another injured at the Mukilteo property. State troopers pulled over and arrested the fleeing 19-year-old suspect on an interstate more than 100 miles away, authorities said. "She was hiding in the closet and called me from the closet while it was going on," Susan Gemmer said of her 18-year-old granddaughter, Alexis. "We were texting back and forth, telling her to stay quiet, stay calm, we're on our way. She kept saying, 'They're dead, they're dead, I saw them, I was right there and I saw them.' " Police did not immediately release the name of the suspect, but a man named Allen Christopher Ivanov was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Saturday afternoon for investigation of three counts of murder, including one of aggravated murder, which can bring the death penalty. Gemmer said that according to her granddaughter, the gunman arrived with a rifle at the party of about 15 to 20 friends from Kamiak High School mostly recent graduates aged 18 to 20. The gunman walked through the house to the fire pit out back, where he shot two of the victims. Those present knew the gunman, she said, and he and one of the victims had broken up last week. The shooter then made his way onto the roof, where some of the friends were hanging out, Gemmer said. The young man who lived at the home tried to lead Alexis Gemmer to safety by escaping out the garage. As they rolled under the garage door and the boy bolted across the street, the gunman began shooting at him from the roof, her granddaughter told Gemmer. 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 "She panicked and ran back in the house and hid in the closet until police arrived," Gemmer said. The young man made it across the street. Authorities did not immediately release information about or the identities of the suspect or the victims. "Our community has suffered a great loss tonight," Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said. "There were many young people who saw and heard things that no one should ever experience." The shooting happened in the upscale Chennault neighborhood of Mukilteo, a waterfront town of about 20,000 people, 25 miles north of Seattle. Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn said the male suspect was pulled over at around 2am heading south on Interstate 5 near Chehalis, about 113 miles away. Finn declined to release information about his identity, but he said troopers returned him and the vehicle he was driving to the custody of Mukilteo police. Victor Balta, spokesman for the University of Washington, said a student matching Ivanov's name, age and hometown of Mukilteo has been enrolled at the university's campus in nearby Bothell, where he was going into his sophomore year. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While listening to the police scanner application on his cellphone, Arthur Silky Slim Reed heard the makings of what could be a violent confrontation between police and a suspect. Soon after, he rushed to the Triple S. Food Mart in Baton Rouge where two police officers had shot and killed Alton Sterling at point blank range. Reed arrived at the scene where several of his activists filmed the altercationthey immediately knew how significant the footage was, but wanted to wait for police to release a public statement on the shooting. We wanted to wait to hear what police had to say, and make sure we had enough copies of our videos in the community, Reed told The Independent, so that when police did get their hands on the video it wasnt something that they could destroy. The statement never came, so Reed distributed the footage to 125 supporters of Stop The Killing, his anti-violence nonprofit, who published the video on social media and sent copies to The Associated Press, which led to worldwide news coverage and outrage turning the public into key eyewitnesses. It wasnt long before millions viewed the graphic footage: two officers pinning the 37-year-old Sterling on the ground before at least one officer fired multiple rounds into Sterlings chest and back. The video is bloody and explicit, but unfortunately nothing new for the anti-violence group, whose filmed more than 30 violent interactions in the community over the years. The next morning, Reed found himself calling for justice at a news conference alongside Sterling's family members: Sterlings 15-year-old son, Cameron, and his mother Quinyetta McMillan. I never want my kid to hurt like that, I felt for Cameron, Reed said. I never want my son or my brothers to experience anything like that. When asked which members of the group recorded the videos, Reed declined to answer citing the safety of each member. He also declined to allow other members of the group to be interviewed, as a means to protect their identities: Were at risk every day; were going against licensed killers, he said, adding that hes not afraid of the work theyre doing. I believe in this, and I hope others do too. Reed, a 43-year-old former gang leader, founded Stop The Killing in 2001 following a near-fatal car accident that left several passengers his friends dead. Reed, the lone survivor of the crash, pulled himself from the wreckage, and says God sent him a message which became the motivation to turn his life around. Stop The Killing is comprised of Reed and six other activists who listen to police activity on several different mobile phone applications, attentively listening to reports of violent crime and equipping themselves with cellphone cameras and sometimes professional DSLRs. The groups primary goal is to steer young people away from self-destructive behaviors including gang activity and drug use. They also teach kids how to solve their problems without resorting to violence. Were trying to wake these individuals up with the images that we have, Reed said. Were concerned about all the black lives in the community, not just the ones that police officers kill. He stressed that the group films more than police interactions, usually working to prevent gun violence within Louisianas black community by creating documentaries with the footage and showing the films at demonstrations. We would like to see more people become active in the community, stop the violence among themselves and take on a different mindset. I was a gang leader for 22 years, Ive been shot multiple times, and Ive lost hundreds of friends to violence over the years, he said. Back in 1999, Reed used to say that he had more t-shirts than friends, referring to clothing featuring portraits of victims who were close to him. When I looked at the t-shirts that I was wearing at the time, I saw people that I loved and cared aboutit was hard on me, he said. God pulled me out of that and gave me this mission. Police watching groups in communities of color, similar to Stop The Killing, are nothing new, and date back to the inception of the Black Panthers in the 1960s. In those days, party members listened in on the Oakland Police Department via radio scanners and showed up to potential crime scenes, standing 20 feet away, exercising their right to bare arms. They mainly sought to ensure there were no instances of police brutality at the hands of the citys all-white police force. WeCopwatch founder Jacob Crawford adopted a similar mentality when it came to filming the police, minus the loaded rifles and those fantastic all-black turtlenecks with military attire. Crawford began independently documenting police behavior in 2000 in the Oakland area before the rise of technology leading to cell phone cameras, YouTube, Twitter, and before popular other social media outlets developed into massively successful platforms. Crawford says there were plenty examples of police misconduct in his neighborhood in northern California, and that encouraged him to use a video camera to record cops. As Crawfords group of young activists became more unified, it matured into his own nationwide coalition in 2012. His activists eventually filmed the protests that followed the police killings which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014. WeCopwatch receives no regular donations and operates in more than 20 states including Austin, Ferguson, Baltimore, North Charleston, New York City, Chicago and Detroit. Crawford calls his craft Copwatching, which he defines as the direct non-violent observation of the police. In his experience, Copwatching is A method of resistance: I'm very inspired at how police reacted to being observed and videotaped while they were stopping people in my neighborhood, Crawford said. Even with the most hostile interactions you can see the changes. A person could be getting yelled at and within minutes, things would de-escalate, and people would be un-cuffed. When arriving at police stops, Copwatch activists are first encouraged to make their presence known, maintain a safe distance from the officers involved, and to communicate verbally or with body language to the person stopped to inform them that they are there to film the interaction. We also train them not to interfere with police stops, but rather use their presence as the deterrence to any potential police misconduct, Crawford says. We teach people to treat it as though they are dealing with a hostage situation, as a negotiator, they do not want to add any tension or problems to an already tense situation. Were always caring about the wellbeing of the person stopped, because if you agitate the situation, the police are more likely to take it out on the suspect. Dennis Flores, 40, a Copwatch leader in New York City, has filmed the police for more than 20 years. Hes currently leading a coalition of more than 15 groups of activists who plan on recording police behavior at the upcoming Black Lives Matter protests across the city. Flores says hes been locked up, has had his arm broken by officers, and has sued and won lawsuits against the New York Police Department. Theres a risk with what we do, Flores says, but its important for our communities and families, its important for the world to see. Copwatchers are cautious of immediately releasing unedited videos, or live-streaming events to prevent police from writing their incident reports around incriminating footage. Before the rise of social media and cellphone cameras, Crawford released footage of police misconduct and officers rejected the importance of his video by saying the public wasnt aware of what happened before the incriminating footage. Waiting to release the video, diminishes the officers ability to lie. If I film the cops baton somebody in the head, Im going to release that baton strike, but Im not going to show what happens beforehand. The officer will have to justify using deadly force, Crawford says, let them only see the clip, and as it goes viral, the officer will attempt to justify their actions by lying. Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Show all 19 1 /19 Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors demand justice for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors lie in an intersection during a demonstration for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors lie in an intersection during a demonstration for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors demand justice for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters march throughout New York City. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters march throughout New York City. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters are arrested by NYPD as they call for justice throughout New York City. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters are arrested by NYPD as they call for justice throughout New York City. AFP/Getty Images Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Images Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Images Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Getty Crawford and Reed both observed that documenting an officers actions could potentially check their behavior and prevent instances of police misconduct. If your actions are made public, you will feel inclined to act within the law. This is the rationale for providing police with body cameras, but unfortunately, is not without flaws. Both officers implicated in the case the case of Alton Sterlings death were wearing cameras that conveniently fell off before the struggle between them and Sterling ensued. In another highly publicized police shooting that took place the same week, a 34-year-old black man, Philando Castile, was fatally shot by an officer in Minnesota while his girlfriend Diamond Lavish Reynolds live streamed the aftermath of the deadly traffic stop on Facebook. Both Copwatch and Stop The Killing members agree that waiting to release videos of police misconduct to the public is the best method of distributing footage unless youre live streaming in self-defense, as displayed in Reynolds case. They also shared the grim prediction that no matter how many incremental changes departments are forced to make in the years to come, folks will be obliged to organize and film the police to hold them accountable for their actions. Jonathan Smith, a former top lawyer with the Justice Department who supervised the agencys investigations into the Cleveland and Ferguson police departments, realizes the importance of citizen filmed documentation, too. I cant tell you how many dashcam videos Ive seen where the officers just so happen to bump their dashcam as theyre getting out of the vehicle. So, then the dashcam is pointing at the ceiling and not at whats going on, and the incident takes place outside the view of the camera, Smith tells me when I ask how good the police are at documenting themselves. But, there have been problems with the use of cameras and whether theyre going to be the solution to all the problems between police and the communities they serve, he adds. Smith says that officers may not always want their actions filmed, and they will likely go out of their way to find effective measures to obstruct camerasor the activists attempting to film them. It was only four or five years ago that officers were pushing against the right for citizens to take video of stops. He says there are only so many relevant, yet incremental, reforms the Justice Department can make to combat police misconduct and since the Federal Government is essentially powerless to stop the problem, citizens are in the drivers seat when it comes to holding cops accountable. And in the aftermath of the sniper attacks in Dallas, where five police officers were shot and killed by a black Army reservist reportedly upset with the recent police shootings, Smith anticipates an even greater pushback from law enforcement when it comes to citizen documentation. Here we are out two years from Michael Browns death, you had people all across the country marching, youve had thousands of words spoken by politicians by what they think about reform, and police chiefs speaking of training, but fundamentally, nothing has changed, Smith said. There have been a couple of departments who have implemented new policies and training with little change. As much as technology has enhanced the abilities of civilians who film the police, it may have also opened new pathways to intimidation from law enforcement. Abdullah Muflahi, the owner of the Triple S. Food Mart, claims that police detained him for several hours after he recorded his own footage of the fatal interaction between Sterling and two Baton Rouge police officers. Muflahi has since filed a lawsuit claiming that police seized security footage of the shooting from his store without a warrant. Chris LeDay also claims that he was unlawfully detained after his clip of the incident went viral. LeDay, who grew up in Baton Rouge and now lives in Marietta, Georgia, published the footage for the woman who filmed the video feared retaliation from police. Less than 24 hours later, 10 military police officers arrested him at his employer, the Dobbins Air Reserve Base. I just made it to my job on base and I'm being detained, LeDay wrote on Facebook. They said I fit the description of someone and won't tell me anything else. He claims he was first suspected of assaulting a person and was later informed that he was arrested for unpaid parking tickets. You shouldnt have to fear for your life when police are around, so were pushing this movement. At the end of the day, I understand justice is far from reality, Reed says. I look at Tamir Rice, Walter Scott and Eric GarnerI look at all of these cases and see that theres a unified effort to destroy black and brown people. And because the brother-in-laws, uncles, and cousins of police officers are sitting in positions that make the decisions, none of these individuals are being taken to jail." 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 young Massachusetts woman accused of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself is attempting to suppress statements she made to police from her forthcoming manslaughter trial. Michelle Carter, then 17, allegedly sent messages to her boyfriend Conrad Roy III, 18, encouraging him to follow through on his plans to take his own life, including telling him to get back in a truck filled with carbon monoxide fumes. Mr Roy died of carbon monoxide poisoning in July 2014 after he connected a generator to a trucks exhaust system. In a series of texts and online messages, Carter allegedly convinced Mr Roy his death would be painless, and his parents were prepared for him to commit suicide. Messages sent from Carter to Mr Roy included if you dont do it tonight, youre going to be miserable and you just have to do it tonight is the night, its now or never. Carter, now 19, faces an involuntary manslaughter charge and was indicted last year as a youthful offender. Judge Lawrence Moniz said in a hearing in Taunton Juvenile Court on Friday, the case should proceed to trial in December. On Friday, Carters lawyers filed a motion to suppress evidence police obtained from her, arguing she was interrogated and searched unlawfully following Mr Roys death, The Boston Globe reports. According to the motion, which was released by the court on Friday, Carter was interviewed by two detectives at her school on 2 October 2014, during which she was asked for her phone and laptop passwords without a warrant, while not under arrest and without being properly advised of her right to a lawyer. Carter gave over her passwords and police consequently found phone, text and Facebook conversations between her and Mr Roy. In an affidavit supporting the motion, Carter wrote: I believed I was obeying the laws of the Commonwealth when I was seized and the pass code to my phone and the user name and password to my laptop were obtained. I did not freely consent to any search and seizure, she added. The ten most notorious female criminals Show all 10 1 /10 The ten most notorious female criminals The ten most notorious female criminals 244414.bin Wikipedia The ten most notorious female criminals 244420.bin Getty The ten most notorious female criminals 244428.bin Getty The ten most notorious female criminals 244436.bin The ten most notorious female criminals 244435.bin Getty The ten most notorious female criminals 244416.bin Reuters The ten most notorious female criminals 244434.bin The ten most notorious female criminals 244432.bin The ten most notorious female criminals 244429.bin Getty The ten most notorious female criminals 244415.bin Wikipedia However, according to Carters arrest warrant, the detectives did have search warrants for her home and mobile phone when she was interviewed at school and had told Carter they had the warrant before asking for her phone password. Detective Scott Gordon wrote in the arrest warrant he had advised Carter she was not in custody and was free to leave at any time. Carters lawyers filed a further 21 motions on Friday, including a request for access to a conversation between Carter and another of Mr Roys friends, which her lawyers say shows Carter had informed others about Mr Roys suicidal thoughts. Carters lawyer, Joseph Cataldo, has said the texts are protected free speech and that Mr Roy was depressed and had previously tried to take his own life, the Washington Post reports. The judge will hear the motions filed by Carter's lawyers on 2 September. The motion to suppress will be heard on 14 October. 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 }} It was perhaps the most powerful speech in two whole weeks of political theatre. Speaking at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia on Thursday, Khizr Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim-American soldier, delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump for ignoring the US Constitution and consistently smearing the character of Muslims. Now, the Republican presidential nominee has responded - by smearing the character of Muslims. Noting that Mr Khan had given his address with his wife Ghazala standing silently at his side, Mr Trump implied that Ms Khan wasnt allowed to speak because she was forbidden to do so by her faith. If you look at his wife, she was standing there, he said on Saturday, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. The property mogul made a similar comment about Mr Khan's speech in an interview with Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, saying simply: "I'd like to hear his wife say something." In an interview with MSNBC, Mr Khan said that he could not have made the speech without his wife at his side. Ms Khan herself said she had spoken to her son for the last time on Mothers Day 2004, months before he was killed. When he had first told her he was being deployed to Iraq, she recalled tearfully that she had told him: Dont become [a] hero for me. Just be my son. Come back as a son [but] he came back as a hero. US Army Captain Humayun Khan was killed in a bomb blast in Iraq in 2004 and posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. His father, a 66-year-old immigration lawyer originally from Pakistan, castigated Mr Trump for his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, saying that under a Trump presidency, his son would never have been born in the country, let alone allowed to serve in its armed forces. Brandishing his personal copy of the Constitution, Mr Khan addressed the GOP nominee directly. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? he asked. Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one. Father of Muslim-American soldier killed in action tells Donald Trump: You have sacrificed nothing Mr Trump insisted that he had, in fact, made lots of sacrifices, adding: I work very, very hard. Ive created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. Ive had tremendous success. I think Ive done a lot. The alleged billionaire also questioned whether Mr Khan had written his own speech, wondering aloud, Who wrote that? Did Hillarys script writers write it? According to Politico, Mr Khan had declined the assistance of a Clinton campaign speechwriter and wrote the speech alone, delivering it by heart without the use of a teleprompter. Mr Trump's comments quickly drew condemnation on social media. In the MSNBC interview a day after his convention appearance, Mr Khan, who is not a registered Democrat, expressed his admiration for the Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but urged them to repudiate their nominee, calling it a moral imperative. There comes a time in the history of a nation where an ethical, moral stand has to be taken regardless of the political costs, he said. The only reason they're not repudiating his behavior, his threat to our democracy, our decency, our foundation, is just because of political consequences. 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 }} Hillary Clinton plans to order a full review of the United States strategy in Syria as one of her first priorities if elected President. One of her foreign policy advisers, Jeremy Bash, said she would seek to end Bashar al-Assads murderous regime despite waning political will to oust the autocratic Syrian President. He said dealing with Syria would be Ms Clintons first key task if elected and she would work to get President Assad out of there. A Clinton administration will not shrink from making clear to the world exactly what the Assad regime is, he told The Telegraph. US diplomats criticise Obama's Syria policy in memo It is a murderous regime that violates human rights; that has violated international law; used chemical weapons against his own people; has killed hundreds of thousands of people, including tens of thousands of children. Barack Obama, David Cameron and international allies were vocal with their criticism of the Syrian governments human rights abuses and war crimes at the start of the conflict in 2011 and the UK almost launched an intervention against Assad two years later. But following the rise of the so-called Islamic State and links between its Syrian bases and attacks in France and Belgium, calls for the Presidents removal have been drowned out by a move towards co-operation in the fight against global terrorism. In a mark of decreasing hostility, the US and Russia Assads staunch ally were drawing up an agreement on bombing Jabhat al-Nusra, which has since attempted a re-brand disassociating itself from al-Qaeda. Statements from the British government have continued to call for all perpetrators of war crimes to be held to account and for a political settlement in the form of a new, inclusive, government to secure long-term peace. Echoing Angela Merkel and other European leaders, Ms Clinton has previously called for safe zones where displaced Syrian civilians can live without fear of attack, but methods of implementing them remain unclear. Her campaign website also outlines policy on defeating Isis strongholds in Syria and Iraq by intensifying the coalition air campaign, and support for Arab and Kurdish allies on the ground. Donald Trump, her Republican adversary, has made national security and immigration a key part of his campaign to reach the White House. He calls his approach America first meaning alliances and coalitions would not pass muster unless they produced a net benefit to the US, drawing rebuke from security officials after suggesting he may not defend some Nato members. While Mr Trump has accused Ms Clinton of presiding over death, destruction, terrorism and weakness at the State Department, she has hit back by accusing him of losing his cool at the slightest provocation, adding: Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. American voters will go to the polls on 8 November to elect the next President. 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 }} Harrowing photos have emerged showing the inhuman conditions inside prison in the Philippines. The facility, Quezon City Jail, in Manila, is home to 3,800 inmates nearly five times more people than it was designed for. It is a reflection of a criminal justice system in chaos, set to worsen as the state engages in an aggressive war on drugs instigated by the country's hardline president, Rodrigo 'The Punisher' Duterte. Prisoners caught up in trials which take years can be seen crammed body-to-body on concrete floors and stairwells. Others are forced to sleep sitting or standing. "Many go crazy, Mario Dimaculangan, the jails longest serving inmate, told the AFP news agency. They cannot think straight. It's so crowded. Just the slightest of movements and you bump into something or someone. The conditions are mirrored in detention facilities across the country, according to Dr Nymia Pimentel Simbulan, executive director of the Philippine Human Rights Information Centre (PhilRights), also based in Quezon City. These conditions exist in municipal and city jails across the country, as well as state penitentiaries, Dr Simbulan told The Independent. Sanitary conditions are also poor, and in Quezon City Jail, one toilet is used by up to 130 other people. According to an April 2015 Commission on Human Rights report, toilet facilities in Filipino jails either do not exist or are poorly maintained and cause an "odious stench". Inmates sleep on the ground of an open basketball court inside the Quezon City jail (AFP/Noel Celis) (AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS) The unhygienic environment means illnesses, such as as tuberculosis, skin infections, diarrhea and sepsis are rife. Medical services are few and far between. Tensions between the prisoners occasionally erupt into violence and torture is also used against them. Overcrowding is a major problem," Dr Simbulanas said. "As is food, cleanliness and a general lack of the facilities which make a place fit for humans. The Philippines are a signatory of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which forbids the cruel or inhuman treatment of prisoners. Unfortunately that is not the case in many of the detention centres and jails in the Philippines, Dr Simbulan said. Inmates rest in their sleeping quarters (AFP/Noel Celis) (AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS) This has been a long problem, its been there for decades and it seems the government has not really taken steps to address over-population and the lack of facilities, which make prison conditions inhuman. The problem is rooted in a broken legal system. If our jails are overcrowded and congested, Dr Simbulan said, that will also be true in our courts. Aside from a lack of physical space in courtrooms, there is a shortage of judges and prosecutors to hear cases. Consequently, with just two or three hearings a year, inmates trials can take years, even decades. There are 3,800 inmates at the jail, which was built six decades ago to house 800, and they engage in a relentless contest for space (AFP/Getty) "Posting bail is often not an option because most of those who run afoul of the law are poor," Phelim Kine, Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch, told The Independent. "And even if they can afford bail, the majority of detainees in most of these jails face drug charges that are non-bailable." Up to 90 per cent of detainess in custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology are awaiting or undergoing trial, according to the organisation's own figures. "This makes the Philippines the Southeast Asian country with the highest number of pretrial and remand detainees and the second highest in all of Asia," said Mr Kine. Quezon City inmate Mr Dimaculangan told AFP he had been in the prison since 2001, after being charged with the murder of a politicians relative, and has averaged just one trial hearing a year. An inmate (middle centre) cooks his dinner as other detainees take a bath inside the Quezon City jail (AFP/Noel Celis) (AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS) In addition, cases which should be settled at the barangy level community committees which deal with petty quarrels and disputes are often escalated to the main court, loading more pressure onto the system. Even if any of the young men who have been jailed are found innocent when their trial is finally concluded, their life prospects are bleak. In addition to losing years of their lives inside, many find it difficult to find work in the outside world because of the enormous stigma associated with jail time. Philippines: Duterte's tough crime crackdown continues Applying for a job often requires clearance from the police and National Bureau of Investigation. That would be a major stumbling block for the individual to be able to get a decent and well paid job, Dr Simbulan said. Many end up in the informal sector and can drift back into criminality. Furthermore, the situation is likely to deteriorate. The new Filipino president, Mr Duterte, has launched an aggressive war on crime and promised to kill drug dealers, criminals and even addicts. Inmates sleep on the ground inside the Quezon City jail (AFP/Noel Celis) (AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS) We in the human rights community are seriously disturbed to see an increase in the number of extra-judicial killings, Dr Simbulan said. Based on recent developments, we do not expect this to get better but actually to get worse. At least 420 suspects have already been the victims of police executions. A 'kill list' that documents the deaths is maintained by the the Manila-based Inquirer newspaper, which said the surge had been marked and unmistakable since Mr Duterte took office on 30 June. 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 Thousands of drug offenders have handed themselves into the authorities to avoid being killed. Campaigners said the government has not shown signs of wanting to improve the prison system. According to Dr Simbulan: The government has embarked on a campaign against illegal drugs, without being able to satisfy the basic prerequisite requirements that would enable the judicial system to absorb an influx of detainees. Mr Kine echoed this sentiment, saying: "The sharp increase in detentions of individuals ensnared in the Philippines governments 'war on drugs' will inevitably worsen the countrys already scandalously abusive problem of lengthy pretrial detention and subject those detainees to potentially life-threateningly unhealthy overcrowding in jails and detention centers." 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 }} Three former senior Irish bankers have been jailed for their role in the collapse of a bank during the 2008 financial crisis. Willie McAteer, John Bowe and Denis Casey conspired to conceal losses of billions of euros at the defunct Anglo Irish Bank the biggest accounting fraud in Irish corporate history, which contributed to the countrys devastating financial crash. The trio were condemned for carrying out sham transactions designed to inflate Anglo's deposit levels by 7.2bn (6bn) in the Dublin bank's 2008 earnings report. They used dishonest, deceitful and corrupt tactics to defraud shareholders and cloak the funding crisis enveloping the bank, said Judge Martin Nolan. Former Anglo executive Mr McAteer, 65, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison while his former colleague Mr Bowe, 52, received a sentence of two years. And co-conspirator Mr Casey, 56, former chief executive of financial services company Irish Life and Permanent, was jailed for two years and nine months. Former director of finance at Anglo Irish Bank, Willie McAteer, has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison (Reuters) Mr Caseys bank had supplied funds that Anglo falsely claimed as new customer deposits in full-year results to shareholders. The move was designed to reassure the shareholders of the banks financial position after aggressively betting for more than a decade on Ireland's property boom which was about to come crashing down amid the global credit crunch that year. Investigators found that the 7.2bn was on Anglo's books for barely one day before being transferred back to Irish Life and Permanent. Irish leaders discuss impact of Brexit Ireland's government discovered in October 2008 that Anglo was on the verge of bankruptcy and declared, in event of an Irish bank failure, that the taxpayer would step in to repay all depositors and bondholders. This confidence-boosting measure left the state with nightmarish bills as the true scale of Anglo's debt mountain started to emerge. Lawyers for the men argued that government and regulatory officials had spurred them to collude on transfers to maintain market confidence in Irish banking. I can appreciate the desperation of the moment. I can appreciate that everyone at Anglo wanted to save the bank. But saving the bank isn't everything, said Judge Nolan. Anglo was nationalised in 2009 and gradually dissolved. Ireland absorbed paper losses at Anglo and four other banks, driving the 2010 national deficit to a post-war European record of 32 per cent of economic output destroying the country's credit rating and forcing it to seek a three-year international bailout. Relatively few bankers have been criminally penalised for their role in the global financial crash so far, although Iceland has jailed 29 financial bosses for their role in the event which crippled the countys economy. 2008 Financial Market Crash Show all 6 1 /6 2008 Financial Market Crash 2008 Financial Market Crash 14 trillion dollars Thats how much the global financial crisis cost the US economy equivalent to a full years GDP, according to a 2013 study by the Dallas Federal Reserve. AFP/Getty 2008 Financial Market Crash 12 billion pounds The deal that Lloyds TSB announced in September 2008 to take over Britain's biggest mortgage lender HBOS Getty Images 2008 Financial Market Crash 323 billion euros Greece's total debt, seven years after the financial crisis exposed its hidden borrowings and government overspending Rex 2008 Financial Market Crash 27 per cent The peak unemployment rate Spain hit in early 2013. It was around 8% in mid-2007 Getty 2008 Financial Market Crash 12 Billion Pounds The amount in pounds that RBS reported as losses in February 2009, the biggest in British corporate history. Getty Images 2008 Financial Market Crash 70 years Since we had another recovery this slow - and that was after the Second World War Rex Irish Life and Permanent, like Anglo, was eventually nationalised. The government divided the bank in two, sold off the profitable Irish Life wing in 2013 and retained its retail banking unit, Permanent TSB, which remains hobbled by a portfolio of loss-making mortgages. Anglo's two most senior figures, former chairman Sean FitzPatrick and chief executive David Drumm, remain free on bail pending their own trials for fraud and other offenses expected to run separately into at least 2017. Mr Drumm fled to the United States in 2009, failed to win bankruptcy protection there after a judge ruled he used his wife to shelter assets, and spent five months in a US jail while unsuccessfully fighting extradition back to Ireland in March. Additional reporting by Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Muslims in the hometown of Adel Kermiche, one of the teenage attackers who slit the throat of an elderly priest in a church in France, have refused to bury him. The 19-year-old, along with Abdel Malik Petitjean, also 19, took six people hostage at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray before killing its 86-year-old priest, Father Jacques Hamel, during a morning mass at around 10am local time on Tuesday. A nun who was in the church identified as Sister Danielle said the priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. Both Kermiche and Petitjean were later shot dead by police. Following the attack, Isis issued a claim of responsibility calling the pair of attackers soldiers of the Islamic State. Isis Amaq propaganda agency later released video footage of the French attackers pledging allegiance to the terror group. 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 Religious leaders in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray have refused to prepare or bury Kermiches body, saying they do not want to taint Islam by having any connection to the jihadist. Mohammed Karabila, president of the local Muslim cultural association and imam at a local mosque, told French newspaper Le Parisien: Were not going to taint Islam with this person. We wont participate in preparing the body or the burial. Fellow Muslims in the town, near Rouen in Normandy, supported the decision, Sky News reports. Khalid El Amrani, a 25-year-old technician, said: What this young man did is sinful; he is no longer part of our community. The mayors office will ultimately decide whether or not Kermiche will be buried in the town. 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. Who is Adel Kermiche? The French government has come under increasing criticism for failing to prevent atrocities, including the attack in Normandy. Security services were tipped off that Petitjean was planning an attack but police were reportedly unable to identify him from photos and video footage showing him declaring allegiance to the so-called Islamic State. He was already on countrys fiche S terror watchlist for attempting to travel to Syria in June but slipped through the net to re-enter France after being stopped by Turkish authorities. Kermiche was also known to security services and was wearing an electronic surveillance tag while on bail as he awaited trial for membership of a terror organisation at the time. The attack came less than a than a fortnight after the Nice attack, when a Tunisian man killed 84 people and injured 300 more when he ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. 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 }} More refugees are dying in desperate attempts to reach safety in Europe than ever before as political leaders turn their backs on the continuing crisis. At least 3,000 migrants have been killed in treacherous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea so far this year, drowning or being suffocated in the bottom of overcrowded smugglers boats. The tragic benchmark was not reached until October 2015, which was the deadliest year on record and made the channel between Libya and Italy the most dangerous crossing in the world. Rescue workers told The Independent that although fewer asylum seekers have been risking the journey to Greece since the EU-Turkey deal, the situation in the central Mediterranean is getting worse as the number of refugees shows no sign of slowing. Recommended Read more How the refugee crisis turned Greek waiters into goat herders At least 1,500 people were expected to arrive in Sicily alone on Saturday and 1,000 on Sunday, bringing the total to at least 3,000 since Friday. Dr Erna Rijnierse, a doctor on the MV Aquarius rescue ship run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee, said the humanitarian situation was becoming ever more horrific. In her months treating refugees for injuries sustained from torture, beatings, rape and sexual abuse she has seen several tragedies. On 20 July she boarded a boat drifting off the coast of Libya to find the bodies of 22 refugees on board, mostly women crammed between the wooden floor and rubber hull. Desperate journeys: Rescued at sea, refugees detail abuse in Libya I went on board to make sure there was no one we could save and there was a very strong smell of petrol, Dr Rijnierse told The Independent. The boat had cracked and the fuel was mixed in with the waterthey died an agonising death you could see it on their faces. Some of them had suffocated, some of them had drowned in 30cm of water. It was something I hope never to see again. She and her colleagues photographed the bodies and handed details over to the Italian authorities in the hope they can be identified, while the surviving passengers were taken to safety. Dr Rijnierse said she believes the situation is worsening in the Mediterranean as smugglers switch from larger wooden fishing vessels to small rubber boats. They are meant to carry between 12 and 20 people but each one has more than 100 on board, she added. Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily. These boats are just not seaworthy, they are dangerously overcrowded and the people driving them have no idea what they are doing. I have a feeling that they pick someone and tell them to drive. The rise in deaths so far in 2016 more than 2,606 of which have been recorded between Libya and Italy is believed to partly be down to this change of tactics by increasingly ruthless smugglers, who were previously known to sail large boats into international waters before abandoning ship and returning to the Libyan coast. On the shorter crossing over the Aegean Sea between Turkey and the Greek islands, refugees are normally loaded into dinghies and picked up by patrol boats from the EUs border agency to be taken to shore. Since the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal in March, any refugees arriving clandestinely via the route are detained until their asylum applications are accepted, or sent back to Turkey when they fail. Christine Nikolaidou, from the International Organisation for Migration in Greece, said the threat of imprisonment and deportation was having a dramatic effect. She told The Independent: Flows have decreased not just because of the agreement but because of the closure of the borders refugees and migrants have received the message that the borders are shut. Coffins containing the bodies of 22 refugees who suffocated and drowned on a refugee boat in Trapani on July 22, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images) Now we have between zero and 100 people arriving in a day before it was between 1,000 and 10,000. Syrians make up almost half of refugees arriving in Greece, followed by Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis and Iranians. But the picture in Italy is markedly different, with most asylum seekers travelling from Nigeria, Eritrea, Gambia, Sudan, Somalia and other African nations. Many are forced to cross the Sahara with lawless gangs of smugglers, who are known to rape, torture and starve refugees, throwing bodies of those who die off lorries to rot in the desert. They then board boats from Libya, where the fragile government is struggling to stop warring factions battling for control after years of chaos following the countrys civil war, and prevent the spread of Isis. Valentina Bollenback, from Save the Children, said the number of unaccompanied children travelling on the dangerous route had doubled in the past year. She said teenagers are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and described meeting a girl on Thursday who had been raped in Libya and was pregnant with her rapist's child. The situation isnt getting any better, its probably worse, and the reception centres are completely full, she added. They go through hell and theyre not even safe when they get here. More than 10,500 unaccompanied children reached Italy by sea from January to June this year, including young women being forced into prostitution and hard labour as payment for their debt incurred in crossing the Mediterranean. A doctor carries a child as refugees disembark from the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) vessel at Pozzallo's harbour in Sicily, Italy (Reuters) Many refugees pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for the crossings often more than the cost of plane tickets they are unable to buy because they cannot obtain a visa to migrate legally. Dr Rijnierse said that as well as taking asylum seekers life savings, smugglers often take all their belongings, leaving them without food and water on sea crossings that could take days. Last year people managed to take some food or their phone or extra clothing, she said. So far this year we have only rescued one person who still had a bag they are having their personal belongings stripped from them and being left with nothing. Like many aid workers, the Dutch doctor is frustrated at the continued refusal of EU states to provide safe and legal routes for refugees. I think as long as people drowning in the Mediterannean then enough isnt being done, Dr Rijnierse said. Everyone has an opinion on how to keep these people out of Europe but no one has an opinion on where they are coming from or why they are running away. These people have good reasons for coming, they are risking their lives. Kim Clausen, the field coordinator on MSF's Bourbon Argos search and rescue boat, shares her anger. It seems like a lot of people in the EU think everyone coming over is a terrorist and that we should leave them to die, he told The Independent. I think we are living in a really shameful chapter for European history we cant even treat people like human beings. I wish I could take every one of these politicians out on a trip to see these people and hear their stories about how they have been raped and tortured and kept as slaves, and how they are fleeing everything around them. Building walls so you dont see the suffering doesnt mean it isnt happening. The Office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned on Friday that physical and legal barriers to migration were no match for human trafficking Maria Grazia Giammarinaro said criminalising refugees made people fleeing conflict, persecution and extreme poverty easy prey. Some countries have adopted restrictive approaches, which exacerbated vulnerabilities of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to human trafficking, she added. It is time to take action, and put in place policies based on shared responsibilities, aimed at ensuring survival, relocation and social inclusion of people fleeing conflict, and preventing trafficking and exploitation in the context of mixed migration flows of people. The British Government has repeatedly defended its record on the refugee crisis, despite warnings from the Home Office Select Committee that it will struggle to fulfil its pledge to resettle 20,000 Syrians. It is supporting the Europe-wide Operation Sofia mission and is training Libyan coastguards and naval personnel in an attempt to stem the number of boats being launched from the countrys shores. David Cameron also repeatedly championed the strategy of using billions of pounds of funding for humanitarian aid aimed at keeping Syrian refugees in the region and dissuading them from travelling to Europe. Operation Sophia has saved more than 13,700 lives, a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said. We are committed to maximising Sophias impact by seizing and destroying the traffickers boats and identifying smugglers for arrest." 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 Turkish president has said he will close down the countrys military schools as a crackdown continues following a failed coup. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday a national military university will instead be founded as part of a vast shake-up of the countrys military. Turkey announced wide-ranging changes in its armed forces on Wednesday with the promotion of 99 colonels to the rank of general or admiral as well as the dismissal of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged links to the coup. The purges have targeted those believed to be linked to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Ankara of masterminding the failed coup on 15 July, in which Mr Erdogan said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 wounded. 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 Mr Erdogan also said he wanted to introduce constitutional changes to bring the Turkish spy agency and military chief of staff directly under his control. "We are going to introduce a small constitutional package [to parliament] which, if approved, will bring the National Intelligence Organisation [MIT] and chief of staff under the control of the presidency," he told A-Haber television on Saturday. Earlier, the Turkish government cancelled the passports of around 50,000 people to prevent them leaving the country. Efkan Ala, the interior minister, said more than 18,000 have so far been detained over the attempt to oust Mr Erdogan, while thousands of government staff are under investigation. The president has faced criticism over the scale of the crackdown in the aftermath of the coup, which has seen the arrest, removal and suspension of more than 70,000 people, according to the latest figures cited by the state-run Anadolu news agency, affecting workers in the judiciary, the education system, media, health care and other sectors. Media outlets and journalists have been particularly affected by the crackdown tightening Mr Erdogans grip on power. Earlier this week the Turkish government ordered the closure of at least 131 newspapers, television and radio stations, magazines, publishers and news agencies. Turkey's President Erdogan defends government action An Istanbul court remanded 17 Turkish journalists in custody after 21 appeared before a judge charged with membership of a terror group, the Guardian reports. Amid calls for restraint from the US and European allies, hundreds of listed conscripts were released from detention and Mr Erdogan announced he was dropping prosecutions against around 2,000 people alleged to have insulted him. Military school students were reportedly among 758 out of 989 conscripts released at the request of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor after a court ruled that they did not pose a flight risk. Additional reporting by Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A French woman has been sentenced to six months in prison after calling in a fake bomb threat at Geneva Airport in a ploy to get revenge on her husbands mistress. The woman had called customs on 26 July and told them there would be a passenger travelling with a bomb at the airport on 27 July which was when the woman having an affair with her husband was flying out of the Swiss airport. Security immediately responded to the threat, causing delays and long queues at the airport as passengers, cars and luggage were searched in an attempt to prevent an attack on the building, at a time when many airports around the world are on high alert for terror threats, although Switzerland itself is on low alert. Recommended Read more Belgium arrest brothers suspected of plotting new terror attack However, after the phone call was traced to the womans home in Annecy, France, the security measures were lifted and the airport resumed business but not before running up costs of hundreds of thousands of euros, prosecution claimed in a court hearing on 28 July. The fake bomb threat came just four weeks after Istanbul Ataturk airport was hit by explosions and gunfire an attack that left 41 people dead. Speaking in court, the 41-year-old said: My only aim was to cause problems for this woman. It was out of revenge, The Local reported, with her defence stressing she had been married for 22 years, had four children and had taken the actions of an injured woman. The womans husband and several of her children accompanied her to the hearing, where she was given a six-month sentence, of which she is expected to serve three months in prison. 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 }} Pilots on budget airline flydubai have claimed they are subjected to dangerous working hours which leave them overtired, according leaked air safety reports. Documents of 413 flights seen by The Guardian describe conditions in which a planes handbrake was left on during take-off, a pilot was criticised for a dangerous landing by a colleague, and a staff member complained the hours he was working were illegal. In at least 40 instances in the leaked documents, fatigue was raised by pilots as a concern, with claims the airlines scheduling does not give them a chance to rest properly before their next flight. One pilot wrote: It is unsafe and unhelpful for crewing to continually ask the crew to go into discretion [voluntary extra work] especially after the crew have said they dont feel safe to continue into discretion. "Once the crew have made the statement it should be taken as set in stone and not something to try and whittle away at! No one wants to cause additional delays, disruption and end up at an out station. If we felt safe to continue to Dubai we would have done so! It is unacceptable to apply pressure, however pleasantly it is done, trying to sweet talk a crew into doing something they have said they feel is unsafe is unprofessionally and extremely dangerous! In other reports, issues including medical emergencies, a mid-flight bomb scare and lasers being shone at pilots were also raised. The leaked reports come less than four months after the airline saw its first fatal crash. All 62 people on board flight FZ981 from Dubai to Russia were killed when the plane went down in poor weather conditions. Flydubai told The Guardian it followed all official safety regulations and added that pilots were encouraged to report concerns so they could be dealt with. If any of our pilots have any worries or grievances, there are a number of forums and avenues available to them to raise those problems. The welfare of our crew is of the utmost importance and we provide formal and informal support mechanisms, it said. We have always been committed to exceeding the regulatory standards by investing in safety, technology, training and procedures. 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 secret document from 1970 has revealed that one of the first Israeli settlements in the West Bank was built under false pretences to circumvent international law. Minutes of a meeting at the office of former Israeli defence minister Moshe Dayan show politicians, civil servants and military leaders discussing plans for Kiryat Arba, on the outskirts of Hebron. The document, seen by Haaretz, described how 250 homes for Jewish families would be built on land confiscated by military order for security purposes, and claimed to be for military use. Israeli security forces gather at the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba last month, after a 13-year-old Israeli girl was fatally stabbed in her bedroom (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) Days after Base 14 had completed its activities, the document continued, the commander of the Hebron district will summon the mayor of Hebron, and in the course of raising other issues, will inform him that weve started to build houses on the military base in preparation for winter. The homes were said to be earmarked for the first settlers who arrived in Hebron, moving into the citys Park Hotel on Passover in 1968, allowing them a permanent home without openly violating international law by building on occupied land for civilian purposes. Building started swiftly after Mr Dayans meeting and residents moved in in 1971, with Kiryat Arba expanding to a current population of almost 8,000 people. Its residents have been targeted in several stabbing attacks since a new wave of violence started in last year, with a Palestinian teenager stabbing a 13-year-old girl to death in her family home on 30 June. Hebron, one of the most volatile cities in the West Bank, is divided between the Palestinian Authority and Israeli control and is a flashpoint for violence between Palestinians, settlers and the military. The Cave of the Patriarchs holy site, or Ibrahimi Mosque, has been the focus of attacks on both Jews and Muslims including a shooting massacre by an Israeli-American settler that left 29 Palestinians dead in 1994. Israel approves spending millions in West Bank settlement security The process used to build Kiryat Arba was repeated several times elsewhere in the West Bank until being outlawed by the High Court of Justice in 1979. BTselem, an Israeli human rights group, said dozens of land requisition orders were issued by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in the period, claiming they were required for essential and urgent military needs. Settlement construction has continued in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, despite being considered illegal under international law and condemned by the United Nations and International Court of Justice. They are regarded as a key barrier to dwindling hopes for a two-state solution and full Palestinian Authority control of the occupied territories. Newly announced plans for more than 1,000 new units provoked fresh alarm this week. Tobias Ellwood, the Middle East minister, expressed concern over 770 settler homes proposed between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. As we have previously made clear, all settlement activity is illegal under international law, and damages prospects for a two-state solution, he said. The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child The UK is particularly concerned about the impact such settlements may have on Palestinian Christian minorities in the area, who are already affected by renewed construction of the Separation Barrier on Palestinian land in the Cremisan Valley. The American government also voiced its opposition, saying it was deeply concerned about an additional 323 homes scheduled to be built in East Jerusalem. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US State Department, called the action provocative and counterproductive, adding: We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. He also listed plans for 531 new settler homes in Ma'ale Adumim, 19 in Har Homa, 120 in Ramot, and 30 in Pisgat Ze'ev and to legalise an outpost near Ramallah. The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the criticism as factually baseless, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked David Cameron for his comments on the issue earlier this year. The Israeli Embassy has not responded to The Independents 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 }} Medics and civilians in a war-torn province of Syria are trying to rebuild a vital maternity hospital after it was hit by air strikes in the latest attack on health facilities. Two people were killed in Fridays bombing, which destroyed part of the building as two operations were underway and a woman went into labour. Save the Children, which supports the hospital, said six newborn babies were injured when the blast sent their incubators crashing to the floor and a woman who was six months pregnant had her leg severed. Babies in their incubators at a maternity hospital in Idlib province that was damaged by an air strike on 29 July (Save the Children) Two other patients suffered shrapnel wounds to their stomachs and many others were injured in the air strike on Kafr Takhareem, a rural part of rebel-controlled Idlib province. Photos showed part of the building completely destroyed, leaving piles of rubble in the street and treatment rooms strewn with debris and glass from blown-out windows. Only the hospitals A&E department was left functioning and its generator was badly damaged, dangerously reducing the capacity of the only maternity facility of its kind in the area, which serves more than 1,000 women and children every month. Sonia Khush, Save the Childrens Syria director, said: Bombing a maternity hospital which is helping women living under the shadow of war to give birth safely is a shameful act, whether it was done intentionally or because due care was not taken to avoid civilian areas. There is no excuse, and unfortunately this is only the latest in a series of strikes on health facilities in Syria. We condemn these attacks, which are illegal under international law, in the strongest possible terms. We need an immediate ceasefire across Syria and an end to the appalling bombing of medical facilities In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike Show all 6 1 /6 In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike Damage at a Save the Children-supported maternity hospital in Idlib province, Syria, after it was hit by air strikes on 29 July Save the Children In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike A maternity hospital in Idlib province that was damaged by an air strike on 29 July Save the Children In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike Damage inside a Save the Children-supported hospital in Idlib province, Syria, after it was hit by air strikes on 29 July Save the Children In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike A maternity hospital in Idlib province that was damaged by an air strike on 29 July Save the Children In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike A burned-out car near a maternity hospital in Idlib province after an air strike on 29 July Save the Children In pictures: Idlib maternity hospital damaged by air strike Damage at a maternity hospital in Idlib province after an air strike on 29 July Save the Children Amnesty International blamed Syrian or Russian forces for the strike, saying it fitted a despicable pattern of unlawful attacks deliberately targeting medical facilities. The organisation's Middle East and North Africa Director, Philip Luther, said: Hospitals, which have special protection under international humanitarian law, should be safe places for mothers, new-born infants and medical workers - even in the midst of a brutal prolonged conflict. Syria and Russia must end attacks on hospitals and medical facilities. All such attacks must be investigated and those responsible for serious violations of the laws of war must be brought to justice. Authorities in Damascus and Moscow have not commented on the incident and there was no confirmation of who was behind the attack. It was unclear whether the maternity hospital was the target of the strike or had been damaged accidentally, with a burned-out car seen in the road outside. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a nearby civil defence building nearby was also hit. Idlib province is almost completely under rebel control, including a strong presence of the Jabhat al-Nusra group, which announced its supposed split from al-Qaeda on Thursday. It claimed it had split from Osama bin Ladens terror organisation and re-named itself as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of the Levant) in a suspected attempt to garner greater support from moderate rebel groups and international backers. In another part of the northern Idlib countryside, air strikes killing at least five people and injuring more than 25 were documented on Friday. Damage at a Save the Children-supported maternity hospital in Idlib province, Syria, after it was hit by air strikes on 29 July (Save the Children) The maternity hospital strike came just days after four hospitals and a blood bank in eastern Aleppo were struck in aerial attacks, including a paediatric hospital hit twice in less than 12 hours. The Physicians for Human Rights group has documented at least 373 attacks on medical facilities, with 750 personnel killed, with vast majority of them alleged to be carried out by Syrian government forces and their allies. Meanwhile, Syrian activists said an air strike by the US-led coalition killed 28 civilians, including seven children, in the Isis-held village of al-Ghandour, near the Turkish border. Humanitarian organisations and governments are continuing to raise concerns about besieged towns of Syria and the bombardment of civilian areas, particularly in the divided city of Aleppo. Russian authorities have promised to open three routes to allow unarmed rebels and civilians to flee after coming under increasing international pressure, but the pledge was met with distrust. The UN special envoy for Syria urged Russia to leave the creation of any humanitarian corridors around Aleppo to the United Nations and its partners amid fears the plan was a ruse to separate men and boys to be imprisoned or executed. Thats our job, Staffan de Mistura said on Friday. How do you expect people to walk through a corridor - thousands of them - while there is shelling, bombing, fighting? The clock is ticking for the Aleppo population. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Q My wife and I have been unsuccessfully scanning the internet to find direct flights to Corsica for July 2017. Ideally we wish to visit the island for 10 days. However, all we can find are easyJet flights from Gatwick and even they only appear to fly on a Sunday. Are there any alternatives to this and when would any flights to Corsica first be available to book? Russell Kennedy A To investigate your question, I first looked at all the flights this summer from the UK to the beautiful French island of Corsica. It was a simple matter of A, B, C - the three main airports serving the island. A is Ajaccio in the south-west, B is Bastia in the north-east and C is Calvi in the north-west. The task didn't take long. According to my OAG Pocket Flight Guide, easyJet flies once a week from Gatwick to Ajaccio, twice a week from Gatwick to Bastia, and once a week from Manchester to Bastia. Flybe flies once a week from both Birmingham and Southampton to Bastia. There are no scheduled flights from the UK to Calvi, but some summer charters. And guess what? All those flights, including the pair from Gatwick to Bastia, are on Sundays. That may look mad, but there is method in the flight plan. For British visitors, Corsica is a niche destination. And because the island is so popular with holidaymakers from mainland France, accommodation is in short supply. So a large proportion of the UK visitors to Corsica are travelling with specialist tour operators. They like to have a common changeover day, and Sunday is it. For any other day of the week, then, you have to travel via somewhere else. Treat this, though, as an opportunity rather than a nuisance: you can build in an extra bonus, a cut-price city break. To or from Ajaccio, you can choose a stopover in one of the big three hubs for Corsica, in the shape of Marseille, Nice and Paris; there are also options for Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Brussels, Geneva, Lyon, Strasbourg or Toulouse, but with fewer flight choices. My personal recommendation: a train and ferry combo via Marseille. Eurostar runs direct from London St Pancras to Marseille St-Charles, with one-way fares (including luggage) from 49.50. You can either explore this beautiful, sprawling city, or hop on a bus for less than half-an-hour to Aix-en-Provence if you prefer somewhere more compact; we have recently written 48 Hours guides for both cities. Then, when you are ready to sail, you can snooze your way to a range of Corsican ports, and arrive at dawn ready to explore. Every day, our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, tackles a readers question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet@simoncalder Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As the virus spreads to Florida, this is what you need to know about the risks for travellers - and the options for people who decide to cancel their trips What is Zika, and what dangers can it pose? Zika is a mosquito-borne infection caused by Zika virus. It is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is present in hot, humid locations. The infection was first identified in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947. Sporadic outbreaks have occured since then. Since 2015 a large outbreak has been occurring in the Caribbean, Latin America, the Pacific, some parts of Asia and now the US state of Florida. On 1 August 2016, Governor Rick Scott announced another 10 locally transmitted cases of Zika in the state's largest city, Miami. Only about one in five people who are infected with Zika virus develop symptoms, which include a fever, a rash and aching joints. There have also been isolated links with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. But the most serious concern, in terms of numbers and threat, is when the virus is caught by pregnant women. It may cause microcephaly, a condition where a baby is born with an unusually small head. It is a disability that causes life-long problems. That is why the World Health Organization deems Zika a public health emergency of international concern. The Zika virus - in pictures Show all 5 1 /5 The Zika virus - in pictures The Zika virus - in pictures A three-month-old, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil. A rise in microcephaly cases is thought to have been caused by the spread of the Zika virus in affected countries Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A mother holds her baby who has microcephaly Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A five-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A pediatric infectologist examines a two-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A baby affected with microcephaly For people who are not pregnant and not likely to become pregnant, theres no significant risk - just take precautions to minimise the chance of being bitten. The mosquito bites during the day, and indoors. To avoid mosquito bites, wear long sleeves and long trousers tucked into socks, and use Deet-based insect repellant on exposed skin. Women should avoid becoming pregnant while travelling in, and for eight weeks after leaving an area with active Zika virus transmission. Q How significant is the Florida outbreak? Until now the only cases in Florida have involved people who caught the virus elsewhere and brought it back. Miami is the aviation hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, and it was therefore inevitable that there would be such cases. But now there is local transmission - i.e. someone with Zika has been bitten by a mosquito which has then bitten someone else and passed on the virus. State officials say: "Active transmissions of the Zika virus are still only occurring in the one small area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown." Nearly two million visitors from the UK go to Florida each year. I estimate that upwards of 10,000 people a day will be flying to the state in August. Public Health England has added the US state of Florida to the list of locations where there is a risk of contracting Zika virus by being bitten by a mosquito. The organisation has rated the risk as moderate (compared with high in Mexico, Brazil and most Caribbean islands), and says Pregnant women should consider postponing non-essential travel to the state. The key word there is "consider"; for high-risk countries, the advice is that pregnant women should definitely postpone travel. Q What should pregnant women do immediately? Talk to their GP. He or she should be able to advise based on the plans for the trip and the very latest information from the NHS. For example, someone planning to fly into Orlando or Tampa and then embark on a fly-drive trip to the north of Florida or the rest of the US may be considered to be at negligible risk. But someone booked to spend a fortnight in Miami could well be advised to postpone or cancel their trip. If the GP says dont go, get a letter explaining his or her recommendation, which you can then show to your travel company and/or travel insurer. Q What are the travel companies saying? I asked the three leading tour operators, who sell package holidays, and the two leading scheduled airlines, for their policies for customers who are pregnant and booked to travel to Florida. The basic policy for each is the same: if you can provide proof that you are pregnant, you and your travelling companion(s) can switch to another destination without the usual charges. Thomson says: Customers who would like to amend to an alternative holiday offered by Thomson and First Choice, and have a doctors note confirming they have been advised not to travel to the affected areas due to medical reasons, can do so without incurring an amendment fee. This also applies to its subsidiary First Choice. Thomas Cook says pregnant women and their travelling companions planning to travel to Florida between now and the end of the year can have "free amendments to alternative destinations. Thomas Cooks customer service team is contacting customers due to travel to Florida to advise them of the situation. For women who are planning on getting pregnant and are concerned about a future holiday booking, the firm says they should call so that we can support them appropriately. Virgin Holidays says: "Customers who are pregnant have the option to amend or cancel their booking free of charge. Passengers in the UK who are due to depart can contact our Customer Service Team on 0344 557 4321 for assistance." Virgin Atlantic, like its sister company, is offering cancellation as an option. The airline will allow customers who are pregnant to cancel with a full refund, or postpone or change destination free of charge. Customers who are trying for a baby can postpone or change destination (but can't cancel). British Airways is offering customers the flexibility to rebook to a non-Zika affected destination of their choice". Anyone who has booked car rental or accommodation separately - i.e. not as part of a package holiday - may not be able to get a refund for these elements, and should contact their travel insurer. The Association of British Insurers says if a doctor tells someone not to travel to a particular destination, then most travel insurance policies will cover cancellation costs that cannot be reclaimed elsewhere. Of course, this is provided that the trip and insurance were bought before the advice changed. Q What's the advice for couples who are trying to conceive? They can probably switch destination. For example, Thomas Cook says: All those due to travel who are planning on getting pregnant and are concerned about a future holiday booking should call us so that we can support them appropriately. Its important also to remember that the UK health authorities are concerned about the possible sexual transmission of Zika, and theres a warning that men who have been in areas where Zika prevails should not have unprotected sex for a couple of months after they return - or longer if they have any symptoms of Zika. Q What about other parts of the US? The Aedes aegypti mosquito is abundant in Florida for much of the year. It also exists in a number of other American states, with a concentration in the extreme south-east. But so far there is no indication of any local transmission by mosquito anywhere outside a small area of Miami. 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 }} Turkey's media crackdown is putting citizens at risk from extremist ideologies, a leading Turkish journalist told The Independent today, as it emerged 48 Turkish journalists have been arrested and 330 have had their accreditation revoked in the past week. On Wednesday the President signed decrees ordering the closure of over 100 media organisations including 16 TV stations and 45 newspapers. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported 21 journalists are currently being detained in Istanbuls Caglayan Courthouse where they face interrogation and up to 30 days pre-trial detention. It is now very difficult to find lawyers to defend critical journalists. There is no rule of law in Turkey, Yusuf Yilmaz not his real name said. The journalist, who left Turkey just before the state of emergency was declared on July 20th, refused to be named out of concern for family still based in the country. It is now impossible for prosecutors and judges to make independent decisions because the Erdogan regime is in complete control of the state. Turkey is being Erdoganised, said Yilmaz. The crackdown is the latest phase in the ruling party's response to the attempted coup, during which 246 civilians were killed. 15,000 people, including 10,000 soldiers, have been detained as President Erdogan moved to clamp down on followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Erdogan blamed for the coup. A vast network of banks, charities, schools, media companies and businesses make up the Gulenist movement, which promotes interfaith dialogue and Islam's compatibility with liberal democracy. Once a key ally of Erdogan, Gulen has been an enemy of the ruling AK Party since it brought corruption charges against the president's inner circle in 2013. Turkish cleric and opponent to the Erdogan regime Fethullah Gulen was accused by Ankara of orchestrating the military coup attempt but he firmly denied involvement. (AFP) According to one poll 64% of Turks now believe the coup was orchestrated by Gulen and his followers. I did not support the coup, and neither did any of the other journalists who have been arrested, said Yilmaz, who accuses Erdogan of using the failed military intervention to demonise his opponents. If the coup was successful its leaders would have put me in jail. I was against the military intervention, it failed, but now the government is making its own coup, a civilian coup. The more the Gulen movement and followers of a moderate interpretation of Islam are oppressed in Turkey, the more extremists will gain ground and promote their bloody ideology in the country. This is also worrying for the future of Turkey and relations with West. Yilmaz said: There is a new young generation who believe Erdogan is a great leader, and they are ready to do anything for him. Now they have no opposition media to challenge him. 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 }} When Labour MP Jess Phillips posted about her fortified home security on Twitter last week it was another shocking development in an endlessly ugly reality. Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, had to step up security at her home where her kids also live because she had received death threats. She is not the only female MP advised to take such action after receiving threats; there is an escalating torrent of the most grotesque and horrifying abuse including rape and death threats targeting women in politics. In a particularly nasty twist, the more women speak out about this appalling treatment, the more of it they are subjected to: Phillips received 600 rape threats in one night after helping to launch Reclaim The Internet a campaign to end online misogynistic abuse. The floods of abuse female MPs are dealing with comes just one month after the tragic murder of Jo Cox MP, who had also received threats prior to her death. Speaking to some of the MPs who have experienced such sickening attacks, its striking that their focus is on the effect this will have on the next generation: the worry is that it will deter other women from pursuing a career in politics. This is the awful cluster bomb effect of abuse: if it doesnt terrorise and silence the female MPs, it may repel scores of other women who might have considered going into politics, or even thought about becoming visible figures in public life. The rising number of women in politics, while celebrated by so many, is fuel for others misogyny. Were also in a particular political climate of anger and insults, unleashed during the EU referendum debate and now difficult to put back in the bottle. Plus, the current abuse affecting female MPs is embedded within the Labour leadership crisis, with pro- and anti-Corbyn camps each using abusive and derogatory language which creates its own toxic momentum. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn last week received a letter from 44 female Labour MPs, warning of the escalating abuse and hostility happening in his name. Yesterday, Corbyn pledged to set up a new staff role with a specific focus on threats to women. He has also repeatedly condemned all abuse and intimidating behaviour. Thousands march against sexism Show all 5 1 /5 Thousands march against sexism Thousands march against sexism 614132.bin JASON ALDEN Thousands march against sexism 614131.bin JASON ALDEN Thousands march against sexism 614130.bin JASON ALDEN Thousands march against sexism 614129.bin JASON ALDEN Thousands march against sexism 614128.bin JASON ALDEN While such measures are welcome, Corbyn could step up his engagement (there is always room) by more proactively using his leadership to stamp the party brand as having zero-tolerance for such abuse. More widely, the left can be painfully slow at seeing its own sexism, struggling to accept that even those with well-meaning politics may have terrible blind spots. It would be more helpful to assume that we are all susceptible to slips and prejudices; we could all use top-ups in diversity training. This should be a constant process of creating, reaffirming and fortifying a progressive left culture which is actively intolerant of abuse. Shami Chakrabartis recent report on antisemitism in the Labour party was a solid template in this regard, focusing as it did on education, training and the need to monitor language. But its important, as well, to separate this issue from the current crisis within Labour not least because doing so would deflate attempts to dismiss the concern over abuse as simply a component of the bigger leadership tussle. The ugly truth is that female MPs across the party and across Westminster face the most appalling abuse and threats. MPs from minority backgrounds are also targeted: look at the toxic double-whammy of racist-misogynistic abuse that Diane Abbott deals with. The current media focus on such abuse being somehow endemic to the hard left may have the unintended consequence of letting everyone else off the hook. Sexism row at Welsh Assembly When Reclaim The Internet launched in May, it was a cross-party effort to tackle the staggering scale of misogyny on social media. A consultation process, it is intended to improve the way such abuse is handled by police and prosecutors as well as by social media platforms. This focus on practical, identifiable and enforceable solution is welcome in the face of a problem that can seem overwhelming. Its a reminder, too, that abuse isnt remotely an acceptable part of the job for Britains female MPs. It isnt normal, or inevitable. And we cant deal with it effectively unless we do so together. 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 }} What is it about the Clintons and bus tours? On Friday fresh-minted Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine set out on the morrow of the party convention in Philadelphia on a three-day tour of small towns in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 24 years ago, a newly crowned Democratic nominee named Bill Clinton and his running mate got into a bus to do the same thing. 1992 was the first US election that I covered and for me remains the most exciting. In some respects it mirrors this one. Both major party candidates, Bill Clinton and George HW Bush were failing to inspire. Both were seen to represent a discredited establishment. An eccentric Texas billionaire businessman called Ross Perot, with jug ears and a voice like chalk on blackboard, had entered the race that spring, railing away about the need to balance the budget. By June he was topping the polls. Then, just as the Democratic convention opened in New York in mid-July, he pulled out of the race. The convention was a colossal success. The double bubba ticket of two young technocratic southerners, Arkansas governor Clinton and senator Al Gore of Tennessee, caught the national imagination. Their maddeningly catchy theme tune, Fleetwood Macs Dont Stop was everywhere. Clinton/Gore got the mother of all convention bounces. The bus tour too was a smash, and they never trailed again even though Perot jumped back into the contest in autumn, and ended up with 19 per cent of the popular vote. If only history would repeat itself, Clinton must be thinking. Shes just come off a pretty good convention herself, as slick and well choreographed as the one in 1992. Shes unlikely to get a 1992-style bounce though; convention bounces aint what they used to be. And while her husbands week-long bus trip seemed even then a harbinger of the ultimate victory, her shorter one is not to put too fine a point on it an unavoidable necessity. Pennsylvania and Ohio are two classic rust belt states. The first has voted Democrat in the last six elections, but it is full of the disaffected blue-collar white voters who flock to Donald Trump. Obama carried it by a relatively comfortable 5.4 per cent margin over Mitt Romney in 2012. This time around though, Hillary Clinton is doing much worse than Obama among working class white men. Pennsylvania is up for grabs. As for Ohio, carried twice by Obama, it enjoys legendary status as the ultimate swing state, having backed the winner in every election since 1964. It too has many workers and communities who feel crushed by globalisation and forgotten to the state. It too is an obvious target for Trump. Indeed if he is to win the White House, the real estate magnate will almost certainly win there. Nobody More Qualified Than Hillary, Not Even Me - Obama For Clinton the converse is true. She starts out with a notable Democratic advantage in the Electoral College. Hang on to Pennsylvania and Ohio, and theres virtually no way Trump can cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to win. To do so, he must capture rust belt states in the Northeast. But if he cant manage Pennsylvania, the most vulnerable of them, hes unlikely to carry other, and more solidly Democratic ones like Michigan and Wisconsin. Game over. Small towns in Americas former industrial heartlands are not natural Clinton territory. But shes bringing ideas that should help her cause: plans for the biggest infrastructure spending programme since Dwight Eisenhower launched the interstate highway system in the 50s, plus a $10bn (7.6bn) special fund to help small manufacturers switch to high-tech products. Expect many jabs at Trump, for promising to Put America First, while having many Trump brand items manufactured not in Pennsylvania or Ohio, but in China, India and Turkey. Even so, another parallel with 1992 must cause Clinton concern: third party candidates. Despite the fact that discontent with the major party candidates is even higher than in 1992, theres no Perot around or not yet scooping up 20 per cent of the vote. But just remember the impact of Ralph Nader in 2000 when his Green party won just 2.7 per cent. Ross Perot drew support equally from Democrats and Republicans. Nader though mostly took Democratic votes enough to hand that razor-close election to George W Bush. Theres a Green running this time, Jill Stein, whos getting similar support in the polls to Nader 16 years ago. Most of it comes from the Bernie [Sanders] or Bust brigade on the liberal far left; in other words votes lost for Hillary. No less of a worry however is the Libertarian party ticket of former Republican Governors Gary Johnson of New Mexico and Bill Weld of Massachusetts. Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Show all 15 1 /15 Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Darren McCollester/Getty Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Mary Schwalm/Reuters Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Brian Snyder/Reuters Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Brian Snyder/Reuters Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Brian Snyder/Reuters Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Brian Snyder/Reuters Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Brian Snyder/Reuters Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Darren McCollester/Getty Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Bernie Sanders campaigns with Hillary Clinton Andrew Harnik/AP Right now theyre scoring in the high single digits. But the whole election would be transformed were Johnson/Weld somehow to push that share to 15 per cent, qualifying them for the autumns televised debates. But even at 7 or 8 per cent theyre a factor. The roots of the Libertarian party may lie in a laid-back, small-government, socially liberal Republicanism. But right now Johnson and Weld seem to be taking more votes from Clinton than from Trump not least young people who, try as she may, she cannot win over. That of course was no problem for her husband and Al Gore. They, like almost every successful presidential ticket before or since, embodied the future. The young flocked to them. Hillary Clinton by contrast embodies the quarter century since 1992, during which she has been a fixture on the political centre stage. Bill is thinner, calmer and white-haired now. For all his folksy charisma, his every appearance at her side is a reminder of times gone by. Back then, a bus tour was a novelty and a bit of a lark. Can Hillary recapture the magic now? Trinity College has suffered a major blow in its bid to address the student accommodation crisis after An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission for a 52m redevelopment for student accommodation. TCD wanted to demolish the existing five-storey Oisin House, which has been in use by the Department of Social Protection and its predecessor on Dublin's Pearse Street for over 20 years. The college wanted to build a seven-storey, 13,800 sq m scheme to house 278 student accommodation units. The City Council gave the go-ahead in spite of opposition from An Taisce while one Trinity alumna, Dr Kate Yeaton, branded the plans a "monstrosity". The plan was slated to be complete by 2018. The council decision resulted in An Taisce appealing the ruling to An Bord Pleanala. In its appeal, it claimed the scheme as proposed "would constitute a disorderly, incoherent form of development with an overscaled building". In the surprise decision to refuse planning, the appeals board disregarded the recommendation of its own inspector to grant planning. A TCD spokeswoman said yesterday: "While Trinity is committed to providing more quality student accommodation and helping our students in the current crisis, we will have to review the An Bord Pleanala decision and its recommendation over the coming days and consider what is feasible." The inspector stated that the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area and would provide an acceptable standard of amenity for future residents. In its ruling, the board stated that having regard to the scale, mass and height of the proposed development, it considered that the proposal would represent overdevelopment, be overbearing and visually obtrusive. It also concluded that the plan would seriously detract from the visual amenities of the area, would have a negative impact on the architectural charter of the area, and would establish a negative precedent for similar development. The board stated that the inspector's recommendation to reduce the block's height would not have satisfactorily overcome the board's serious concerns. An artist's impression of the plans lodged to develop the department store and Earl Place The new owners of the iconic Clerys building on Dublin's O'Connell Street have lodged a planning application which if approved will see it restored to its former glory as part of a new precinct for retail, offices, restaurants, bars and boutique hotel. While the proposed development is set to be the subject of intense public scrutiny in view of the controversy which blew up around the shock closure of the famous department store, several aspects of the plan by new owners OCS Properties are likely to be seen as sympathetic to the building's history. According to the plans lodged with Dublin City Council, the original feature stairs in the building will be restored and continue to provide access to the former Clerys Tea Rooms, which were frequented for decades by the store's customers. That nod to tradition is set to be juxtaposed with the addition of a new 'roof top destination' populated by bars, restaurants and entertaining spaces. The developers say the spaces will be available for both day and night-time use by visitors and locals alike, and offer the public a unique vantage point from which to enjoy panoramic views of Dublin city. The ground, lower ground and first floors of the building are to be set aside for high quality retail while the former department store's upper office floors are to be opened up for letting to local and international companies. OCS believes the office space will be of interest to the fintech, TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) and creative industries. Earl Place, a side street which up to now has been largely neglected, is poised to be rejuvenated should the planning application receive the council's approval, with plans for a new boutique hotel. Commenting on her company's plans for Clerys, OCS Properties director Deirdre Foley described it as "the start of a new chapter" for the building. "O'Connell Street is the historical heart of our national capital and deserves an iconic redevelopment like this," Ms Foley said. The submission of yesterday's planning application represents the culmination of 12 months' work by leading Dublin architectural firm Henry J Lyons, aimed towards the delivery of 350,000 sq. ft of space which Foley said would both modernise and restore the grandeur of the Clerys building. She said: "We hope that this will be a major catalyst for change in the city centre and for O'Connell Street and that it will help to generate a renewed vibrant quarter." "Our vision for this iconic building at the centre of O'Connell Street is a catalyst to restore the street as our most vibrant shopping and social hub for visitors and locals to enjoy and be proud of." The submission of the planning application for Clerys' former premises is the third significant recent development for O'Connell Street and its prospects of being restored to its historic status as Dublin's foremost thoroughfare. On July 21 last, Dublin City Council extended the original planning permission granted in 2010 to developer Joe O'Reilly's Chartered Land for the redevelopment of a site stretching from the former Carlton cinema on O'Connell Street to Moore Street up until May 2022. The plans approved by council planners would see the development of 82 retail units, 22 apartments, 3.23 million sq ft of office space as well as 14 restaurants. While the Dublin Central site is now under the ownership of UK property group, Hammerson, Joe O'Reilly is set to be engaged by the company on the project as its development manager. Dublin City Council's decision to extend the original permission for Dublin Central comes ahead of an appeal by the State of a court order protecting Moore Street as a 1916 "battlefield site". In another boost for O'Connell Street, this weekend sees the Luas tracks being laid across O'Connell Bridge as part of the Luas cross city project. The installation of the Luas line will see the return at the end of 2017 of north and southbound tram traffic on O'Connell Street for the first time in more than 68 years. Potential blow: Facebook is in a battle over new US tax liabilities Facebook's future cash flows and results could suffer a major blow if it loses a battle over new US tax liabilities related to the transfer of its global operations to Ireland in 2010. The US Internal Revenue Service delivered a "notice of deficiency" to the social media giant on Wednesday seeking $3bn (2.68bn) to $5bn, plus interest and penalties, based on the agency's audit of Facebook's transfer pricing, the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday. Facebook, which plans to challenge the notice in federal tax court, said its balance sheet could suffer if it's held liable. Facebook said in the filing that the liability "could have a material adverse impact" on its finances, results or cash flows. "In addition, the determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires significant judgment by management, and there are many transactions where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain." The IRS on Monday asked a federal magistrate judge in California to force the company to turn over detailed internal corporate records related to the value of the assets moved to Ireland. They included all operations outside the US and Canada. The IRS claims Facebook's tax adviser, Ernst & Young LLP, undervalued the company's property as it was transferred to Facebook Ireland Holdings Ltd by evaluating pieces of the online platform separately, according to court filings. Facebook employees told the IRS that the property was "interdependent", and that "it would be difficult to isolate one from the other", the government said. "I don't think Facebook is necessarily hiding anything, but it's a fight over pricing," said Stephen Hamilton, a tax lawyer in Philadelphia. "This is what companies do when they transfer their own assets; they try to value them as low as possible and when the issue is litigated, they usually end up somewhere in the middle." The IRS began investigating the transaction in 2013 by obtaining documents related to the transfer of licenses and assets that were used to determined the value of the royalty Facebook Ireland paid the primary Menlo Park, California, entity in 2010. Those statements included agreements for the division of users and marketing, the online platform and cost sharing. During their investigations, IRS officials found that EY's method for determining the value of those assets individually worked in direct conflict with otherwise intertwined business entities. In April 2015, tax officials issued a preliminary presentation to Facebook, which rejected it about a month later, according to the court filing. "Facebook complies with all applicable rules and regulations in the countries where we operate," spokeswoman Bertie Thomson said in an email. The IRS then set out to find further evidence that E&Y's estimates were flawed, but were met with resistance as Facebook first produced "limited" documents in January, then declined to provide further details by April, according to the complaint. Then in June, officials filed the first of seven requests for records through court summons in hopes of receiving details of the company's business risks, its decision to make Dublin its international headquarters and its user and advertising growth. Facebook failed to appear on June 17 at the IRS's offices in San Jose, California, then again on June 29, according to the complaint. The statute of limitations for the IRS to continue requesting documents was set to lapse on July 31. By serving Facebook with the tax bill, the IRS can continue its court fight, said Hamilton. The $3.2bn in overseas revenue reported by Facebook in the quarter ended June 30 accounted for almost exactly half of the company's total revenue, with the rest coming from the US and Canada. (Bloomberg) There is an "overwhelming" public interest in having an inquiry into the collapse of Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), the High Court has ruled. Mr Justice John Hedigan made the remark when dismissing a challenge by John Stanley Purcell, a former director, financial controller and secretary of INBS, aimed at stopping the Central Bank's proposed administrative inquiry over past conduct of the society's affairs by those concerned with its management. The collapse had left this country with a "colossal" financial liability estimated at 5bn, the judge said. That fact was alone enough to outweigh Mr Purcell's claim the inquiry imposed a burden on him disproportionate to the public interest in inquiring into that collapse, the judge said. The public interst in knowing what happened is "overwhelming". The financial system needs "constant in-depth surveillance" if anything like the 2008 crash is to be avoided and "an inquest into what went wrong, and who was responsible, will be an essential part of such control". It was to be hoped a "thorough" inquiry "will illuminate the mistakes, both corporate and personal, that brought about this collapse which was a national financial disaster". He was giving his reserved judgment on two sets of proceedings by Mr Purcell against the Central Bank of Ireland and the State seeking judicial review and damages on grounds including claims his reputation and right to earn a living have been damaged as a consequence of the proposed inquiry. Mr Purcell, an accountant, joined INBS in 1986 and was required, due to being a "legacy" director, to resign in 2010 from the Society after its takeover by State-owned IBRC. Apart from some work including advising people with loan arrears, which has now ceased, he claimed he has been unable to find employment due to the planned inquiry and a civil action, since settled, by IBRC/INBS against him and other ex-directors. Mr Justice Hedigan ruled many of the claims advanced by Mr Purcell had been decided by Mr Justice Seamus Noonan in a recent High Court judgment dismissing a similar challenge by former INBS managing director Michael Fingleton to the Central Bank inquiry. Mr Justice Noonan's decision contained no apparent error, was based upon a review of significant relevant legal authorities and he must and would follow it, Mr Justice Hedigan said. Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Matthew Lewis attend the New York premiere of "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on July 11, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) Midnight parties for the new book are to be held around the world, including at stores in Dublin and Cork Almost a decade after the publication of the final Harry Potter novel, the world is once again in the grip of Pottermania. Critics are lining up to lavish superlatives on 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child', the theatrical addition to the Hogwarts saga, which had its West End premiere this week. Meanwhile, Potter fans around the globe are counting down to the release at midnight tonight of a "new" Potter book. And in November comes the ultimate prize of a new film drawing on Harry Potter author JK Rowling's world-building 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'. The fervour is incredible, even by the standards of Potter fandom. The new Potter "novel" is, after all, nothing of the sort - rather, it merely gathers in one place the dialogue and stage direction of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'. Expand Close JK Rowling / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp JK Rowling The play itself, though by every account an absolute hoot, is likewise said to suffer by comparison to the Potter books, with Harry and chums grown up and relegated to secondary roles. Read More: Diehard 'Harry' fans set to queue and party overnight Conjurer Harry Potter doesn't even feature in 'Fantastic Beasts', which is instead set in 1920s America and stars posh heartthrob Eddie Redmayne as a hapless conjurer who accidentally unleashes a plague of monsters upon New York. And yet, as the countdown to the midnight launch gets under way in earnest today, excitement is approaching fever pitch. Midnight parties for the new book are to be held around the world, including at stores in Dublin and Cork. Some 4.5 million copies have been printed in the United States alone; Waterstones has reported preorders of 100,000 across outlets in Ireland and the UK. When Rowling called time on Potter with the publication of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' in 2007, it seemed questionable whether the series would hold a permanent place in our affections. Expand Close Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Matthew Lewis attend the New York premiere of "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on July 11, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Matthew Lewis attend the New York premiere of "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on July 11, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) Video of the Day The books were hugely popular - but not every phenomenon lives past that initial period of infatuation. Many of those who discovered Potter as kids are in their late 20s and 30s now - might Harry be one of the childhood infatuations they would set aside with age? In fact, the exact opposite has happened. In adulthood, millennials are more attached to Harry Potter than ever. Read More: Carla Bass on her lifelong love of wizardry You don't have to look very far for reasons. Youth unemployment is at historic levels, the cost of education is soaring, and a steady career path taking you into middle age and beyond will strike many college leavers as no less fantastical than flying broomsticks or invisibility cloaks. With so much negativity, it's no surprise that young people would take refuge in a beloved keepsake from childhood. Just in time, along comes JK Rowling and a entirely new chapter in the Potter saga. Moreover, as adults Potter readers have perhaps gained a deeper appreciation of what Rowling was attempting with the novels. The Harry Potter books are fundamentally about the loss of innocence and the things we must give up on the painful journey from childhood to the big bad world outside. As they look back, grown-up Hogwarts heads will realise that, in addition to spinning tales of Quidditch tournaments and friendly giants, Rowling was forewarning them about the trials of adulthood - struggles that are now part of their everyday lives. She has woven a spell that grows in potency with each passing year. Sile Seoige will be joining her old RTE pal Aidan Power on the airwaves next week. The Galway girl will slip into the co-pilot's seat on the AO Show on iRadio while Oonagh O'Carroll is on holidays. Sile broke the news to Aidan live on air that he'll have company on the early morning show - which starts at 6.50am - while Oonagh is on annual leave. Oonagh told her: "The rules are this, Sile - you do whatever you want. I suggest you bring in a stick with you. You can poke him from time to time if he's not playing ball, OK?" The former RTE presenter assured listeners she was up for the task, telling Aidan: "You'll have to put up with me for the week." She said afterwards that she was chuffed to be joining him on the show. Sile previously worked with Aidan on RTE talent show Class Act in 2008. Aidan has also worked with Sile's sister, Grainne, on the People of the Year Awards. No stranger to the airwaves, Sile previously fronted a show on News-talk, but she has moved into gentler pursuits lately after qualifying as a yoga teacher. She recently revealed that the discipline has helped her deal with life following her successful battle with thyroid cancer in 2012. Stresses "I bow my head to Western medication - I wouldn't be here without it - but I also think we need to look at how the mind and all these other stresses can impact on our health," she said. Video of the Day "When I got into it, I wasn't in a good place after cancer." Sile loves practising yoga so much that she hopes to be able to bring her new skills and her TV work together. "I'm the kind of person who would love to watch something like that - I'd love to do something on health from a holistic point of view," she said. She is also flying high in her personal life and is happily loved-up with her garda boyfriend Damien O'Farrell. Sile got to know him during a five-day charity cycle in California organised by other gardai. She said there were "more than a few sparks going off that evening". Irish Rail passengers may face cancellations as unions plan a work-to-rule after accusing it of a disgraceful two-fingered approach to its staff (Stock picture) Dublin Bus drivers are set to ballot for industrial action after overwhelmingly rejecting a pay rise of 8pc over three years. Siptu has said its drivers rejected by 96pc a Labour Court recommendation for the wage increase, which is worth 2.75pc a year. The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) said its members rejected the proposal by 95pc. The unions lodged claims for increases up to 31pc to reflect a recent Luas pay rise and unpaid social partnership increase. Irish Rail passengers may face cancellations as unions plan a work-to-rule after accusing it of a "disgraceful two-fingered approach" to its staff. The NBRU and Siptu yesterday outlined to staff a campaign of non-co-operation, upon which they will ballot in the coming days. Talks with management on a range of issues, including a shorter working week and productivity, broke down on Thursday. Drivers will refuse to work on 'rest days' to cover for staff on holiday. They will also refuse to 'act up', by taking on the work of higher grades, or step in to provide cover in depots other than their own. In a notice to shop stewards, the unions said it was "abundantly clear" that Irish Rail was "determined to block and frustrate drivers". "As a result of this disgraceful two-fingered approach to its own staff, both unions are left with no choice but to ballot you (loco/Dart drivers) for a mandate for industrial action," said the message from the general secretary of the NBRU, Dermot O'Leary, and Siptu assistant organiser Paul Cullen. Mr O'Leary said his union would now "move immediately" to ballot its Dublin Bus members for industrial action. His members, he added, had strongly demonstrated their anger at the 8pc offer, compared with what was given to other transport workers. Pay The Labour Court recommended an 8.25pc pay rise up to January 2018 and said each grade of staff should enter talks with Dublin Bus with a view to increasing their pay further in return for more productivity. Irish Rail has accused the unions of blocking the training of nine Dart drivers. Its letter said that as recently as June 25, the company had accepted that this training was "voluntarist in nature". It continued: "The trade unions have long accepted that surety with regards to driver training would form part of an overall agreement." The ballot will begin next Tuesday and end on August 16. 'I think he fell in love with me," Marta Herda told gardai in the first statement they took. "I was never his girlfriend, but it was 24 hours a day. He came to my place, to my friends' places." From the outset, the case appeared to be so patently straightforward that just hours after the incident, gardai told reporters that "no arrests were expected to be made in the immediate future." The primly pretty Polish waitress had been the person in the driving seat when the gold Volkswagen Passat plunged at speed off the south pier in Arklow town in Co Wicklow, smashing through metal railings at about 6am on March 26, 2013. Herda, a strong swimmer, had somehow managed to get out of the car and swam to safety but Csaba Orsos (31), in the passenger seat, was unable to swim and drowned, his body subsequently washing up on the shore a few short kilometres away. To the prosecution, it was a not-so-very-straightforward and yet clear case of murder, using a car as the weapon But Herda went to work, manipulatively portraying the Hungarian waiter as a stalker, an obsessive bully who had put a tracker on her car, of whom she was fearful and who made her feel "scared and depressed." Expand Expand Previous Next Close Csaba Orsos Victim Csaba Orsos / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Csaba Orsos "Csaba was a great lad, he was well-liked up at the hotel," said a young girl afterwards, who had worked with the pair at the hotel. She claimed he had made no secret of the fact he was "mad" about Marta but they weren't in a relationship. "He just kept telling her he wanted to go out with her and she kept saying she wasn't ready. They were still friends although not very close or anything, so we're all just baffled by this. It just doesn't make sense." Whatever the status of the relationship between the pair, it was clear Orsos had developed an infatuation with Herta. A naive Valentine's Card he sent to Herda in 2012 outlined each letter of her name in hearts and read very much like a missive from a lovestruck schoolboy. "I'm ready to do anything for you. I can change all my bad habits for the way you wish. Millions of kisses," it said. "Thinking of you in every second. I love you Marta. I can promise that I will be the best husband and you will never regret it." He had written his mobile phone number and a smiley face was drawn before the final words: "I'm mad about you." Herda's version was rather different. Orsos would watch her house and the houses of her friends, also following them, she claimed. Expand Close Brother of Csaba Orsos, Zoltan Sandro, speaks to the media at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin after the verdict. Pic Collins Courts. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Brother of Csaba Orsos, Zoltan Sandro, speaks to the media at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin after the verdict. Pic Collins Courts. She said he used to text her and "put things on Facebook" in the course of their two years working together at tranquil BrookLodge Hotel in Aughrim, Co Wicklow. She claimed to gardai that, although she knew him only through work, he had known her before that - from coming to the restaurant when she went out for dinner with friends. He had even been able to tell her what clothes she was wearing, she said. Herda claimed the Hungarian would talk about her to her colleagues. "He tell them we have sex, but that's not true," she said. "It got worse." She said that he used to sit beside her at work and wanted to hold her hand. "People think this funny but not for me," she told gardai in hesitant English. "The second year it no longer funny." She claimed Orsos had followed her for the last two years and wherever she went - whether it was to the local supermarket or the airport, she would find him there, having apparently followed her. In the end, she claimed she had moved in with two friends because she claimed it was "safer" but when she told him to leave her alone, he told her that he could "see in her eyes that they would have children together." Herda also suggested that she had told friends to contact the gardai if she ever went missing for more than three days. The day before the incident, Orsos had followed her to a playground, where she had been minding her friend's children. That night, she went to the house of Viktor Szentesi, a male friend, and had a couple of glasses of wine with him. He drove her home in her own car and walked home. "Csaba come to my car. He wanted to talk," she said, adding that he had wanted her to take them to the beach. "He was screaming at me," she said. She drove down Main Street with him beside her, as he felt her left leg. "I was afraid," Herda claimed. "I feel I have enough of this," she said. "I drive to water. I cannot take this any more." Afterwards, Dr Donal Bailey, who had treated her in hospital, testified, that he had asked her if she knew what would happen when the car entered the water. "She nodded and became tearful," he said. "Her only answer to me was that she knew he couldn't swim." In his Victim Impact Statement, Orsos's brother, Zoltan Sandro, who had also worked at the hotel, painted a very different picture of Csaba - a young man who "just wanted to be happy." "Family, kids, things that everybody wants," he added. It was clear Orsos thought he could share this future with Herda - and from the evidence during the trial, it seemed she had encouraged him in his dreams, having often pointed to the bride and grooms' seats at the Brooklodge, saying 'that will be us some day'. "When I had to identify my dead brother, my heart teared apart because of the pain," Zoltan told the court. He has dreamt of finding his brother on the beach, walking towards him, but then wakes up, cold and shaking. Zoltan did not have the heart to return to work, where everything would remind him of Csaba and resorted to picking up rubbish from a railway station just to earn money for food. He now has a stable job but his family rarely speak of their brother. "Everybody is suffering in silence," he said. KT Sindhu (45), who had sought treatment at the hospital, collapsed just moments after she was given an injection. Her husband alleged that the nurse's negligence was the reason for the death. The father of a severely disabled seven-year-old girl who received a 2.4m interim payout from the National Maternity Hospital says the seven-year battle for justice has left a bitter taste that will stay with him forever. Jan Curilla, whose daughter Viktoria has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, was described by her counsel as one of the most severely damaged children he had come across. Her father told the court how he and his wife initially hoped their daughter would recover. It was not until she was five months old that they slowly started to realise how serious her condition was. The court heard the interim settlement for the next three years was without an admission of liability. At the outset of the case, Adrienne Egan, counsel for the NMH, said the hospital regrets any shortcomings in so far as they may have contributed to the outcome for Viktoria. Viktoria of Arbored Lawns, New Road, Donabate, Co Dublin, sued Holles Street Hospital through her mother Lucia. The court heard Lucia Curilla had been admitted on December 29, 2008. When Viktoria was delivered, she needed to be resuscitated and was in poor condition. It was alleged there was a failure to carry out any or any proper monitoring of Ms Curilla and her unborn daughter. The NMH denied all the claims. Denis McCullough SC, for the family, said Viktoria has no speech, has to be fed through a tube and it is not clear how much she can see. Her mother, a nurse, gave up her job to care for her daughter. Viktoria's father, Jan Curilla, told the court he and his wife Lucia came to Ireland from Slovakia 12 years ago "to find a better future." It was only two weeks after Viktoria's birth that they were told she may have "some minor problems in the future", he said. Fishery officers were held at gunpoint after they confronted masked thugs using illegal nets to catch salmon. One of the officers received six stitches in a head wound after he was struck with a rock. Investigating gardai suspect the men may be former members of the Provisional republican movement. Inland fishery officers set up a surveillance operation after they spotted the illegal nets in the River Eany in Mountcharles, Co Donegal, on Wednesday evening. They were lying in wait in a clump of bushes around dawn on Thursday when at least two men, wearing balaclavas and paramilitary-style clothing, arrived on the bank of the river. They tried to run off when the fishery officers came out of hiding. During a chase one of the masked men threw a rock at the officers, striking one on the head. The officers resumed the chase and cornered one of the men, who then produced a handgun and threatened the fishery inspectors. They forced the officers to hand over their radio sets and surveillance equipment, including night vision goggles, before making their getaway on foot. The men were forced to abandon a large haul of salmon caught up in the illegal nets. A senior garda officer told the Irish Independent last night that the officers were badly traumatised by the incident. Gardai are hoping to interview the officers again over the weekend. Investigators suspect the men are former Provisional IRA sympathisers. The Provisionals were heavily involved in illegal fishing in the past. Gardai said last night that extensive inquiries were under way in the Mountcharles area to identify the masked men. Natural Resources Minister Denis Naughten described the attack as "outrageous". Aoife, Kevin and Brendan Kenna standing beside one part of the big data-storage networks they created. Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Kenna This is the Irish family team behind the ice-bucket funded breakthrough discovery in treatment for the disease ALS. Earlier this week the global media was filled with stories of how scientists had identified a new gene, NEK1, that contributes to ALS, also known as motor neurone disease (MND), and can now attempt to develop therapies to treat it. Read More The research was funded by the ice-bucket phenomenon which exploded on social media in 2014. Independent.ie can now reveal that the lead scientist behind this week's breakthrough is Irishman Kevin Kenna (29) from Rathfarnham/Ballinteer in South Dublin. And, what's more, Kevin is joined in the team by his brother Brendan (23) and his wife Aoife (31). The team have been working out of a collaborator's laboratory in the University of Massachusetts (UMass). Speaking to Independent.ie Dr Kenna explained that the research would not have been possible if it hadn't been for all the viral ice-bucket challenge videos that dominated Facebook and other social media forums for several weeks. The ice bucket challenge was designed to promote awareness of ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Expand Close Kim Kardashian's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge live on Ellen / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kim Kardashian's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge live on Ellen The social media campaign, became a viral phenomenon and raised 104m from over 17m people, including celebrities like Oprah, Bill Gates, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Amy Huberman, who filmed themselves pouring freezing cold water over their heads and shared the videos online. Read More Describing the breakthrough Dr Kenna explained: This study represents a major step forward in ALS research. The gene we identified, NEK1, appears to contribute to approximately 3% of ALS cases and provides new clues about what exactly is going wrong when the disease occurs and how it might be treated. Although Dr Kenna is the lead author on the study he explained that it was a very large international project involving the active collaboration of over 90 researchers from 12 countries, including Ireland. He added: Unfortunately, genetic research is expensive and this work would certainly not have been possible without the funds raised by the ALS ice bucket challenge and organisations like project MinE. Specifically the ice bucket funds have allowed the research community to generate detailed gene profiles of DNA samples donated by large numbers of ALS patients. These profiles are generated using DNA sequencing technologies and this study is by far the largest of it's kind. Unfortunately the gene profiles these technologies reveal are very complex and the task of identifying new ALS genes is like searching for a very small number of needles in an enormous hay-stack. My contribution to this work was applying big data analytics to patient gene profiles and implementing new computational methods that learn to pick out the features of ALS causing genes. This allowed us to identify NEK1 as a new ALS gene. Dr Kenna did his undergraduate study in UCD and later his PhD in Trinity College where he studied ALS. While most of his PhD was spent in a research lab he also attended patient clinics run by Dr Orla Hardiman in Beaumont Hospital. As he was nearing the end of his studies he was giving a talk about his research at an international ALS meeting and from this he got the opportunity to move to the collaborator's lab in UMass established by Dr John Landers. Despite not yet turning 30 Dr Kenna has already authored or co-authored 18 scientific publications on ALS but the NEK1 discovery would be the highest impact to date. Dr Kenna is joined in Boston by his brother Brendan, who has a BSc in biosciences at DIT. Brendan's main contribution was in the initial downloading and processing of the raw DNA sequencing data, making it ready for our analyses. Dr Kenna's wife Aoife, from Churchtown, Co Dublin, makes up the third part of this family team. She's an electronic engineer and has previously worked in the big data industry. Dr Kenna explained: She became involved because we needed to find an affordable way to physically store all the data for the project. At the moment we have >500 terabytes of data and this is growing quite rapidly. Unfortunately most of the commercial solutions out there were just too expensive to be realistic for us. Aoife came up with and helped us implement a system that could both handle all of the data and allow us to move it around quickly. Being able to move data quickly might sound like a trivial point but when it gets to the size of what we're working with it can make the difference in whether our work takes a few months or a few years. The research has required thousands of hours of work and while its results are highly complex the ones who will ultimately see the benefits are patients. Dr Kenna said: As anyone who has seen the disease will know, ALS is truly horrific for patients and their families. My long term goal is to stay in ALS research and to hopefully help make a meaningful difference. A judge has said the former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm appeared to be the driving force behind the 7.2bn conspiracy that led to three banking executives being jailed yesterday. Judge Martin Nolan made the comments as he sent the men to jail for terms ranging between two and three-and-a-half years. Former Anglo chief risk officer Willie McAteer (66), ex-Anglo treasury executive John Bowe (52) and former Irish Life & Permanent chief executive Denis Casey (56) showed little emotion as the sentences were handed down. Their first night in jail was spent at Mountjoy, where they were processed and kept under close observation, as is the practice with new inmates. A decision will be made in the coming days on where each man will serve out his sentence. McAteer, of Greenrath, Tipperary town, was sentenced to three and-a-half years; Bowe, of Glasnevin, Dublin, was sentenced to two years and Casey, from Raheny, Dublin, was sentenced to two years and nine months. All three were convicted in June of conspiring with others to mislead investors, depositors and lenders by setting up a 7.2bn circular transaction scheme in September 2008 to bolster Anglo's balance sheet. They had denied the charges. The verdicts followed an 89-day trial, the longest criminal trial in the history of the State. Expand Close Willie McAteer was jailed for three and a half years Picture: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Willie McAteer was jailed for three and a half years Picture: Collins Courts The jury spent a total of 65 hours deliberating. The case came to trial following a lengthy investigation, which began in 2009. The judge said that the scheme was "dishonest, deceitful and corrupt", as it gave a distorted impression of Anglo's accounts to shareholders and depositors. "From the evidence, it appears to me the driving force was Mr Drumm," he said during the sentencing hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Nevertheless, the three defendants were involved in the scheme and knew that what they were doing was wrong. Their behaviour was reprehensible, the judge said. Drumm was not a defendant in this trial, but is due to face similar conspiracy charges next year. Sentencing McAteer to three-and-half years, Judge Nolan said he had held a senior position in the bank. Read More: Fall from grace complete as former corporate titan swaps boardroom for cell Although it appeared that Drumm was driving the scheme, McAteer was seen as a leader within the bank and he could have objected. "It is grossly reprehensible what he did and a great shame on him," said the judge. McAteer authorised these transfers when he knew that what he was doing was "deceitful, underhand and corrupt". Sentencing Bowe to two years, the judge said he was "a lesser functionary in the bank". The judge described him as the "de facto treasurer". He was a man of considerable experience and should have known what he was doing was wrong. "In law, following orders is not a defence," the judge said. Bowe "failed to act with integrity and honesty in these matters" and had behaved reprehensibly by going along with it. Sentencing Casey to two years and nine months, Judge Nolan acknowledged that he had become involved in the scheme as part of the so-called 'Green Jersey' agenda, where Irish banks were encouraged to assist others in a time of crisis. Read More: Analysis: Can we be sure that a disaster like this won't occur again? Although Anglo was the author of the scheme, Casey authorised Irish Life & Permanent's involvement and had behaved "disgracefully". "This was a grave error of judgment," the judge said. "He should have known and did know that this was a sham transaction." Earlier, the judge said the crime had arisen during a period when people in the banking sector "were operating under great stress". The judge had taken into account submissions on behalf of the defendants that they had made no direct profit or reward from their crimes. He said all had acted in what they believed was the best interest of the companies they worked for. Conspiracy Judge Nolan had taken into account their background, what each man had achieved in life, their contribution to the community and that they had been good family men. Each of them had been the subject of odium and ridicule, had endured a lot of stress and had lost their jobs. However, they were involved in a conspiracy where two blue-chip publicly quoted companies conspired to manipulate the balance sheet of Anglo Irish Bank. It was decided in Anglo that it needed to hit a certain "corporate number" for banking deposits. "It seemed Mr Drumm and the top management at Anglo decided this corporate number was important," said the judge. When this could not be achieved legitimately, a "dishonest, deceitful and corrupt scheme" was entered into. The public, he said, was entitled to probity from blue-chip companies. "If we cannot rely on probity, then we lose all trust in such institutions," he said. "People are entitled to rely on the integrity and honesty of top firms. In this case, honesty and integrity were sorely lacking." How the 7.2bn scheme to boost Anglo came about The scheme at the centre of the case was designed so that the books of Anglo Irish Bank could look much healthier than they actually were amid the global financial crisis in 2008. The court heard that following the so-called 'St Patrick's Day Massacre', when Anglo's shares slumped by 20pc, the bank's executive directors decided Anglo should show "a good corporate number to the market", meaning that it needed to increase its corporate deposits. Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) was approached and a back-to-back transaction was arranged whereby Anglo placed 750m with IL&P and the IL&P group gave Anglo a corporate deposit from its Irish Life Assurance Corporation, a non-banking entity managed by IL&P. In June, another deal took place, with Anglo transferring 3bn to IL&P and IL&P transferring a portfolio of home mortgages to Anglo. Over that summer, Anglo drew up a list of 50 funding initiatives, but by September most of these had fallen away. The trial heard evidence that David Drumm asked a manager in Anglo's treasury department if IL&P would do another set of transactions worth up to 7bn that month. These were to be included in Anglo's year-end figures. What resulted was a series of nine 'rotational transactions' between September 26 and 30, with 7.2bn moved from Anglo to IL&P, with IL&P sending the money back, via Irish Life Assurance, to Anglo. The trial heard that the transactions were arranged "with considerable difficulty". Judge Martin Nolan described the dishonest scheme as a "conspiracy on the public". Shareholders and depositors were entitled to rely on public accounts, but were instead given a distorted view of the financial strength of Anglo, he said. An Irishman is being held for up to three months among criminals at a detention centre in Australia after his visa application was rejected on character grounds. Bernard Lee (26), from Greystones in Co Wicklow was arrested by border police in Perth earlier this week. He is being held for not leaving the country within 20 days of his visa application being rejected - despite insisting that he did not receive a letter making him aware of the decision. Speaking to the Herald from Yongah Hill Detention Centre, Mr Lee said he was sleeping on a bunk bed in a room with one other Irish man, but is surrounded by criminals who have served prison time and are waiting to be deported. "My mother is finding it really tough. She had been sick for two years and now she is bed bound with stress," he said. Mr Lee had already booked flights for a holiday with his Australian girlfriend, who is now in Europe. She will now have to meet his parents for the first time without him. Read More Mr Lee has offered to leave the country voluntarily, but is being held at a cost of 1,700 a week to Australian taxpayers. Mr Lee said he has an obstruction of police offence and two drink-driving convictions in Australia and another in Ireland over the past seven years. This means he is deemed to have not passed the character test to qualify for a bridging visa and must be detained. He said he was not disputing these incidents, but that he was not notified of the rejection. Due to the many nationalities in detention, the Wicklow man described the centre as like "an American prison movie". "There's a lot of guys here that don't speak English," he said. "There are no set routines. We've got a points system where you have to go to the gym or classes to get points for food." A Dublin woman left "devastated" by the death of her father - who was killed by a motorist who broke a red light - has appealed to people to slow down this Bank holiday weekend. A total of 12 people have lost their lives on Irish roads in the past six days and gardai have appealed to anyone travelling this weekend to drive with care. Expand Close Lisa Marie pictured with her dad Eugene / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lisa Marie pictured with her dad Eugene Mum-of-three Lisa Marie Maher has spoken of the heart-break that her family experienced after her beloved dad Eugene Maher (62) was killed at a pedestrian crossing in Clontarf. She described as "bitter-sweet" the fact that she had her third baby, a little boy, on the one-year anniversary of his death on June 30, 2016. She named him Ollie Eugene as a tribute to her dad. "On July 2, a couple of days after I had the baby, we formally buried my dad's ashes and the whole family got together for a ceremony," she told the Herald. "It just felt like, you say goodbye to one soul but you say hello to another." Last month, Christopher Coleman (27) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Maher at the junction of Clontarf Road and the Howth Road. Coleman, who has 15 previous convictions, also admitted leaving the scene of the crash and to driving without insurance. He was banned from driving at the time of the accident and never held a licence. Coleman was jailed for two-and-a-half years for his crime. Lisa Marie said her family was "absolutely shattered" with the outcome of the case and felt it should have been a longer sentence. "I tried to be strong for my family but we just felt the justice system completely failed us on the day," she said. "He sent us a letter before the court date apologising for what happened. "It didn't mean anything to us. I didn't want to touch the letter. I was still too raw for me. "I feel that a car or a mechanically-propelled vehicle is a deadly weapon and should be treated as such. I want to ask people to slow down, put away the phone and be more aware when they're driving." Crossing She said her dad loved going down to Dollymount Strand on his bike from their home in Drumcondra and it was one of his favourite past-times. Lisa-Marie, who runs the Opportunity Company with fiance Darren Foy, said he had been crossing at the same point for over 20 years. "Even though he was on his bike, he wanted to be extra careful so he'd cross at the pedestrian crossing," he said. "So it was ironic that the guy driving the car broke the lights at considerable speed. My dad didn't stand a chance." A training booklet provided to new Amnesty collectors, known commonly as charity muggers or chuggers, states they are to sign up no more than 40pc under 25s (Stock picture0 Amnesty International advises its on-street 'direct dialogue fundraisers' to seek out donors over the age of 50, as they are more likely to continue donating until their death. A training booklet provided to new Amnesty collectors, known commonly as charity muggers or 'chuggers', states they are to sign up no more than 40pc under 25s. However, Amnesty stressed that of the 3,034 people signed up this year only 4.9pc were over the age of 50. An Irish Independent investigation uncovered that one of the most important aspects of Amnesty training for chuggers is how and who to approach for donations. Our reporter, who worked as an Amnesty chugger, was told during training on how to gain street donors that "research from 2008 said 60pc of over-50s were shown to stay until death". "Average age gives a good general indicator of the age groups you are signing up. Rule of thumb is, the older they are, the longer they stay," one section of the handbook said. The section containing the advice - called 'donor quality' - is highlighted to new chuggers as the most important part of the guidebook. However, after being questioned about it by this paper, Amnesty said the line would now be taken out. The Amnesty booklet has been heavily criticised by both the National Federation of Pensioners Associations (NFPA) and Age Action Ireland, with the NFPA now calling for such street sign-up initiatives to be made illegal. Harry Rose, president of NFPA, said his organisation was concerned about the advice handed out to collectors by AI. "We have known about [older people not cancelling subscriptions] for quite some time and we have warned our members," he said. "We say if you want to give, make a one-off payment - but don't sign up to anything." He called for collections on the street, involving handing over data such as bank details to sign up for long-term donations, to be made illegal. "I have heard a number of times - and a number of people have suggested - that these collections, where you're asked to hand over details, should be made illegal. We would go along with that," he said. Justin Moran from Age Action Ireland also raised concerns and said the advice to the chuggers was cynical and insensitive. "I think they should look at the phrasing 'until death'. If it's from someone who is 50, that could be 20 years or more of donations," he said. "Older people are less likely to cancel their subscriptions - but there is a reason for that." Mr Moran said the charity could be exploiting a "digital literacy gap", which has made older people concerned about signing up for direct debit. "The advice to collectors that older people are more likely to stay seems very cynical to me," he added. "One of the reasons they don't like to use direct debits is specifically so they're not caught out by things like this." Colm O'Gorman, Amnesty's chief executive in Ireland, said the line in the booklet regarding over 50s was "clunkily written" and open to misinterpretation. "The idea that Amnesty International, or our fundraising, is in some way targeting older people is nonsense - it's simply not true," he said. "There's nothing in how Amnesty operates in our fundraising efforts that in any way targets older people as members or donors, or somehow seeks to exploit older people. "As someone who's 50, I find the notion of older people being somehow incapable of making decisions kind of bizarre." However, he accepted the line "is not well conceived and certainly it's something that will be taken out of the handbook". The Irish Independent contacted 16 high-profile charities and NGOs to ask whether it was policy to inform on-street collectors that older donors were more likely to give for longer. ActionAid said: "Our fundraisers are advised to sign up people 23-plus and not more than 75. Our fundraisers are asked to not sign up anyone they perceive to be vulnerable." Concern said it would prefer to make sure donors signing up were genuinely committed to its emergency and development work, "regardless of their age". Oxfam said it welcomes direct debit payments from anyone over 18. Focus Ireland said it hasn't used on-street fundraising "for a few years". The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) said it did not use on-street fundraising and actively opposed it. Sarah-Jane Murphy hard at work on the streets: Each donor becomes profitable in the second year. Photo: Gerry Mooney We've all come across them - and few of us are fans. Prior to commencing work as an on street charity collector, I knew little about chugging. In Ireland, most charities are signatories to the Irish Fundraising Forum's Code of Practice. However, there have been calls by politicians for a more stringent legislative framework to regulate the practice of chugging. So, in order to fully understand how chugging works, I applied to several organisations - including Trocaire, Concern, Amnesty International, Barnardos, Irish Dogs Trust and Focus Ireland - seeking work as an on-street fundraiser. Only one of the above organisations - Amnesty International - offered me a face to face interview. The next phase of the recruitment process for a 'direct dialogue fundraiser' took the form of a group interview at Amnesty HQ in Dublin 1. Expand Close Sarah Jane Murphy pictured for feature on 'Chugging'. Picture; Gerry Mooney. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sarah Jane Murphy pictured for feature on 'Chugging'. Picture; Gerry Mooney. Myself and six other potential candidates were put through our paces by two Amnesty employees. Each candidate was asked to give a three minute presentation on a subject that evoked passion in us. Following the 90 minute group interview I received a phonecall nearly a week later, informing me I got the job and inviting me to attend an all-day training session. And I was in. Next step was my training - which lasted eight hours. Throughout our training and each morning team briefing session, we were encouraged to approach potential donors aged over the age of 25, as they were seen as more "lucrative to the charity". Read More: 'Rule of thumb is: the older they are, the longer they stay' - training booklet References were also made to the possibility of legacies being left to Amnesty by donors in their will, and the theory outlined was the concept of the "loyalty ladder", ie a middle-aged donor will continue to give over an average of 13 to 15 years and it is possible they will leave a bequest to the organisation in the event over the death. Our training stressed that we could not approach anybody under the age of 18. And while 18 to 25-year-olds could be signed up, the message was that people in this age group are more likely to cancel their direct debits due to changing economic circumstances. We were told that for the first year, the donors aren't worth anything. However, with 'donor development', from the second year on this donor becomes profitable. I often wondered how they feel about being called 'chuggers', a term that unkindly fuses the words 'mugger' with 'charity'. "The word chugging is often used by the media and has negative connotations," a member staff at Amnesty told me. Numerous charities use agencies to supply face-to-face fundraising staff, but Amnesty prefer to interview and hire their own employees. It makes us more accountable," a staff member said. During training, numerous psychological tips were recited to demonstrate how we would build rapport with a member of the public on a busy street in a speedy fashion - apparently you have precisely seven seconds to create the right impression with a stranger. No pressure then! Chuggers at Amnesty work hard, and must achieve their target - signing three donors per day. If targets are consistently not reached, the chugger's performance will be closely monitored and if it doesn't improve their employment may be terminated in accordance with the terms of their employment. Read More: Street cash crucial for Amnesty, says CEO On the job training is given in the form of daily briefing sessions, where chugging role-plays were enacted to keep pitches to the public fresh and relevant. Following a six week probationary period during which an hourly rate of 9.15 is paid, the hourly pay increases to 10, and chuggers receive a modest commission of 10 for each person they sign up. Despite being a fit and healthy woman who isn't afraid of hard work, I found standing on the streets for seven hours a day, with a smile nailed to my face, tough going. It's not just the stiffness in the joints, the hoarse voice you develop, or the sideways, lashing rain that got to me. It was the constant looks, the mutterings, the comments and the eye-rolls from the passing public. The team I was assigned to was tasked with raising awareness and recruiting donors to support the 'My Body My Rights' campaign. Amnesty are currently campaigning to change what they call "the restrictive nature" of Irish abortion law. They believe abortion should be permissible in cases of rape, incest, fatal foetal abnormality or if there is a grave risk to the life of the woman. I was told by my team leader that Amnesty advocate a "pro-health" approach to terminations, and differ from pro-choice organisations in this respect. Our instructions were to outline the "outrageous facts" regarding abortion in Ireland, and ask the person to come on board as a member of Amnesty, and lobby for a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment. On the whole, the people of Dublin seemed almost indifferent to the divisive and important cause we were campaigning for. Clutching shopping bags and slurping smoothies, laughing with friends and colleagues, they apparently had other things on their minds. Of all the thousands of people I encountered on Dublin's streets, only one succeeded in leaving me shaken. A dapper man, wearing a beige trenchcoat, stopped to chat at lunchtime on a drizzly Mary's Street. We were a couple of minutes into the conversation, and I had outlined the aim of the 'My Body My Rights' campaign. Suddenly he leaned in towards me, his face inches from mine. "Do you have kids?" he asked me. "No." I replied. "And do you want them someday?" "Yes, I think so." "Well you're a filthy bitch who doesn't deserve kids. Out here campaigning for abortion. I hope you never experience motherhood." He spat in the general direction of my shoes and missed, and with that he and his beige trenchcoat were gone and I was left open-mouthed, reeling and upset. My team leader was extremely empathethic when I relayed what had occured, and said that unfortunately she had experienced similiar treatment on the Capital's streets. She kindly offered me the opportunity to take a break and get myself together, but I opted to continue working. Several members of the public that I spoke to stood out in terms of the emotional impact the conversations had on me. At College Green, a smartly dressed middle aged man became increasingly angry and red-faced, as he told me his young daughter made two trips to the UK for terminations because fatal fetal abormalities meant her babies would not survive outside the womb. "It sickens me, it enrages me, its so, so wrong," he said through clenched teeth. A softly-spoken elderly woman, perhaps in her 70s, clutching a walking stick, stopped to talk to me on O'Connell Street. She confided that she had an abortion in London in the 1970's, and cannot believe that she will likely go to her grave without seeing the Eighth Amendment repealed. "It's inhumane," she said. During my employment with Amnesty the Console scandal broke and had an immediate and damaging effect on our fundraising activities. The story was consistently dominating the national news agenda, with increasingly sordid and squalid details becoming public as the days went on.At our early morning briefing in Amnesty International HQ, the matter was raised by team leaders and co-ordinators. We were told to remind members of the public that the organisation prides itself on transparancy and accountability. It turned out to be a depressing and frustrating day, with maybe a dozen people telling me they wouldn't stop and talk "because of that crowd Console." We knew were fighting against a rising tide of public sentiment; the difference in people's attitudes when compared with previous days on the streets was blatently apparent. So what did stepping into a chuggers shoes experience teach me? A valuable lesson as it happpens. You may not want to sign up with a chugger. You may not be in a position to afford to sign up with a chugger. But after more than 30 hours working the streets of Dublin, battling the elements, clad in my chugger uniform I have just one thing to say to the general public: It costs absolutely nothing to be polite. Amnesty and their employees, together with all organisations that carry out face-to-face fundraising, are at all times subject to the Irish Fundraising Forum's Code of Practice (IFFCP). The rules ban the collection of cash and cheques on the streets, and state that a member of the public must never be followed to an ATM machine. The code also stipulates that a donor's bank details must be handled in a secure fashion at all times. At all times during Amnesty training sessions, the IFFCP guidelines were strictly followed, with transparency and accountability being cited as key values within the organisation. Premium Ian O'Doherty Opinion For once, the UN is right were standing on the edge of a deadly nuclear precipice For those of us of a certain age, the last few months have felt as if we have somehow time-warped back to the 1980s. Stranger Things, which is set in that decade, has been the biggest show on TV. Kate Bush thanks, incidentally, to Stranger Things is now regularly played on the radio and she has reached number one in 2022 with the re-release of her 1985 hit, Running Up That Hill. In the 17th century, the English chief justice Sir Matthew Hale wrote: "The husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract, the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract." For the most part, after 1922, all previous English law continued in effect in the new independent Irish State. Rape within marriage was not perceived to be an offence in Ireland until the law was changed in 1990. Sadly, some attitudes still reflect Hale's pronouncement, whereby some husbands can think that their wives implicitly give consent to sex by virtue of the fact that they are married. At a conference entitled 'Rape Law: Victims on Trial', held in Dublin Castle in 2010, the then President, Mary McAleese, said that victims of rape who were able to report these most heinous crimes committed against them and stay the course of the criminal justice process were doing a service to all of society. The overall consensus from that conference was that victims, even those whose perpetrators were found guilty, felt that they, rather than the accused, were the ones being put on trial by the criminal justice system. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2013, it was estimated that approximately 35pc of women worldwide had experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. According to the SAVI Report ('Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland' - McGee et al 2002), one quarter of perpetrators of sexual violence against adult women were intimate partners or former partners. In the past number of weeks, we have been reading reports of the third-ever marital-rape case to come before our criminal courts. The jury found the husband guilty and Justice Isobel Kennedy imposed a 12-year sentence, suspending the final two years. It took 12 years from the defeat of Gemma Hussey's first marital rape bill in 1978 before the law eventually changed, with the Criminal Law (Rape) Amendment Act 1990. While the law took a long time to reform, it seems to take even longer for attitudes to rape and intimate-partner sexual violence to change. Rape is, by its very nature, a humiliating and dehumanising experience for the victim. A common response to this crime by victims is a feeling of shame, which often turns to self-blame. This can be one of the big deterrents to victims reporting the crime. Of course, it is never the victim's fault. The perpetrator of such an evil act is always the one at fault, never the victim. The woman in the recent marital-rape case demonstrated amazing bravery, courage and generosity in reporting her traumatic ordeal and staying the course of the criminal justice system. In her victim-impact statement, she described the effect of the rape on her. "I lost trust in my own judgment and my ability to make decisions. I was constantly questioning my own instinct - it is very hard to describe what it's like not to trust your own gut instinct. "Constantly asking myself, how could I not see this coming? Completely underestimating (the accused's) reaction to separating. How would anyone believe me? "How and why didn't I prevent it, particularly the rape, and going through all of the questions again in the course of the trial. "It took me five months to report it to the guards and I couldn't have done it on my own. Knowing that I was safe as he was in custody, (because of) the support of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and critically because of the support provided by the investigating guards since the assault of August 7, my trust and confidence in how it would be dealt with and in the criminal process had grown." This woman has surely "done all of society a service", in the words of President McAleese, and the hope would be that other victims will get courage from this brave woman's experience and that this will result in more cases reaching the courts and victims getting justice. It is crucial that, in their efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence in Irish society, our public policymakers: Appropriately fund the specialist agencies that offer therapeutic support for victims to recover from these most heinous crimes; Ensure that age-appropriate sex-education and relationship programmes are delivered from pre-school through to third-level institutions; Transpose the Criminal Justice Sexual Offences Bill 2015 and the Criminal Justice Victims' Rights Bill 2015 into law. Sex without consent is rape. However, we do not have a definition of consent in our current legislation. This gap needs to be bridged by including a definition in the proposed Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015. Having a statutory definition of consent would enable our judges to correctly instruct juries with clear information on the elements necessary to constitute genuine consent to sexual engagement. This would go a long way to challenging the stereotypical societal attitudes to rape that still exist and to the prevention of sexual violence in our society. Ellen O'Malley Dunlop is Adjunct Professor, UL School of Law Greystones Cancer Support group has sent a heartfelt thanks to two men who let their feet do the talking when it came to raising funds for the group. Mick Heffernan and Ronnie Doyle completed the Camino Walk in Spain in aid of Greystones Cancer Support and recently handed over a cheque for 1,740. Both men are very grateful to their families and many friends who supported them. 'Doing the Camino Walk was a much enjoyable and rewarding experience,' said Mick Heffernan. 'Especially the service in the cathedral at the end of the walk.' 'Ronnie and I were delighted to be able to give something back to Greystones Cancer Support. Their support for men's issues through their programmes greatly helped me. 'I look forward to their Cancer Survivorship Project in October.' A spokesperson for Greystones Cancer Support said that the duo 'surpassed themselves' and thanked them wholeheartedly for the 'wonderful sum of money which is much welcomed'. 'Congratulations to two wonderful men,' they added. From a heritage perspective, the month of August is always one to look forward to, not least because of National Heritage Week, which this year, takes place from August 20 to 28 inclusive. Across the County of Cork, in over 50 different locations, there will be over 150 events taking place. Covering everything from archaeology and folklore to natural heritage and medieval life, Heritage Week in Cork promises to be a fantastic experience for everyone. This year, as we commemorate the centenary of 1916, there is also a number of associated Heritage Week events planned, close to 40 in fact, tying in well with the theme for National Heritage Week this year - 'One Hundred Years of Heritage'. National Heritage Week is coordinated by the Heritage Council and is part of the wider European Heritage Days Programme, celebrated in over 30 countries across Europe. Here in Ireland, 'events are being organised by almost 1,000 heritage enthusiasts highlighting the abundance of great work that is carried out in all communities in Ireland to preserve and promote our natural, built and cultural heritage'. Last year saw over 400,000 people present at over 1,800 heritage week events nationwide, let us hope that 2016 sees record numbers again. During Heritage Week, 'Ireland celebrates not only heritage but community involvement and a deep connection between people and place'. This connection is most apt, as what is heritage but people and place. When we think of Cork we must always think back to those Corkonians in our history who have done us proud, both at home and around the world. From John Saul, Castlemartyr who landscaped the White House in the 19th century, to Eliza Lynch, Charleville, who is the National Heroine of Paraguay, we should always honour those we hold dear. In this the centenary year we have honoured some great Cork men and women, and this will undoubtedly continue over the coming years as we approach the War of Independence and Civil War. Yet another Cork person who is due a lot of acknowledgement, and 1916 aside, is Mary Harris, more universally known as 'Mother Jones'. Mother Jones was a Trade Union Leader in the USA during the later 19th century, originally from Cork City, who fought for social justice and human rights, campaigning for 'children to be removed from the workplace and given an education'. Mary Harris will be remembered at the fifth annual Spirit of Mother Jones Summer School and Festival, which takes place in Shandon over five days from Thursday 28th July until Monday 1st August. Among the confirmed speakers are journalist and author Justine McCarthy, BBC Correspondent and author Fergal Keane, Jack O'Connor, General President of SIPTU, Mrs Catherine McGuinness, former Supreme Court judge. Historians Dr Sean Pettit, Laurence Fenton. Luke Dineen and Anne Twomey will attend as well as trade union organiser Tish Gibbons. In addition a number of films dealing with the activities of Mother Jones and the struggles of miners will be shown. For further information on Mother Jones and what this commemorative weekend will have to offer, visit www.motherjonescork.com. This bank holiday weekend will also see a number of further events, particularly those relating to the commemoration of the men and women of 1916. Running up until Saturday night the highly acclaimed play about Michael Collins, entitled 'The Big Fella' will continue in Gougane Barra. See www.gouganebarrahotel.com for more information. A short distance away in Kilnamartyra there will be a wonderful commemorative 1916 weekend/GAA blitz with games, a parade, a plaque unveiling and music, all taking place. Elsewhere, in Conna, there will be a number of activities over the weekend including an exhibition, lectures, a pageant and the dramatisation of events from 1916. A little further ahead Millstreet Country Park will hold a guided tour of the Easter Rising. The existing Easter Rising Trail at Millstreet Country Park is a wonderful 0.5km route detailing the key characters and background story of the Rising. The guided tours on Saturday 6th August, which commence at 12:30 and again at 14:30, will give a great introduction to locals and visitors alike on the 1916 Rising. Millstreet Country Park intend to host a further 1916 event during Heritage Week on Sunday 28th August, see www.millstreetcountrypark.com for more details. Heritage Week 2016 will certainly be one to look forward to and over the coming weeks, details of many of the mid and north Cork heritage week events will be provided. Figures released by Gardai the Road Safety Authority (RSA) have revealed that Cork accounted for almost one-fifth of the total deaths on Irish roads so far this year. Cork recorded the highest number of any individual county with 17 road related deaths, the largest number of passenger fatalities (5) and highest amount of deaths among what are termed 'vulnerable road users' (pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists) at 5. Nationally, the figures have shown that between January 1 and July 21, a total of 93 people died in 89 fatal collisions on Irish roads during 2016. This represents an increase of 10% in the number of fatal collisions when compared to the same period in 2015 and a corresponding 8% increase in fatalities. Of this total 43 of those who died were drivers, 18 passengers, 16 pedestrians, 11 motorcyclists and 5 cyclists. Figures within the report showed that driver deaths have increased by 10% with passenger fatalities jumping by a staggering 29%. May was the most dangerous month for road users, with 19 people losing their lives. "If the monthly average to July 21 of 14.4 deaths continues, 79 more people could lose their lives by the end of 2016," read the report. "This is an unwelcome increase in numbers, particularly in the context of the decrease in fatalities seen in 2015 (166) compared to 2014 (193)." RSA chair Liz O'Donnell described the latest figures as "worrying", saying that if the trend continues we stood to lose almost 80 more people before the end of the year in "preventable and unnecessary" road collisions. "Complacency is our biggest challenge over the next six months. This means not driving impaired, not speeding, wearing our seatbelts, making sure we're visible to other road-users and avoiding distraction and fatigue," she said. Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid said Gardai appealed to motorists to be responsible in relation to drinking and driving, particularly given the upcoming August bank-holiday weekend. "Nearly one-third of all drivers killed between 2008 and 2012 had alcohol in their system. This is a startling and unacceptable fact, and one which urgently needs addressing," said Chief Supt Reid. With this in mind Gardai have increased their activity during the summer, concentrating in particular in "high-risk" areas such as rural and regional roads. "There has been more drink driving arrests in 2016 compared to 2015, with a significant increase in July this year compared to July 2015. It is imperative we target high risk drivers and make the roads safer for all," said Chief Supt Reid. RSA chief executive Moyah Murdock said bank-holiday's were also a time that drivers were more likely to get fatigued as a result of cover long distances behind the wheel. This is borne out by statistics showing that 11 people have died and 34 seriously injured between 2011 and 2015 over the August bank-holiday weekend. "Driver fatigue is something we all suffer from time to time. However, research suggests that it is as dangerous as drink-driving and could be a factor in up to 20% of driver deaths each year," she said. "It's critical to recognise the symptoms and to take action before it's too late. Pull in, sip a coffee or caffeinated drink, and take a 15-minute nap." 93 people have lost their lives on Irish roads between January 1 and July 31 of this year - an 8% increase for the same period last year. Cork recorded the highest number of fatalities in a single county at 17. If the monthly average to July continues, it is predicted that another 79 people will die on Irish roads before the end of 2016. Almost half of fatalities this year have happened at the weekend. The highest number of fatalities occurred from 4pm-6pm (18) followed by 6pm-8pm (10). There has been a reduction in the numbers of fatalities among the 25 and younger age groups (-6), while deaths among the 66 and over age group has increased (+11). Where known, seven drivers who lost their lives were not wearing a seatbelt. A senior Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) official has confirmed there no plans to route the proposed M20 motorway to Limerick through Mitchelstown. This after Cork East TD Kevin O'Keeffe (FF) sought clarification on the issue in a parliamentary question to Transport Minister Shane Ross . He in turn referred the matter to TII. In his reply to Deputy O'Keeffe, TII official Gary Lynch said the Mitchelstown route was one of a "number of options" considered as an alternative to the N20 in the initial stage of planning stages for a Cork to Limerick motorway. "There are no proposals to construct a motorway from Mitchelstown to Limerick," wrote Mr Lynch. A student charged with dangerous driving causing the death of a mother and daughter last Christmas has been remanded for trial. Susan Gleeson (21) was remanded to appear before the next sitting of Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Ms Gleeson did not speak during the brief hearing at Fermoy District Court last Friday as she was served with the book of evidence by the State. Inspector Eoin Healy told Judge Brian Sheridan the book of evidence was served and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented to a return for trial. Judge Sheridan remanded Ms Gleeson to appear before the next sessions of Cork Circuit Court which begin on October 25. Ms Gleeson of Kilworth, Co Cork faces a single charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Cork mother, Geraldine Clancy (58), and her daughter, Louise Ann (22), on December 22 last. Judge Sheridan granted free legal aid for Ms Gleeson on the application of defence solicitor John Brooks and allowed two counsels. He also allowed an engineering report given that the matter involved a road traffic issue. He remanded the student, who sat in court with her parents, on continuing bail in her own bond of 500. A Cork Coroner's inquest last April heard that the mother and daughter both drowned after their car ploughed into a flooded ditch following a collision with another vehicle. The accident occurred near Ballyderown on the Fermoy-Kilworth-Ballyduff Road. Coroner Dr Michael Kennedy agreed to adjourn the inquest after Gardai said the proceedings were ongoing. Cork farmer Noel Clancy, who lost his wife and daughter in the tragedy, was one of the first people to attend the accident scene shortly after 11am on December 22. Mr Clancy attended the brief District Court hearing in Fermoy last Friday. The accident occurred less than 1km from the Clancy family farm with the mother and daughter the only occupants of the family's Ford car. Tragically, despite emergency services racing to the scene, both Geraldine and Louise Ann Clancy were pronounced dead before they could be rushed to hospital. Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster conducted post mortem examinations on both at Cork University Hospital (CUH) on December 23. Dr Bolster confirmed to the inquest that both mother and daughter died from acute cardio-respiratory failure due to drowning. Heavy rainfall and flooding of the River Blackwater had left the dyke beside the Kilworth-Fermoy road full of water to a depth of almost 120cm (4ft), with local fields also badly flooded. Louise Ann, who had autism, had successfully defied her condition to study first at Loreto secondary school in Fermoy and then at University College Cork (UCC). She had only arrived home days before the tragedy from her Erasmus Scholarship placement at the University of Sussex in the UK to spend Christmas with her family. Louise Ann was a prolific writer and published numerous blogs on living and working with autism. Special tributes were paid to Louise Ann earlier this year to mark World Autism Awareness Day. A heroin addict who admitted growing 5,400 worth of cannabis plants in his bedroom claimed he did so to use the drug to help him off heroin. Lee Doyle (26) was also caught with small bags of cannabis herb when his house was searched by gardai on three occasions. Doyle, of Pearse Park in Drogheda pleaded guilty to cultivating five cannabis plants valued at 5,000 on March 6th, 2015. He further pleaded guilty to being in possession of 30 worth of cannabis herb in his bedroom on the same date. Doyle also pleaded guilty to being in unlawful possession of 25 worth of cannabis herb on March 24th, 2015. He also pleaded guilty to cultivating one cannabis plant valued at400 on August 24th, 2015 and admitted having two small bags o cannabis herb worth 75 on the same date. The defendant, who is unemployed, has two previous theft convictions. Defence solicitor Eleanor Kelly said Doyle is a recovering heroin addict and was using the cannabis to help wean himself off heroin. Judge Flann Brennan ordered a Probation Report to assess Doyle's suitability for community service work and adjourned the case until October 7th. It will be November before a decision is made in relation to a new care home facility outside Ardee, catering for children from 3-10 years of age. The unique facility has proved highly controversial, even more so after Louth County Council gave it the go-ahead, only for local residents and groups to object to An Bord Pleanala. The early intervention care facility, on a 5.2 hectare site near Ardee, had drawn over 100 submissions when it went on display in the locality as well as sparking a number of public meetings. Many felt the location, some miles outside Ardee, was not suitable, although the applicants felt it was as it will 'reduce the risk of children running away'. In a lengthy planning response to questions raised by the council, representatives of Care Ireland outlined various security measures that will be put in place to prevent children leaving the facility, including 24 hour staff presence including walking staff, buzzer system on bedroom doors, restrictors and safety devices on bedroom windows to prevent the child escaping while the council has also recommended closed circuit tv on the grounds. Care Ireland is a private provider of residential children's services and is regulated by and inspected by TUSLA. In appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanala, the Reaghstown Community Alert Group said the development would 'create an additional strain on currect services' in respect of the local gardai and that the area was rural and any young person trying to leave the centre 'would place themselves in serious harm consdering their lack of familiarity with the surroindings. 'In general, we feel Louth CC ignored the genuine concerns of the local residents,' they said, and it is also felt that the road infrastructure would not accommodate such a development Churchtown and District Community Alert said their major concern is that the '3-10 year old' guideline will not be adhered to and that there is the 'potential of having troubled teenagers in the community'. They say there has been previous experiences in this respect. 'The greater Ardee area has a number of these facilities already in operation; we believe that currectly our emergency services particularly the gardai within the immediate region are not equipped to provide adequate service to the facility. 'While we could class children under 10 years of age as being a negligible risk to the community, the same cannot be said for troubled teenagers.' Individuals also had their say, one objection claims that the site notice at the location was 'ineligible' within five weeks of receipt of the planning application and was not replaced or renewed within this five week period. They also said details of the 'further information request' should have been placed in newspapers as people who had made submissions to the original application, some 104 of them, 'were not afforded opportunity or adequate notice' to make their observations to the council. 'Louth County Council were aware this was a controversial application and that there were a huge number of objectors, many of whom would have liked to respond to the significant information received before Louth CC made their decision. This did not show any respect to all those who made submissions and shows an element of bias and unfairness in favour of the applicant. It is not fair and due process.' They also say the proposed care home is 'four times the scale of other similar care homes in mid Louth' and poses a risk to the rural community. That feel it is a material controvention of the Louth CC Development Plan (2015-2021). They further question the report that the new home would only cater for children 'between 3-10 years old'. They claim that Tusla have stated they don't refer children of this age. They fear that older children and youths will be taken into the facility in the future and when planning permission is granted it will be too late to do anything about it. In respect of further information about the age issue, the objectors say 'Louth CC seems to have got weary and accepted all that was presented at face value.' They also have concerns that this facility will 'draw deviants and criminals from far and wide to visit, supply drugs, collect, assist in fleeing, etc.' They added 'I can tell you that the community as a whole back myself and others who made appeals. Each and every person who made submissions would have also made appeals were the cost not so prohibitive and the work so detailed and time consuming. Another appeal cited the lack of a mains water supply in the event of a fire. It is proposed that the new facility will have a residential team of 10 social workers, managed by an operations manager as well as a foster official, clinical psychologist, teacher and administrative assistant and they'll be working from 9am-5pm with two to three residential staff all day/night. 'As the development is the first of its kind they can only anticipate that the referral system will be largely through TUSLA, the HSE and other authorities such as NI Trusts,' the applicants stated. It is intended that there will be room for eight children at the centre. An Bord Pleanala have indicated a decision on November 3 next to the appeal. There was great excitement in Drogheda's Tourist Office this week as fantastic new interactive exhibition screens were installed. The stylish new touchscreen display will introduce both locals and visitors alike to the joys of exploring Drogheda and the Boyne Valley. The installation of the new screens in The Tholsel, home of Drogheda's Tourist Office is the result of a year of planning and design by Louth County Council. The project has been jointly funded by Failte Ireland and Louth County Council. Mary T. Daly of Louth County Council explained "Drogheda is a magnificent medieval town and it truly is the Gateway to the Boyne Valley. But all of that heritage and history is not easy to explain in a mere soundbite. We wanted to develop a beautiful, informative and helpful exhibition that would help visitors of all ages make the most of their visit to the area." Tourism Marketing Officer for the Boyne Valley Michele Whelan said "The permanent exhibition in The Tholsel focuses on five key themes: Ancient Secrets, Beating Hearts, Conflict and Power, Holy Ground and Beauty and Romance. Each section introduces the history of the region under that title and the things to explore, see and do. It truly is a wonderful new addition to the tourism offering in the Boyne Valley." The new exhibition has created an opportunity to showcase the heritage of The Tholsel, which has been home to the Tourist Office since October 2010. It will also incorporate a display of historic artefacts from the renowned Millmount Museum. Mary continued "Being part of Ireland's Ancient East, we know that Drogheda and the Boyne Valley appeal to the culturally curious traveller. We have incorporated local arts, crafts, literature and music of the region into the exhibition to help visitors understand the depth of our cultural offering." This is just the start of work on the The Tholsel. New tourist office signage is being designed at present and the exhibition will be formally launched in the autumn. A grant application is being prepared for the Failte Ireland Capital Grant Scheme for further renovation works. If successful, the next phase of renovation will see the development of an exhibition space on the second floor. Mary T. Daly concluded "The Tholsel is a jewel in Drogheda's crown and we, in Louth County Council, are so proud to spearhead its regeneration. It is a suitably prestigious location for the Drogheda's Tourist Office and we genuinely hope that both locals and visitors alike will enjoy this new and interactive facility." There are probably not enough words to describe Mother Mary Martin, but a woman who was inspired by a short chat with her to dedicate her life to God and the service of the MMMs, is a good place to start the search. 'She was humble, unassuming, gracious, gentle and caring. She was a prophet really,' Sr Philomena Sheerin states. Mother Mary was famous for helping out those in need in the community and now, decades after her death, a statue in her honour will be so fitting. 'I'm delighted to see the peop;e of Drogheda honouring her like this,' she adds, proudly. 'She worked here, lived here, is buried here.' Sr Philomena, a native of Co Westmeath, described how she met Mother Mary and was almost instantly inspired by her. 'I was a primary school teacher and in 1960 I came to Drogheda to take part in a summer course in Termonfeckin. I knew one of the MMMs here and I came in to visit her. 'She asked me if I'd like tol meet Mother Mary and really out of curiousity I said yes.' The little woman came in and they spoke, remarking 'don't waste time in your life'. They had tea and Sr Josephine went out to meet her then boyfriend and they left for home. But in the days after that meeting. something changed in the Westmeath woman's mind and some days later she came back up to Drogheda and met Mother Mary by chance. 'you're back,' she remarked. That same day she headed down to the Augustinian Church on Shop Street and found the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel and asked was she doing the right thing. The feeling was yes. Life in Brazil beckoned for 15 years, then five years in the Bronx before coming back to head up the MMM organisation for 12 years before spending a decade in Roscommon. She is now back in Drogheda, helping in the parish. A new support service for young people is being set up at the end of the month in Skerries which aims to support the town's youth through the challenges many of them face. Skerries Youth Support Services, (SYSS) is set to launch on Saturday, July 30. SYSS will be a beacon for young people and their families in Skerries and the surrounding areas by promoting general well-being, including positive physical and mental health. Founding members of the group recognised the need for the service and came together to share their knowledge and set up the new group that seeks to 'provide direction and help for children, teens and young adults who are encountering issues'. SYSS will act as a signpost where people can go and find the information relevant to them on whole range of issues. Support for this service has been offered by such organisations as the North Dublin Drugs and Alcohol Task Force and Jigsaw. Modelled on the highly successful volunteer group in Kinsale (KYSS), SYSS aims to offer a one-stop shop for information regarding a huge range of issues often encountered by teenagers and young people, including depression, sexuality, bullying etc. Launch day will start with the Anna Walsh Memorial Cycle from Newry to Dublin with all proceeds going to SYSS. Registration will be on Friday evening, July 29 at Skerries Rugby Club from 19:00 - 21:00. The cost is 30 per cyclist and 10 for the bus and bike drop. The bus and bike transport will leave for Newry from Skerries Rugby Club on Saturday morning at 08:00. Upon return to the club, the launch will commence and there'll be hot showers and refreshments available for all who took part. Balbriggan is bouncing back and enjoying a period of economic 'buoyancy' thanks to work that Fingal County Council along with the local business community through the Balbriggan Chamber of Commerce is doing to sell the town as an investment location. In recent months, long-vacant units at Stephenstown Industrial Estate have been filling out and in an exclusive interview with the Fingal Independent, Fingal County Council's Economic Development Director, Ed Hearne explained what is happening. He said: 'The success that we have had already in the Dublin Enterprise Zone (in Dublin 15), we want to roll out now across the county and in particular, in Stephenstown in Balbriggan. I think we are definitely seeing a buoyancy there. Even in the time since I joined the council in November, there's a real activity level growing there.' Explaining the unique selling points that Balbriggan has to offer investors, Mr Hearne said: 'Balbriggan has a lot of strengths. There are certainly challenges there but it has some real strengths in terms of the traditional industrial heritage in the town. It has a young population which will be an available workforce into the future and it's got a couple of really great companies there already.' Export-led business and a cluster of businesses around the construction industry are further strengths of the Balbriggan economy, as well as a collection of agri-food businesses in the town's hinterland. Asked why he thinks Balbriggan is bouncing back, Mr Hearne said: 'I think there's a number of factors. I think certainly, the recovery is definitely one of them and the recovery, unlike the boom, is going to have to be more about how we trade and our export-led sectors rather than very domestically focused one on housing that we had in the Celtic Tiger years and the Dublin region is very well positioned to take advantage of those shifting trends and within that, obviously Fingal has a very strong role to play. So the market rebound and the structure of the recovery is certainly one thing but you also have a very committed local business community and a committed local chamber of commerce which really has great energy to put behind promoting the economy locally and then ourselves, rowing in behind that and building those partnerships.' New marketing tools and a programme of works to improve the built environment of Balbriggan are going hand-in-hand with the emerging recovery of its business sector and Mr Hearne said: 'We would hope that the cumulative effect of all those kind of environmental changes, the additional marketing and the level of activity going on there already and our focus on tourism in the area, that the cumulative effect of all those will bring a momentum that will really copper-fasten the recovery and spread the recovery to areas that may haven't felt it yet.' The Fingal Mayor has attacked the Taoiseach's criticisms of local authorities on the delivery of social housing saying he was 'surprised and annoyed' at Enda Kenny's comments. The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Darragh Butler said he was 'disappointed to hear the Taoiseach's comment that councils have not measured up regarding the housing crisis. I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but that's certainly not the case with regard to Fingal County Council'. He added: 'I was surprised and annoyed to hear the Taoiseach's comments last week, when he stated that local authorities were not doing enough with regard to the housing crisis. 'This is certainly not the case with Fingal County Council and I was very disappointed to see such a sweeping statement and an attempt to push the blame from central Government down to local authorities.' Defending the council's record on housing, the Mayor of Fingal said: 'Fingal County Council is widely seen as one of the more progressive councils in this regard and as we have continuously said to Government, give us the money and we will continue to deliver. This is a very important issue for me and in my year as Mayor, I want to do all that I can to assist Fingal County Council in helping to resolve this nationwide crisis.' The Mayor's comments come in the wake of the release of the 'Rebuilding Ireland' housing action plan, launched by housing minister, Simon Coveney, last week. Following the launch of that report, the Taoiseach criticised local authorities saying: 'It is about time county councils got back into the business of providing houses. They have been given the money, the opportunities and the incentives to open sites that are currently off limits, and they must get on with the job.' The Fingal Mayor says that Fingal County Council is getting on with the job and he explained: 'I have discussed this with the Fingal County Council Chief Executive, Paul Reid and he has confirmed that Fingal has a target to deliver 1,376 Social Houses over the period 2015 - 2017 with 81 million of Government funding, from the 800 million allocated nationally. Fingal will likely deliver closer to 2,000 social houses in this time frame. This is approximately 45 per cent more units being delivered above the original target. Fingal County Council has bought more proposals to us Councillors in the last eight months, than in the past six years.' He concluded: 'If the Government gives us more money, we will continue to deliver.' A campaign by two councillors from the Swords Ward to bring a third-level college to the Fingal capital is gathering pace after a motion was passed unanimously to support the move at the Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Traning Board (formerly the County Dublin VEC). Following on from the decision of councillors on Fingal County Council to support a dedicated further education college for Swords, last week's Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board meeting heard a motion tabled by Cllr Justin Sinnott (NP) looking for ETB support for the proposal. The motion was unanimously supported. Cllr Sinnott's motion stated: 'The Board supports the provision of a further education facility in Swords to serve both the Swords and surrounding areas such as Donabate, Balbriggan, Rush, Lusk and Skerries. 'The Board notes that while Swords is one of the largest urban centres in Ireland facilities to further up-skilling and lifelong learning are lacking. The provision of a further education facility will do much to address this imbalance.' The motion follows on from similar calls made by Cllr Sinnott and Cllr Duncan Smith (Lab) at local area committee level and at full council level over the past few months. Commenting on this most recent vote of support for the proposal, Cllr Sinnott said he believes this brings the prospect of a further education college in Swords closer. He said: ' I am delighted that we have the support of Fingal County Council and now the ETB. The aim now is to build a campaign and ensure it is delivered within the lifetime of the new County Development Plan.' Cllr Sinnott outlined the rationale for the proposal, saying: 'The fact is North County Dublin is severely disadvantaged when it comes to further education facilities. The recent CSO data shows we are tone of he fastest growing Counties in Ireland yet there is this fundamental gap.' When Cllr Smith and Cllr Sinnott raised the issue first at local area committee level, the council executive acknowledged that bringing a third-level college to Swords was an objective of the County Development Plan. The council executive said it would engage with the Department of Education on a scoping study and an assessment of needs on the proposed project. The Government's new housing plan aims make housing available for 'everyone in the north county, who is seeking a home', according to a Fingal TD. Deputy Alan Farrell (FG) said: ' This Plan provides a multi-stranded, action-oriented approach to achieving many of the Government's key housing objectives, as set down in the Programme for Government. It aims to significantly increase the supply of social housing in Dublin Fingal, with 47,000 units delivered nationally by 2021 and an investment of 5.35 billion.' Deputy Farrell said the plan also seeks to 'ensure more homes are built in the north county and to double the output of overall housing from the current levels, to at least 25,000 per annum by 2020 and to tackle homelessness in Dublin Fingal in a comprehensive manner.' He added: 'While the immediate priority is housing homeless families, many of whom are currently living in hotels, all aspects of the housing system in Dublin Fingal are addressed within the plan. This means that young people in the North County looking to rent or buy, Dublin Fingal families looking to trade up or down, students who need good accommodation, older people, people with a disability and others are all encompassed within the plan and its 84 time-bound actions.' Dublin Fingal Senator Dr James Reilly also welcomed the new housing plan and said: 'This Action Plan underpins Fine Gael's commitment to end the housing shortage in Fingal and to tackle homelessness. 'Providing homes for everyone in Fingal and around the country is this Government's number one priority. Fine Gael is committed to a range of measures to reverse the chronic undersupply of new homes, which is making new home purchase and rents in Fingal increasingly unaffordable and driving more people into homelessness.' Senator Reilly added: ' I am committed to ensuring that as a result of this plan everyone in Fingal will have access to quality and affordable housing. 'The launch of this plan is just our starting point. We must now move from words to actions. 'The actions, funding and structures are now in place to ensure we make early and very substantial progress on the journey to fixing Fingal's broken housing sector.' The size of the problem was indicated by homelessness charity, Focus who announced as the plan was being launched that 72 new families had become homeless in the Dublin region in June. Focus welcomed the Government's new Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness which aims to increase homeless prevention and deliver 47,000 social homes by 2021 but it highlighted some concern at the 'lack of specific year-on-year targets' for tackling the homelessness problem, in the new housing action plan. An 80-year-old man was found alive, but unable to move and trapped in a bed of briars following a three-hour search on one of the hottest days of the year. Samuel Ashe's distraught family, with gardai and neighbours, has started a frantic search for him when he failed to return to his home in Ballyhogue, Galbally after he went to see his granddaughter's pony in a nearby field. 'We're dead lucky we found him,' said Mr Ashe's son in law Liam Dillon, whose wife Tina and sister in law Maria found the 80 year old, suffering from the effects of the searing heat, trapped in the briars. 'We were worried about him because of the heat of the day,' said Tina. 'He's grand, he's fine now,' she said. Liam said Mr Ashe was discharged from hospital at midnight last Tuesday night and was 'back to normal' following his ordeal. Earlier that day, Mr Ashe had turned down a shopping trip to Wexford town and instead stayed home at Ballyhogue before climbing a roadside fence to visit his 16-year-old granddaughter's pet pony Rosie. His daughter Tina, a popular nurse in the area, and other family members had earlier searched the field where he lay, unaware that he was lying in the ditch behind the fence as they passed him by during numerous efforts to locate him. The owner of the field had seen him three hours earlier at just after 11 a.m. patting the pony on the head. It seems that in his effort to climb back over the fence following his visit to Rosie, he fell backwards into the briars and was unable to move or call out to anyone although he was just over the fence beside the busy roadway. After he was found, two gardai moved him into the shade and family and neighbours comforted him, giving him water and talking with him while awaiting the arrival of an ambulance and paramedics. A local man said that about 3 p.m. after finding Mr Ashe alive, his family and the gardai called for an ambulance. As no ambulance had arrived half an hour later, a neighbour phoned a friend of his in the HSE who told him that the local ambulance crew members were unable to make contact with ambulance control and that at that time, the staff were undergoing a handover of shifts and rosters while an available crew was attending an accident elsewhere in the county. 'The ambulance arrived at about 3.45 p.m. There will be no social dividend for Enniscorthy town and few local jobs created as a result of the sub-contracting of the bulk of the multi-million euro Enniscorthy Bypass project to a Portuguese company, according to Deputy James Browne. 'What they are effectively doing is bringing over the workforce, the plant and the machinery, and building accommodation on the site,' said the Deputy who, with fellow FF Deputy Robert Troy, has raised the issue at a national level with Minister Shane Ross. 'My main concern is that there is no social dividend for Wexford and Enniscorthy or local employment at what is one of the biggest contracts in Europe, for all the groundworks, which is most of it,' said Deputy Browne, 'we had been told that 400 jobs would be created locally and I will be asking the minister for transport where they are?' He said that while the awarding of the contract to a Portuguese company Ferpi SA, which last month set up an Irish-registered company Gorey Earthworks, was in line with EU laws on open markets between member states, there had to be a level playing field in terms of wages and conditions which had to be in accordance with Irish legislation. Deputy Browne said that additionally there should be an element of social dividend to the locality where the work was to be carried out, but this did not appear to be the case with the Enniscorthy Bypass. 'Minister Ross says he is going to launch an immediate investigation into the awarding of the contract and the conditions of these employees,' said Deputy Browne, who is hoping to bring legislation to the Dail later in the year setting in law the provision of social dividend covering local projects carried out by foreign companies. The M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy PPP Scheme is approximately 41Km in length incorporating a new 27Km motorway and tie-in to the east of Enniscorthy, an 8Km single carriageway bypass to the west of the town, a 4Km dual carriageway section linking the N30 and N80 that crosses the River Slaney, and road improvements. A County Wexford man who had sex with his ex-girlfriend's 13-year-old sister has been sentenced to three years with the final two years suspended. The 25-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the girl, pleaded guilty 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 years old at the time of the offence. The investigating garda confirmed the girl did not want to give evidence at trial or to provide a victim impact report. He has 42 previous convictions, including possession of knives, drugs and theft offences. He has been on bail pending sentence and has not come to any garda attention since 2010. The man was arrested the day following the incident, but denied any sexual contact during interview. He claimed that the teenager had been pursuing him and he had arranged for her to come to his house so he could 'let her down gently'. He told gardai if his DNA was found on her it would be as a result of them sitting shoulder to shoulder on the couch. The garda told barrister Fiona McGowan, prosecuting, that the man's DNA was found on the girl's underwear, following forensic analysis and he was re-arrested in July, 2010. He again denied any sexual contact and reiterated that his DNA was on her because they had been sitting beside each other. Judge Patrick McCartan said he was satisfied that there was nothing approaching consent in the case and noted that there was a significant age gap between them. He said the girl had been young and impressionable and 'was in the hands of a more experienced person'. The judge accepted that there was a suggestion that she had been infatuated by the man but said he had texted her that evening inviting her to his home. 'He also had the presence of mind to hide her when someone called to his home,' Judge McCartan said after commenting that the man knew what he was doing was wrong. He said he was prepared to be considerably lenient because the man had made 'significant changes in his life pattern' having heard evidence that he has not come to garda attention in six years and has now settled down with a partner and is a father. Judge McCartan suspended the final two years of the three year term on strict conditions. A local garda told Ms McGowan that the girl reported the incident to gardai the following day and said she had called to the man's house after he texted her. The girl said they were cuddling on the couch and then began kissing before he had sex with her and then asked her to leave the room as a friend of his was about to call over. Minister Kehoe meeting the 53rd Infantry Group comprising Irish men and Irish women from all over the country, including Wexford Minister with Responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe was in Lebanon last week for the Transfer of Authority ceremony to Major General Michael Beary as Head of Mission and Force Commander for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The ceremony was held at UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura where Major General Beary will be based. During the visit Minister Kehoe took the opportunity to meet the 53rd Infantry Group comprising Irish men and Irish women from all over the country, including Wexford, at the headquarters of the Finnish/Irish Battalion (UN Post 2.45) and to UN Post 6.52 on the 'Blue Line'. In addressing the troops Minister Kehoe said 'I want to acknowledge the work you are doing and the commitment you give to maintaining peace and security in the region, without this contribution the UN could not undertake these missions and many more lives would be lost." Minister Kehoe said he was 'mindful of the great sacrifices which the troops make, and understands how much you all miss your homes, your families and your loved ones' UNIFIL represents Ireland's largest overseas deployment, with some 200 personnel serving in Lebanon as part of a Finnish/Irish Battalion. Hundreds of people of all ages flocked to Cahore last week to play their part in promoting water safety as part of the Cahore Water Safety week. The event, which has been running for over 30 years, brought together Irish Water Safety instructors and budding volunteers. It saw eople from as young as ten learn personal safety, basic life support, swimming and lifesaving skills. Last week, 139 candidates participated in the Irish Water Safety volunteer programme. The awards that they took part in were safety (levels one to four), survival and rescue (levels one to four). Once these are completed, each candidate can progress to trainee instructor level. One of the longest-serving examiners in Irish Water Safety Nick Corish attended on the day to supervise those taking their various exams. Irish Water Safety Wexford has a summer program each year which incorporates the annual Cahore water safety week. The event attracts candidates of all ages, who come together to brush up on their knowledge on water safety at Cahore pier. The interactive map lists 65 restaurants around the country, but not one of them is in County Wexford Bord Bia has launched a new interactive map featuring 65 award-winning restaurants across the country, but none in County Wexford get so much as get a mention. It says the restaurants featured as part of their Just Ask initiative, including 20 from Leinster, are selected by Bord Bia and food writer Georgina Campbell for excellence in sourcing and serving local foods. Kevin Dundon, from Dunbrody House, said he was disappointed that no Wexford restaurants were included. 'You would have thought that Wexford would feature.. you have Dunbrody House, Kellys, Marlfiend and Aldridge Lodge, but it's all subjective. 'You have somewhere like Patrick Guilbard's in Dublin, which is a two star Michelin restaurant and that's not in the Bridgestone Guide to the top 100 restaurants in Ireland,' Kevin told this newspaper, adding that 'Georgina (Campbell) loves Dunbody'. Asked about the omission of any Wexford restaurants from the map, Bord Bia said the former Jacques Bistro on the Quays in Wexford town was a previous winner of a Just Ask award, but no restaurants in the Model County were currently listed. 'This restaurant (Jacques Bistro) has since closed and so has not been included. No other Wexford restaurants are included in the listings,' said the Bord Bia spokesperson. Paul Hynes, who owns the critically acclaimed La Cote restaurant, which was Georgina's Campbell's Seafood Restaurant of the Year for 2016, is not included because according to Bord Bia 'they have never been a Just Ask winner'. La Cote occupies the former Jacques Bistro premises. Paul said he didn't wish to comment on the county's omission from the map or that of La Cote from the list. Developed in response to consumers' increasing support of local foods, Bord Bia says the Just Ask map allows diners to easily locate award-winning restaurants close by for a meal featuring the best of Irish foods. It says the Just Ask campaign, now in its seventh year, 'has been wholeheartedly embraced by the restaurant trade. The campaign encourages diners to look for information on where the food on their plate comes from when eating out. Each month, Bord Bia and renowned food writer Georgina Campbell award a Just Ask Restaurant of the Month to recognise best practice in transparency in food sourcing, encouraging engagement in food provenance. Commenting on the Just Ask map, Maureen Gahan, from Bord Bia said: 'The map showcases the distribution of award-winning restaurants across the country and consumers can find their closest Just Ask restaurant with one simple click.' Wexford, however, is off the map. Legendary Irish rockers The Stunning can't wait to get back to Kerry, as they face their Listowel debut in next month's Revival festival. Front man Steve Wall told The Kerryman this week the band have great memories of gigging in the Kingdom - not least some headline appearances at Rose of Tralee festivals past. Wall fairly loves performing here, and August 13 is set to be no exception as The Stunning take the Revival stage in Listowel's Square as part of the one-day festival also featuring The Frank and Walters and The Riptide Movement: "We've played at the Rose of Tralee festival three times. The first was back in the early nineties, and we were down again as recently as three years ago". "The Stunning did a fierce amount of touring during our first stint, we used to make off Horan's a lot in particular. We've played Killarney too, but Listowel will be a first for us." "It'll be brilliant! I was doubly delighted when I heard The Frank and Walters will be playing as well - I love The Franks!" When The Stunning's members broke away from each other in 1994, Wall didn't anticipate that the outfit would ever play together again. But an unlikely reformation manifested after the band's members re-releases the much loved Paradise in the Picturehouse on CD: "When it was first released, 90 per cent of sales were from cassettes. We were inundated with requests to re-release it on CD, because all our fans' tapes had been chewed up through overplaying. So we gave in, and reissued it." "A week later, we were second in the charts! The only reason we weren't top was down to not issuing enough copies to stores! It was sold out within days." "After that, reforming was suddenly the next logical step!" Over the last 30 years, either with The Stunning or The Walls, Wall has experienced playing in advance of the ilk of Bob Dylan, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and U2. He thinks back to those nights with pride, but seems more at ease with his current schedule: "Dylan was different. He's hit-and-miss live, because he's introverted, and we certainly didn't get to meet him after because he leaves straight away! But still, it's Bob Dylan - even being associated with him was an achievement!" "U2 were different too. When The Walls supported them at Slane, they treated us royally. They're great to their support acts." "Right now, The Stunning only play a few times a year, and to smaller crowds. We prefer quality events like Revival now, and our performances I'd imagine are better now." The Walls are taking a breather for now. Steve has recently taken to acting, and has starred in shows like Rebellion and the critically acclaimed Moone Boy, while their drummer's been busy touring with Hozier. The Stunning's relaxed rota suits Steve down to the ground and fits with where his life's at right now: "Acting takes a lot of my time nowadays. It's different to anything I've done before, in that I have to do it on my own - nobody's going to learn the lines for me!" "But I still love music, and playing with The Stunning is a treat nowadays. Revival's going to be great - I can't wait to get down to Kerry. Revival will take place in Listowel's square on August 13, and the festival will also feature The Frank and Walters and The Riptide Movement. There will be space on the day for 3,000 people. Gates will open at 5.00pm, and entry tickets, available from Ticketmaster, cost 27.50. Alex O'Neill, Peadar O'Sullivan, Evan, Aaron and Ryan Breen hanging out in primary colours at the fancy dress. Photos by Michelle Cooper Galvin 'Sister' Rachel Haran and 'Brother' Darragh Murphy on hand as spiritual guides in the colourful throng Stepping out in their finery at the Sneem Festival were local girls Aoife and Erinn Gibson and Sadhbh and Una White A superb schedule ensured that all who rolled into Sneem for its Summer Festival were extremely impressed, according to one of its organisers, Michelle O'Brien. "The festival got off to a lovely start on Tuesday, July 19, with the children's fancy dress, and their fantastic costumes were on show when they participated in a parade that was enthusiastically received," Michelle said. "Thereafter, all the folks in attendance got to trial the festival marquee, which became something of a hub for the six days. The tasty offerings of our barbecue hit the spot," Michelle O'Briene said The festival boasted a loaded roster with some unique events, and Michelle pointed out that much of this fun was in aid of good causes: "Everyone loved the colour dash. Brave participants dressed up in all-white, ran at full tilt, while having coloured powder fired at them by highly amused spectators!" "That was in aid of the Irish Cancer Society, and the spirit of fundraising was there again for a charity auction in aid of St Francis' Special School in Beaufort after that." The Summer Festival ended on Sunday at the North Square, where a farm skills competition, fun and activities, and a historic commemoration with a twist grabbed everyone's attention: "The 1916 Tea Party was a great way to get kids engaged with the centenary commemorations - I think the costumes being worn and the activities really helped bring history to life." "Sunday was great fun, and it all finished with a cracking performance by Ruaile Buaile that evening in the marquee. It was a great end, but I think everyone was sad that the craic was over for another year." Exactly 100 years on from the execution of Roger Casement in London, Ballyheigue History and Heritage Group is preparing to remember the man with a series of activities on the evening of Wednesday, August 3, as Micheal O Hallmhurain explains: "We've a Casement monument by Oisin Kelly here since the 1980's, and now we'll have a plaque by Maurice Roche to complement it. "It'll be unveiled on the evening by our guest Sean Seosamh O Conchuir, and it's inscribed with standout details of Casement's life," Mr O Hallmhurain told The Kerryman, adding: "We're thrilled that Killorglin Pipe Band and a Colour Party from the National Army will be in attendance, and their presence will boost the occasion." Fianna Fail TD for Kerry John Brassil will be compere on a night that'll also feature a rendition of 'Banna Strand' by local national school students after a reading of the proclamation. "The monument will be blessed, and Sean Seosamh will give a few words before the plaque is unveiled." "The evening will feature musical pieces and special commemorative acts, and a spectacular flare display by the Inshore Rescue will recall the capture of Casement off Banna over 100 years ago." "Killorglin Pipe Band and the Colour Party will lead everyone down the Community Centre for 8.00pm, where Bryan McMahon will welcome the audience to an illustrative lecture on Casement by Helen O'Carroll." The night will conclude in the Causeway Drama Group's performance of the play Life of Casement in the Community Centre. From about 1842 onwards, ideas to transmit 'electrical intelligence' under-water by means of a cable, were very much to the fore. An Atlantic Telegraph Company was formed in the United States with its financier Cyrus Field being one of the key promoters and also a friend of the influential Knight of Kerry. Field went to England in order to put his plan in motion. This was a huge and unprecedented global communications endeavour and proved to be the global forerunner of today's internet. Valentia Island and Heart's Content in Canada were chosen as termini as the journey between these two points was deemed the shortest distance across the Atlantic. Two ships, the American ship Niagara and the British vessel Agamemnon were to lay the cable but a number of attempts failed due to cable breakage. Finally, in the year 1865, it was decided that the world's largest ship the Great Eastern would embark on the task. On Wednesday, July 13, 1866, the Great Eastern set sail from beautiful Foilhammerum on the western end of Valentia Island to make it's journey to Heart's Content. This fifth attempt was successful and thus took place one of the greatest communication revolutions in history, transforming international political, social and economic relations forever. As a result, the Cable Station employees were based and lived in Knightstown but the Station closed in 1966, due to an advance in technology. It was a huge and vital source of employment and today the Cable buildings still command attention as a very significant mark of global communications of times past. Ambitious plans are ongoing with a view to designating the Cable Station and significant points associated with it as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Some 150 years have gone by since that historic journey by the Great Eastern and so Valentia Island celebrated that 150th anniversary with various events taking place from Wednesday, July 13 (the date of the Great Eastern's journey) to Sunday, July 17. On the Wednesday, Professor Alexander Gillespie of New Zealand launched UNESCO paper 2 in the Royal Hotel. Paper I was launched a number of years ago in New York. Professor Donard De Cogan, also at the Royal, launched a book entitled 'They Talk Along The Deep'. That evening hundreds of people took part in a remembrance walk to Bray Tower near Foilhammerum, and also gathered at the impressive Cable Monument in Foilhammerum, where the festivities were launched by Mayor of Kerry Michael D O'Shea. Also in attendance were Cyrus Field the fourth (descended from the original financier), Gordon Graves (great great grandson of James Graves, the first Superintendent of the Cable Station) as well as Adrian Fitzgerald (the 24th Knight of Kerry). Patrons were treated to a glamorous fireworks display from the vantage point of Con O'Shea's nearby field, all accompanied by bagpipe music and singing. The pipers were Patrick Lyne of Cooil, accompanied by his daughters Amy and Chloe and also Dermot Walsh. Celine Kavanagh and Richie McCarthy sang 'Ghost of the Cable', with a rendition also by Tomas O'Sullivan and Gail O'Donoghue of Beaufort entitled 'If the Sea Could Talk'. Thursday saw a plaque unveiled at Jackie and Brian Morgan's Atlantic Villa to honour James Graves, the Station's first superintendent, On Thursday night over 200 people sat down to gala dinner in the Royal Hotel. Speakers included Mary Rose Stafford (Tralee IT and Failte Ireland), Paschal Donoghue ( Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform), Kevin Vickers (Canadian Ambassador to Ireland), Brian Jensen (First Secretary of the American Embassy), Anthony O'Connell (Valentia Island Development Company) and Alexander Gillespie (UNESCO World Heritage Researcher). The occasion was sponsored by British Telecom-Ireland with the drinks being sponsored by Super-Valu of Cahirsiveen. Friday saw a swim for children from Glanleam to Knightstown Pier and also a cycle around Valentia for adults and children. Children's robotics also took place. A mobile Planetarium was on show on Sunday. During the festivities the Dudley Prints were also exhibited. These paintings depicted the Cable celebrations and general activities which took place in 1866. The Valentia Heritage Centre also put on display its wide array of Cable artefacts. The sponsors of the various events were: Aqua Comms, Intel, Kerry County Council, South Kerry Development Partnership LTD, IT Tralee, BT - Ireland and Super Valu of Cahirsiveen. At a local level this auspicious Cable Station historical five day series of events was organised by Anthony O'Connell and his colleagues of the Valentia Island Development Company in association with Communications Officer Fiona Lyne and her colleagues in the Valentia Island Events Committee, namely Joanne Cahill, Sandra Moriarty, Marie O'Connell, Miriam Lyne and Amy Winston. The sporting occasions were organised by the Valenia Triathlon Committee, with the juvenile events being organised by Karen O'Connell. FOOTNOTE: Professor Alexander Gillespie was appointed to undertake research for the purpose of assessing the viability and potential of Valentia Island to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to it's important role in communications technology and the Transatlantic Cable story as the forerunner of the internet and globalisation of communications. He has already completed the first paper, which was launched in New York in 2014. That paper concluded that the project was indeed factual and authentic. The cost of developing the first paper was financed by Kerry County Council and the Tralee Institute of Technology. The second paper, which was formally launched by Professor Gillespie at the Royal Hotel, demonstrated the outstanding universal value of the Transatlantic Cable. Challenging times lie ahead in achieving that recognition from UNESCO and a Cable Foundation committee for the purpose of fundraising has been put in place. The UNESCO project has first to be put before the people of Valentia and an Irish selection process and then on to UNESCO. Three UNESCO sites already exist in Ireland - at the neighbouring Skelligs, at Bru na Boinne in County Meath and at the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast in County Antrim. In an unprecedented move, county councillors in Cork and Kerry are uniting forces in a bid to progress the Macroom-Ballyvourney bypass following the announcement that works could be delayed until 2022. Despite the N22 road's inclusion on the current Capital Investment Plan (2016-21), Transport Infrastructure Ireland officials told a Cork County Council delegation that no funding was allocated to the project. The cross border delegation is now planning to travel to Dublin for a meeting with the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross to push the 150million project to go ahead at an earlier date. Mayor of Killarney Brendan Cronin insists that the county's lack of ministers in the Dail has had a negative effect on the N22 campaign which has been ongoing for some 25 years. "It is quite clear that we, as a county, have no clout; we have no ministers, we have no say at the cabinet table. The only option is to join colleagues across the border in Cork," he said. Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, who campaigned for the bypass before the 2016 election, has said that he is again discussing the matter with Minister Shane Ross. "I discussed the matter in detail again today (Tuedsday) with Minister Shane Ross, explaining again that it would make greater sense to build this road ahead of the other roads being queued ahead of it. Minister Ross has agreed to revert to me soon with an update," he said. Fianna Fail Cllr Gobnait Moynihan proposed that Cork County Council travel to Dublin as a delegation to highlight the urgent need for a bypass in the area. "We will definitely go to Dublin as a municipal and, with the help of Kerry County Council, meet with the Minister and re-iterate how important this project is to both counties," she said. The new N22 was originally included at the end of 2015 in the Government's Capital Plan for 2016-21, however a specific time-frame for completion of the project was not provided at the time. Meanwhile, TII regional manager Paul Moran has insisted that the N22 road scheme is still included in the Capital Investment Plan and that this will facilitate the commencement of construction on the scheme in 2020 as opposed to the original 2018/19 start date. Dirty tricks are likely behind the latest twist in the Healy Rae funeral controversy in the guise of an email sent to both Johnny Healy Rae and this newspaper that purports to be from a supporter informing him of a funeral he should 'be seen at' in mid-Kerry. But the Kilgarvan councillor is at a loss as to the identity of the named sender. Cllr Healy Rae meanwhile told The Kerryman that some bereaved families have even contacted the Healy Raes asking them not to stay away from their loved ones' funerals simply because of the controversy - sparked by comments from Fianna Fail councillor Michael Cahill - that raged last week. They became embroiled in the controversy that raged over the nation's airwaves on the back of Cllr Cahill's comments criticising other politicians for attending the funerals of people they don't know. "Cllr Cahill is an almighty smart man if he knows everyone I know. He's trying to insinuate he knows who I know," Cllr Healy Rae told The Kerryman this week. As a member of such a prominent family active in Kerry politicis for decades he said the Healy Raes know a lot of people right across the region, attending funerals only where a relationship exists or had existed. "I have attended funerals where I knew no one, only the deceased, as was the case with a funeral I was at in Cork this week for a man who worked with us years ago, but whose family I didn't know. "You go to pay your respects out of good manners, it's the Irish thing to do," he said. Meanwhile, in the email both he and The Kerryman received this week the sender - purporting to be a supporter of the Healy Raes - urged Johnny to attend the funeral of a deceased person in mid-Kerry: "Very sad for the family but an opportunity for us to get seen again in north Kerry." But the person who sent it has nothing to do with the Healy Raes and Johnny was at a loss as to their identity. He said he searched the name of the sender online to try to get to the bottom of it: "I googled the name and found someone working as a teacher up country, but I didn't spend too long worrying about it." Details of the funeral referred to in the email are easily obtainable online and the fact the writer mistakenly places mid-Kerry in north Kerry could be read as a sign of it likely being part of some dirty tricks attempt to smear the Healy Raes. The Kerryman responded to the email but was informed the sender 'did not mean' to send it to this newspaper. Heroin worth an estimated 5,000 was seized by gardai as they raided a house with sniffer dogs in Abbeydorney on Monday. It was one of three major drugs raids conducted in the North Kerry area in recent days by gardai from local divisions, the divisional drugs unit and the Cork-based dog unit. Heroin, cocaine and/or amphetamines and cannabis, worth a combined 11,000 on the streets, was seized in the three raids as part of a co-ordinated operation against separate drug gangs. Most worrying was the seizure of heroin in Abbeydorney on Monday evening, showing the reach of the lethal drug into rural parts of the county. It was seized when gardai searched a house in the village, in a raid that also uncovered an estimated 5,000-worth of cocaine and/or amphetamines. The white powder was still under analysis by Garda Forensic officers on Tuesday to determine exactly its chemical make-up. A man was arrested in connection with the Abbeydorney raid and later released without charge with a file now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Gardai swooped on a house in Listowel at midnight on Saturday in the second of the three raids, meanwhile. Officers seized a quantity of cannabis with an estimated street value of 500 in this incident. A man was arrested in connection with the seizure and was also released without charge. Gardai are preparing a file for the DPP in relation to this case too, a spokesperson for the force confirmed. The third raid took place in Ballyheigue, at a house outside the village on Saturday evening, uncovering cocaine and cannabis worth 500. No arrest has yet been effected in relation to this seizure. The raids proved a major success for gardai, who believe they have now neutralised what were significant source of supply of the controlled substances. "The discovery of heroin in Abbeydorney is very worrying, but the seizure marked an important operation against what was a significant supply given the large quantity of drugs found at the scene," the garda spokesperson informed The Kerryman. Models Ciara McCarthy, Rebecca Enright and Alix Quinn show off a wedding gown from Finesse Bridal Wear, Listowel alongside gowns from Be Fabulous Limerick and Hannons of Castleisland at the launch of the 2016 Rose of Tralee Fashion Show at Ballygarry House in Tralee. Photo By Domnick Walsh Eye Focus The organisers of the Rose of Tralee Fashion Show say this year's event will showcase Kerry as the fashion capital of Ireland's south west. The show - one of the biggest annual fashion events in the country - will take place at the Rose Dome at Fels Point in Tralee on Sunday, August 21. This year's fashion extravaganza, which was launched this week at Ballygarry House Hotel, will feature fashions from all the top boutiques and stores in the Munster region, including top Irish milliners. The Rose of Tralee fashion show has a history of encouraging Irish designers, and this year's event will see the introduction of the Rose of Tralee Young Student Designer of the Year Awards where student representatives from eight design colleges will compete for the title. The finale of this year's Rose of Tralee Fashion Show will see a display of established top Irish designers, whose names are synonymous with quality, style and individuality accompanied by music from the incredible Michael O'Brien. "The Rose of Tralee annual fashion show is one of the biggest platforms to showcase and support the indigenous fashion houses in Kerry, Limerick and nationwide. It is a wonderful opportunity for the country's fashionistas to plan their winter wardrobe and discover the trends you need to know for Autumn Winter," said the show's producer Celia Holman Lee. The Best Dressed Lady competition - which offers a host of fabulous prizes - will be judged by 2015 Rose of Tralee, Elysha Brennan and Karen Scanlan, representing festival sponsors Tipperary Crystal. Tickets, costing 35, are available now from www.roseoftralee.ie. A doctor found guilty of misconduct, and who briefly worked at the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee, has warned that a 'bloody price' will be paid for his treatment during a public enquiry into his fitness to practice. Last January - following a ten day hearing - Sudanese doctor Omar Hassan was found guilty of misconduct and poor professional performance by an Irish Medical Council fitness to practice committee. The inquiry - which heard that at one point Dr Hassan mistook an x-ray image of an ankle for an elbow - arose following complaints about Dr Hassan's work at the Midlands Hospital in Portlaoise, Mayo General Hospital and Galway University Hospital. It later emerged that Dr Hassan had worked as a locum at Bon Secours Hospital Tralee on two individual dates in April and May 2014. No complaints arose from his brief time at the Tralee hospital. Dr Hassan has consistently maintained his innocence and has appealed the IMC decision to the High Court. At the High Court this week Mr Justice Peter Kelly described the contents of emails and documents allegedly authored by Dr Hassan as disturbing. The Judge read the contents of some of the emails into the court record. In one e-mail to the IMC Dr Hassan said he was unfairly portrayed by the media and promised revenge. "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 Hassan is alleged to have written. Mr Justice Kelly adjourned Dr Hassan's for a full hearing on October 18 next. Dr Hassan refused to accept papers that were served on him until he had hired a solicitor. Some members of the Traveller community of Listowel are concerned over the potential impact of the looming Travelling Rose on their relationship with the settled community in the town, The Kerryman has learned. Thousands are expected to hit Listowel for the Irish finals of the Travelling Rose competition, due to take place in The Risin' Sun bar on Market Street over August 5,6 and 7 next. The Kerryman has learned that the venue is also working to address minor fire regulatory issues before it hosts next week's massive Travelling Rose event - billed as The Rose of Tralee of the Traveller community. The Risin' Sun on Market Street is the focal point for an event that is set to bring hundreds, if not thousands, of Travellers from across Ireland and the UK to North Kerry. Hotels and other accommodation providers in the area are being inundated with calls ahead of the selection - which is being held to choose the Irish Travelling Rose to contest the international final later in the year. Some of the biggest names in Traveller circles in these islands are on their way to judge the competition, including Thelma Madine and Paddy Doherty of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding fame. However, a minor question mark hangs over the event based on fire regulation grounds at the venue. Kerry County Fire Officers inspected the premises with gardai recently, highlighting a number of 'relatively minor' concerns. "It's not an issue of obtaining fire safety certification, but merely of addressing a number of relatively minor issues from a fire regulations point of view and we understand these issues are now being addressed," a spokesperson for Kerry County Council told The Kerryman. There is no suggestion the venue is not safe, the concerns have only come to light in the context of such large crowds attending the bar over the three nights of the event - in what is a big occasion for the scores of young women contesting it. Grave concerns are now being raised over the rise in illegal lurcher coursing, subject of a public meeting on Friday Landowners across north Kerry are being intimidated and physically threatened on a regular basis by gangs of illegal hunters who are entering their lands, armed with guns, scouting for hares. A group of farmers in Ballyduff were threatened with wheel braces and car jacks when they confronted a gang of trespassers, while the chairman of County Kerry Coursing Club was told that his house and jeep would be burnt out in some of the most shocking examples of what farmers say has now become very dangerous situation. Such is the concern among land owners and coursing club members that an emergency meeting was called with senior gardai on Friday, chaired by Irish Coursing Club CEO, DJ Histon. Members of eight coursing clubs across north Kerry attended, along with representatives of the IFA and ICMSA and Superintendents Jim O'Connor (Tralee) and Dan Keane (Listowel). As well as trying to tackle the clubs' struggle to preserve the hares for their coursing events as a result of this illegal hunting, the meeting also aimed to highlight the shocking level of threats and intimidation landowners are now facing from these hunters. Many farmers believe that they are entering the land with lurcher dogs (Greyhound cross breeds), betting on each other's dogs, thus killing the hares. While several reports of damage to gates and fences were recounted at the meeting, a number of farmers spoke about the verbal and physical intimation they have been subjected to when confronting the trespassers. Chairman of Ballyduff Coursing Club, Michael Slattery, recounted how he and a group of others confronted six hunters on one occasion and while they tried to hold the men until gardai arrived, the men in question took jacks and wheel braces from their cars and threatened to 'burst the farmers' heads in.' "Another time, one farmer was told that they would break every window in his house," Mr Slattery continued, saying that he himself has met the same group five times. "People are afraid and I know for a fact some people have got guns as a result of it." Mike Hickey of Kilflynn Coursing Club said that he and a number of fellow club members were also threatened by a group who were trespassing on land in the village. "When they were approached to get off the land they gave battle and one fella took off his shirt to fight," he said. "One of them told us that if anything happened to his dogs, there wouldn't be a greyhound left in Kilflynn." County Kerry Coursing Club chairman, Tom Ward, said he was told over the phone that his house and jeep would be burnt out. "That same night these people came up to Ballybeggan and terrorised us," Mr Ward said. John Griffin of Ballyheigue Coursing Club spoke of another incident at a coursing meeting in Tralee when one farmer was threatened in front of his young daughter. "There was a confrontation and a stand-off on the side of the road one day and threats were made. A few weeks later, at the coursing meeting in Tralee, the farmer was parked up in his van outside with his seven year old daughter and the same man passed and threatened that he'd get him. His daughter got really upset." Sean Brosnan of Kerry IFA told the meeting that he and his colleagues have received numerous reports of intimidation, and that people are genuinely afraid, while Robert O'Mahony of the ICMSA said he too hears about this issue 'every single day' and said the real concern is that farmers do not know how to approach them without fear of retaliation. As well as the physical threats to the landowners, the illegal hunting is also jeopardising the future of coursing in Kerry if they are allowed to continuing hunting, killing off the hare stocks. Both Superintendent O'Connor and Keane said they were unaware of the level of threats and intimidation that farmers are facing, saying that they each have only dealt with two complaints. Supt O'Connor said that the only way to tackle the issue is for landowners to make official statements and are prepared to go to court and give evidence. He said it is most likely that these people are already known to gardai and that it is probably the same group of people travelling around from farm to farm. He also urged landowners to get photographs and car registrations. "It's quite obvious that there is huge concern here and I wasn't aware this problem was so big," he said. "Chances are some of these people will already have been arrested multiple times but I can't do anything or take anyone to court without statements. That's when they will realise you're serious because they will push the boundaries as far as they can. The only way to face them down is to take them to court," Supt O'Connor advised. It was agreed that Irish Coursing club CEO DJ Histon would meet with both the superintendents again and report back to members on how best to progress the matter based on future developments. After almost a decade long wait, work begins next week on renovating New Ross Post Office on Charles Street. In the region of 500,000 will be spent on enlargening and renovating the post office's postage stamp sized public area. Spokesperson for An Post Angus Laverty said works will take up to three months to be completed with a team from Mythen Construction carrying out the project. Mr Laverty said: 'We will be moving it into the back part where the postmen were formally based. We'll be changing the counter set up and there will be bigger, better customer service.' Describing the premises as 'a lovely, old original New Ross building,' Mr Laverty said the premises can be used because several New Ross Post Office staff were relocated to the package pick-up and sorting area in Woodbine Business Park. The said the current staff will remain at the new, improved post office in New Ross town centre. Speaking about the length of time it took for the premises to be developed, Mr Laverty said: 'There would have been discussions on this for a number of years, including about relocating to a different premises, but the decision was taken to invest the money in this premises.' Fianna Fail Cllr Michael Sheehan described the news as fantastic, as did Labour's Brendan Howlin. Cllr Sheehan said: 'I have been on this case for almost a decade. In 2012 a woman fainted at the counter having been queuing out in the cold. I'm delighted that there will be no disruption to the sevice and that the staff will still be on Charles Street. I'm delighted that they won't have to work in cramped conditions any more. It promises to be something spectacular for the town.' Fine Gael TD and Minister with Responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe welcomed the news. Minister Kehoe said: 'Post offices are a vital business hub in the heart of local communities and this announcement by An Post represents an important investment in New Ross and the surrounding area. I welcome the fact that this significant investment will begin in the next couple of weeks and have been assured that there will be minimal disruption for customers during the building and renovation work.' He added that it is Government policy to ensure An Post remains a strong, viable company fit to serve the needs of business and domestic customers alike. 'Earlier this year the final report of the Post Office Network Business Development Group was published setting out 23 recommendations to providing a high quality postal service and enhanced customer services in the community. The Government is committed to acting on all of these recommendations,' he said. Theatre buffs in Tubbercurry can look forward to some great drama this weekend as the Beezneez group are performing Lovely Leitrim this Sunday. John McDwyer, founder of Beezneez involvement with drama began with the Phoenix Players in Tubbercurry when he played Gar Public in their award-winning production of Philadelphia Here I Come. John's many stage plays have toured Ireland and the UK successfully. Eileen Davey, of the Phoenix Players, said: "We welcome the return of the acclaimed Lovely Leitrim on Sunday night next the 31st July at 8:30pm. " You have a treat in store. On this tour 'Lovely Leitrim has played to packed houses and is receiving standing ovations." The cast includes well-known local actors Peter Davey, Tom Walsh and Kieran Brennan. The production sold out theatres all over Ireland and the UK on its initial tour. People are advised to book early to avoid disappointment for Sunday's show in St Brigid's Hall. An internationally renowned band with strong connections to south Sligo are set to play at the Coleman Centre in Gurteen this Friday night. Saoirse, a dynamic band based in Melbourne, are a five-piece band and have roots in south Sligo. Sile Coleman, one of the five members of Saoirse, is daughter of Gemma Feeley, a native of Tourlestrane. They have been performing at major festivals and functions in Australia for the past ten years, and this year an invitation to play at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient 2016 in France prompted their first European tour. They start their tour in Ireland, and will bring their mix of traditional and contemporary work around the continent. They are renowned for their soaring harmonies and powerful instrumentals, and they promise to get the audiences hands clapping. It is a second visit to south Sligo for both Sile and her husband Damien Neil this year, after they played a house concert at Moy River B&B last January. "I personally spent all of my childhood holidays in Dawros, Tourlestrane and if I could retire home it would be the place I would pick for certain," Sile says. "Myself and my husband, Damien Neil, performed a house concert at Pat's Moy River B&B in January just after we got married at home, it was a lovely night of music and although we were only two parts of the whole band, I feel people left with a smile and a warm heart." The Coleman Centre is the only venue in the west of Ireland which Saoirse will visit during their European Tour. After Friday's gig, they play Whelan's in Dublin on Sunday before heading north to Belfast to play on Wednesday evening. They depart for France the following day. Tickets are 10 for the Coleman Centre gig, and can be found on the Centre's website. An Italian has been arrested and charged with having 9,000 worth of cocaine for sale or supply in Tubbercurry. Pancrazio Caschera (34) of Ionagh Court, Aclare appeared in custody before the District court last Thursday week charged with possession of cocaine and having it for sale or supply at Masshill Road, on Wednesday July 13th. Inspector Donal Sweeney asked that Caschera surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions and sign on once a week at Ballymote Garda Station. Mr Morgan Coleman, defending, applied for Free Legal Aid because his client was on social welfare. He said Caschera's English was good and wouldn't need the services of an interpreter. Judge Kilrane remanded Caschera on continuing bail to Tubbercurry District Court on September 28th for DPP's directions. A 23 year old man who assaulted another man in a pub has paid his victim 15,000, a sitting of Sligo Circuit Court was told. Adam Leonard of Claddagh, Aclare had pleaded guilty at a previous sitting to a charge of assault causing harm to Kevin Moran at Flynn's Pub, Aclare on August 30th 2014. The victim of the assault was knocked out by a single punch thrown by Leonard. Mr Keith O'Grady BL with Ms Laura Spellman, solicitor (defending), said a sum of 2,000 was brought to the court when the matter was previous listed on September 29th and handed over to the victim. The case was then adjourned for a further 5,000 with the final figure being set at 15,000. Mr O'Grady said the defendant had taken out a loan so that he had a further 13,000 in court for the victim. The amount was in cash and State Solicitor, Mr Hugh Sheridan declined to accept the amount saying it was too much to receive in cash. He suggested the money be put into the defendant solicitor's client account and a cheque to be issued. Judge Keenan Johnson suggested that a bankdraft be obtained and the matter was adjourned briefly. When the case resumed a bankdraft in the amount of 13,000 was handed over to be sent to the victim. Judge Johnson noted that Leonard did not have any previous convictions, that the matter was out of character and he had shown complete contrition. The Judge said the victim did suffer a very serious injury as a result of the assault and it was his intention to impose a suspended prison sentence. He allowed Mr O'Grady make enquiries if this would affect the defendant's stated intention to travel to Australia to work. Mr O'Grady later told the court such an order would affect the defendant's application for a visa. Judge Johnson adjourned the case for finalisation to October 18th and said the defendant could apply for his visa before then. A Lavagh man was ordained in Mullinabreena on Sunday last and is preparing for his new parish in the US. Brendan McCarrick from Cloonbaniff will be going to a large parish in Michigan sometime later this year. He told The Sligo Champion: "I'm 39 but I don't look it! I first began studying for religious life back in 1997 when I was 20. I just wanted to take more time and see if it was for me," he explained. The Cloonbaniff native then spent ten years working in Harringtons concrete manufacturing plant in Kilkee, Co Mayo and also spent time in Australia. It was there he decided to think about religious life again. "When I was in Sydney in 2008, the World Youth Day event was on. It was while I was there I decided I'd like religious life." He contacted the Irish Pallottines society, who have a provincial house in Dundrum. "They were formed by St Vincent Pallotti, who was ordained in the mid 1800s in a Roman Diocese. He did a lot of work with people affected with cholera, the underprivileged. "I had been in contact with the Pallottines over previous years and in 2008 decided to go back. I told them I was interested in going a bit further. So I began studying in September 2009." He spent seven years studying for the priesthood, which included going to Maynooth College and he also did a hospital chaplaincy course last year. "It's good to have that as well." Brendan comes from a large family of eight children, four boys and four girls. "Mary and James are my mum and dad. There was a big crowd of relatives at my ordination on Sunday, it was a happy occasion. Fr Peter Gallagher is the parish priest. "We are very fortunate in Achonry to have three men studying or being ordained lately, including myself. A few years ago, Paul Kilcoyne was ordained in the same church, while another lad from the parish, Emmett O'Dowd, is studying in the Edinburgh Diocese. Being one of the smallest parishes in the country, having three men soon-to-be ordained is a big thing." The Pallottines have priests around the world and they do a lot of work in places like East Africa, Argentina and Michigan, where Brendan is heading off to later this year. "I'm going to a place called Wyandotte, it's up on the Canadian border. When you're appointed, you'll be there for a number of years at least. "It's a large parish, there's three parishes put into one. There are 55,000 people in the parish so it's large. I've no date yet finalised as to when I'm going. I'm still working on visas, but it should be towards early October." He is going to keep in touch with friends and family back home in Achonry too. "I'll be back as regularly as I can. Thankfully America isn't difficult to get to nowadays," he laughed. Time will tell whether he will go to the likes of East Africa or Argentina in the future, he added. "Wherever I'm asked to go, I'll go, we'll have to see as time goes on." Although the numbers of young men studying for religious life is not as great as it once was, Brendan says there's no need for panic. "The way I look at it is those who are called should respond in their own time. I first started in 1997, that was 19 years ago and then I took a break. I don't think it's the case of quantity, it's about timing and being in the right place," Brendan said. A 41-year-old Syrian war refugee who came to Sligo to live continued to draw his father's Old Age Pension after the latter left the country for Iraq. At Sligo Circuit Court, Ramy Daowd, now living in Mespil Estate, Sussex Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin admitted a charge of theft, the total amount involved being 17,136.80 which had been paid into his account at the Bank of Ireland between 2013 and 2015. Ms Dara Foynes BL (prosecuting) with State Solicitor Mr Hugh Sheridan, said the defendant's father, an Iraqi national returned there in December 2013 but payments continued to be paid into the account up to June 2015. The defendant's father, who could not speak any English, did not notify the relevant authorities he was leaving and not returning. The matter came to light when his visa was not renewed. The pension was paid for in excess of a year, said Ms Foynes. In response to Judge Keenan Johnson, she said it was paid, like all social welfare payments on the presumption of honesty. Judge Johnson remarked that in the old days a person would present themselves personally at a post office and the payment was made to somebody who was known to satff. It seemed to him that the system needed reforming and he couldn't see why checks could not be made every three months to see that the recipient of such payments were still in the country. The Judge said it appeared the Department were being penny wise but pound foolish with payments being made into bank accounts. Ms Foynes said Daowd told Gardai he had been working as a chef but broke his leg and was off work. He also had marital difficulties at the time. His mother had also arrived from Syria around that time and she had a number of health problems. None of the money was paid back. Mr Joe Barnes BL with Ms Laura Spellman, solicitor said the defendant was a father of four and was now separated from his wife. He had 500 in court and was seeking time to pay back what he took at a rate of 500 a month. He was now working in the IT sector in Dublin and was earning 1,600 a month but was paying 1,100 in rent. He intended going into shared accommodation so he could afford to repay 500 a month. "He succumbed to temptation in vulnerable circumstances," said Mr Barnes. Judge Johnson noted that Daowd didn't claim sickness benefit when he was off work with his broken leg and this would have been worth about 188 a week to him. The offence was a serious theft on the public purse said the Judge who adjourned sentencing to October 18th to allow 500 be paid back monthly. West Wicklow is crying out for vital services and is almost in no mans land when it comes to provision of vital support for communities, the local council has heard. Representatives from Glending in Blessington, Carmel Cashin and Noel Murphy, met with Baltinglass Municipal District members at their meeting on Monday where they outlined the difficulties that under-resourced and marginalised communities are facing. This strategy arose out of difficulties within Glending but the problem is much wider. The entire west Wicklow corridor is completely under-resourced and people are crying out for services, Ms Cashin explained. She added that as the area is caught in the middle of south Dublin, Kildare and east Wicklow, it has been effectively ignored for far too long. Ms Cashin said that an inter-agency group has been set up comprising representatives from Tusla, Primary Care, County Wicklow Partnership and to include an education welfare officer. To date the only stakeholder that has not attended meetings is Wicklow County Council which is why we requested a meeting. We have received assurances from the members that they will lobby on our behalf to secure this representation. Ms Cashin said that in order to alleviate problems in Glending and in other marginalised pockets of west Wicklow, such as anti-social behaviour and social isolation, adequate services must be provided as soon as possible. The real issue is the lack of community development and while it was born out of the needs of the community in Glending, it is required across the whole of west Wicklow. A priority is to secure a family resource centre for Glending, but we also need weekly outreach health clinics and services for those who do not have transport to travel to Kildare or Dublin. There is not a single youth counsellor in west Wicklow and there are no youth provision services for Blessington, Ms Cashin added. Cllr Gerry ONeill, who is also from Blessington, voiced his support for the strategy and said that he believes proper planning and infrastructure will help in building strong communities going forward. I am happy to finally see some investment into Glending to upgrade the houses there. They were poorly planned in the first place, in my opinion. All of the councillors agreed to make contact with other agencies to try and help alleviate the problems that people are currently facing, he said. Hillary Clinton sets out her stall during a rally at Broad Street Market in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (AP) Hillary Clinton has followed up her Democratic convention success with a scalding rhetoric against her Republican rival Donald Trump, telling prospective voters they face a "stark choice" in the November general election. But the former US secretary of state and first lady encountered another distraction as her aides acknowledged that a hacking attack that exposed Democratic Party emails also reached into a computer system used by her own campaign. Rallying in Colorado, Mr Trump denounced Mrs Clinton's convention speech as "full of lies" and said he was starting to agree with those calling for her to be locked up. Not long afterwards, the intrusion into a system used by the Clinton campaign came to light. The FBI said it was working to determine the "accuracy, nature and scope" of the cyberattacks. Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said the newly-disclosed breach affected a Democratic National Committee voter analysis programme used by the campaign and other organisations. The hackers had access to the programme for about five days. Mr Merrill said outside experts found no evidence that the campaign's "internal systems have been compromised" but gave no detail on the programme or nature of the attacks. President Barack Obama and cybersecurity experts have said Russia was almost certainly responsible for the DNC hack, and the House of Representatives Democratic campaign committee reported that its information had been accessed. The developments followed the leaking of DNC emails earlier in the week that pointed to a pro-Clinton bias by party officials during her primary contest against Bernie Sanders. In the furore, party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz resigned just as Democrats were launching their convention. Mrs Clinton is in the midst of a post-convention campaign bus tour through the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. She told supporters in a West Philadelphia arena the coming election was the most important one in her lifetime. "It's not so much that I'm on the ticket, it's because of the stark choice that's posed to Americans in this election," she said. In Colorado Springs, billionaire tycoon Mr Trump at times seemed to brush off the fierce convention-week Democratic criticism, which went so far as to question his sanity. Sounding more like a pundit than the subject of all the vitriol, he pronounced Mrs Clinton's speech "so average" and "full of cliches". But he grew harsher as his event went on. "Remember this," he said, "Trump is going to be no more Mr. Nice Guy." And for the first time he encouraged his crowd's anti-Clinton chants of "lock her up." "I've been saying let's just beat her on November 8," he said, "but you know what? I'm starting to agree with you." Polls find that most Americans question Mrs Clinton's honesty. But in her convention speech and her first events afterwards, her priority was to go after Mr Trump, not ask for trust. Joined on the bus tour by her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, running mate Tim Kaine and his wife Anne Holton, Mrs Clinton stopped at a toy and plastics manufacturer in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, where she and Mr Kaine cast Mr Trump as a con artist out for his own gain. "We don't resent success in America but we do resent people who take advantage of others in order to line their own pockets," she said, addressing local officials and employees on the factory floor. Mr Trump is also focusing on Ohio and Pennsylvania, as states where he might make headway with blue-collar white men. That group of voters has eluded Mrs Clinton and was perhaps a hard sell after a Democratic convention that heavily celebrated racial and gender diversity. Mrs Clinton is playing up economic opportunity, diversity and national security. Democrats hammered home those themes this week with an array of politicians, celebrities, gun-violence victims, law enforcement officers and activists of all races and sexual orientation. Their goal is to turn out the coalition of minority, women and young voters that twice elected Barack Obama while offsetting expected losses among the white men drawn to Mr Trump's message. Democrats contrasted their optimistic message with the more troubled vision of the state of the nation presented by Mr Trump and others at the Republican convention a week earlier. Mr Kaine told CNN he found the Republican gathering "dark and depressing". The convention provided hours of glowing tributes to Mrs Clinton, including deeply personal testimonials from her husband, daughter Chelsea and Mr Obama. And Mrs Clinton offered an open hand to backers of Mr Sanders, saying, "I've heard you. Your cause is our cause." But Mr Trump said Mr Sanders "sold his soul to the devil" when he - unlike some of his loudly protesting supporters - threw his support behind Mrs Clinton. AP BELGIUM charged a man with planning to commit murder in a terrorist attack and released his brother after a series of house searches on Friday evening, federal prosecutors said. For the time being, there was no connection with the attacks at Brussels airport and the metro on March 22, in which 32 people were killed, the prosecution office said on Saturday. Nourredine H., was detained with his brother Hamza H., on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium. A judge on Saturday charged Nourredine with attempting to commit a terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation, and extended his custody. His brother was released without charge. The federal prosecution office had earlier said it appeared from its initial investigation that there were plans to carry out an attack somewhere in the country. Public broadcaster RTBF said that Nourredine had previously helped others travel to fight in Syria and had recently travelled widely across Europe, making a number of contacts in France. It added he was looking for weapons, which had prompted Belgian investigators to act. Police carried out seven house searches in the region of Mons and a further house search in Liege on Friday evening. No weapons or explosives were found. Brussels, home to European Union institutions and the headquarters of NATO, and Belgium in general are on a security alert level of three out of a maximum of four, a "serious" status with a "possible and probable" threat. Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable looks on after he lost his Twickenham seat to the Conservatives at Richmond Upon Thames College, Richmond. Photo : Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Theresa May holds a general prejudice against Chinese investment in Britain and objected to plans for the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant when she was home secretary, a former minister has suggested. Sir Vince Cable, who was the Liberal Democrat business secretary in the coalition, disclosed that Mrs May was unhappy with the gung-ho attitude of David Cameron and George Osborne towards Chinese involvement in major British projects. He recalled how Mrs May raised concerns in the Cabinet over the involvement of the Chinese in funding the proposed new nuclear project at Hinkley Point in Somerset. Two weeks after becoming Prime Minister, Mrs May's government announced it would pause the final decision on approving the deal to build Hinkley Point C, which would be Britains first new nuclear plant for a generation. Downing Street has insisted that Mrs May wants to examine all of the component parts of the 18 billion deal with the French energy giant EDF before deciding whether to give it the green light. However, government sources have suggested that Mrs May holds concerns over the security implications of the agreement, which would give Chinas state-owned companies a 33.5 per cent stake in Hinkley Point and the opportunity to design and build a new reactor at a separate site in Essex. Sir Vince, who served alongside Mrs May in the Cabinet throughout the 2010-2015 coalition, suggested that she had a general prejudice against Chinese investment. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Certainly when we were in government Theresa May was quite clear she was unhappy about the rather gung-ho approach to Chinese investment that we had and that George Osborne in particular was promoting, and as I recall raised objections to Hinkley at that time. Expand Close Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable looks on after he lost his Twickenham seat to the Conservatives at Richmond Upon Thames College, Richmond. Photo : Jonathan Brady/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable looks on after he lost his Twickenham seat to the Conservatives at Richmond Upon Thames College, Richmond. Photo : Jonathan Brady/PA Wire I, personally, am quite positive about Chinese investment in the UK and in this particular case the Chinese are not involved in the operational side of nuclear power - its the funding. But I think we have got a different prime minister with a different set of priorities and projects of this kind are going to be looked through a different filter. Sir Vince said the last-minute timing of the Prime Ministers decision to delay final approval for Hinkley was a bit clumsy. But he said she was right to review the massive project and to take a more cautious approach to foreign take-overs of British industries. The disclosure of Mrs Mays history of concerns follows warnings from her new chief of staff that Chinas role in the nuclear plant could threaten Britains national security. Nick Timothy, Mrs Mays chief of staff, warned in an article before he began working in Downing St that the Chinese could use their role in the nuclear programme to build weaknesses into computer systems which will allow them to shut down Britains energy production at will. He said MI5 held concerns over China because Chinese intelligence services are working against British interests at home and abroad. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Disengaging the UK from the EU will be like undoing all the stitching of a patchwork quilt and then restitching some parts of the quilt together, while making a new quilt of the rest. The UK is, at the moment, stitched into thousands of regulations and international treaties, which it made as a member of the EU over the last 43 years. Each piece of stitching will have to be reviewed, both on its own merits and for the effect that rearranging it might have on other parts of the quilt. This is, first and foremost, a problem for the UK itself. We all think we know what UK voters voted against on 23 June. But nobody, even in the Conservative government itself, has a clear idea what UK voters voted for. People voted to leave the EU for contradictory reasons. Many voted to leave because they wanted more protection from global competition. On the other hand, many of the Leave campaign leaders wanted to get out of the EU so they could deregulate their economy, dispense with EU social rights and promote more global competition and lower costs (wages) in the UK economy. The UK government must first decide which of these economic policies it wants. Only when it has done that, can it decide what sort of relationship it wants with the EU. The 27 EU heads of government told the UK on June 29 that any trade agreement would be concluded with it "as a third country". This could be interpreted as meaning that the UK must first become a 'third country' by withdrawing from the EU, before it can have a trade agreement with the EU. This could mean that the UK would have to be out of the EU before it knew what terms it might get on trade. This would be a very hardline EU position. If that is what the 27 leaders meant, it is probably contrary to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which says a withdrawal treaty must take account of the "framework" of the withdrawing country's "future relationship" with the EU. I believe Article 50 means that there will be two negotiations, one on 'withdrawal' and one on the 'framework' of the future relationship. Furthermore, I believe the two treaties must be negotiated simultaneously and in parallel, and that the framework agreement cannot wait until the UK is already a 'third country', as seemed to be implied by the 27 leaders . Ireland cannot afford to wait until the UK is already a 'third country' before border, travel, and residency issues between Ireland and the UK are sorted out. We need to have these issues sorted out before the UK leaves. As with a divorce, the withdrawal treaty will be about dividing up the property. It may be easy enough to negotiate. The Framework Treaty will be about the future and, like marital disputes about access to and care for children, will prove to be much more fraught and complex. The question of whether there is a 'hard' border or not will flow from what the UK looks for, and what it gets, in its framework negotiations. Nobody knows yet what the UK will look for, so this question is impossible to answer. The 27 EU leaders rightly insisted that the four freedoms - of movement of people, goods, capital and services - go together. Nobody has any idea yet how the UK will propose to get around that. If the UK was to heed the call of Liam Fox, the new Minister for International Trade, for it to leave the EU Customs Union, in order that it could negotiate trade agreements with countries outside the EU, this would mean an immediate hard border in Ireland. The Taoiseach's diplomacy in recent days has probably helped to head off that threat. Implementing Mr Fox's proposal would have breached a UK Treaty obligation, which is a very serious matter for a country that relies on 30,000 international treaties. The sort of border we have in Ireland will depend on the shape of the final UK/EU Framework agreement on all of the four freedoms. Ireland can do no side deal with the UK. And if Ireland is to influence the EU positions in its favour, it has to present its case as being beneficial to Europe as a whole. It cannot be, or be seen to be, on both sides of the table at the same time in what will prove to be a highly contentious negotiation. Until it leaves, the UK is still a member of the EU and is bound by all the rules. It will fully participate in all key EU decisions, except those concerning its own exit terms. This means that the UK cannot do trade deals with other countries, while it is still in the EU. Indeed, it would appear that it cannot even enter into commitments about future deals, particularly ones that might undercut EU negotiating positions. This is because, as long as it is still an EU member, the UK must, under Article 4 of the Treaty, act in "sincere co-operation" with its EU partners. The meaning of "sincere co-operation" was elaborated by the European Court in judgments it made on cases that the Commission took against Germany and Greece to overturn separate understandings that each had forged with other countries on matters that were EU responsibilities without EU involvement. So to ensure that he stays within the law, Liam Fox may have to take a Commission official with him on all his trade travels around the globe, at least until the UK has finally left the European Union. Indeed, the more closely the UK government looks at its options, the longer it may take to decide when to trigger Article 50. The leaders of the EU 27 should not rush the UK on this. Short-term uncertainty is a very small price to pay for avoiding a botched and ill-prepared exit negotiation. Everyone would lose from that. The UK civil service did not, after all, expect to find itself in this position. Indeed, UK civil service studies, done long before the referendum, concluded that the UK's then existing relationship with the EU was just about right. Furthermore, once Article 50 is triggered, the UK cannot, easily or legally, change its mind and revert to the status quo, even after a General Election. Meanwhile, Europe, with so much other work to do, has to turn inwards and devote itself to unravelling 43 years of interweaving between Britain and Europe. All this highly demanding technical work has to be done, at a time when Europe should be looking outwards towards the opportunities and threats of a rapidly changing and unstable world. The magazine cover is a simple white page with stark black lettering. "Comment vivre avec la peur?" it asks, "How to live with fear?" It appeared on French newsstands in the days before teenage Isil sympathisers slit the throat of an octogenarian priest named Jacques Hamel as he celebrated Mass in a quiet village church in Normandy on Tuesday. That killing, coming so soon after Isil claimed responsibility for a truck attack in Nice that killed 84 people and injured more than 200 during Bastille Day celebrations, has sent a further chill across an already anxious France. The day before the Normandy attack I had discussed with a friend in Marseille how Isil had, in its latest video, threatened the city we both call home for the first time. In the clip, two French-speaking militants, gloating over the recent carnage in Nice, vowed further attacks on France, specifically naming Paris, Nice and Marseille - the country's second city - as targets. My friend, who has two young children, told me how she and her husband had advised their sons on how to act in case of emergency, even devising code words. We talked about the new wariness in France, the way people nervously glance around in airports and train stations and on the Metro. The sense of not knowing what or where the next target could be. "It's the sad new reality," she sighed. Others in Marseille, a city that, while home to one of France's largest Muslim populations, has not experienced the same level of radicalisation as other cities, responded to the Isil threat with black humour. One, a young Muslim named Mohammed Henni, posted a seven-minute, expletive-strewn video skewering Isil on Facebook. How dare they threaten his hometown of Marseille, he asks, going on to lambast them for "having nothing to do with Islam", thinking they are the only ones who speak for God, and for essentially having "completely lost the plot". He ridicules them further asking: "Who do you think you are, the Power Rangers?" Henni's video has been viewed over 1.4 million times, and prompted French Isil members to respond with insults of their own in a social media war of words. Henni's video provided some light relief at a time when France feels more jittery by the day. The Nice killings were the third major attack in some 19 months. In January last year, a raid by militants on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' left 12 people dead. Last November, a series of co-ordinated attacks in Paris claimed more than 130 lives. Since then, the country has been under a state of emergency and new security measures are planned. In the Riviera town of Cannes, for example, local authorities this week decided to ban rucksacks and other large bags "which could conceal... weapons or explosive substances" from the area's beaches. The government of President Francois Hollande, already under pressure following the Nice attack (Prime Minister Manuel Valls was booed when he visited the city last week), is under fresh scrutiny over security shortcomings after it emerged that one of the militants who attacked the church this week had tried to travel to Syria and was known to anti-terrorism investigators. Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian has announced the 10,000-member Sentinelle military force would be dispersed to more areas outside Paris. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has pledged tighter security for public events taking place across the country in August, the month when most French take their holidays. In Nice last weekend, I saw the thousands of wreaths and tributes laid on the promenade where the truck had ploughed through crowds gathered to mark France's national holiday. While the seafront restaurants and cafes were busy, there was a strange mood in the city, sombre but also tense. Many fear the July 14 attack will deepen Nice's fractures - the city is a bastion of the far-right National Front as well as home to more than 60,000 Muslims. But tensions are also growing beyond Nice as the increasingly popular National Front takes advantage of the attacks of the past year for political gain. Parliamentarian Marion Marechal Le Pen (pictured inset) the 26-year-old niece of National Front leader Marine Le Pen, tweeted hours after the Normandy attack: "They kill our children, murdering our policemen and slaughter our priests. Wake up!" She later said she was willing to join the French military reserves - "we need to go beyond political engagement" - and urged others to do the same. Isil has made little secret of its wish to sow divisions between Muslims and non-Muslims in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim population. The manner in which the Hollande government handles the crisis and navigates around those who seek to exploit it will be key. Calls have been growing among the opposition for the US-led coalition to temporarily stop its bombing of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) to avoid further unintended casualties. Photo: Stock The US is thought to have killed dozens of civilians in a fresh air strike yesterday, a day after opening an investigation into the deadliest air raids during its two-year campaign in the Syrian war. Calls have been growing among the opposition for the US-led coalition to temporarily stop its bombing of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) to avoid further unintended casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said early yesterday that at least 28 people, including seven children, died in air strikes on the village of al-Ghandour in the countryside north of Manbij city. Pictures from the area posted on social media showed the bodies of two children who appeared under 10 years old. "They were killed when the warplanes of the international coalition committed a massacre in the town of al-Ghandour in the northwestern countryside of Manbij city east of Aleppo province, where the warplanes targeted areas in the town of al-Ghandour," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. On Wednesday, the US military announced that it would formally investigate an air strike on July 19, in the nearby village of Tokkhar, which left at least 56 civilians dead. The main Syrian opposition group had urged the US-led coalition to suspend its bombardments. Anas al-Abdah, president of the Syrian National Coalition, warned in a letter to the foreign ministers of the anti- Isil coalition that the killings of civilians would "prove to be a recruitment tool for terrorist organisations." Bashar Assad made the offer as a government offensive encircled rebels in the eastern part of the city of Aleppo The United States is trying to determine whether a Russian plan for a humanitarian operation in Syria is sincere, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday, adding that if it proves a "ruse" it could ruin cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The 250,000 civilians trapped for weeks inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo have so far stayed away from "safe corridors" that Moscow and Damascus promised for those trying to escape the most important opposition stronghold in the country. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and its Russian allies declared a joint humanitarian operation for the besieged area on Thursday, bombarding it with leaflets telling fighters to surrender and civilians to leave. U.S. officials have suggested the plan may be an attempt to depopulate the city so that the Syrian army can seize it. The Syrian opposition called it a euphemism for forced displacement of the inhabitants, which it said would be a war crime. Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war, has been divided since 2012 into government and rebel sectors. Retaking it would be the biggest victory for Assad in five years of fighting, and demonstrate the dramatic shift of fortunes in his favor since Moscow joined the war on his side last year. This would also be an embarrassment for Kerry, who has led a diplomatic initiative with Moscow aiming to let the Cold War superpower foes cooperate against Islamist militants and restore a ceasefire for the wider civil war which collapsed in May. Asked about the Russian operation, Kerry said Washington was still unsure of Moscow's intent: "It has the risk, if it is a ruse, of completely breaking apart the level of cooperation." "On the other hand, if we're able to work it out today and have a complete understanding of what is happening and then agreement on the way forward, it could actually open up some possibilities," he added, saying he had spoken with Moscow twice in the past 24 hours to try to clarify what Russian intentions. The White House also voiced its doubts. "Given their record on this, we're skeptical, to say the least," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said at a news briefing. TURNING POINT The fate of Aleppo in the coming weeks has the potential to be a turning point in a seemingly endless, multi-sided civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and drawn in most world and regional powers. Pro-government forces with Russian backing have advanced in the three months since the ceasefire collapsed, and imposed a siege on the rebel-held sector of Aleppo since early July when they closed the main road out of the city. The United Nations says food will run out within weeks for the people trapped inside, and has been trying to negotiate regular pauses in the fighting to allow humanitarian access. So far, the safe zones have not been used. Syrian state television accused the rebels of preventing civilians from leaving, which rebels deny. A state TV reporter in Aleppo said reception centers with health and food supplies had been set up around Aleppo to receive civilians, but so far few had come through because rebel fighters were threatening them. The main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) says it believes the aim is to cleanse the area so government forces can capture it. "The world must not allow Russia to get away with disguising its assault on Aleppo with deceitful talk about humanitarian 'corridors.' Be clear - these 'corridors' are not for getting aid in, but driving people out. The brutal message to our people is - 'leave or starve'," HNC member Bassma Kodmani said. Privately, U.S. officials fear the Russian proposal masks the real intent of its Syrian ally, to separate boys and men from the rest of the population, claim they are terrorists and either imprison or execute them, "as Assad and his father have done repeatedly at least since 1982," said one official, discussing Washington's analysis on condition of anonymity. "Why would you evacuate a city that you wanted to send humanitarian aid to?" asked a second official. Ghaith Yaqout al-Murjan, an activist in Aleppo, told Reuters civilians were avoiding the corridors as they were still unsafe: "There are people who want to leave because they can no longer bear the shelling by helicopters, jets, barrel bombs. ... The rebels are not holding anyone if they want to leave." "You are talking about the need to walk a kilometer in a battle where you are at risk of being hit from two sides." The United Nations, which hopes to resume peace talks in August, has been circumspect since Russia announced the humanitarian operation, saying the proposal for safe corridors out could be helpful, but only if combined with humanitarian access for those who do not want to leave. URGENT NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said there was "urgent need for improvement" in the plan, but that Moscow appeared to be open to suggestion. Regular pauses for humanitarian access were necessary, he added, and the United Nations should be involved in managing any safe exit routes. The International Committee of the Red Cross said safe corridors could only work if agreed by the warring parties, and there was no sign of any such agreement in Aleppo. "The ICRC is not a big fan of humanitarian corridors, because it always runs the risk that there is the concept of safe areas, and everything outside those safe areas becomes an area of non-respect for international humanitarian law," ICRC Middle East regional head Robert Mardini told reporters in Geneva. Aid agencies say civilians have been unable to leave through the safe corridors because of fighting, and that the situation inside the besieged city is becoming increasingly perilous. Save the Children quoted a doctor describing dire conditions of constant bombardment and mass casualties inside the city. "Imagine the emergency room in any of the field hospitals doesn't have more than five or six beds, and when responding to a massacre they receive up to 30-40 injured at the same time," the doctor said in a statement released by the aid group. At one bombing site, "a child less than 10 years old ran to me shouting 'sir, please put my arm back'. His left arm was amputated and he held it with his right hand. He was begging me to put it back, and this is only one of so many tragedies that we see." Separately, Save the Children said one of its maternity hospitals had been bombed by government forces in Idlib, another province where there has been fighting since a ceasefire collapsed in May. New York is experiencing an unusually hot and dry summer so hot, so dry that an everyday pile of horse manure spontaneously caught fire under the sweltering sun. The Department of Environmental Conservation reported that the horse dung combusted in a stable in the town of Throop, 25 miles west of Syracuse. Residents complained about a foul smell and smoke wafting through their windows. When Don Damrath, DEC officer, investigated he was told by stable owners that manure combustion was not unusual in the horse stable. The wind generally blows the smoke in a different direction, away from townspeople, they explained. This time, however, the wind carried the smell and smoke in the opposite direction, perhaps preventing what could have been a major brushfire in the area. Fire from the manure pile spread dangerously close to an area with dry vegetation, and took firefighters more than two hours to extinguish. Mr Damrath told the stable owners to make an effort to prevent further combustion in the future. A 2009 paper published in Bioresource Technology found that horse manure is well suited for combustion, especially if combined with wood shavings one would find in a stable. The paper found that horse manure particularly makes for a reliable low-emission fuel. New York state experienced a rather serious heat wave this week as a so-called "heat dome" a high pressure system that traps hot air in a region shot temperatures up to more than 100F (38C). Gov Andrew Cuomo mandated that the Office of State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation extend hours at all public swimming pools and other parks to help New Yorkers deal with the heat. Clinton reminded voters that Trump benefits greatly from the global trade deals he has now publicly turned against. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images After their four-day national convention in Philadelphia, Democrats can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now, that they managed to project an image of a normal, functioning party ready to continue the business of government. Hillary Clinton's speech contained a laundry list of aspirations and intentions wide enough for even the most ardent Republican who can't bear to vote for Donald Trump to cross over to the Democratic dark side, even just this once. A lot is being made about the relative flatness of her oration - compared with the speeches of two of America's most celebrated orators, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as an inspiring one from First Lady Michelle Obama on opening night, this may be so. But it was never going to be Ms Clinton's strongest point. It's clear that she isn't as comfortable showing genuine emotion when she speaks. Ms Clinton rarely unmasks herself in a manner like that of Ms Obama, when the First Lady spoke about how her and her husband "urge" their daughters not to take notice when people question his citizenship or faith. And when Ms Obama acknowledged how she "wakes up every morning in a house built by slaves", it was clear that these points weighed heavily on her; it was visible when she became momentarily emotional as she spoke. Perhaps it is understandable that Ms Clinton remains so guarded; after decades in the spotlight, with her personal life, as well any errors in public life, under intense scrutiny and subject to criticism, and there to be used at will for easy political gain by the opposition. It was when she levelled a "full-throated", blistering attack on her rival Mr Trump, that she was most confident and comfortable. Here she knows she has the upper hand. Her vast resume in government sets her up nicely as a person who can take charge and make reasonably sage decisions in the event of an emergency or terrorist attack. She has enough knowledge to make decisions about military action and knows how to listen and heed advice about specific military objectives. We were reminded of this several times in the course of the week, and when Mr Obama praised her for her counsel as part of a tiny cohort of the most senior members of the administration on deciding whether to pursue a high-risk operation to assassinate Osama bin Laden. Her willingness to slap sanctions on Iran over its nuclear enrichment programme was also presented as a testament to her resolve to prevent the "wrong hands" accessing nuclear weapons, in particular a country often at odds with American interests, and those of its ally, the state of Israel. Not long after this, she initiated negotiations on easing Iranian sanctions in exchange for a raft of commitments that led to non-proliferation. It is this adept use of 'smart power' that sets Ms Clinton apart from Mr Trump, a man who just last week effectively invited Russia to engage in cyber espionage against the US, asking Vladimir Putin's hackers to find 30,000 missing emails from Ms Clinton. However, there is also long list of areas which point to Ms Clinton's total lack of judgment, which could be applied just as rationally as reasons for Americans not to vote for her as the next commander-in-chief. She supported the Iraq war in spite of the clear lack of evidence of weapons of mass destruction or any tangible link proving cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Al Qa'ida operatives hiding out in Northern Iraq before the war. She is also heavily criticised for not preventing the attack on the US compound in Benghazi which led to the death of highly respected US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, as well as three staffers. Several reports into the incident reveal that the compound was not adequately secure, and Republicans regularly take aim at Ms Clinton over this, blaming the deaths of Stevens and his staff solely on her, citing it as a clear example of Ms Clinton's ineptitude and lack of care for the safety of state department staff. The family of Ambassador Stevens have asked that Mr Trump and the Republican Party stop using his name and death for "opportunistic and cynical" purposes. Coming in to the Democratic Convention, Mr Trump edged Ms Clinton for the first time in the polls by almost 1pc, following the bounce he received after his own speech. Arguably, this was in spite of his own party's convention, given the several gaffes and bizarre spectacles that ensued - not least the drama over Ted Cruz's refusal to endorse the party's candidate. On stage on Thursday, Ms Clinton sought to discredit Mr Trump's record, saying he abandoned the workers who built his investments in Atlantic City. Assaults In response to his promise to resuscitate manufacturing plants in the US, she reminded voters that he benefits greatly from the global trade deals he has now publicly turned against, saying that Trump furniture is made in Turkey, and Trumps ties are manufactured in China, etc. It is these assaults that are most likely to resonate with the undecided voters and help her to get ahead in the polls before the major debates. Although Ms Clinton is a sharp debater, the rules of engagement with Donald Trump are far from normal. He doesn't care much for facts or intelligible discourse. Far too many times, however, he's been written off as babbling and incomprehensible, but it didn't stop him beating 16 opponents in the Republican race, including a contender once thought to be destined for the nomination, Jeb Bush. Serious polling will start in the coming days, but so far according to a CNN/ORD poll, Ms Clinton's speech was viewed more positively than Mr Trump's, with 56pc more likely to vote for her than before. Mr Trump got a 6-point bounce after his speech - we'll soon see what Ms Clinton received. U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he was taking the gloves off in his battle against Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House after taking a scorching from speakers at the Democratic National Convention. Trump wrapped up a five-day, seven-state campaign swing in Colorado on Friday, where for a fifth straight day his supporters chanted "lock her up" whenever he brought up Clinton's name. Trump supporters say Clinton deserves to be prosecuted for her handling of U.S. foreign policy as President Barack Obama's first-term secretary of state and for her use of a private email server while in that office. All week Trump has sought to tamp down the chants by stressing that his main goal is to simply beat Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election. But as the crowd chanted the slogan in Colorado Springs, Trump finally relented. "I'm starting to agree with you, frankly," he said. "No more Mr. Nice Guy." In Denver later, he changed his tune when he heard the chant. "I'll tell you what I'd rather do, honestly, is just beat her on Nov. 8 at the polls. She would be a disaster," he said. Expand Close Clinton reminded voters that Trump benefits greatly from the global trade deals he has now publicly turned against. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Clinton reminded voters that Trump benefits greatly from the global trade deals he has now publicly turned against. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Trump was a punching bag at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, which wrapped up Thursday night, as speaker after speaker - including some Republicans - said he lacked the temperament to be president. Clinton herself said in her acceptance speech that the election represented a "moment of reckoning" for the country. In Colorado Springs, Trump got sidetracked by a couple of disputes from last year as he tried to rebut a Clinton campaign ad. That ad uses video clip from Trump's attack on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in protest of her questioning of him at a debate of Republican presidential contenders last August when he said afterward that blood was "coming out of her eyes, coming out of her wherever." "I was talking about her nose," Trump said in Colorado Springs. "I wanted to get back on the issue of taxes" at the debate. Trump also brought up the case of disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, whom Trump seemed to mock publicly in video used by the Clinton ad. Trump said he was depicting the reporter groveling to him. "I didn't know he was disabled. I didn't know it at all. I had no idea," he said. Pope Francis delivers his message during a prayer vigil on the occasion of the World Youth Days, in Campus Misericordiae in Brzegi, near Krakow, Poland (AP) Pope Francis challenged up to 1.6 million young people who gathered in a sprawling Polish meadow to reject being a "couch potato" retreating into video games and computer screens and instead engage in social activism and politics to create a more just world. Peppering his speech with contemporary lingo, the 79-year-old pope, despite a long day of public appearances, addressed his eager audience with enthusiasm on Saturday on a warm summer night. Francis spoke of a paralysis that comes from merely seeking convenience, from confusing happiness with a complacent way of life that could end up depriving people of the ability to determine their own fates. "Dear young people, we didn't come into this world to 'vegetate', to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: To leave a mark," Francis said told a crowd that Polish media estimated at over one million in a huge field in Brzegi, a village outside the southern city of Krakow. Organisers said 1.6 million people came to hear the pope on Saturday night, but police did not give a crowd estimate. Francis decried a modern escapism into consumerism and computers that isolates people. The same message ran through a ballet performance at the site before his speech: a lonely woman seeks human connections but is rebuffed by people on computer tablets and cellphones until one man emerges from behind a see-through barrier to connect. For Francis, Jesus is the "Lord of risk ... not the Lord of comfort, security and ease". "Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths," Francis said. He challenged his sea of listeners, spread out on blankets, to make their mark on the world by becoming engaged as "politicians, thinkers, social activists" and to help build a world economy that is "inspired by solidarity." "The times we live in do not call for young 'couch potatoes'," he said to applause, "but for young people with shoes, or better, boots laced". Like a politician working a crowd, Francis yelled out to his audience: "You want others to decide your future?" When he didn't get the rousing "No!" he was going for, he tried for a "Yes." "You want to fight for your future?" he asked. "Yes!" they roared. "The pope does not order us to do things, he encourages us," Szymon Werner, a 32-year-old from Krakow who was at the meadow, told The Associated Press. "It's true, there are many temptations, weaknesses in life and we should try to do something about them." "I will give more attention to my family," he vowed. "Last night, I gave a lift to some foreign pilgrims who missed their bus - so I think the pope's presence is working!" Francis' evening appeal came hours after he celebrated a mass with priests, nuns and young seminarians whom he also urged to leave their comfort zones and tend to the needy in the world. He said Jesus wants the church "to be a church on the move, a church that goes out into the world". That homily came at a shrine dedicated to St John Paul II, the Polish pontiff whose staunch defence of workers' rights in the 1970s and 1980s challenged his nation's then-Communist rulers. A year after John Paul II was elected pope in 1978, he returned to his homeland, urging millions of his beleaguered compatriots behind the Iron Curtain - in nuanced and coded words - to oppose communism and defend individual freedoms. That visit inspired the birth of Solidarity, a labour movement that eventually became a key factor in the collapse of communism in 1989 in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe. Francis has carried out a gruelling schedule since arriving in Poland on Wednesday, making his first-ever visit to Eastern Europe. On Friday he visited the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he met with concentration camp survivors as well as ageing saviours who helped Jews escape certain doom. The pope ends his visit to Poland on Sunday after a mass in the same meadow in Brzegi, the crowning event of this year's world jamboree for young Catholics. AP SHARE By Hugh Oldham, Anderson I attended the law-enforcement prayer vigil held in Anderson's Wren Park on July 14. Present were many members of our law enforcement community and civilians expressing support for our officers. I was surprised by the absence of civic and government leaders. The mayor and Anderson City Council members, Anderson County Council members and other civic leaders, both black and white, were notable by their lack of attendance. Nationally, our law enforcement community is in crisis; it seems that the communities law enforcement personnel are trying to serve and protect have gone to war with our police officers. To assume this national crisis does not extend to our community is foolishness. To heal the schism that exists between law enforcement and their civilian population requires communication and acknowledgment of our differences. It is only by interaction in a neutral setting that all members of our community can learn not to fear each other. Even in our little community of Anderson, race relations are strained, and it is only by coming together as a total community can this schism and fear be relieved. The law-enforcement prayer vigil was an opportunity for all members of the community to come together in a neutral setting to meet each other and learn that neither side is totally to blame for our current situation. I can think of nothing more important than making an effort to improve the quality of life in Anderson County by building positive relationships between all segments of our population. Superstar Rajinikanth-starrer action drama 'Kabali' is not only enjoying a successful run in south India, but in north India as well. The Hindi version of the film has minted Rs 28 crore in north India since its release. 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. The film released on July 22 in Tamil, and was also dubbed in Hindi and Telugu apart from other languages. According to a statement shared by Fox Star Studios, which distributed 'Kabali' in north India, the film has become the second highest grosser for any south Indian film in north India after 'Baahubali: The Beginning'. Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh said: "It's heartening to see that the Rajinikanth mania was not just limited to the south markets but prevalent across the country and that's visible through the numbers it has garnered in the north. We are proud to have distributed the film in north India, and I am sure that the film will have a long run." We Indians are used to see filmmakers running into rough waters with the Censor board for the way they certify films. But now it comes to light that this is not the phenomenon existing in India alone. A Malaysian Tamil filmmaker has frowned about the Malaysian Censor board for demanding an alteration in the climax to certify 'Kabali' for its release n the country As we had reported earlier the climax of Superstar Rajinikanth's 'Kabali' has been altered in the version that has been released in Malaysia. While in all other places the film ends after a black out of screen and a gun shot, the climax of the film in Malaysia ends with a caption that says "Kabali has surrendered to the Malaysian police". A Malaysian censor board member has said that the climax has been altered to convey the message that a crime will always get punished. However Malaysian born Tamil filmmaker Sanjhey Kumar Perumal has raked up a controversy by criticising the Censor board's demand to change the climax of 'Kabali'. He has opined that the board is not ready to face the reality of the current society and they are crippling the creative freedom of filmmakers to project the reality in films. He has also said that this attitude of the board thwarts the development of Malaysian film industry. Sanjhey has directed a Tamil language Malaysian film 'Jagat' which released in February this year. His film was released with an Adults only certificate by the Censor board. Whereas 'Kabali' has released with a certification which makes it suitable for children aged above 13 years with Parental guidance. Sanjhey has also raised questions about this disparity stating that both 'Jagat' and 'Kabali' deal with Malaysian people in an emotional manner and both the films deserve same rating. Nihar Info Global applies for trademark registration for 'ONVO' Nihar Info Global Limited informed to the exchanges that it has successfully applied for Trademark registration of its private label "ONVO" under the 'Trademark Classes 18 and 21. ... October 28, 2022 | 2:37 pm Rupee rises 4 paisa to 82.29/$ Early on Friday, the rupee strengthened against the US dollar by 4 paise to 82.29, helped by a weak US dollar in the international market and strong local equities. The influx of new fore... October 28, 2022 | 2:30 pm PNB Housing Finance's net profit increases by 12% PNB Housing Finance announced on Thursday that its September 20222023 quarter net profit increased by 11.7% to Rs 262.63 crore, thanks to a little increase in core income. In the same period... October 28, 2022 | 2:25 pm Dhanuka Agritech soars ~8% as board to consider buyback Dhanuka Agritechs stock surged as much as 8% in Fridays intraday session and touched a high of Rs742. The company stated in its filing with the exchanges that at its ensuing ge... October 28, 2022 | 2:18 pm Markets trade flat amid volatility; Nifty below 17,800 dragged by metals Domestic benchmark indices in a volatile session and trading flat after a gap-up opening on Friday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are in the green during the afternoon market session ami... October 28, 2022 | 2:00 pm youtube Finally! Looks like the prayers of thousands of people on Twitter have been answered! According to a report on India Today, an FIR has been filed against Kamaal R Khan for posting obscene messages and photos, and his lewd tweets to actresses and models. It is Mumbai-based lawyer Rizwan Siddique who has done this great deed. Siddique has requested to deactivate KRK's Twitter handle. If the name rings a bell, well, he's the same lawyer who is also representing Kangana Ranaut in her infamous legal battle with Hrithik Roshan. Rizwan was quoted saying, "On June 29, I was working in my office when I saw a tweet by actor Kamal Khan. There was an obscene photo and with it abhoring comments made by film maker and television actor KRK from his Twitter handle @kamalrkhan." youthconnect According to Siddique, Kamal Khan had tweeted against the following Bollywood stars: Parineeti Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra, Asin, Ameesha Patel, Lisa Hayden, Mallika Sherawat, Vani Kapoor, Nargis Fakri and Sunny Leone. In fact, it was Rizwan himself who decided to take this action, without any actress asking him to do so. Police have finally registered a complaint against the actor under sections 354, 354 A, 354 C, 354 D and 509 of the Indian Penal Code and are likely to summon him for questioning. Just in case you have forgotten, Kamaal R Khan is infamous for posting these type of lewd tweets to actresses. Honest @bipsluvurself is telling honestly that she has done with many people. https://t.co/77Zl5IAdBJ KRK (@kamaalrkhan) May 25, 2016 Yar @HaydonLisa should I sit down n watch you? pic.twitter.com/CRjdlSywSK KRK (@kamaalrkhan) February 1, 2015 Gurugram Police commissioner Navdeep Virk is likely to face the heat of the huge traffic flux in the city which was triggered by heavy monsoon downpours. According to some reports Virk has been transferred to Rohtak. The action came a day after the millennium city was literally brought to a standstill on Friday due to waterlogging and traffic blockade. Meanwhile normalcy started to return in parts of Gurgaon as the city experienced lesser rains on Saturday. Areas like MG Road, Subhash Chowk, Sohna Road, Palam Vihar, old Delhi-Gurgaon Road were decongested by the afternoon. Click to read more 1. A Ray Of Hope Emerges As Family Of Missing IAF AN-32 Crew Member Say His Phone Is Active Even as the hope of finding survivors from the Indian Air Force AN 32 which mysteriously disappeared last week dwindles, the families of those waiting for the return of their loved ones have got a ray of optimism. This, after the family of one of the airmen noticed that the mobile phone of their son was still active. Raghuvir Verma's family said they dialed his number which was still active, even though no one picked the call. Click to read more 2. 'My Parents Had Just Rs 5 To Buy Food', Says Daughter Of Dalit Couple Hacked To Death Over Rs 15 Debt UP Police have arrested Ashok Mishra, the owner of a grocery shop in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district, for the brutal murder of a Dalit couple over a meager debt of Rs 15. The couple, Bharat Singh and Mamta, were hacked to death by Mishra on Thursday after they failed his demand to repay Rs 15 they owed him from a few days ago. Mishra reportedly confronted them on Thursday after he saw them buying a packet of biscuit and demanded his money, which the couple said they didn't have and pleaded for more time. Click to read more 3. Tiger Spotted At An Altitude Of 12,000 Feet In Uttarakhand For The First Time Ever Forest officials in Uttarakhand's Askot have, for the first time, got evidence of tiger presence in the area. A tigress was caught on a camera trap at an altitude of 12,000 feet, in Pithoragarh district. Bilal Habib, a scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India, who captured the images as part of an ongoing project on biodiversity conservation, said this was the highest location in India where a tiger's presence had been confirmed. Click to read more 4. Infiltration Bid Foiled At LoC, Two Terrorists Killed And Two Army Personnel Martyred The Army on Saturday foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district, killing two militants in the operation that also left two soldiers dead. Troops noticed suspicious movement along the LoC in Naugam sector during the intervening night and challenged the intruders, who opened fire, an army official said. The soldiers returned fire leading to the gunbattle in which two militants were killed, the official said. Click to read more 5. Bengaluru's Roads Were So Flooded From An Overflowing Lake That Locals Began Fishing People of Bengaluru had a tough time after the city was flooded on Friday due to heavy rains. While it was pretty bad, some decided to make the most out of the situation. With the Madiwala lake overflowing the roads were full of fish - all good natural freshwater fish. So people went on a fishing expedition, armed with mosquito nets and buckets or anything they thought could collect some fish. Click to read more In a shocking revelation confirmed by the Defence Minister of the country, some parachutes designed by a DRDO laboratory were found to be defected for use. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar informed the parliament about the issue. The parachutes designed by the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), known to be one of the well-established premier laboratories of DRDO, were meant to be used by our paratroopers. wikipedia How can they be playing with the lives of our bravest men like this? The Defence Minister, confirming the appalling state of affairs, said that out of 42 parachutes tested, 14 were in working condition while 28 were found with a tear on the cloth. Even though the test jumps were safe, this is literally playing with the lives of our bravest men. We can't be risking human lives, just to save a few bucks. wikipedia Why was the company ever given the clearance? Minister Parrikar, in a written response, mentioned that the conditional bulk production clearance was given by the army itself. The cloth material was also approved and had no known defects reported back then. The minister also said that ADRDE is the only laboratory in DRDO for design and development for parachutes and a whopping Rs 228.25 lakhs have already been spent developing Combat Free Fall (CFF) parachutes. Along with that, the company also designs and manufactures set ejection parachutes for fighter jets and recovery parachutes for heavy drop system. The minister confirmed that it is only the paratrooper parachutes that reported the issue. skotcher.com The amount of money being spent for the betterment of one of the biggest armies in the world is no joke and to know that in return we are only getting substandard products, is a cause for concern. These are army lives we are talking about. Family seeks damages from national carrier after Karan Singh Kothari (11) was left to fend for himself at Azerbaijan airport. He spent the night on a sandwich and a glass of water. mumbaimirror/representative image Air India's callous attitude came to the fore when crew of a London-Mumbai flight left an unaccompanied minor to fend for himself at Azerbaijan airport where the aircraft was diverted after it developed a technical snag. The 11-year-old's family in Thane has lodged a complaint with the civil aviation ministry seeking damages against the government-run carrier. Karan Singh Kothari, who studies in a London school, was returning to his family in Thane for vacations on July 10 when the Dreamliner he was flying in developed a technical snag and had to be diverted mid-flight. After the flight made an emergency landing at Azerbaijan's capital Baku on the evening of July 10, Karan was made to remain inside the aircraft for two hours with the air-conditioning turned off. After he was allowed to disembark, he was ushered in to the terminal of Heydar Aliyev International Airport where the crew left him unattended. He was stranded at the airport for the next 12 hours. BCCL/representative image The child spent the night on a sandwich and a glass of water, prompting the family to seek damages for the trauma unleashed on the 11-year-old. Karan's mother Sonali told Mirror that once the aircraft was diverted to Baku and passengers were asked to disembark, the crew completely forgot their responsibility towards the child. "The crew handed over his passport and documents to the local staff in the tarmac bus who took my son to the airport, verified his documents and handed him a boarding pass and travel documents including passport and Karan's re-entry student permit issued by UK immigration," she said. Karan was in the washroom when the boarding for AI's replacement flight was announced. Luckily for him, he heard the announcement and rushed to the gate. He informed the authorities that he was an unaccompanied minor and showed the documents. BCCL/representative image As per general practice, all documents of an unaccompanied minor are in the custody of the airline crew and handed over to the person receiving the minor at the destination airport. Sonali also objected to the manner in which Karan was left in an area where passengers of other flights too were present. "There was no enclosure and the passengers were free to move. Karan was alone with no one from Air India to mind him. Being a child it was possible that he could have misplaced the documents or even got into a wrong aircraft," she said in a complaint to the Air India management. The Kothari family is also upset that despite travelling around 12 times in a year on the London-Mumbai sector by Air India, something like this should have happened. BCCL/representative image "The treatment meted out to him was atrocious. No other foreign airline would have treated him the way AI treated him," Karan's grandfather BS Murdia said. What has angered the family even more is the stoic silence maintained by the airline to their numerous mails. "We have given them two weeks to respond with compensation, failing which I will be forced to escalate the matter and approach the consumer court," Sonali, who has since taken Karan on an outing to Lonavala, said. Calls and messages to Air India's Chairman cum Managing Director Ashwani Lohani went unanswered. Airline Rules Children ranging in age from five to 12 and travelling alone are classified as Unaccompanied Minors for which the airline provides a dedicated service For such travellers, the airline ground staff places the child under the guardianship of the cabin crew in-charge on board the flight Upon arrival, the cabin crew in-charge hands over the child to the ground staff who then accompanies and assists her/him with baggage claim The ground staff then reunites the child with the designated guardian at the arrival area Ayurvedic practitioner Dr Santosh Raut, who was booked twice in kidney rackets in Mumbai, first in 1995 and then again in 2008, was picked up again by the Gujarat police from Delhi in connection with illegal harvesting of organs. Dr Raut, who moved base to Gurgaon a little over two years ago, was picked up after the Gujarat police found seven men in a village in Anand district who had undergone surgeries in Delhi to remove their kidneys in exchange for cash. BCCL Dr Raut has allegedly been involved in over a thousand illegal kidney transplants and is the linchpin of an international ring spread across India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. Also Read: Delhi Police Busts International Kidney Racket, Two Held Dr Raut was arrested from an apartment in Gurgaon, where he had been residing after assuming a new name Dr Amit Raut. Till late on Thursday, Gujarat police maintained that the person arrested by them was Dr Amit Raut and that they had no knowledge of any person named Dr Santosh Raut. BCCL Gujarat police registered a case in March after they came across newspaper advertisements inviting those in need of a kidney transplant to Pandoli village in Petlad taluka of Anand district. Investigation revealed seven poor labourers from the village had been taken to Delhi and their kidneys removed for as little as Rs 50,000. Trap laid Before Dr Raut was picked up, Anand police had already made three arrests in the village - Rafique Jadya alias Ahmedbhai Vora, who sold his kidney and then joined the gang to trap more gullible villagers; and two agents Mukul Chaudhary and Sher Ali Khan Pathan. "The victims said they were taken to Delhi, Chennai and Sri Lanka and promised fast compensations and jobs," said Inspector Haresh Vora of the Anand Crime Branch. smh During interrogation of Jadya, Chaudhary and Pathan, Dr Raut's name cropped up. Dr Raut, probe revealed, had an agent based out of Mumbai who would identify those in dire need of a kidney. The Gujarat police identified this agent as Javed Khan. "We had been hunting for Raut since long. When we found that he would visit his Gurgaon flat on July 26, a trap was laid and he was picked up," said Superintendent of Police Saurabh Singh. Cases in Mumbai, Delhi The first case against Dr Santosh Raut was registered in February 1995 for carrying out illegal transplants at Kaushalya Nursing Home on Linking Road, Khar west. Rakesh Maria, who was then a deputy commissioner at Crime Branch, said: "It was one of the first-of-its-kind case. thestar Till then no one knew such a racket existed in the city. Based on that case, the state government enacted a legislation for kidney transplants." Singh said it is sad that Dr Raut was allowed to carry out the illegal activity at some other place."It's shocking and sad. Our law has not been able to check him. Every time he gets bail, shifts to another location and carries on. He's not a nephrologist. I have interrogated him personally." In February 2008, CBI arrested Raut in connection with a case registered a month earlier. Wanted in Nepal The racket came to light when a joint team of the UP and Haryana police raided his clinic in Gurgaon. But Raut managed to give them the slip and flee to Nepal. Later, he was arrested from a hotel in Kathmandu with the help of Nepalese authorities. CBI officials had information that Raut and his associates tricked poor people to sell their kidneys and then sold the organs to patients in Europe and US, Greece, Lebanon, Canada, Saudi Arabia and UAE. BCCL The clinic that was raided in Gurgaon acted as a makeshift operation theatre for the illegal transplants carried out by Raut. Nepal police too were on the lookout for Raut as many Nepalese nationals had been duped of their kidneys in the alleged racket run by him and his brother Jeevan. Raut was booked under several IPC sections, including those for cheating, criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.He was also booked under the Human Organ Transplant Act, 1994. Hundreds of Indians rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah were given free food items by the Indian embassy on Saturday, thanks to the efforts of Sushma Swaraj. BCCL Earlier, the External Affairs Minister in a series of tweets, had assured all the unemployed workers in Saudi Arabia that nobody would go to bed starving. Swaraj had also said that free ration would be provided to them by the Indian embassy in Riyadh. Large number of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The employers have not paid wages closed down their factories. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 As a result our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are facing extreme hardship. /2 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 While situation in Kuwait is manageable, matters are much worse in Saudi Arabia./3 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 We have asked @IndianEmbRiyadh to provide free ration to the unemployed Indian workers in Saudi Arabia. /4 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 My colleagues @Gen_VKSingh will go to Saudi Arabia to sort out these matters and @MJakbar will take up with Kuwait and Saudi authorities./5 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food. I am monitoring this on hourly basis. Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 BCCL/representative image Her response came following a tweet by a man who said around 800 Indians were starving for the last three days in Jeddah and sought her intervention. "I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food. I am monitoring this on hourly basis," she said in a tweet. BCCL/representative image Hundreds of Indians have been stranded in the country, grappling with unemployment. These factory workers have not been paid wages since the last six months and eventually the factories have been shut down. With no money to make their ends meet, the workers are forced to beg for survival. In her tweet, the minister also said that BJP leader VK Singh would visit the country soon to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, MJ Akbar would visit Kuwait, where a similar situation exists. Pranjal Dubey, a 40-year-old techie, dreamed of providing better job opportunities and improving the life of rural youth of Sandalpur village (Dewas district). To fulfill his dream, he gave up everything he had, including his job at SAP SE (German multinational software corporation) and sold his house for teaching the youth of his ancestral village. Now more than 100 students of his college are currently placed at IT giants like SAP, Cognizant and many others. indialivetoday "Leaving my job was not an easy decision and selling your only house in city was a difficult decision to take. But I feel all of us has to take some decisions which are at times difficult for us." TOI Bootstrapping Sant Singaji Institute of Science and Management (SSISM) in Sandalpur for the education of rural youth changed the life of this technocrat. "It took almost two years for me and my family to understand what I was doing and what I wanted after leaving a life in Bengaluru that most guys dream of," he added. After starting their first batch in 2010, Pranjal took the whole team of 50 students to Bengaluru and many other cities across the country so that the students would dream of something big in their life. "It wasn't an easy thing for me to connect with the rural youth. My background, upbringing was completely different from what these kids had seen. To ignite their dreams I took them to multinationals like Infosys, Biocon, SAP and many other firms where they could see what all happens and see the bigger picture." thebetterindia He further added even today, girl education is one of the biggest challenges that he is facing. "To convince parents of girls in villages and assure the security of their daughters is still a constant struggle for me," he said. Six years after his struggle, many students of this institute are placed at multinationals and are earning well. "Today when I see these kids and their achievements, it makes me realize that I have done something for them. Each member of a family who is doing well is a role model for his family and that brings the difference," he said. Covering almost 200 villages across various districts and with strength of 1,000 students in the institute, this young techie feels that degree selling institutes are one of the biggest challenges for them. BCCL "Villagers get attracted when they hear about degrees. But they forget that in current scenario being a degree holder is no big deal. Even today majority of youths in this area still lack in communication, presentation and many other aspects." He further said that all this can be improved only if we provide good exposure and practical opportunities to students. With support of his mother Kalpana Dubey, 61 and wife Amita Dubey, 37 this young techie has been able to achieve his dreams. "This wasn't an easy journey for both of us and even for the family. The first and foremost decision was that we had to change our lifestyle from leading a comfortable life in Bengaluru to a life which was not really so easy," said Amita. She further said that it was only because of his happiness that family supported him. "I just told him that if you are happy then I am with you and come what may we will be together," she added. UP Police have arrested Ashok Mishra, the owner of a grocery shop in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district, for the brutal murder of a Dalit couple over a meager debt of Rs 15. PTI The couple, Bharat Singh and Mamta, were hacked to death by Mishra on Thursday after they failed his demand to repay Rs 15 they owed him from a few days ago. Mishra reportedly confronted them on Thursday after he saw them buying a packet of biscuit and demanded his money, which the couple said they didn't have and pleaded for more time. Twitter He then started abusing them. When they objected to his language, he ran back to his house and came out with an axe. Then he hacked the couple to death on the spot. The villagers have told us that the couple had bought something worth Rs. 15 from the shopkeeper and that led to the killings. We will take the strictest possible action against him, said Pramod Chandra Gupta, District Magistrate, Mainpuri. Milan, the eldest of the couple's four children, also confirmed that her parents were killed for the meager amount. She said the couple were on their way to search for work and had Rs 5 in their pockets to feed themselves when they were killed. "They just asked him for more time. And they were killed even before they could eat the biscuits," Milan said. With their parents' death, three boys, Rahul, 15, Ranjit, 13 and Lallu, 8 have been left with no one to care for them. TOI Milan who is married said "They have no one and I'm not sure if my husband's family will let them stay with me. We too have a hand-to-mouth existence." The UP government has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the family. The Maharashtra government which enforced a blanket ban on cow slaughter in the state last year had recently reached out to the general public to make sure the move was effective. As part of the initiative the Maharashtra Department of Animal Husbandry invited the public to be the eyes to monitor the beef ban. BCCL/ Representative Image And they received over 1,900 responses to be appointed as special animal welfare officers to help police and the animal husbandry department in implementing the amended Maharashtra Protection of Animals Act ,1995, The Indian Express reported. Even though it is mentioned as a honorary post, the selected volunteers will be responsible for making the police accountable to act on a complaint. The applicants, all of them who have to be nominated by an animal welfare organisation, or a registered body, have been asked to file an affidavit stating that they are pursuing animal welfare as a social cause and are disassociating themselves from religious or political affiliations. BCCL/ Representative Image The move has however raised concerns over cow vigilantes getting a free hand to take law into their own hands. There is so much activism in this field now and many-a-time untoward incidents also take place. This needs a serious consideration which will be done in the next meeting in August. We will make the final decision only in this meeting, the committee member added. Also read: The Making Of A Cow Vigilante The move also comes at a time when a large number of atrocities by cow vigilantes towards minority communities have been reported from across the country. Silencing America As It Prepares For War By John Pilger July 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Returning to the United States in an election year, I am struck by the silence. I have covered four presidential campaigns, starting with 1968; I was with Robert Kennedy when he was shot and I saw his assassin, preparing to kill him. It was a baptism in the American way, along with the salivating violence of the Chicago police at the Democratic Partys rigged convention. The great counter revolution had begun. The first to be assassinated that year, Martin Luther King, had dared link the suffering of African-Americans and the people of Vietnam. When Janis Joplin sang, Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose, she spoke perhaps unconsciously for millions of Americas victims in faraway places. We lost 58,000 young soldiers in Vietnam, and they died defending your freedom. Now dont you forget it. So said a National Parks Service guide as I filmed last week at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. He was addressing a school party of young teenagers in bright orange T-shirts. As if by rote, he inverted the truth about Vietnam into an unchallenged lie. The millions of Vietnamese who died and were maimed and poisoned and dispossessed by the American invasion have no historical place in young minds, not to mention the estimated 60,000 veterans who took their own lives. A friend of mine, a marine who became a paraplegic in Vietnam, was often asked, Which side did you fight on? A few years ago, I attended a popular exhibition called The Price of Freedom at the venerable Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The lines of ordinary people, mostly children shuffling through a Santas grotto of revisionism, were dispensed a variety of lies: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved a million lives; Iraq was liberated [by] air strikes of unprecedented precision. The theme was unerringly heroic: only Americans pay the price of freedom. The 2016 election campaign is remarkable not only for the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders but also for the resilience of an enduring silence about a murderous self-bestowed divinity. A third of the members of the United Nations have felt Washingtons boot, overturning governments, subverting democracy, imposing blockades and boycotts. Most of the presidents responsible have been liberal Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama. The breathtaking record of perfidy is so mutated in the public mind, wrote the late Harold Pinter, that it never happened Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasnt happening. It didnt matter. It was of no interest. It didnt matter . Pinter expressed a mock admiration for what he called a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. Its a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis. Take Obama. As he prepares to leave office, the fawning has begun all over again. He is cool. One of the more violent presidents, Obama gave full reign to the Pentagon war-making apparatus of his discredited predecessor. He prosecuted more whistleblowers truth-tellers than any president. He pronounced Chelsea Manning guilty before she was tried. Today, Obama runs an unprecedented worldwide campaign of terrorism and murder by drone. In 2009, Obama promised to help rid the world of nuclear weapons and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. No American president has built more nuclear warheads than Obama. He is modernising Americas doomsday arsenal, including a new mini nuclear weapon, whose size and smart technology, says a leading general, ensure its use is no longer unthinkable. James Bradley, the best-selling author of Flags of Our Fathers and son of one of the US marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, said, [One] great myth were seeing play out is that of Obama as some kind of peaceful guy whos trying to get rid of nuclear weapons. Hes the biggest nuclear warrior there is. Hes committed us to a ruinous course of spending a trillion dollars on more nuclear weapons. Somehow, people live in this fantasy that because he gives vague news conferences and speeches and feel-good photo-ops that somehow thats attached to actual policy. It isnt. On Obamas watch, a second cold war is under way. The Russian president is a pantomime villain; the Chinese are not yet back to their sinister pig-tailed caricature when all Chinese were banned from the United States but the media warriors are working on it. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders has mentioned any of this. There is no risk and no danger for the United States and all of us. For them, the greatest military build-up on the borders of Russia since World War Two has not happened. On May 11, Romania went live with a Nato missile defence base that aims its first-strike American missiles at the heart of Russia, the worlds second nuclear power. In Asia, the Pentagon is sending ships, planes and special forces to the Philippines to threaten China. The US already encircles China with hundreds of military bases that curve in an arc up from Australia, to Asia and across to Afghanistan. Obama calls this a pivot. As a direct consequence, China reportedly has changed its nuclear weapons policy from no-first-use to high alert and put to sea submarines with nuclear weapons. The escalator is quickening. It was Hillary Clinton who, as Secretary of State in 2010, elevated the competing territorial claims for rocks and reef in the South China Sea to an international issue; CNN and BBC hysteria followed; China was building airstrips on the disputed islands. In its mammoth war game in 2015, Operation Talisman Sabre, the US practiced choking the Straits of Malacca through which pass most of Chinas oil and trade. This was not news. Clinton declared that America had a national interest in these Asian waters. The Philippines and Vietnam were encouraged and bribed to pursue their claims and old enmities against China. In America, people are being primed to see any Chinese defensive position as offensive, and so the ground is laid for rapid escalation. A similar strategy of provocation and propaganda is applied to Russia. Clinton, the womens candidate, leaves a trail of bloody coups: in Honduras, in Libya (plus the murder of the Libyan president) and Ukraine. The latter is now a CIA theme park swarming with Nazis and the frontline of a beckoning war with Russia. It was through Ukraine literally, borderland that Hitlers Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people. This epic catastrophe remains a presence in Russia. Clintons presidential campaign has received money from all but one of the worlds ten biggest arms companies. No other candidate comes close. Sanders, the hope of many young Americans, is not very different from Clinton in his proprietorial view of the world beyond the United States. He backed Bill Clintons illegal bombing of Serbia. He supports Obamas terrorism by drone, the provocation of Russia and the return of special forces (death squads) to Iraq. He has nothing to say on the drumbeat of threats to China and the accelerating risk of nuclear war. He agrees that Edward Snowden should stand trial and he calls Hugo Chavez like him, a social democrat a dead communist dictator. He promises to support Clinton if she is nominated. The election of Trump or Clinton is the old illusion of choice that is no choice: two sides of the same coin. In scapegoating minorities and promising to make America great again, Trump is a far right-wing domestic populist; yet the danger of Clinton may be more lethal for the world. Only Donald Trump has said anything meaningful and critical of US foreign policy, wrote Stephen Cohen, emeritus professor of Russian History at Princeton and NYU, one of the few Russia experts in the United States to speak out about the risk of war. In a radio broadcast, Cohen referred to critical questions Trump alone had raised. Among them: why is the United States everywhere on the globe? What is NATOs true mission? Why does the US always pursue regime change in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine? Why does Washington treat Russia and Vladimir Putin as an enemy? The hysteria in the liberal media over Trump serves an illusion of free and open debate and democracy at work. His views on immigrants and Muslims are grotesque, yet the deporter-in-chief of vulnerable people from America is not Trump but Obama, whose betrayal of people of colour is his legacy: such as the warehousing of a mostly black prison population, now more numerous than Stalins gulag. This presidential campaign may not be about populism but American liberalism, an ideology that sees itself as modern and therefore superior and the one true way. Those on its right wing bear a likeness to 19th century Christian imperialists, with a God-given duty to convert or co-opt or conquer. In Britain, this is Blairism. The Christian war criminal Tony Blair got away with his secret preparation for the invasion of Iraq largely because the liberal political class and media fell for his cool Britannia. In the Guardian, the applause was deafening; he was called mystical. A distraction known as identity politics, imported from the United States, rested easily in his care. History was declared over, class was abolished and gender promoted as feminism; lots of women became New Labour MPs. They voted on the first day of Parliament to cut the benefits of single parents, mostly women, as instructed. A majority voted for an invasion that produced 700,000 Iraqi widows. The equivalent in the US are the politically correct warmongers on the New York Times, the Washington Post and network TV who dominate political debate. I watched a furious debate on CNN about Trumps infidelities. It was clear, they said, a man like that could not be trusted in the White House. No issues were raised. Nothing on the 80 per cent of Americans whose income has collapsed to 1970s levels. Nothing on the drift to war. The received wisdom seems to be hold your nose and vote for Clinton: anyone but Trump. That way, you stop the monster and preserve a system gagging for another war. Follow John Pilger on twitter @johnpilger - http://johnpilger.com/ My Fellow Americans: We Are Fools By Margot Kidder July 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Counterpunch " - There is something I am going to try and explain here after watching the Democratic National Convention this evening that will invite the scorn of many of my friends. But the words are gagging my throat and my stomach is twisted and sick and I have to vomit this out. The anti-americanism in me is about to explode and land god knows where as my rage is well beyond reason. And I, by heritage, half American in a way that makes me more American than almost anyone else in this country except for the true Americans, the American Indians, am in utter denial tonight that I am, as you are, American as well. I am half Canadian, I was brought up there, with very different values than you Americans hold, and tonight after the endless spit ups and boasts and rants about the greatness of American militarism, and praise for American military strength, and boasts about wiping out ISIS, and America being the strongest country on earth, and an utterly inane story from a woman whose son died in Obamas war, about how she got to cry in gratitude on Obamas shoulder tonight I feel deeply Canadian. Every subtle lesson I was ever subliminally given about the bullies across the border and their rudeness and their lack of education and their self-given right to bomb whoever they wanted in the world for no reason other than that they wanted something the people in the other country had, and their greed, came oozing to the surface of my psyche. I just got back from a rather fierce walk beside the Yellowstone River here in Montana, trying to let the mountains in the distance reconnect me to some place of goodness in my soul, but I couldnt find it. The scenery was as exquisite as ever, but it just couldnt touch the rage in my heart. The visions of all the dead children in Syria that Hillary Clinton helped to kill; the children bombed to bits in Afghanistan and Pakistan from Obamas drones, the grisly chaos of of Libya, the utter wasteland of Iraq, the death and destruction everywhere caused by American military intervention. The Ukraine, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, you name it your country has bombed it or destroyed its civilian life in some basic way. When I heard all the Americans cheering for the military and the pronouncements of might coming from the speakers in the Wells Fargo Centre, I loathed you. I loathed every single one of you. I knew in my gut that what I was taught as a child was true, which is that YOU are the enemy. YOU are the country to be feared. YOU are the country to be disgusted by. YOU are ignorant. And your greed and self-satisfaction and unearned pride knows no bounds. I am not an American tonight. I reject my Puritan ancestors who landed in this country in 1648. I reject the words I voiced at my citizenship ceremony. I reject every moment of thrilling discovery I ever had in this country. You people have no idea what it is like for people from other countries to hear you boast and cheer for your guns and your bombs and your soldiers and your murderous military leaders and your war criminals and your murdering and conscienceless Commander in Chief. All those soaring words are received by the rest of us, by us non-Americans, by all the cells in our body, as absolutely repugnant and obscene. And there you all are tonight, glued to your TVs and your computers, your hearts swelled with pride because you belong to the strongest country on Earth, cheering on your Murderer President. Ignorant of the entire worlds repulsion. You kill and you kill and you kill, and still you remain proud. Obama Said Hillary Will Continue His Legacy And Indeed She Will! By Michael Hudson July 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Leading up to Mondays Democratic Party convention, Hillary chose Blue Dog Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her VP. This was followed by the Wikileaks release of Democratic National Committee (DNC) e-mail files showing it acting as the Clinton Campaign Committee even to the point of using the same lawyers as her own campaign to oppose Bernie Sanders. The response across the Democratic neocon spectrum, from Anne Applebaum at the Washington Post to red-baiting Paul Krugman and the Sunday talk shows it was suggested that behind the Wikileaks to release DNC e-mails was a Russian plot to help elect Trump as their agent. Former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul lent his tattered reputation to claim that Putin must have sponsored the hackers who exposed the DNC dirty tricks against Bernie. The attack on Trump was of course aimed at Sanders. At first it didnt take off. Enough delegates threatened to boo DNC head (and payday-loan lobbyist) Debbie Wasserman Schultz off stage if she showed her face at the podium to gavel the convention to order. The down-note would have threatened the United Together theme, so she was forced to resign. But Hillary rewarded her loyalty by naming her honorary chairman of her own presidential campaign! If youre loyal, you get a pay-off. The DNC was doing what it was supposed to do. No reform seems likely. The Democratic machine orchestrated a media campaign to distract attention by attributing the leaks were to a Russian plot to undermine American democracy (as if the e-mails did not show how undemocratic the DNC had operated in stacking the primaries). A vote against Hillary would be a vote for Trump and a vote for Trump would really be for Putin. And as Hillary had explained earlier, Putin = Hitler. The media let it be known that attacking Wasserman Schultz and by extension, Hillarys neocon policies makes one a Russian dupe. This theme colored the entire convention week. Endorsing Hillarys presidential bid on Monday evening, Sanders joined in the chorus that this November will pit Good against Evil or as Ray McGovern put it on RTs Cross Talk, at least proxies for Netanyahu vs. Putin. Wall Street Senator Chuck Schumer went on TV to heave a sigh of relief that the party was indeed united together. Many Sanders supporters felt no obligation to follow his obeisance. Many walked out after he closed Tuesdays state-by-state roll call by throwing his support behind Clinton. Others chanted Lock Her Up. VP Kaine as Hillarys stand-in if shes indicted or seems unelectable The potential Hillary Republicans who are turning away from Trump whose ranks include Mike Bloomberg, the neocon Kagan family (Robert and Victoria Nuland) and William Kristol far outnumber the Sanders supporters who may stay home or vote for Jill Stein on the Green Party ticket. Hillary sees more votes (and certainly more campaign contributions and future speaking fees) from the Koch Brothers, George Soros, Wall Street, Saudi Arabia and the corporatist Chamber of Commerce. Kaine recently has fought to free small and medium-sized banks from being subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. He has long supported the TPP, deregulation of Wall Street, and most everything that Sanders opposes. Appointed as DNC head by President Obama in 2008, he dismantled Howard Deans 50-state strategy, not bothering to fight Republicans in the South and other solid Republican states. His move let them elect governors who gerrymandered their voting districts after the 2010 census. The DNC designated these neglected states to come first in the presidential primaries. They were the ones that Hillary won. Sanders won most of the swing states and those likely to vote Democratic. That made him the partys strongest nominee obliging the DNC to maneuver to sideline him. His criticism of big donors and Citizens United threatens to dry up the source of funding not only for Hillary but also for the DNC. They are going after the money whose chief providers are Wall Street, neoliberal corporatists and New Cold War neocons. Bernies campaign targeted Wall Street and corporate deregulation (the essence of TTP and TTIP) as the key to the One Percents monopolization of income and wealth since Obamas post-2008 sacrifice of the economy on the altar of rescuing banks and their bondholders. That is why the Wall Streets Donor Class that controls the Democratic Party machine want to discourage new voter enrollment and turnout. The last thing they want is an influx of new voters advocating real reform. Millennial newcomers are more progressive, born into a generation that has no opportunity to obtain jobs and housing as easily as their parents. So its best to keep out independents in favor of the old-time voters with brand loyalty to Democrats. Demonizing Trump for saying what Bernie Sanders has been saying Trump made his quip about Russia in what actually was an eloquent and funny press conference.[1] The media took this out of context to depict him as urging the Russians to hack into our e-mails. What he actually said was that if Russia or China, or somebody sitting in his bed did indeed read Hillarys State Department and Clinton Foundation dealings, they should do the world a favor and release them to reveal her self-dealing. Trump is right in saying that there has not really been a recovery for the Rust Belt or for the 99 Percent. Hillary brazens it out by claiming that Obamas neoliberal economics have helped wage-earners, despite the debt deflation blocking recovery. She promises to continue his policies (backed by his same campaign funders). That would seem to be a losing strategy for this years election unless the Democrats gain control of the electronic voting machines, especially in Ohio. But the Republicans may decide to throw the election to Hillary, who is fortunate to have Donald Trump as her opponent. Demonized as Putins Siberian candidate, he has become the Democrats unifying force: Hillary isnt Trump. Thats what voting for the lesser evil means. Hillarys message is: Even though we support TPP and a New Cold War, at least youll have a woman at the helm. Anyway, you have nowhere else to go, because the other side is even more evil! Her logic is that (1) if you criticize Hillary, youre supporting Trump; (2) Trump is the Siberian candidate; hence (3) Criticism of Hillary, NATOs New Cold War escalation or the TPPs anti-labor treaty and financial deregulation is pro-Russian and hence anti-American. All that strategists for the One Percent need to do is fund an even worse party platform to the right of the Democrats. So the choice will be between Evil A (economic evil with ethnic and sexual tolerance) and Evil B (without such tolerance). It doesnt have to be this way. But Sanders gave up, not feeling up to the task. Having mocked him as a socialist, Hillary is acting as the Joe McCarthy of the 2010s, mobilizing a wave of commie bashing against her Republican opponent. On Monday leading up to the convention, the Democratic Partys cable channel MSNBC kept juxtaposing pictures of Trump and Putin. Criticizing Hillarys neocon stance supporting Ukraines military coup is depicted as support of Russia while other commentators followed President Obama claiming that criticism of TPP means making China the new leader of Asia. The message is that criticizing NATOs adventurism risks being called a Soviet I mean, Russian puppet. Bernies dilemma and that of other would-be reformers of the Democratic Party Back in the 1950s and 60s I heard labor leaders ask whether there really was nowhere to go except the Democratic Party. Most who joined got co-opted. Instead of moving the Democratic Party to the left, its leadership machine corrupted labor, and in due course the anti-war movement and socialists who joined hoping to move it to the left. What then is Bernies plan to save his followers from being forced to make one compromise after another? The party machine demonizes policies with which Hillarys neocons disagree, and demand support of NATO escalation and Obamas (and Hillarys and Kaines) underlying support of the TPP on the pretense that this will help rather than hurt labor. Hillary has denounced Bernies socialized medicine on the ground that it is utopian (as if Canada and the eurozone are anti-capitalist utopias). While Trump sent out tweets and gave interviews about how Hillary and Debbie have screwed Bernies supporters, Sanders made no parallel attempt to ask why progressive Democrats didnt applaud Trumps assertions that he would wind down confrontation with Russia, that NATO is obsolete and needs restructuring, and his opposition to the TPP. Bernie didnt seize the opportunity to mobilize non-partisan support for their critique of neoliberal economic policies. He cast his lot with Hillary, contradicting his claim during the primaries that she was not qualified to be president. After Sanders ended Monday evenings opening by endorsing Hillary Clinton, the MSNBC camera crew went down to talk to his supporters. They eagerly asked the first one who she would vote for, after hearing Bernies endorsement. For Jill Stein, the lady said, explaining that there was no way she would vote for Hillary. The next interview produced a similar result. I just dont trust her, the Bernie supporter said. A third said the same thing. The MSNBC booth tried to save face by assuring viewers that everyone they talked to had said they were going to vote for Hillary. But it sounded hollow. I suspect that viewers didnt trust the TV media any more than they trusted Hillary. The problem facing Hillarys rivals is that she has wrapped herself in the legacy of President Obama. Having shied from criticizing the president, Sanders and his supporters are facilitating what may be a Lame Duck session sellout after the November election. My fear is that Obama will try to save his legacy by joining with the Republicans to drive through the TPP, and also may escalate the New Cold War with Russia and China so as to make it easier for Hillary to sign onto these moves. Selecting Tim Kaine as her running mate means neoliberal, pro-TPP business as usual. Hillary didnt oppose TPP. She just said she would put in rhetoric saying that its purpose was to raise wages whereas most voters have shown themselves to be smart enough to realize that the effect will be just the opposite. Yet Sanders endorsed her. Evidently he hopes to keep his position within the Party chairing the Senate Minority Budget Committee, while simultaneously trying to promote a revolution outside the Democrats. I was reminded of a Chinese proverb: When there is a fork in the road, a man who tries to take two roads at once gets a broken hip joint. This straddle may have led Sanders to miss his big chance to make a difference. He is trying to take two roads at once, continuing to run as an Independent senator while caucusing with the Democrats without being able to block TPP and new Wall Street giveaways and more favoritism to the One Percent he has so eloquently denounced. Revolutions are a matter of timing. As a former YPSL he might have recalled what happened when Trotsky shied from breaking from Stalin after Lenin died early in 1924. Soon it was too late, and all Stalins opponents were purged. The moment was not seized. Bernie has been an effective catalyst in this years election campaign. But as in chemistry, a catalyst is not really part of the equation. It merely helps the equation take place. Sanders didnt say, Thank god for Wikileaks. It shows that I was right and the DNC needs radical reform. He left it to his supporters to hold up anti-TPP signs. His new message was trust Hillary. But even so, she will not forgive him for being against her before he was for her. He may still end up being marginalized in 2017. I had hoped that in addressing the convention, Sanders would have said that its aim was not only to elect a president but congresspersons and officials all down the line. He could have mentioned the people he is supporting, starting with Wasserman Schultzs opponent in Floridas House race (supported by Obama as well as Hillary). Bernies supporters who walked out on Tuesday have been duly radicalized. But he himself seems akin to be an American Alex Tsipras. Tsipras thought withdrawal from the eurozone was even worse than capitulating to austerity, while Sanders believes that withdrawing from the Democrats and backing a political realignment perhaps electing Trump in the interim is even worse than Hillarys pro-Wall street Obama-like agenda. Matters were not improved when Bill Clinton gave a hagiographic biography of Hillary emphasizing her legal aid work to protect children, without mentioning how the 1994 welfare reform drastically cut back aid to dependent children. Madeline Albright said that Hillary would keep America safe, without mentioning Hillarys promotion of destabilizing Libya and backing Al Quaeda against Syrias government, driving millions of refugees to Europe and wherever they might be safer. The many anti-TPP signs waved by Sanders delegates on Wednesday saw Hillary say that she would oppose TPP as currently written. This suggests that a modest sop thrown to labor a rhetorical paste-on saying that the TPPs aim was to raise living standards. This simply showed once again her sophist trickery at lawyering, giving her an out that she and long-time TPP supporter Tim Kaine were sure to take. Obamas brilliant demagogy left many eyes glazed over in admiration. Nobody is better at false sincerity while misrepresenting reality so shamelessly. Probably few caught the threatening hint he dropped about Hillarys plan for corporations to share their profits with their workers. This sounds to me like the Pinochet plan to privatize Social Security by turning it into exploitative ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Programs). The idea is that wage withholding would be steered to buy into the companys stock bidding it up in the process. Employees then would end up holding an empty bag, as occurred recently with the Chicago Tribune. That seems to be the great reform to save Social Security that her Wall Street patrons are thinking up. One might think that the Democrats would see the Obama administration as an albatross around their neck, much as Gore had Bill Clinton around his neck in 2000. Gore didnt want him showing his face in the campaign. Yet Hillary presents herself as continuing the Obama policies with business as usual, as if she will act as his third term. Voters know that Obama bailed out the banks, not the economy, and that Hillarys campaign backers are on Wall Street. So this year would seem to have been a propitious time to start a real alternative. Hillary is mistrusted, and that mistrust is spreading to the Democratic Party machine especially as the Koch Brothers and kindred backers of failed Republican candidates find neoliberal religion with Hillary. A third party Green/Socialist run might indeed have taken off with Sanders stealing Trumps thunder by pre-empting his critique of TPP, free trade and NATO, adding Wall Street and Citizens United campaign financing. This falls presidential debates Hillary and even Bernie assured the Democratic convention again and again how much President Obama has revived the economy from the mess that Bush left. While Trump centers his disdain on the TPP (much as he knocked Jeb Bush out by saying that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake), he can reply, What recovery? Have you voters really recovered from 2008? Hillary and other speechmakers at the Democratic convention criticized Trump for saying that things are bad. But according to the July 13 NBC/WSJ poll, 73% of voters believe that the country is going off on the wrong track. If Trump shifts his epithet from simply Crooked Hillary to the more nuanced Crooked Wall Street and their candidate, Crooked Hillary, hell score a ratings spurt. Debt deflation and shrinking markets over the next two years do not provide much hope for increasing the minimum wage which wouldnt help much if one cant find a job in the first place! By 2018 the continued stagnation of the 99 Percent may lead to a midterm wipeout of Democrats (assuming that Hillary wins this year against Trump), catalyzing an alternative party (assuming that she does not blow up the world in her neocon military escalation on the borders of Russia and China). The problem with Trump is not mistrust; it is that nobody knows what policies he will back. The media are giving him the same silent treatment they did with Bernie, while accusing him of being in Putins pocket. He did admit selling some real estate to Russian nationals. Perhaps some of these gains fueled his presidential campaign The solution is not to save the Democratic Party, but to replace it. The debate reminds me of that about the Soviet Union in the 1950s: Is it a degenerated workers state, or a Stalinist bureaucratic mutation going the opposite direction from real socialism? I wonder how many years it will take for Hillary to end up booed so loudly that she has to leave hotels and other speaking venues via their back alleys, much as Lyndon Johnson had to sneak out to avoid the anti-war booers leading up to the 1968 election. Michael Hudson is one of the world's leading economists. Michael acts as an economic advisor to governments worldwide including Greece, Iceland, Latvia and China on finance and taxation. http://michael-hudson.com/ Notes. [1] Available on https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HGHWou0h1kk). This should be seen as an antidote to most media coverage. For a run-down on Russia-Trump accusations see Lambert Strether, Hoisted from Comments: Can We Even Know Who Hacked the DNC Emails? Naked Capitalism , July 28, 2016. Might The Donald Be Good for Peace? By Brian Cloughley July 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Donald Trump is erratic. We all know that. It is insulting to assert, in the words of Britains new Foreign Secretary, the erratic Boris Johnson, that he is frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States, but hes certainly unpredictable and says some things that are, to put it mildly, intriguing. Lots of people agree with buffoon Boris, but the fact remains that The Donald could indeed be next president of the United States, which makes it important to look at what he might do if that comes about, especially in the light of Americas military catastrophes so far this century. Obama followed his predecessors in brandishing Americas iron fist as self-appointed global policeman. He vastly increased the US military presence around the world and intensified the Pentagons aggressive confrontations with China and Russia, in which he was energetically assisted, from 2009 to 2013, by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In Chinas case this has been effected by sending US Naval E-P3 electronic surveillance aircraft on missions close to the mainland, deploying EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, ordering B-52 nuclear bombers to overfly the South China Sea where the US Navy also carries out extended maneuvers by massive strike groups of nuclear-armed aircraft carriers and guided missile cruisers. All this in a region where the US has not the slightest territorial interest or claim. Chinas Sea is 7,000 miles, 12,000 kilometers, from the American mainland, yet Washington considers it the sacred right and duty of the United States to act as a global gendarme and give orders to China about its posture in its own back yard, where there has not been one instance of interference with commercial shipping passing through that region. As to confrontation with Russia, Washington has ensured that its Brussels sub-office, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, will go on playing its toy-soldier games right up to Russias borders. The official statement after NATOs war drum-thumping conclave in Warsaw on July 8-9 is indicative of its determination to continue its attempts to menace Russia, which has not made the slightest move to threaten a single NATO member. It is absurd to claim that the security situation has deteriorated in the Black Sea and the Baltic because of Russian action. These regions would be perfectly calm if it were not for constant provocations by US-NATO warships and combat and electronic warfare aircraft which deliberately trail their coats in attempts to incite reaction by Russian forces. NATOs Warsaw Declaration is a farrago of contrived accusations compiled to justify the existence of the farcical grouping that destroyed Libya and proved incapable of overcoming a few thousand raggy baggy insurgents in Afghanistan. So the military alliance is spending vast sums to deploy soldiers, aircraft, ships and missiles right up to Russias borders in deliberate confrontation. As Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained Russia is not looking [for an enemy] but it actually sees it happening. When NATO soldiers march along our border and NATO jets fly by, its not us who are moving closer to NATOs borders. Theres no answer to that, but the Obama-Pentagon administration is not going to relax its anti-China and anti-Russia attitude, and if Hillary Clinton becomes president she of the infamous We came; We saw; He died giggling interview in which she rejoiced in the savage murder of President Gaddafi of Libya there will be more of the same. In fact, probably a lot more of the same, only harder, faster and of more financial benefit to US manufacturers of weapons systems who are doing very well, with record sales totaling 10.5 billion dollars last year, and lots more to come. The writer Conor Friedersdorf put it very well in The Atlantic when he noted that there was a grisly similarity between Clinton and the egregious Dick Cheney, in that Using contested intelligence, a powerful adviser urges a president to wage a war of choice against a dictator; makes a bellicose joke when he is killed; declares the operation a success; fails to plan for a power vacuum; and watches Islamists gain power. That describes Dick Cheney and the Iraq War and Hillary Clinton and the war in Libya. She described President Putin, who just might be reflecting on We came; We saw; He died, as someone that you have to continuously stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up. She is uncompromisingly confrontational. Might The Donald be different? Hes arrogant and impulsive, but although the Republican stance on China is predictably belligerent, it isnt likely that The Donald will support confrontation by the nuclear-armed armadas that plow so aggressively around Chinas shores. And he isnt likely to endorse the Pentagons happy fandangos concerning Russia, either. His comments about the US-contrived shambles in Ukraine are illuminating, in that he says were the ones always fighting [figuratively] on the Ukraine. I never hear any other countries even mentioned and were fighting constantly. Were talking about Ukraine, get out, do this, do that. And I mean Ukraine is very far away from us. How come the countries near the Ukraine, surrounding the Ukraine, how come theyre not opening up and theyre not at least protesting? I never hear anything from anybody except the United States. Theyre not protesting because they have to bow the knee to the Pentagon and its palatial branch office in Brussels (recently built at a cost of about two billion dollars) but The Donald made a good point : Why on earth does the US meddle in Ukraine? Has either country benefited economically, politically, socially or culturally from Washingtons flagrant interference? (Remember the revealing Yats is the guy) As observed by James Carden, One Democratic US senator lamented to a roomful of well-heeled donors and foreign policy experts on [July 25] that the US had lost Ukraine. Lost? Was it ever Americas to begin with? Not only that, but The Donald says that the United States has to fix our own mess before lecturing other nations on how to behave. No matter how extreme he may be in some of his statements, that one strikes a truly sensible note. Why does America consider that it has the right to hector and lecture China and Russia and so many other countries? It is, of course, because, as Obama announced, America considers itself the one indispensable nation in world affairs. What crass conceit. And then Obama labored the point by declaring that I see an American century because no other nation seeks the role that we play in global affairs, and no other nation can play the role that we play in global affairs. This comes from the president of the country that destroyed Iraq and Libya, and is now itself in chaos caused by deliberate killing of black people by police and a surge in black protests against such slaughter. Certainly The Donald shouts that he wants to Make America Great Again and such xenophobic boloney but thats for the sake of vote-catching. As he rightly said, When the world sees how bad the United States is and we start talking about civil liberties, I dont think we are a very good messenger. Then The Donald went further in common sense and suggested that as president he might close some of the hundreds of US military bases abroad because if we decide we have to defend the United States, we can always deploy from American soil, which would be a lot less expensive. How very sensible. It would save a fortune in addition to benefitting many communities Stateside. Hillary came back with the predictable rejoinder that the president of the United States is supposed to be the leader of the Free World. Donald Trump apparently doesnt even believe in the Free World. This is straight out of the Cold War vocabulary of divisive confrontation and if she becomes president, there will be even more pugnacious patronizing baloney about leadership of the Free World and the one indispensable nation. As The Donald said in April How are we going to lecture when you see the riots and the horror going on in our own country. So might there be hope for the future if The Donald drops his more outlandish ideas about Muslims and Mexicans and institutes a policy of rapprochement and live-and-let-live with China and Russia? Hes a better bet on that score than confrontational Hillary, who may well lead the world to war. If only he wasnt off the planet in so many other ways . . . Brian Cloughley, British and Australian armies veteran, former deputy head of the UN military mission in Kashmir and Australian defense attache in Pakistan False Flags Fluttering in the Empires Hot Air By The Saker July 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Unz Review " - When I think of the recent developments in the USA (Dallas shooting, Orlando shooting) and Europe (Nice, murdered priest, Germany shooting) I get this unpleasant feeling that something is not quite right. For one thing, the perpetrators are absolutely ridiculous: pseudo-Muslims who turn out to be drinking homosexuals, ex-patients of mental institutions the kind of people I call overnight Muslims: they all make darn sure to say Allahu Akbar a number of times, but other than that, they have no sign of Islam at all. In fact, far from being trained Daesh fighters, they are all losers with weak personalities. Exactly the kind of people the special services (and religious sects) like to prey on because they are weak and easy to manipulate. Oh yes, I know, the good folk a Daesh do end up claiming that the perpetrator is one of them, but that really proves nothing (except maybe that Daesh is desperate to increase its notoriety). I have no proof of that, of course, but I am getting the very strong feeling that somebody is putting great deal of effort to scare the bejesus out of the TV-watching crowd. But why? Why would anybody go to the effort to create a completely fictional threat? And should we really dismiss all the innumerable witnesses who speak of more than one shooter? What about the absolutely ridiculous police overkill when hundred of policemen are sent in to deal with one single shooter. Does that not strike you as odd? Am I the only one with the feeling that what is shown to us is a carefully choreographed show? Then there is the canard about the Islamic threat. Okay, it is true that all these islamo-terrorists told the cops, and anybody else willing to listen, that they are killing infidels for the greater glory of God. That reminds me of the passports helpfully found in NY on 9/11 (and at the Charlie-Hebdo attacks) or how the alleged Islamic-terrorists of 9/11 left copies of the Quran in the bars were they were getting lap dances. The problem with all that nonsense is that there is exactly zero real evidence that any of these terrorists had any real Islamic education or beliefs. Besides, even if every single one of them turned out to be a deeply religious and pious Muslim, that would hardly prove anything. The IRA was Roman Catholic and yet nobody spoke of a Catholic threat. True, there is a very real threat to the entire Middle-East from the Daesh crazies (yes, the very same ones whom the US wants the Russians to stop bombing), but there is no evidence whatsoever of any real subordination/coordination between the Takfiris in the Middle-East and the perpetrators of the recent mass murders in the USA and Europe. The cui bono, of course, immediately points to those interests who desperately want the prop-up the shaky Islamic threat myth: the Zionists, of course, but also the Neocons elites in the USA and the EU. Think of it: their great hope was that Russia would invade the Donbass (or, even better, the entire Ukraine) and liberate it from the Nazi crazies the Neocons put in power in Kiev. Such a Russian move would have been used as a proof that the evil revanchist Russkies are about to rebuilt to Soviet Union, invade Eastern Europe and maybe even drive their tanks to the English channel. And if enough people would buy the Russian threat theory, they would also have to accept larger military budgets (to further fatten the US MIC) and more US forces deployed in Eastern Europe (where they would provide a much needed, and sometimes only, source of income). Then all the internal problems of Europe could be blamed on, or at least eclipsed by, the Russian threat (in the Putin wants a Brexit style). But that irritating Putin did not take the bait and now Europe is stuck without a credible threat to terrorize people with. NATO, of course, and its prostitute-colonies in the Baltics and Poland, likes to pretend that a Russian invasion is imminent, but nobody really believes this. According to some polls, even the people in the Baltics are dubious about the reality of a Russian threat (forget Poland: a country with a national hero like Pilsudski is a hopeless case). But then, almost at the same moment when the Neocons came to realize that the Russians were not taking the bait, the steady flow of refugees coming from the Middle-East and Africa suddenly sharply increased, courtesy of the mayhem and chaos created by the Neocon policies in the Middle-East. How long do you think it took the rulers of the Empire to realize the fantastic opportunity this influx of refugees had just created for them? First, this wave of refugees creates a series of major social problems which all could be used to provide distractions from the massive credibility crisis and economic woes of the EU. No matter how bad the economic indicators are, you can always hide them behind a headline like Refugee rapes 79yo woman at German cemetery (true case, just click on the link to see for yourself). Second, just at the time when the ruling comprador elites of the EU are threatened by popular discontent, the refugee crisis creates the perfect pretext to adopt emergency legislation and, possibly, introduce martial law. Third, the worse the crisis in Europe becomes, the better it is for the US Dollar which becomes the safe(r) currency to run to. Fourth the more military units, as opposed to regular police forces, are deployed in Europe, the more the Europeans will get used to the notion that only the military can protect us. Fifth, if, at the end of the day, the EU really tanks and riots, uprisings and chaos spread guess who will show up to save Europe yet again? Thats right Uncle Sam and NATO. Pretty good mission for an otherwise illegitimate leftover from the Cold War, no? Ideally, the European population should become polarized between, on one hand, those who pretend like the refugees are no problem at all, and those who blame everything on them. The more polarized the society becomes, the more there will be a need to keep law and order. Does that all look familiar to you? Yes, of course, this is also exactly what is happening in the USA with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. While there are plenty of immigrants in the USA, they are mostly Hispanics and Asians who adapt rather well to the US society. The good news for the US deep state is that Blacks in the USA can very much accomplish the same function as the refugees do in Europe: they are a vocal, mostly deeply alienated minority, with a great deal of pent-up anger against the rest of society which can very easily be set-off to create riots and commit crimes. It is also rather easy to find a few crazies amongst these Blacks to start murdering policemen (the ideal symbol of the oppressive White establishment) and create a sense of crisis acute enough justify the use of police, National Guard and, potentially, military forces to restore and uphold law and order. Is it really a coincidence that the US Presidential elections features extremely polarizing figures like Hillary and Trump and that low-levels of violence have already been triggered by the hysterically anti-Trump propaganda of the US corporate media? Just imagine for one second what could happen in the USA if a lone gunman was to kill either Hillary or Trump? The society would literally explode and law and order would have to be restored. The modalities might be different, but in both the EU and the USA we now see heavily armed and generally militarized forces in the streets to protect us from some exotic and scary threat. Might that have something to do with the fact that the ruling elites are absolutely hated by the vast majority of Europeans and Americans? Of course it does! I am convinced that was is taking place is the gradually suppression of the civil society under the pretext of protecting it us from some very scary threat. I am also convinced that part of this plan is to polarize our society as much as possible to create civil strife and to hide the real systemic and structural problems of our completely dysfunctional society and discredited and illegitimate political order. The panem et circenses (bread and games) method only works in a society capable of providing enough wealth to its people to enjoy them. But when an Empire is agonizing, when its military cannot win wars anymore, when its leader is being ridiculed, when its currency is being gradually weakened and even replaced and when its power is not feared anymore, then the Empire becomes unable to provide the minimal conditions needed to keep its subjects quiet and obedient. At this point the choice becomes simple: either find an external enemy or, at least, identify an internal one. This time around, the AngloZionist found what they think is the perfect combo: a diffuse/vague external threat (Islam) and an easily identifiable internal carrier threat (refugees in Europe, Blacks in the USA). The fact that the US government has been planning for various kind of emergency rule or martial law situations for years is not much of a secret (see: National Security Presidential Directive 51 and National Continuity Policy Implementation Plan or Rex84 ) but now there is also evidence that the Germans are also planning for it. In fact, we can be confident that they are all doing it right now as we speak. The last time around, when the Empire felt the need to regain control over Europe and prevent the election of anti-US political parties to power they engaged in the notorious GLADIO false flag campaign to neutralize the Communist threat (see full documentary here). It appears that the same people are doing the same thing again, but this time against the putative Islamic threat. And just to make sure that the common people really freak out, it appears that the AngloZionists have settled on a rather counter-intuitive plan: 1) officially (politicians) condemn any anti-Islamic rhetoric. 2) unofficially (media, public figures) constantly warn of the threat of Islamic extremism. 3) take some highly visible but totally useless measures (TSA, anti-terror training) to defend against an Islamic attack. 4) covertly but actively support Daesh-like Takfirism in the Middle-East and oppose and subvert those who, like the Russians, the Iranians and the Syrians, really fight it on a daily basis. What does such an apparently illogical and self-defeating plan achieve? Simple! It maximizes fear and polarizes society. That kind of artificial polarization is nothing new. For example, this is why those who hate Obama call him a socialist (or even a communist) while those who hate Trump call him a fascist (even though in reality both Obama and Trump are just the figureheads of different capitalist factions of the same 1%er elite). What our imperial overlords really want is for us to either fight each other or, at least, fight windmills. Look at the American public it is totally obsessed with non-issues like homosexual marriage, gun control vs active shooters, Black Lives Matter vs cops, and the time tested pro-life vs anti-abortion protests. To some minority of Americans these issues do matter, I suppose, but for the vast majority of Americans these are total non-issue, meaningless crap which does not affect them in any way other than through the corporate media. This really reminds me of the Titanics orchestra playing while the ship was sinking: the Empire is cracking at all its seams, there is a very real chance of a nuclear war with Russia and we are seriously discussing whether trannies should pee in male or female toilets when in the Target store. This is crazy, of course, but this is hardly coincidental. This is how our leaders want us: terrified, confused and, above all, distracted. Frankly, I am pessimistic for the near to mid-term future. When I see how easily the Islamic threat canard has been bought not only by official propagandists but even by otherwise mostly rational and educated people, I see that 9/11 has taught us very little. Just like a bull in a bullfight we are still willing to go after any red rag put before our noses regardless of who is actually holding that rag or actually making us bleed. The good news is that regardless of our gullible passivity the Empire is coming down, maybe not as fast as some of us would wish, but fast enough to really worry our rulers. Look at the Israelis they have already read the writing on the wall and are now in the process of changing patrons, hence their newfound big friendship with Russia a marriage of convenience for both sides, entered into with both sides holding their noses. Ditto for Erdogan who has apparently decided that neither the EU nor the US could be considered reliable protectors. Even the Saudis have tried, however clumsily and crudely, to get the Russians on their side. For the time being the Islamic threat show will continue, as will the active shooters, Black Lives Matter and all the rest of the program brought to us by the Empire. False flags will continue to flutter in great numbers in the Empires hot air. Hillary Clinton and Her Hawks Exclusive: Focusing on domestic issues, Hillary Clintons acceptance speech sidestepped the deep concerns anti-war Democrats have about her hawkish foreign policy, which is already taking shape in the shadows, reports Gareth Porter. By Gareth Porter July 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - As Hillary Clinton begins her final charge for the White House, her advisers are already recommending air strikes and other new military measures against the Assad regime in Syria. The clear signals of Clintons readiness to go to war appears to be aimed at influencing the course of the war in Syria as well as U.S. policy over the remaining six months of the Obama administration. (She also may be hoping to corral the votes of Republican neoconservatives concerned about Donald Trumps America First foreign policy.) Last month, the think tank run by Michele Flournoy, the former Defense Department official considered to be most likely to be Clintons choice to be Secretary of Defense, explicitly called for limited military strikes against the Assad regime. And earlier this month Leon Panetta, former Defense Secretary and CIA Director, who has been advising candidate Clinton, declared in an interview that the next president would have to increase the number of Special Forces and carry out air strikes to help moderate groups against President Bashal al-Assad. (When Panetta gave a belligerent speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, he was interrupted by chants from the delegates on the floor of no more war! Flournoy co-founded the Center for New American Security (CNAS) in 2007 to promote support for U.S. war policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then became Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration in 2009. Flournoy left her Pentagon position in 2012 and returned to CNAS as Chief Executive Officer. She has been described by ultimate insider journalist David Ignatius of the Washington Post, as being on a short, short list for the job Secretary of Defense in a Clinton administration. Last month, CNAS published a report of a Study Group on military policy in Syria on the eve of the organizations annual conference. Ostensibly focused on how to defeat the Islamic State, the report recommends new U.S. military actions against the Assad regime. Flournoy chaired the task force, along with CNAS president Richard Fontaine, and publicly embraced its main policy recommendation in remarks at the conference. She called for using limited military coercion to help support the forces seeking to force President Assad from power, in part by creating a no bombing zone over those areas in which the opposition groups backed by the United States could operate safely. In an interview with Defense One , Flournoy described the no-bomb zone as saying to the Russian and Syrian governments, If you bomb the folks we support, we will retaliate using standoff means to destroy [Russian] proxy forces, or, in this case, Syrian assets. That would stop the bombing of certain civilian populations, Flournoy said. In a letter to the editor of Defense One , Flournoy denied having advocated putting U.S. combat troops on the ground to take territory from Assads forces or remove Assad from power, which she said the title and content of the article had suggested. But she confirmed that she had argued that the U.S. should under some circumstances consider using limited military coercion primarily trikes using standoff weapons to retaliate against Syrian military targets for attacks on civilian or opposition groups and to set more favorable conditions on the ground for a negotiated political settlement. Renaming a No-Fly Zone The proposal for a no bombing zone has clearly replaced the no fly zone, which Clinton has repeatedly supported in the past as the slogan to cover a much broader U.S. military role in Syria. Panetta served as Defense Secretary and CIA Director in the Obama administration when Clinton was Secretary of State, and was Clintons ally on Syria policy. On July 17, he gave an interview to CBS News in which he called for steps that partly complemented and partly paralleled the recommendations in the CNAS paper. I think the likelihood is that the next president is gonna have to consider adding additional special forces on the ground, Panetta said, to try to assist those moderate forces that are taking on ISIS and that are taking on Assads forces. Panetta was deliberately conflating two different issues in supporting more U.S. Special Forces in Syria. The existing military mission for those forces is to support the anti-ISIS forces made up overwhelmingly of the Kurdish YPG and a few opposition groups. Neither the Kurds nor the opposition groups the Special Forces are supporting are fighting against the Assad regime. What Panetta presented as a need only for additional personnel is in fact a completely new U.S. mission for Special Forces of putting military pressure on the Assad regime. He also called for increasing strikes in order to put increasing pressure on ISIS but also on Assad. That wording, which jibes with the Flournoy-CNAS recommendation, again conflates two entirely different strategic programs as a single program. The Panetta ploys in confusing two separate policy issues reflects the reality that the majority of the American public strongly supports doing more militarily to defeat ISIS but has been opposed to U.S. war against the government in Syria. A poll taken last spring showed 57 percent in favor of a more aggressive U.S. military force against ISIS. The last time public opinion was surveyed on the issue of war against the Assad regime, however, was in September 2013, just as Congress was about to vote on authorizing such a strike. At that time, 55 percent to 77 percent of those surveyed opposed the use of military force against the Syrian regime, depending on whether Congress voted to authorize such a strike or to oppose it. Shaping the Debate It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for figures known to be close to a presidential candidate to make public recommendations for new and broader war abroad. The fact that such explicit plans for military strikes against the Assad regime were aired so openly soon after Clinton had clinched the Democratic nomination suggests that Clinton had encouraged Flournoy and Panetta to do so. The rationale for doing so is evidently not to strengthen her public support at home but to shape the policy decisions made by the Obama administration and the coalition of external supporters of the armed opposition to Assad. Obamas refusal to threaten to use military force on behalf of the anti-Assad forces or to step up military assistance to them has provoked a series of leaks to the news media by unnamed officials primarily from the Defense Department criticizing Obamas willingness to cooperate with Russia in seeking a Syrian ceasefire and political settlement as naive. The news of Clintons advisers calling openly for military measures signals to those critics in the administration to continue to push for a more aggressive policy on the premise that she will do just that as president. Even more important to Clinton and close associates, however, is the hope of encouraging Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have been supporting the armed opposition to Assad, to persist in and even intensify their efforts in the face of the prospect of U.S.-Russian cooperation in Syria. Even before the recommendations were revealed, specialists on Syria in Washington think tanks were already observing signs that Saudi and Qatari policymakers were waiting for the Obama administration to end in the hope that Clinton would be elected and take a more activist role in the war against Assad. The new Prime Minister of Turkey, Binali Yildirim, however, made a statement on July 13 suggesting that Turkish President Recep Yayyip Erdogan may be considering a deal with Russia and the Assad regime at the expense of both Syrian Kurds and the anti-Assad opposition. That certainly would have alarmed Clintons advisers, and four days later, Panetta made his comments on network television about what the next president would have to do in Syria. Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He is the author of the newly published Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare . Early this week, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found far more than they were expecting when they pulled over an ice cream truck. The truck was said to have left Toronto and was headed to British Columbia. The truck was pulled over by police for a traffic stop. Several cartons of contraband cigarettes were said to be found in the truck, but the big find was the cash which was said to be over $500,000 found. It was found during a subsequent search of the truck. The money, cigarettes, and the semi-trailer were all seized. National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday showered encomiums on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, saying that the governor has made him proud. Tinubu also commended the Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Oluranti Adebule and the entire team of the state government for supporting Ambode to achieve so much within a short time since assuming office. The ex-governor made the remark at APC secretariat in Lagos, where Governor Ambode met with local government and ward chairmen of the party. I was with President Muhammadu Buhari for about two hours yesterday (Thursday) and Governor Ambode was not there when we were discussing generally about the problem of Nigeria. The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo got up and spoke glowingly of the Governor and my head was swelling. I became even more proud of him, he said. The governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Haruna, appreciated Tinubus compliment and equally thanked party leaders and members of the party for supporting him so far, adding that the support he enjoyed had contributed to the successes recorded by his administration. Gov. Ambode enjoined them to remain committed and loyal to the ideals of the party as well as the leadership of the party. One of the aspirants for the national chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Raymond Dokpesi,bared his mind about the current state of the nation and the mistakes made by PDP members that ultimately ruined the vision of the party. Mr Dokpesi, who spoke during the week at the PDP secretariat in Umuahia, the Abia State capital also criticized the way APC has been ruling Nigeria for the past one year. Dokpesi said selfie ambitions killed the PDP vision The original idea of the founding fathers of the PDP was to lay a foundation of a party that would serve as an umbrella for all Nigerians, not minding their tribes and class, however, selfish ambitions of some leaders of the party, retarded the vision, which led to the eventual loss of power to the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 general elections. He, however, said the APC, with its one year in power, had proved that it was incompetent to rule the country. Although the PDP has been backlashed, the APC is not any better Today, the PDP is described as the most corrupt party in the country; they said our leaders are clueless and corrupt. That was how they described former President Goodluck Jonathan, but with the way the APC is running this country, can we say we have a country? Is the South-East not marginalised and denigrated? He criticised the APC promised change The current economic crisis in the country is also alarming; our mothers cannot afford food items to sustain their families any more. Is this the kind of Nigeria we want for our youths? Is this the kind of change we want? He said the PDP can not sit aloof By the special grace of God, we cannot sit back and allow the country to continue to decline. We cannot sit back without giving the APC good opposition, we cannot sit back and not rebrand, re-energize and revitalise the PDP so that by 2019, we can give the APC a purposeful opposition and contest as a party in order to win the next presidential election. He says the youth should be given opportunity to rule While this author does not subscribe to the speculation, especially in official circles, that the calls for an independent state of Biafra as currently championed by the Indigenous People of Biafra and Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra is politically-motivated, he believes that these groups agitation for self-rule was not well thought out and will explain why in the next few paragraphs. Since 1999, when Nigeria returned to Democratic system of governance, prominent Igbo sons and daughters have held very influential and high positions within government ranging from Senate President, Secretary to Government of the Federation, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Minister of Finance, Justice, Aviation, Labour/Employment as well as Chief of Army Staff and National Chairman of the then ruling party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Likewise, most governors of the South East states were of the same party with the government at the Centre (PDP) and one or two of them in each Republic, were believed to have had the ears of the President. The point is; with its vantage position in different governments since 1999, what did the Igbo politicians/technocrats do to attract much-needed federal government presence to the Southeast region? It could be argued that those blaming President Muhammadu Buhari of marginalization today, and justifiably so, did next to nothing when they had the golden opportunity to use their closeness to the corridors of power to help their people and indeed, the region. Will a new and independent Republic of Biafra translate to a new thinking among these set of experienced politicians, who over the years have mastered the art of deception and lip-service to their people? Will an Nnamdi Kalu, assuming as President of Republic of Biafra, be able to stand against the financial war chest and political sagacity of the likes of Orji Uzor Kalu, Rochas Okorocha, Arthur Nzeribe, The Uba brothers, Prince Arthur Eze, Among others? Theres no way these caliber of politicians and their ilk will sit back and watch a small boy dictate the affairs of their own fatherland to them. Forget what anybody says, even the bible confirms that money answers all things. The change were currently experiencing was made partly possible by the availability of money. Buhari might have been a poor man but the money bags that rallied behind him in 2015, coupled with the massive campaign drive for public donations, played a huge role in his victory. In Zaria, Kaduna State where this author writes from, at least 90 per cent of the electronics, car spare parts, gas retail, boutiques and cosmetics/patent medicine stores popularly called Chemists businesses, are owned/controlled by the Igbos. The story is almost the same in major cities, towns and villages across Nigeria. Its estimated that the properties/investment of genuine Igbo businessmen and women in the North alone is worth tens and possibly hundreds of billions of naira. Lets not even talk about the Southwest, Lagos in particular. Have those agitating for Biafra and in the process beating the war drums put these categories of their kinsmen into consideration? What becomes of their investments in the event of the outbreak of a war (God forbid)? Hypothetically, will an Emeka, who owns the largest spare parts market and controls the market share in say Kaduna, willingly agree to a relocation to the Southeast where an Nnamdi, Okafor, Uchenna and co are already established and have solidified their holds on the markets there? With his business flourishing and bringing in so much money than he can envisage and with government commitment to security, will a rational-thinking and business-oriented Emeka stay put in Kaduna or relocate to go and start all over because he wants to be seen as supporting Biafra? Worst case scenario, he will hold his Biafra passport and live/do his business in the North, still contributing to its economy and development. Does that defeat the idea of the agitators of Biafra or not? Your guess is as good as mine. Although the Igbos largely control Nigerias multi-billion dollar film industry popularly known as Nollywood, this is so because of the platform a larger Nigerian market offers. The technology, the audience and even locations for filming (except it is a comic script), are mostly domiciled outside the Southeast. Have the Biafran agitators also considered the huge negative (fewer positives) impact of their agenda on this yet-to-be fully tapped industry if they succeed in breaking away? Do theyve any plans in place to accommodate and ensure the continued success of this industry? Almost the same thing can be said for the music industry except for the fact that its not controlled by the Igbos. Local and multinational companies that have artistes and actors/actresses as brand ambassadors are mostly domiciled outside the Southeast or have their corporate headquarters outside the region. Question is would such companies pay a Kobo, not to talk of millions, if the artistes or actors/actresses they want to use as brand ambassadors for a larger Nigerian market, are Biafrans, not Nigerians? The hypocrisy of those agitating for Biafra today was exposed when the late warlord and Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu ran for President of Nigeria on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2003 and in 2007. The Ndigbo hero scored 1,297,445 and a paltry 155, 947 votes representing 3.29% and 0.44% of total valid votes cast respectively. Twice, he ran for the highest office in the land and on the same number of occasions, his own people could not rally behind him. Truth is, the Igbos have since after the civil war, never been really united with one voice as they have proven to be their own worst enemy. And try hard as they may to deny it, an independent state of Biafra will never make them more united or focused than they already are. This is so because the Igbos of today lack one true, genuine and principled leader in the mold of Nnamdi Azikiwe or Ojukwu that they can look up to for inspiration, hope and direction. There are many pretenders to the title of leader in the Southeast today, but thats as far as it goes. It is this writers opinion, to which everyone is entitled to agree or disagree, that blaming the Fulani man from Daura or the Yoruba slaves of the Southwest for the perceived marginalization of the Southeast in todays political settings, will do more harm, than good to the future political aspirations of the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria. What the Igbos need to do is build bridges of friendship across ethnic and religious divides, not attempt to burn the ones already built by their forebearers. While no rational person will ignore the fact that in Nigeria today, one, if not the most underdeveloped and marginalized region in the country is the Southeast, it is foolhardy to expect that all the problems of the region will go-away, as if magically, in the twinkle of an eye if they break away. Ask the people of South Sudan, who thought demanding and getting their own independence from the predominantly Muslim North, was the end of their problem. The worlds newest country is still battling to overcome the teething problems of its new found status. If only our Igbo brothers and sisters would listen to the voice of wisdom and channel all the energy they are dissipating on secession, towards building a better Nigeria and demanding rightfully and peacefully, their place as one of the tripod legs that make Nigeria stands today. We can argue back and forth about the advantages/disadvantages of a Biafran secession, but the truth is we are better off together as one; in a country where as the national anthem says bound in freedom, peace and unity. The Borno Government is beefing up security around aid workers in the state following Thursdays ambush attack on a United Nations humanitarian mission convoy near Maiduguri, the state capital. The attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, resulted in the UN temporarily suspending aid to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Northeast. The Nigerian Army confirmed that two soldiers and three civilians, including UNICEF officials and a contractor, were wounded in the attack, which occurred at Meleri village, a few kilometres from Kawuri the official gateway to Sambisa Forest. Speaking with reporters yesterday in Maiduguri, Deputy Governor Mamman Durkwa said that government was worried by the incident. We are going to collaborate with all security agencies to mobilize additional security for aid workers in the state to prevent a re-occurrence of what happened on Thursday, he said. Durkwa said he had held meetings with officials of the UN Sub-Office in Maiduguri on the issue. He also debunked media reports that the UN office in the state had suspended aid work over the incident, saying The issue of suspension of aid work by the UN in the state is not true. I met the UN officials and they told me that the attack would not deter them from doing their humanitarian work. Throughout our discussions, there was no mention of suspension of humanitarian work in the state. In a related development, the UN Childrens Fund spokeswoman, Doune Porter, said yesterday that aid will continue in Maiduguri, which is home to at least a million IDPs. Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mr. Femi Falana, has revealed that he once rejected a million pounds brief from a former governor in order to help him (ex-governor) launder funds abroad. Mr. Falana, therefore, asked lawyers not to succumb to the temptation of filthy lucre to assist politically exposed persons (PEPs) to commit financial crimes. The senior lawyer made the disclosure at an anti-corruption workshop in Abuja, which was released to the press yesterday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its monthly magazine ALERT. The governor asked me to assist him in transferring money abroad, and that I should claim it to be proceeds from sale of his property in Nigeria, Falana started. He continued: And the price was extremely attractive. He was going to pay me a million pounds then, when money was money. The governor said he had chosen me for the shady deal, because nobody will suspect you. I told him, Your Excellency, so it is my reputation that you want to buy with your one million pounds? Some of my colleagues thought I was stupid, but those who accepted the offer later found themselves in trouble, as they were arrested and humiliated. They were only lucky not to have been charged to court. Falana advised lawyers against being used by PEPs. He said: Lawyers have a paramount role to play in the fight against economic and financial crimes, as they are the ones usually employed by well-heeled members of the society to help perfect documents for illicit transactions, and to cover up their tracks. He equally picked holes in the ruling of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court, Abuja, who held that Section 5 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, could not be applied to lawyers. The judge in the ruling, barred the Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) from enforcing the section as it relates to legal practitioners. It is my submission that the judgment, with profound respect, cannot exculpate any lawyer who commits any offence under the law. This judgment cannot stand the test of time, Falana said. On the recent bill at the National Assembly seeking to amend the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012, he said it would unwittingly weaken anti-graft agencies like the EFCC, hampering the effective discharge of their duties in combating financial crimes. However, he urged the National Assembly to call for a public hearing to ensure that the amendment of the Money Laundering Act, would not be done hastily. Two Suspected oil thieves were arrested in Bayelsa on Friday by the Joint Military Force in the Niger Delta known as Operation Delta Safe (ODS), the command said it also impounded a vessel involved in illegal bunkering activities in the state waterways. The joint force said the impounded 300 metric tons capacity vessel is currently anchored at Forward Operation Base (FOB) in Formosso, Brass in Bayelsa. According to reports by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), FOB Commander, Navy Capt. Mayowa Olukoya, handed the two suspects over to Operation Delta Safe. The two suspects were caught while loading the barge with suspected illegally refined diesel, Capt. Olukoya said at the handover. On July 25, my men of Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Sorro and FOB were alerted of suspected illegal bunkering activities at Oluasiri near Nembe. On arrival, a barge was being loaded with substance suspected to be illegally refined AGO; two suspects were apprehended, while two escaped even as we are intensifying efforts to arrest them. We actually caught them in the act. The volume of the AGO so far loaded into the 300 metric tons capacity barge is yet to be ascertained, Olukoya said. He However, added that the three local boats used by the suspected oil thieves were set ablaze at the crime scene. Three students of the Lagos State University, LASU have been suspended for attempted abduction of the president of the Student Union Government of the institution, Tayo Sekoni. In a statement released by the school authorities, Oladapo Mojeed Babatunde, Adebanjo Fatai Adekoya,both in their final year and Fola Kosoko, a fresh graduate of the university attempted to kidnap Sekoni on Thursday while on his way home. The Management of Lagos State University has suspended the following students with immediate effect, for attempting to abduct the Lagos State University Students Union President, Tayo Sekoni, on his way home on Thursday, 28th July, 2016, pending their appearances before the Students Disciplinary Committee [SDC]: Oladapo Mojeed Babatunde, 500 level; Adebanjo Fatai Adekoya, 500 level and Fola Kosoko, a fresh LASU graduate, the statement reads. The schools management warned the students not to partake in any socio-academic activities of the institution until their suspension had been lifted. The aforementioned students/graduate have been strongly instructed not to participate in the socio-academic activities of the prestigious Lagos State University until the suspension is lifted. In addition, the suspended students/graduate are not to be seen within the University premises except on invitation, the statement added. A 40-year-old man from Akwa Ibom State, Okon Jimmy Amah, has confessed to having s*x with 2 of his daughters. The father of four has been accused of turning his teenage daughters to sex slaves. Amah confessed to the crime after being taken to the State High Court in Uyo on Thursday. He has been reported to have had s*xual intercourse with the girls different times, especially at midnight in their home. One of the victims, Enobong, 16, is a JSS3 student who trades in recharge cards was living with her mum in Benin, Edo State, until April 9, 2015, when she decided to visit her dad in Uyo. This was when Amahs shameful act begun. She said, My father started soliciting sex from me. In fact, that April, my father forcefully had sexual intercourse with me in our small room. He had sex with me in the middle of the night. He has had sex with me several times. I have lost count of the number of times he had sex with me. What is making this issue explode now is that one day, after I returned from selling recharge cards, my father got angry that I got home late. I tried to explain to him that I had to balance my account. He refused to accept my explanation. He started flogging me with a fan belt. My father beating me is nothing new but the beating of that particular day, was too severe. The beating left a lot of bruises on my body. It was so obvious that one of my customers, who noticed the bruises the following day, asked me what happened. I poured out my heart to the customer. The shocked customer happened to be a lawyer who took the matter to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Akwa Ibom State. I was invited to share my horrifying experience. She also said she had once reported the matter to her stepmother, about her father having sex with her and her 13 years old younger sister, Imaobong. On her part, Imaobong said she was 11-years-old when her father started having sex with her. Imaobong narrated her ordeal in tears saying, my father returned home one day and called me to a quiet place. He asked me whether I had ever had sex with a man before. I said no. He said he would be the first man to have sex with me. I was shocked. I wanted to say something, but he shouted at me to shut up. When it was midnight, my father raped me. I cried and felt ashamed. He raped me, not once, not twice. He raped me several times. One day, my mother heard me crying, she came to me. I told her the little I could. My mum was angry. But my father didnt stop having sex with me. My mum knows about it, she added. Amah was later arraigned on a 3-count charge of incest, carnal knowledge and assault, contrary to Section 242 and 364 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, after the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare referred the case to the police. Amah pleaded guilty to the charges but said he was only attempting to check if the girls were still virgins. Amah said: Yes, I slept with my daughters in the bedroom room, while my wife was sleeping in the sitting room. My wife was ill with malaria. She had been ill for a week. Sometimes, my wife used to deny me sex. That was why I solicited sex from my daughters. Aside from my wife sexually starving me, I suspected that my daughter, Imaobong, wasnt a virgin. He further said, I suspected that Imaobong has had sex with a man. But when I inserted my manhood into her vagina, I discovered that she had never had sex. At that point, I immediately removed my manhood from her vagina. In the case of Enobong, I also intended to find out if she has had sexual intercourse with any man. When I inserted my manhood into her vagina, I discovered that no man has had sex with her. I immediately removed my manhood. The case has been adjourned till September 12, while Amah has been ordered by the judge to be remanded in prison custody. Vanguard Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations yesterday claimed that the former Chairman of the committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin shut them out completely during the budget process only to surface after two weeks with a completed work. Punch In this piece, OLUSOLA FABIYI writes on the members of the Peoples Democratic Party seeking the partys leadership positions at the August 17 national convention and the Senator Ali Modu Sheriffs factor Thisday In a bid to flush out the pipeline vandals operating at Ishawo and Igando areas of Ikorodu in Lagos, Arepo, Awawa, Elepete and Ibafo areas of Ogun State, the military has launched an intensive offensive against the cartel by bombing the area. The Sun BARELY one week after the intervention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors in the crisis rocking the National Assembly, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Frank, has called for the resignation of the partys National Executive Committee (NEC), insisting that they have failed in the management of the rift. Daily Times Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters has reminded the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla that the President is a President to all Nigerians and not to just the All Progressives Congress Party and as such, the Bakassi people would continue to seek his assistance in properly resettling the Bakassi people. Daily Trust The agitation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-west to clinch the chairmanship position may be threatened by infighting within the geo-political zone. Leadership Governor Umarru Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa state and the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over downward review of workers salaries in the state occasioned by the dwindling fortunes of revenue. The Nation The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has blocked the accounts of a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, and others implicated in the $15billion arms deals. Daily Independent Prince Tunji Ogunlola is the Ekiti State Chairman of Conference of All Political Parties (CNPP). New Telegraph Following the continued detention of the Biafra Radio director, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government, a group, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), has demanded the immediate release of the activist, saying it is long overdue. The Kwara State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), has raised an alarm over the missing of one of its members, Dr Abdulraheem Abdulrahman who has been missing since Sunday July 24, 2016. The State Secretary of the association, Dr Victor Iroha, announced this in a statement mad available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Ilorin on Saturday where he declared the doctor missing. Iroha added that Dr. Abdulraheem is one of the medical officers at the General Hospital in Omu- Aran. Abdulraheem drove out of his residence opposite Federal Road Safety Commission Office, GRA in his Navy blue Toyota Corolla car with registration number BWR 532 RP and had not been seen since then. His phone has also been unreachable and there has been no trace of either him or his car, he added in the -statement. Iroha also stated that all search efforts had so far yielded no results. The matter had been reported to the Police and allied security agencies. The NMA appealed to people with useful information to contact the nearest Police station or his brother Ridwan on 08110709470 or NMA Kwara PRO 08034086152. The National Universities Commission (NUC), said it has approved the establishment of the University of Africa in Bayelsa State, the 43rd state university in the country. Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, The Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa Governor, made this known in a statement issued in the state capital on Saturday. NUC handed over the letter of approval to Gov. Seriake Dickson when he visited the commission in Abuja, the statement said. Gov Dickson however, expressed gratitude to the NUCs Executive Secretary for the warm reception he and his team received when they visited the commission in Abuja. The approval of the university followed the formal presentation of relevant gazette law, academic brief, physical master-plan as well as the satisfactory report of the advisory resource assessment visit by the commission, the governor said in the statement I am here leading this small delegation to present to you these laws passed by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, establishing a new university working with the private sector. It will be run on a public private partnership (PPP), basis. Unlike the existing one, it will not be directly funded by the state. Our belief is that for a university to be sustainable, we must create room for private sector participation and involvement. The University of Africa, Toru-Orua, is the first of its kind in this country to be established by government with private sector involvement. It will be strictly a fee paying tertiary institution that will attract students from across the continent and the globe. It will be the model as we encourage more private universities in this country, Dickson said. There have been ongoing rumors that the monarch had been released by his abductors after the family paid a ransom of N14m. This was however denied by his son, Saheed Oseni, who said there was no truth in the claim. Oseni, however, confirmed that the wife of the monarch had been discharged from the hospital and had returned home safely. He said the family was not aware of Goriolas release. Kuburat, the wife of Lagos monarch, Oba Goriola Oseni, the Oniba of Iba town, left the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital on Friday after ending her treatment for the gunshot injury she sustained during the incident her husband was abducted by gunmen. The Lagos police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, said the police is still working on his safe return. SEE ALSO: Why We Kidnapped Oniba Of Iba- Kidnappers The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the Minjibir bye-election in Kano State, Alhaji Auwalu Ubale Minjibir, has withdrawn from the contest. Minjibir also known as Shagon Minjibir, announced his withdrawal from the race in a broadcast through a Kano-based private radio station, Rahmah Radio, in the early hours of today. Minjibir alleged that I have withdrawn because the ruling party has deployed thugs to Minjibir town a day to the election with intention to disrupt the election. I am not a troublemaker and I dont want to be involved in anything trouble and I dont want to be associated with it. The bye-election into the Minjibir state constituency seat in the House of Assembly was earlier slated to hold last April but had to be suspended due to break down of law and order midway through the exercise. In spite of the PDP candidates withdrawal, the election commenced in all the eleven wards with voters apathy characterising the exercise. When contacted, the spokesperson for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Alhaji Garba Lawal Muhammad, said the commission has not received any official letter from Minjibir in that respect. We only heard his withdrawal over the radio and our officials are currently at Minjibir local government conducting the bye-election, he said. Muhammad, however, said the commission is still waiting for the PDP candidate to officially notify it on his stand. A former Governor of Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel has announced his withdrawal from the race for the national chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the national convention billed for August 17 in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. A group known as the PDP New Era had endorsed Mr. Daniel for the coveted seat earlier in the week but the ex-governor said he will be supporting media mogul, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi for the post instead. He stated this when he hosted Dokpesi and his team at Conference Hotel and Suites, Sagamu, Ogun State. Mr. Daniel hinged his support for Dokpesi on the latters ability to rebuild the party and make it the darling of Nigerians. While acknowledging that he has been under pressure from stakeholders to contest, OGD as he is fondly called, said he will drop his ambition to support Dokpesi. I have known High Chief for more than four decades and it beholds on me that I should support him whenever he is seeking any position, he said amidst applause. In his response, Chief Dokpesi thanked Otunba Daniel, assuring him that he will not disappoint as he will work assiduously to bring unity to the South West chapter of the party and ensure that PDP wins subsequent elections in the region. The PDP delegates from Ogun state prayed for him and pledged their support during the convention. Ogun is the 13th state visited by Dokpesi and his team made up of former Chief Whip of the senate, Victor Kassim Oyofo; Edo state PDP organizing secretary, Hon. Henry Duke Tenebe; former chairman of PDP Kaduna, Chief Abubakar Gaiya Haruna and his Nasarawa counterpart, Chief Yunaha Iliya. Others were Mrs. Kafilat Ogbara, Prince Lekan Tejuoso, Benson Olaoluwa, Sola Kuti among others. The Nigeria Police in Kaduna State have arrested 22 persons suspected of committing various offences ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping and car snatching. The State Commissioner of Police, Sanusi Lemu, while parading the suspects at the command Headquarters, disclosed that they were arrested at various locations in the state following a major operation by his men. The commissioner added that arms and ammunitions, four stolen vehicles among others were recovered from the criminals He explained that among the suspects include a 5-man kidnapping gang that had been terrorizing motorists along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway and another gang that specialized in car snatching. The commissioner however, reiterated the commands commitment to rid the state of criminals and hoodlums as he said his men have been deployed to all high risks areas to curb the menace. He therefore, urged residents to be vigilant and report anyone suspected to be a criminal to the Police or other security agencies The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has called for the resignation of the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC). Mr. Frank was reacting to the NWCs inability to intervene in the ongoing crisis in the House of Representatives. Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday, the APC deputy spokesman condemned the indifference of the partys leadership to the budget padding scandal rocking the lower legislative chamber. He said the current situation was not only an embarrassment to the party, the APC-led federal government, but also to President Muhammadu Buhari and the countrys democracy. Frank also flayed the APC NWC for its inability to solve the crisis in the Senate and the internal strife among its members in Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, and Bayelsa among other states. I respect the National Chairman. Hes like a father to me. But again, this is an issue that has to do with our political party. If we cant manage it, then the current leadership under Oyegun is not competent. I love this party so much. I dont want us to derail from our responsibilities as no responsible leadership will keep quiet in the face of numerous crises. If Oyegun cannot do this job of harmonizing the party members when there are crises, I will say without fear of favour that he should resign and give way for people who have capacity to do the job. The truth is bitter. But I will not relent in speaking it at all times. There are so many leaders of this party that will agree with me that Oyegun is not competent enough to do this job. So, many of them will testify. Although they may not have the competence to speak. I want to use this opportunity to beg leaders of this party, if the NWC members cannot do it, the leaders of this party should please wade into the current crisis rocking the House of Representatives. The current NWC cannot solve the crisis rocking the National Assembly. The two persons involved are members of the APC. The party should have summoned Abdulmumin Jibrin at the early stage. They party should have intervened within 24 hours. The party is not making any move as at now. Nobody has called Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Abdulmumin, said Frank. He added, We must not shy away from the truth. The President is the leader of our party. So, if the leadership under Oyegun cannot save the President from embarrassment, who will do it for us? We have to do it by ourselves. So, that is why Im taking it upon myself to speak out because I want the President to succeed. This is not a personal attack against the leadership of the party. Im saying this because the silence of my party all the times is not good for democracy and our government as at today. This is not the first time our party is keeping quiet on issues that bother on individual members of the party or party members from various states, said Frank. ne On this day in 2013;The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, held that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has no powers to de-register any political party in the country without recourse to the 1999 Constitution as amended. Also on this day in 2014.The N100 million cash gift allegedly given to parents of abducted Chibok girls when they met former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa caused disquiet among the aggrieved parents. They reportedly cried out that they have been cheated by their community leaders in the sharing formula. The Presidency allegedly handed over the money to leaders of the Chibok community in Abuja for onward presentation to parents of the abducted schoolgirls. Equally on this day in 2011: In hilly area outside Ife-Odan, Osun State, a helicopter crashed left three people dead, a male pilot and two women were involved. And on this day in 2009: In Maiduguri, security forces hunted door-to-door for Islamic militants, killed more than hundred (100) of them by storming the sects compound. The Nigerian military has defended its decision to dislodge vandals and militants operating at Arepo with air strikes, saying it was due to the inaccessibility of the swampy hideouts of the criminals. It said the joint operation involving the Army, Police, State Security Service (SSS) and Civil Defence, deployed air strikes in order to be able to get at the criminals and destroy their base of operations. The Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, who addressed the media yesterday, said the obnoxious development of kidnapping, robbery attacks and vandalism, which has overtime pervaded the area, prompted military action. The FOC, however, said the force was yet to put a figure to the number of casualties recorded in its first strike action as it was yet to wholly gain access to the creeks. He said: We have commenced an ongoing operation around Arepo. We are all very familiar with the ugly situation that have been developing around Arepo, ranging from pipeline vandalism to kidnapping, armed robbery, and so on. Just last month, we got directive from the Chief of Defence Staff that we should carry out an operation to the general area of Arepo, with a view to dismantling vandals shanties scattered around Arepo, Ibafo, Ishawo. Initially, we were directed not to use air power, but when we carried out assessment of the operation area, a lot of them had moved from areas accessible by water and land to areas that are very swampy, into the mangroves of the area. We had to get back to the CDS that the best way we can take out these targets is by the use of air power, and the CDS granted us permission to do a general re-assessment and employ attack helicopters to take out those targets. We had to use air power because of the nature of the terrain. He pointed out that an assessment of the target area revealed that oil bunkering operation was ongoing on a large scale. Rear Admiral Bobai vowed to bring to book the sponsors of the act and thwart the extant market they supply. Yesterday, we initiated the operation and we were able to knock off some targets, then a surveillance aircraft went up to do the after battle surveillance for us. We were able to interpret the video clip, and we could see that after the first attack, they came out from where they were hiding with guns. We could see one of their canoes which they mounted a GPMG on it. The interpretation is that all that is happening there is deliberate and well planned since they could arm themselves to that magnitude. It is our wish that at the end of this operation, we would find a means to go into the place to comb that general area. We anticipated that some of them will run away and the only two ways they could leave that place is either by land or water. The land component: the army, the police, Civil defence have identified some get-away routes. The get-away routes by water, the naval forces have blocked them. We have also employed the SSS. On the other hand, we have blocked escape routes towards Ogun State. The essence of having blockages on land is that when they are running out, we would be able to grab them, profile them, investigate them and trace their sponsors. Being in business means that they have a market. We want to identify that market. We are going to sustain this operation and see where it would take us. Mr. Bobai added that the two states involved, Lagos and Ogun, have been adequately informed of the operation, adding that residents had no cause to panic. We are in touch with Ogun and Lagos state governments because the general operation area lies between the states, he said. A Mixed Market = A Mixed Day Market Tea Leaves - 14 minutes ago Yesterday the markets traded Mixed with only the Dow higher. We will see the same today? Airbus 3rd-quarter earnings grow despite supply chain woes AP - 1 hour ago Airbus has reported that earnings grew in the third quarter and revenue is up through the first nine months of 2022 as it benefited from a strong U.S. dollar despite supply chain issues BA : 139.76 (+4.46%) $SPX : 3,807.30 (-0.61%) $DOWI : 32,033.28 (+0.61%) $IUXX : 11,191.63 (-1.88%) 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 : 2,313 (-0.04%) NIB : 24.43 (+1.67%) E arrivata lufficialita, dopo una giornata di voci rincorrenti: per il triennio 2018-2021 sara lemittente Sky a godere dei diritti televisivi per trasmettere, in esclusiva assoluta, le partite non solo delle prossime edizioni dellEuropa League ma anche quelle della massima competizione continentale, la Champions. Un pacchetto da favola per il quale la tv satellitare di Rupert Murdoch avrebbe messo sul piatto unofferta giudicata piu congrua di quella presentata dalla concorrente Mediaset. A dare lannuncio dellaffare concluso e stata la stessa Sky che, in un comunicato, ha spiegato che il nuovo format sviluppato dalla UEFA ci consentira di portare ai nostri abbonati un prodotto rivoluzionario per il calcio europeo in Italia. Per la prima volta la UEFA Champions League e la UEFA Europa League saranno insieme in unesclusiva offerta integrata, che permettera agli appassionati di seguire fino a 7 squadre italiane, mai cosi tante prima dora, impegnate nelle sfide con i migliori club europei. Sky: Rafforzata leadership Anche il livello tecnico dellofferta sara altissimo ed e ancora lemittente a rivelare i dettagli: Continueremo a fare innovazione, trasmettendo le partite piu importanti anche in 4K HDR. Questofferta senza precedenti rafforza la posizione di Sky come leader della programmazione sportiva in Italia ed e anche un altro passo importante di sostegno al calcio italiano. Insomma, per i prossimi tre anni, sara unegemonia totale quella della satellitare sul calcio europeo, avendo mantenuto il pacchetto Europa League (gia sua esclusiva) e affiancandola a quello ancor piu appetibile della Champions League ad appannaggio Mediaset dal 2015 al 2018. Sfida Serie A Ora la sfida fra i due colossi delle trasmissioni sportive si spostera sui diritti televisivi della prossima Serie A, per la quale si e ancora in attesa di un nuovo bando che, come annunciato dal commissario della Lega, Carlo Tavecchio, avra le stesse caratteristiche del precedente, andato pero a vuoto: solo una delle offerte presentate per i cinque pacchetti, infatti, superava la soglia minima richiesta dalla base dasta. Niente di fatto, quindi, anche in virtu della stessa Mediaset che, in sostanza, ha disertato il bando (giudicato inaccettabile) non presentando alcuna offerta. La battaglia, anche in questo caso, sara sulle esclusive: del resto, dopo essersi vista scivolare via una componente importante come la Champions, sulla Serie A Mediaset dara sicuramente battaglia. Un ottobre da sogno per Antonio Conte: lex ct della Nazionale italiana, attualmente alla guida del Chelsea, nelle ultime quattro gare di Premier League ha collezionato solo successi, conditi da 11 reti segnate e addirittura nessuna incassata. Numeri da record che non sono certo passati inosservati alla Federazione inglese, la quale ha conferito al tecnico leccese lambito premio di Manager del mese. Unavventura oltremanica iniziata in sordina, quella di Conte, pur a fronte di tre vittorie nelle prime tre gare di campionato. A far vacillare, anche se solo per un momento, le certezze del patron del club londinese, Roman Abramovich, i risultati conseguiti tra la 4a e la 6a giornata, coincisi con un pareggio sul campo dello Swansea City e, soprattutto, con le due pesanti sconfitte subite dal Liverpool, sul terreno casalingo di Stamford Bridge, e dallArsenal. In particolare, la debacle interna coi Reds, aveva irritato non poco il numero uno russo, poiche occorsa proprio nel giorno della sua 250esima partita da presidente della societa. Come detto, solo un momento. Dopo lincontro dellEmirates, il tecnico salentino cambia modulo, adottando un piu equilibrato 3-4-3 e inserendo elementi di corsa come lo spagnolo Pedro. Una svolta totale perche, di li in poi, il Chelsea inanellera solo e soltanto vittorie: 2 gol allHull City e al Southampton in trasferta, 3 ai campioni dInghilterra del Leicester e 4 allo United in casa, con un meraviglioso numero zero nella casella delle reti subite. Un fantastico poker, ottenuto tra l1 e il 29 ottobre. Un cambio di marcia sbalorditivo, confermato dal 5 a 0 rifilato ai toffees dellEverton nel primo match di novembre, e una scalata che, man mano, ha portato i blues al secondo posto in classifica, a soli 2 punti dal Liverpool capolista. E allora, non poteva mancare il riconoscimento di migliore allenatore del mese, ottenuto surclassando tecnici del calibro di Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) e Mark Hughes (Southampton). Tanta, ovviamente, la soddisfazione: E un grande onore e voglio condividerlo con i giocatori e con la societa ha dichiarato Conte sul sito ufficiale della Premier League -. E la prima volta che lavoro in un altro Paese, con una cultura diversa, e portare la propria filosofia non e facile, ma ora sono contento di questa scelta. A completare la festa, la premiazione del fantasista belga, Eden Hazard, come miglior giocatore di ottobre. Due risultati importanti per il club, ottimo incentivo per la rincorsa al trono dei campioni, occupato dal Leicester di Ranieri. Il prossimo appuntamento per l11 di Conte sara al Riverside Stadium, tana del Middlesborough neopromosso. Il tempo di festeggiare e gia finito. Two separate online petitions are calling on the Department of Justice and Equality in Ireland to change the current requirements for American retirees wishing to relocate to Ireland. The pettions are for those whose ancestors are too far back to claim citizenship, or non-Irish Americans who want to live there Following a review of immigration procedures in 2014, the Irish Naturalization and Immigration Service (INIS) announced in March 2015 that retirees from non-EEA countries who wish to move to Ireland must have an annual income of at least $55,138 (50,000)$110,276 (100,000) annual income for couples in order to acquire a visa. That figure is way above the average retirement income for Irish pensioners which currently stands at $6,248 (5,625), according to a recent survey from Standard Life. The new rules left many Americans who had dreamed of spending their retired years on the Emerald Isle disappointed as, no matter what their savings, the lack of such a high annual income left them ineligible to carry out their plans. We are just ordinary people just looking to be happy in our golden years. Why should anyone anywhere not have a dream of that? Elthea Stiegman, who established one of the petitions, told IrishCentral. To me I am going home to take the place of my great-grandparents who had to leave Ireland during the famine in order to survive. I guess in a way it is my way to pay back my heritage and go to a place that I truly feel is home for me. Stiegman established the petition Let Americans Retire in Ireland. She had been planning to retire to Ireland since 2005, traveling there in 2013 to establish a bank account and prove to the Irish government that she was serious about the move. Sending out letters to many American and Irish politicians including Louth TD Fergus ODowd, who acted to seek clarity from the government on it, and Ambassador Anne Anderson, who has been very helpful. Her campaign grew, eventually leading to a second petition named Help the Global Irish Retire to Ireland, established by Kevin Callaghan under the account name Annie Moore, a reminder of the history of Irish immigration to the US. Annie Moore was the name of the very first person to pass through the quarantine station in Ellis Island, New York on the day it opened in 1892. The two petitions now aim at convincing the Irish Government to change these requirements and continue to allow the older generation of Americans to repopulate areas of Ireland they believe are calling out for population growth and investment. The new immigration rules for retirees are likely to put a further chill on investment in Irelands rural countryside at a time when Ireland can least afford it. Should Ireland ignore this opportunity to help the economies of these rural areas so much in need of investment? Callaghans petition asks. Read more: Ireland rejecting American retirees under new rules According to a statement made by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald on the issue just last week, however: The key financial consideration in respect of a retiree is that the person must have sufficient and sustainable resources to ensure that they will not now, nor in the future become a burden on the State. This is a fair and reasonable expectation on the part of the State and, in the case of retirees, the income level was set at 50,000 per person per annum. The applicant would also be expected to have a lump sum significant enough to cater for unforeseen circumstances, for example, health care and possible nursing home care in the future. Callaghan disagrees, however, and believes that there are reasonable changes to be made to the current system that will not completely lock out Americans from retiring in Ireland. These changes include: a distinct, separate immigration category for such retirees, the publication of a document clearly outlining the requirements, a path to citizenship (may retirees currently live on a Stamp 0 visa and are required to re-apply each year), and a policy with lower income requirements that takes into account all financial assets. Ultimately, Ireland must decide if retirees make a positive contribution to the Irish economy, he states. After being contacted by the petitioners in the past few weeks, Fergus ODowd, TD, this week raised the issue in the Dail (Irish parliament) with Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, asking the Minister to explain the recent change for retirees in terms of income requirement, the change from Stamp 3 to Stamp 0, and if the Minister would make an exception for Americans retiring to the country given the long history between Ireland and the US. All States, including Ireland, operate immigration controls for well established reasons of public policy, including consideration of the economic impacts for the State, Minister Fitzgerald responded. I requested officials in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department to review the current policy position regarding the migration of non-EEA retirees to Ireland. That review is underway. As part of the review process there will be a public consultation which will seek the views of stakeholders in relation to the review's recommendations. Despite the concerns shown by the Justice Minister that retirees would become a burden on the state, Stiegman believes they would be anything but. The restrictions are probably due to the immigration issues of the world, she states, but also the issue that Ireland might be scared of having us as a burden to their health services. Yet, as outsiders we cannot be a burden. We have to have health insurance of our own to stay. And we cannot become part of any government services you offer to the citizens in Ireland. The only argument I see for Ireland not wanting the older generation is fear of the cost of the health services and the long term care. Again, we cannot be a burden if we have our own health insurance as it is required. However, circumstances could prevail when we need extra help and that might be what the government is looking at, those times of the unexpected issues. Having already purchased a home in Co. Cork for his retirement in the future, Callaghan also emphasises his belief that he would not become a burden on the state, telling IrishCentral that if it came to his pension money running out or not being able to provide for himself while living in Ireland, he would be happy to leave for the US again as he would accept those conditions. Both petitions currently stand between 100 and 200 signatures and await the opportunity to take part in the public consultation once it becomes available. Petitions: Let Americans Retire in Ireland. Help the Global Irish Retire to Ireland. A new poll has found that, in the wake of Britains Brexit vote, 65 percent of people in the Republic of Ireland would vote for a united Ireland. Pollster Red C revealed an 8 percent increase in the number of people who would vote in favor compared to a survey conducted six years ago which showed support at 57 percent, reports IrishNews.com. Last month, the UK voted to leave the European Union, although the majority of voters in both Northern Ireland and Scotland wanted to remain. The result has led to a renewed debate about a referendum on the Irish border. Remain campaigners, such as Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, have pushed for the the wishes of Northern Ireland and Scotland to be respected. But Leave backers, including DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster, insist the result of the EU referendum is a UK-wide decision. Since the vote, both Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin have brought up the possibility of supporting a united Ireland. However, Kenny has since backed away from his earlier talk of a referendum. "Across this island there is now a greater hunger for cooperation between north and south and with continental Europe, and for many people their relationship with the UK is fundamentally altered by this result," said the SDLP's Claire Hanna. "There is an intense job of work for nationalism now to make a case for Irish unity that appeals to heads and hearts and that doesn't play on fears." Said Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy: "Partition was disastrous for Ireland north and south. As Irish republicans, we want to build a new and better Ireland, in Europe and encompassing all sections of our people. "We now have an opportunity to redefine relationships across the island and with the EU. We want to see a wide-ranging debate, involving all sections of the community, about what that new Ireland would look like and how it can be achieved." Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has moved to rule out the possibility of a referendum on a united Ireland, saying he does not believe that the conditions required to call a border poll have been met. The latest Red C poll, which was carried out for bookmaker Paddy Power, was conducted between July 25 and 27 with a sample of 1,000 voters. Support for a united Ireland was equal at 65 percent among both women and men. All age groups showed a majority in favor, especially among those aged 55 to 64, of which 70 percent were likely to vote for reunification. A higher percentage (69 percent) of people in less well-off social group s said they would vote for a united Ireland compared to those in better-off groups (59 percent). Fifty-six percent of Dublin voters said they would vote for a united Ireland, while 68 percent to 69 percent of those living outside the capital said they would. Sinn Fein (79 percent) and Fianna Fail (71 percent) voters were most likely to support a united Ireland, while Fine Gael (58 percent) voters were least likely. President Obama in his speech at the DNC on Wednesday night caught a lot of people by surprise by talking about his mothers side of his familyand their Scots-Irish influences: See, my grandparentsthey came from the heartland. Their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago. I don't know if they had their birth certificates, but they were there. They were Scotch-Irish mostlyfarmers, teachers, ranch hands, pharmacists, oil rig workers. Hearty, small-town folks. Some were Democrats, but a lot of them, maybe even most of them, were Republicansthe party of Lincoln. And my grandparents explained that folks in these parts, they didn't like showoffs, they didn't admire braggarts or bullies. The Washington Post did an interesting dissection of this large, but mostly forgotten group of Americans who were critical in settling America and who, according to the Post, are a reemerging cultural identity. Who, exactly, are the Scotch-Irish? They are largely Protestants from Ulster who, as the President said, immigrated to Americathen part of Englandin the 18th century. They came 200,000 strong and settled in what is now Pennsylvania, branching out to other parts of Appalachia and the west. Unlike the flood of Irish that would transform America after the Great Famine of the 1840s, these Scotch-Irish Protestant were strongly anti-Papal and strong supporters of King William of OrangeKing Billy in the vernacularthe big winner at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. As they spread across America they were called other names toolike hillbilliesbecause of their religious and political influences. The U.S. Census puts them today at about 2 percent of the population. Read more: Where have all the Scots Irish gone? Numbers way down The President may have been trying to entice them back into the Democratic fold because today they are strongly Republican and staunch supporters of Donald J. Trump. According to former Virginia senator Jim Webb, Few key Democrats seem even to know that the Scots-Irish exist, as this culture is so adamantly individualistic that it will never overtly form into one of the many interest groups that dominate Democratic Party politics. In his book Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, Webb wrote that they dont go for group-identity politics any more than they like to join a union. They are a substantial voting block ranging from Pennsylvania all the way to New MexicoRed State Americaaccording to author Colin Woodard. He puts their number at 56-million. The region that they left the dominant cultural footprint on, he says, is the largest of the regional cultures. Perhaps the President bought up his ancestry because he was trying to help Secretary Clinton in this area, although history shows, despite winning two national elections, Obama was not a winner with the Scots-Irish of America. Woodard points out that This was Obamas worst region by far. obama, barack obama, dnc, democratic national convention, dnc 2016, birth certificate, birth certificates #Gifs #Tr pic.twitter.com/EJYDlScaw4 Let There Be Gifs (@LetThereBeGifs) July 28, 2016 Dermot McEvoy is the author of the The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising and Irish Miscellany (Skyhorse Publishing). He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com. Follow him at www.dermotmcevoy.com. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/13thApostleMcEvoy/ For a long time after the devastation of the Second World War Italys wines struggled to be taken seriously and winemakers simply didnt have the money to make much improvement or invest in new equipment. Winemakers were also not helped by bizarre rules and restrictions such as the stipulation that Chianti vineyards should contain some (white) Trebbiano. Trebbiano had been used after the war to bulk out the red wines but it never added anything other than dilution to the final blend of what is, after all, one of the worlds most famous red wines. Thankfully enough winemakers ignored rules such as this and the rules were changed in the 1990s, with a certain confidence also seeming to emerge. Certainly there are still tanker loads of bland Pinot Grigio and Montepulciano being produced but even these grapes can be interesting if you find the right producer. The wines of the South have come to the fore with many an interesting Nero dAvola, Aglianico and Fiano for sale and more famous names such as Amarone and Barolo now fetch high prices. Barolo is busily defining zones these days so soon you will be expected to know some of the better vineyard sites just as you would the Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy. Sadly this will also probably mean more expensive wines at the top end (as if Barolo wasnt expensive enough!). Older grape varieties are being revived with companies like Masi in the Veneto experimenting with grapes like Oseletta, an ancient densely textured and flavoured variety which adds an extra dimension to many of their better wines. Watch for grapes such as Refosco Bonardo and Teroldego and for Grillo, Grechetto and Gaglioppo and be open to the more obscure and you will generally be rewarded. All my wine recommendations this week are from less well known regions and are a mix of old favourites and new finds. A few years ago it would not have been wise to take a risk on an Italian wine you had never heard of but thankfully that time is largely gone. BEST VALUE UNDER 15 Ciu Ciu Piceno, Bacchus 2013, Italy 12.95 Stockist: Wines Direct Mullingar and Arnotts Dublin, winesdirect.ie The Marche in Eastern Central Italy is one of the less well-known Italian regions and Rosso Piceno is the main wine you will find here in Ireland generally a blend of Sangiovese and Montepulciano. This wine is frequently on restaurant menus and I almost always order it as I love its ripe juicy fruits and easy going style. Charming and great value. Ciello Bianco Terre Siciliane, IGP, Italy 11.99-12.49 Stockists: World Wide Wines Waterford, Green Man Wines Terenure, Le Caveau Kilkenny www.lecaveau.ie Made from organic Catarrato grapes grown in the high hills above Alcamo in Sicily this is remarkably fresh and ripe with sweet pear and honeysuckle aromas and a clean fresh palate this is remarkably good value and with enough character to be drunk on its own or with light pasta or seafood dishes. Bella Modella La Farfalla Pinot Grigio, Umbria, Italy 11.99 Stockists: Curious Wines Naas and Cork, Red Nose Wines Clonmel A reader recently asked me to recommend an inexpensive Pinot Grigio that had some flavour a difficult task as PGs lightness of touch is what people like about it. This is young (2015) and fresh with some bright peach and apple aromas and a lovely bright palate with some lingering green apple peel character. BEST VALUE OVER 15 Loredan Gasparini Cabernet Sauvignon, Italy 17.95 Stockists: J.J ODriscolls, Ballinlough, Ardkean Quality Foodstore, Karwigs Carrigaline www.karwigwines.ie From a vineyard around 50km north of Venice this estate was once owned by the Doge of Venice and is also the source of one of Italys few Malbecs (recommended here a year or two ago). Ripe pungent black fruits with an earthy touch and a subtle gout de terroir and some vanilla and blackcurrant on the finish this will stand up well to spicy and barbecue meats. Villamedoro Montepulciano dAbruzzo, Italy 16.50 Stockists: Wines Direct www.WinesDirect.ie, Mullingar and Dublin Montepulciano is the ripe fruity workhorse red grape of Abruzzo and much of Eastern Central Italy (Molise, Marche). There are oceans of light thin versions in the pizza restaurants of the world but in good examples like here, it has supple tannins, fleshy black plum fruits with spice and fruit character. Leone de Castris Salice Salentino Reserva, Puglia, Italy 20.99 Stockists: JJ ODriscolls, World Wide Wines, Vintry, Gibneys Malahide, McCambridges As you head south to the toe of Italy the grape varieties change and you find Negoramaro, Primitivo and Malvasia Nera which in the hot sun here take on a dried fruit character. This is packed with spicy southern Italian fruits with dried cherries and hints of muscatel raisins and prunes. The LE James Joyce rescued more than 400 migrants from the Mediterranean yesterday in three separate operations. Twenty-five people were rescued from a wooden vessel, 130 were rescued from a rubber craft and a further 278 were rescued from a second rubber vessel. Foxtons, a symbol of Londons booming property market in recent years, also warned that it might slow the pace at which it opens more of its glass-fronted coffee shop-style outlets. Property website Rightmove said this week that uncertainty created by the Brexit vote had helped push down property transactions but saw its profits rise, helped partly by being spread across Britain, unlike Foxtons, which operates almost entirely in the capital. The liquidator of FF Couriers, with a registered office in North Strand, Dublin, sought a declaration under company law that William Day made around 10,000 in payments at a time when the firm was unable to pay other debts due. Mr Day said the payments were to him as salary for his job in the company and were his only source of income to provide for his family. He believed at the time the firm would overcome its difficulties and said he had put 60,000 of his own money into the company. The liquidator claimed the payment constituted a fraudulent preference with a view to giving Mr Day, as a creditor of the firm, preference over other creditors. This was in contravention of Section 286 of the 1963 Companies Act, it was claimed. Mr Justice Max Barrett ruled the evidence before the court was sufficient to overcome the presumption required under law to show the salary payments to Mr Day involved a fraudulent preference to him as a creditor over other creditors. These were modest payments handed over in a constant fashion every month which pointed to the truth of Mr Days evidence that they were intended as the ongoing payment of his relatively modest monthly salary, the judge said. They were not, for example, suspicious scatter gun payments of large amounts to achieve quick repayment of monies owed to FF Couriers by Mr Day, he said. However, a careful application of the sometimes quite draconian provisions of our company law is required, if directors are not to lose their good name, by way of an untempered adjudication in a matter such as this, he said. Central Bank lending figures showed that net mortgage loans fell 2% in June from a year earlier, even though home loans in the month had increased by 105m the fastest pace since the depth of the crisis, in February 2010. Households, however, continued to pay back more home loans than they borrowed, and corporate lending fell by an annual 5.7%. CSO figures showed that the pace of growth in home prices has eased again. Prices fell by 0.1% in June from May and were up 6.6% from June 2015. That marks a slower rate of annual growth from the 6.9% and 7.1% increases posted in May and April, the figures show. There has also been a marked slowdown from the 10.7% annual rise recorded in June last year. Central Bank mortgage lending controls were introduced at the start of last year. They limit the amount that homebuyers can borrow based on a ratio of the loan-to-value of the property and the loan-to-income ratio of the borrower. Dermot OLeary, chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers, said that price stagnation has been the major theme for house prices this year. We remain of the view that this will be a year of two halves as the hangover associated with the Central Bank mortgage rules wears off and supply shortages come to the fore, but the rules appear to have put a cap on excessive price growth in Ireland, Mr OLeary said. Property industry participants have called for the loosening of the rules as the Central Bank conducts a review of their effects this year. Most analysts, and the IMF as recently as this week, strongly support the restrictions for helping stop any return to the damaging boom in house prices at a time of national shortage. Davy Stockbrokers said the spillover effects on confidence here from the Brexit vote could bring a potential headwind for house prices. The broker nonetheless forecasts prices will rise 5% this year. Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Merrion Capital, said the figures showing reduced lending across the economy remain a cause for concern. Households and businesses may still want to pay down outstanding debt which is fine. However, with the cost of funding remaining high, particularly compared with the eurozone average, there is no real incentive to take on new borrowings, which is a concern going forward. The bottom line is that credit will in our view need to flow at a much stronger level than currently if the Irish economy is to grow to potential over the long-run, he said. Under the carriers existing rules, all passengers can choose to save money by having their seats randomly allocated. However, the airline said this led to boarding issues as crews try to re-seat adults and children who have been separated. From September, one adult in every booking with children under 12 will have to purchase a reserved seat, which will cost half the standard fee per flight. This could cost an extra 8 for a return flight. He joined Irish Life Assurance in 1980 as a trainee accountant and qualified as a certified accountant in 1982. He worked in a variety of roles in Ireland and the UK for Irish Life Assurance, including earning his stripes doing weekly door to door collections of cash for modest life assurance premiums in working-class housing estates around the capital. In 1998, he was promoted to the role of chief operating officer in Irish Lifes retail division. In 1999, following the merger of Irish Life and Irish Permanent, he was appointed chief executive of Irish Life Retail. In June 2005, he was appointed chief executive of Permanent TSB bank before taking on the role of ILP group chief executive in May 2007. The timing was bad as the emergence of an extensive sub-prime mortgage problem in the US triggered a global financial meltdown which itself resulted in a stalling of the normal flow of lending between banks. Consequently by late 2007, ILP had begun to rely heavily on borrowings from the ECB to maintain liquidity. In March 2008, Mr (Peter) Fitzpatrick met Con Horan, prudential director with the Central Bank, and received a dressing down over the extent of these borrowings, as revealed in the banks 2007 end of year results. Casey was travelling abroad at the time presenting the banks 2007 results. When he returned, he met with Mr Hurley and financial regulator Pat Neary and the concept of the green jersey agenda Irish banks supporting each one another during the global financial meltdown was first raised. The chief executive told detectives that he very much took on board the regulators admonition that Irish banks needed to circle the wagons and don the green jersey. This was the start of it all and Casey said that after this meeting, he briefed Peter Fitzpatrick on the agenda. Mr Casey said he had no recollection of authorising the March back to back loans which saw Anglo place 1bn with ILP in return for an overnight placement of 750m in corporate deposits from Irish Life Assurance. Peter Fitzpatrick told detectives his boss had approved the deal. Mr Fitzpatrick told gardai: He gave me his authority to execute the transactions. It is a flight of fancy to suggest I was doing a solo run on this. I couldnt have proceeded with this transaction without my chief executives approval. Mr Fitzpatrick said he understood that he had a clear instruction from Mr Casey to adopt the green jersey agenda, but said that his CEO would be closely involved in any transaction. In any case, the help from ILP at Anglos half-year reporting date was reciprocated by Anglo over ILPs half-year reporting date in June, when ILP sent over 3bn in loans to Anglo, and Anglo sent 3bn cash deposits to ILP. In September 2008, dealers from Anglo contacted their counterparts with a view to setting up a similar deal to the March transaction. At the same time David Drumm contacted Casey and asked for a meeting. During this meeting, Casey was taken by surprise at Mr Drumms proposal of a merger between the two banks. Casey was unenthusiastic about the plan and days later it was formally rejected by ILPs board. The following weekend a series of articles appeared in the Sunday newspapers suggesting that the merger with Anglo was the only option left for ILP and that without it, they would not survive the banking crisis. Casey put the blame for this articles squarely with Anglo and was furious. In a follow up meeting with Mr Drumm and Sean FitzPatrick, he did nothing to hide his displeasure, and his demeanour was lampooned later by Mr Drumm saying, in recorded calls played during the trial, that Casey had a fucking brick wall built in front of him, and kept saying very very stupid things. The merger proposal was again roundly rejected. Casey admitted authorising the placement of billions of euro to Anglo in September 2008, but said he was in order to support a pillar financial institution in the Irish banking system, under the green jersey agenda, The September transactions would never have arisen or never have been contemplated by ILP but for our understanding of our obligations under the green jersey agenda mandated by the Central Bank and financial regulator, he told gardai. Counsel Michael OHiggins told the jury that his client had been duped by Anglos decision to account for the transactions on the balance sheet, while the State said it was inconceivable that a banker of his experience didnt know that Anglo intended to do this. In 1990 the business was acquired by West LB and around this time he began working with corporate clients. In 1997, he left West LB and joined ABN Amro Bank. In late April 2001 he joined Anglo Irish Bank as head of debt capital markets (DCM). This was a new sub-division of the treasury division of the bank and his role was two-fold: To attract funding from professional investors who purchased bank bonds for an agreed return, and secondly, the setting up of a team to develop business work with the approximately 350 banks worldwide Anglo dealt with. On arrival in that role, Bowe was largely on his own and began recruiting staff both internally and externally. He reported directly to Mr McAteer. In the summer of 2006, he was appointed to Anglos senior executive board, along with Matt Moran and Peter Fitzgerald. This board, chaired by David Drumm, operated at a level just below the banks main board and was tasked with issues around capital spend and day to day operations. Brian Murphy became head of treasury, where Mr Bowe worked, in 2003. This was the division concerned with getting money into the bank by raising funds in the money markets. When Mr Murphy left the bank his role was left unfilled and Peter Fitzgerald and Matt Cullen ran treasury in a collegial manner, Bowe told investigators in February 2010. In early 2008, Bowe spoke to Mr Drumm about the possibility of him becoming the head of treasury but by October that year Mr Drumm cast doubt on what he had said. Bowe said McAteer told him he should just report directly to him. Matt Cullen reported to Bowe and another dealer in treasury, Ciaran McArdle, reported to Mr Cullen. Judge Nolan said Bowe was a lesser figure to the other accused in the management hierarchy. He was not a company director. Judge Nolan told the jury that by the start of 2008, treasury was run by Cullen, Fitzgerald and Bowe, but by September, Bowe had assumed de facto leadership of treasury. In September 2008, Bowes colleague Matt Cullen told Bowe about a conversation he had with his ILP counterpart, David Gantly, in which Mr Cullen told Mr Gantly they might be looking for more than 5bn in deposits. He said Mr Gantly told him it wouldnt be a problem because you might be well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. The jury heard a number of phonecalls which involved Bowe and his then chief executive Mr Drumm. During one call on September 19, Mr Drumm asked Bowe about whether they had to cash back the six billion from ILP and Bowe says yes. Three days later Mr Drumm called Bowe to tell him: By the way, bigger picture. 30th September, even with the six billion fixes which Mr fucking Denis confirmed for me this morning were fucked. David Drumm Bowe agrees that were still in a hole. Mr Drumm then asks Bowe Are you going to be able to bloat the balance sheet over year end with short term inter-bank and all that sort of stuff and shove it into liquidity? In another call on September 29, Bowe told Mr Drumm and McAteer about the 6bn fix with Permo , explaining what happens is the money goes round in a circle. He said: Whats happening is we give the money to them and the dance here is we actually get it back in time and thats becoming very, very tough to do. During this call, McAteer said well keep going for the moment anyway. The following day, when the bank guarantee had come in overnight, Mr Cullen and Mr McArdle were wondering if the ILP transactions would now cease. Around 3bn had gone over and back at this stage. Mr Cullen approached Bowe and asked him if they were still going ahead and Bowe said they were, the trial heard. Mr Moran also testified that he was in Mr Drumms office on September 30 when Bowe informed the chief executive that the ILP transactions were over and suggested Mr Drumm ring Denis Casey to thank him. On the same day Sean FitzPatrick, then chairman of Anglo, telephoned Bowe to congratulate him on his efforts on a day when the bank had experienced record inflows of cash in the wake of the guarantee. During this discussion, Mr FitzPatrick asked Bowe if there were any funnies in the year-end figure. Bowe replied: We have a big funny with Permo. The accused told gardai that the term was slang used by Mr FitzPatrick and he didnt correct it. He said: Clearly it was an out of the ordinary trade. I believe it was an unfortunate use of words. He went on to qualify as a chartered accountant and then as a member of the Irish Tax Institute. After becoming a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), McAteer went on to become managing director of Paul Coulsons Yeoman International Leasing, a venture capital lending firm. In March 1992, he had being made redundant from Yeoman. He was offered a job by Sean FitzPatrick, then chief executive of up-and-coming Anglo Irish Bank and a man he knew one from his tenure in PWC. As finance director, Mr McAteer was there for a 15-year stretch of continuous growth and expansion as Anglo became Irelands third-biggest bank, with interests in North America, the UK and eastern Europe. McAteer slotted into the role of a keen numbers man travelled frequently selling the Anglo story to international investors. He was also appointed to the board of executive directors and attended all meetings, although he was not at the meeting in December 2008 at which Mr FitzPatrick resigned. When David Drumm was appointed as an inexperienced chief executive of Anglo in 2005, he relied on McAteer to introduce him to key investors. During the Drumm era, the bank doubled in size and McAteer was given responsibility for risk as well as finance. In this role, Matt Moran reported to him as his chief financial officer. Mr Moran, who was granted immunity by the State in the this trial, was seen as McAteers heir apparent. During the summer of 2008, McAteer attending some of the weekly funding initiative meetings held on Friday afternoon in Mr Drumms office. During these meetings, up to 30 different plans designed to increase deposits into the bank were discussed but by September all but the ILP plan had fallen away. McAteer told gardai that he was aware of the ILP deal but not of the mechanics of it. The trial heard that his main role in the transaction was, as chief risk officer, signing off on the credit excess required to allow the deals to go through the banks system. David Drumm The 7.2bn deal was 6.7bn in excess of the normal credit limits. He would have also sat in on meetings Anglos audit committee, which approved how the deal was presented in Anglos preliminary results. On January 7, 2009, McAteer resigned from Anglo Irish Bank. Detective Sergeant Catharina Gunne from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation told the trial that on March 24, 2010, she went to McAteers then family home in Auburn Villas, Rathgar, and arrested the accused. McAteers department, finance, was the department responsible for accounting the transactions in the banks balance sheet. He denied to gardai that the 7.2bn deposits were created for the purpose of creating a false impression as to the health of the bank and told investigators that the accounts reflected the actual transaction. Lawyers for McAteer told the jurors that if they accepted that McAteer believed that the deals were properly accounted for, this was not a view consistent with dishonesty or a conspiracy to defraud. They also argued that it was inconceivable that he would be a part of a conspiracy in the knowledge that all of these things were going to be one run before the entirety of many emanations of the State, including the Department of Finance and the Central Bank. Editorial: 16 At approximately 1am last Friday, the Cork sky was lit up bright blue, by a passing fireball. The sight was witnessed by at least 50 people who have filed reports with Astronomy Ireland. Meteorites can fetch anything up to 50 times the price of gold per gram but you first you need to find where it landed. There have been just under 50 reports in, which is a bit low, David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine, told the Irish Examiner. One question we asked was was it brighter than a full moon, a majority of people said it was and this is an indicator that something that bright generally survives. A lot of people were in-doors when they saw the flash, probably only six people gave us a specific location with some saying north, but the majority of people are saying the south. If it did head for the south then you have the south coast and it could have possibly gone out to sea. A group of volunteers will sit down this weekend to analyse the data gathered from all the reports so far to see if a landing one can be predicted. Mr Moore is appealing for as many witnesses as possible to file their reports to www.astronomy.ie so that they can get an accurate a landing zone. The last time they predicted a landing zone, Astronomy Ireland had received several hundred reports. In the 20th century, only two meteorites were found here, despite two landing in Ireland a year. When a meteorite was found in Carlow in 1999, Astronomy Ireland had received 400 reports. A meteorite trader subsequently bought it and sold it for $500 per gram. Astronomy Ireland will release its report on the meteorite on Tuesday. The Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board last September completed an independent five-year investigation at a cost of 1.33m into the auditors, and concluded that the standard applied by external auditors was found wanting, but that the external audits themselves were generally of a high standard. Judge Martin Nolan said it beggared belief that Anglos auditors Ernst&Young (now EY) had signed off on Anglos end-of-year accounts. They should have known what was occurring if they were doing their job properly, he said, and commented as to whether it was a case of blindness or wilful blindness. A spokeswoman for EY said it was not a party to the latest proceedings and would not be commenting further. Judge Nolan also had stinging criticism for State authorities who turned a blind eye to optically driven balance sheet management which he said was a euphemism for banks entering into transactions which have little or no effect. He jailed former Anglo Irish Bank executives John Bowe for two years and Willie McAteer for three and a half years, and the former group chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent, Denis Casey for two years and nine months for their part in a 7bn market corruption scheme that was deceitful, dishonest and corrupt. Judge Nolan said their actions had potentially affected thousands of people and they had failed to act with honesty and integrity by manufacturing 7.2bn in deposits in what were obviously sham transactions. The deals were done in September 2008 to make Anglos books look healthier that they actually were. Judge Nolan said that Anglos former CEO, David Drumm, was the driving force behind the scheme. The evidence during the trial was that Bowe believed the attitude of the Financial Regulator was one of Im not looking and that Casey became involved with the transactions after being told by the Regulator that Irish banks needed to don the green jersey and help each other out during the unprecedented global credit crunch. Anglo sentencing hearing As he jailed Willie McAteer, 65, of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, for three and a half years, Judge Martin Nolan said he had authorised the transactions when he knew what he was doing was underhand, deceitful, and corrupt. He said he was a respected leader of huge experience whose actions in 2008 were reprehensible. He told John Bowe, 52, from Glasnevin, Dublin, that he had been the chief man in Anglos Treasury room and he had failed to act with honesty. He told him that, in law, following orders was no defence. He imposed a two-year sentence on Bowe, telling him the lower sentence was because he was a lesser functionary and not a board member. He told Denis Casey, 56, from Raheny, Dublin, that he had made a grave error of judgement in authorising the transaction with Anglo. He said he was a man who should have known better. He jailed him for two years and nine months after telling him that Anglo were the authors of the scheme but that he had behaved disgracefully and reprehensibly in co-operating with it. The Taule-Leikanger family touched down in Cork Airport yesterday, having found a balloon while hiking last month. It had been released with a list of prizes for the finder attached by the Dunmanway Chamber of Commerce, before Christmas. Little did they know, but by taking the balloon down out of a tree, the family had won a stay in West Cork in the process. Now, their story having captured the imagination of media both here and in Scandinavia, the family from Bergen in Norway have made it to Ireland to claim their prizes, after Norwegian Airlines provided them with flights from London to Cork. Catherine Crowley from Dunmanway was among the welcome party at Cork Airport, and she said the special guests were surprised at all the people, banners, and of course balloons that greeted them on their arrival. I dont think they expected so many here to welcome them, said Ms Crowley. The Taule-Leikangers were whisked away to Dunmanway to a special food tasting in the marquee of the Southern Bar, but todays itinerary has been kept relatively light to allow the tourists some time to rest. They will be the guests of honour at the Belle of Ballabuidhe pageant in the Parkway Hotel in Dunmanway tomorrow night, after paying a visit to Ballinacarriga Castle. Excursions are also planned to Dunmanway Activity Centre, Gougane Barra, and, weather permitting, a hike up Nowen Hill is on the cards. They found the balloon while hiking, so we thought it was appropriate, said Ms Crowley. The balloon was released from Dunmanways live crib on the Green on December 19, 2015, with a note attached listing a set of prizes sponsored by local businesses, and Ms Crowleys phone number. Prizes included a stay for two in Galvins on the Green B&B; a box of chocolates from Deirdre Kelly; a gift hamper from For Goodness Sake health shop; a voucher from Connollys shoe shop; lunch for two in Marnies Restaurant; and a wash, cut, and shave and a bottle of champagne from Ms Crowleys barber shop, Boyz to Men. After time had passed, and no one had claimed the balloon, the Dunmanway locals had almost forgotten about the prize until the Taule Leikanger family called to reveal that they had found it in a tree while they were hiking in west Norway some 2,500km away from where the balloon had been released in West Cork. The statement follows calls from security expert Paul Gill for special teams, comprising a range of agencies, to identify potential lone wolves and those being radicalised. Research on lone wolf terror attacks conducted by Dr Gill of University College London found that, in 60% of cases, the attacker had told someone else about their planned attack beforehand. Dr Gill said a law enforcement approach would not ensure the sharing of this information and that it required a co-ordinated strategy, including mental health clinicians, social workers, community figures, and religious leaders. In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the Department of Justice said the need for a multi-agency approach to countering radicalisation is considered best practice, but has to be proportionate. A disproportionate response may ultimately be counter-productive and lead to a stigmatisation of elements of our community and this would be regrettable, it said. The input of experts such as mental health practitioners, social workers and religious leaders can be a valuable asset in ensuring that those who may be at risk of radicalisation are identified at an early point and measures are put in place to prevent such radicalisation occurring. Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri of the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council The department also confirmed that it is not going to adopt an anti-extremism declaration developed by Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri of the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council. Shaykh Al-Qadri wanted the declaration adopted as a condition in granting visas to stop radical clerics visiting and speaking here. The department said: While the thinking behind the inclusion of an anti-radicalisation declaration in visa requirements is understood, it may be viewed in some quarters as having the potential to paint all third- country nationals as potential extremists. Shaykh Al-Qadri said that while he wanted the declaration to have been adopted, he understood the departments reasoning. However, he said he is unhappy at the Governments lack of support for Islamic groups that stand for tolerance, pluralism, and democracy. The only way to tackle radicalisation and radical Islam is to invest and support those organisations and mosques, he said. Meanwhile, another religious leader, Imam Ibrahim Noonan, has called on the Government to regulate mosques and says gardai should have the power to conduct random checks. Speaking ahead of the 15th annual convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association convention tomorrow, Imam Noonan, a Galway-based convert, said he has met some young Muslim men with a tendency towards an Isis mentality. The Ahmadiyya community believes in non-violence, tolerance of faiths, and separation of religion and state. Garda Assistant Commissioner Michael OSullivan is to speak at the event. A garda spokesman yesterday said: We have worked hard to gain the trust and confidence of Muslims. Working closely with minority communities leads to information gathering that can also eventually identify potential risks from a small number within their community. READ MORE: Government should regulate mosques and do checks, says Imam Ibrahim Noonan Mr Justice Robert Eagar made the remarks in the Central Criminal Court as he jailed a man for 18 months for raping and sexually abusing his cousin from when he was 12 and she was aged six. The judge noted the girls family and extended family became aware of the abuse in 2007, when she was eight years old. He said the decision of the family, and particularly her grandparents, not to alert the gardai or social services was a grave error. Mr Justice Eager said the family would have to take responsibility for the girls suffering, including self-harm and suicide attempts, which became particularly bad when she hit puberty. The court heard she eventually went to gardai herself when she was 14. The judge imposed a five-year sentence, with the final three and a half years suspended, on the condition that the accused undergo a sex offenders treatment programme in prison. The accused wept loudly and clutched rosary beads after the sentence was handed down. He said he was not able to go to prison and threatened to take his own life. He previously pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial at the Central Criminal Court to sample counts including two charges of sex assault, two charges of rape, and two charges of oral rape in Dublin on dates between October 10, 2004, and March 31, 2007. The now 17-year-old girl took the stand to read her victim impact statement. She said she did not realise until she reached puberty how badly he had damaged her. I cut myself to try and take the pain go away. I felt had no other option but to end my life, she said. She said she had scars on her arms that would be there forever and she would never finish school. I will never forgive and I will never be able to forget, she told the court, before she added that she hoped no other child has to go through what she did. Viktoria Curilla, who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, was described in court by her counsel as one of the most severely damaged children he had come across. Her father, Yan Curilla, told the court how he and his wife initially hoped their daughter would recover. That was all caused by a strong hope and belief by us as first-time parents that something bad and terrible like cerebral palsy could not happen to our child, he said. Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told that the interim settlement for the next three years was without an admission of liability. At the outset of the case, Adrienne Egan, counsel for the hospital, said it regrets any shortcomings in so far as they may have contributed to the outcome for Viktoria. Viktoria Curilla, Arbored Lawns, New Rd, Donabate, Co Dublin, had, through her mother, Lucia Curilla, sued the National Maternity Hospital. Mrs Curilla had been admitted to the National Maternity Hospital on December 29, 2008. Viktorias father told the court that he and Lucia came to Ireland from Slovakia 12 years ago to find a better future. He said it was only two weeks after Viktorias birth that they were told she may have some minor problems in the future. He said it was not until she was five months old that they slowly started to realise how serious her condition was and how massive was the brain damage she had suffered. He said the bitter taste will stay with us forever in relation to the legal battle they have been involved in over the last seven years, when there wasnt a single day that we were not thinking deeply with fear about our daughters future and our future. Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Cross praised the couples care of their daughter and he said he hoped the settlement would remove the fear and burden of her care costs into the future. Outside court, Mr Curilla said Viktoria is the real sunshine of our lives and they are so grateful for every second spent with her. He said: I have to say that it is a real shame that, for all cases like Viktorias, it takes so many years for children in such circumstances to access funds for services that they desperately need from the very beginning of their lives. Imam Ibrahim Noonan said there are some Imams here who are telling young men to fight the West ideologically and that these young people are further radicalised online. Imam Noonan told the Irish Examiner that he has met, and debated with, some young Muslim men born or brought up in Ireland who have a tendency towards an ISIS mentality. Speaking ahead of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association annual convention tomorrow, the cleric said many Muslims walking the street in Ireland keep their head down because of angry looks and that he himself has been verbally confronted on the streets. He said that while he is absolutely distraught by recent terror attacks by supporters of the so-called Islamic State, he is frustrated by the media linking Islam and Muslim with such outrages in their headlines and reports. The conference at Citywest, Dublin, is the 15th annual convention of the community. Minister of State at the Department of Justice, David Stanton, and Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan, are due to speak at it, though an assistant commissioner may attend in her place. The Ahmadiyya community in Ireland is relatively small around 500 members and is not considered by mainstream Islam as part of the Muslim community. While Ahmadiyyas treat Prophet Mohammed as the supreme authority, like the rest of the Muslim population, they also venerate another prophet of the people Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who they regard as subordinate to Mohammed. There was a German police raid on a mosque [on Wednesday] and Im happy they did, said Imam Noonan, whose mosque is located in Galway, though he also preaches in Dublin. Ive been saying this for years. If you are going to close your doors and not open to law enforcement and you are hiding radicals, one day you will get people knocking down your doors. He said the Government needs to regulate mosques and conduct random checks and observe what is going on. He said: I do think law enforcement needs to regulate mosques. If mosques have nothing to hide there should be no problems. Intelligence officers should be able to come in. He said his local chief superintendent in Galway had asked him if he minded if an officer visited. I said No and you dont need to tell me when, he said. Imam Noonan thinks the gardai are doing their best in terms of the way they operate. Their aim is purely peaceful means, but I do think they need to tighten up and need to warn mosques and Imams that they will not tolerate any extremist being harboured or any preachers coming here from abroad to say how bad the West is and that sharia law should be established. That is going on. Father of the Cork bar, Donal McCarthy, turned directly to two of Judge Cliffords grandchildren, Orla and Abbey Clifford, in the packed courtroom at Cork Circuit Court. Orla and Abbey, you had a grandfather who was a very well respected judge who served here for a quarter of a century, he said. I think it is important you know where you came from and that you have a lot to live up to. The new consortium of owners was represented by Conor Pyne of OConnor Pyne & Co Accountants, who also advised the Chinese buyers of the 20m Fota Estate in Cork, three years ago. Lyrath is said to be very profitable, and the new investor owners will upgrade it further, to top five-star standards, said Mr Pyne, after a period being run as a going concern by receivers KPMG. While not identifying the new owners individually, Mr Pyne said neither the Kang family nor other Chinese buyers are involved, and nor is Lyraths previous owner, Xavier McAuliffe. He said the consortium invested in other, smaller hotel opportunities, advised by OConnor Pyne & Co, and they now see scope for further development and growing revenue and profitability even more in this high-calibre, south Leinster resort. Judge Patrick McCartan jailed the Lithuanian mother for two years after he heard how her alcohol addiction led to her neglecting her nine-year-old daughter, including leaving her at home alone for four days. The 53-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the girls anonymity, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal court to child cruelty between October 10, 2012, and December 13, 2012. Judge McCartan said that this offence fell in the mid-range category and it involved the utter neglect of the needs of a young child. The judge said that the problems, which had originated in 2012 still persisted as the accused was still drinking and cannot see clearly ahead of her. In a victim impact report, written by the now 13-year-old girl, she recalled once eating fish food because she was hungry. She called her mother unpredictable and said she was always scared as she did not know what would happen next. She was very lonely in the house on her own so the dog would keep her company when her mother was out. The court heard that the daughter has since engaged in self-harming. Anne Rowland, prosecuting, told the court that the girl pared her fingers with her pencil sharpener and rubbed her hands off towels until they bled. Counsel said a neighbour encouraged the child to come to his home after he discovered she had been home alone for a number of days. When his partner bathed her in water it turned dark, said counsel. She had severe head lice and scabbing all over her head. When the neighbour made food she ate it like a savage. The child smelt badly and had bags under her eyes and looked very unwell. The next morning the accused arrived at their house looking for her daughter. She was extremely drunk with a black eye and began kicking in their door. That same day, the mans partner rang the childs school principal, who confirmed that the child had been absent from school for two weeks. There were no notes from her mother to explain her absences. The HSE were then contacted. Later the same day, a teacher from the childs school went to the accuseds home accompanied by gardai. The child answered the front door and the accused was standing in the background. There was a smell of alcohol and a broken bottle of vodka on the floor. Dirty dishes were piled up in the sink and on the worktop. Rubbish was overflowing and stacks of unwashed clothes were on the floor. The mother denied to gardai the child had been left alone in the house for four days. Michael Bowman, defending, said the childs father was not around and his client struggled with alcohol for a very long period of time. Since she has lost her daughter to social services, that has acted as a wake-up call to her, he said. While the system has meant significant costs for the State, the human cost is not so easily conveyed, Mr Justice John MacMenamin said yesterday. The bifurcated system of separate applications for asylum and subsidiary protection lead to vast litigation here along with references to the European courts, he said. It was hard to understand the logic of having lower thresholds for judicial review of subsidiary protection decisions than for asylum applications. This system meant many cases, including involving a Malawian family here since 2008, took years during which asylum applicants lived in a state of suspense with no certainty about their future and often living in inadequate and substandard accommodation. He awaited evidence an effective and speedy decision-making process will necessarily create what some term a magnet effect attracting economic migrants and was not persuaded an inefficient system can have a deterrent effect on what are termed unmeritorious asylum applicants. While there are undoubted abuses of the system, many people, whatever the merits of their cases, frequently had young families with children who became established here and often knew no other home. The case before the court was an example with one of their children born here in 2008 and the other living here since aged one. An immigration system must also be capable of enforcement but, while the High Court upheld deportation orders for this family in 2012, they went off the radar in the asylum process but continued to be registered with the Department of Social Protection as being employed here for much of the time before re-engaging with the immigration process in 2015. It was not suggested the State took action to trace them but to do so would not have been difficult, he added. He said he hoped the International Protection Bill, anticipated to be fully operational by the end of 2016, will result in an effective, coherent, timely, and humane system. The judge was among a seven-judge Supreme Court which unanimously refused an application by the State aimed at revising a legal test on foot of which the Malawian couple and their children had secured an injunction, pending appeal, restraining deportation. The Court of Appeal had granted them an injunction restraining their deportation pending their appeal against a High Court decision dismissing their challenge over being refused subsidiary protection and upholding deportation orders. In his Supreme Court judgment, Mr Justice Frank Clarke said it was being invited, once again, to revisit the criteria for an order which essentially restrains deportations pending final resolution of immigration law proceedings. He dismissed claims by the State the Court of Appeal had erred in finding the test set out in a 2012 Supreme Court Okunade judgment was applicable to the familys application for an injunction. He was speaking in Skibbereen at the opening of a new constituency office for his party colleague, Cork South West TD Jim Daly, who was among those urging Enda Kenny to step aside in recent months. Yesterdays Paddy Power/Red C poll showed a small increase in support for Fine Gael, up 1 percentage point to 27%, just a point behind Fianna Fail. The same poll showed a significant drop in the percentage of people who want Enda Kenny to step aside, and indicated that Mr Varadkar is the clear frontrunner to replace him as party leader, with 45% of Fine Gael voters backing him ahead of other contenders such as Simon Coveney and Frances Fitzgerald. Mr Varadkar said: I suppose its always nice to be getting favourable feedback from the public and good numbers in opinion polls, but there is no vacancy and its up to the Taoiseach to decide when the vacancy arises and until then I am concentrating on my job and getting the work done in the Department of Social Protection. The position is as I have said it is for a number of months now, [which] is that Enda Kenny has said that he isnt going to lead Fine Gael into the next general election, but its up to him to decide when the vacancy arises. Thats essentially how things stand. He also said if Fine Gael delivers on the ground, I think the polls will follow. Sometimes when you have a bad week or a bad month in politics people think the trend therefore will be downwards forever, he said. But it is not. Fine Gael is going to remain the largest party for the foreseeable future as far as I am concerned. The application, by ESB Wind Development Ltd, for Grousemount wind farm, which runs 17km northeast of Kenmare to 14km along the Cork border to the southwest of Ballyvourney, had been lodged directly with An Bord Pleanala last September as a strategic infrastructure development. The total site area is 1,465 hectares of privately owned land which is to be leased by the ESB. The application was accompanied by letters of consent from 28 landowners, including Coillte. The planning board has now granted permission for 25 years and the development is to commence within 10 years. The planning board has also assessed the costs associated with the application at more than 66,000, mainly associated with inspectors time. The proposed wind farm comprises 38 turbines with a hub height of up to 80 metres, each with a 2.5 -3.5 (MW) rating, on foundations and standings. The turbines will have a rotor diameter of up to 112 metres. The overall height of the structures will be up to 126 meters. However the boards inspector found that the turbines, in clusters, will be largely hidden although some will be visible from Molls Gap on the Ring of Kerry. The application represents a revision and an amalgamation of two previous planning applications granted permission, one in 2010 and the second in 2012. The same number of turbines are involved but there are differences in output. Roads and tracks linking the consented windfarms are included in the application. The farm will span the N22 at Ballyvourney and a temporary bridge crossing the Sullane River at Ballyvourney will have to be built. The proposal has its own website at Grousemountwindfarm.ie The townlands include those of Sillerthane near Kilgarvan, the Gaeltacht area of Coolea, Gortnatubrid on the Cork side and Barnastooka and Clonkeen in Co. Kerry. Some 17 prescribed bodies have been notified, including both Cork and Kerry County Councils, a number of government departments, the Heritage Council, An Taisce, Failte Ireland, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Irish Aviation Authority, the Geological Survey of Ireland and Irish Water and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The NPWS had recommended refusal because the farm is within the range of the introduced white-tailed sea eagle. The boards inspector noted that the turbines, which will be in clusters, would not be highly visible along the R569 Killarney to Kenmare road. However, some will be seen from Molls and the scenic road to Killarney Gap along the Kerry Way and the inspector warns of noise emission during construction. The conditions include that turbines are to be light grey in colour and cables are to be laid underground; noise measures and flicker restrictions are to be complied with. Cumulative shadow flicker is not to exceed 30 minutes in any day or 30 hours in any year. The ESB applicant had lodged more than 100,000 with the application. The board has now determined the costs as 66,220 for inspectors time. Some 38,380 is now to be refunded to the applicant, the board ruled. FANS of the original House of Cards series remember fondly the wickedly machiavellian character of Francis Urquhart 25 years on from its first airing on the BBC. Played superbly by the late Ian Richardson, Urquhart, in the beginning denies to all around him that he is interested in becoming British prime minister following the departure of Margaret Thatcher. As chief whip, he insisted he was a backroom boy, there to put some stick about, not to consider occupying the highest political office. All the while, he schemed, plotted, and connived his way to the top, eventually succeeding in ascending to the throne. I raise the Urquhart example as we in this country are waiting to see just who will succeed Enda Kenny as leader of Fine Gael, and most probably as Taoiseach. So far, two names have dominated the debate as to who will take over from the now visibly diminished and weakened Kenny Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney. Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald too has openly spoken of her desire to lead. But another name has more recently entered the fray. That of Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe. Re-elected to Dublin Central against the odds in February, Donohoe recently said in an interview with this newspaper that he would not be putting his name forward to contest the race to succeed Kenny, whenever he steps down. While certainly not directly comparing Donohoe to the villainous Urquhart, the denials of interest in the top job at this early stage in a process of transition echo loudly the similar utterances from the fictional Tory leader. Donohoe, speaking to me, said he is ambitious but for the big job he has at the moment and for the country. But his denials have not fully quelled the calls for him to put himself in the race. It seems Donohoe is favoured by both Kenny and his fellow veteran, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, to take over as leader of Fine Gael. Finance Minister Michael Noonan An interesting story in last weeks Sunday Times by Stephen OBrien revealed that Fine Gael sources expect that Donohoe could still come under pressure from Kenny loyalists to stand when the leadership contest arises. Sources in Fine Gael and Labour confirmed to OBrien that Noonan and Kenny revealed their preference for Donohoe to Brendan Howlin, the Labour leader. In April, the Taoiseach and finance minister dined with Howlin and Joan Burton, Labour leader at the time, in a restaurant near Government Buildings to press the Fine Gael case for Labour to support a minority government. After Burton left, the other three continued their discussion after dinner. Howlin asked the two men who their preferred successor as Fine Gael leader would be, and both named Donohoe. Details of the exchange permeated Leinster House in the following weeks, OBriens story stated. So the question has to be asked, are Donohoes denials credible? Well, in my mind, Fine Gael could do an awful lot worse than select Donohoe as its next leader. Well-read and smart, with a business background, Donohoe ground out his re-election in Dublin Central having lost two thirds of his 2011 vote base. This victory has propelled him centre stage in this minority Government, and while many Fine Gael ministers can be arrogant and abrasive, Donohoes easy, friendly manner has allowed him earn respect across the floor of the Dail. Having opposed Kenny in the 2010 heave, Donohoe has certainly done all he can to win back his leaders favour. Since 2013, Kenny has promoted him three times; a sign any animosity has been overcome. But what are his chances, given how long Varadkar and Coveney have been linked with the top job? It is certainly helpful for the pair if other names are being thrown into the mix. It is never helpful to be a sure thing or for people to think its a given you will become leader. Many think it will boil down to a race between Varadkar and Coveney. For his part, Coveney has the benefit of being a non-Dublin TD with a strong rural base, which is very important, particularly to many within Fine Gael. Though seen as somewhat aloof and overly cautious, Coveney is also seen as a true blue, a safe pair of hands. Conservative Fine Gaelers will sleep easily at night with him at the helm. But under Fine Gael rules, even though ordinary members will have a vote, because of a weighting system, the members of the parliamentary party will have a much greater say. Since becoming a minister, Varadkar has been at pains to ensure he looks after TDs and senators. He has always ensured to keep his Wednesday nights to interact with his party colleagues. He also has regularly brought TDs out with him on social nights to the Leopardstown races in his bid to become leader. Several opinion polls have shown Varadkar as more popular with the electorate; and his willingness to break ranks with his colleagues has certainly made him a media darling to some. He certainly got a soft ride during his very mixed time in the Department of Health. Any contest will be close. As for Donohoe, there is no doubt he has a lot to offer, not just to his party but to the country in government. He has experience and capability, which isnt always as common as one would like to see in national politicians. But while he has a broad appeal, there are those within his party who resent his rapid rise through the ranks. They think his class prefect or best boy in class image is irritating and some have said he doesnt have the gravitas to become leader. An interesting statement from some who have pledged undying loyalty to the lightweight Kenny for years. But beneath the friendly smile and warm persona is a steeliness which has served Donohoe well to date. As transport minister, he stared down unions striking in Irish Rail and also showed a steady hand in his handling of the sale of Aer Lingus, which had the potential to become politically toxic. Now in the hot seat as the minister for cuts and giveaways (depending on the finances), the budget will be his first real opportunity to make his mark. As for the leadership, maybe he feels he would be better off supporting either Varadkar or Coveney for the moment. If whoever takes over is unsuccessful, Donohoe would then be in a great position to contend for the top job. A young man still, Donohoe turns 42 in September, so he has plenty of time to consider his strong ambitions if this indeed is not to be his time. So in the words of Francis Urquhart, to those who say Donohoe should contest the leadership, you might very well think that, but he could not possibly comment. In total, the taxpayer has been handed a bill of 3.5m for just six social housing apartments to be provided in a proposed development of 63 homes at the back of Oatlands College, Mount Merrion. The revelation comes a week after Housing Minister Simon Coveney launched his Action Plan for Housing and days after it emerged that Transport Minister Shane Ross has opposed a new housing development in the Mount Merrion area. According to planning documents, seen by the Irish Examiner, it is proposed that the developer would provide four one-bed apartments and two two-bed apartments. The planning application documents state that the developer, Balark Investment Limited, would need to charge 671,485 for each of the two-bed apartments, as part of laws to provide 10% of all new units for social housing. According to the documents, the developer said it complied with Department of the Environment guidelines in calculating the costs. We wish to confirm that we have used the methodology in the departments circular to estimate the costs, the documents state. The Fianna Fail Seanad spokesman on finance and former councillor for the area, Gerry Horkan, said it would be daft to commit such a large amount of taxpayers money. Surely the wisdom of paying more than half a million euro for a one-bed apartment and almost 700,000 for a two-bed apartment has to be questioned, he said. You could spend that kind of money in places very close by and get multiples of this number of homes. In response to detailed queries, a spokesperson for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said: No decision has been made in respect of this planning application as yet. The proposed development includes the proposed demolition of the former Oatlands Monastery and other derelict buildings on the site. It is also proposed to demolish a nearby house in order to provide access to the new estate. The 69-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 18 counts of raping and sexually abusing the woman on dates between 1974-1979 at their home. Detective Sergeant Michael Corbett told prosecuting counsel Tim OLeary, SC the complainant, now 53, made a statement to gardai in 2013 in relation to the historical rape and sexual abuse by her stepfather. She said the sexual abuse started when she was aged 11 when he would bring her out of her bedroom and onto the landing to have sex with her three or four times a week. She said she dreaded Sunday evenings when her mother went to bingo because her stepfather sexually abused her for the evening or else raped her while her mother was downstairs. She said the defendant was an alcoholic who never worked and drank all the money her mother brought into the house. At the age of 15, she fell pregnant by him and had to convince people the babys father was a work colleague. Eventually, by the time she was 16, she found the strength to leave home, the court heard. It was only in 2013, after her sons death, that she reached a turning point and made a complaint to gardai, Det Corbett told prosecuting counsel. In a victim impact statement, which the woman read out in court directed to the man, she said: I was only a little girl when you raped me. I didnt understand what was going on and I cried as it hurt. You warned me not to tell anyone. She told the court: He controlled me and everyone in the house. If I wasnt raped, Id be beaten. She said he continued to rape her weekly and she became pregnant for a second time. When she gave birth to a girl, she gave her up for adoption as she did not want to risk her being around her stepfather. She said she moved to a different part of the country with her son and never saw that monster again. Addressing the defendant directly, she said: I blame you for the loss of my two beautiful children. I carried a secret of giving away my daughter for 30 years. Defence counsel Marjorie Farrelly SC cited the mitigation of his plea and said: He instructs us to express his remorse to her for all the wrong he has done. Mr Justice Tony Hunt handed down an 18-year sentence yesterday but suspended the final six years. The man is currently serving a four-year sentence which was handed down in February 2015 for indecent assault offences against the womans siblings. Analysis of Twitter activity over a two-month period from the time Fatal Failures was aired on RTEs Primetime on January 30, 2014, found tweeters perceived the Irish maternity services as unsafe. In fact the researchentitled Reaction on Twitter to a Cluster of Perinatal Deaths: A mixed method study identified such a level of dissatisfaction with the governance that a demand for a criminal investigation was called for. The study authors based at the National Perinatal Research Centre and the Pregnancy Loss Research Group at University College Cork said their work underscores the challenges that clinicians face in light of an obstetric media scandal. The authors conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the relevant tweets during the two-month period, identifying some 3,577 tweets from 1,276 users on five key themes: emotional reactions; cover-ups; accountability and governance; institutional responses; and unsafe maternity services. The authors found at the height of the controversy, Twitter updates generated skepticism in relation to the management of not only the unit in question [Portlaoise], which was branded as unsafe, but also the governance of the entire Irish maternity service. Themes of concern and uncertainty arose whereby the professional motives of the obstetric community and staffing levels in the maternity services were called into question, the research authors said. Moreover, Tweeters indicated that they believed the hospital managements priority was to cover up the events surrounding the perinatal deaths rather than focusing on the appropriate care for the patients. An examination of the profile of tweeters found they were broadly grouped into parent; media outlet; media personnel; politics; and health. Profiles which identified the user as either a media outlet or personnel working for a media outlet accounted for over one-third. Of the profiles related to health care, just one in five identified as either a midwife or a nurse and 14% as a medical doctor or consultant. However, none were from the field of obstetrics and gynaecology the area of medical expertise under scrutiny. The study also found that Twitter was not utilised as a platform by any health care authority to release a statement in relation to the perinatal deaths, that instead the initial response utilised traditional methods of communication to inform the public that the maternity services were safe. In conclusion, the authors said a further study could be beneficial to identify how the obstetric community could develop tools to utilise Twitter to disseminate valid health information, at a time when pregnant women want to interact with others online rather than passive viewing of books and leaflets. The article appeared online this week in JMIR Publications. To read the full study, log onto publichealth.jmir.org/2016/2/e36/ THE clouds surrounding Amazon.com are thickening, began the Washington Post article by David Streitfeld on February 21, 2001. In the previous year, stockholders had suddenly learned that the internet was not immune to the boom-and-bust cycles of more earthbound forms of economic endeavour, and it seemed the Seattle-based bookseller was going to go the way of Pets.com, the most infamous example of late 1990s cyber hubris. Streitfeld noted that one detractor of Amazon expects the Internet retailer to run out of money to adequately fund its operations later this year. Amazon did not run out of money nor was it subsumed into a bigger competitor like Wal-Mart but it wasnt until 2003 that it ended a year with a profit. That milestone led The Wall Street Journal to call it one of the most powerful survivors on the Internet. Today, the question is not whether Amazon can survive but whether we can survive without Amazon. It is in the pantheon of corporations we need more than we need most state agencies. Just as you can search for updates on Drakes romantic life on Bing instead of Google or post updates about your own romantic life on Ello instead of Facebook, you can buy designer goods on Overstock instead of Amazon. But why would you? Entirely credible reasons exist to dislike Amazon: its treatment of workers, its alleged evasion of taxes, a tendency toward monopoly. But you cant escape it. The company is lodged deep into popular culture, a complex creature that engenders equally complex emotions, much like turkey bacon and the Kardashians. About 12 years after The Washington Post reported on his presumed misfortunes, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought that newspaper from the Graham family for $250m. Some, including many at the Post, believe the purchase was evidence of his affection for the institution, evidence too of an affection for the free press hed long held in abeyance. Critics think Bezos intends to use the newspaper as a public relations firm on Capitol Hill. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, for one, is convinced that Bezos will deploy the Post in the service of Amazons tax-evasion schemes. Some people much smarter than Trump believe this too. In buying a newspaper instead of just building a palace on Mercer Island, Bezos has made a move rare for a tech titan. These demigods tend to stay away from the public square, where they fear they will be maligned and mocked, their only sins being their supreme intelligence and crystalline vision. How much derision has Elon Musk endured for his Hyperloop? Or Peter Thiel for his floating libertarian nation scheme? Dare to dream, and you will end up a caricature on HBOs Silicon Valley. Its hard to call any financial decision bold when it is made by someone worth some $60bn, yet Bezos clearly entered a terra nova by taking over the Post. Even though fewer people read newspapers than before, we nevertheless value them, vaguely aware that a free press is necessary for democracy. Thats why newspaper owners often come under greater scrutiny than the owners of supermarket chains. We know they matter, even if they dont matter as much as they used to. Kara Swisher, the Recode co-founder many regard as Silicon Valleys premier journalist, has watched Bezos from the start. Hes kind of on this kick to be a better person, she tells me. He realises his power that he has power. Though she is critical of some Amazon practices, she admires Bezos for his recent defence of free speech and journalism. Hes enjoying the limelight a little bit more. The question is what that limelight will reveal, other than the obvious, laudatory stuff. In recent years, Bezos has moved well beyond selling books and backscratchers. Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing services to the CIA, while his Blue Origin company is working on spaceflight with Nasa. Meanwhile, he is turning Amazon into a movie and television powerhouse that, in time, could do to Universal what it did to Borders. (Remember Borders?) Comparisons to William Randolph Hearst are almost too obvious. Citizen Bezos, The New York Review of Books once called him. Bezos is a rich person in a country that despises rich people nearly as much as it worships them. Now 52, he is no longer the ambitious quant who thought he could roll Barnes & Noble. But what is he, exactly? Certainly not a public philanthropist like Bill Gates, who becomes an ambassador for causes he believes in, like fixing public education in the United States or improving sanitation in developing nations. Bezos is too shy for such campaigns. Yet some sense of civic responsibility seems to be tugging at him, perhaps a yearning for a legacy beyond that of the worlds greatest retailer. Books and other retail goods are piled up at the Amazon.co.uk facility in Milton Keynes, England. The online retailer is gearing up for the Christmas rush where over a two week period 400,000 units will pass out their doors to British customers. Picture: Bruno Vincent/Getty The trait most closely associated with Jeff Bezos is his laugh. I dont think its especially creepy or unusual, but I am clearly in the minority here. There are many, many YouTube compilations of Bezos cracking up at his own quips, his eyes widening, his body folding slightly forward. It is, to give credit to the laughs large fan base, one of the few I have ever heard that actually has a ha-ha-ha sound, as if it were reverse-engineered from the language of text messages. Kevin Kelly, one of the founding editors of Wired, has known Bezos for many years, and he thinks the laugh is more revealing than many have grasped. Its not just that he has a distinctive laugh, Kelly tells me. Its that he laughs a lot. Kelly thinks thats evidence of a mind focused but not blinkered, still able to achieve the distance necessary for humorous reflection. He can laugh at himself, Kelly says. And see himself. Swisher disagrees. She thinks the laugh is a diversionary trick that happens to make Bezos appear lighthearted and fun, although he is neither. A lot of tech people really want to be liked, she says. Jeff is not like that. Swisher adds that Bezos used to be much more available to the media, only to recede from public view in recent years, in part to spend more time with his family. His wife, MacKenzie, is a novelist, and they live with their four children in the wealthy Seattle suburb of Medina. He rarely gives interviews anymore, and though he has publicly announced the only email address he uses jeff@amazon.com he didnt answer any of several inquiries for this story. (He does sometimes answer Amazon customers who send him feedback or pass on their complaints to the relevant department.) His biography can be neatly reduced to a teleological path toward Amazon, which is probably just how he likes it: Houston, Princeton, a hedge fund in New York, a move to Seattle, an obsession with the fact that, in the early 1990s, the internet was growing at the torrid pace of 2,300% a year. The most revealing fact in the Bezos bio is that he wanted to call his company Relentless. He eventually chose the worlds largest river for his corporate namesake, but visiting Relentless.com will take you to the Amazon home page. Most people name their companies for what their companies will sell or for the sellers themselves. Relentless was going to describe how all that selling was going to take place. The eventual name, which is better than the original one, alludes to a river whose flow is the very definition of might: A force primal and unstoppable. Books, Amazons first offerings, were just a test craft sent downriver to see how it would fare on the currents. Despite some floundering in the early years, that first boat survived. So did nearly all those that followed: toys, music, lawn furniture. Amazon is 32 years younger than Wal-Mart, but it is valued at $120bn more (Wal-Mart still sells more goods, though). As of this writing, Amazon is worth $350bn; that valuation is higher than the gross domestic product of Hong Kong. Amazon is the most secret tech company, says New York Times technology columnist Farhad Manjoo, who tells me he is frequently surprised by Bezoss moves. The company is about as forthcoming as the Kremlin under Stalin, so that many of even the most basic questions about its operations remain unanswered, subject to amusing but unconvincing internet speculation: How many packages does it ship a day? How many Kindle e-book readers has it sold? How much of the worlds cardboard is branded with the Amazon logo? The companys most profitable arm is also its most discreet: Amazon Web Services, which since 2006 has offered cloud computing to everyone from the CIA to Netflix. AWS controls a third of the cloud-computing market. If it were a stand-alone company, it would be worth about $160bn, its projected value thus exceeding IBMs market cap. Most people, though, have no idea that AWS exists, that so much of the internets bedrock is a Bezos property. Lately, though, Bezos has made an important shift in Amazons mission. No longer a company that merely delivers stuff, Amazon is aggressively pushing into the content-creation business. It has tried this before, with Amazon Publishing, but these new ventures are far more auspicious. At the centre of Bezoss strategy is Amazon Prime, the membership plan that allows for free two-day delivery. Because Prime members also have free access to Prime Music and Prime Video, Prime forms a natural flywheel for the company, Bezos recently said. When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes, and it does that in a very direct way. There are an estimated 54m Prime members; if only some fraction of them can be drawn away from Netflix and Spotify, he will have substantially weakened his competitors. Amazons original series Transparent has won several Emmy awards, which founder Jeff Bezos insists helps him sell more shoes in a very direct way Last year, an original Amazon series, Transparent, earned the company its first Golden Globe, though the number of shoes sold as a result is unclear (if Amazon has the number, it isnt sharing it). Later in 2015, Amazon won an Emmy for Transparent, also its first. That almost certainly makes Amazon the only company in the world that has won an Emmy and can sell you an Emmy: the one Dinah Shore won in 1959 ($14,995). You can buy it with a single click; or, rather, through Amazons patented 1-Click technology, which has itself likely brought Amazon a fortune. Is Amazon out to rule the world? Bloomberg television wondered as Amazon was announcing its foray into streaming with its Fire TV streaming technology. One of the commentators for the segment, Shahid Khan of Mediamorph, asserted that Amazons objective was indeed world domination. He made this claim with slightly disconcerting nonchalance, as if hed already been assured of some comfortable provincial posting in the Kingdom of Jeff. But, Khan cautioned, you cannot dominate the world if you dont control the living room. Bezos didnt need the advice. Last year, he released the Amazon Echo, a smart speaker that is probably the boldest foray into consumer-facing artificial intelligence yet, one that makes a mockery of Apples robotic Siri while raising questions about why Google sorry, Alphabet took so long. Gushing over the Echo in his Times column, Manjoo called it a gadget that has the potential to become a dominant force in the most intimate of environments: our homes. Alexa (the name you use to prompt your Echo) has been welcomed into 3m living rooms, according to an April estimate. With 38,494 overwhelmingly positive customer reviews as of this writing, the number is probably much greater today. Everyone loves Alexa for all the wonderful things she/it is able to do and she/it is quickly learning to do more and more. For now, Alexa is happy to tell you a joke or read you the news, including some from the Bezos-owned Washington Post. And did you need more sesame crackers? Alexa is happy to order those. After all, she is linked to your Amazon Prime account. Freedom of the press, The New Yorker s AJ Liebling once wrote, is guaranteed only to those who own one. In 2013, The Washington Post presses in Springfield, Virginia, came under the ownership of the man many in book publishing regard as Attila the Hun, only with less hair (and an endearing laugh). In 2013, The Washington Post came under the ownership of the man many in book publishing regard as Attila the Hun with less hair. Picture: Getty The Graham family had owned the Post since 1933, seeing it through the Watergate scandal and making it the newspaper with the second-most Pulitzer Prizes in the US. But the 2000s were brutal to both advertising and circulation, and newspapers closed all over the globe. To cut costs, the Post decided to focus on local coverage. In 2009, it closed its national bureaus, then in 2011 many suburban ones, leaving many to wonder how it was going to do coverage of any kind. Politico, the digital startup staffed by people who never slept, was quickly becoming Capitol Hills first read. Upon buying the Post, however, Bezos made it very clear that his ambitions extended well beyond reporting on the city council of Takoma Park, Maryland. He has pushed the Post to become the new paper of record. He has added about 100 newsroom jobs while imbuing the paper with the same get big fast ethos that made Amazon the worlds largest online retailer. As Gabriel Sherman noted in his recent profile of the Post for New York magazine, it runs twice as many stories on its website daily as The New York Times, despite having only half the staff. It took nearly a decade for Bezos to turn a profit with Amazon; with the Post, rife with legacy costs like pensions, it could take a century. Since the newspaper is no longer a publicly traded entity, it does not release financial data. Nevertheless, Sherman says its digital revenues are $60m, far below what the newsroom needs to function. Using 2012 figures, he projects current total revenue to be $350m per year, with a yearly budget of $500m. You dont need a Wharton MBA to grasp the monstrous challenge of closing such a gap without staffing cuts or making other unpleasant concessions. Post editor Martin Baron, though, doesnt sound like a man who is going to lay off journalists anytime soon or make them explain the news via Garfield GIFs. To the contrary, he thinks Bezos will help the paper find the Northwest Passage of journalism: That is, a path from the print revenues of old, predicated on ad sales and subscriptions, to some web-based model that doesnt force newspapers into a desperate reliance on lowbrow click-bait. Somethings going to work, he tells me. David Streitfeld, the reporter who wrote about Amazon during the dot-com bust, left the Post in 2001 and eventually ended up at The New York Times, where he continued to cover the culture and business of technology. In 2015, he and a fellow reporter, Jodi Kantor, published a long article that described Amazon as a bruising workplace of frequent combat, with Bezos depicted as the data-driven emperor who laughed as, all around him, grown men and women wept over brutal hours, merciless managers and other unseemly quirks of the Amazon Way. And as the Times claimed, grown men and women frequently weep at Amazon. Amazon issued the kind of vigorous denials youd expect from a company that employs President Barack Obamas former spokesman. But while its possible to debate the merits of certain Amazon practices like its quasi-Stalinist reliance on colleagues criticising one another the Times hinted at a deeper suspicion that no slickly crafted press release can quite attenuate: Its hard to be relentless without being ruthless. And examples of Bezoss ruthlessness abound. If youre the vice president of European distribution logistics making seven figures, an unpleasant run-in with Bezos might fairly be considered a part of the job. The workers at Amazons distribution centres, however, seem to suffer from more profound indignities, according to many reports. In 2014, Amazon achieved a victory at the US supreme court when the justices ruled unanimously that an affiliated staffing agency did not have to pay workers for the time they spent each day undergoing anti-theft screening. Gossip website Gawker has waged a lengthy campaign against Amazon, in part by using the first-person accounts of distribution centre employees. One of these, by a worker at an Amazon warehouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, referred to Herr Bezos and broadly described the experience of working for him as a shit sandwich. There are legal concerns for Amazon too. While Trumps accusation that Bezos bought the Post to turn it into a public relations arm of Amazon has little merit, the tangerine-coloured blowhard pointed to legitimate questions about Amazons payment of taxes. Some argue persuasively that Amazon achieved an advantageous fiscal position through moving its global headquarters to the small, landlocked state of Luxembourg, effectively treating the tiny country as a tax shelter. Amazon will deny all of the above, and it will do so with the force of a multinational corporation that has skilled public relations professionals ready to deploy counterarguments like missiles. But others will insist that the man who founded Amazon can only ever play the piranha. The Project to Protect Ugly Since Bezos does not often talk to the media, his interview with Walt Mossberg of Recode earlier this year was tantamount to Kim Jong Un doing carpool karaoke with James Corden. Their discussion, which lasted over an hour, ranged widely, from artificial intelligence to spaceflight to Amazons first physical bookstore, which opened in Seattle last year. Bezos also spoke about Amazons distribution logistics, thus confirming that he is one of the very few people on earth fascinated by distribution logistics. Bezos discussed the Post with a disarmingly old-fashioned affection. Our elected leaders, and all the people in DC that run most of the country, need to be examined. And [the Post is] a great paper to do that. He made it clear that the Post was, for him, more than the sum of its woes: I would not have bought it if it had been a financially upside-down salty snack food company. Amazon.com CEO and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, left, debuts a launch vehicle last year, as Florida governor Rick Scott applauds at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Bezos said his company would bring over 300 new jobs to Floridas space coast. Picture: Getty It had recently been revealed that Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor, was financing several legal battles against Gawker, one of whose subsidiary sites, Valleywag, had outed Thiel nearly a decade earlier. Mossberg asked Bezos where he stood on this issue with the billionaire who shared his desire for privacy or with the website that routinely depicts Amazon as something of an abattoir. Bezos dismissed Thiels outrage as costly vanity, advising public figures like him to develop a thick skin. Beautiful speech doesnt need protection. Its ugly speech that needs protection, he said, suddenly sounding more like a constitutional lawyer than a bratty tech maverick. This impressed Swisher, the Recode founder, who is not frequently impressed by the talk of techno-moguls. The things he said onstage were incredibly brave, she tells me. Most of Silicon Valley has its head up its butt about Peter Thiel. She was referring, presumably, to the likes of Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, who tweeted that click bait journalists need to be taught lessons, a disturbingly Trumpian view of the press. Trump, for that matter, seems to harbour even more contempt for The Washington Post than he does for the rest of the nations media outlets. Clearly aggrieved by its coverage of his campaign, he called the newspaper a Bezos toy and made accusations about Amazons business practices that were, in true Trump fashion, roughly 3% accurate. Onstage with Mossberg, Bezos took pleasure in somberly lecturing Trump: We live in this amazing democracy with amazing freedom of speech. And a presidential candidate should embrace that. Several days later, Trump banned the Post from his campaign events. Up the River Surprise seems to be a favourite Bezos tactic. In the week that I was finishing this article, news came of Amazon Inspire, a major foray into the education technology market for primary and secondary schools, according to The New York Times. Then, a couple of days later, Amazon struck a deal to become the sole streaming provider of nearly all PBS Kids content. The company may soon have its warehouses fully staffed by robots, which would be a perverse but effective means of addressing worker complaints. A frenetic, ambitious energy continues to course through Amazon in its third decade of life. The company has spent some $4bn in developing a campus in downtown Seattle, yet it also recently bought a Travelodge it is turning into a temporary homeless shelter. One of the problems with Jeff is that hes super complex, says Swisher. Of course, that is also one of his virtues. Is he mellowing into a philanthropist? Turning into a media mogul? Will he pay Amazons taxes? Fix its warehouse labour practices? Does he want to leave a civic legacy, or does he simply want to build spaceships to fly rich people to Mars? These are questions not even Alexa can answeryet. THE backlash against mom hair, the latest insipid non-trend to prey on womens post-partum insecurities, has been encouragingly widespread. Why, then, have we not tackled another spurious term that is arguably responsible for more female body-hatred than any other cellulite? When the New York Times ran an article last month suggesting that mom hair bad hair among new mums really exists, it was refreshing to see sensible people of both genders rush to dismiss it. Thankfully, weve had enough ridiculous body phenomenon thigh gap, bikini bridge to spot nonsense when we see it. The protests were swift and vociferous. Heres one great example from tweeter Darby Brady: Ive reprioritised my to-do list. 1. Get rid of mom hair. 2. Love, feed, bathe my children. There have also been many loud protests against the persistent tendency to use mom as a synonym for frumpy, outdated, and past it. Come on, dads. Its time you, too, united against those cruel, reductive nomenclatures. Dad bod and dad jeans? Seriously? Dont stand for it. Given the no-nonsense approach to the mom hair foolishness, its baffling that there is still no real campaign to out cellulite as a construct designed to make women shell out millions on creams and treatments in an often vain attempt to make it go away. That single weasel word has caused more misery to more women than all of the so-called body phenomenon put together. And yes, unlike mom hair, cellulite does actually exist, but only in the way that fat cells exist. Cellulite is simply adipose tissue or, in plain language, fat. To quote one expert, Professor Max Lafontan, a senior research fellow at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research, cellulite is nothing more than a useful stock of energy to be used if the female body needs it for pregnancy or breast-feeding. And its inevitable; at least eight in 10 women have it. Yet, depending on what you read, its seen as some sort of medical disorder, or an ugly scourge afflicting bikini-wearers. Its still summer so look out for those articles telling you how to get rid of orange-peel skin or how to smooth the unsightly cottage cheese clinging unmercifully to your stomach and thighs. Before you get sucked in, think about this. Despite the millions women spend (30m in the UK last year) on anti-cellulite cream, its almost impossible to dislodge. So-called cellulite nearly always bounces back because thats what it is designed to do; it is a biological fact. The structure of womens skin is different from that of mens, yet intelligent, clear-thinking women spend a fortune trying to work against something that is completely natural. Its a little easier to see why the cellulite myth grinds on when you see it was worth more than 22m (net profit) in France last year alone. In fact, thats where the word originated. It first appeared in a French medical dictionary, Littre et Robin, according to Rossella Ghigi, an Italian associate professor who has written an excellent and revealing thesis on cellulite. In 1873, though, the word cellulite was understood as cellulitis, a painful bacterial infection of the skin that is characterised by inflammation. It wouldnt become a beauty problem until the 1920s and 1930s when French magazines Marie Claire and Votre Beaute started to write about it as they reworked the idea of the perfect woman in the inter-war years. Its fascinating to find that perfection then is a lot like perfection now. There is nothing as malleable as the female body and it can be stretched into a strong, slim form to suit the beauty ideal of the day, went the logic. Not surprisingly, the letters pages started to fill with queries from women asking how they could eradicate their cellulite. Then as now, the magazines stepped up to the mark with a plethora of cures, ranging from gymnastics, iodine soap. and a massage device called a point roller. By the time the Second World War had broken out in 1939, the cellulite problem had shifted away from the thighs to, strangely, the neck. The wartime bob exposed more female neck than ever before so the new focus was on how to make that part of the body look perfect. There were more letters from readers, this time wondering how to get rid of their neck cellulite. There were more articles, too, along with an entire new range of therapies and products to address the neck problem. Unfortunately, that wasnt the end of it. That damn cellulite moved right back to a womans thighs again in the late 1960s and when English Vogue wrote about it in 1968, the dimple obsession spread like, well, cellulite. As before, the cycle began all over again: Body angst among readers, article after article on cures and a growing range of ever-more expensive creams and therapies. That about brings us up to the present day. Though, there has been some movement. In the intervening years, we moved all around the female body from neck to arms and hair and stomachs, only to arrive back at thighs. Its not exactly progress, is it? There must be many people out there who think, rightly, that cellulite is a made-up word that has spawned a surfeit of made-up solutions. Yet there must be many, many more who are still buying into the problem and forking out to have it solved. But heres the real cure for cellulite: If we can make up a word, we can un-make it up. As recently as 1986, there was no such thing as cellulite in the Encyclopedia Britannica, Rossella Ghigi noted. It featured only the word cellulitis, defined as the inflammatory state. Twelve years later, the encyclopedia featured only the word cellulite, defined as the fat deposit. Cant we just turn back the clock and extract that awful word and the despondency it inflicts from our encyclopedias, our dictionaries but, most importantly, our collective consciousness? All arranged by my sister-in-law Lou and her husband Stephen. Hurrah! Greece! Where the sun is God and I will be his chosen one! Hurrah!! With wine! Hurrah! Siestas! Hurrah! And The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz! Hurrah! Hurrah! HURRAH! Home, Friday and I am one sleep one black night away from impending doom: Stephen is phoning me at 10pm. Its a night for doom all-round it seems; our dogs already met hers for my husband has just clipped her. I look at his handiwork; the dog is looking mournful, as well she might. When the phone goes, I tell my husband, banging dog-hair out of cushions. Im not answering it. Itll be Stephen, calling again about the boat. He said hed call. You can tell him Im not in. Why dont you want to talk to him? my husband says. You always have a right laugh with him. Families are systems, I say. And when change occurs within that system or outside of it for that matter the balance of it can get upset. I have never done family-at-sea but if its anything like family-by-car, were f****d. What on earth are you talking about? my husband says. I thought you were dead excited about the boat. When it comes to families, I say, replacing cushions, small changes can have big consequences. What are you on about? You were there when Stephen called, I say, you heard him. When? On Monday, I say. When he phoned to tell us hes registered you and me as sailing crew on the boat. So? he says. If Id known Id be swabbing the deck, I wouldnt have said yes when he invited me to go. Swabbing the deck? my husband says. Its a boat, not a fecking pirate ship. For gods sake, putting us down as crew is just a registration formality. If its just a formality, I say, why is Stephen calling again tonight to drill down a bit into my sailing knowledge? For fun, my husband says. For whom? I say. 10pm. My husband is on the floor, trying to cheer up the dog. Seriously, I say. When the phone rings, youre answering it. I am dealing with an extremely delicate matter right now. Youre banging the hoover around, he says. That is only what you can see, I say, not what you cant. What cant I see then? my husband says. Inside my head, Im managing my expectations, I say. Of what? he says. Our holiday, I say, turning off the hoover. Im trying to get my expectations down to 50 from 100 100 being unrealistically hopeful and zero being fatal disappointment. Theyve been set at 100 since Christmas. Im finding 50 quite a shock. Im afraid if I talk to Stephen, theyll sink to zero. And looking forward to a holiday is half the fun. 10.30pm. The phone rings. My husband picks up the receiver. If thats Captain Pugwash, I say. Tell him to walk the plank. Stephen wants to know what you understand by the terms, midship and safety-rail, my husband tells me. Its happening already: My holiday expectations drop from 50 to 40. He says its important you know stuff for when the wind picks up and all hands need to be on deck. He says do you know what the genoa is. I take the phone. What are you? I say, the bloody Glossary of Nautical Terms? The word, gunwale mean anything to you? Stephen says, or a tender? And there go my expectations again whooshing down from 40 to 30. Ever heard of a starboard winch? Now dropping to 25... Backstay? ...and down again to 20. Now, Stephen says, this is important. Do you know what port and starboard are? Things on a boat, I say. Christ, he says, Im not looking for a lot. Dropping now, from 20 to 10... Seriously though, he says, I ought to warn you, the boat is quite... cosy. ..and straight down to 5. What do you mean, cosy? I say. Cosy how? Six people, small space, one toilet, he says. 5 down to 3... But were in and out of harbours all the time, he continues, so you sort of learn to train yourself. ...3 to 2. So, I say, basically, what youre saying is that I am flying to Greece so as to learn how to constipate myself at sea? Sort of, he says. ...2 to 1. Seriously? If you want to put it like that, he says, then yes. ...and there we have it: zero. Except in Iceland and, more recently, Ireland. Three senior Irish bankers have been given prison sentences ranging from two years to three and a half years for their part in a 7.2bn conspiracy to mislead the public about the true financial health of Anglo Irish Bank. If those sentences seem harsh for a so-called white-collar crime, just consider what these men did and the lives of innocent people that their activities affected. By means that could be termed dishonest, deceitful, and corrupt they manufactured 7.2bn in deposits by obvious sham transactions, the sentencing judge, Martin Nolan, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, describing the conspiracy as a very serious crime. Yet it was open to Judge Nolan to jail each of them for up to 10 years so the question must be asked how serious must a serious crime be to attract the maximum sentence? Of course, a jail sentence is not entirely punitive and must allow for the possibility of rehabilitation, but it should also act as a real deterrent to others. The lightest sentence was two years given to John Bowe, Anglos former head of capital markets, which means that he could be effectively a free man in little more than a year if he gets the customary time off for good behaviour. Contrast that with the blighted lives of those customers, citizens, and taxpayers directly affected by the Anglo conspiracy and its subsequent collapse. It should be recalled that he is one of the bankers who could be heard joking on taped telephone conversations during the height of the crisis in 2008, tapes which did not come to light until 2013. Bowe, who had been involved in negotiations with the Central Bank, could be heard laughing and joking as he told another senior manager how Anglo was luring the State into giving it billions of euros. The fallout from Anglo did not just cost us our economic sovereignty. It brought enormous hardship and distress to many people, most of them investors with modest means who could ill afford to lose what money they had. Some people lost their jobs, their homes, their pensions, their marriages, their families and in the most extreme and tragic cases their lives as, unable to cope, they decided to end it all. It is, of course, important that these senior bankers will be deprived of their liberty, something that has not happened in other countries such as Britain and the US, where reckless lending and a bonus culture in the financial industry prevail. Iceland, by ways of contrast, jailed 29 of its rogue bankers, with minimum three-year sentences. The human cost of the fallout will continue for decades while each of these men will be able to return to their families within a few short years. The 20- year-old Dubliner has been in prison in Egypt for more than 1,000 days, having his trial postponed 14 times. It is little wonder that there is growing concern here among his family and friends for his well-being and safety. Then Egyptian authorities have, up to now, ignored all polite diplomatic efforts taken by the Government in an effort to at least expedite his trial. The two men, an Algerian thought to be aged 29 and a Pakistani believed to be 35, were arrested at a shelter for refugees last year on suspicion of being linked to the attacks in which 130 people were killed. The two accused have left federal territory, the Salzburg prosecutors office said in a statement. Cosby had sued Andrea Constand for breach of contract for speaking to police who reopened the criminal investigation last year. His lawyers argued that her police statements, along with two tweets and brief comments to a Toronto newspaper, violated the confidentiality clause. A judge this month upheld her right to talk to police, but said Cosby could pursue the other issues. But now Cosby has dropped the suit entirely. The move comes a week after he switched law firms for the second time in about a year. With a court validation of his ability to proceed... Mr Cosby has today stepped away from that suit and will instead focus his efforts on defending himself against the claims that have been lodged against him, his lawyer said in a statement. The swirl of litigation surrounding Cosby includes the felony sexual-assault case involving Constand and a string of defamation suits filed by women who said they were branded liars when Cosby or his agents denied their similar claims. Constands lawyers called the suit Cosby filed against their client a blatant attempt at intimidation. They had also been named as defendants, along with Constands mother. The dismissal is a victory for all victims, lawyer Dolores Troiani said. No trial date has been set for Cosbys felony sex-assault trial. He is accused of drugging and molesting Constand at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. She sued him in 2005 after prosecutors at the time declined to file charges. The criminal case was reopened after other accusers came forward and Cosbys deposition in the civil suit was released. "Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis," the former US secretary of state and first lady said, as she accepted the Democratic nomination for president early on Friday. "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons." Mrs Clinton took the stage to roaring applause from flag-waving delegates on the final night of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, relishing her nomination as the first woman to lead a major US political party. But her real audience was the millions of voters watching at home, many of whom may welcome her experience, but question her character. She acknowledged those concerns briefly, saying: "I get it that some people just dont know what to make of me." But her primary focus was persuading Americans to not be seduced by Republican presidential candadate Mr Trumps vague promises to restore economic security and fend off threats from abroad. Mrs Clinton said the US needed a leader who would work with allies to keep America safe. The presidential election presented a stark choice on national security, she said, with the US facing "determined enemies that must be defeated". She said people wanted "steady leadership", vowing to stand by Nato allies against any Russian threats. And she pledged to defeat the Islamic State group with air strikes and support for local ground forces, while authorising a "surge" in intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks. "We will prevail," she said. She also said she was proud of the Iran nuclear and global climate agreements and both must be enforced now. Neither deal happened while she was in government. Mrs Clintons four-day convention began with efforts to shore up liberals who backed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and it ended with an outstretched hand to Republicans and independents unnerved by brash billionaire Mr Trump. A parade of military leaders, law enforcement officials and Republicans took the stage ahead of Mrs Clinton to endorse her in the general election contest. "This is the moment, this is the opportunity for our future," said retired Marine general John Allen, a former commander in Afghanistan. "We must seize this moment to elect Hillary Clinton as president of the United States of America." American flags waved in the stands of the packed convention hall. There were persistent, but scattered calls of "No more war", but the crowd drowned them out with chants of "Hill-a-ry" and "U-S-A!" Mrs Clinton now has just over three months to persuade Americans that Mr Trump is unfit for the Oval Office and overcome the visceral connection he has with some voters in a way the Democratic nominee does not. She embraced her reputation as a studious wonk, a politician more comfortable with policy proposals than rhetorical flourishes. "I sweat the details of policy," she admitted. Mrs Clintons proposals are an extension of President Barack Obamas two terms in office: tackling climate change, overhauling the nations fractured immigration laws and restricting access to guns. District magistrate Pramod Chandra Gupta said the upper caste shopkeeper killed the couple in a rage when they asked for more time to pay for the groceries they bought from his shop in Mainpuri, a town in Uttar Pradesh state. The couple were construction workers and left behind five children, Mr Gupta said. The shopkeeper demanded money but they pleaded to be able to pay it later. He became enraged and attacked them with an axe, Arun Kumar, the investigating officer in Mainpuri district, said. He added the couple had bought goods from the shop last week with a promise to pay the 60-year-old owner within a few days. Their refusal to pay made him angry and he killed them, Kumar said. Attacks against Muslims and Dalits have risen since prime minister Narendra Modis Hindu-nationalist party came to power two years ago. Four low-caste Dalit community men were beaten by Hindu hardliners while trying to skin a dead cow in western India earlier this week. Mr Gupta said the couples heads were severed in the attack. He added: The shopkeeper panicked after killing the couple and hid in the village. But he was arrested. The shopkeeper is from the Brahmin caste. Formal charges are due to be filed after the police investigation is completed. Mainpuri is 185 miles south west of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state. Dalit protests have turned violent in some towns. In western Gujarat states Amreli district, a police constable was killed when angry mobs pelted officers with stones. Although caste discrimination was banned soon after Indias independence from Britain in 1947, the practice persists. Successive governments have set quotas for jobs and university spots to level out disadvantages faced by lower castes, but it has been difficult to change social attitudes. Predatory paedophiles contact hundreds of children using social media, hoping to entice them into having sex, detectives from the Metropolitan Polices Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command said as rapper Daniel Rodriguez who groomed schoolgirls was sentenced for 16 years. Detective Superintendent John Macdonald said that men approaching young girls through social media is a real risk and something police are particularly concerned about. He said figures for online grooming are not any reflection on what is actually happening, and that police are dealing with other investigations similar to the Rodriguez case where men have approached many, many hundreds of girls online and tried to befriend them. After lavishing affection on them and then persuading them to come and meet them as potential boyfriend material, the men take the opportunity to sexually abuse them, Mr Macdonald said. Although its not possible to put a perspective on how many people are doing this, I feel that it is a real risk in terms of child sexual exploitation and something concerning that we need to tell the public about. The tactic is to approach hundreds and hundreds of children, just to try and hook two, three or four that they then have sex with. The level of success of what they actually do is quite low but the results of that are incredibly serious. Mr Macdonald said children often do not report the abuse because they are not aware they are victims. He said other children might have been abused by Rodriguez, but officers are not aware of them despite contacting other girls he approached online. Bearing in mind that of the six that he has been convicted of, none of them came forward originally. It is just reflective of the vast under-reporting of this type of case it is a concern. Rodriguez, also known as Grymey D, used Instagram, Facebook and Blackberry Messenger to contact girls who he invited to his home. Videos found on devices in his bedroom at his parents house showed Rodriguez engaging in sex with young girls. The 28-year-old of Hackney, north London, deliberately targeted vulnerable and impressionable young girls in order to carry out deviant sexual fantasies, Judge Joanna Greenberg QC said In one encounter, Rodriguez filmed himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl who had arrived at his house wearing her school uniform. Rodriguez was caught when detectives examined the phone of a 14-year-old girl and found messages suggesting he was in a sexual relationship with her. She told officers he had first contacted her on Instagram when she was 13, and she was 14 when she visited his home, where he engaged in sexual activity with her on her second visit. Francis entered the camp on foot, walking slowly in his white robe beneath the notorious gate at Auschwitz bearing the words Arbeit Macht Frei (Work will set you free). After Auschwitz he moved to nearby Birkenau, where people were murdered in factory-like fashion in gas chambers. It was a contemplative and private visit of nearly two hours that Francis passed in silence, except for a few words he exchanged with camp survivors and Holocaust rescuers. Vatican and Polish church officials had explained that he wanted to express his sorrow in silence at the site, mourning the victims in quiet prayer and meditation. However, he did express his feelings, writing in the Auschwitz memorials guest book in Spanish: Lord, have pity on your people. Lord, forgive so much cruelty. As an Argentine, he is the first Pope to visit Auschwitz who did not live through the brutality of the Second World War on Europes soil. Both of his predecessors had a personal historical connection to the site, with the first, John Paul II, hailing from Poland and himself a witness to the suffering inflicted on his nation during the German occupation. His successor Benedict XVI, who visited in 2006, was a German who served in the Hitler Youth for a time as a teenager. Francis prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before meeting several survivors of the camp, greeting them one by one, shaking their hands and kissing them on the cheeks. He then carried a large white candle to the Death Wall, where prisoners were executed. With aides using small flashlights to light his way, Francis visited the underground cell where Franciscan monk Maksymilian Kolbe was killed after offering his life to save a Polish man whom camp handlers had picked to die of starvation. German occupation forces set up the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War Two in Oswiecim, a town around 70km from Polands second city, Krakow, in the countrys south. Between 1940 and 1945 Auschwitz developed into a vast complex of barracks, workshops, gas chambers and crematoria. On July 29, 1941, the camp director, in reprisal for the escape of a prisoner, chose 10 others and sentenced them to death by starvation. When the selection was completed, Kolbe stepped forward and volunteered to die in place of one of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek. Kolbe was later killed by lethal injection but the man he saved survived the war. He was made a saint in 1982 by then-Pope John Paul II, a Pole. Yesterday, the 75th anniversary of Kolbes sacrifice, Francis also visited Birkenau, a part of the camp where most of the killings were committed in gas chambers. Invited guests, among them camp survivors and Christian Poles who saved Jews during the war, stood in respect as the Pope arrived, his vehicle driving parallel to the rail tracks once used to transport victims to their deaths. When Francis arrived, the hundreds of guests applauded. He slowly observed each of the memorial plaques in the 23 languages used by the inmates. Polands chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, then recited in Hebrew Psalm 130, which starts: From the depths I have cried out to you, O Lord. Francis clasped his hands and bent his head as the psalm was read first by the rabbi and then by a priest in Polish. The visit to Auschwitz came on the third day of a five-day visit to Poland that includes meetings with young pilgrims taking part in World Youth Day, a global youth celebration. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said coalition aircraft struck the village of Al-Ghandour on Thursday. The Observatorys chief Rami Adurrahman said another 13 people were killed in the strikes but he could not say if they were IS fighters or civilians. It was unclear if the Al-Ghandour attacks involved an air strike reported on Thursday by US Central Command, which is responsible for US forces in the Middle East. CentCom said the coalition had conducted air strikes around the nearby town of Manbij in the past 24 hours and was looking into reports of civilian casualties. Al-Ghandour is 28km north west of Manbij, a key hub in ISs Syria network and a supply route to its de facto capital of Raqqa. The bombings came a week after air strikes, also blamed by Syrian activists on US aircraft, killed at least 56 civilians in IS-held territory in northern Syria. The Manbij area has seen extensive battles between IS extremists and US-backed Kurdish-led fighters, who have been advancing under the cover of air strikes by the coalition. The town is encircled by Kurdish forces. The Kurdish-led forces pulled another 1,000 civilians out of Manbij on Thursday, according to Mustafa Bali, a local media activist in the town of Kobani. Meanwhile, the UN envoy for Syria has offered a suggestion to Russia over its proposal to set up humanitarian corridors around the northern city of Aleppo, advising Moscow leave the job to the United Nations. Staffan de Mistura spoke in Geneva, a day after Russia said its forces and those of the Syrian government would open humanitarian corridors outside Aleppo and offer a way out for fighters wanting to surrender. Mr de Mistura said he is awaiting clarification from Russian authorities about that plan amid an urgent situation in the northern city, hit by devastating violence in recent months. The envoy also warned that the clock is ticking for the Aleppo population. Burma This Week in Parliament (July 25-29) The Irrawaddy keeps you up-to-date on the parliamentary proceedings of the week that was. July 25 (Monday) The second regular session of Parliament resumed on Monday. The Union Parliament put on record President Htin Kyaws attendance at the Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit to mark the 20th anniversary of the Asean-Russia dialogue partnership; the declaration of bylaws related to electricity and chemicals; the appointment of a State Counselors Office deputy minister, a Naypyidaw council member and the chairman of the Danu Self-Administered Zone in Shan state, and the resignation of a member of the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission. The deputy minister of planning and finance, Kyaw Win, explained the amended Union budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year and the draft law to amend the Union budget law. The chairman of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission explained the commissions 2015 annual report. The Lower House approved the draft law to revoke the Rangoon and Mandalay municipal laws. In the Upper House, Sai Wan Hline Kham of Shan State Constituency-3 submitted a proposal urging the government to take a tough stance on drug production and distribution across northern Shan State, conduct an awareness campaign and implement rehabilitation policies. The Upper House approved his proposal. July 26 (Tuesday) In the Lower House, lawmakers debated a proposal previously submitted by Aye Zin Latt, a National League for Democracy lawmaker from Shwebo Township in Sagaing Division. His proposal urged the health ministry to expand its rural care service and address the shortage of doctors and medicines at hospitals. The health minister replied that his ministry was implementing a five-year health plan that would upgrade all 25-bed hospitals to 50-bed ones and within two months hire 2,000 new doctors and medical staff. In the Upper House, Okkar Min from Tenasserim Division asked about plans to protect migrant workers rights. Labor, Immigration and Population Minister Thein Swe replied that his ministry was holding multilateral talks with Asean members to ensure safe workplaces free from discrimination and exploitation. His ministry is also trying to bring back Burmese migrant workers who have been detained in Malaysia and Thailand. Zaw Min Latt from Shan State Constituency-1 asked if the ministry had a plan to improve the minimum wage3,600 kyats for an eight-hour day, or 450 kyats per hour. Thein Swe replied that his ministry currently had no such plan but would monitor the overall situation and consider it in the future. Regarding a question by Khin Ma Gyi from Kachin State Constituency-8 about foreign workers in Burma, the minister replied that taxes are levied on them according to related laws, bylaws, visas and bilateral agreements. The ministry is drafting a law to enforce regulations on foreign workers employed in Burma. July 27 (Wednesday) Twelve lawmakers debated Aye Zin Latts proposal to expand the public health department. Health Minister Myint Htwe responded to the discussion and Parliament agreed to monitor the departments performance. In the Upper House, Than Soe from Rangoon Constituency-4 asked if Burmas Agriculture and Rural Development Bank would release its annual financial statement for 2015-16, and agriculture minister Aung Thu said work was underway to release the financial statement. In Burma, the government confiscates lottery prizes that are not claimed within a year. Htein Win from Irrawaddy Division Constituency-4 asked if the government had a plan to increase the prizes instead of confiscating them. National Planning and Finance Deputy Minister Maung Maung Win said his ministry was drafting the State Lottery Law, under which the government would use unclaimed lottery money toward public spending. Aung Myo from Sagaing Division Constituency-2 asked what the government does with the vehicles it confiscates in connection with criminal and civil cases. Maung Maung Win replied that these vehicles were sold to buyers under an open tender system as instructed by the Union government and vehicles beyond repair were transferred to the National Planning and Finance Ministry as state property. July 28 (Thursday) In the Union Parliament, lawmakers debated the joint public accounts committees report of its review and remarked on the Union governments targeted taxation goals and actual taxation amounts for the second half of the 2015-16 fiscal year. The Union Parliament approved the report. Sixteen lawmakers discussed the 2015 annual report of the National Human Rights Commission and the commission chairman responded. The Union Parliament put the discussions on record. July 29 (Friday) Ten lawmakers debated a proposal by Yin Min Hlaing from Gangaw Township of Magwe Division that urged the Union government to address deforestation and environmental degradation in western Magwe Division. Resources and Environmental Conservation Minister Ohn Win responded to the discussion and the Parliament approved monitoring of the situation. Business The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (July 30, 2016) ADBs transportation tips; Ooredoo profits; New director at Korean think tank; Crop insurance launches; Private equity fund raises capital for Burma projects ADB Has Tips on Transportation Improvements As much as US$60 billion of investment is required by 2030 if Burma is to address shortfalls in transportation infrastructure that risk holding the country back from economic growth and reducing poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said. The Manila-based multilateral financial institution has just published a lengthy policy note on the transport sector, comprising nine separate reports that include one on how to reform transport institutions, others looking at Burmas river transport, urban transport and truck roads, and a guide on how to improve road user chargesthe latter dealing with the thorny issue of tolls. The reports derive from reviews on which the ADB assisted the Burmese government in 2014-15. A press release accompanying the publication cited Bambang Susantono, ADBs vice-president for knowledge management and sustainable development, saying the countrys future is full of great potential. The new government is ready to make use of its abundant and innate resources to eradicate poverty and ensure growth for everyone, he said. This includes providing access to a modern and safe transport system for all. Detailing some of the findings, it said that some 20 million people in Burma currently live in villages without road access during all seasons. The report notes that $45 to $60 billion is required in transport investments by 2030, and these should be coupled with streamlining institutions and strengthening cross-ministerial collaboration, it added. Ooredoo Turns a Profit Qatar-based telecommunications firm Ooredoo has begun making profits on its operation in Burma, it announced, after more than doubling its subscriber base in a year. In half-year results announced this week, the company said it now had more than 8 million customers in the country, and said its data network was already available in locations where more than 85 percent of the population lives. The results say Ooredoo Myanmar made a profit almost $22 million in the first half of 2016, compared to losses of about $83 million in the first half of 2015. Despite the growth in subscribers, Ooredoo is still behind rival private telceommunications firm Telenor of Norway, which has raced to 16.9 million subscribers, according to quarterly results published this month. Telenor made $72.3 million in the second quarter of 2016, between April and June. But Ooredoo last year vowed to turn its fortunes around with a more mass market approach. Revenues grew by 41 percent year to year, according to the latest results. The company also said it had become the first operator to launch 4G mobile services in May, confirming its data leadership in Myanmar. New South Korea-Backed Think Tank Takes Shape The Myanmar Development Institute, a new think tank set up in Naypyidaw with funding from South Koreas international aid agency, has picked its first director, according to a report. The institute was officially launched in January with the intention of creating a national think tank to advise the government on socioeconomic issues and policy. The Korean International Cooperation Agency has committed $20 million of funding for the project over five years. A report from Korean business publication Pulse this week cited an announcement from the Korea Development Institute naming the first director as Burmese national and World Bank economist Min Ye Paing Hein. The new directorwho will assume office in December, according to the reporthas a doctorate in social science and political economy from the University of Wisconsin, and speaks Chinese, as well as English and Burmese, it said. In a sign of what the new institutes priorities might be, Min Ye Paing Hein has served as a poverty specialist at the World Bank, and is the author of a slideshow published online about landlessness in Burma. At the time of its launch, a state media report said the Myanmar Development Institutes working committee was chaired by Zaw Oo, then an economic advisor to former President Thein Sein. Japanese Firm to Launch Crop Insurance Japans Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance has signed a memorandum of understanding with the leading association of rice producers to offer insurance covering crop losses due to bad weather, according to state media. The Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Friday that the Japanese company and the Myanmar Rice Federation signed the agreement on Tuesday in Rangoon to work together on launching an insurance system in Upper Burma. It will cover crop losses due to torrential rains, the report said. We will provide technical assistance without gaining any profit, Keiji Okada, general manager at Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance was quoted saying. Since Myanmar has difficulty in collecting weather data we will apply satellite technology to measure rainfall and weather conditions using photos sent by the satellite. The report cited Tun Win, deputy minister for agriculture, livestock and irrigation saying that the country is among those in the world most adversely affected by erratic weather, making the implementation of an insurance system difficult. Private Equity Fund Raises $20M for Burma Projects Singapore-registered private equity fund Golden Rock Capital has raised $20 million and has begun investing in business in Burma, according to dealstreetasia.com. The website reported that the fund is targeting $100 million in total funding to make individual investments of ideally between $7 million and $10 million in the country. It has already put money into Myanmar Personal Care, a Singapore-registered entity trading in perfumes, the report said. Dealstreetasia.com this week cited Marvin Yeo, founder of the fund, which has offices in Rangoon and Singapore, saying that $20 million had so far been raised. Originating partner Thura Soe Paing told the website that investments would mean firms get management help from the fund. We are more than a provision of capital, we would like to help the businesses grow through the contacts and connections that we have, he was quoted saying. The most important thing is when we come as investors and advisors, we believe in the long term potential of the country we are not here just to make a quick buck. Saturday, July 30th, 2016 (8:12 am) - Score 1,239 The United Kingdom is already building a legally binding Universal Service Obligation (USO) for 10Mbps broadband speeds and a new leak of future EU telecoms proposals appears to confirm that the European Commission are planning to do something similar. A couple of weeks ago we reported on another leak of future EU telecoms policy, which appeared to all but confirm that a new target would be set to ensure that all European households can get a minimum Internet download speed of 100Mbps (Megabits per second) by 2025, with businesses and the public sector also being told to expect 1Gbps speeds (here). The above is a commitment rather than a legally-binding USO and now EurActiv has leaked yet more documents, which reveal that the EU also intend to make basic broadband (the previous EU Digital Agenda defined this as anything from 0.5Mbps to 4Mbps) a legally guaranteed service for all. However the proposals, which have yet to be fleshed out, do not currently dictate a minimum speed and would allow wireless and Satellite technologies as part of the USO fix. At this point the UK is still part of the EU and will remain so until around 2019/20, which means that the UK Government must continue to take any proposals by the EU seriously. Similarly its important to keep an eye on the EU in case domestic UK policy falls behind. Currently its still too early to tell if the EU will end up doing something that goes beyond what the UK has already proposed, although early signs suggest that they may take a softer approach. The new proposals should be tabled by the executive in September 2016 and will form part of the previously reported 100Mbps pledge, which could all be agreed by the end of 2017 and then implemented from 2019. "Days of Our Lives" spoilers of the upcoming have already been released and they have left fans on the edge. There is a lot in store for the show when it returns on television in two weeks' time. There have been reports claiming that in the upcoming episode, Jennifer Horton will be getting help from an unlikely source. Although it wasn't stated as to what aspect in her life that she needs help from, there can only be one thing that comes to mind: a custody battle against Chad of Abigail's baby, Thomas. According to Inquisitr, the character of Jennifer may be having a hard time winning this battle. If the court finds out her drug history, even though she has been sober for months already, it may cause her to lose. There are reports that Jennifer could get desperate already and ask for help from Andre DiMera, who is rather an unlikely source. Jennifer's desperation could get ugly once she seeks help from DiMera, who is plotting revenge and is doing everything he could to do so. His revenge plot has been planned thoroughly since he got out of jail and is not intending to back off at any point. Thus, this has gotten fans to assume that they will collaborate in their plans. It has been seen in the series that Andre is not in good terms with Chad, especially since he kicked Andre out of the DiMera mansion and accused him of stealing. This anger may prompt Jennifer to get assistance from him, ultimately making Chad lose the custody battle. Soap Shows reported that amidst the custody battle, both Jennifer and Chad get visits from the beyond, with Jen seeing Jack's ghost and Chad having flashbacks of Stefano. This upcoming episode won't be airing until two more weeks, after the Summer Olympics on NBC is done. There have been speculations that the Disney Channel Series "Girl Meets World" will no longer be renewing for season four, although their third season is still currently on air. However, there hasn't been any confirmation yet if these speculations are indeed true. "Girl Meets World" is currently airing its third season on Disney Channel. The Disney series is going to stage a reunion with its forerunner, "Boy Meets World." This was the first thing that led the fans to assume the cancellation of the show. After that, major stars of the show posted tweets that added to the assumption of the show's cancellation, a Disney Channel network representative spoke up about the issue. According to Parent Herald, the network representative said that there are no news to share as of yet about the show's fourth season. Season three of "Girl Meets World" will continue to air episodes until 2017. Thus, news on the fourth season may be too early for now. Rumors on its cancellation were led by the tweets posted by the Disney show's stars, indicating a possible goodbye. TV Line reported that one of the stars, Rowan Blanchard said in her tweet that "I know as much as you guys do... The family that we have created on our set is something I will truly never forget." In addition to this, Uria Shelton, who plays Rowan's uncle on the show, also said "Thanks guys. I'm going to miss you." Due to these speculations, fans of the show raised a petition online that rather than cancelling the show, it shall move on to another network, Freeform. Fans signed the petion in order for the storyline to cover a greater scope, and explore deeper stories of the characters. The petition now has over 20,000 supporters to date, and fans are very hopeful of their cause. If it may be cancelled, or moved or neither of the options at all, there is still a lot in store for the "Girl Meets World" and their fans on the show's current season. The "Teen Wolf" season six premiere date has finally been revealed and the fans can't wait for what's in store for the show. In addition to that, Dylan O'Brien is confirmed to be coming back to the series despite his accident from filming a movie. There have been speculations that Dylan O'Brien will no longer be coming back to the show for its sixth and final season due to his many absences. He was also not present during the San Diego Comic-Con where the cast and crew used their time to tease fans about season six of "Teen Wolf." Season six of "Teen Wolf" is set to premiere on November 15, on MTV. Despite this season being the last, the creators have assured fans that it is worth waiting for. There is a lot more to the storyline of the Ghost Riders, the new villains of the show. According to International Business Times, Dylan O'Brien will be coming back to the show as Stiles, and it looks like he may be the next target of the Ghost Riders. There are also other comebacks on the show, including Peter, played by Ian Bohen and Theo, played by Cody Christian. Despite Dylan's accident from filming on the set of "Maze Runner: The Death Cure," he will be making a proper end of his character, Stiles, on "Teen Wolf." There are also rumors that he may have caused the cancellation of the show. However, the show's rating dropped 50% last season and this may have led to its end, as reported by Christian Today. Even though the show is coming to an end, the stars are not as disappointed since they have already been running for six years now and for that, they are thankful. The series will be ending on its 100th episode. Samsung Deutschland's battery test video has shown that, when compared five other phones with Samsung's Galaxy S7 and Galaxy 7 Edge flagships, there is no competition. Mashable reports that this year's test has shown that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have the best battery life, lasting for 10 hours and 59 minutes and 10 hours 30 minutes respectively. The Samsung flagship phones have been tested against the iPhone 6S, HTC 10, Sony Xperia X, Huawei P9 and LG G5. In the video presenting the test, we can see the phones' batteries start dying sometime around the 6:30 hour mark. The first phone to have its battery discharged was the LG G5. Beside the winners S7 and S7 Edge, the battery in the iPhone 6S lasted 8 hours and 13 minutes. The video presenting the test shows that Samsung smartphones are clear winners, even if the test has been organized by the South Korean company itself. However, according to Samsung, the mobile devices were tested on "equal terms." The number of battery charge cycles each individual device has had and the exact settings used by Samsung during the test are not known. Other smartphone manufacturers have done their own internal testing as well. According to Android Authority, smartphone manufacturers used to compare their own phones with phones from competitors so they can make bold claims at press conferences. These kinds of claims should always be taken with a grain of salt, however, since they are not always 100 percent accurate. It is true that there are many ways to manipulate data to come out on top of these battery tests. Samsung's battery test might been no different, but tech experts tend to agree that the South Korean company's mobile devices have really good battery life. Certainly, the S7 and S7 Edge batteries are among the best smartphone batteries on the market. Just do not expect your Galaxy S7 battery to last for 10 hours and 59 minutes as seen in the test video. Did we learn nothing from Arthur C. Clarke's 1968 sci-fi epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey? In the film, astronauts on a mission to Jupiter discover that the HAL 9000 artificial intelligence computer that controls and automates all functions on the spacecraft starts seriously glitching. The astronauts get worried, HAL gets paranoid -- yada, yada, yada -- HAL kills everyone on the ship. The moral of the story is that when lives depend on fully automated systems, it's a good idea to keep an eye on those systems anyway. (And if that's not the moral of the story, it should have been.) How do you use something that's fully automatic, anyway? What is the responsibility of the "user"? Can we just hand over control to the bots? Recent events in the news suggest that when it comes to using our automatic products and features, some people are doing it wrong. The PetNet failure Petnet is a $149 cloud-controlled smart feeder for dogs and cats that automatically dispenses pet food on a schedule. The feeder connects to the Internet via your home Wi-Fi network, and you control the feeder with an iOS app, and even dispense treats manually (for example, to assuage your own guilt for leaving Skippy in the care of an appliance). Petnet is also tied to a pet food delivery service, which can also be automated through Amazon's Dash program. You don't have to order pet food; the feeder will do it for you. (As soon as dog-walking robots and dog-petting machines come on the market, we can disengage with Skippy altogether!) Crucially, Petnet monitors your pet's food and water consumption to make sure Skippy doesn't get fat. Sounds awesome, right? But when a Google-provisioned service that the Petnet cloud depends on went down, some 10 percent of Petnet feeders stopped working properly for about 10 hours. Although the company claims automated feeding schedules were unaffected, users lost the ability to feed manually or change schedules. Some pets went hungry. Petnet sent an email to customers, advising them to "please ensure that your pets have been fed manually." But many customers are relying on Petnet to feed their pets while on summer vacation. The Nest Thermostat meltdown One of the first mainstream Internet of Things devices, Google's Nest Learning Thermostat, is a device that automatically adjusts home temperatures. Some Nest thermostats experienced a failure last week during a nationwide heat wave. The company issued a statement saying that a "small percentage of Nest Thermostats and Nest Protects" appeared to be offline, even though they were still functioning. Back in January, a widespread glitch caused Nest thermostats to drain their own batteries, then fail to function. Worse, this occurred during an East Coast cold snap. Many Nest customers were left in the cold. I'm not aware of any deaths, illness or injuries from the overheating and overcooling that resulted when the Nest's automatic temperature control failure, but it's a possibility for our automated future. As a larger percentage of temperature controls become Nest-like automated systems, including for disabled, elderly or sick people, problems with these automated systems could be life threatening. The Tesla Auto-Pilot crash A Tesla crash in May raised questions about Tesla's Autopilot feature. The car was reportedly in Autopilot mode when it crashed into the side of a tractor trailer, killing the driver. Tesla claimed it was the first known death in more than 130 million miles of Autopilot operation. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board found that the car was traveling at 74 mph in a 65 mph zone. Some Teslas have a range of automation features, including a beta Autosteer mode, an Auto Lane Change feature, an Automatic Emergency Steering and Side Collision Warning system as well as Autopark. While attention has been paid to the so-called Autopilot set of features, the real failure happened with an automatic emergency braking system, which probably did not engage in the crash. The reason is probably that the truck's side was lit up by the sun, which the Tesla's visual system couldn't distinguish from sky. Some speculate that the driver wasn't paying attention to the road. The truck driver claims that the driver was "playing Harry Potter on the TV screen" in the car throughout the entire crash. News of the crash didn't stop the occasional abuse of Tesla Autopilot mode. A recent YouTube video, which has since been removed, shows a man playing Pokemon Go with both hands while Teslas Autopilot handled the driving. How to use fully automatic products and features Like a Tesla on both Autopilot and Ludicrous modes, we're rapidly screaming toward a future where many of our appliances, equipment, vehicles, gadgets and services are completely automated, controlled remotely by artificial intelligence or locally by algorithms. It's important for us, as consumers and users, to learn how to safely incorporate these technologies into our lives. What these events tell us is that the right way to use automation is to treat it like the convenience it is, and not a replacement for human awareness, monitoring and judgment. Pets can't be left in the care of a cloud service entirely. As with before the automatic pet feeder era, a human guardian who cares must be available to check on, feed, or pet-sit any pet when we go on vacation. We can't turn pets' lives and well-being completely over to an app (unless, of course, those pets themselves are robots). Climate control, and by extension smoke and carbon monoxide detection, can't be left entirely in the hands of the machines. The elderly or others who might not be able to take care of themselves can't be placed in the hands of algorithms, because sometimes algorithms go haywire. The really hard problem is: What to think and do about self-driving cars? The Tesla crash got pundits and social media commenters questioning the wisdom of self-driving cars. The problem with that impulse is that automated emergency braking on many different makes and models of cars will save lives, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It seems likely that the crash was caused by human error. It's reasonable to expect the driver of a car to apply the brake when speeding toward a truck in the road. When we consider that human drivers are at fault for thousands of fatal car accidents each year, we should be pushing for truly self-driving cars because people are more dangerous behind the wheel. Yet at the same time, I think that for the foreseeable future, the right way to "use" a fully automated, fully self-driving car is to let the car drive, but always have someone behind the wheel, paying full attention to the road and ready to take over control at any time. The Googles and the Teslas of the world will tell us that we don't need steering wheels, brakes or even windshields in self-driving cars, and that the car will drive more safely than we can. They'll easily back up those statements with statistics that show far fewer accidents compared with human-driven cars. But even if automated driving brings down the car-related fatality rate to, say, 10 percent of what it was with human drivers, we're still talking about thousands of people being killed each year. If you were to leave your baby in a public park and go shopping, statistically speaking it's unlikely that anyone would harm the baby. But you'd never do that because, as a parent, you're not going to take any chances. Similarly, parents will not -- and should not -- trust the lives of their children to automated driving systems. The best approach is to let the self-driving features do the driving while paying full attention to everything that's happening. What we need is a set of cultural norms that make it clear to people that automating important things doesn't and can't replace a human being paying attention. Because, in the words of HAL 9000 from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, any harm that results from turning our loved ones' safety over to the machines "can only be attributable to human error." Words of wisdom, HAL. Words of wisdom. Now open the pod bay door, HAL. HAL? 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. Auto break-ins investigated Winston-Salem police are investigating the break-ins of 10 vehicles early Thursday at Brookridge Retirement Home at 1199 Hayes Forest Drive. The incidents happened shortly after 3 a.m. Officers received a report of a suspicious person walking around the area, police said. They found that 10 unlocked vehicles had been entered and rummaged through in the parking lot. John Hinton Crash kills 2 on I-85 South near Lexington LEXINGTON The Highway Patrol is investigating a double fatal car crash on Interstate 85 South reported on Thursday night. The identities of the victims have not been released, WGHP/FOX8, the Journals news-gathering partner, reported. A Davidson County paramedic was injured. The incident involved three vehicles and was reported at about 10:18 p.m. on I-85 South near mile-marker 91. A 2004 Toyota passenger vehicle was headed south on I-85 at a high rate of speed, changed lanes and struck a 2008 Toyota minivan, according to troopers. The 2004 Toyota lost control to the left and struck 2006 Ford pickup. After hitting the pickup, the 2004 Toyota went off the road to the right, struck a tree and became engulfed in flames, officials said. Lexington firefighters, Davidson County emergency workers and the Highway Patrol responded to the incident. The investigation is ongoing. WGHP/Fox 8 Surf-fishing spot near lighthouse opens early BUXTON A popular surf-fishing spot near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is open to fishing and four-wheel drive vehicles earlier than usual this summer. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., reports that Cape Point, a 100-acre spit of land near the lighthouse, has opened a month early because smaller buffer areas are in place around sea turtle and shorebird nests. The resource management chief for the Outer Banks Group of National Park Service sites says access points to the cape were closed in May and reopened this week. In the past, access points closed in April and didnt reopen until late August because of nesting season. Fishing groups sued two years ago for smaller buffer areas and won. The previous buffers blocked the shoreline from the dunes to the ocean. The Associated Press Asheville activists cited for protest ASHEVILLE Asheville police are delivering citations to activists who protested the shooting death of a black man by an officer. The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that more than 20 people have been cited for a July 21st march and sit-in at the police department about the shooting death of Jai Williams, 35, who died July 2. A department spokeswoman says the most common charge is impeding the flow of traffic. The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Two San Diego police officers were shot one fatally after a late-night stop turned into a gunfight, triggering a manhunt that led to the capture of one wounded suspect in a ravine and an hours-long SWAT standoff Friday that ended after officers detained a second man who may have been involved. The shooting came as departments around the country are on high alert following the killing of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this month. San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said it was unknown whether the San Diego attack was premeditated. The chain of events unfolded over more than 12 hours in a blue-collar area of southeastern San Diego with modest single-story homes and streets lined with palm trees. It started about 11 p.m. Thursday when two veteran gang unit officers in bulletproof vests stopped a person on a street. Almost immediately a shootout ensued and the officers called for backup. Authorities initially said the officers made a traffic stop involving a motorist, but clarified later that they were still trying to determine whether it was a traffic stop or a stop to check out a pedestrian. "It happened extremely quickly," Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said. "From the information that was put out that a stop was being made to that the officers called for emergency cover to when the other officers arrived on scene, we're talking very, very quickly. Seconds to a minute or so." Jonathan De Guzman, a 16-year veteran of the force who was married with two children, suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The 43-year-old died at Scripps Mercy Hospital after doctors' efforts to save him failed. Wade Irwin, 32, underwent surgery after being shot and was expected to survive, Zimmerman said. His wife was at his side during surgery. Police swarmed the neighborhood where the shootout happened and quickly captured 52-year-old Jesse Gomez in a nearby ravine, Zimmerman said. He was in critical condition Friday with a gunshot wound but was expected to survive. Police gave no further information about Gomez or his role in the shootout except to say he was a suspect. During the search for a second man described as a "potential" suspect, residents were ordered to stay in their homes throughout the night as San Diego police and officers from other law enforcement agencies scoured yards, streets and alleys. A helicopter hovered over the neighborhood. About nine hours after the shootout, heavily armed officers surrounded a house about a half-mile (about 1 kilometer) away, one of them using a loudspeaker to urge a man to surrender. Authorities also detonated several devices at the scene to draw him out and used tools to break windows and pound on the roof. Then, about a dozen heavily armed SWAT officers raced another house about two blocks away, positioning an armored truck and robots outside. The possible suspect wasn't there either. Zimmerman said late Friday afternoon that officers arrested a man in the area on an unrelated warrant. She said police were investigating to see whether 41-year-old Marcus Antonio Cassani had any role in the police shootings. After visiting Irwin at UC San Diego Medical Center early Friday, Zimmerman told reporters that the officer's prospects for recovery were good. The nine-year veteran of the force had just joined the gang unit in June. "It's a little bit of a long haul until he makes a full recovery, but the good news is that he is going to survive and he is going to recover," she said. Earlier, Zimmerman told reporters she knew De Guzman well. "I can tell you he is a loving, caring husband, father. Talked about his family all the time," Zimmerman said. "I know him, and this is gut-wrenching. He cared. He came to work every single day wanting to just make a positive difference in the lives of our community and that's why he lost his life." De Guzman received the purple heart in 2003 after he was stabbed by a man he had stopped for speeding. The man was convicted of attempted murder on a peace officer in 2004. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer denounced the shootings. "I ask all San Diegans and all people across our nation to join together in support of our officers who courageously protect our communities," he said. "We need them and they need us." GREENSBORO A Virginia man who killed a college student in 2014 while driving the wrong way on the interstate said in Guilford County Superior Court Friday he doesnt remember most of what happened. Ronnie Sesco Fichera, 48, of South Boston, Va., pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Reagan Lee Hartley, 22, of Willow Springs. Hartley was an elementary education major at Western Carolina University a month shy of graduation. She was driving home to see her mom in Johnston County on April 3, 2014, when Fichera plowed into her Volvo in a head-on crash in Guilford County. Superior Court Judge Stan Allen sentenced Fichera to 13 years and 7 months to 17 years in prison. Charges of eluding arrest and hit-and-run were dismissed as part of the plea. Five other traffic charges in Randolph County were dismissed in 2014 after the murder charge was filed, according to court records. Allen also ordered Fichera to receive a mental health assessment in prison. Speaking from a wheelchair in court due to his injuries from the crash, Fichera apologized to the family. Im sorry for your loss. I dont know why it happened, he said. Sometimes I remember stuff but sometimes I cant. I want to just accept responsibility and I truly am sorry. The events began at the Subway in Asheboro at 305 N. Fayetteville St. about 9 p.m. Fichera came into the restaurant and ordered two meals but only ate one, said prosecutor Veronica Edmisten. One of the two employees said an hour later at closing time, Fichera crept up to a cardboard display and attacked it. The other employee described Ficheras pupils as, pinpricks, Edmisten said. Employees called 911 and an Asheboro officer found Fichera in a green Ford Expedition in the parking lot. The officer asked him to get out of the SUV. Instead, Fichera drove off and the officer pursued him up Fayetteville Street with his blue lights and siren on, with speeds reaching 80 mph in a 35 mph zone, Edmisten said. The officer told the dispatcher he thought the driver of the SUV was impaired. He was often in the opposite lane of traffic and at one point struck a concrete median, according to evidence relayed in court. Randleman police picked up the chase at their city limits on U.S. 220 Business. Fichera drove 80 mph throughout the chase. Guilford County deputies took over when Fichera entered Interstate 40 going the wrong way. The deputies followed on the correct side of the interstate. Fichera got off the interstate at High Point Road made a loop around Four Seasons Town Centre, then back onto I-40, driving the wrong way again, Edmisten said. He plowed head-first into Hartleys Volvo, which was going about 60 mph. Ficheras vehicle caught fire. Hartley died in the crash. Its unclear if Fichera was intoxicated the night of the wreck. Edminsten said an officer was unable to get a blood sample at Moses Cone Hospital the night of the wreck due to Ficheras condition. Ficheras attorney, Sabrina Bailey, told the court she recalled he was tested for alcohol, with negative results. Hartleys mother, Christy Dawson, said she was satisfied with the sentence, but she was not happy with Fichera. She said she previously tried to get on Ficheras visitation list at the jail but wasnt added. Dawson said shes seen no sign of guilt from him prior to Fridays plea. You cant go two years with no remorse and go to court and say, Im sorry for your loss,' Dawson said. It doesnt mean anything. She said her daughter was not just her child, but a good friend. Death is final. I cant buy a card or go down the road (to see her). I have to go to the cemetery and look at a plot of grass to see my daughter, Dawson said. And it hurts me more than anything that my child died alone, in the middle of the road, in the dark night. I didnt get to tell her bye and hold her hand as she took her last breath. Hartleys father, Todd Hartley, was unmoved by Ficheras apology. He said he dont remember much, Hartley said in court. Well, memorys all we have left. Tom Jordan says corporate brands need to be nurtured and protected. Credit: handout photo from subject SHARE By of the When it comes to corporate branding, companies have two choices: They can be passive, leaving their brand to fate. Or they can be proactive by investing in their brand, nurturing and protecting it. "It really boils down to one word: differentiation. If you are the same as another product or service, why buy yours? Why pay more for yours? Why recommend yours to a friend?" says Tom Jordan, the former chairman and chief creative officer of Hoffman York advertising in Milwaukee. "But, being different also mandates that it is a positive difference. This separates you from the herd and helps build loyalty," Jordan says. "That helps explain why successful brands survive better in tough economies than weaker brands. People know you, remember you and prefer you. This is just as important for an internal audience." According to Jordan, women control more than 85% of all household purchase decisions, yet more than 90% of all advertising agency creative directors are men. "Studies have proven that women feel that advertising isn't talking to them," Jordan says. I asked this author of four books about marketing and 2014 inductee into the Wisconsin Advertising Hall of Fame to share his 10 most important strategies for building a strong corporate brand. 1) Determine the gender of the brand. "Often ignored or not understood by most marketers. For example, a pen, that is slightly smaller and fits nicely in your hand, doesn't have to be 'pink' to be feminine. And many products are, indeed, feminine. Consider that ties, cuff links, men's shirts ... even cars are purchased with the heavy influence of a woman," Jordan says. 2) Determine the intended audience of the brand. "To whom will this product or service appeal? Sometimes it's not just one person. For instance, a senior living residence has more than one audience," Jordan says. 3) Identify who will purchase your product or service. "Unless you're Axe Deodorant or Mountain Dew, more than likely it will be females who influence the purchase decision. When you see a man shopping for groceries, how often do they pull out their cellphones to call home and ask what they should buy because something on the shopping list isn't available?" Jordan says. 4) Get input (through a variety of research venues) from the people who will be buying your brand."Focus groups, online surveys, mall intercepts ... don't trust the instincts of the all-male creative team. This impartial information provides the litmus test for all communications," Jordan says. 5) Incorporate research findings into any modification that may be needed. "Listen to your audience and understand that they know more than you do. Resist the urge to do something 'breakthrough' if you are risking alienating a majority of your audience," Jordan says. 6) Create a position for the brand that separates it from other brands, making sure that genders of product and audience are in sync. "Just because a man may want a certain product, it might be better to appeal to the woman in his life that can sway a purchase decision," Jordan says. "Man: 'We should buy the new Dodge Charger.' Woman: 'We have two young children. Does it have four doors?' Man: 'Uh, no.' Woman: 'It snows a lot here. Does it have front-wheel drive?' Man: 'Uh, no.' Woman: 'Does it get great gas mileage?' Man: 'Uh, no.' So ... who influenced the purchase of that Subaru?" 7) Select and rank in order which media should be targeted with the brand. "Depending on product, service, scope of distribution and budget, this will vary. Today, traditional media needs to be supported strongly by social media," Jordan says. 8) Create proper "buzz" through social media and public relations as the brand campaign is launched."You have to lean in to all the new media. It provides opportunities that didn't exist in the past to closely engage your customers and, hopefully, cultivate advocates for your brand," Jordan says. 9) Monitor and adjust media and message based on sales performance and research of campaign."Just because something was agreed to four months ago doesn't mean it should be locked in stone. Keep an open mind and be willing to change media and message if feedback indicates a better way to go," Jordan says. 10) Track all results and analyze what worked, what didn't ... and why. "This is invaluable, especially since some of the tactics you embrace that are successful could be applied to other brands as well," Jordan says. Steve Jagler is the business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Send C-Level ideas to him at steve.jagler@journalsentinel.com. Tom Jordan Title: Retired chairman and creative officer of Hoffman York advertising in Milwaukee. Author: Wrote four books about marketing, as well as "The History, Art and Imagery of the Pfister Hotel" and "Sturgeon Bay: The Secret Treasures of Door County." Current boards: Coalition of Photographic Arts (Milwaukee) and the Miller Art Museum of Door County. Family:Wife Susan; sons Patrick and Andrew; and dog Coco. Education: B.S., Kent State University. City of residence: Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Favorite movie: "The Natural." Favorite band:The Doors. Favorite Wisconsin Restaurant: Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro. SHARE Rachel Grob, MA, PhD, Director of National Initiatives / Center for Patient Partnerships / University of Wisconsin-Madison. University of Wisconsin-Madison By of the Marty remembers looking outside the window of his room, seeing cars go by and thinking to himself, "How do you get in your car and just go, you know, just go about your day?" Leanna talks of "going through my day like a cement block." Sierra Rose recalls how she would stop caring about her job, thinking, "Oh, what is the point of it? I'm just a low-class American anyway." They are among 38 people from throughout the country, all of them 18 to 29 years old, who were interviewed about different aspects of depression for a new website designed to let people better understand the diseases and conditions they're facing. Their comments generated roughly 375 video clips, audio recordings and text each indexed to dozens of questions and topics on depression that make up the first module of the website. It was started by the Center for Patient Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, Oregon Health & Science University, and Yale University. It's patterned after one started in the United Kingdom more than a decade ago by a physician at Oxford University. The website healthexperiencesusa.org will feature similar interviews with people who have other diseases in the coming years. The goal is to offer a different perspective from that of a physician telling a patient what he or she can expect. "We are standing from a different place as a doctor," said Nancy Pandhi, a physician and assistant professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. The website in the United Kingdom healthtalk.org has interviews with more than a thousand patients who talk about their experiences with more than 85 diseases or medical procedures. The physician who started it, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, was able to find plenty of information about the disease and possible treatments. But she was stunned by the lack of information on what it's like to live with the disease, such as what to tell children or other family members. That site received almost 2 million visits from the United States last year. People respond to personal stories, said Rachel Grob, director of national initiatives for the Center for Patient Partnerships at UW-Madison. "It helps them understand the breadth of experiences that other patients have," she said. "We are storytelling animals." The United States is the 12th country to launch its own version of the website. Researchers and clinicians at UW-Madison produced the first module, "Young Adults' Experiences of Depression in U.S." The project took 15 months and consists of patients talking about their first experiences with depression, living with depression, getting help and helping themselves. Within each category are specific topics, such as how depression feels, its signs and symptoms, depression and eating disorders and depression and relationships. Other topics include therapy and counseling, medication and treatment choices, having a purpose in life, building relationships that work when depressed, and depression and pets. Each specific topic leads to short video or audio clips most are to 30 to 90 seconds long or text of young people talking about the topic and their experiences. People with depression tend to feel alone or isolated, Shanda Wells, a clinical psychologist with UW Health, said at a presentation for the website's launch. The website has the potential to help lessen that. "They have an opportunity to see, from the comfort of their own home, other people who have gone through it people they can relate to," Wells said. Learning of other people's experiences, she said, also helps undercut the stigma often associated with depression. The website is designed to be a resource not just for patients but also for physicians and other health care professionals, students, researchers and policy-makers. The modules will be produced using a rigorous methodology for identifying patterns in patients' experiences and ensuring the interviews are representative of diverse experiences. "You have to know you are doing it responsibly that you are not just getting an anecdotal view, but that you have done purposeful sampling," said Grob, who proposed the project to the Center for Patient Partnerships. Researchers with the parent organization in Great Britain came to Madison for a weeklong training session before the project's start. "We know we are hearing the quiet voices," Grob said, "and not just the loud ones." The website features young adults who are white, black, Latino and Asian, who are straight, gay, lesbian and transgendered, who are from different economic classes and backgrounds and who are from urban, suburban and rural areas. Various strategies, from fliers to Craigslist, were use to reach people. The interviews conducted by Grob and Meg Wise, a co-investigator on the project were done in people's homes or a place of their choosing. That changed the tone. "You are coming to them on their own terms," Pandhi said. The interviews, ranging from one to four hours, were transcribed and sent to the volunteers, who could edit the interviews to remove anything they didn't want on the website. The people interviewed, who have short biographies on the website, were allowed to use pseudonyms. The transcribed interviews were then analyzed word by word using methodology developed at Oxford University to reduce subjectivity and to identify major themes as well as important variations among the subjects. The scrupulous methodology makes the site useful for physicians, students and others in understanding what patients are experiencing. Meg Gaines, director of Center for Patient Partnerships, cited the 21-second video clip of someone talking about not being able to imagine how people can get in their cars and just go about their day. "You can't teach that in a classroom," Gaines said. "There is no substitute for this." The interviews can help clinicians learn to use certain words and phrases when talking to patients, such as "numbness" or "hollow," that can help build a bond with patients, said Pandhi, who practices at Access Community Health Centers in Madison and who does research in patient-and-family engagement. The website is part of the broader goal of giving patients a stronger voice in health care. "Young Adults' Experiences of Depression in U.S." cost about $330,000 to produce, said Gaines, who is a distinguished clinical professor of law at UW-Madison. The funding came from a consortium of groups at UW School of Medicine and Public Health and from the Center for Patients Partnerships. A national steering committee, with seven representatives from the four universities, will oversee the healthexperiences.usa.org website. The network hopes to pull in other universities to produce modules on patients' experiences with other diseases. "For the first couple of years, it will be a module at a time," Gaines said. Oregon Health & Science University is working on a module for veterans on traumatic brain injury. Proposals have been submitted for modules on low-back pain and on pediatric cancer. Building out the website will take years. Grob referred to it as "a many-miles journey." But she said, "We are delighted to have taken the first step." Two words: State Fair. Two more words: Cream puffs. It's the most popular food item at the Wisconsin State Fair; in 2015, fairgoers consumed more than 400,000 of them. "We operate around the clock (during the Fair). We never stop baking," said David Schmidt, CEO of the Wisconsin Bakers Association, which runs the fair's cream puff operation. Fresh cream is delivered each morning, and more than 200 "Team Cream Puff" employees work in three shifts, operating five ovens "and a lot of equipment" to keep up with the demand. "We never turn down an order," said Schmidt, who is there 18 to 20 hours a day during the Fair and has earned the nickname Puff Daddy. "You can't get a fresher cream puff anywhere." You'll have to wait until the fair opens Thursday to take a bite of this beloved tradition, but in the meantime, sink your teeth into some cream puff history. The advent of the cream puff Cream puffs, also known as profiterole or choux a la creme, originated in France, but they've been known in the United States since the mid-1800s. An 1850 news story in the Brooklyn Evening Star mentions that "some hundreds" of "cream puff cakes" were sold each day in Brooklyn bakeries at the time. One of the earliest recorded references to cream puffs in Wisconsin comes from an 1868 advertisement in The Daily Milwaukee News in which the Home for the Friendless thanks food donors, including a Miss H. Curry for "biscuits, crackers and cream puffs." By the 1890s, cream puffs appeared on restaurant menus throughout the state, but they didn't become a Dairy State favorite until they were introduced at the State Fair in 1924. That year, the Fair teamed up with the Wisconsin Bakers Association to create the fair's glass-windowed Dairy Bakery, designed to promote the use of Wisconsin dairy products. Cream puffs were among 34 products offered and had pulled ahead as a favorite when there was a shortage of whipping cream during World War II. The Dairy Bakery was closed in 1944, 1945 and 1946 due to the war, and when it reopened in 1947 the cream puff craze only grew. In celebration of cream puffs Our cream puffs are naturally ample in size, but Schmidt and his team set out to create the world's largest cream puff in 2011. The resulting Guinness World Record-holding cream puff topped the scales at more than 125 pounds and used 15.5 gallons of cream. Also in 2011, fourth-grade students from Mukwonago sought to give the treat a place of honor and state symbolism. A bill that would have designated the cream puff as Wisconsin's Official Dessert passed the state Senate but failed to move forward in the Assembly in 2012. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a rally in Philadelphia on Friday. Credit: EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ A funny thing happened on the way to the Democratic National Convention. The party that has for so long struggled to own the narrative of patriotism made a comeback. Aided by the fear and loathing at the Republican National Convention, and Donald Trump's relentless work to build a cult of personality, the Democrats have suddenly become the party of flag-waving and "USA! USA!" chants. Archconservative Jonah Goldberg summed it up in this tweet: "Why this convention is better: It's about loving America. GOP convention was about loving Trump. If you didn't love Trump, it offered nada." Loving America doesn't mean ignoring what is wrong, of course, and that was also one of the biggest differences in Philadelphia: You can acknowledge imperfections and still love the country. I was feeling the love as I watched Hillary Clinton give her acceptance speech on Thursday night. Dressed in a white suit as a nod to both Geraldine Ferraro (the first woman nominated as vice president) and the suffragettes who fought for a woman's right to vote, Clinton gave one of the best speeches of her career, lighting up during the wonky parts where she got to talk actual policy and goals. Lord help me, but I love a nerd at the helm. I was emotional because I was thinking about what her candidacy represents the first woman to be nominated by a major party, the first woman to have a real shot at the presidency. Regardless of how you feel about Hillary herself, that's important and historic. There's an entire generation of young people girls, especially who will grow up thinking that women in higher office is normal, expected. It was the same for little black girls and boys when Obama took office. Representation matters. Because we are still a nation suffering from systemic racism (words that actually came out of Clinton's mouth at the convention, largely thanks to the work of Black Lives Matter activists). We still have massive inequality based on gender and class. But many of us are fighting for better, even in the face of steep odds. Thisis the America I know and love. The one where people from diverse backgrounds, of various or no faiths, sexual and gender identities, and cultures, come together to create something far bigger and better than ever could be accomplished separately. And that's where the message at the DNC differed so importantly from even past Republican gatherings. For all the similarities in terms of flag-waving and chanting, and the (deeply problematic, even when Dems say it) idea of American exceptionalism, the modern Republican Party has not been particularly keen on real diversity and inclusion. The refusal to adapt and grow, to welcome people from non-Christian, non-straight, non-white communities is absolutely one of the biggest reasons the party is in its death throes, allowing the "homegrown demagogue" that is Trump to win the nomination and steer a course for the rocks. It's interesting to note the distinction Obama and others went to pains to make between Trump and the Republican Party. Trump is so far out there that it's true; his unhinged rhetoric goes far beyond what most mainstream conservatives believe. But it's dangerous to write off Trump as an anomaly. Millions of people have voted for him. What he says resonates for a lot of folks. Trump may not be a Republican in the true sense of the word, but he absolutely represents a terrifying new party of thought that was fostered within the GOP's ranks. There are people so fed up and disillusioned with the status quo that they're willing to throw in with a bigoted billionaire simply because he's unafraid to go off script. The same thing goes for the situation on the left, with those people intent on voting anyone-but-Clinton, or not voting at all, despite the very real possibility that that could help lead to a Trump presidency. You can disagree with various policy points raised at the DNC, but I hope more people than not can at least find inspiration in the overall message of coming together as Americans and that the definition of what makes one America is far more diverse and encompassing than the Trumps of the world would have you believe. Clinton gets that. She's staked her campaign on it, right down to the motto: "Stronger together." Emily Mills is a freelance writer who lives in Madison. Twitter: @millbot; Email: emily.mills@outlook.com Milwaukee attorney Verona Swanigan is challenging Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm in the Aug. 9 Democratic primary. Credit: Campaign photo & Mark Hoffman SHARE Election 2016 Visit our election section for complete coverage of the 2016 spring and fall local, state and national elections. By of the The Democratic primary for district attorney in Milwaukee County on Aug. 9 ostensibly pits incumbent John Chisholm against challenger Verona Swanigan. Some would argue it's really between Chisholm and Eric O'Keefe, the conservative political activist who has led the attacks against Chisholm for the once-secret, now-derailed John Doe investigation into whether conservative groups and Gov. Scott Walker's campaign violated campaign finance laws in 2012. "This is what we see in politics nowadays," Chisholm said. "Disguised, undisclosed interests who find a candidate compliant to that agenda. It's a fundamental issue of trust." Swanigan, a private attorney, has little experience for the job, comes with some peculiar baggage and has raised only about $10,000 for the race. But groups associated with O'Keefe may spend several times as much on ads attacking Chisholm, who has backed reforms to keep more nonviolent offenders out of jail, and gun users in jail. A spot out this month starts with a dramatization of a woman calling her husband after a carjacking, and says Chisholm "could care less about keeping thugs off the street," and that his real focus is partisan politics. The ad is paid for by Milwaukeeans for Self Governance, the same group run by local conservative operative Craig Peterson that backed various candidates in the spring Common Council elections. Peterson has said he helps spend O'Keefe's money. Chisholm's campaign may not be able to match such spending, but he has won endorsements from mayors, state lawmakers, labor unions and others, from County Executive Chris Abele to Carmen Pitre, executive director of the Sojourner Family Peace Center. Swanigan cites no prominent backers on her website or Facebook page. Conservative talk radio host Vicki McKenna did praise her during an introduction to a county Republican group in June. Swanigan, 39, is a Milwaukee native who attended college, graduate school and law school in Minnesota, California and Illinois, respectively. As she mentions prominently in her campaign materials and speeches, she holds law licenses in five states: Illinois, California, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin. Swanigan said she would not agree to an interview, but invited written questions by email, which a reporter promptly sent. She had not responded as of Friday. She returned to Milwaukee in 2011 and opened her own law office, and, shortly after, filed for protection in federal bankruptcy court in 2012. In 2013, she was discharged in Chapter 7, leaving nearly $450,000 in debt behind. Swanigan first appeared in the news locally in a high-profile case, representing a girl who had been sexually assaulted by two students at Homestead High School in November 2011. She later had to bow out of the federal civil rights case after inactivity she blamed on significant mental and physical impairments, conditions she claims have now been resolved. Starting in 2012 and into 2013, she began steady work handling nearly 300 evictions for one of Milwaukee's more notorious landlords. After being asked about it this year, Swanigan said she wasn't aware of the kind of landlord Elijah Mohammad Rashaed was, and has stopped taking his cases. Rashaed said she stopped being his attorney because she became ill. The radio ad for Swanigan says she has worked as a prosecutor, and her website says she worked for the Fresno, Calif., DA. That office confirmed she was employed there for part of 2006, before her admission to the California bar, but as a paralegal, not a prosecutor. She claims to have never lost a trial; a jury found her client not guilty of sexual assault of a child in the only Wisconsin felony case she tried. In 2014, she represented the owners of Silk Exotic, who were trying to open a new strip club in Walker's Point. Before a Common Council committee, she cited her experience working with strip clubs in Las Vegas for her knowledge of security for dancers, and for work helping them move on to better careers as business owners. Swanigan has expressed solidarity with groups protesting Chisholm's decisions not to issue criminal charges in the deaths of Dontre Hamilton and Corey Stingley, and traveled to Ferguson, Mo., last year for similar demonstrations about the Michael Brown case. She registered as a candidate a year ago. In October, her posters on Facebook read, "Let's make Milwaukee great again." She canceled out of the only scheduled debate with Chisholm. According to her campaign website, while calling for "a heavy hand" on the worst crime, she wants to move younger offenders to "community courts," where "trained neighborhood stakeholders can ensure law breakers are accountable to victims and the community without criminalizing first-time low-level offenders." She would implement statistical analysis "to improve prosecutors' performance and community safety." A Milwaukee native, Chisholm is a former U.S. Army officer who spent 12 years as an assistant prosecutor mostly leading the gun unit before heading the office in 2006. He lives in Bay View with his wife and teenage son. In his nearly 10 years in office, he has launched or supported initiatives in community prosecution, witness protection, sex trafficking prosecution, child advocacy, and specialized courts for drug treatment and veterans. Such programs, he says, reduce recidivism and save taxpayer money, keeping more people at the front end of the justice system out of jail while supporting a 95% conviction rate in homicides. His approaches have gained national attention from groups like the Vera Institute and the New Yorker. He won convictions against former Milwaukee police officers for illegal strip search and body cavity search practices, but also has drawn the ire of some in the black community for not charging crimes in the deaths of young black men at the hands of police Derek Williams, Hamilton and by three white customers at a West Allis convenience store, Stingley. Chisholm said he's fine with being challenged on those issues. "That would be a totally fair, straight-up election. I understand I'm responsible. I make the decision in good faith, and I'm accountable," he said. He said he's meeting with more members of the community so they reach agreements about hard issues, or at least disagree with some understanding. The goal, he said, is to "keep the community safe in way that respects civil liberties." But facing an opponent who can claim to distance herself from money groups who don't have to report who they are, is different, he said. The job entails much more than being a prosecutor. The DA's office includes about 120 lawyers and 160 support staff, funded by the state and the county, and supplemented with about $3.5 million from about a dozen federal grants. "It's a leadership position at end of the day," Chisholm said. Because there is no Republican candidate, the Aug. 9 primary will decide the race. The four-year term will pay $136,900 annually. Scott Harbach (left) is challenging Russ Feingold (right) in the Aug. 9 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The winner will face off with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. Credit: Journal Sentinel files SHARE Election 2016 Visit our election section for complete coverage of the 2016 spring and fall local, state and national elections. By of the For more than a year, Democrat Russ Feingold has aggressively campaigned against Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in a pivotal contest that may determine which party controls the Senate. Feingold, a former three-term U.S. Senator, has raised more than $15.68 million, put together a statewide campaign operation and issued a steady stream of policy pronouncements on issues like trade, security and the cost of higher education. But before Feingold gets a chance to take on Johnson in a rematch of their 2010 race, he has to go through the formality of winning a Democratic primary, Aug. 9. Feingold's primary opponent is Scott Harbach, 57, a married father of three and a private detective who lives in Kenosha. Harbach's campaign is managed by one of his daughters and he personally gathered signatures to appear on the ballot. Harbach said he struggled financially during the Great Recession. He said he lost three rental properties to foreclosure. "I believe in miracles," Harbach said of his chances of winning the primary. He gave his campaign $300, he said, a symbolic amount that mirrored the Biblical figure Gideon going into battle with 300 men. Harbach said he has never run for elective office. In the past, he has supported Republicans. In 2004, Harbach contributed $170 to Reince Priebus when the future Republican National Committee chairman ran for state Senate, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign database. Harbach said he briefly volunteered for Mark Neumann's losing U.S. Senate race in 1998 against Feingold. So why run now? "I think it was divine intervention," Harbach said. Harbach said he is an independent Democrat but claims on his website: "Somehow God has been pushed out of the Democratic Party and it has become an atheist party." Johnson, the primary focus of Feingold's attention, kicked off his post-convention campaign Saturday in Racine, where House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville joined him at a local GOP office and the county's fair. Johnson has trailed in the polls for months, with a pre-convention Marquette University Law School survey of likely voters showing Feingold ahead by 5 points. Johnson rallied about 100 supporters at the Republican Party of Wisconsin's Racine field office and answered a few questions, making the case that "the Democrats and Russ Feingold are just going to grow the government." "We (Republicans) are talking about regulatory reform, we're talking about having a competitive tax system, we're talking about actually reforming poverty programs to put people back to work so that they have that dignity," Johnson said. "It's an enormous contrast." Ryan emphasized the GOP's message of "substance and ideas and solutions," adding he heard "no new policy ideas, only the same status quo" during the Democratic National Convention. In a statement, Feingold's campaign responded that Johnson is "prioritizing powerful corporations and multimillionaires like himself" and "shamefully embracing" Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's candidacy. "The Ronald and The Donald show would be a nightmare for Wisconsin's middle class and working families," the statement read. "Russ will continue to listen to the people of this state who want leaders to fight for an increase in the minimum wage and guaranteed paid family leave, protect Social Security and Medicare, and expand access to the ballot box." 'This is the right time to exhale': David Stearns ends seven-year run Kristine Roelli and her husband, Chris, hold ribbons for their winning cheese Little Mountain. The Roelli Cheese Co., won Best of Show in the annual American Cheese Society competition in Des Moines. Credit: Uriah Carpenter SHARE Cheese - The Roelli Cheese Co., won Best of Show in the annual American Cheese Society competition in Des Moines for its Little Mountain product. Uriah Carpenter By of the A fourth-generation cheesemaker, Chris Roelli sensed he was onto something special with a cheese he calls "Little Mountain." "We knew that it could be something really, really good," said Roelli, co-owner of a family cheese factory near Shullsburg. "As we kind of sampled it out and shared it with people, we always had very strong reviews." This weekend, Roelli's cheese received the strongest review possible. Roelli Cheese Co. won Best of Show in the annual American Cheese Society competition in Des Moines a cheese industry honor similar to winning an Oscar in the movie business. Roelli's Little Mountain beat out more than 1,840 other cheeses entered in the competition. "It takes their company to an entirely new level," Jeanne Carpenter, a specialty cheese buyer for Metcalfe's Markets in Wisconsin who writes about artisan cheese-making on her blog Cheese Underground, said in an interview Saturday. "Every cheese shop in the country is now going to be ordering this cheese, and I'm not exaggerating." Along with being a big boost for business, winning the top industry award is a proud accomplishment that a little more than a decade ago would have seemed unlikely at best. Roelli Cheese Co., which once produced big quantities of cheese, sold its equipment and got out of the large-scale cheddar cheese production market in 1991. It concentrated instead on its retail shop and milk hauling operation. "We basically were a casualty of a poor cheese market in the late '80s and early '90s," Roelli said. But for Roelli, 46, the passion for cheese-making, which ran in his family starting with a great-grandfather who brought the skill here from Switzerland in the early 1920s, never left. He learned the craft from his grandfather, Walter, and father, Dave, and loved it. In 2006, he remodeled and reopened the plant, making much smaller batches and focusing on hand-produced artisan style cheese. Roelli credits John Jaeggi of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Dairy Research with helping him develop and perfect the Little Mountain cheese. He also credits his milk supplier, Cernek dairy farm in Gratiot "the milk is the star," he said for providing a stellar basic ingredient. Roelli described Little Mountain as "a hard, Alpine-style cheese based on Appenzeller-style Swiss." While the recipe may seem simple milk, cultures, enzymes and salt coming up with the best cheese in the land isn't. "You've got to test and try and test and try, and that's really how you know you're within the ballpark where you need to be," Roelli said. The judging is very tough, which is why the American Cheese Society competition is at the top of the industry, Carpenter said. Roelli submitted a wheel about 15 pounds of Little Mountain for the judges to analyze. "Not only do they have to taste good, they have to look really interesting and beautiful," she said. The cheese samples are judged by 23 teams of two people each a technical judge who typically has a PhD in dairy science, and an aesthetic judge, Carpenter said. The judging takes place over three days. "You have highly qualified judges tasting and judging cheeses they are experts in," Carpenter said. The food industry, heavily represented at the American Cheese Society Conference and contest, immediately begins placing orders for the Best of Show product. "We're going back to work on Monday and start worrying about that," said Roelli, who owns Roelli Cheese Co. with his cousin, Jason Roelli. It will take some time to fill all the orders because Little Mountain must age months before it's ready for market. Roelli currently has about 1,200 pounds of Little Mountain, some of which is available but perhaps not for long at the Roelli Cheese Haus at Highways 11 and 23, just east of Shullsburg. Roelli can't wait to get back home and begin making more. "I absolutely love what I do," he said. Reddit Email 0 Shares TeleSur The accusations mark the second round of charges related to the investigation into the Flint water crisis. Six Michigan state employees were charged Friday in connection with dangerous lead levels in the city of Flints drinking water, the Detroit Free Press reported. The criminal charges were filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette against three employees from the states health and environmental departments, the newspaper said. The accusations mark the second round of charges related to the investigation into the Flint water crisis. Schuette was scheduled to hold a news conference on Friday about the charges. Flint, with a population of about 100,000, was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014 when it switched its water source from Detroits municipal system to the Flint River to save money. The city switched back last October. The river water was more corrosive than the Detroit systems, and caused more lead to leach from its aging pipes. Lead can be toxic, and children are especially vulnerable. The crisis has prompted lawsuits by parents who say their children have shown dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. The Free Press identified those charged on Friday as Department of Health and Human Services workers Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott, and Department of Environmental Quality employees Leanne Smith, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook. A spokeswoman for the Genesee County District Court confirmed the filing of six complaints but had no details. Three state and local officials were criminally charged in April in connection with the investigation. Flint utilities administrator Michael Glasgow subsequently agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of a deal that had him plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge while a more serious felony charge was dismissed. Department of Environmental Quality officials Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby were charged with five and six counts, respectively, including misconduct in office, tampering with evidence and violation of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act. Both pleaded not guilty. Schuette last month sued French water company Veolia Environnement SA and Houston-based engineering services firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam for botching their roles in the citys drinking water crisis. Via TeleSur - Related video added by Juan Cole: WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7: Six state officials charged in Flint water crisis Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | How is the international press responding to the Democratic National Convention and the formalization of Hillary Clintons status as the partys standard-bearer in the presidential campaign? BBC Monitoring helped me find these reports, which Im paraphrasing or quoting from their translation: Boaz Bismuth in the Hebrew edition of Yisrael Hayom (Israel Today), which is pro-Netanyahu, criticized the Democrats for their message that the US is unprecedentedly strong. He wrote that polls show Americans to be concerned about terrorism and rising crime. Then he pointed to the Syrian government siege of east Aleppo (with Russian aerial help) as another thing the US has to worry about. This newspaper is given away free and is owned by allegedly corrupt US casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, so its talking points are Republican ones. Actually, crime is not rising in the US; violent crime is at historic low. And, while the siege of east Aleppo is troubling from the point of view of human rights (youre not allowed to starve out civilians), it is hard to imagine most Americans caring, one way or another. The Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported on 29 July that Vladimir Vasilyev, chief scientific staff member at the Russian Academy of Sciences USA and Canada Institute, said that the previous week, Trump backed off from Russia and Ukraine . . . Then Trump called NATO an outdated organization, and said that it needs to reconfigure its operations, and that the main threat now is the fight against terrorism . . .Trump has given to understand that to this end, it is possible to develop cooperation with Russia, search for points of engagement, and fight against terrorism together. At a press conference on 27 July, Trump also said he was ready to agree to the return of Crimea to Russia and study the issue of lifting sanctions from Russia . . . Vasiliyev obviously loved what he heard from Trump. He saw Clinton as replying to Trump. He said she put Russia basically as the no. 2 threat facing the US after Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). He thinks she signalled that she would be harder on Russia than was Obama. Source: BBC Monitoring trans of RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 1040 gmt and 0855 gmt 29 Jul 16 As for Iran, IRNN was happy that the Democratic platform included support for the JCPOA, the Iran deal on Iranian enrichment. But it warned that the Dems also seem bent on harming Iran over its alleged support of terrorism. Hirad (@Hirad1986) tweeted in Persian: One of the reasons that Hillary is more dangerous than Trump is that Hillary is eager to start wars and can bring Europe on her side more easily. Related video: CNN: Clinton camp: Russia coordinated DNC hack to help Trump After watching his charges close the Juventus Jeep Tour 2016 on a high with a 2-1 victory over South China, Massimiliano Allegri ran the rule over the Bianconeris performance at Hong Kong Stadium and their pre-season preparations in general and can now look ahead to next Tuesdays full squad reunion with confidence as plans continue for the new Serie A season. Heres what the Tuscan tactician said following full-time: Today was a good test. These were completely different conditions to our matches in Melbourne. It wasnt easy playing in this temperature, but the boys dug deep. Weve now ended the first part of our pre-season preparations without suffering any injuries, which is a good sign. Now were looking forward to regrouping on Tuesday, which will well and truly mark the start of our season. This will be an important campaign like every other for this club, because we always aim at achieving all of our objectives. Weve five new players to bed in to the side, who all have different attributes. We need to show the necessary drive, but also humility, from the off, as we cant take anything for granted. We paid the price for that during the first two months last term. Were determined to make sure that doesnt happen again this time around. #stocks Seoul shares fall on lackluster tech earnings, Fed policy uncertainties South Korean stocks snapped a two-day gaining streak to close lower Friday, as investor sentiment was hurt by lackluster earnings and dim guidance from major U.S. tech companies, a... #football S. Korea coach Bento says doors to World Cup roster 'not closed' As the clock ticks down on this year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the decision time is nigh for South Korea head coach Paulo Bento. Save for a few obvious choices, there are sever... KEARNEY - Michelle Kleespies of Kerrville, Texas, and Kate Van Slyke of Mesa, Ariz., both tried college after high school and decided it wasn't for them at the time. They decided to instead pursue linguistics careers in the U.S. Air Force, and those careers have taken them all over the United States and around the world. Wednesday, they spoke with Kearney High School and Kearney Catholic High School foreign language students about their experiences. "My sister was in the Air Force. That was more my style," Van Slyke said. Kleespies said she went to talk to a recruiter to get her mom off her back but didn't intend to sign up. She changed her mind and qualified for linguistics training. They both went to Monterey, Calif., to learn Russian. While there, they were paid to be students, but still had to live the military lifestyle, Van Slyke said. They usually had the weekends to themselves. After California, they went to San Angelo, Texas, to learn the "secret" parts of their jobs. As air linguists, they then went to Spokane, Wash., to do survival training. There they learned to survive if their planes were to go down in enemy territory by doing such things as building different types of fires, constructing tents that are difficult to spot and learning how to evade capture. They also went through interrogations. They learned what they could eat to survive in the wilderness. "Black ants taste like lemon drops," Kleespies said. After about a month in Spokane, they went to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where they are currently stationed. The linguists receive extra money for other languages they speak in addition to the one they are trained in. The failure rate is high in the linguistics program. Both started in Russian classes of 30 and graduated in classes of about 17. Some of the classes, such as Korean, have an even higher failure rate. Middle Eastern languages are a priority now for the military. They have to fly at least twice a month, maintain their knowledge of the Russian language and keep current on the area where the language is spoken. "Our job on the ground is to prepare us for flight days," Kleespies said. They are allowed to live off base, and the Air Force pays for housing. Because the military has made such a large investment in the linguists, it offers incentives to keep them. Kleespies isn't sure if she will stay when her six-year commitment is up, but Van Slyke is "fairly certain" she will make it her career because she appreciates the stability and the retirement plan. With the training and security clearance they have had, Kleespies said they should have several opportunities for high paying jobs if they choose to leave the military. KHS sophomore Melissa Fox, who is in Spanish 3 class, said she has thought about a career using another language. She said it was interesting to hear about the experiences Kleespies and Van Slyke have had, though she doesn't want to join the military. e-mail to: NORTH PLATTE Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials will have a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Keith County Fairgrounds in Ogallala on the Lake McConaughy-Lake Ogallala Master Plan. The plan is overseen by an advisory committee made up of commission staff, lake concessionaires, friends group members, landowners, and economic development personnel from Keith County and the city of Ogallala. The 20-year plan will guide the operation of recreational activities at the two lakes and seek to connect the more than 1 million visitors to the surrounding area. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form 593 Shares Share I only have 10 percent of my eyesight remaining, but thats not the problem. I am looking for mercy. My eyes drifted back and forth between Abu-Adnans face squinting into the distance, and the shuffling prayer beads swaddled in his right hand. I fizzled with frustration as my cochleas raced to transcribe his traumatic story into an appropriate emotional response. This 65-year-old Syrian refugee from the Golan Heights pleaded me for a solution. As a rising second-year medical student lacking any significant medical skills, I felt helpless. All I would be able to do is take vitals and act like I can detect murmurs with my fancy stethoscope. Interesting how my burning desire to unveil the health care barriers of Syrian refugees left me myopic to the barriers that would exist between us. I found myself fumbling to summon the rustic Arabian condolence phrases my parents taught me before I immigrated to the United States in 2006. We conversed on two wooden stools in the back of a small medical office in the Fatih district of Istanbul, a suburb heavily populated with Syrian refugees. Abu-Adnan was diagnosed with bilateral cataracts four years prior, but his condition began deteriorating two months ago. I can only see your silhouette. I dont really know who Im talking to. This was the third Syrian clinic he had visited that day, each one directing him to the next. The previous clinic requested $2,000 to conduct the necessary surgery. With his family of four living off a daily income of 20 Turkish lira ($7), surgery was not an option. The previous clinic directed him to our clinic not knowing that we did not have an ophthalmologist or the necessary equipment to examine him. For Abu-Adnan, refugee health care has become a business. Still awaiting the liberation of his war-torn motherland, Abu-Adnan now aches to see refugee health care the most vital element of their survival emancipated from financial interests. He claims many of the Syrian clinics are not operated by physicians or medical personnel since the war has left many Syrian physicians unable to get their transcripts and medical degrees verified by their educational institutions. Thus, many Syrian physicians in Turkey are either working in unaccredited clinics or resort to alternative business ventures such as opening clothing boutiques or restaurants. For an outsider, Abu-Adnans struggle may seem like a quick financial fix, but that is not the case. His mental exhaustion equals, if not surpasses, his physical pain. Establishing psychological support is paramount for the recovery process of Syrian refugees, yet mental health never seems to be on the priority list of clinics when dealing with refugee cases. This is due to a lack of experienced personal confounding the ingrained cultural stigma towards mental health a phenomenon also manifested in Western medical culture. Despite a physical blindness, Abu-Adnan carries a visionary solution to the refugee crisis in Turkey: Scientists, physicians, and the humanitarian leaders of Syria need to build a hospital in Turkey that provides free health care for Syrians yet charges normal fees for Turkish patients. This way, the hospital can earn profit and maintain itself as a business, all while serving refugees in need, mercifully. I was deeply inspired by Abu-Adnans ability to empathize with the needs of other refugees. He reminded me that through struggle arises innovation. However, innovative ventures such as refugee health clinics must be handled by individuals who are prepared and willing to overcome the innate survival of the fittest mentality, even in the face of bountiful financial temptations. I left Abu-Adnan reminded of my duty to always work beyond self-interest and be grateful for everything good and bad in life because every living moment is a lesson and opportunity to grow. Despite making it through today, the future of Abu-Adnan, his family, and millions of Syrian refugees remains blurry. Eyad Gharaibeh is a medical student. Image credit: Chat des Balkans / Shutterstock.com 2016 is the centenary of the battle of the Somme and the local Kilkenny great War Memorial Committee are holding a novel, awareness event running from August 5 to August 4. Right in front of the courthouse, on the plaza will be a replica of a Somme trench - and they are looking for volunteers to take turns in the trenches, It will act as a timely memorial to the 126 Kilkenny men who lost their lives in the Battle of the Somme, which lasted 141 days. Many others fought in the battle and either survived the war or lost their lives during the two years of war still to come. On the final day, August 14 a short memorial ceremony and flag raising event will be held at 3pm. Representatives of our own Government, that of Northern Ireland, the local authority and the Countries our men served with will lay wreaths to honour their memory. Authentic The authenticity of the trenches, made in Kilkenny have been complimented by the role of some local people - like PJ Ryan who carved replica grenades for us (from Cupressus for those interested) and also Majella Jennings who converted a wine box to a grenade box. The display will be open to the public for the hours of 10am to 6pm each of the days, and the war memorial committee are looking for volunteers to man two hour shifts with a committee member. The shifts will start from 10am, If you would like to take part please email us at kilkennywarmemorial@gmail.com or telephone Donal at 086-3369080. It's been one of the most heartbreaking deaths in recent music history, but the story isn't over yet for Prince. As we reported, there's been consistent legal wrangling over Prince's estate and, at long last, there appears to be something in the way of progress over it all. Judge Kevin Eide, of Carver County, dismissed a total of 29 claims to the estate of Prince Rogers Nelson and his $100,000,000 fortune. Under Minnesotan law, the estate of Prince falls to either his parents or a child in the absence of a will. However, as both Prince's parents are dead and his only known son died shortly after being born, the legal waters become murky. Judge Eide cited a ruling that excludes anyone outside of Prince's siblings or half-siblings from a claim to the estate, thus excluding a total of 29 people. Many of the 29 people underwent DNA testing to prove their relationship to Prince. Five of those claimants said they were children of Prince, however this hasn't been confirmed. Tyka Nelson, Prince's sister, and his half-siblings, John, Norinne and Sharon Nelson, as well as their descendants, Brianna Nelson and Victoria Nelson, will now have to submit to DNA testing to ensure they're related to Prince. Prince died suddenly on April 21st from a toxic drug overdose. Via UPI Kilkenny's historic Tholsel building City Hall will not beturned into a public toilet for the adjacent St Mary's museum, as had been previously mooted. That was confirmed by Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council Colette Byrne at the July meeting of Kilkenny County Council. Ms Byrne told members that architects had slightly revisited the plans for St Mary's Church to include fully-accessible toilets for the museum project. At the same meeting, councillors approved a proposal which will see the Medieval attraction managed by Kilkenny Civic Trust. The whole project is to cost around 6 million, 3.9 million of which is Failte Ireland funding, 400,000 from the Civic Trust, and the balance from the local authority's own budget. It will be open by the end of this year. The decision means the council can avoid the expensive process of establishing a new company, while maintaining the asset. Kilkenny Civic Trust will now take on the day-to-day management of the museum, with a formal lease being agreed. The museum will remain in council ownership. An annual subvention is to be agreed when there is greater visibility on operating costs. The reality is that any facility of this nature will require some sort of subvention, said Ms Byrne. The chief executive told members that the Civic Trust has grant aided a number of projects over the years, and is now reviewing how it operates going forward. The Civic Trust has indicated it is also willing to get involved with Rothe House. Cllr Malcolm Noonan welcomed the update. There is no doubt about it it is a phenomenal project, and what has been uncovered in the archaeological dig has informed and shaped the process, he said. It would be remiss of us not to acknowledge the contribution of the late George Sherwood. He and the church body played a huge role in securing the future of St Mary's. Cllr Noonan said he also wanted to acknowledge the role of the late John Bradley. He said that a lot of visitors to St Mary's would be from Ireland or local, and that it could be developed as a centre of excellence. There is a strong community participation element to it, he said. Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh said the museum would be one of the biggest jewels in Kilkenny's crown when it is finished. She said the council should go ahead with what Ms Byrne was proposing, and that rather than have one person on the Civic Trust board, the council should have three, as one person may feel isolated. Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick seconded this and congratulated the chief executive. Maybe, just before it opens, the people of Kilkenny could be invited to come in for a look, he said. I think we should look at that as a gesture to the public. Cllr David Fitzgerald complimented the chief executive on her initiative in 'taking the Civic Trust out of the shadows', and said he hoped more information would follow regarding its aims, the assets it holds, and how it intends to achieve its goals. I have one concern in that there is a subvention needed and we don't know what it will be, he said. Museums are a wonderful asset but they can be a significant black hole. Cllr McGuinness asked about the rehousing of the historic monuments the sword, the mace, the charter. I would suggest that we have some sort of an official handing over to mark the significance of that, he said. Cllr Joe Malone then said he hoped there would be occasions in which the artefacts could be brought back into City Hall. He also asked whether the St Mary's project was a 'backdoor job' for [Failte Ireland] to 'go into' City Hall. And our toilet situation -where does that fit into all of this? he said. In her response, Ms Byrne said she thought it was extremely important that the people of Kilkenny got a chance to go into the museum before a charge was applied. She said she shared Cllr Fitzgerald's concern over financing, and that more would become clear as things progressed. It would be extremely unfair to expect them to take it on, or for the council to do without some idea of the cost, she said. Ms Byrne explained that operating costs would revolve around a number of things, such as the staffing needs, visitor numbers and other issues. The Civic Trust is not here to make money it is here to do a job on behalf of the people of Kilkenny, she said. Addressing Cllr Malone, she said that Failte Ireland had grant aided the St Mary's project and it was separate from the Tholsel. They are two separate projects, she said. City Hall is a completely separate proposition. Cllr Malone said that the two lead into one. The chief executive clarified that the architects had revisited the issue of toilets in St Mary's, and things had been moved around to accommodate their provision. They will be fully accessible. She said she was sure the new CEO of the Civic Trust would be happy to talk to councillors after he had time to settle into the role. By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun PORT ORCHARD A man convicted of driving around with the dead body of 89-year-old Robert Hood in the trunk of his car, before stashing the remains behind a Belfairarea house, was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison. Arnold Mafnas Cruz, 47, apologized to the friends and family of Hood. But he maintained his involvement in the December 2015 fatal robbery of the retired Puget Sound Naval Shipyard worker was only to dispose of a vehicle, not Hood's body. He was not accused of being involved in the robbery or Hood's death. "He didn't deserve that, but I had nothing to do with it," Cruz said through tears, saying he was convicted of "guilt by association." Cruz was tried along with Robert Pry, 30, who was convicted of first-degree murder in Hood's death; and Robert Lavalle Davis, 48, who was accused of being an accomplice to murder. The jury acquitted Davis of the most serious charges, but convicted him of second-degree identity theft. He still faces pimping charges in an unrelated case. Both men are scheduled to be sentenced in August. Two others are scheduled for trial in December. Joshua Rodgers Jones, 27, is charged with first-degree murder and Pry's sister, Shawna Dudley-Pry, 31, is charged with being an accomplice to murder. Hood died from injuries sustained in the Dec. 17 robbery at his Tracyton house, the house he grew up in and that his grandparents had built. Prosecutors allege Pry and Rodgers Jones attacked Hood with the intention of robbing him. Afterward, the two men and their friends went to a Fife motel to use meth and attempt to steal from Hood's bank accounts. Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Forbes commended Cruz for his conduct during trial as dignified and gentlemanly, but rejected his denial, saying that she heard the evidence and testimony and found it "overwhelming." Forbes said that although Cruz was not involved in Hood's death, his actions prolonged the agony and uncertainty of Hood's loved ones, who were left to wonder what happened to Hood when they went to his house and found him missing. Forbes said Cruz treated Hood "like a mere piece of evidence that needed to be destroyed." The jury convicted Cruz of first-degree rendering criminal assistance and removal or concealment of a dead body. At the time he had a pending case of meth possession and a subsequent charge of bail jumping for missing a court appearance. He pleaded guilty to those counts Friday and Forbes tacked the 55-month sentence onto the 101-month sentence for the Hood case. Meth figured prominently in the trial. "Frankly, that's why this offense happened," Forbes said, commenting on Cruz's addiction as well as how many defendants and witnesses used the drug. "If it wasn't for methamphetamine Mr. Hood wouldn't have been targeted." In a statement read to Forbes before she sentenced Cruz, Candyce Gratton, Hood's close friend, described a gentle and sweet man. He fretted about her driving to Seattle alone, Gratton wrote, and if he caught a mouse in a live trap he would release it outside. She said while worrying about Hood's fate, she prayed for him and the Kitsap County Sheriff's investigators who were looking for him. "The thought of not knowing where he was caused my heart to physically ache," Gratton wrote. "I could not sleep." Since testifying in the trial, four others who cooperated with prosecutors for reduced prison time have been sentenced. * Alicia Small, 33, who was the first to report the robbery of Hood and had been working as a confidential informant for the Sheriff's Office, was convicted of second-degree possession of stolen property, third-degree possession of stolen property and second degree escape. She was sentenced July 1 to 16 months in prison. * David Michael Ojeda, 33, testified he helped to remove the car carrying Hood's body after Pry and Rodgers Jones got it stuck in the mud. Ojeda told jurors that Pry said there was a person in the trunk. Ojeda was sentenced June 28 to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a count of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. * Miranda Bond, 26, a girlfriend of Rodgers Jones, testified that Pry and Rodgers Jones told her about beating Hood, as well as seeing the two with the car used to transport Hood's body. She and Rodgers Jones left Kitsap after investigators identified him as a suspect. On July 6 she pleaded guilty to a count of first-degree rendering criminal assistance and was sentenced to two years in prison. * Jacob Scott Spears, 27, was not involved in the robbery or cover up, but had been a jailhouse friend of Pry and testified about statements Pry made to him. Spears also said he delivered a letter on behalf of Pry that Spears said intended to influence a witness in the case. He pleaded to drug dealing charges and a count of unlawful possession of a firearm and was sentenced June 22 to five years in prison. SHARE By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun PORT ORCHARD A Bremerton drug dealer who sold a woman $60 of bunk heroin from his residence and then shot her boyfriend when they returned to complain was sentenced Friday to nearly 11 years in prison. A Kitsap County Superior Court jury convicted Carlos Alexander Lima, 26, of second-degree assault for the shooting in addition to other counts. Lima had claimed he shot the man in self-defense, though he was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a previous felony conviction. Judge Melissa Hemstreet sentenced Lima to 130 months in prison for the Dec. 12, 2015, shooting, the maximum, but signed a document making Lima eligible for drug treatment. "You were putting your family at risk and your addiction was so strong you probably didn't realize that," Hemstreet said. Lima was convicted of using a firearm in the assault, as well as conducting drug activity in school zone. Those aggravators account for five years of the 11-year sentence, and will have to be served before he will become eligible for "good time" reduction on the rest of his sentence. Lima declined to make a statement to Hemstreet, but his sister asked the judge to have mercy for his sake and for the sake of his young son, and requested that he be given drug treatment. Asandra Morton said in 2013 Lima was traumatized after finding their father after he had been dead for four days. "He doesn't need to be locked down, he needs treatment," Morton said. "Regardless of everything, he is a good person when he is not on drugs." While out of jail on bail in the shooting case, Lima was accused of being involved in a rash of burglaries targeting Silverdale businesses in February through April. Lima pleaded guilty to counts related to the burglaries second-degree burglary and possession of meth. He was sentenced to 57 months for those crimes, but that sentence will run concurrent to the sentence for the shooting. The heroin customer had intended to confront Lima about the fake heroin though he had actual heroin in his residence when he was arrested when she and her boyfriend went into the home. During a struggle, Lima shot the man with a .22 caliber pistol. The man wrote in court documents that the bullet remains in his back. He continues to experience numbness and pain. "I was calm and trying to communicate with the defendant," the victim wrote in a statement to Hemstreet. "There were no problem solving skills involved on his part and all he could say over and over was 'Where's my pistol?' to his girlfriend." Kitsap County Sheriff's deputies investigate a body that washed ashore at Watauga Beach. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / KCSO) SHARE By Kitsap Sun Staff SOUTH KITSAP The remains of Belinda Lee Palmer, 52, of Silverdale, were found Friday in Rich Passage. Detectives and the Coroner's Office worked together to identify her after her body was spotted by a resident of Wautaga Beach in South Kitsap, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Wilson. The Coroner's Office will conduct an autopsy Monday to determine cause and manner of death. The investigation into Palmer's death continues. Anyone with information should contact Kitsap County Sheriff's detectives at 337-7111, reference case report K16-007279. SHARE By Kitsap Sun Staff POULSBO The city of Poulsbo will hold an open house Aug. 9 on the status of the Noll Road corridor project. The 2-mile corridor will connect Highway 305 to Lincoln Road. The first phase would build a roundabout at the highway and Johnson Road, and a new arterial from there to the Noll Road-Storhoff Lane intersection. Poulsbo officials assume the roundabout will be funded by $38.6 million from the 2015 Connect Washington transportation revenue package for Highway 305 improvements, but how that money will be spent has not been determined. The Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council and Puget Sound Regional Committee have recommended that $3.4 million in federal dollars be directed toward the new arterial. It would feature two car lanes, a sidewalk and bike lane on one side and a shared-use path on the other. Poulsbo has environmental approval for the overall project and approval from the state to begin purchasing right of way for the entire corridor. The process of purchasing private property for right of way will be explained at the open house. There will be no formal presentation at the open house; drop in at any time from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at City Hall. Policy gurus gather to seek world solutions Updated: 2016-07-30 10:16 By Wang Yiqing(China Daily) Cai Fang, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and William Jones, Washington Bureau chief for the Executive Intelligence Review, talk at the T20 Summit in Beijing, July 29, 2016. [Photo/China Daily] Chinese advisers play leading part in push for new relationships About 500 think tank experts, politicians and representatives of international organizations from 25 countries worldwide are in Beijing for the Think 20 (T20) Summit that runs from July 29 to 30 to contribute their wisdom to the G20 Hangzhou Summit on building new global relationships. As one of the important outreach groups of the G20, the T20 is a significant platform for global think tank researchers to provide policymaking thoughts and suggestions for the G20, said Chinese G20 Sherpa and Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong. As this year's G20 and T20 president, China is looking to contribute solutions to the problems facing global governance. Li said in his opening speech that as the president of the G20 this year and a responsible developing country, China will achieve the expected goals of the G20 Hangzhou Summit together with other G20 member countries. Li said he expects the G20 Hangzhou summit to achieve several major goals including innovating growth models, improving global economic governance, revitalizing international trade and investment as well as focusing on development issues. Participants exchange views during the two-day international conference that started, July 29, 2016. [Photo/China Daily] Zhao Baige, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and chair of the expert panel of the RDI think tank program at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said at the summit that the community of common destiny advanced by President Xi Jinping should be the basic principle behind the establishment of a new global relationship, and all-round innovation should provide the necessary fuel to achieve development goals. She also pointed out that the Belt and Road Initiative advanced by China will drive new and successful global and regional relationships. Cai Fang, vice-president of CASS, used his keynote speech to outline three major global governance issues facing the international community. The current potential for economic growth is limited, which indicates structural reform is urgently required, Cai said. "Meanwhile, the international community's capacity to cope with financial turbulence should also be improved." He cited multiple challenges including climate change, imbalanced global development, the need for poverty alleviation and sustainable development in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Participants exchange views during the two-day international conference that started, July 29, 2016. [Photo/China Daily] To help provide policymaking insights to the G20 on these global issues, the three Chinese think tanks organizing the T20 issued questionnaires to think tank experts worldwide. Based on their consensus, the T20 has formulated a policy recommendation to the G20, involving several aspects of global importance, including the global economic governance mechanism, innovation and structural reform as well as international finance, trade and investment. T20 Summit participants affirmed that the T20 is an invaluable source of information and support for G20. Bozkurt Aran, director of the TEPAV Center for Multilateral Trade Studies in Turkey, described the T20 as "a bank of ideas in the discussion of global governance". This year's T20 Summit is organized by three major Chinese think tanksthe Institute of World Economics and Politics at CASS, the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. Three states have reached agreement with Peabody Energy about cleanup during the bankruptcy proceedings, but one is still holding out. (indiana.edu) Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Description Help Americas VetDogs make a difference in the lives of veterans by becoming a sponsor for our exciting eventthe Long Island Run & Dog Walk to be held on Saturday, July 30, 2016. The 5K course has been officially measured and will leave from Old Bethpage Village Restoration. Dogs are welcome for those who wish to take a leisurely walk with their four-legged friends. All participants will have an opportunity to visit the Museum of American Armor, which is located in the village, before or after the race. Held at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, consider a timed 5K race or a leisurely 2-mile family-friendly dog walk with or without your pup. Registration will open in March 1, 2016. Walk-up registration is also available on the day of the event. Pre-Event race packet pickup will take place on Friday, July 29, 2016 from 3-6 p.m. Pick up is at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, Old Bethpage, NY. America's VetDogs relies on voluntary contributions to fund its mission. It costs over $50,000 to breed, raise, train, and place one assistance dog; however, there is never a charge to the individual. Learn more about our programs at VetDogs.org. SHARE By Aram Goudsouzian, Chapter16.org They were only three people: a house painter, a Vietnam War veteran, and an elderly nun. They carried nothing more dangerous than bolt cutters and hammers. In their backpacks, they had instruments of protest, such as spray paint and banners, and symbols of their faith, including a frayed copy of the New Testament, cucumber seeds, and a loaf of bread topped with a cross. Before dawn broke on July 28, 2012, they hiked a crest and beheld the Y-12 National Security Complex, the "Fort Knox of Uranium," in Oak Ridge. With surprising ease, they broke into the facility. They painted graffiti: "Woe to an Empire of Blood." They tossed human blood upon the walls. With the hammers, they struck off small chunks of concrete, symbolically fulfilling the Bible's directive to transform swords into plowshares. In Dan Zak's "Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age," this break-in serves as the departure point for an exploration of the nuclear age. Zak writes of how, since its invention during World War II, atomic weaponry evolved "from a strategy into a policy of faith." Though Zak is critical of a behemoth nuclear-industrial complex, he captures the ironic resonance of these weapons: "They would remain the pinnacle of human ingenuity and insecurity, a force that binds American power and threatens to blow it apart, a paradox to be pondered and maybe, one day, resolved." Zak focuses, especially, on the movement to abolish nuclear weapons, which challenged Americans' prevalent assumptions about their place in the world. Some activists were scientists, and others were driven by faith. They all "believed that humanity was too frail to tangle with the almighty," he writes. "The mere possession of nuclear weapons, to them, was a wish for death." A reporter for The Washington Post, Zak paints textured portraits of his three protagonists. Sister Megan Rice was 82 when her team broke into Y-12. Inspired by Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement, she found her calling in causes of social justice. The story of an elderly nun slipping into a massive defense plant was front-page news in The New York Times. Rice's companions shared her spiritual fervor. After surviving two disillusioning tours in Vietnam, Michael Walli renounced almost all his earthly possessions and moved into the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, D.C. Through the famed Jesuit pacifist Richard McSorley, he met Greg Boertje-Obed, a soft-spoken housepainter. Boertjte-Obed became a central figure in the Plowshares movement of the 1980s, when anti-nuclear protest hit its peak; nearly one million people participated in a Central Park demonstration in 1982. Zak deftly intertwines the activists' personal odysseys with the narrative of the larger anti-nuclear movement. He also charts the tragic story of Kirk Garland, the security officer who found them in Y-12. Garland calmly handled the intrusion, recognizing that Rice, Walli, and Boertjte-Obed posed no danger. Yet Garland was fired. He blamed both the institution and the protestors. "Almighty" follows the story into the courtroom, where the trial of the three activists served as a forum for bigger questions about peace and justice. Besides arguing that these protestors meant no real harm, the defendants' lawyers framed the case in moral terms. But the jury sided with the prosecution. An appeals court later overturned their conviction on sabotage, and the three were released, based on time already served. How realistic is nuclear disarmament? Zak provides no easy answers. But he appreciates the sacrifice of people like Megan Rice, Michael Walli, and Greg Boertjte-Obed. Yes, they were driven by an unsettling, righteous fervor. And yes, they broke the law. But the abolitionists were also once self-righteous radicals. So were those who fought for women's suffrage. Civil-rights activists constantly broke the law. They sought a higher freedom, beyond the bounds of the world in which they were living, and their real judge is history. To read an uncut version of this review and more local book coverage visit http://chapter16.org/, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. NONFICTION Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age by Dan Zak (Blue Rider Press, 416 pages, $27) DISCUSSION Who: Dan Zak Where: East Tennessee History Center Auditorium When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4 SHARE By Sean Kinch, Chapter16.org Pearl Jewett is a God-fearing man who lost his wife and farm and, with three sons in tow, is forced to wander the "harsh, impoverished South" looking for employment. By the time he meets a hermit in a region on the Georgia-Alabama border so desolate it seems abandoned by its Maker, Pearl has begun to doubt God's existence, "for why would He treat some so badly and let others off the hook completely?" The hermit tells Pearl that he has it all wrong: suffering is a sign that God is preparing you for a glorious afterlife. Persevere through hardships, the hermit says, and "one day you'll get to eat at the heavenly table." By that reckoning, the characters in Donald Ray Pollock's "The Heavenly Table" endure sufficient suffering to warrant eternities of comfort and plenty, but after Pearl's sudden death, the Jewett sons Cane, Cob, and Chimney bypass the experience of arduous acquiescence in favor of a life of crime. They kill a local landowner for his horses and begin to rob banks as they venture north, dreaming of a new life in Canada. Meanwhile, in southern Ohio, Ellsworth and Eula Fiddler are similarly destitute. After losing their savings to a swindler, they are on the brink of ruin when they are offered a lifeline from a surprising source. The paths of the Fiddlers and the newly christened "Jewett Gang" are fated to cross, but before they do Pollock takes time to illustrate the widespread misery endured by the rural poor. It's the fall of 1917, and the Americans whose lives are now being exploited in ceaseless agrarian labor will soon be added to the grisly death toll in World War I. The Army's promise to feed and house its soldiers represents a significant lifestyle improvement for at least the bottom quartile of the characters who roam this novel. The Jewett Gang's criminal career emits a whiff of class revenge. When millionaire playboy Reese Montgomery shoots at them from an airplane, he is incensed when the Jewetts shoot back. Readers will cheer when young Montgomery takes a bullet through his neck, and even Montgomery's father is privately grateful to the Jewetts for taking his wastrel son off his balance sheet. But, as his monied cohort reminds him, "you couldn't let the hoi polloi think they could murder the privileged class without repercussions, or you'd end up with another Russia on your hands." Pollock populates "The Heavenly Table" with a colorful cast of roustabouts and degenerates. Young Eddie Fiddler makes a futile attempt to play harmonica in a house band for the "Whore Barn," a trio of down-market prostitutes pimped by a seasoned hustler. Elsewhere the characters bump into a dissolute banjo player, an English teacher who drinks away his literary failures, an Army sergeant shell-shocked from serving in the Red Cross on the Western front, and a serial killer who keeps his victims' teeth in a tin can so he can shake them like castanets. What readers won't find in Pollock's novel are sustained portrayals of goodness. "The Heavenly Table" is not a novel for the faint of heart or the queasy of stomach. No one simply gets killed in this novel; their chins get blown off, their heads smashed open, their stomachs eviscerated. Occasionally the graphic descriptions, reeled off with comic swiftness, feel almost misanthropic. But that very caprice gets to the bedrock of the book's message. Pollock does not condemn the Jewetts for refusing to wait for divine benevolence; he celebrates them for realizing that, in this brief life, one must seize any opportunity to sample the weird and wonderful feast that the world has to offer. For more local book coverage, visit http://chapter16.org/, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. Two adult least bitterns (smaller female with white lines on back) adopt the camouflage position -- bills pointed skyward and necks extended -- to blend in with tall grasses found in wetlands. A young bittern watches. John James Audubon, Courtesy University of Pittsburgh North America's smallest heron is uncommon and secretive. If you ever hope to glimpse a least bittern in Tennessee, plan on spending time in some wet, densely vegetated, cattail, bulrush or sawgrass marsh. Your chances of seeing a shy bittern depend a lot on luck. Get lucky and you could flush a least bittern into view. However, when least bitterns flush, they don't necessarily fly up right in front of you. They may fly up behind your back after you walk past them. Most of the time they remain very well hidden as they skulk about in tall dense marsh vegetation. They might be more common than people realize. Randy Winstead of Blount County got doubly lucky this year. "I was blessed enough to see a least bittern on two separate occasions this year at Kyker Bottoms Refuge," said Randy. On May 16, while birding the north side of this Blount County wildlife refuge, he hoped to see wading herons and migrating shorebirds. He saw a killdeer, a great blue heron, a green heron, a greater yellowlegs, a solitary sandpiper and four least sandpipers. Randy was hoping for a lot more but he wasn't disappointed for long. "As I was walking along the dike from south to north a least bittern flew from an area of willows on my right, crossed the dike, and disappeared into willows on my left," said Randy. "If one has a good vantage point, least bitterns can be easy to identify because of prominent tan or chestnut-colored wing patches, which were very obvious in this bird that I saw." A least bittern's small size (11 to14 inches in length) and its buff inner wing patches visible in flight distinguish it from all other birds. On a return trip on May 26 Randy did not relocate the bittern. "However, on a brutally hot July 21 return trip, I once again encountered it," said Randy. "A great egret could be seen perched atop one of the taller trees. I was walking along the same dike in the same area where I had encountered the least bittern in May when it flushed from the dike itself less than 10 yards in front of me. Like before, it disappeared into the willows in a matter of seconds even more quickly than with the previous sighting." Was it the same bittern? Maybe there was more than one bittern. Maybe a pair nested? Bitterns are so difficult to observe it's hard to know. On May 17 there was another Blount County sighting of a least bittern. This bittern was in the Alcoa Marshes. Public access to this privately-owned property is not allowed. In 1975 Morris D. Williams surveyed the birds of the Alcoa Marshes for a master of science degree thesis at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Morris found that 10 of the 11 least bittern nests he found were in cattail or bulrush with the other in a willow. Nests are nearly always in dense stands of vegetation emerging above water that is about three feet deep. Least bitterns sometimes nest in small colonies. Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee may host the most nesting least bitterns in the state. At Reelfoot least bitterns are regularly seen from boats moving slowly and quietly close to the cattail and saw grass marshes that line the shore. Least bitterns are threatened by loss of suitable wetland nesting habitat. It's great to see the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's management plan for Kyker Bottoms Refuge is benefiting non-game bird species like least bitterns, wading birds and migrating shorebirds in addition to waterfowl and other game birds like Bobwhite quail. Conservation of wetlands is necessary for least bitterns and more frequently seen American bitterns (about twice the size of least bitterns) to successfully nest in North America and also to winter south of the United States. For information about birdwatching at Kyker Bottoms Refuge visit www.tnbirds.org/birdfinding/KykerBottoms.htm Marcia Davis may be reached at tennwren@gmail.com or 865-518-2473 (BIRD). Steve Hall, candidate for the GOP nomination for West Knox County's 18th District state House seat, takes part in a forum Thursday, July 28, 2016, at Shoney's restaurant on 4410 Western Ave. His opponent, incumbent state Rep. Martin Daniel, has been issued a citation to appear for booking Aug. 10 after Hall signed a warrant charging him with simple assault in an on-air shoving incident during a radio forum last week. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Georgiana Vines Columnist SHARE State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, takes part in a forum Thursday, July 28, 2016, at Shoney's restaurant on 4410 Western Ave. Daniel has been issued a citation to appear for booking Aug. 10 after challenger Steve Hall signed a warrant charging him with simple assault in an on-air shoving incident during a radio forum last week. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Georgiana Vines State Rep. Martin Daniel continued to self-finance his campaign at the same time he received $15,300 in donations in a four-way race for the Republican nomination Thursday to represent the 18th District House seat, pre-primary disclosures filed Friday show. From July 1-25, Daniel loaned his campaign $30,500, bringing the total to $215,100 in loans he has made to his campaigns, including in 2014, when he defeated incumbent Steve Hall. Hall, a former Knoxville city councilman, seeks to regain the seat. Other opponents are lawyer James Corcoran and Bryan Dodson, an aide to former state Sen. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville. This race, the only Republican contest in local legislative campaigns, has drawn intense interest since Daniel was charged Wednesday by Hall with simple assault. The charge came after Hall filed an incident report with the Knoxville Police Department following a radio forum July 21 where Hall said Daniel stood over him to "intimidate" him and shoved him after Hall called Daniel a "liar." Daniel is set to appear for booking on the misdemeanor citation Aug. 10. Daniel is not answering questions about the case on the advice of his attorney, Gregory P. Isaacs, he said. Daniel, who far outpaces his opponents in contributions and expenditures, received contributions from four lawmakers, including state Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, who beat Campfield two years ago. Briggs gave Daniel $200, as did Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge and Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston. Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, contributed $1,000. Briggs said Friday he has contributed to several legislators' campaigns when asked. He said he and Daniel worked on several bills together. Seven political action committees contributed to Daniel. The PACs are the Tennessee Bankers Association, $1,500; AT&T Tennessee, $1,000 for a total of $3,000 in this campaign; Housing Industry, $750; Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Good Government Fund, $500 for a total of $1,500; Charter Communications Inc., $500; Tennessee Certified Public Accounts, $300 for a total of $550; and Tennessee First, $500 for a total of $1,000. Daniel, who owns Elevation Outdoor Advertising, spent $51,004, with the largest expenditure to Lamar Advertising, $13,624. Hall reported raising $2,120, including $1,000 from Tennessee Realtors PAC. He spent $22,885 and has a balance of $24,284. He has outstanding loans of $10,000. Corcoran received $195 in contributions and loaned his campaign $2,000. He spent $1,450 and has a $4,426 balance. His loan balance is $6,616. Dodson reported he had not received nor spent any money in July and has only a nickel left in his account. He has a $500 loan balance. SHARE By News Sentinel Staff MAYNARDVILLE Authorities said they have arrested the accomplice of a man who was shot and killed by a Union County homeowner during a home invasion robbery Thursday morning. Union County Sheriff Billy Breeding and deputies arrested Justin Lee Kiser, 23, of Maynardville at an Old Maynardville Highway home around 5 p.m. on Friday, according to a news release from the Union County Sheriff's Office. Investigators identified Kiser as the masked armed robber who ran from the scene of an early-morning home invasion at a Beard Valley Road home after the homeowner shot and killed his partner, James Dilbert Teague, 39, of Athens, Tenn., the release said. Deputies responded at 4 a.m. on Thursday to a report of two armed men breaking into the caller's home. Authorities said the homeowner fought the intruders and shot Teague, who was dead when deputies arrived. Kiser is charged with especially aggravated kidnapping, according to the Sheriff's Office. He is being held at the Union County jail under a $250,000 bond. More details as they develop online and in Sunday's News Sentinel. SHARE Carpenter's Chapel accusing Tinch of stealing $347,000 By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel A preacher who was supposed to be feeding his flock fleeced them instead, a lawsuit alleges. Carpenter's Chapel Inc., a church on Dogwood Road in Solway, has filed suit in Knox County Chancery Court against former pastor Hobart Randalls "Randy" Tinch, alleging he robbed church coffers of $347,000 during his 19-year tenure there. Attorney Steve Shope, who is representing the church, said information gleaned from an audit of the church's books will be turned over to authorities for a criminal probe. Tinch, who lives in Oak Ridge, could not be reached for comment. Shope described Tinch as a "charismatic" figure who used church offerings to support a lavish lifestyle that included pricey cars and expensive trips. The church was unaware of Tinch's alleged thievery until he stepped down as pastor in January 2008, when a resulting audit by a certified public accountant uncovered the misappropriation, Shope said. The church sought to avoid litigation, but Shope said Tinch did not respond to attempts to meet with him to resolve the case outside of the courtroom. "(Tinch) as pastor of the church took advantage of the relationship and violated the confidence of (the congregation) and misrepresented, concealed and misled (the church) to obtain money to pay for property and obligations of (Tinch) from (church) funds," the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit, filed this week, contends the church not only lost the pilfered funds but also has incurred costs to uncover the alleged embezzlement. "The ... intentional fraudulent conversion of (church) funds has caused (the church) to suffer damages in excess of $400,000," the lawsuit alleges. "This amount represents the loss of funds, loss of profits for non-use and expenses in calculating damages, including accounting fees, attorney fees and interest." The church is seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages and another $500,000 in punitive damages and any "rents or profit" Tinch earned from unspecified property the lawsuit alleges he bought with stolen church loot. The lawsuit also seeks the forfeiture of any assets "obtained by fraud by" Tinch. Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308. Kellie Rooker and her daughter, Abbey, of Jefferson County shop for school supplies at the North Knoxville Target store during the tax-free weekend on Friday, July 29, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Riley Doty,13, picks out highlighters while shopping for school supplies with his family at the North Knoxville Target during the tax-free weekend on Friday, July 29, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN / NEWS SENTINEL) By Benjamin Webb of the Knoxville News Sentinel Tennessee's annual sales-tax-free weekend officially kicked off Friday to big lines outside stores carrying essential back-to-school supplies, clothes and electronics. The weekend is designed to encourage Tennessee residents to shop for supplies that will be essential in the upcoming school semester. College students and adults were out as well to take advantage of the savings. Usually on the tax-free weekend, stores are packed with shoppers trying to take advantage on savings on select items, and this year has been no different. "We're very busy today," said Robin Jetton, executive team leader at the Knoxville North Target on Washington Pike. "We've seen an increase in all back-to-school supplies, especially backpacks, lunchboxes, pens and pencils." Inside the store, Knoxville residents of all ages flocked to the back-to-school section as employees guided children and adults to the items they sought. At the Best Buy store off North Peters Road, electronics were the hot item for shoppers. Customers could be seen immediately heading for the computer section to take advantage of the tax-exempt status of laptops and computers priced under $1,500. At the Staples store nearby in the same shopping center, customers filled the back-to-school and electronics aisles as well. Some popular stores had to set up special lines at the checkout to accommodate the large influx of customers. Jetton said that she expects sales to continue to be high as college students come to buy supplies. "Soon the colleges will move in, so we expect to sell more back-to-school supplies not just over the weekend but also in the coming weeks," she said. Tennessee's tax-free weekend ends on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. For a detailed explanation on what is and what is not tax-exempt over the weekend, visit www.tn.gov/revenue/article/sales-tax-holiday. Melania Trump didn't plagiarize Michelle Obama during the Republican National Convention. Trump's speechwriter plagiarized Obama's speech-writer. It's a fine point, I'll admit. But the whole idea of speechwriting intentionally writing so someone else can take credit seems a bit odd to one who has always had a byline. The First Lady has been praised for her speech at last week's Democratic National Convention and rightly so. But the words she delivered weren't strictly her own. Her speechwriter was Sarah Hurwitz, who also wrote the 2008 words that Meredith McIver Melania Trump's speech-writer lifted. Granted, speechwriting has a long and notable history in America. George Washington could not tell a lie, perhaps, but it was his protege, Alexander Hamilton, who sometimes told him what to say. Likewise, James Monroe got his name on the Monroe Doctrine, but John Quincy Adams articulated the idea. Many great speakers wrote their own stuff, of course. Abe Lincoln scratched out the Gettysburg Address himself, though not on the back on envelope on the train to Pennsylvania as some myths have it. He labored over the 272 words for two weeks, and the "of the people" paragraph wasn't done until the night before the address. Winston Churchill was a writer. His body of work won him a Nobel Prize in Literature. He is said to have written every word of every speech he gave, which certainly took a good bit of toil, sweat and tears, if not blood. Other politicians have wanted us to believe their words were their own, though the record shows otherwise. Raymond Moley of Columbia University, conferred with Franklin Roosevelt about an inaugural address early on and the prof had a typed manuscript ready when they met in February 1933. FDR then copied the draft onto a yellow legal pad, discussing it with Moley and editing as he went. Afterward, Moley pitched the original in the fireplace. The next day, FDR showed his draft to an aide, Louis Howe, who offered more edits, including a line about "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The handwritten draft is now in the FDR library with a note from the president telling how he wrote it in four and a half hours, and "a number of minor changes were made in subsequent drafts but the final draft is substantially the same as this original." Moley isn't mentioned. John F. Kennedy also was scribbling on a legal pad when approached in 1961 by a Time magazine reporter. JFK said he was preparing for his inauguration just days away. In fact, the address was typed up and ready to go, written weeks earlier by Ted Sorensen and containing some promising lines such as: "So, ask not what your country is going to do for you. Ask what you can for your country." Kennedy tweaked the speech, and made it better, and I guess that's how it works most of the time. Speech-givers and speechwriters collaborate. Ultimately, it is the speakers who deliver the addresses, and get the credit or blame for them. From then on, the words belong to them, and the rest is history. SHARE Patrick Birmingham, president and publisher of the News Sentinel. The News Sentinel apologizes for any misunderstanding about our stance on Christianity. We want to be crystal clear: The News Sentinel does not have a bias against Christianity or any other religion. We have had a business relationship with Cedar Springs Christian Store and have run many ads as a part of that relationship. The owner of the store decided to place another advertisement in the classified section of our newspaper this week. A software problem resulted in the ad getting hung up in our front-end system, which means the ad did not publish in the newspaper. We corrected the technology issue and the ad is now running for an extended period at no extra charge. You can see the ad in today's newspaper. It will appear for additional days because it did not start on the day originally ordered. We explained the sequence of events to the Cedar Springs Christian Store and what we would do to correct the technological error. Social media posts about the mishap have led to some misunderstanding about what had occurred and challenged how we feel about our community. They are wrong. The News Sentinel fully understands the important role Christianity plays in the lives of our East Tennessee readers and in our community. We routinely publish advertisements, news stories and photographs from Christian businesses, schools, churches and organizations, as well as an extensive obituary section where family members express their Christian faith and other faiths. We have a Faith and Family section you will see inside today's newspaper. It publishes every Saturday. We publish Billy Graham's column daily. We believe these are important to our community and demonstrate our commitment to it. Please email concerns to publisher@knoxnews.com. Patrick Birmingham By Choi Sung-jin The Korean economy bounced back in the first half of the year with industrial production and consumption picking up and the decline of exports slowing to a single-digit rate. In the second half of the year, however, various adverse factors abroad and cooling domestic demand are expected to put the brakes on the economic recovery, business watchers said Friday. According to Korea Customs Service, the nation's exports in the first 20 days of July are estimated to have fallen from a year ago to $24.6 billion. Considering that this July has two fewer working days than the same month last year, the year-on-year export decline will be a little steeper this July, it said. However, if Korea, which recorded the smallest monthly export setback in June, manages to minimize the loss of overseas shipments in July, it can hope for a rebound in August and thereafter, the economic analysts said. Minister of Planning and Finance Yoo Il-ho also took note of the possible recovery of exports in August. "I expect exports will be on the recovery track from August," Yoo said meeting with reporters in Chengdu, China, before attending the G20 finance ministers' meeting on June 23. "Exports are expected to increase, and imports will also grow compared to last year." In the first half of the year, exports dropped 9.9 percent from a year ago. The setback of exports that started in January 2015 continued for 18 consecutive months. The only consolation was the monthly export decline slowed to a 2.7 percent drop in June, the smallest in the past year. The red-and-white banner is blazoned with a black bird of prey. Beneath the banner children stand at attention, all of them blond with traditional hairstyles, wearing uniform-style outfits bearing the red-white-black symbol. At a given signal, they line up, salute the flag and sing. It is the end of July, 2016, and German right-wing extremists are organizing a childrens camp in the south of Sweden. For a full week, small children some of them barely of school age are drilled by instructors at a remote location in the woods of Smaland. Expo and Kvallsposten have documented the German organization Sturmvogel and its camp week in Sweden. Youths and children wearing the Sturmvogel uniform walk with the organizations red-white-black banner. Photo: Tor Gasslander and Peo Moller It is just after 7 a.m. in the Smaland woods, many miles away from the nearest major town. Childrens voices are heard, and after a minute or two a group passes by us closely some fifteen children, the oldest of them around 15-16 years old, the youngest ones barely old enough for school. All of them boys, all of them dressed the same way shorts and white undershirts. They run in a line, the older youths spread out along the column. On the other side of the road there are two large plots of land with a number of buildings. Documents show that these properties are linked, through a phone subscription and through previous owners, to a married German couple the husband in his nineties who as of decades are well-documented leading figures in German nazism and the far-right. The current owner is a person with the same surname as the previous owners, who in turn still have a telephone in one of the properties. In the yard next to the main building, several German-registered vehicles are parked. A bit further into the long and narrow land plot, which continues on into the forest and obscurity, more vehicles are parked. Here, further in, the group has made camp: tents, washing lines, water containers and spaces for meals fill the clearing. Just before 8 a.m. there is great activity. As the time nears 8.30, all goes quiet. It is time for the morning muster, and through the trees we can see the red-white-black banner being raised. A few loud cries. Then silence once more. Suddenly, all that is heard is a chorus of childrens voices the morning muster begins with a traditional German folk song. The Sturmvogel banner is raised at the camp in the woods of Smaland. Photo: Peo Moller The banner, blazoned with the silhouette of a bird of prey, belongs to the German organization Sturmvogel Storm Bird. German experts describe Sturmvogel as a German nationalist youth organization with deep roots in nazism and Holocaust denial. The organisation was set up in 1987 and has personal ties to the organizations Wiking Jugend and Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend, HBJ, both of which are now banned in Germany. At previous camps in Germany, children have participated whose parents have denied the Holocaust, a crime under German law, such as the Swiss citizen Bernhard Schaub, a known and convicted Holocaust denier. For many years, the group has kept an extremely low profile, and by attracting no attention, not carrying out demonstrations or rallies and never giving interviews, they have succeeded in staying below the radar not least that of the German Constitutional Protection, which prohibits nazi organisations. In order to find event spaces and locations in Germany for their recurring summer and winter camps, the group has presented itself as an ordinary Scout group. Now a week-long camp is being held in Sweden, in a remote area in the south-west of Smaland province. The most important explanation is that they are trying to hide in order to avoid attention from the security police. Other similar organizations have previously been banned, and Sturmvogel wants to avoid that, says Andrea Ropke, a German journalist and expert on far-right child and youth groups in Germany. A few days earlier, the group arrived in Trelleborg, having taken a ferry from Germany. They continued by train to a village in Smaland, where the group was met up by several cars with German license plates. The journeys destination, the remote plot of land in the woods, requires further travel. When Kvallsposten returns to the plot a few days later, the group has established its tent camp. On the yard, the German-registered cars that transported the group on its last leg of the journey are parked. The group finishes its morning gathering, a so called Appell (roll call). The muster is highly strict according to German experts, the children are not allowed to move or speak. In cases from Germany, there are photos of children collapsing during the roll call. After the muster, the group moves towards a large, round tent that has been raised further down the plot. Chatter and laughter can be heard, and then suddenly an adults voice: Alles Aus! Silence! A few minutes later, breakfast is finished. Soon the camp is full of activity again. The program at Sturmvogels camp often follows the same routine: the morning flag ceremony is followed by physical activity, musters and different kinds of work. Discipline is severe. Clothes and hairstyles are traditional: green uniform shirts with symbols; long skirts and pigtails for girls. Non-German words are to be avoided. According to German experts, the movement is largely a family affair. Often, participating families have been nazis for several generations. Traditions from the Third Reich have survived. The nationalist fostering of youth is very important to them, and the camps are an important part of that activity, says Andrea Ropke. Since the 19th century, there has existed in Germany a so-called Volkisch movement, which was embraced by nazism. Today the movement appears in a new form by celebrating traditional life and renouncing modernity. Romanticism of nature, outdoor activiy and tradition are the leading lights. Just before lunch, smaller groups of participants have ventured out into the surrounding area. In a deforested clearing, a group of ten-year-old boys gather branches. A little further away, a couple of girls in their early teens pick blueberries. Suddenly a trumpet signal rings out, and some of the 30-40 campers run through the forest to yet another muster under the red-white-black banner. Landowners deny the existence of the camp When the persons living on the property, a man and a woman, are confronted, they deny that Sturmvogel is on their land. They are grandchildren and friends, the woman in the house tells Kvallspostens reporters. A younger man explains that he does not feel like being in the newspapers, and rejects any information about a Sturmvogel camp. Its about nature. It is for grandchildren with friends. When we ask if he is the leader of the group, he says no and points to the woman. No, it is my mother, he says and gestures to the woman who seems to live in the house. The reporters are not allowed to speak with the camp leader. They do not wish to give heir names, and maintain that they have nothing to do with Sturmvogel. Translation: Morgan Finnsio By Choi Sung-jin Although North Korea's army sends agents from its top security organ to frontline units to try to stop the increasing number of desertions, they are failing to prevent the hungry soldiers from going AWOL. "The North Korean People's Army is conducting an extensive inspection, but is finding it difficult to prevent AWOLs by hunger-stricken troops," a source in the North's Yanggang Province was quoted as saying by the Daily NK, a media outlet specializing in North Korea news, Friday. North Korean soldiers suffering from food shortages had anticipated they would fill their stomachs on the July 27 Armistice Day, which is a festive day among soldiers, but only found some rice cakes on their dinner tables, forcing many to leave their units without passes, the source said. "Military discipline has become so loose that even the security agents do not regard the desertions as serious as long as the soldiers do not cross borders and leave the country," he went on to say. South Korea and Japan will hold a meeting next month to discuss follow-up measures related to a foundation launched to help Korean women sexually abused by Japan during its colonial rule of the peninsula in the first half of the 20th century, government sources said Friday. The meeting is likely to be held in the second week of August, and it will mark the first time for both sides to get together after the foundation kicked off work on Thursday in Seoul. The Reconciliation and Healing Foundation came into being under the deal reached in December to resolve the comfort women issue once and for all. Tokyo promised to contribute 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) to the foundation. Chung Byung-won, director-general of the South Korean foreign ministry's Northeast Asian affairs bureau, will meet with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi in Seoul, according to the sources. They will likely discuss when and how to use the promised money for the foundation, observers said. Earlier, a South Korean diplomat told reporters that the money will be delivered immediately after the launch of the foundation but it has yet to be transferred, reportedly due to some lingering differences between the two countries. The Dec. 28 was 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. But it has been drawing flak from some victims and civic groups who have accused the government of striking a deal lacking Japan's acknowledgment of its legal responsibility. They also said the agreement was reached without prior 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. Forty South Korean victims, mostly in their late 80s, are currently known to be alive. The launch of the foundation, meanwhile, was marred by protest from vocal support groups for comfort women. Dozens of members from the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan and other groups staged a rally in front of the foundation's office building while the opening event was under way. Kim Tae-hyun, chairwoman of the foundation, was also attacked by an unidentified man who sprayed pepper spray in her face when she was leaving the building after a press conference. (Yonhap) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said the U.S. could end up in a "massive war protecting somebody" if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suddenly becomes "frisky." Once again displaying deeply negative views of U.S. security commitments to allies, Trump also said in a campaign speech Wednesday that the U.S. would find itself in "essentially World War III" if Japan comes under attack, arguing that the Asian nation does not have to do anything if the U.S. gets attacked. "The man that we know so well who's always threatening everybody in the region, North Korea, if he all of a sudden gets a little more frisky than just words, we end up in a massive war protecting somebody," Trump said, referring to the North's leader, Kim. Trump has long argued that the U.S. should no longer be the "policeman of the world," claiming it makes no sense for the U.S. to pay to defend such wealthy allies as Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia in exchange for little. He says allies should pay 100 percent of the cost of stationing American troops, or the U.S. should be prepared to end their protection. He even suggested allowing South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear weapons for self-defense so as to reduce U.S. security burdens. Trump has stepped up the argument since clinching the nomination last week. "We don't want to be the stupid people anymore," Trump said. "Before I ran, did anybody know that we were protecting and paying for a large portion of the protection of Japan, which sells us cars by the millions, and Germany and Saudi Arabia and South Korea?" South Korea currently pays about half the costs, about US$900 million a year, to help finance the troop presence, and U.S. officials, including new U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks, said it would cost more to keep those troops stationed in the U.S. than it does in Korea. Apparently referring to Brooks, Trump quoted "this general" as pointing out that Japan pays about 50 percent of the troop presence cost, and adding, "Why aren't they paying for 100 percent?" (Yonhap) South Korea will beef up its system to counter North Korea's attempts in recent years to jam GPS signals in the South, the science ministry said Friday. Under a set of comprehensive measures approved at a Cabinet meeting, the Seoul government will redouble efforts to develop technology that can deal with the North's attempts and upgrade the system, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said. Following the North's attempts to disrupt South Korea's GPS signals across the border between 2010 and 2012, the Seoul government has set up the system to monitor the disruptions. GPS disruptions could cause mobile phones to malfunction and affect planes and ships that rely on the satellite signal for navigation. No major damage has been reported so far. "Details of the countermeasures cannot be disclosed. North Korea should not be aware of the level of our readiness," said a ministry official on the condition of anonymity. The ministry said it will conduct drills regularly and actively develop the technology that can detect the jamming source. Also, the Seoul government will closely work with international organizations, such as the United Nations, officials said. (Yonhap) The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more PRESS RELEASE Is the Battle for Aleppo Now a Turning Point in the Syria War? July 28, 2016 (EIRNS)Yesterday, the Syrian military command announced that it had completed the encirclement of the rebel-held portion of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria and once its commercial capital, by completely cutting the Castello Road, the last route into that part of the city for the armed opposition groups. By doing so the Syrian army, with backing from the Russian Aerospace Forces contingent deployed in Latakia, has made the positions of the terrorist groups untenable. At the same time, the Syrian government, in concert with the Russian military, is moving rapidly to conclude the situation rather than digging in for a lengthy siege. Yesterdays military announcement triggered an uproar from international humanitarian aid NGOs, who warned that starvation for the 250,000 civilians estimated to still be in that part of the city would soon follow. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Syrian government, in a move that was likely pre-planned for some time, outflanked the NGOs by announcing, this morning, the commencement of a large-scale humanitarian relief operation. "We have been continuously appealing to opposing sides for reconciliation, but every time, insurgents broke the silence regime, shelled inhabited areas, attacked positions of the government troops. All this caused a bad humanitarian situation in Aleppo city and its suburbs," Shoigu said at the Russian Defense Ministry this morning. "Therefore, in accordance to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Defense gave orders to start a large-scale humanitarian operation aimed at providing assistance to the civil population of the Aleppo city in cooperation with the Syrian government." International humanitarian organizations operating in Syria have been invited to join the operation. Three humanitarian corridors are being opened for civilians and fighters who decide to lay down their weapons, while a fourth corridor is being opened on the Castello Road for armed militants to withdraw. Shoigu also announced that under orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin, in response to a personal request from US Secretary of State John Kerry, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate General Stanislav Gadjimagomedov was going to Geneva with a group of experts, in order to develop joint measures aimed at stabilization of the situation near Aleppo. At the same time, Syrias President Bashar al Assad has signed a decree granting amnesty for members of armed groups who turn themselves in to the competent authorities and lay down their weapons, and those who set free in a safe way persons they kidnapped. According to Sputnik, the decree says that PRESS RELEASE Russian and Chinese Strongly Condemn U.S. THAAD Deployment in South Korea after Moscow Meeting July 29, 2016 (EIRNS)Following the fourth round of meetings of the Russian-Chinese Dialogue on Security in Northeast Asia in in Moscow, yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry put out a statement announcing that China and Russia "strongly condemn" the US THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) deployment in South Korea, and accusing the United States of trying to upset the "regional strategic balance." The Dialogue meeting, which covered a wide range of issues confirmed the partnership between the two countries and reiterated Joint Agreementsigned by Presidents Putin and Xi Jinping "to promote cooperation and coordinate efforts to protect their respective national interests, primarily in the sphere of security," says the Foreign Ministry press release. The crux of the agreement is "strengthening global strategic stability." Of major importance is the deployment of the THAAD missiles in South Korea, said the press release, calling the decision part of a US effort to "unilaterally" develop a "strategic missile defence system that is deployed across the globe, including Northeast Asia." This would "adversely affect the international and regional strategic balance." "The Russian and Chinese parties believe that such actions by the United States and the Republic of Korea are not consistent with their purported goals and can cause serious damage to the strategic security of neighbouring countries, including Russia and China, and further complicate the situation on the Korean Peninsula. The participants strongly condemned these plans and discussed the possibility of coordinating more closely in the wake of these unfavourable developments." The sides also reiterated their commitment to diplomacy to solve the problems between North and South Korea. They called for "an early resumption of the inter-Korean dialogue," and for goal of achieving a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. PRESS RELEASE Wall Street in Non-Stop Freak-Out Over Glass-Steagall in Party Platforms and Prospects July 29, 2016 (EIRN)Wall Street/City of London is in a desperate state of non-stop freak-out over the presence of Glass-Steagall in the two party platforms, and the prospect of its coming into being. At the Democrat gathering in Philadelphia, a convoy of black stretch-limousines pulled up at one point, to discharge a phalanx of pin-stripers, who moved in on the VIP section, and numbers of other targetted delegates. The financial media activation is wild. The American Banker put out two articles, in sequence today, both from the vantage point of trying to play-down that any one really supports it. The headlines indicate the slant. The first was, "Dem Lawmakers Grapple with Calls to Bring Back Glass-Steagall." Several hours later came an hysterical follow-up piece, "How Glass Steagall Crashed the 2016 Conventions." The piece began, "The Glass Steagall Act of 1933 was an unexpected and prominent part of the Democratic and Republican conventions this year, as both parties added a call to reinstate the law as part of their party platforms. But that will be easier said than done, considering that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have shown little interest in the idea..." The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial today, "Glass-Steagall-Trump-Clinton Act," with the sub-head, "The GOP joins Sanders and Warren in pointless re-regulation." Beginning by asking, "what does it mean" that both parties call for reinstating the Glass Steagall Act of 1933, the editorial then gives the answer. "It means that as both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton pursue Bernie Sanders voters, they can be equally irrelevant to our current financial era." The Urinal asserts that the absence of Glass Steagall was not factor in the 2008 crisis, and it is not needed now. Barney Frank, the former House member responsible for Dodd-Frank, was put on the spot on the topic, in a July 27 interview on WNYC in Manhattan, on the Brian Lehrer morning program. Frank tap-danced around the Glass-Steagall point, by holding forth on the idea of modifying mega-banks, case by case. He lied that, this kind of tinkering, is what the adjective "21st Century"-type Glass Steagall means in the Democratic Party platform! That is, the sleazeball meant that it does not stand for the Congressional bill by the very same name. He said, were talking about a "set of rules for irresponsible practices...," not the original Glass Steagall. Frank, a Clinton adviser, was booed at the convention the first day. "Glass-Steagall May Survive The U.S. Presidential Race," is a July 28 article on the FTFFinancial Technologies Forumwebsite, by chief content editor, Eugene Grygo. His superficial review plays down the significance of Glass Steagall in the platforms, and backs the idea of "financial services reform" at some vague time in the future. PRESS RELEASE EIR Participates in Whistleblower Symposium on 9/11 July 29, 2016 (EIRNS)EIRs Counterintelligence Editor Jeffrey Steinberg participated on Thursday, July 28 in a panel discussion, which was part of a three day whistleblowers conference in Washington on Capitol Hill. Steinberg was joined in the two hour panel discussion by moderator Andrew Kreig, attorney Mick Harrison (author of the recent law journal article on the Gravel precedent), former U.S. Senator Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) and former State Department diplomat Michael Springman. In his opening remarks, Steinberg linked the recently published Chilcot Commission report to the partially declassified 28 page chapter from the original Joint Congressional Inquiry, emphasizing that Bush and Cheney blocked the release of the chapter because if the American people had seen the evidence of Saudi links to the 9/11 attacks, it would have been near impossible to go ahead with the planned Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. Attorney Mick Harrison made clear that a group of lawyers are looking for follow-up to the release of the 28 pages, and are seeking possible state and Federal grand jury proceedings against the sponsors of the attacks. A former Congressional staff director pointed out that, under the Constitution, the Congress has the authority, under the public disclosure clause of the U.S. Constitution and the post-Church Committee law that created the House and Senate intelligence oversight panels, to release any classified material to the public that is in the vital interest of the American people. That includes both Congressional products like the Joint Inquiry Report, as well as Executive Branch documents. As was pointed out by several speakers, there are still hundreds of thousands of pages of FBI and CIA files on the 9/11 attack that remain classified, including a significant number of documents that were cited in the 28 pages, as well as the File 17 document of the 9/11 Commission. Sputnik News published a story on the conference, centered on interviews with Steinberg and Springman. After a week of 10-hour days folding and packaging clothing, Jesus Francisco Moreno walked out of the factory in downtown Los Angeles on a recent Monday afternoon to collect his $450 in wages. Holding a personal check, with no required deductions, he went to a white, unmarked van parked nearby. His cash was dispensed from a small window in the back. Vans like this, showing up outside L.A. garment factories, are another twist for bottom-rung workers. And they are another tactic for factory owners to disguise payments less than the legal minimum wage, say employees, advocates and an official for the U.S. Labor Department. For the record: This story erroneously states that unemployment insurance is a required deduction for all California employees. In fact, it is a required employer contribution, which does not show up on worker paychecks. It is a scheme to weaken a wage-theft case, and essentially escape accountability, said Mariela Martinez, an organizer at the Garment Workers Center, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles. When youre paying through this check cashing system, there is no record of the hours worked. Advertisement Paychecks for these workers often arent official, and thus cant be tracked through the financial system by authorities looking for wrongdoing. Some of the checks, like Morenos, could be cashed at banks but dont come with deductions for disability or unemployment insurance, which are required for all employees under California law. Other checks contain so little official information that they cant even be processed by banks. Sometimes they list fewer hours than were actually worked, to make the weeks pay appear to meet minimum-wage requirements. In some cases, the payments are merely vouchers, cashable only at the vans parked outside factories or check cashing storefronts. It is illegal for an employer to require workers to cash their paychecks at a company that collects a fee, according to a U.S. Department of Labor official. Several workers interviewed by The Times said they were directed by their bosses to go to specific check cashers to collect their pay. Underpayment in the garment industry has long been a problem. Competition from China, Bangladesh and other Southeast Asian countries has squeezed Los Angeles clothes makers, who are paid so little by large retailers that they cant afford to pay the minimum wage, lawyers for workers and the government say. Many factories have closed, and remaining owners say theyll be hard-pressed to survive as Californias wage floor, which rose to $10 in January from $8 in 2013, climbs to $15 in 2022. If they get caught paying less than the legal minimum, factory owners can face stiff fines. Worker advocates allege that the garment companies often dont have the cash on hand to pay workers at the end of the week. They say the manufacturers have forged informal relationships with check cashing companies, which dispense the money through storefront operations and other means and get paid back later by factory owners. Several check cashing companies did not respond to requests to comment on their relationship with garment companies. A van parked on 21st street in downtown Los Angeles cashes checks for garment workers and takes a 1% fee. (Natalie Kitroeff / Los Angeles Times ) A representative for Angel Check Cashing acknowledged operating the van where Moreno cashed his check but would not comment further. Chong Choi, the owner, declined to comment. The company, which also operates a storefront in downtown Los Angeles, has an active permit through the state Justice Department to operate as a check cashing company. Several employees of Angel refused to say whether they had a business relationship with garment factories. A sign on the wall of the store itself notes in Spanish that if people want to cash a check from a prior week of work, its necessary that your bosses call so that they can authorize cashing the check. Check cashing vans are not illegal. California law allows check cashing companies to operate a vehicle, with a permit from the Department of Motor Vehicles. The storefronts permits must be renewed every year, and the operations cannot charge more than 3.5% to process government or payroll checks. But employers requiring workers to pay a fee to collect their wages at check cashing companies can be illegal, a federal lawyer said. We always consider that an illegal deduction, said Susan Seletsky, a lawyer at the U.S. Department of Labor. Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Assn., an industry group, said she has heard of the practice among small businesses that make clothes. But she said that most garment factories do not pay their workers with illegitimate checks. We have a huge underground of this industry, she said. Its just one of the many ways that the underground operates. One former check cashing official said he had never heard of such practices in the industry. Whether its legal or it isnt legal, I wouldnt be part of it. I dont think its appropriate, said Tom Nix, who founded Nix Check Cashing, one of the largest check cashing company in Southern California, and then sold the company to Kinecta Federal Credit Union for $45 million in 2007. You are participating with someone who is clearly not following the law, Nix said. Nix said his company stayed away from personal checks because of the high risk that those payments wouldnt clear a bank, and instead processed only government and payroll checks. He said that companies processing checks with missing information or vouchers were an aberration. He defended the use of check cashing services in general, saying that they play a vital role in the financial lives of the poor. There is a need in lower-income communities for check cashing services that banks dont fill, Nix said. Seletsky said the Labor Department had looked into the use of check cashers by garment bosses who underpay workers. She noted that the department cannot take enforcement action against subsidiaries like check cashing companies, which do not actually determine pay. Thats another way to take cash and move it from one party to another party without it ever getting into the system, Seletsky said. Rampant wage theft in Southern California has spurred the Labor Department to launch a spate of investigations into garment factories, uncovering $11.7 million in stolen compensation for workers in the region over the last five years. In February, Labor Department officials charged YN Apparel, a supplier for Ross Stores, with contracting with factories that paid some workers $6 per hour. YN Apparel agreed to pay workers $212,000 in back wages. The investigation found that Ross would have had to pay YN Apparel twice as much as it actually remitted. A Ross Stores spokesperson said Friday that the retailer works with the Department of Labor to make sure our vendors understand and comply with all applicable federal, state, local and international laws related to products we purchase and sell. The Times reviewed more than a dozen claims for back wages filed with the California Labor Commissioners Office in the last two years, from workers who say they were compensated with irregular checks. Rosa Murillo, a senior deputy commissioner for the Labor Commissioners Office garment unit, said she has conducted inspections where factories require workers to use a check cashing company that operates in the same building as the factory. Some bosses insist that workers collect wages at specified check cashing companies or at the factory itself, said workers, advocates and lawyers interviewed by The Times. It appears as if the owner of the garment factory is speaking with the owner of the check cashing place. Its almost as if they have an understanding to cash the check even though the information is incomplete, Murillo said. In a case this year, the Labor Commissioner ruled that JK Mode, a garment factory that later became DHL Apparel, had paid workers below the minimum wage and ordered that the companies pay more than $283,000 in back wages to seamsters. One worker testified that his bosses inaccurately reported that they worked eight hours per day when he actually worked 12-hour days, and made him retrieve his weekly pay from the company, which took a fee of 1%. The company did not appeal the decision. Moreno, the clothes packer, says he is undocumented, does not have a bank account and has little choice but to cash his check at the van. Moreno said he worked a 54-hour week in mid-July, meaning he received just over $8 per hour. The van operator took $4.50 of his total $450, he said. When workers do get official checks, they say the hours often are doctored to make it look as if they are getting paid the minimum wage. Morenos wife, Maria Rodriguez, works as a seamstress in the same factory. She arrives every day at 7:30 a.m. and leaves at 5 p.m., meaning that she works 45 hours per week after subtracting a half-hour for lunch. In the last week of June, when the minimum wage in Los Angeles was $10, Rodriguezs check stub suggested she worked 36 hours and got paid $360. But on July 1, the minimum went up to $10.50, so the check stub Rodriguez got for that week showed she was paid about the same amount but supposedly worked slightly fewer hours. Rodriguez, who shares a one-bedroom apartment in West Los Angeles with Moreno and their three children, said she actually worked 45 hours both weeks giving the company a days work for free. She declined to name the company for fear of reprisal. Yeni Dewi, 38, says that she is never sure how she is going to be paid every Saturday after a week of sewing the hems and seams of hundreds of garments for around 50 hours. Sometimes he gives me a check, sometimes he gives me a copy of a check, sometimes he gives me a small piece of paper, Dewi said. She held up a recent personal check, for $330, which contains only her first name. Dewi says she never gets more than $350, or about $7 per hour, and that her boss has told her that she has to retrieve the money at Santee Market Check Cashing. The company generally takes about $4 of each check, Dewi says. A Santee Market Check Cashing employee, who refused to identify himself, confirmed that the company does business with sewing companies. The company also has an active check cashing permit from the state and is owned by Jai Lee, according to Dun & Bradstreet, a business information company. Another employee who identified himself as John Lee would not comment besides noting that everything is so slow right now, referring to the companys dwindling business. Moreno said he plans to slog through his work in a hot corner of a downtown factory and collect his pay however he must. We dont have an option, we have to cash it, Moreno said. Sometimes Im really angry, but I have to feed my family, pay rent and the bills. Natalie.Kitroeff@latimes.com Follow me @NatalieKitro on Twitter ALSO Deep in the Mojave Desert lies a secret memorial to fallen motorcycle riders Photographer sues Getty Images for $1 billion after shes billed for her own photo Phone companies could stop robocalls. Theyre just not doing it NASA has ordered a second mission from SpaceX to take astronauts to the International Space Station. The Hawthorne space company received its first order from NASA in November. Both SpaceX and Boeing Co. now each have two orders from the space agency to ferry as many as four crew members and about 220 pounds of cargo at a time to the space station. SpaceXs Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch on one of the firms Falcon 9 rockets from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX has said its first manned test flight to the space station will be in 2017. Advertisement NASA said in a statement that SpaceX qualified for a second mission after it hit developmental milestones and internal design reviews for its equipment and launch site. Were making great progress with Crew Dragon, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement. We appreciate the trust NASA has placed in SpaceX with the order of another crew mission and look forward to flying astronauts from American soil next year. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com For more business news, follow me @smasunaga ALSO Pokemon Go creators are working on a way to let real-world locations opt out as Pokestops Soylent CEO charged over illegal, unsightly container home in Montecito Heights Photographer sues Getty Images for $1 billion after shes billed for her own photo If youre looking for a new career, Boeing suggests checking out the airline industry. Based on the number of plane orders and airline expansion plans in the works, the aerospace giant predicted this week that the industry will need to hire 617,000 new commercial pilots, 679,000 maintenance technicians and 814,000 new crew members by 2035. That means the worldwide industry must hire an average of about 31,000 pilots, 35,000 technicians and 40,000 flight attendants each year over the next 20 years. Advertisement Airlines across the globe are expanding their fleets and flight schedules to satisfy demand generated by global economic expansion, Boeing said in its annual Pilot and Technician Outlook report. The biggest growth in the industry will be in Asia, where air traffic is growing by 6% a year, fueled by the surge of middle-class travelers. The growth means that Asia will need about 40% of all the new pilots, technicians and flight crew members in the next 20 years, the report said. The growing popularity of low-cost carriers around the world also has triggered the demand for planes and their crews. North America will need about 17% of the new pilots and technicians and 21% of new crew members, the report said. Boeing spokesman Tom Kim said the company operates several pilot training and development programs to help meet future pilot demand. He said the purpose of the outlook report is to hopefully encourage people to pursue careers in those fields. MORE BUSINESS NEWS HBOs new programming boss talks True Detectives fate, pulling the plug on Vinyl and a hope for more diversity What does Disney want to do with photos of your feet? What to buy (and skip) in August Every election year is about competing visions of America and what it means to be an American. Political parties this summer are particularly divided between and among themselves. The Hollywood Bowl, however, has offered to help with the vision thing. Last week the Los Angeles Philharmonic offered three essential examples of American musical hybridization, often with political overtones. The examples began with guns, gang warfare and immigrants in Leonard Bernsteins West Side Story. The symphonic excerpts from George Gershwins Porgy and Bess concerned race, and his Rhapsody in Blue proved a historic meeting ground for jazz and classical music. The sound track Thursday night at the Bowl was the latest merger of jazz and classical traditions with the West Coast premiere of Wynton Marsalis new Concerto in D, along with Aaron Coplands all-American Symphony No. 3. Advertisement Marsalis is not only one of Americas finest jazz trumpeters but also, as an educator and the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a classicist in his own right, a prime keeper of jazz tradition. His Concerto in D is a violin concerto, and a big one, that ranges through as many regions and aspects of American music as probably any concerto ever has. Written for Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, making her L.A. Phil debut, it was given its first performance with the London Symphony Orchestra in November. The L.A. Phil is one of a number of commissioners of the score. The conductor was Cristian Macelaru, who also led the U.S. premiere earlier this month with the Chicago Symphony. A big concerto indeed. In London, it lasted 50 minutes, and Erica Jeal in the Guardian wrote that it felt like the longest concerto ever written. It has slimmed down since to a still significant 38 minutes. It may have needed editing, but I wonder. The impression at the Bowl on Tuesday was of a whirlwind campaign swing through swinging America with not enough time to develop its many, many ideas. Nicola Benedetti brought a soulful, gorgeous sound to Wynton Marsalis Concerto in D at the Hollywood Bowl. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times ) Let Concerto in D, once more, feel like the longest concerto ever written...Long conversations in our music and our politics could just lead to something. Mark Swed Marsalis does like to go on as his big symphonic works given at the Bowl the oratorio, All Rise and Swing Symphony proved. But he also has a lot to say. The four-movement concerto begins in tribute to Gershwin, with a Rhapsody. The movement opens with a quiet solo violin lullaby and rises through everything from habanera and rustic dance (subtitled Distant Ancestral Memories) to spiritual and military march. The other movements are Rondo Burlesque, Blues and Hootenanny. There is considerable changeable incident at all times. But there is also the consistency of Benedettis soulful, gorgeous classical sound. Her job is not to bring the character of a jazz violinist, which she never pretends to be. The orchestra gets all the jive. Even in the Blues movement, the wonderfully long-lined spiritual heart of the concerto, the brass wails like banshees. In the Hootenanny, L.A. Phil players clap and stomp their feet. Nothing, however, takes away from Benedettis rambling but luxurious solos, which she plays with loving intensity. Let Concerto in D, once more, feel like the longest concerto ever written. Not every work needs formal constraint. We live in a country where long conversations in our music and our politics could just lead to something. The problem with Coplands Third Symphony is grandeur. The expectation was that the composer of Appalachian Spring could, in a victory symphony premiered in 1946, provide The Great American Symphony. For my money, Copland came pretty close, but its a touchy symphony that begins with elegiac tone and ends by elevating the composers famed Fanfare for the Common Man, written to celebrate and spur on American soldiers in World War II, to heroic heights. When performed without grace, it can sound a little like establishment political hyperbole. Overstatement clearly needs avoiding. The composers own performances stand back, allowing startlingly rhythmic freshness and somber tunefulness, the unfurling of musical invention, to offer America a poised musical road map for moving forward without undo pretension. Macelaru operated differently, treating Copland more in the manner of Shostakovich. He brought a heavy hand to accents, and the orchestra struggled under him to make natural syncopations sound contrived. But in one of those rare, yet necessary, moments when nature steps in for the good at the Bowl, a chorus of coyotes in the hills joined the flutes in a considered, careful serious slow movement, and Coplands symphony suddenly belonged. A bold performance of Coplands An Outdoor Overture, written for a school orchestra to play indoors, opened the program as professional big-boned outdoor music. Here, happily, hardy music could take it. mark.swed@latimes.com Mirgas majestic moments at the Bowl before her glass-ceiling breakthrough in Birmingham Puccini extreme: Dudamels gloriously pessimistic Tosca an indictment on the appeal of fascism At the Hollywood Bowl, Gustavo Dudamel and Lang Lang do their bit for cultural healing Summer is supposed to be a sleepy time for the arts. Not in 2016! The week has produced intriguing stories on everything from convention architecture to a notable woman conductor to L.A.s new public art biennial. Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, with a look at the top arts and culture stories of the week: A political stage that unified with pattern and pixels Bill Clinton, center stage, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Mark J. Terrill / AP ) Advertisement For the second week in a row, the nation was glued to the action at a political convention this time the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne writes that the wicker weave set design, by L.A.s Bruce Rodgers, of Tribe Inc., served as the appropriate platform to bring conflicting factions together. The set design aimed to look one step ahead, he writes, ready to turn arguments seemingly at cross-purposes into a picture of diverse cooperation. Los Angeles Times A woman takes the podium Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times ) L.A. Philharmonic associate conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla is headed to Birmingham, England, to take over that citys orchestra. But before departing, she led a captivating program at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night, conducting works by Beethoven and Ravel. The appeal begins the instant she proudly strides on stage, prepared for action, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. The video cameras cant resist her purposeful expression. Los Angeles Times Swed also attended another compelling show at the Bowl: a one-night staging of Puccinis Tosca, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, which offers political themes that are in keeping with our time. Dudamels Tosca, he writes, became a portrait in the inevitability of fascisms enduring appeal. Los Angeles Times An auction house becomes a shadow bank U.S. Atty. Loretta Lynch discusses the Malaysian money laundering investigation at a news conference last week. (Eli Alford Jr. / EPA ) Bloomberg has an intriguing report on the ways in which auction houses can be used to secure cash loans quickly and possibly launder money. Sothebys, for example, was involved in giving Jho Low, who is at the center of the Justice Departments Malaysian money-laundering probe, a $100-million loan. As prices for art skyrocketed, Sothebys and other firms have become shadow banks, writes reporter Katya Kazakina, making millions of dollars of legal loans outside the regulated financial system and raising concerns that such financing could facilitate money laundering. Bloomberg L.A.s sprawling art biennial La Sombra (The Shade), by Teresa Margolles at Echo Park Lake is part of Current: LA Water. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times ) Current: LA Water is a new public art biennial that features a series of art installations by more than a dozen artists in public spaces around the city from San Pedro to Granada Hills. But the monthlong show is still working out the kinks, writes Times critic Christopher Knight, with works that are difficult to find and in far-flung locations that can make seeing the works a challenge. Geography, he writes, defies all but the most intrepid souls from seeing everything during such a narrow window of time. Los Angeles Times In the meantime, Im making my own attempt to visit some of the sites (in the company of my trusty research assistant, Bonnie the American Staffordshire Terrier). This weeks journey took me to San Pedro, to see Michael Parkers intriguing triumphal arch, manufactured out of humble cardboard. Los Angeles Times A ballet star goes Broadway New York City Ballet dancer Robert Fairchild has, in the past, reached beyond his area of dance to appear in Broadway musicals such as An American in Paris, which earned him a Tony nomination. Now he has landed in A Chorus Line, which is at the Hollywood Bowl this month. For the performer, the role is a return to his youth. I used to dance to the cast recording of that musical in my living room, he tells Susan Reiter. Step, kick, kick, beat, kick, touch again! I would make up my own choreography. Los Angeles Times Punks early days In its late 1970s heyday, L.A.s Slash magazine was known for its bombastic antidisco editorials, its unflinching photography and its booze-soaked interviews with a whos who of early punk bands, from the Sex Pistols to X to the Germs. A voluminous new art book by Hat & Beard Press compiles the issues along with never-before-seen photos. I spoke with cofounders Steve Samiof and Melanie Nissen about the mags heyday. There was no design aesthetic for punk then, recalls Samiof. You couldnt Google it. There was what little youd see on the sleeve of a 45. Los Angeles Times Drag gets the theater treatment Le Bal, a one-night show at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, took the concept of the drag show generally the province of gay bars and clubs and transformed it into a major theatrical production. We want to take drag out of the nightclub and put it on the legitimate stage, impresario Cesar Hawas tells The Times Trevell Anderson, giving it the same love and tenderness that we would a show on Broadway. Los Angeles Times In other news A 2015 file photo shows Jackson Park in Chicago, where President Obama will build his library. (Paul Beaty / AP ) President Obama has settled on a site for his Presidential Library in Chicago: Jackson Park, on the citys South Side. Integrating the building into the surrounding area, writes architectural critic Blair Kamin, will be the design equivalent of a three-dimensional game of chess. Chicago Tribune A look at how the presence of women in classical music is on the rise. Bloomberg Forget George Lucas. What L.A. really needs, writes critic William Poundstone, is a museum of television. Los Angeles County Museum on Fire As a deaccessioning controversy raged at Nashvilles Fisk University, the universitys president quietly sold two paintings including a rare canvas by Florentine Stettheimer. New York Times The Autry Museum of the American West has acquired a major collection and archive of artist Harry Fonseca, who was part of a critical generation of Native artists from the 20th century. The Autry Museum In other acquisitions news: The Broad museum has added 29 new works to its collection, including pieces by L.A. artists Robert Therrien, Jonas Wood and Cindy Sherman, as well as art market stars such as Alex Israel and Oscar Murillo. Los Angeles Times L.A.s Craft & Folk Art Museum has been rethinking the traditional boundary between high art and craft in a series of genre-bending exhibitions. Artillery Eileen Grays Villa E-1072 in southern France is one of nine recipients of a Getty Foundation Keeping It Modern grant for 2016. (Manuel Bougot / Cap Moderne / Getty Foundation) The Getty Foundation has announced winners of $1.3 million in grants for the conservation of Modern architecture, including key structures by women designers such as Eileen Gray and Lina Bo Bardi. Los Angeles Times Architect Frank Gehry has been hard at work on a pair of new homes in Santa Monica and Venice. Curbed Where seven members of the Tony Award-winning Hamilton, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, will turn up next. Los Angeles Times Lazarus, a musical written by David Bowie and Enda Walsh, will open in London in the fall. New York Times In Scotland, controversy over a graphic and violent staging of Mozarts Cosi Fan Tutte. The Scotsman How Scottish violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti got Wynton Marsalis to write her a wild violin concerto, which had its West Coast premiere at the Hollywood Bowl this week. Los Angeles Times The Coeurage Theatre Company in Burbank has reimagined Shakespeares Twelfth Night as a contemporary fable about tolerance and diversity. Los Angeles Times Misty Copeland, of the American Ballet Theatre, talks about body image and the changing shape of ballerina bodies throughout history. The Cut And last but not least 10 powerful world figures and the artworks they resemble. Just guess who gets the Rubens... Artnet Find me on Twitter @cmonstah. Despite surface similarities, no inspiration for HBOs The Night Of was drawn from the massive popularity of true crime podcast Serial for one very good reason. We started making this show seven years ago, Steve Zaillian, executive producer, director and writer of the series, told the assembled audience at the 2016 Television Critics Assn. summer press tour. I remember Serial came out while we were filming and we thought it was a strange coincidence, added Riz Ahmed, who plays Nasir (Naz) Khan. Advertisement Though only three episodes of HBOs critically acclaimed limited series The Night Of have aired, theres already been talk of how a second season could be crafted from a story that ostensibly has a definitive end. This was designed as a stand-alone piece, Steve Zaillian, said when asked about the potential for a second season. That being said, there are ways of taking what [the show] feels like and what its about and doing another season on another subject. Were talking about it. The limited series, which debuted on HBO July 10, serves as an in-depth examination of the New York City criminal system via lawyer Jack Stone (John Turturro) and his client Naz, who is suspected of murder. Loosely based on the BBC series Criminal Justice, the aim of The Night Of was to take the idea of an examination of the legal system and delve into the details that make Americas criminal justice system unique, executive producer and writer Richard Price said. This process expanded the original series four-hour run to the eight hours The Night Of became. It was basically the small chips of life, Price said of what was added to the series to fill out the additional time. Going through a gauntlet like that expands the show into a whole universe. It was a painful process. It was chess, not speed chess Central to the expanded detail of The Night Of was the oppressive presence of Rikers Island, with the jail serving to ground the series as a uniquely American experience. When you go there, its startling, said actor Michael Kenneth Williams, whose Freddy is a longtime inhabitant of the jail. Its not even a prison. Its a jail, that feels like a prison. Williams, who based his character in part on the experiences of his incarcerated nephew, expounded on the reality of Rikers, saying Its startling to know that someone can steal a backpack or be accused of stealing a backpack and be there for 18 months waiting for a trial. Whether youre guilty or not, you have to go to that place. For as much praise as the show has received, there are still criticisms it contends with, in particular the choice to make Naz a Muslim, leading some to wonder if such a choice plays into pre-existing racism. From Prices point of view, Nazs faith is a natural extension of transplanting the show to New York from London. In the original, youre going to have white cab drivers in London. In New York, its the immigrants first job, Price said, adding that Naz is specifically Pakistani because of a novel on Pakistan his wife was writing at the time. In terms of how this metastasized into an examination of post-9/11 malice, I just thought of this guy being the son of a real NYC cab driver, Price said. Episode 4 of The Night Of airs Sunday (July 31) on HBO. libby.hill@latimes.com Twitter: @midwestspitfire For more on TCA press tour: Stranger Things has big plans for a second season, if Netflix gives it the green light Gilmore Girls reboot will be home in time for Thanksgiving PBS president voices concern over TV-to-wireless auction A seemingly obscure, two-sentence piece of state legislation is demonstrating the still unsettled political and legal foundations of Californias troubled bullet train project. Supporters of the legislation say they simply want to clarify highly technical wording of taxpayer protections written into the $9 billion bond that voters approved for high-speed rail in 2008 part of an effort to avert lawsuits over spending some of the bond money to upgrade a Bay Area commuter rail system. But rail opponents say the move is a direct attempt to gut taxpayer protections and have vowed to sue over the legislation, potentially stalling the project further. Advertisement Separately, some of the original proponents of high-speed rail fear that a cynical wholesale grab of bond money by local transit agencies will shortchange the cash strapped project and fracture it into a series of regional pieces. The new controversy comes at the very time when Gov. Jerry Brown is trying to convince the Legislature to repair the states flawed cap and trade market for carbon credits, which are supposed to provide half of the money needed to build a partial $21 billion operating segment from San Jose to Shafter by 2025. Without the carbon auction funding, the rail project could collapse. The new battle further complicates Browns task, demonstrating the extraordinary complexity and fragility of the political compromises that have kept the high-speed-rail project alive over the last several years. Brown pushed through a deal in 2012 to start building the system in the Central Valley, quelling big city opposition by agreeing to allocate $1.1 billion to so-called bookend projects in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The deal helped secure a key rail-construction appropriation, which passed in the Senate by a single vote. Under the deal, the rail authority is providing $819 million to Caltrain to convert the Bay Area system from diesel to electrical power, which ultimately could be used by future bullet trains. But the money has been held up by litigation and the states inability to satisfy the requirements of the bond act. Caltrain has also not yet secured all of the other funding for the $2 billion electrification. We are victims of this legal limbo. Hasan Ikhrata, executive director of Southern California Assn. of Governments The $819 million is about $200 million more than was outlined in a memorandum of understanding that came out of the 2012 compromise. The rail authority will ask its board to approve the expenditure at its monthly meeting on Aug. 9, said rail spokeswoman Lisa Marie Alley. Meanwhile, Southern California Assn. of Governments has also secured additional agreements with the rail authority that raises its expected funding to about $1 billion, said executive director Hasan Ikhrata. We are victims of this legal limbo, Ikhrata said. The association asked the rail authority for $3.5 billion in additional funding for local rail projects earlier this year, though exactly where that money would come from is unclear. Any investments have to comply with a series of complex taxpayer protections written into the bond act. The law requires that before bond money can be spent on any segment, it must be suitable and ready for high-speed rail. NEWSLETTER: Get essential California headlines delivered daily An independent consultant is supposed to make a determination. The decision is part of a funding plan that shows the system can operate without subsidies, can meet stringent travel times and can fulfill a long list of other requirements. After a long delay in selling bonds, the bill, AB-1889, was introduced in February in an attempt to break up the legal logjam. It would allow the rail authority to determine whether the electrified track in the Bay Area or any other investment would be suitable and ready for use by bullet trains, opponents say. It is scheduled for a hearing Monday by the Senate appropriations committee, likely the last stop before the full Senate considers it. A trained legal mind might help unravel its convoluted wording. (a)For the purposes of expenditure or liquidation of the appropriation made by Item 2665-204-6043 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2012, as added by Section 3 of Chapter 152 of the Statutes of 2012, the approval made by the High Speed Rail Authority pursuant to Section 2704.08 that a corridor or usable segment thereof would be suitable and ready for high speed train operation, within the meaning Section 2704.08, shall be conclusive. (b) This section does not relieve the High-Speed Rail Authority of its duties under Section 2704.08, including the report required by subdivision (d) of that section. Stuart Flashman, an attorney who represents Bay Area opposition groups, says the state constitution prohibits modifying a bond act through legislation and that the bill would bypass all the key protections in the law. They are changing the meaning entirely and tremendously weakening it, said Flashman, who sent a letter outlining his concerns to legislative leaders. The bills supporters deny they are weakening or trying to bypass any of the bond acts provisions. Flashman said his opposition groups will sue if it is passed and sue if the rail authority tries to spend the $819 million without satisfying the existing requirements of the law. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco), whose San Mateo County district includes the Caltrain line. It was quickly approved by the Senate transportation committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose), whose district also includes the Caltrain line. Caltrains board, the Bay Areas Joint Powers Authority, voted at its July meeting to award a contract for the electrification and wants the money as soon as possible, said agency spokeswoman Jayme Ackemann. She acknowledged that the bill was intended to head off a potential lawsuit. But it is not just opponents who object to the change in the law or bookend investments. Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton), an original author of the High Speed Rail Act and one of its most stalwart supporters, has asserted that the move will break up the bullet train system into a series of regional projects, said Bob Alvarez, the senators chief of staff. It is a fear that veteran transportation experts say is a realistic outcome and may reflect a breakdown in support of the statewide system. It would fracture the statewide nature of the project, said Art Bauer, a longtime Senate transportation staffer who played a key role in drafting the taxpayer protections in the 2008 bond act. ALSO Metros plan for L.A. transit would be transformative... with one small fix Editorial: Californians deserve more transparency on bullet train finances San Fernando Valley light-rail line is back on the table Good morning. Im Paul Thornton, The Times letters editor, and it is Saturday, July 30, 2016. We survived a week in which for a few days, Jerry Brown wasnt Californias governor. Heres a look back at the week in Opinion. A major political party just spent an entire week nominating and celebrating the first female candidate with a serious chance of winning the White House. And (perhaps unsurprisingly), the biggest headlines were about yet another Donald Trump faux pas. On Tuesday, the Republican nominee for president (writing those words about Trump still doesnt come naturally) asked Russian hackers to disclose thousands of emails deleted from the private server used by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of State. Before Trump uttered that taunt sarcastically, he claims now Max Boot, a regular contributor to The Times op-ed page, called Russias intelligence apparatus Trumps opposition research firm: As a lifelong Republican, I dont much care who runs the Democratic National Committee. But I am deeply disturbed by the way that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign as the DNC head over the weekend. WikiLeaks released 20,000 stolen emails revealing a clear, if unsurprising, preference for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders among Democratic officials. This appears to be a foreign intervention in American politics and it may only be the beginning. ... The Russians have every reason to sabotage the Democratic candidate. Her opponent, Donald Trump, is more pro-Russia than any previous presidential candidate. As far back as 2007, Trump was telling CNN that Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing a great job. In 2013, Trump tweeted: 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? In 2015, Trump told MSNBC that Putin was a real leader, unlike what we have in this country, and that reports of Putin killing political opponents didnt bother him Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also, he said. Trump repeatedly says he would get along very well with Putin. In return Putin has praised Trump as bright and talented. Trump positively glows as he repeats reports that Putin likes me. The Trump-Russia links beneath the surface are even more extensive, as Franklin Foer has shown in Slate. Trump has sought and received funding from Russian investors for his business ventures, especially after most American banks stopped lending to him following his multiple bankruptcies. Trumps de facto campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was a longtime consultant to Viktor Yanukovich, the Russian-backed president of Ukraine who was overthrown in 2014. Manafort also has done multimillion-dollar business deals with Russian oligarchs. Trumps foreign policy advisor Carter Page has his own business ties to the state-controlled Russian oil giant Gazprom. He recently delivered a speech in Moscow slamming the United States for its hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization and praising Russia for a foreign policy supposedly built on noninterference, tolerance and respect. (Try telling that to Ukraine.) Another Trump foreign policy advisor, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, flew to Moscow last year to attend a gala banquet celebrating Russia Today, the Kremlins propaganda channel, and was seated at the head table near Putin. Flynn is a regular guest on Russia Today; he refuses to say whether he gets paid. Given the pro-Putin orientation of Trump and his circle, it is no surprise that his campaign quietly rolled back a call in the GOP platform for arming Ukraine to fight back against Russian aggression, as most Republican foreign-policy experts have advocated. Trump has more than once criticized NATO, the chief obstacle to Russian designs, as obsolete and has said he wouldnt necessarily come to the aid of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations members if they are attacked by Russia. Trump also cheered Britains vote to exit the European Union, another institution that Putin sees as an impediment to his influence. Trumps campaign whose slogan might as well be Make Russia Great Again presents Putin with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reorient American foreign policy in Russias favor. Click here to read more. You cant make this stuff up: Thats how The Times editorial board sums up Trumps overtures to Russian hackers. Imagine if, the editorial says, Hillary Clinton had invited a foreign power to hack the IRS and find Trumps tax returns, which the nominee himself refuses to release but of course Clinton would never do that. Trump simply refuses to acknowledge that the words of a president or someone who may soon become one carry enormous weight and cannot be easily taken back. L.A. Times Still, Trump is not a Russian version of the Manchurian Candidate. The editorial board asks Democrats not to needlessly blow this up: 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. L.A. Times Without Trump, this would be the undisputed biggest story of the 2016 election: The Democratic Party nominated a woman for president, and even though Hillary Clinton isnt president yet, her presence atop a major partys ticket is cause for celebration. Finally, it seems, the promise that has been made to generations of girls that they too could grow up to be president may become more than a meaningless platitude, says The Times editorial board. This has been a long, long time in coming. L.A. Times Hillary Clinton reintroduced herself to Americans and sharply rebuked Trumpism. With her partys formal endorsement wrapped up, Clinton moved on to the general election in her nomination acceptance speech by trying to win over voters convinced she is untrustworthy and mocking Donald Trumps proclamation that he alone can save America. L.A. Times Also from the Democratic National Convention: The party unites in (over)promising to reverse Citizens United, writes Michael McGough. Doyle McManus warns that Hillary Clinton is in trouble if she doesnt get a big bounce in the polls after the Democrats pulled off a snazzy, orderly convention. The conventions sharply pro-choice platform alienates millions of antiabortion Democrats, write Kristen Day and Charles Camosy. A separate piece addresses the Catholic civil war on abortion reignited by Tim Kaines vice presidential candidacy. Find more convention coverage at latimes.com/opinion. California was Brexiting before the British, and November will be a doozy that is, if you dont incorrectly define Brexit as only a vote to depart a political union. Joe Mathews writes that Brexit is better understood as a plebiscite meant to advance the cause of special political interests, and plenty of those will be in the general-election ballot, including two pushed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (one on gun control, the other on marijuana legalization). When powerful elected officials use the ballot for their own devices, they can raise serious questions about the credibility of our democracy, Mathews warns. Zocalo Public Square Theres a new breed of McMansions in L.A. that will make you wish for the tract homes of the past. Ryan Bradley riffs on the hulking homes going up in his neighborhood: Not quite half a block north, I come to the first of several two-story fortresses of solitude, all blocky and bland, with minimal plantings, maximal space, rising high above the surrounding cottages. We call them McMansions, but to me that designation brings to mind something far friendlier, if equally cookie cutter. These structures (I have trouble conceiving of them as homes) are drab, impersonal follies, as ugly as they are obtrusive. L.A. Times Reach me: paul.thornton@latimes.com Aug. 25, 2016, 10:40 a.m. Reporting from imperial beach, Calif. We made it, Oregon to Mexico, along an 1,100-mile beach The drive began at the Oregon border. It ended five weeks later at the Mexican border. Where I almost got arrested. OK, thats an exaggeration. When photographer Allen Schaben and I got to the border of Tijuana and Imperial Beach, the party was much better on the Mexican side. Families were in the water and on the sand, a Mariachi band played, and the whole scene was rather festive compared with two people strolling quietly on the Imperial Beach side. I thought briefly about defecting. One man stood at the fence on the Tijuana side, so I walked up to say hello. I asked why he wasnt swimming and he said he didnt have a bathing suit, then he stuck his hand through the fence to shake my hand. A Border Patrol agent sped toward me in an SUV and yelled for me to stand back from the fence. I hesitated, because what was the big deal? But then I noticed a sign warning against contact or the passing of narcotics through the fence, etc. So I stepped back from the fence because I didnt know if Id be able to write my last road trip columns from a jail cell. Im going to wrap up the series on Sunday, but that wont be the end of my coverage of the California Coastal Commission on the 40th anniversary of the Coastal Act. Theres lots to keep an eye on. Legislation to ban private meetings between commissioners and developers could move forward later today. A vote has been delayed on the controversial proposal for a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, a project that doesnt make a lot of sense in my opinion but has big money backing it. The ever-controversial Newport Banning Ranch project -- a massive hotel/housing development on the last undeveloped plot of privately owned coastal property in Southern California -- will be up for a vote in early September. And the City Council election in Pismo Beach has gotten very interesting because Erik Howell, a councilman and coastal commissioner who ticked off Pismo residents by supporting a development that will block ocean views, now has challengers in his reelection campaign. Howell, if youve forgotten, accepted a $1,000 campaign donation from the domestic partner and business colleague of the lobbyist who represents the Pismo development. If he loses his council seat, he loses his Coastal Commission seat too. So stay tuned. The Coastal Commission will have a new director soon, a new chair and at least two new commissioners, and we need to watch closely because whats at stake is the greatest 1,100-mile coast in the world. 10:25 A.M. reporting from san diego Lawmaker who led 72 coastal preservation bike ride from San Francisco to San Diego still has Schwinn that delivered win Former senator James Mills, 89, stands with the bike he rode from Sacramento to San Diego in 1972 to promote Prop 20, which created the Coastal Commission and led to the Coastal Act. The photo was taken overlooking the San Diego skyline from Mills Coronado apartment Wednesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The bike. I wanted to see the bike, and meet its owner. Arriving in San Diego meant our coastal trek from Oregon to Mexico was coming to an end, and it meant that it was finally time to pay a visit to Jim Mills. Mills, a state legislator from 1962 to 1981, was Senate president pro tempore in 1972 when he decided to support Proposition 20, the coastal preservation act. Without it, conservationists feared, coastal development would run amok, Highway 1 would be widened, and a string of nuclear power plants would spring up on some of the greatest beach fronts in the world. But there wasnt much money to fight Prop. 20s foes, said Mills, who had grown up wading in La Jolla Cove and has a deep appreciation of the states greatest natural resource. So in September 1972, he hopped aboard his canary yellow Schwinn Super Sport and led a bike rally from San Francisco to San Diego. The number of riders swelled at times, Mills said, and bikers were greeted each evening by locals serving plenty of carbs. We ate a lot of weenies and beans, and spaghetti too, he said. He recalled PG&E executives following the cyclists in a chauffeur-driven Cadillac, doing their own spin on Prop. 20. The bike rally drew lots of publicity, Mills said, and whether it made the difference is anyones guess. But Prop. 20 won 55% of the vote and led in 1976 to the Coastal Act that to this day protects the coast for the benefit of fragile marine and land habitats and the enjoyment of everyone. Mills was 45 when he rode down the coast, and 89 now. He greeted me and photographer Allen Schaben at his Coronado condo and said he hasnt done any riding lately, but hes doing a lot of writing. Mills has written several books and is working on another. He leads us down to the basement, and there it is. The dusty, canary yellow Schwinn that Mills rode in 1972, and for many years after the Prop. 20 campaign. He was an avid cyclist. Mills also kept the helmet he wore in 1972. We took the bike upstairs, where Mills put on his helmet and posed next to the bike that is a piece of California history. The Coastal Act has done a great deal of good over the years, Mills said, and the cause is no less important now than it was when he rode south from San Francisco. We need to preserve the coast for the benefit of future generations, he said, and I thank him for his contribution. Aug. 21, 2016, 10:50 p.m. Reporting from the Mexican border Steve Lopez reflects back on his 1,100 mile trek down the California coast 6:57 P.M. Sometimes the sausage is good enough to eat Two things will happen soon. The last column from my 1,100 mile road trip down the California coast will be done. And the reform bill banning private communications between California Coastal Commissioners and developers, as well as others, could finally emerge from the factory. As Ive been saying, Hannah-Beth Jacksons bill sailed through the Senate and should have done the same in the Assembly, but it got pushed off into a dark corner after a very fishy report claimed that reform costs money. The thing has come back to life, though, with amendments that arent as bad as the original amendments. I dont see why we need the amendments at all, or why the wrangling has to take place behind closed doors and out of public view. While I was thinking about that, a reader emailed me a clever idea about how to keep coastal commissioners honest -- make them strap on body cameras, like cops. I like it, and why not do the same with legislators, so we can all see whats going on? Having said all this, though, Im hearing from supporters of Jacksons bill that they think theres actually a chance the legislation is going to be OK, once all the cooks are done tweaking the recipe. Sausage is full of awful stuff, but just about all of it is good on the grill. So as much fun as Ive had telling you to ping Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, @Rendon63rd, and Appropriations Chair Lorena Gonzalez, @LorenaAD80, and ask what gives, maybe we should try another approach. Im told that Rendon, Gonzalez and other Assembly leaders have done some decent work rescuing this much-needed bill from the trash. So go ahead and tweet them again, and tell them youre encouraged, and still watching -- to the extent thats possible -- and counting on them to do whats necessary to get the bill to Gov. Jerry Brown, which is when the real fun will begin. 8:46 A.M. When it comes to coastal protection, why does state Assembly have such a problem with transparency? The need to clean up the way the California Coastal Commission operates was obvious. Commissioners meet privately with developers more than with any other group, by far. They have repeatedly failed to fully explain the nature of those meetings, and have even failed to report them on occasion. State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) penned a bill to ban such meetings. It cleared the Senate and bounced over to the Assembly, which nearly killed it, but finally decided this week to merely beat it to a pulp. The toothless mess that emerged from the Assembly Appropriations Committee this week would allow private meetings to continue under certain circumstances, and now Sen. Jackson has the task of trying to put some punch back into her bill. And heres the irony: We dont know which Assembly members, or higher powers, conspired to water down Jacksons bill because there is no transparency in the process. You cant peer through a window into the sausage factory. These amendments were hammered out privately. One can guess that the development lobby and labor groups did not like Jacksons reform bill because it would get in the way of a process that gives an advantage to those who want to build on the coast. One can even guess that the Brown administration shares their view. But we dont know, because a bill to shine a light on important decision-making got pummeled in a dark room, and the perps left no fingerprints. See Dan Weikels story at latimes.com. Ive sent in a request for an explanation to Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount). He has appointing authority for four coastal commissioners and itd be nice to hear what he thinks about the handiwork by his Appropriations Committee. If youd like to ping him or Appropriations Chair Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) to ask what happened, try @Rendon63rd and @LorenaAD80. Or you can drop a line to The Silent One @JerryBrownGov, but Ive tried, and despite months of turmoil and controversy on the 40th anniversary of the Coastal Act he signed into law, the governor doesnt want to be disturbed. 7:36 A.M. Summer is in the rear-view mirror, end of journey just down the road The tide splashes up on the beach at sunset on a warm summer evening at Windansea Beach in La Jolla. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Carlsbad. Leucadia. Encinitas. Cardiff. Solana. Del Mar. Summer is disappearing in my rear-view mirror. Week Five of my trip from Oregon to Mexico will be over in just a few days, 1,100 miles after it began. Photographer Allen Schaben is farther down the road, waiting for me in San Diego. Soon well stand at the Mexican border and reflect on a deeper love of the California coast, a greater appreciation of the Coastal Act on the 40-year anniversary of protections that became law. Ill wish Id had a week to spend in places where I only had an hour or two. Ill thank the people we met along the way, and tell others well take up their offer the next time through. Californians are passionate about their coast. Theyre closely watching those in public office whose job is to protect fisheries and dunes, to limit development and maximize access. Ive got one eye on Sacramento myself. On legislative reforms that would serve all Californians. On coastal commissioners, some of whom seem to have forgotten their purpose. Im pulling into San Diego, where the air is warm, the water blue, Mexico in the near distance. 4:14 P.M. La Jolla The palm fronds of a palapa reveal a surfer, a couple and children taking in a warm summer sunset at Windansea Beach in La Jolla. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 1:07 P.M. newport beach Watts in a name? Find Amp-le answers in Newport Beach On Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach. (Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times) Im driving south on the Pacific Coast Highway and spot the sign. The boat name of the week, it says, is Watt A Man. Thats not a mistake. This is the headquarters for Duffy, which makes the electric boats that are part of the culture in the Newport harbor. Many years ago, I wrote a column about a day of hobnobbing and bar-hopping, by boat, with local residents. I also wrote, at the time, about boat owners trying to out-do each other with clever names for the battery-powered boats. One of my favorites was Salt n Battery. So what are some of the newer ones? I walk into the office, and salesman Jim Drayton says one of the best ones this summer was Amp-ly Endowed. Not bad. Tyler Duffield, of the Duffy family, shows me a list with a few more recent winners. Your name here. (Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times) Its a Ohm Run. Watt the Hey. Watta Yacht. Going back through the years, some of the better names include: Current Affair. Carry Us Ohm Watts the Hurry. Shock Cousteau. Ohmer Simpson. Knots and Volts. I could go on, but why dont you, instead? Send me your best names. Its not as easy as it looks, Duffield said. Its usually the hardest part, he says. Someone comes in and orders a boat, and they get the colors and everything figured out, and the last thing to do is come up with a name before the boat leaves the factory. Yeah, Its a Duff Life out here, where people are Ohm on the Watter, but It Is Watt It Is. 9:13 A.M. Going under in Laguna Beach A snorkeler looks for fish at Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Garibaldi swim and feed on rocks at Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 2:41 P.M. Catching waves in Huntington Beach 10:53 A.M. On our way toward Mexico A view of the beach through a telescope at Pacific City, a new 31-acre mixed-use development in Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City U.S.A. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The site of the proposed Banning Ranch development now before the California Coastal Commission. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The tide rolls in at twilight at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station located on the border of San Diego County and San Clemente. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 4:52 P.M. Laguna Beach 4:45 P.M. Laguna Beach 12:51 P.M. Dana Point A pod of dolphins leaps out of the water with a view of south Laguna Beach in the background on Aug. 12, 2016. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 10:37 P.M. sacramento Profiles in courage: Legislators soften Coastal Commission reform, leave no fingerprints A perfectly sensible bill to clean up the way California coastal commissioners do business has been getting the waterboard treatment. First, Santa Barbara Sen. Hannah-Beth Jacksons SB 1190 was submerged by a ludicrous report claiming it would cost too much money to prohibit private conversations between developers and commissioners. Then it was tossed overboard and dragged like chum. Then on Thursday, legislators pulled SB 1190 back into the boat so badly decomposed its barely recognizable. As my colleague Dan Weikel reports at latimes.com, five amendments gutted the good intentions. The most egregious one allows commissioners to meet privately with developers during on-site visits. This comes just weeks after reports that Coastal Commission Chairman Steve Kinsey met twice with developers of the massive Newport Banning Ranch development and failed to properly report those confabs. Environmental groups, however, would not be able to have such meetings in the bills current form. On my best day, I could not have come up with a more Alice in Wonderland outcome. Details were still emerging, and it wasnt clear which legislators were responsible for the hatchet job, or whether they caved in to political, development or union pressure, or all three. No fingerprints on the body, in other words. Three environmentalists I checked with were livid, and understandably so. Stay tuned for updates on the autopsy, and dont stop letting @JerryBrownGov know how you feel about whats happening to coastal preservation on his watch. #SaveYourCoast 7:46 A.M. Sunset at Crystal Cove Beach Cottages Children run along the beach at twilight near the Crystal Cove Beach Cottages. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The sun sets over the Crystal Cove Beach Cottages in Newport Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Isabella, 9, and Holden, 7, roast marshmallows over a beach fire with their parents, Steve and Amy Knuff, of Aliso Viejo at twilight at Crystal Cove Beach Cottages. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Incoming tide rolls onto the beach at twilight at Crystal Cove Beach Cottages. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 1:29 P.M. Column: Fighting for the California coast from a tiny office in her kitchen nook Susan Jordan, who created and runs the California Coastal Protection Network, is seen in her Santa Barbara office. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) If you were a coastal conservation activist in California, with 1,100 miles of shoreline to look after, how would you even decide where to begin? Theres always a battle somewhere, and let me give you just a couple of examples from one tiny section of the coast. Moss Landing is in the news again this week as the Surfrider Foundation and other activists try to stop Cemex, an international sand mining company, from trucking away the beach as it has done for decades, causing erosion that has begun to set off lots of alarms. Read more 8:49 A.M. Hermosa Beach Remember when you could spend a night at a California beach motel for less than a weeks pay? A third-generation motel owner in this seaside town tells me he gets an offer, about every other day, from someone who wants to buy his property, bulldoze it and rebuild. But hes hanging on because three generations of families have been staying at his low-budget, no-frills motel since the 1960s, and he doesnt want to end those summer vacation traditions. Elsewhere on the California coast, motels and hotels have been bought out by chains and developers, driving up the cost of affordable family vacations. Look for my column on the Hermosa Beach motel in the coming days. And if you know of good low-budget beach lodging, or if youve seen your motel go from cheap to chic, drop me a line at steve.lopez@latimes.com Over the next two days, photographer Allen Schaben and I will be in Hermosa and Huntington Beach, reporting on the proposed desalination plant there. And, by the way, we should find out in the next day or two whether legislation banning private meetings between coastal commissioners and developers is released from legislative prison and put up for a vote in the state Assembly. Theres still time to weigh in at #SaveYourCoast and be sure to give a poke to @JerryBrownGov and Assemblywoman, Lorena Gonzalez @LorenaAD80. Read more A man suspected of fleeing the scene of a fatal hit-and run was arrested early Saturday after leading authorities on a pursuit that stretched from the San Fernando Valley to Pacific Palisades. Mark Christian Johnson, 54, was driving a 2010 Toyota Prius north on Sepulveda Boulevard in North Hills when he hit a pedestrian crossing at Parthenia Street around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, said Sgt. Gregor Whorton of the Los Angeles Police Department. The pedestrian, a man in his 50s, died at the scene, Whorton said. The name of the victim has not been released. Advertisement Johnson fled the scene, but police soon observed the Prius driving recklessly, and a pursuit began, Whorton said. The California Highway Patrol assisted during the chase and, at one point, the LAPD employed a so-called spike strip to aid its efforts. Eventually, the Prius collided with a parking pillar near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Porto Marina Way in Pacific Palisades, Whorton said. Johnson was arrested at the scene and booked on suspicion of felony evading, Whorton said. Additional charges including felony hit-and-run are expected to be forthcoming, he said. matt.stevens@latimes.com Twitter: @ByMattStevens ALSO Marine Corps identifies pilot killed in crash near Twentynine Palms Coroners office names victim of police shooting in Compton Without a parachute, sky diver will jump from 25,000 feet As cases of meningitis, a rare and potentially fatal disease, popped up in cities nationwide over the past several years, public health officials noticed a trend: many of those infected were gay men. Theres no known medical reason why meningitis, which is transmitted through saliva, would spread more among gay and bisexual men. Yet New York, Chicago and now Southern California have experienced outbreaks disproportionately affecting that population. It is perplexing, said Dr. Rachel Civen, a medical epidemiologist at L.A. Countys Department of Public Health. Advertisement Of the 13 cases of meningitis this year in L.A. County excluding Long Beach, which has its own health department seven were gay men. There were only 12 meningitis cases in the county in all of 2015, one of which was a gay or bisexual man. In Long Beach, there have been six meningitis cases this year, half of which were gay men. Last year there were no meningitis cases in the city, according to city officials. Civen, who has tracked the countys meningitis cases for a decade, said it was pretty striking that half or more of the cases in both jurisdictions were gay men. Meningitis cases in L.A. and Orange counties are thought to be connected because lab testing showed that many patients were infected with the same strain of meningococcus, known as serotype C. Federal, state and local public health officials are working together to investigate the current outbreak, which is estimated to have begun in February, with most cases in the past two months. A man in Orange County died after being infected this year, alarming many in the regions gay community. Certainly my patients have shown concern that something is running through the community like wildfire, said Dr. Jay Gladstein, an internal medicine doctor in downtown L.A. who mostly treats gay and bisexual men. If patients survive the infection, it can still cause permanent brain damage or hearing loss. The bacteria that causes meningitis is transmitted by swapping saliva, by means such as kissing and sharing drinks. It requires prolonged, close contact and is not as easily spread as the flu, experts say. Gladstein, who is also an HIV specialist, said he thinks that the cases are likely among men who have multiple sexual partners, engage in anonymous sex and use drugs that make them more susceptible. Its a particular sub-population of gay men, Gladstein said. Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Public Health launched a project to investigate the connection between gay men and meningitis. Its possible that L.A. County will be included in the study as well, officials said. Theyre looking at as many things that they can think of that might explain this behaviors, sexual partners, nonsexual partners, close intimate contact in which saliva might be exchanged, immune status, HIV-positive, HIV-negative, other sexually transmitted infections, said Dr. Robert Bolan, the medical director at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The research may also consider whether meningitis can be transmitted in other ways, such as sexual routes that might be making gay men more susceptible, Civen said. The bacteria Neisseria meningitidis that leads to meningitis is known to colonize the throat and mouth, but researchers will investigate whether it can also colonize other parts of the body, such as the genitals or anus. Three years ago, there was a similar increase in meningitis cases among gay men in L.A. County, during which three people died of the disease. That followed a bigger outbreak in New York City that began in 2010. But among L.A.s cluster of 13 cases between late 2013 and mid-2014, 31% were HIV-positive and therefore could have had weakened immune systems, Civen said. Only one of this years meningitis patients was HIV-positive. Thats part of the reason why health officials expanded their vaccination recommendations this week from gay men who are HIV-positive or engage in high-risk behaviors, such as having multiple sexual partners, to include all gay men. Civen said they found that if those infected this year who met the original vaccination recommendations had been inoculated against meningitis, only a third of the cases would have been prevented. L.A. County and Long Beach health departments are giving out free vaccines to all gay men. Meningitis is still a very rare disease, with fewer than 1 case per 100,000 people per year. Symptoms begin quickly and include nausea, vomiting and confusion. If not treated, the infection can kill within hours. Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said he doesnt think county officials have done enough to warn gay men to protect themselves. He said his organization will soon put up billboards encouraging vaccination. Weve known now for several years that theres a great disproportion of men who have sex with men who are coming down with meningitis and nobody has an answer as to why yet, he said. Maybe theres a very simple explanation or maybe theres a more complicated one, but we dont know. ALSO Child brides sold for cows: The price of being a girl in South Sudan One of our officers was murdered last night: San Diego police shaken by fatal attack Photographer sues Getty Images for $1 billion after shes billed for her own photo The pilot flying an F/A-18c fighter jet that crashed this week near the Marine Corps training center in Twentynine Palms has been identified, officials said Saturday. Maj. Richard Norton, 36, of Arcadia, was killed about 10:30 p.m. Thursday during a training mission near the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, officials said. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Norton, a fighter pilot who joined the Marines in 2005, was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar. He had been deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and to Japan multiple times, officials said. Advertisement He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. My heart goes out to our Marines family as we support them through this difficult time, said Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com Twitter: @skarlamangla ALSO Child brides sold for cows: The price of being a girl in South Sudan One of our officers was murdered last night: San Diego police shaken by fatal attack Photographer sues Getty Images for $1 billion after shes billed for her own photo This months opening of a much-needed pedestrian border entrance from Tijuana to San Ysidro has been cause for celebration north of the border. But in Baja California, there has been mostly uproar over the quality of a temporary structure built by Mexicos federal government to access the new U.S. PedWest facility. After nearly two weeks of public pressure from Baja California politicians, pedestrian-border crossers and the business community on both sides of the border, Mexicos federal government on Thursday announced that it is stepping up its construction schedule for a permanent structure. Advertisement It is now slated to open in September, rather than the previously announced December opening.We are accelerating things, said Luis Fernando Morales Nunez of INDAABIN, the agency responsible for building federal facilities in Mexico. Some 20,000 northbound pedestrians cross the San Ysidro border each day, and the addition of the PedWest crossing is seen as key to improving their experience. Its timely opening was among the priorities of a binational delegation led by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce that traveled to Mexico City in April. The temporary Mexican walkway, about 500 yards long, leads from a pedestrian bridge that spans the Tijuana River into Mexicos El Chapparal port. The structure consists of scaffolding-like sheets of stainless steel with supporting beams and wood supports, enclosed with loose metal wire fencing. Critics say it is not only unsightly but also unsafe and difficult to navigate, particularly for the elderly and handicapped. INDAABIN engineers have insisted the structure is safe and adequate until a permanent one is completed. But in Baja California, the provisional walkway has stirred feelings of resentment that the border is not a priority for Mexicos federal government. They dont understand us, said Ernesto Ruffo Appel, a former Baja California governor and currently a federal senator. They are not living at the border; they are not watching the daily challenge of moving that many people. Ruffo was among the legislators from Baja California who joined a Mexico City news conference staged by the Senates Commission of the Northern Border to call attention to the issue. Mexicos federal government knew about this for two years, said Max Garcia, a federal congressman from Tijuana, who criticized the temporary structure as poorly constructed and located in an unsafe area near the Tijuana River channel. While INDAABIN has been taking the brunt of the criticism, higher-level officials in Mexicos Interior Ministry are the ones who dropped the ball on PedWest, said Ruffo. Thats where the Mexican government coordinates issues of the northern border, he said. The senator said the PedWest issue highlights the need for reviving a border office that more effectively coordinates Mexicos executive branch with mayors and governors of border states.With 14 lanes 12 northbound, and two reversible PedWest is seen as a critical component of the $741 million reconstruction of the massive San Ysidro Port of Entry, overseen by the U.S. General Services Administration. Without the opening of PedWest, authorities could not demolish an existing pedestrian facility east of the vehicle lanes and start building a new eastern entrance. The timing of the opening of PedWest has been a sensitive issue, and diplomats from both the United States and Mexico have been reluctant to discuss it publicly. The GSA announced in January that it planned to open PedWest in June. But in March, Baja California authorities learned that INDAABIN lacked funds to complete the permanent structure. While INDAABIN is the supervising agency on the project, the Mexican military is in charge of construction. Following a petition from INDAABINs president, Soraya Perez, we were able to get a commitment from the military to step up the construction schedule, Morales said. In the meantime, INDAABIN is making some alterations to the temporary structure, as recommended by a Baja California engineering firm, ICH Group. These will be completed, at the latest, by this Sunday, Morales said. For as long as the temporary structure is open, INDAABIN staff will remain on site 24 hours a day, he said, and help anyone in wheelchairs or others who have a difficult time navigating the walkway. And pedestrians with complaints will be able to speak directly to an agency representative. sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com Dibble writes for the San Diego Union Tribune ALSO Slain San Diego police officer remembered as the kind every chief would want to have Crews quell San Bernardino brush fire as heat persists Marine Corps identifies pilot killed in crash near Twentynine Palms It has been almost 13 years since former San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne pinned one of the departments purple hearts on Officer Jonathan J.D. DeGuzmans chest, but he has not forgotten the moment or the man. I am going to miss him. I really am, said Lansdowne, who awarded DeGuzman a purple heart in 2003 after the officer was stabbed during a traffic stop. I saw his picture [Friday], and I remember pinning that heart on him and how impressed I was with him as a person. In my time with him, he had a good sense of humor. He was positive and upbeat. He had nothing but kind words to say about the other officers in the department. He would always take the time to talk about his family. He was really the kind of person you would like to be around. Advertisement To the San Diego Police Department, the 43-year-old DeGuzman was the ideal officer, the kind who wanted the tough jobs and had the personal and professional qualifications to do them well. He and fellow gang-supression officer Wade Irwin were on duty Thursday night when DeGuzman was shot and killed after he and Irwin stopped someone in Southcrest. Irwin also was shot and seriously wounded, but he is expected to recover. DeGuzman died at Scripps Mercy Hospital. Police later arrested suspected gunman Jesse Michael Gomez, 52, in a ravine near the site of the shooting, authorities said. Gomez was suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper chest, and officers followed a trail of blood to him. The investigation is continuing. Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman described DeGuzman as a devoted family man and a dedicated officer. I personally worked with him when I was a lieutenant at Mid-City Division, Zimmerman said during a news conference Friday. I know him, and this is gut-wrenching. He cared. He came to work every single day just wanting to make a positive difference in the lives of our community. And last night, he lost his life trying to make a positive difference and trying to protect our community. For the friends and family who gathered Friday afternoon at the Chula Vista home DeGuzman shared with his wife and two young children, DeGuzman was remembered as friendly and outgoing. If he saw you, he would wave and say hello. If your burglar alarm went off, he would stop by to make sure everything was OK. And for the parents, staff and students at Heritage Elementary School, where one of his children is involved in many activities, DeGuzman was an enthusiastic parent participant and a welcome presence on campus. His child was active in clubs and activities, and Officer DeGuzman was active in supporting them, and many people in our community interacted with him, said Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District. Sometimes he would show up in his uniform, and many of our students would come up and ask him questions. He was very engaging about his career, and there was a great deal of respect and admiration for him. In 2013, DeGuzman was one of five San Diego police officers involved in the fatal shooting of William Daniel Mayes. Police said Mayes, who had pipe bombs in his car, pointed a shotgun at officers trying to arrest him after an attack on Mayes father, and the officers opened fire. The District Attorneys Office found the shooting to be legally justified. Ten years earlier, DeGuzman was awarded a purple heart after being stabbed during a traffic stop. In August 2003, DeGuzman had pulled over Carl Thomas Thompson in City Heights with the intention of issuing him a warning for driving 30 mph in a 25 mph zone. As DeGuzman approached the vehicle, Thompson stepped out, swinging a knife. DeGuzman was stabbed in his upper right arm, and when Thompson tried to stab him a second time, DeGuzman fired one shot, hitting Thompson in the hip. Thompson, who spent nine years in prison for trying to kill a police officer in 1989, survived. He later was sentenced to 39 years to life for the attack. In December 2003, DeGuzman was given the departments purple heart. The ceremony honoring him and other heroic city employees and residents came during a heartbreaking year for the police department. Three officers died that year, two in the line of duty. Even so, DeGuzman was determined to join the gang-supression unit, which is dedicated to patrolling areas where gang crime is particularly entrenched. It is a very specialized unit, Lansdowne said. You have very hard-working officers who know the dangers and the difficulties of being in that unit. They run into a lot of weapons and hardcore serial criminals. They are very experienced and very skilled, and it takes a special kind of officer to work in that unit. [DeGuzman] wanted to be in the gang unit, and he didnt let his injuries stand in his way. He had always done a very good job. He worked hard, and he wanted to be out front. He was the kind of officer every chief would want to have. By Friday afternoon, the name of Jonathan DeGuzman had been added to the San Diego Police Departments Officer Down Memorial Page. He was the 33rd officer to die in the line of duty since 1913. Peterson writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Union-Tribune staff writer Morgan Cook contributed to this report. karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com ALSO Meningitis outbreaks among gay men have experts puzzled An ex-Marine and a cracker-bread heiress will stand trial in mans choking death LAPD: Woman suspected of driving car through Harbor Gateway home, killing 1, turns herself in A massive wildfire burning north of Big Sur has scorched more than 33,000 acres and destroyed 68 structures, fire officials said. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling the Soberanes fire, which is now just 15% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It has burned 33,668 acres and claimed the life of a bulldozer operator. The fire, which started a little more than a week ago in Soberanes Creek, is still threatening 2,000 homes. Some 57 homes and 11 outbuildings have been destroyed. Advertisement The blaze has prompted the closure of six state parks along the Central Coast through Aug. 6, and all trails and roads in the Monterey District of Los Padres National Forest, Cal Fire said. About 350 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. Mandatory evacuation orders for all of Carmel Highlands were lifted Friday afternoon. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Times staff writer Veronica Rocha contributed to this report. sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more local and breaking news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini ALSO Crews quell San Bernardino brush fire as heat persists Nothing normal about the Sand fire in the Santa Clarita Valley, officials say Fire seasons are becoming hotter, drier and longer After decades of accusations that Orange Countys aging animal shelter posed a hazard to humans and its non-human residents, officials gathered Friday to break ground for a new facility on 10 acres of land at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. Orange County leaders were joined by pet rescue supporters who cheered as spades dug into fresh dirt for the new Orange County Animal Care Shelter, expected to be completed by the end of 2017. The main building of the current shelter which opened 75 years ago is in utter disrepair, creating structural and sanitation dangers for both humans and critters, according to a 2015 grand jury report that criticized O.C. leaders for paralysis in finding a replacement. Advertisement The World War II-era facility was intended to serve the needs of a much smaller population and far fewer animals than the more than 30,000 entering its doors annually today. The numbers and the need are so huge its way past time to make a change, and this is as central of a location as we can find, said Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson. All counties in California with more than 500,000 people have at least two animal shelters except Orange County, the grand jury found. There was just never the will and leadership from previous boards to make it happen, said Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. Plans call for the new space to be adorned with peppermint trees and California fan palms. It will be a place where parents will bring their families on the weekends and where everyone will leave learning something valuable about animals, Bartlett said. County officials set aside $5 million in 1995 to build the shelter, but delays by the Department of the Navy in transferring the land to Orange County and trouble getting an environmental hazard clearance stymied the project, according to Scott Mayer, the countys chief real estate officer. The county finally brokered a land swap earlier this year, gaining a portion of the former air station owned by the South Orange County Community College District to build on and approving up to $35 million for construction, roadway improvements and utilities. County officials agreed to pay $5 million of that cost, with funding help from 14 partner cities that use shelter services. Those cities include: Anaheim, Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Lake Forest, Orange, Placentia, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Tustin, Villa Park, Yorba Linda and unincorporated areas. On hand Friday to celebrate were Kane the collie and Breck the Samoyed, both therapy dogs, and their owners. Shelter director Jennifer Hawkins gave a preview of what will emerge in the new space, including: public information classrooms; indoor and outdoor kennels in climate-controlled buildings with sound dampening systems to reduce stress; multiple dog exercise areas; two group-cat housing areas, including catios outdoor patios where multiple felines can stay in good weather; and three surgical suites along with pre-op and post-op recovery rooms and separate exam areas for dogs and cats. Diane Forsyth and Lisa Lani, longtime volunteers for German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County, said pet lovers also suggested adding grooming stations. If the dogs get cleaned up and they look good, that increases their chances of adoption; I cant wait to see it, Lani said. The new building sounds grand, but what we appreciate most is the attitude change, Forsyth added. For a long time, the biggest frustration is we didnt see a collaboration between citizens and government to help the animals. We need understanding, we need to move beyond protests to solutions. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who represents the district where the shelter will open, said its what we will do inside the building how we treat the animals and how we try to find each of them a home thats most important. Animal activist Rose Tingle of Laguna Woods, said this is a momentous day, adding, People thought it would never happen and Im grateful it did. Now, she said, supporters need to move on to the next goal: creating an animal welfare commission. With the right space, we should get the right group together to work on common issues. anh.do@latimes.com Twitter: @newsterrier ALSO Stingrays zap nearly 60 on Coronado Jewelry district struggles to maintain glitter in changing downtown LAPD: Woman suspected of driving car through Harbor Gateway home, killing 1, turns herself in A former Crawford High School teacher accused of having sex with a male student was sentenced Friday to two years in prison. Toni Nicole Sutton, 38, pleaded guilty last month to sex crime charges including two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The former Spanish teacher, who has been ordered to stay away from the victim, will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. Advertisement Deputy Dist. Atty. Judy Taschner said the inappropriate relationship between the defendant and the teen began last summer, when the boy was 15, and lasted several months. Sutton was escorted from the campus in the El Cerrito community in late January after the teens parent called police. The parent had found inappropriate communication between the minor and Sutton, police said. Detectives questioned Sutton and found evidence that led to her arrest. Defense lawyer Kerry Armstrong asked the judge to grant probation in the case, but his request was denied. The attorney noted that Sutton told a probation officer the inappropriate acts she committed with the student had only happened once, which prompted the judge to believe she was minimizing her behavior. Armstrong said he submitted to the court several letters and photocopies of cards written by his clients supporters, some of them her former students. Sutton was placed on administrative leave from her job at the time of her arrest. She had been free on bail while her case was pending. She was taken into custody Friday at the end of her sentencing hearing. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Littlefield writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune ALSO An ex-Marine and a cracker-bread heiress will stand trial in mans choking death One of our officers was murdered last night: San Diego police shaken by fatal attack LAPD: Woman suspected of driving car through Harbor Gateway home, killing 1, turns herself in Mike Pence looked out at a few hundred supporters gathered in a county expo center here to see his first solo appearance as the GOP vice presidential nominee, and made a self-deprecating joke. I recognize Im kind of a B-list Republican celebrity, so thank you for coming out tonight, the Indiana governor said to warm applause, adding that he was humbled and honored. The contrast with the rallies of running mate Donald Trump, who attracts thousands who wait in line for hours, then fill event spaces and overflow rooms with crackling energy, was stark. Advertisement But Pence wasnt picked to amplify the attraction of Trump, the former reality television star. Instead, as he showcased in stops this week here in Wisconsin and in Ohio and Michigan, he was brought aboard the Republican ticket to employ his steady demeanor and conservative bona fides to reassure hard-right voters who remain wary of Trump. Im a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order, Pence said in Waukesha, Wis. The men are a study of contrasts on the stump. At rallies in recent days, Pence consulted notes and stuck with talking points about Trumps policy proposals and Clintons record rather than riff spontaneously, as Trump tends to do. And Pence embraced the vice presidential nominees traditional role as the cheerleader and defender of the top of the ticket, whom he refers to as Mr. Trump, this good man, and my boss. Our nominee and my new boss has tapped into the aspirations and frustrations of the American people like no one else in my lifetime since our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, Pence told hundreds of supporters in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday. To be around Donald Trump is to be around a man with broad shoulders, who speaks his mind, who doesnt tip-toe around the thousands of rules of political correctness. He speaks from his heart and he understands the American people. Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence speaks during a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Mich., on July 28, 2016. (Emily Rose Bennett / The Grand Rapids Press) Trump, who refers to Pence as Mike, noted their differing approaches as they campaigned together in Roanoke, Va., this week. He questioned why Hillary Clinton stopped using Rodham, her maiden name, before suggesting that it sounded similar to rotten. Hillary Rotten Clinton. Maybe thats why. Its too close. Its too close, Trump said. You think Mike Pence would say this? I dont think so. By the way, did I do a good job with Mike Pence? Pence, meanwhile, told a radio host Friday that he doesnt think name-calling has any place in public life. Trump could learn from Pence, an evangelical Christian who served in Congress before he was elected governor, said Tina Cheriton, 62, of Muskego. She attended the rally in Waukesha, situated in a county where 61% of GOP voters supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the primary, while only 22% backed Trump. Hes calmer than Donald, and I think he has experience on the inside so he know what goes on in the inside more than Donald would, said Cheriton, a retired designer who voted for Cruz in the primary, turned off by Trumps attacks on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Trump needs to be quiet and read off the prompter. Bob Cook, a disabled veteran from McFarland, said of Pence, Hes a good complement to Trump. He brings a little more stability to the ticket. I recognize Im kind of a B-list Republican celebrity, so thank you for coming out tonight. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Pence has remained unabashed about his views even at a time when campaigns typically try to broaden their appeal beyond base voters. On Thursday, he predicted that Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, would be overturned if Trump is elected president. Im pro-life and I dont apologize for it, he said during the Grand Rapids town hall. Well see Roe vs. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs. The comments made in another conservative stronghold that supported Cruz over Trump in the Michigan primary were part of a broader argument Pence has been making on the stakes of the election. While were choosing a president for the next four years, this next president will make decisions that will impact our Supreme Court for the next 40, he said. Go tell your neighbors and your friends, for the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of sanctity of life, for the sake of our 2nd Amendment, for the sake of all our other God-given liberties, we must ensure the next president appointing justices to the Supreme Court is Donald Trump. Such statements resonate with Bob Burt, a Grand Rapids retiree, and other voters who want to believe Trumps relatively recent conversion to conservatism but are uncertain. Pence, Burt said, has long been aligned with the principles I am looking for conservatism with common sense. He balances [Trump] out on both temperament and some of the policy. Such reassurance is the aim for Republicans whose prime focus is denying Clinton the White House. Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a conservative stalwart who was among the GOP leaders introducing Pence in Waukesha, said as much, noting he had known Pence for nearly three decades. I can tell all of you without equivocation that [he] has always been on the right side of all the issues, he said. This is the message we have to get out to the people who may have some doubts about whether the conservative agenda will be advanced in this election. seema.mehta@latimes.com For the latest on national politics, follow @LATSeema on Twitter Zika-carrying mosquitoes are for the first time believed to be spreading the virus within the continental United States, federal disease-control officials said Friday, citing the infections of four people who were apparently bitten in the same Miami neighborhood. More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported on the U.S. mainland, but these would be the first not linked to foreign travel or sex with an infected person, said Tom Frieden, director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As we have anticipated, Zika is now here, he told a news briefing. Advertisement Florida Gov. Rick Scott said the four cases likely originated from bites inflicted in the bustling arts district of Wynwood, just north of downtown Miami. The area encompasses less than a square mile. This means Florida has become the first state in the nation to have local transmission of the Zika virus, the governor told reporters. Even though the development had been widely expected, the news is a grim new milestone in the geographical reach of Zika, which, when contracted by pregnant women, can cause serious birth defects. No vaccine exists. No mosquitoes found in the affected Miami neighborhood have tested positive, but locating them would in any case be almost unheard of, Frieden said like finding a needle in a haystack. Investigators routinely use other methods for trying to identify the means of transmission, including detailed tracking of the movements and activities of people determined to have been infected. At least two of the four Zika-affected individuals are thought to have been bitten at or near their workplaces in Wynwood, a trendy area filled with restaurants and galleries. Those who have contracted the virus, three men and a woman, all have active cases but have not exhibited sufficient symptoms to be admitted to a hospital, the governor said in a statement. More cases are almost certain to emerge, Frieden said, adding that there is typically a lag of some days between developing symptoms and receiving a diagnosis. The virus is often asymptomatic or marked only by mild symptoms such as fever and a rash. It is to unborn children that the biggest threat exists. Many develop microcephaly, a condition associated with incomplete brain development that can leave babies with abnormally small heads and various developmental problems. The four Miami infections are thought to have been contracted earlier in July, Frieden said. The CDC dispatched an epidemiologist to Florida and is working closely with health authorities in the state, he said. Pregnant women living in or visiting the area, or women who are thinking of becoming pregnant, were urged to take diligent precautions against mosquito bites, including wearing bug spray, covering up arms and legs with long sleeves and trousers, and staying indoors or in screened-in areas. The CDC did not recommend avoiding travel to south Florida, a huge tourist magnet, as it has with more than 50 countries where the virus is endemic. Officials said such a step would not be warranted at this time due to the small number of cases involved. But blood-donation centers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been ordered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to halt collections, pending ability to individually screen units of blood for the virus. People who have visited south Florida in the last month are being urged to hold off on donating blood, and adjoining counties have been advised to step up screening efforts. Previous FDA orders had called for refusing blood donations from people who had traveled to countries where the virus was prevalent. Health officials have been going door-to-door in the affected area, offering detailed advice on how to avoid being bitten and on getting rid of standing water where the mosquitoes can breed. The Miami area had already been considered at risk because it is a prime gateway into the United States for travelers arriving from Zika-affected countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus ranges in parts of the Deep South, Arizona and California, though it is not native to the Americas. Nearly 100 people in California have been infected with Zika while traveling to a country which has an outbreak or through contact with a person who visited an affected country, according to state health officials. Most of the Zika cases have been in Los Angeles County, with 23 infections, and San Diego County, with 19. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are now found in 12 counties in California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. In the L.A. region, the mosquitoes are believed to have arrived several years ago in shipments of bamboo plants coming from China to El Monte. Though Florida and Texas are considered at highest risk for Zika outbreaks, mosquito control workers in many regions of the country have been clearing out backyards and other areas of possible mosquito breeding sites. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> Compared to the more common Culex mosquito, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are difficult to eradicate, able to survive and breed using extremely small amounts of water as little as a teaspoon -- and lay eggs that can survive months of drought. Zika has burned its way through dozens of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The virus has also been spreading in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where more than 4,700 cases have been reported since last year. Cruelly, the burden of birth defects has fallen chiefly on impoverished populations with fewer resources to deal with often-devastating effects that can last a lifetime. Because the standard of living is different in the United States than in many areas where the virus has become endemic, U.S. health officials have said that widespread outbreaks are unlikely. Many more people have access to air conditioning and advanced sanitation, and aggressive eradication efforts are already under way in areas where tropical mosquitoes flourish. Word of the first domestically originating cases drew calls for greater resources to be earmarked for fighting the spread of the virus. Floridas governor has allocated over $25 million in state funds for Zika response, and the White House and the CDC have provided over $10 million. But Congress left on a seven-week vacation without giving the Obama administration any of the $1.9 billion it sought to battle Zika. White House spokesman Eric Schultz called that regrettable and said: Todays news should be a wake-up call to Congress to get back to work. laura.king@latimes.com Times staff writer Soumya Karlamangla in Los Angeles, Naseem S. Miller of the Orlando Sentinel, and the Associated Press contributed to this report. ALSO Zika concerns halt blood donations in Miami area The Zika crisis: How Congress abandoned its duty to govern Why the Rio Olympics are not likely to increase the spread of Zika across the world UPDATES: 4:57 p.m.: This article was updated with the conditions of the four Zika patients in Miami. 2:50 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff reporting. 1 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with more information. 9:55 a.m.: This article has been updated with more details and quotes throughout. This article was originally published at 6:55 a.m. The Clinton campaign sees multiple paths to victory and other take-aways from Hillary Clintons acceptance speech (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 1. The Clinton campaign sees multiple paths to victory If its possible to both run to the left and to the center at the same time, the Clinton campaign is doing it. In a speech in which Hillary Clinton appealed directly to the supporters of her erstwhile primary rival, she also drew applause in the hall with praise of Republicans on a night of flag-waving, military-saluting, Constitution-embracing appeals to patriotism. Whatever party you belong to, or if you belong to no party at all, if you share these beliefs, this is your campaign, Clinton said. President Obama just a day before made a point of saying that Donald Trumps views were neither Republican nor conservative. And preceding Clinton Thursday were speeches from former and current Republicans who said it was Clinton who would be the better one to advance the nations interests. She praised John McCain and noted that both her running mate and Donald Trumps have sons serving in the Marines. At the same time, and even with the occasional distraction of Bernie Sanders supporters still registering their dissent, Clinton did not back off the platform they had called for, stating that the minimum wage should be a living wage, that people shouldnt be trapped by college debt, and most of all that she would follow the money, asking more of Wall Street and the super-rich while addressing a political system that gives them outsized influence. What could have been a classic base-turnout maximization presidential campaign against another Republican is instead a campaign in which Clintons team at least sees an opportunity to try to expand her appeal beyond reliable Democrats. She knows many Republicans are uncomfortable with Trump. She tried to make it easier for some of them to vote for her, rather than not vote at all. One possible added incentive: it may not just be the best path for victory, but for governing with a clear mandate that could come with it. 2. Clinton recognizes, and in some cases embraces, her flaws. At least some of them Clinton knew she would never give as eloquent a speech as Obama, as passionate a speech as Joe Biden, or as emotional an appeal as Michelle Obama. Certainly she wouldnt outdo her husband, the folksy explainer in chief. And so Clinton decided she wouldnt reach for poetry when she could go heavy on prose. Its true. I sweat the details, she said in a policy-laden speech. But that wasnt the only example. Early on, she spoke of a relationship with her husband that has offered both joy, and hard times that tested us. She noted that she was not a figure new to the national stage, but that many still dont have a sense of why she has made public service her calling. What she did not do was explicitly acknowledge the issues that have contributed most recently to negative impressions of her, especially her decision to conduct business on a personal email account instead of the State Departments. There would not be an effort to counter the crooked charge that Trump has branded her with. She will do so in other settings, but not before the biggest audience shell address until the debates. 3. She acknowledged the historic moment in hopes the nation would stand with her As Chelsea Clinton introduced her mother, the Clinton campaign tweeted a photo of the beaming candidate watching backstage. After a biographical video played and Clinton joined her daughter, her expression revealed the emotion of the moment. Standing here as my mothers daughter, and my daughters mother, Im so happy this day has come, Clinton said as she acknowledged the milestone. But as she formally accepted the nomination, and became the first woman to do so for a major party ticket, she sought to articulate that it was not just a personal victory. When any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone, she said. When there are no ceilings, the skys the limit. When Clinton ran for president the first time, her campaign seemed intent at first to downplay the potential historic nature of her candidacy. It became more overt once it was clear the party would have its first African American nominee instead. In response to Muslim father of fallen soldier, Donald Trump insists hes made a lot of sacrifices (Alex Wong/Getty Images ) Donald Trump responded Saturday to criticism from the Muslim father of a fallen soldier, who in an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention said the billionaire businessman has sacrificed nothing for the country. In an interview on ABC News This Week, Trump insisted that Khizr Khan, whose son, Humayun, was killed in 2004 by a car bomb in Iraq, was misguided in his criticisms. Trump said he has sacrificed, mostly when it comes to his business dealings. I think Ive made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. Ive created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures, Trump said in the interview. Ive had tremendous success. I think Ive done a lot. On Thursday, Khan, with his wife, Ghazala, at his side, castigated Trump for his calls to ban Muslims from entering the country. Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America, said Khan, whose son was awarded a Bronze Star. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one. Trump also questioned if Ghazala Khans silence during the convention appearance was perhaps related to her Muslim faith. Donald Trump to Army Gold Star father Khizr Khan: I've made a lot of sacrifices" https://t.co/ZOHLGCaOyChttps://t.co/Myp4oyHyX4 This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 30, 2016 While speaking on MSNBC on Friday evening, Khan called on GOP leaders, such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, to repudiate Trump. What he has said, what he has threatened to do you must say enough, Khan said. In the ABC News interview, Trump said that Khans speech was written by Hillary Clintons script writers. Moreover, Trump suggested that as a Muslim woman, Ghazala Khan was able only to stand at her husbands side and was not allowed to speak during his speech. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, he said. Ghazala Khan said Friday the whole experience, on stage with her husband at the DNC, was very nerve-racking. In a statement, Clinton said she was moved by the Khans sharing their story. This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans, and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country, she said. And this is a time to honor the sacrifice of Captain Khan and all the fallen. Captain Khan and his family represent the best of America, and we salute them. Updated - 2:41 p.m. This post was updated to include a comment from Clinton. Like other newspapers, The Times illustrated its main story Wednesday on Hillary Clintons historic nomination for president with a photo of her husband. Of course, Bill Clinton is no ordinary spouse of a candidate (and neither was Hillary Clinton when her husband was president). Still, many readers detected a whiff of sexism in The Times decision to feature a large photo of the former president basking the adulation of the Democratic National Convention crowd when it was the former secretary of State who received her partys nomination for president. Here are some of their letters. Manhattan Beach resident Kelly Ritter says running a photo of Bill Clinton sends the wrong message to young women: Advertisement I went to the store on Wednesday to buy multiple copies of that days Los Angeles Times. I especially wanted one copy as a keepsake for my 16-year-old daughter. To my surprise, your front page had a photo of the husband of the first female presidential nominee of a major political party. Thats a different message to my daughter than the one I planned to celebrate. and save for her. I cannot imagine The Times publishing a photo of Michelle Obama on the night President Obama was nominated, even if she had spoken as brilliantly then as she did this year about the meaning of this nomination for women and girls. The Times editors apparently have not been listening. Judith Martin-Straw of Culver City noticed photos of everyone but Hillary Clinton: I can just barely describe how appalled I was on the morning after Hillary Clintons historic nomination by the Democratic Party to see a picture of her husband on the front of the paper. I did watch Bills speech, and he did a fine job of presenting Hillarys history as an activist and a politician. But its not about Bill. In fact, nowhere in the whole section on the convention was there a current picture of Hillary. There was a big photo of Sen. Bernie Sanders and a shot of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright leaving the stage under a projected picture of Albright and Clinton that looked to be from the 1990s. I am one of many millions of voters who have supported Clinton the whole way, and I will be delighted to see her elected as president. I wont be delighted if that historic occasion also means theres a picture of her husband on the front page. Hillary Clinton deserves to be celebrated. Janet Kinosian of Santa Ana accuses The Times of sexism: The Times has insulted women and shown the still-sexist bent of the media in 2016 by refusing to put a photo of Hillary Clinton on the front page, where she obviously belonged. Im sure the Suffragettes would not have been surprised, though I am. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Mike Pence looked out at a few hundred supporters gathered in a county expo center here to see his first solo appearance as the GOP vice presidential nominee, and made a self-deprecating joke. I recognize Im kind of a B-list Republican celebrity, so thank you for coming out tonight, the Indiana governor said to warm applause, adding that he was humbled and honored. The contrast with the rallies of running mate Donald Trump, who attracts thousands who wait in line for hours, then fill event spaces and overflow rooms with crackling energy, was stark. Advertisement But Pence wasnt picked to amplify the attraction of Trump, the former reality television star. Instead, as he showcased in stops this week here in Wisconsin and in Ohio and Michigan, he was brought aboard the Republican ticket to employ his steady demeanor and conservative bona fides to reassure hard-right voters who remain wary of Trump. Im a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order, Pence said in Waukesha, Wis. The men are a study of contrasts on the stump. At rallies in recent days, Pence consulted notes and stuck with talking points about Trumps policy proposals and Clintons record rather than riff spontaneously, as Trump tends to do. And Pence embraced the vice presidential nominees traditional role as the cheerleader and defender of the top of the ticket, whom he refers to as Mr. Trump, this good man, and my boss. Our nominee and my new boss has tapped into the aspirations and frustrations of the American people like no one else in my lifetime since our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, Pence told hundreds of supporters in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday. To be around Donald Trump is to be around a man with broad shoulders, who speaks his mind, who doesnt tip-toe around the thousands of rules of political correctness. He speaks from his heart and he understands the American people. Trump, who refers to Pence as Mike, noted their differing approaches as they campaigned together in Roanoke, Va., this week. He questioned why Hillary Clinton stopped using Rodham, her maiden name, before suggesting that it sounded similar to rotten. Hillary Rotten Clinton. Maybe thats why. Its too close. Its too close, Trump said. You think Mike Pence would say this? I dont think so. By the way, did I do a good job with Mike Pence? Pence, meanwhile, told a radio host Friday that he doesnt think name-calling has any place in public life. Trump could learn from Pence, an evangelical Christian who served in Congress before he was elected governor, said Tina Cheriton, 62, of Muskego. She attended the rally in Waukesha, situated in a county where 61% of GOP voters supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the primary, while only 22% backed Trump. Well see Roe vs. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs. Gov. Mike Pence Hes calmer than Donald, and I think he has experience on the inside so he know what goes on in the inside more than Donald would, said Cheriton, a retired designer who voted for Cruz in the primary, turned off by Trumps attacks on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Trump needs to be quiet and read off the prompter. Bob Cook, a disabled veteran from McFarland, said of Pence, Hes a good complement to Trump. He brings a little more stability to the ticket. Pence has remained unabashed about his views even at a time when campaigns typically try to broaden their appeal beyond base voters. On Thursday, he predicted that Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, would be overturned if Trump is elected president. Im pro-life and I dont apologize for it, he said during the Grand Rapids town hall. Well see Roe vs. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs. The comments made in another conservative stronghold that supported Cruz over Trump in the Michigan primary were part of a broader argument Pence has been making on the stakes of the election. While were choosing a president for the next four years, this next president will make decisions that will impact our Supreme Court for the next 40, he said. Go tell your neighbors and your friends, for the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of sanctity of life, for the sake of our 2nd Amendment, for the sake of all our other God-given liberties, we must ensure the next president appointing justices to the Supreme Court is Donald Trump. Such statements resonate with Bob Burt, a Grand Rapids retiree, and other voters who want to believe Trumps relatively recent conversion to conservatism but are uncertain. Pence, Burt said, has long been aligned with the principles I am looking for conservatism with common sense. He balances [Trump] out on both temperament and some of the policy. Such reassurance is the aim for Republicans whose prime focus is denying Clinton the White House. Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a conservative stalwart who was among the GOP leaders introducing Pence in Waukesha, said as much, noting he had known Pence for nearly three decades. I can tell all of you without equivocation that [he] has always been on the right side of all the issues, he said. This is the message we have to get out to the people who may have some doubts about whether the conservative agenda will be advanced in this election. seema.mehta@latimes.com For the latest on national and California politics, follow @LATSeema on Twitter. Two conventions, one vast gulf: Republicans and Democrats appear to be speaking to different countries Clintons big hurdle: Getting young voters #WithHer Now that shes made history, Hillary Clinton must build trust A convicted burglar accused of letting one of his partners in crime bleed to death after being shot by a homeowner during a break-in gone bad in Costa Mesa is expected to be sentenced to four years in prison, police announced Thursday. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Brent Buckner, 36, of Villa Park pleaded guilty in June to three counts of burglary and one count of attempted robbery, according to court records. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped a felony count of conspiracy to commit acts injurious to the public. Buckners sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 7 in Orange County Superior Court. Buckner was part of a crew of burglars targeting houses in Orange County in 2012, according to authorities. In May that year, Buckner and the crew pried open the front door of a home on Elden Avenue in Costa Mesa, police said. Buckner and his co-conspirators thought the house was empty for the night, but they discovered the resident was home when they got upstairs, police said. The burglars pepper-sprayed the man, who grabbed a handgun from his headboard and fired five rounds at the intruders, according to detectives testimony at a preliminary hearing last year. The gunfire hit one of the burglars, Steven Simmons, 33, and the group fled to an SUV waiting outside, police said. Instead of heading to a hospital, the group drove to a home in Villa Park. Simmons died along the way, detectives testified. Police believe at least one member of the burglary crew took Simmons body to a West Hollywood art gallery owned by Simmons stepbrother, Jacob Anthonisen, who was driving the SUV that night, according to police. There, the body was wrapped in plastic and canvas and loaded back into the SUV, police said. Authorities found Simmons decomposing corpse almost two weeks later after someone reported a foul smell coming from the SUV that was left parked on a street in Los Angeles Fairfax District. Police believe Anthonisen fled to Mexico and Buckner kept burglarizing homes in Orange County. Police said Thursday that they had linked Buckner to break-ins in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Orange, Villa Park and Anaheim Hills. Authorities arrested Buckner in April 2013. About six months later, Mexican authorities found Anthonisen in Ensenada and turned him over to Costa Mesa detectives at the border, police said. Anthonisen, now 41, pleaded guilty in June 2015 to one count of first-degree burglary. He was sentenced the following month to two years in prison. No charges were brought against the homeowner who shot Simmons. Police said authorities ruled it a justifiable homicide. jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck When the first residents moved into Irvines University Park neighborhood, families lived near thousands of acres of asparagus, strawberries and oranges and had to go all the way to Newport Beachs Fashion Island to catch a movie at the theater. People would bike two miles to the Tick Tock convenience store to buy a quart of milk and a loaf of bread. Irvine, in fact, wouldnt be declared a city for five more years. University Park is the first village the Irvine Co. developed in what would become the city of Irvine. The neighborhood is south of the 405 Freeway and bordered by Culver and University drives and Yale Avenue. Some residents have been there since the community opened in 1966 and plan to be there to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a lineup of picnics and parties this weekend. Original resident Sharon Toji, 80, began spearheading plans for the event a few years ago when she was casually chatting with other residents about having an anniversary celebration for the village. The idea was driven further after she made a Facebook page dedicated to the community and saw many people reminisce about the neighborhood online. She thought, Well, we better get started. A family picnic will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at University Community Park with Thrifty ice cream for 10 cents a scoop, games on the lawn, face painting, food trucks, balloon animals and a parade in which residents can march alongside signs showing the year they moved to Irvine. A Dogs of Irvine parade is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, and a photo and art exhibit in the parks community center will be open from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The park is next to the University Park Library, 4512 Sandburg Way. The celebration will conclude with an Irvine Kiwanis all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday at the park. The photo and art exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Toji and her first husband, Guy Sircello who died in 1992 bought their house in University Park 50 years ago for $25,000. They moved in with their six children. Toji was pregnant with their seventh. Today, the home is worth almost $800,000, according to the Zillow website. You could see the shape of how things were going to be, but you couldnt see what it would look like in 50 years, Toji said of the village. Its like you had a palette of colors but didnt have a painting of what the community would become. Toji and her family moved to Irvine from Portland, Ore., when her husband got a job as a professor at UC Irvine, which was officially established the year before. According to Irvine Historical Society President Ellen Bell, the opening of UCI became a major impetus for the development of surrounding neighborhoods. "[Irvine master plan designer] William Pereira was passionate about building a university where the idea was to have a city built around it, Bell said. A city of intellect, they called it. Irvine Ranch was on a chunk of prime land in Orange County, and to keep that as purely agricultural was not feasible. Most people used Culver Drive to get to places, since the 405 Freeway had not yet been built. Rather, there was a ranch where cowboys were driving cattle, Toji said. Its important to understand what a leap of faith these people where taking by moving there, Bell said. It was out in the middle of nowhere, but that was part of the charm. Marilyn Vassos, 80 who moved to University Park from Costa Mesa with her husband, Angelo, and their two daughters on April 1, 1966 remembers when Culver was a two-lane road. Vassos said she would have loved to live by the ocean but that it was more important for each of her two daughters to have her own room in a bigger house. University Park had that ideal home, where Vassos children would store a chest of dress-up clothes and put on plays for the family in the living room. The family bought the house for $23,000. Marilyn and Angelo still live there. It still has good bones and nice neighbors, Marilyn said. During Irvines more rural age, many children spent time outside, according to Bell. What people have told me, some of the early residents, is that a lot of what they would do is go out and play, Bell said. They went out to skateboard or to the orange groves. Adventure Playground [in University Park] was a place where they could build forts and play with old tires. There was an [ice cream shop] in University Park Center, a place where some kids had their first jobs. Warm days were spent at the villages Pavilion Pool, where neighbors put on Beach Boys music and danced up a storm, Toji said. Former village residents are expected to fly in from as far away as Georgia and Hawaii for the University Park celebration this weekend. Toji said she and her neighbors will be happy to look back on the history of the place they call home. It was a barren place with 250 houses and tiny trees that looked like spindles, Toji said. Now we have beautiful 50-year-old trees. Lotte Tower looms over the south of Seoul, a 123-story, granite-colored pillar that dwarfs the rest of the skyline. In the shadow of the not-quite-completed skyscraper are businesses that represent the many components of the Lotte corporate empire: a hotel, department store, apartment complex, burger joint and other enterprises, all branded with the red Lotte logo, one of the most familiar in South Korea. But there is also a shadow looming over the tower, and the entire Lotte company. Advertisement Since ground was broken in 2010, accidents have caused the deaths of three construction workers. Starting in 2014, and as recently as this month, large sinkholes have been found in roads around the tower, raising questions over the safety of the building. Lotte as a whole is the subject of a widening South Korean government investigation into allegations of slush funds and embezzlement by executives. Last month, prosecutors raided some of Lottes offices, and since then, the head of Lottes home shopping branch was summoned for questioning over allegations of illegal lobbying. Lotte is South Koreas fifth-largest family-run conglomerate, and perhaps the most prominent target of long-running government efforts to control the massive companies that drove the countrys economic miracle, but regularly make headlines for corporate malfeasance and bullying of smaller players in the economy. The most high-profile figure directly implicated in the probe is Shin Young-ja, a director of Lottes hotel branch and daughter of Lottes founder. Shin, 73, was arrested this month on suspicion of accepting kickbacks from a cosmetics brand in exchange for giving the brand pride of place in Lotte duty-free stores. She also is accused of embezzling about $3.5 million, and registering her three daughters as company board members so they could draw salaries. Reached by phone, Han Bo-young, a member of Lottes public relations team, said the company would not comment because Shins case is under investigation. The inquiry is hitting Lotte in the wallet, as the government investigation forced the group to indefinitely postpone an initial public offering for its hotel business, which was worth up to $4.5 billion. The story of Lottes rise is a bootstrapping tale built on chewing gum. Lotte founder and Chief Executive Shin Kyuk-ho went into business in the chaos of postwar Japan, founding Lotte in 1948 as a confectionery, selling gum and cakes. His idea was to take advantage of the new tastes for sweets brought to Japan by U.S. soldiers after World War II. Shin, now 93, expanded operations to his native South Korea in the 1960s, which is now where the lions share of Lottes revenue is generated, though its controlling companies are based mostly in Japan. Beyond Shin Young-jas case, an even more heated issue in the Lotte camp is a bitter feud for control of the group between Shin Kyuk-hos two sons. Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, 61, has built support among Lotte employees and shareholders to push aside his 62-year-old brother, Shin Dong-joo. In March, Dong-bin survived a third attempt by his brother to have him ousted as director of Lotte Holdings, and appears to have solidified his hold on the group. Most of South Koreas family-owned conglomerates are in the process of passing the reins of leadership on to the third generation, while Lotte is the only one still run by its founder. Analysts have pointed to Lottes corporate structure, where family members carve out spheres of influence and even top performing employees have limited room for advancement, as one thing holding it back. Lotte is a lot more opaque than, say, Hyundai and Samsung, which are both run by their owning families third generations, people who have studied abroad and are familiar with different ways of doing business, said Lee Ji-soo, an attorney at the Law & Business Research Center in Seoul. The nation was built around these big conglomerates, and they control such huge swaths of the economy that reining them in has proven almost impossible. Geoffrey Cain, Seoul-based business analyst Also, despite growing public discontent in recent years with the conglomerates dominant role in the economy, President Park Geun-hye has become the latest South Korean leader who has proved unable, or unwilling, to more tightly regulate the business titans, despite having won office in 2012 on promises to democratize the economy. The nation was built around these big conglomerates, and they control such huge swaths of the economy that reining them in has proven almost impossible, said Geoffrey Cain, a Seoul-based business analyst and author of a forthcoming book about Samsung. While Lotte is one of the biggest businesses in South Korea, there is a long-running debate over just how Korean the company is. The company was founded in Japan, and the two Shin brothers are both more comfortable speaking Japanese than Korean. (They were born to Shin Kyuk-hos second wife, who is Japanese; Young-ja was born to his first wife, a Korean.) Lee says Lottes relatively shallow roots in Korea make it more of a target for prosecutors. Hyundai and Samsung have stronger connections in government and the newspapers to deal with this kind of thing, Lee said. See the most-read stories this hour Japans 1910-45 occupation of Korea is a wound that still stings for many Koreans, and some resent overt displays of Japanese presence here. This identity crisis was played out last summer when Lotte displayed a massive South Korean flag on Lotte Tower, ostensibly to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Koreas independence from Japan. Civic groups called the decision to put up the flag a misuse of the national symbol and a cheap attempt at appearing patriotic. Seouls government asked Lotte to take the flag down, contending that the national flag should not be used for marketing purposes. Today there is no flag on the buildings exterior, only construction scaffolds. Borowiec is a special correspondent. ALSO Child brides sold for cows: The price of being a girl in South Sudan Killed in a car accident, cremated, and then he returned: Mystery shrouds one mans disappearance in China As populist movements take hold, Icelands Pirate Party offers a glimpse at a more radical future On the edge of a vast asphalt expanse in this northerly capital, behind a big-box retailer and a car wash, the future of democracy was taking shape. Or at least so its participants hoped. What we think we could do is raise taxes on the wealthy even more, said Ragnar Hannes Gudmundsson, as he typed on a conference-room laptop, sending bullet points to a projection screen. The estate tax should go from 20% to 30%. Doesnt Finland have 30%? said Haraldur Ingisson from across the table. Advertisement And we have to take more steps to make sure that government doesnt control the fisheries, Olafur Sigurdsson piped in. The men six agricultural and office workers, many over the age of 40 were ordinary citizens drafting legislation as part of a new vision for democracy. They had convened at the headquarters of the Icelandic Pirate Party, one of the Wests most unusual political groups. With populist movements sweeping the West the Brexit drive in Britain, Syriza in Greece, the National Front in France and the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders campaigns in the United States the Pirate Party continues the vogue to return power to the people. But compared with those groups, the Pirates offer a far more radical interpretation of the idea: Rather than simply replace establishment politicians with outsiders, the Pirates argue for doing away with chunks of the representative system altogether and moving to a purer form of one person, one vote. The old system is not totally going to blow up, but we can shift responsibility from the close-knit circle of the political elite to the people themselves. Finnur Gunnthorsson, local party leader Supporters conceive of a world without lobbyists, bureaucrats and career politicians. And imagine, they say, if major legislation on subjects as varied as taxes, copyrights and foreign affairs could be proposed by ordinary people and voted on in a national referendum. Most Icelanders most people in Western democracy have never had that option, said Jon Thor Olafsson, a Pirate Party leader who in 2013 became one of its first members of Parliament. Skeptics, however, say that could be a recipe for chaos, even anarchy. If power were truly turned over to people, whats to stop them from voting out necessary legislation? How can a party that espouses such a small measure of government actually govern? It sounds great, said Reynir Hardarson, an executive at a digital startup who said he is intrigued by the Pirates. But how would it work? I mean, who would actually vote for taxes? The Pirate Party was founded in Sweden a decade ago by Rick Falkvinge, an Internet activist troubled by what he saw as a suppression of online freedoms. The name came from a controversial file-sharing website called the Pirate Bureau. Soon it mushroomed into a movement built on the idea that a new culture of technology can breed civic engagement and government accountability and allow for a more direct form of democracy. The Pirates began to plant seeds in various European countries, arriving in Iceland about four years ago with the help of the technology activist and poet Birgitta Jonsdottir, the Icelandic head of the party. It quickly took off. Partly this was the result of young supporters more interested in authenticity and credibility than in ideology. But it also was a function of Icelands idiosyncratic political culture, which is characterized by a maverick national spirit and a disenchantment with mainstream leaders. Jon Gnarr was elected mayor of Reykjavik in 2010. (Jennifer Yang / Toronto Star via Getty Images ) That culture had already fueled the political rise of Jon Gnarr, a popular comedian who, on a lark and as a kind of performance-art gesture, ran for mayor of Reykjavik in 2010. (He named his movement the Best Party and said he would only work with legislators who had watched the HBO series The Wire.) To widespread amazement and his own he won. Gnarr served a rocky but hardly ineffective four-year term. Nor did the Pirate movement need huge numbers to make a difference in a nation of just 330,000 people, even small efforts can have a wide reach. In 2013, the Pirate Party won seats in parliament for the first time, securing 5% of the national vote and three out of the 63 seats. The Pirates have continued to attract support in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, which included leaked financial documents that led to the resignation of right-wing Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson in April. The party also benefits from cynicism fed by tabloid stories of the super-rich such as a recent helicopter crash of a banker supposedly under house arrest for crimes in the 2008 financial crisis. Dissatisfaction and distrust in Iceland is high, said Eva Heida Onnudottir, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Iceland who has studied the Pirates. When you combine that with voters becoming more volatile after the financial crisis and the Panama Papers, the Pirate Party really stands to benefit. More than a fifth of voters now support the party, according to recent polls. If those numbers hold in an election scheduled for the fall, the Pirates would become key players in a new government. Led by Jonsdottir, 49, the Icelandic Pirates have focused on reforming the amorphously written and much criticized constitution, relaxing Internet copyright standards, increasing government transparency and accountability and remedying income inequality. In a stance that echoes that of Sanders in the United States, they want to increase taxes on Icelands wealthy and regulate the corporate-dominated fisheries, which they see as a public resource. In the process of doing all this, they could also provide a laboratory and an inspiration for Pirate Parties elsewhere. The old system is not totally going to blow up, but we can shift responsibility from the close-knit circle of the political elite to the people themselves, said Finnur Gunnthorsson, a local party leader who also helps runs many of the grass-roots meetings. There is a way to trust the people more. But critics say grass-roots rule can sound better in theory than it works in practice. They argue that the movements goals are unwieldy, unrealistic and even dangerous. If people can vote on every issue, they argue, it could lead to instability and emotional decision-making at the expense of long-term progress. Some political experts say that the act of inviting in so many people creates a higher expectation of results that might simply lead to more infighting. The Pirates are a much more lively party, and thats whats difficult, said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. They may attract a lot of people but to quarrel. Direct participatory democracy is not as easy as it sounds. Outside his office door, on the campus that serves as this countrys center of intellectual life, the debate continued. Studying at an indoor cafe, a Spanish exchange student, Emma Garcia, said she admires the Pirates because they were like Podemos, but with the real possibility of change, referring to the populist left-wing group in her home country that advocates against inequality and corruption. Others were less convinced. The polls are just a protest vote. I think when people go to actually vote and realize what the Pirate Party cares about, like a free Internet, they wont choose them, said Ardi Olafsson, an MBA candidate who also works at a media company. Most people have families and care about schools and healthcare, not Internet freedom. Back at the grass-roots meeting, the six party members hunkered down in the policy weeds. Their draft legislation was to be posted online. If their proposals were to get enough positive comments from members, party leaders could then advance them in the legislature. I used to hate Icelandic politics until the Pirate Party came along, said Ingisson. The room looked less like a political party headquarters than an Internet startup. There were board games, and images of playful cat memes. Nearly everywhere one looked was the Pirate Partys signature skull-and-crossbones logo and purple color. On the coffee table sat a copy of Crowdocracy, Alan Watkins and Iman Stratenus ode to grass-roots governance. Gudmundsson kept typing as people suggested new regulations. A lot of these will get us on a hit list, he said. We dont mind being on a hit list, Sigurdsson reminded him. steven.zeitchik@latimes.com Follow @ZeitchikLAT on Twitter ALSO Child brides sold for cows: The price of being a girl in South Sudan One of our officers was murdered last night: San Diego police shaken by fatal attack Photographer sues Getty Images for $1 billion after shes billed for her own photo Dozens of families and some opposition fighters have started leaving besieged rebel-held neighborhoods in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after the government opened safe corridors for those who want to leave, state media reported Saturday. Opposition activists denied the reports, saying that state media were trying to falsely suggest that civilians were fleeing the area in large numbers. The government closed the main road into rebel-held areas of Aleppo on July 17, effectively besieging the 300,000 people living there. Advertisement This week, Syrian President Bashar Assad offered an amnesty to rebels who lay down their arms and surrender to authorities in the next three months. Syrian TV footage appeared to show dozens of people leaving, a small proportion of the hundreds of thousands of people still living in besieged eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. About a dozen young men were shown on state TV surrendering to government forces. All had covered their faces, and most were carrying automatic rifles over their heads. As the men walked out of a building, Syrian government soldiers pointed their rifles toward them. State TV also showed dozens of women and children arriving in a street lined with heavily damaged buildings in the government-held part of Aleppos Salahuddin neighborhood. State news agency SANA said the civilians later boarded buses and were taken to shelters set up by the government on the western side of Aleppo. SANA said some fighters came forward to government forces stationed in Salahuddin, where they handed over their weapons and surrendered. Usually, surrendering fighters are questioned by government authorities and then sign a pledge promising not to take up arms against the Syrian state again. We are feeling good now because we are under the protection of the army, may God protect them. We suffered a lot in order to be able to come here, a Syrian woman told state TV after leaving rebel-held parts of Aleppo, Syrias largest city and once commercial center. State media said that large numbers of people were being prevented by militants from leaving rebel-held parts of the city. The Russian military said 169 civilians have left Aleppo through the three safe corridors since they were set up, including 85 on Friday and 52 more on Saturday. In addition, 69 fighters have left after laying down their arms, Lt. Gen. Sergei Chvarkov, who heads the Russian center for reconciliation on the military base in Latakia, said in a statement. He said four more corridors were being created. The Syrian government has set up six shelters that can accommodate at least 3,000 people, he said. Syrian opposition activists expressed deep skepticism about the governments humanitarian corridors. Aleppo-based opposition activist Baraa Halaby denied reports that civilians and fighters have left to government-held parts of the city. This is a game by the regime. Not a single person left, Halaby said. The regime wants to say that civilians have left in order to burn Aleppo. The Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition monitoring group, also denied the state media reports. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that people had left opposition areas but that it had no numbers. The evacuation came a day after U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura urged Russia to leave the creation of humanitarian corridors around Aleppo to the United Nations and its partners. His comments were seen as a gentle snub to Moscow, which had made the proposal a day earlier as pro-government troops tightened their encirclement of rebel-held parts of the northern Syrian city. In comments carried later Friday by Russias Interfax news agency, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said that Russia was willing to work with the U.N. on setting up the corridors. He said that Russia is ready for close and constructive cooperation with all international humanitarian organizations and, of course, with the office of the U.N. special envoy on Syria. Opposition activists meanwhile reported airstrikes on several towns and villages in Aleppo province, including the village of Ibin, where at least six people were killed, according to the observatory and the LCC. ALSO Brazils former president, Lula, to stand trial on obstruction charges As populist movements take hold, Icelands Pirate Party offers a glimpse at a more radical future Belgium arrests 2 brothers suspected of plotting attack As Chinese authorities have clamped down on unrest in Tibet and jailed dissidents in advance of the 2008 Olympics, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken a strong public stance, calling for restraint in Tibet and urging President Bush to boycott the Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing. But her recent stern comments on Chinas internal crackdown collide with former President Bill Clintons fundraising relationship with a Chinese Internet company accused of collaborating with the mainland governments censorship of the Web. Last month, the firm, Alibaba Inc., carried a government-issued most wanted posting on its Yahoo China homepage, urging viewers to provide information on Tibetan activists suspected of stirring recent riots. Alibaba, which took over Yahoos China operation in 2005 as part of a billion-dollar deal with the U.S.-based search engine, arranged for the former president to speak to a conference of Internet executives in Hangzhou in September 2005. Instead of taking his standard speaking fees, which have ranged from $100,000 to $400,000, Clinton accepted an unspecified private donation from Alibaba to his international charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation. Advertisement The former presidents charity has raised more than $500 million over the last decade and has been lauded for its roles in disaster response, AIDS prevention and Third World medical and poverty relief. But his reliance on influential foreign donors and his foundations refusal to release its list of donors have led to repeated questions about the sources and transparency of his fundraising -- even as Hillary Clinton has talked on the campaign trail about relying on him as a roving international ambassador if she is elected president. Foreign contributions to American-based charities are allowed under U.S. law, but political and philanthropy ethics advocates worry that Bill Clintons reliance on international businesses and foreign governments to finance his worldwide charity campaigns raise issues of potential conflicts of interest if he were to take an active role in his wifes administration. This is a perfect example of why its critical for both Clintons to provide prompt and complete disclosure of all their sources of income, not just personal sources but also his foundation, said Sheila Krumholz, executive director for the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a government reform advocacy group. The Clinton foundation and the former presidents library in Little Rock have received millions of dollars in donations from the Saudi royal family and the Middle East sheikdoms of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, along with the governments of Taiwan and Brunei. Fueled by such cash, the foundation has grown into a worldwide philanthropic dynamo, using its financial clout and influence with business leaders to streamline solutions for logistical logjams that have long plagued charity operations. The foundation has pressed to lower the price of expensive AIDS medications and set up long-term projects across the Third World. But like many charities, the Clinton foundation maintains a strict policy of keeping its donations confidential to protect the privacy of donors. Still, partial lists have emerged in the foundations tax filings and in press accounts, leading to growing scrutiny of the activities of some contributors. Some human rights activists suggest that the Clinton foundations contribution from Alibaba undermines his wifes outspoken stance on Chinas internal crackdown. A former president of the United States received a donation from a Chinese firm that is involved in censorship, and now his wife is running for president. This is a shame of the U.S., said Harry Wu, an exiled Chinese activist based in Washington. Wu was imprisoned by Chinese authorities in 1995, then released shortly before then-First Lady Hillary Clinton spoke out during an official Beijing visit about the governments role in abuses against women and dissidents. A candidates position In recent months, Hillary Clinton has repeatedly referred to her 1995 speech in Beijing as a foreign policy accomplishment that showed her crossing the commander-in-chief threshold. Clinton upbraided Chinas government for infanticide and other human rights abuses in her address to the U.N.-sponsored Fourth World Conference on Women. Just last week, Hillary Clinton pressed the Bush administration to boycott the opening of the Summer Olympics. The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership, she said. These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy toward China. When asked to comment on the impact of Bill Clintons dealings with Alibaba, Hillary Clintons campaign deferred to her husbands foundation. A spokeswoman for the foundation stressed, President Clinton is not involved with Alibaba and is opposed to censorship and the repression of political dissent. The spokeswoman added, Sen. Clintons position on human rights, both in China and elsewhere around the world, is unwavering. But her husband brushed aside a similar opportunity to address Chinas jailing of dissidents when he spoke at the conference hosted by Alibaba in 2005. Days before his appearance, two prominent rights groups, Human Rights in China and Reporters Without Borders, asked Clinton to raise Internet freedom issues during his speech and address the plight of Shi Tao, a Chinese writer arrested in 2004 after Yahoos China operation provided state security authorities with private Internet data. In his keynote address, Bill Clinton hailed the Internet as an inherently cooperative instrument and an inherently shared technology. The Internet has the potential to put power through information and communication in the hands of ordinary people. But he said nothing about Chinas Web censorship or Shi Taos arrest. Asked later why, he said he was unaware of Shi Taos jailing. Unfortunately, there was no discernible result or response from Clinton, said Carol Wang, a program officer with Human Rights in China. The Clinton Foundation spokeswoman would not divulge the amount of Alibabas donation but said the firm paid a portion of the travel expenses and contributed an amount beyond that to the foundation. Alibaba Vice President Porter Erisman declined to comment on the donation and the firms dealings with the former president. Congressional scolding Last year, Yahoos senior executives were scolded by a congressional committee for the companys dealings with Chinese authorities. In a legal settlement that followed a lawsuit by attorneys for Shi Tao and another jailed dissident, Yahoo also agreed to provide financial aid for their relatives and press for their release. Weve met with the State Department and met with Chinese officials to ask for assistance in securing the release of some of these individuals, said Michael Samway, a Yahoo vice president and the firms deputy general counsel. Were hopeful that with the Olympics approaching there will be progress. Human rights activists complain that Alibaba has not followed Yahoos lead. Jack Ma, a former official with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade who built Alibaba, has often dismissed concerns about his firms scrutiny of the Internet for the Chinese government. As a business, if you cannot change the law, follow the law, he said the morning after Clintons 2005 speech. Respect the local government. Ma has insisted that Alibaba operates independently from the Chinese government. But Mas official background and Chinas tight oversight of its homegrown Internet and e-commerce firms are examples of the blurred line between government and corporation, said Jonathan Zittrain, an Internet regulation expert who teaches at Oxford and Harvard universities and is co-director of Harvards Berkman Center for Internet & Society. A Chinese government official doesnt have to order a local Internet operator to censor something, Zittrain said. They might advise them that a certain article on their site doesnt look too kosher. Its communicated in code. The result, Zittrain said, is the great firewall of China. Other firms besides Yahoo and Alibaba have been criticized for cooperating with Chinas Internet monitoring. Google and Microsofts MSN site have taken flak for decisions made by their China partners. And Chinese search engines and e-commerce firms that dominate the mainland market have routinely aided state security prosecutions, said Morton H. Sklar, Shi Taos American lawyer. Most wanted posting Human rights activists said clear evidence of Alibabas collaboration with Chinas state security apparatus surfaced last month with the appearance of a most wanted posting for Tibetan rioters on the firms Yahoo China homepage. The postings, which appeared March 15 on both Yahoo China and Microsofts MSN China homepage, carried photos of suspected rioters and a phone number for informants to call. The postings vanished later the same day after news accounts highlighted them. Yahoo officials said they had no advance warning from Alibaba that the postings would run. We made our concerns known that the displays were inappropriate, one Yahoo official said, but were told by Alibaba officials that it was a standard news feed. The Clinton foundation spokeswoman would not address Alibabas role in aiding the crackdown in Tibet. Instead, she emphasized the former presidents efforts to push AIDS relief in China. He has both pushed and helped the government of China to acknowledge and tackle the growing HIV-AIDs crisis facing their country, she said. You have to applaud President Clinton for his philanthropic interests, said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy. I wouldnt want to discourage it. But he certainly wouldnt want to be used as a tool for special interests to have undue influence. steve.braun@latimes.com Times researcher Janet Lundblad contributed to this report. A Brazilian judge has accepted charges against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that state he obstructed a corruption investigation involving state-run oil giant Petrobras. The move clears the way for one of the countrys best-known political figures to stand trial. The decision, published Friday, names Silva and five others as co-conspirators in an attempt to buy the silence of a former Petrobras director implicated in the scandal. A date for the trial has not been set. The obstruction-of-justice accusation against Silva comes from plea bargain testimony by former Sen. Delcidio do Amaral, who was stripped of his seat by his peers and also will stand trial. Advertisement On Thursday, Silvas lawyers filed a petition at the United Nations Human Rights Committee claiming a lack of impartiality and abuse of power by another judge investigating the Petrobras scandal. Silva, who is universally known in Brazil as Lula, denied any wrongdoing. It is up to the prosecutors and federal police to prove what they say, he said. His supporters say the latest decision by federal judge Ricardo Leite is retaliation for lodging the petition with the U.N. committee. It is the first time that the former president will stand trial for charges related to the Petrobras scandal. He also is accused by Sao Paulo state prosecutors of money laundering and criminal misrepresentation in connection with a real estate scheme that benefited him and his family. Silva governed from 2003 to 2010. Despite a votes-for-bribes scandal that took down his chief of staff, he left office with record-high popularity levels, and his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, handily won the presidency. But his popularity since has been battered by corruption allegations and an economic downturn that undermined his successor. ALSO Belgium arrests 2 brothers suspected of plotting attack Turkey and U.S. at loggerheads over purge of top military officers in wake of coup attempt As populist movements take hold, Icelands Pirate Party offers a glimpse at a more radical future Abu Karar, an eager Shiite Muslim militiaman, is willing to fight alongside the Iraqi army against Islamic State militants. But he is not counting on the army for much support in battle. If we get attacked, we look to them for help but they never come. Were always left on our own, the 20-year-old, wearing a military camouflage cap, said in his living room in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. Like many Iraqis, Karar believes the will and determination to hold off Islamic State advances will not come from Iraqs weak and fractured army. Instead, Iraqs most effective fighting forces may be the highly motivated Shiite militias that have mobilized to counter Sunni-led Islamic State fighters. Advertisement The militias rose to prominence in the army and police under former Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite who resigned under pressure in August and was replaced by the less divisive Haider Abadi. Karar and other Shiite militiamen are supporting the army in battles against Islamic State in Anbar province, west of Baghdad. But the militias power center is the predominantly Shiite capital, where they, in concert with Shiite-led police units, rule Shiite neighborhoods. The reason Daesh doesnt take Baghdad is because of us, said Naeem Aboudi, spokesman for the powerful Asaib Ahl al Haq militia, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. We have drawn a red line around Baghdad, and anyone who crosses it will be struck by an iron hand. Asaib Ahl al Haq, or League of the Righteous, is the largest of four main Shiite militias and four smaller offshoots in Baghdad. Among its thousands of fighters is Karar, who used a nickname because he is not authorized by his commanders to speak with reporters. The militia was among the leading killers of American troops before the U.S. combat role in Iraq ended in 2011. Its also one of several Shiite militias accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing Sunnis to avenge support by some Sunnis for Islamic State. In addition, militias have mounted violent, Taliban-style raids on clubs serving liquor. Aboudi denied allegations in an Amnesty International report this month titled Absolute Impunity: Militia Rule in Iraq. It says Shiite militias are ruthlessly targeting Sunni civilians on a sectarian basis under the guise of fighting terrorism. Similar accusations were made by Human Rights Watch in July. By arming and colluding with the militias, the Iraqi authorities have effectively granted them free rein to go on the rampage against Sunnis, the Amnesty report says. The militias pose a challenge for the United States. They have helped prop up the faltering Iraqi army, but at a steep price. In addition to terrorizing Sunnis, they are funded by Iran, an implacable U.S. foe now in an awkward, if unacknowledged, alliance against Islamic State. Limited to an advisory role, the U.S. military has to bitterly accept militiamen with American blood on their hands. The militias have alienated Sunnis serving in the army, said retired Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, who trained the Iraqi military in 2007 and 2008. The Sunnis are very nervous about this, said Dubik, who called deploying the militias a terrible idea. The central role of the militias contradicts pledges by Abadi, a Shiite who became prime minister in September, to tamp down sectarianism and share power. But there are doubts that the Shiite-dominated army can halt Islamic State advances without the militiamen, most of whom answer to their commanders, not to the army, analysts say. These militias are more focused and organized and effective than the army, said Dhiaa Asadi, a Shiite member of parliament who supports the militias. They are coordinating with the army, but they have their own commands. The militias have tens of thousands of fighters, Asadi said, but they are essentially defensive forces. They also have narrow goals. Their main duty is to protect their people and their shrines, Asadi said. Militiamen run checkpoints and guard Shiite shrines. Banners mourning militiamen killed in battle adorn walls and homes and the walls of some army compounds. Brig. Gen. Abdul Ameer Kamil, head of Iraqi military operations in Baghdad, said the surrounding Baghdad belt is too vast and porous for the army to defend on its own. He said volunteers, as he calls Shiite militiamen, have contributed greatly to what he says is a capital secure from Islamic State advances. We need these volunteers very much, Kamil said. Jawad Bolani, a Shiite lawmaker and former interior minister, calls militiamen a new army that is distinct from the national army but integrated into the standing military. On Friday, the influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani asked the government to pay all militiamen like regular soldiers. On Saturday, Iraqs parliament appointed as interior minister Mohammed Ghabban, a member of the Badr Organization, which fields one of the largest Shiite militias. That further blurred the distinction between militias and the ministry in charge of police and security. Ghabban is close to Hadi Amiri, leader of the Badr party and militia. Amiri was accused by the U.S. Embassy in a 2009 memo published by WikiLeaks of ordering militia attacks on 2,000 Sunnis between 2004 and 2006. The memo cited allegations that Amiri favored using a power drill on the skulls of his enemies. In one of many odd alliances created by sweeping Islamic State advances in Iraq this year, some Sunni tribes in Anbar have requested assistance from Shiite militias, according to Shiite politicians. The people in Anbar asked for our help and we have gone there to assist them, Aboudi, 36, said inside the militias fortified headquarters in a villa in Baghdads Karada neighborhood, dressed in a conservative gray business suit. Every inch of this land is sacred, and its our duty to defend it, whether it is Shiite or Sunni land, he said. Aboudi said militiamen have ferreted out and arrested Sunnis accused of operating Islamic State sleeper cells in Baghdad. But he denied that the men were killed, saying they were handed over to Iraqis Shiite-dominated security forces. We have an open mind to the Sunni side, Aboudi said. We take a national position on this [Islamic State] threat, not a sectarian position. Human rights groups have accused Islamic State militants of kidnapping, torturing and executing Shiites in Syria and Iraq, and selling Shiite women as sex slaves. The militants, who regard Shiites as apostates, have also destroyed Shiite mosques and shrines. Some analysts worry that the alliance between the Iraqi army and the militias is tenuous. The militias once battled the army, and Asaib Ahl al Haq claimed responsibility for more than 6,000 attacks against U.S. and coalition forces between 2006 and 2011. If the goals of the army and militias remain aligned, the government can exercise some control, said Charlie Winter, a researcher on Islamic State at the Quilliam Foundation in London, a think tank that studies extremist groups. If the militias deem themselves to be marginalized, then they will exercise their ability to take back their political sway, Winter said. Analysts say the Iraqi government has tolerated abuses against Sunnis. Often, these militias employ terrorist tactics reminiscent of IS brutalities a huge, huge problem, Winter said, using an abbreviation for Islamic State. Many Baghdad residents, especially Shiites, have lost faith in the army after three divisions deserted and abandoned their weapons while under attack by Islamic State in the northern city of Mosul. They look to Shiite militias for protection. They are strong stronger now than the army and they are willing to die to defend Iraq, said Karrar Jalal, a Shiite who manages a kitchen supply shop in Baghdad. Aboudi declined to say how many fighters his militia has, but said it has more than enough volunteers. He said the militia still considers the U.S. its enemy and would attack any U.S. ground forces. President Obama, who has pressured the new prime minister to open the Shiite-dominated government and army to Sunnis and other sects, has ruled out sending ground troops to Iraq, and the Iraqi government has not requested them. Weve had bad experience with the Americans in the past, Aboudi said. We still reject them. Karar, the militiaman, said that although U.S. and coalition airstrikes have helped degrade Islamic State forces in Anbar, he dislikes being associated with the U.S. military. He also resents the fact that the army is backed by U.S. advisors and weapons, even though his older brother is a U.S.-trained army corporal. He is too young to have fought the Americans, but wants nothing to do with them. I hate them, he said. Representatives from the country's most affluent companies challenged the next presidential administration to revise education and immigration programs during a Democratic National Convention forum on Wednesday. Members of the nonpartisan Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which pushes for scientific and technological advancements, urged lawmakers to reform longstanding immigration laws that limit how long individuals can work or study in the United States. The panelists also said a lack of enthusiasm for STEM - science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - education programs among minorities makes it difficult to compete globally. "This is no longer a Microsoft, Facebook, or Amazon issue," said Brad Smith, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer, according to CNET. "Companies are only as good as the people we hire." Smith added that improving and propagating such programs begins with government. Washington state Rep. Suzan DelBene suggested simply broadening STEM programs in rural communities so youths could discover careers they may not have envisioned. Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said making internet access affordable is also an important factor. "Infrastructure is a key pillar this agenda," Egan said. Immigration in the 2016 Presidential Election Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is a staunch proponent of President Obama's immigration reform efforts. During her DNC acceptance speech on Thursday, Clinton said she keeping undocumented families together amid calls for mass deportations is "the right thing to do." Clinton's campaign website states that she plans to "staple" a green card to STEM masters or PhD from accredited institutions. The former Secretary of State says will alleviate some of the visa backlogs preventing educated individuals from "coming to, staying in, and creating jobs in America." Last month, Clinton proposed federally-funded grant programs for teachers pursing STEM degrees and student in need of student loan deferrals. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whose anti-immigration policies include deporting all undocumented immigrants and banning all incoming travelers from countries with terrorist ties, believes the STEM shortage is a myth. "We graduate two times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program," reads an excerpt from Trump's immigration plan. H-1B is a non-immigrant visa given to temporary guest workers. Trump proposed raising the minimum wage for H-1B hires so companies would not hire low-paid workers. This, the real estate magnate said, will "improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program." Obama, Tech Companies Reach Out to STEM Students Nearly half a million unfilled job vacancies in the U.S. are in information technology fields, according to a White House report release last November. That is why the Obama administration launched TechHire, a 35-city initiative aimed at helping students seek tech jobs. In February, Obama asked the Department of Education to divide $4 billion in federal funds to states that produce suitable five-year computer science education plans. The funding will allows school districts to "ensure all students have the chance to participate, including girls and underrepresented minorities." Companies like Google and Salesforce.org showed their support, pledging a total of $60 million, according to the White House. Silicon Valley companies compose the nascent Computer Science Education Coalition, led by prominent American CEO's and civil rights groups which include the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Puerto Rican Coalition. The original members include Facebook, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. One of their first acts was asking Congress to invest $250 million in 5-12 computer science education, if only because universities only graduate about 43,000 computer science students a year. Last April, many joined governors and educators in penning a letter to Congress saying they would contribute $48 million to show their commitment. "Technology is transforming society at an unprecedented rate," the letter read. "Whether it's smartphones or social networks, self-driving cards or personalized medicine, nothing embodies the American Dream so much as the opportunity to change or even reinvent the world with technology." Protestors in London are calling for a boycott of the Byron hamburger chain after company officials reportedly worked hand and hand with the government to pull off an immigration sting that led to the deportations of several workers. Several media outlets have reported as many as 35 workers were recently taken into custody after staffers arrived for what was billed as a company training day. Once there, they were all confronted by Home Office officials and ultimately arrested for not having legal documentation. Scores More in Hiding Those arrested are said to be from Albania, Brazil, Nepal and Egypt and word is at least 150 other workers have now gone into hiding. At least 25 of those arrested are now reported to have either voluntarily departed or been removed from the UK, while the rest are now facing deportation proceedings. In addition to the boycott calls, the hashtag #BoycottByron is now making the rounds on social media, including the creation of a Free Pride Facebook page that implores consumers to stay away from all the chain's eateries. "We are disgusted that Byron has deceived potentially vulnerable workers into immigration traps," a post on the page reads. "We believe no human is illegal and continue to support all migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. We hope to see a future were all people feel welcome and are not exploited." Company Defends Actions Company officials are rumored not to be facing any civil penalties in connection with any of the questionable hires and have since released a statement that indicates they plan to continue working with immigration authorities. "We can confirm that several of Byron's London restaurants were visited by representatives of the Home Office," the press release read. "These visits resulted in the removal of members of staff who are suspected by the Home Office of not having the right to work in the UK, and of possessing fraudulent personal and right to work documentation that is in breach of immigration and employment regulation." According to the Guardian, one of the restaurant's since deported chefs claims he was taken to three different detention centers before being ushered out of the country. After being in the UK for two years, he added he wasn't allowed any time to collect any of his personal belongings. Flood mitigation works costing in the region of 8.75m are being proposed for the county as part of the long awaited publication of the Draft Flood Risk Management Plan for the Upper and Lower Shannon. Areas covered by the plan include Carrick-on-Shannon, Mohill, Dromod, Leitrim Village and Drumshanbo with flood risk management works considered for each location. To date two public consultations have been held in each of the areas where the flood risk was considered to be potentially significant. However, the numbers attending public consultations for areas like Carrick-on-Shannon and Leitrim Village, both hit hard during the 2009 flooding and subsequent flood events, has been exceptionally poor, especially when you consider the number of people directly impacted by flooding at the time and the even greater number who have been highlighted as being at significant risk of future flooding events. In the two public consultations held in Carrick-on-Shannon in January and November last year, only 33 people attended the consultation in January and just 12 people attended the second event at the end of the year. In Leitrim Village, 15 people attended the first consultation in January 2015 and only four attended the subsequent consultation 10 months later. Local politicians have welcomed the publication of the draft plan. Deputy Martin Kenny said the publication of the draft report was welcome but said that it has been a long time coming. You have to ask what has the cost of flooding been for communities in the interim since this whole process began following the 2009 floods? The Draft Plan was published as part of the next stage of public consultation earlier this month and members of the public are now being asked to look at the plan, provide feedback and help to prioritise areas where work should be carried out. Last month, Liberal Democrat Expand launched with an ambitious plan for the party to widen its net, to work in those areas where we had disappeared. After the devastating election result last year, one of the first people back into the fray was Elaine Bagshaw, who had to run in a by-election for Mayor in Tower Hamlets. Since then, she has built a team that is out there on the streets several times a week building an organisation from the ground up. She writes about what shes been doing on the Liberal Democrat Expand website: The first has been about being brave and changing the mindset about no go areas. Wards that we were told would never vote Lib Dem had actually never been asked. Im still shocked that in some places people wont go and knock on council houses because apparently they arent our people. We definitely havent found this to be the case in Tower Hamlets. From a London perspective, its a foolish way to approach things as people move so often. At one point in Tower Hamlets 25% the electoral roll would change every time a new one was issued. My other issue with no go areas is that for us to be in majority government we absolute have to win in places like Poplar & Limehouse and other areas that we dismiss as not our territory. Poplar & Limehouse is a passion project of mine partly for this reason but also because its in these areas that people need Lib Dems the most. Every time we write-off an area we write-off the people in it and thats not a narrative we should be signed up to. We no longer talk about paper candidates particularly if there is a by-election. We are clear with everyone that every election is to build more support and to practice techniques. We may not win this time but we are always building towards that end goal of taking a seat. People join the party because theyre passionate about making a difference. In Tower Hamlets we make sure that people know they can do that wherever they are in the borough. From a logistics point of view, weve managed to change things by being ruthlessly organised. My day job is project management, so Im treating taking the Poplar & Limehouse parliamentary seat like a project. We have particular things that we monitor like voter contact; number of members; delivery network coverage so we can see how were progressing. We also meet once a fortnight as an Exec to make sure we can react quickly to events and were in constant contact with social media. You can read the whole article here. The work of the Tower Hamlets team is truly inspiring. They know they are in it for the long haul, but, as Elaine says, if we are going to make an impact nationally, we need to win in places like that. It would certainly be fitting to see a gain in Poplar and Limehouse, given the history of the Limehouse Declaration in the history of the SDP. Good luck to Elaine and her team. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings Our place to talk an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK. The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires. 10 Cutting-Edge Skin-Care Devices You Can Use at Home Don't ditch your dermatologist just yet. But consider supplementing your routine with these tools, which may help even skin tone, treat mild acne, smooth wrinkles, deflate puffy eyes, and more. A POLISH man who was recruited by criminal elements to cultivate cannabis plants at a rural farmhouse in County Limerick was being paid 10,000 per harvest, it has been revealed. Marian Andrzejak, aged 25, who is originally from Poznan has pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis plants, worth almost 117,000 for the purpose of sale or supply. During a sentencing hearing on Monday, Gardai Ken McEvoy said 146 mature plants were found after a house at Creanville, Athlacca was searched on June 29, 2015. Mr Andrzejak was in the rented house when gardai called and he made admissions at the scene. Garda McEvoy said a search of the farmhouse revealed that six rooms had been converted to facilitate the cultivation of the plants. Judge Tom ODonnell was told gardai found specialised ventilation and irrigation systems, lighting and foil lined tents in each of the rooms. There was an entire system dedicated to climate control, Garda McEvoy told Michael Collins BL, prosecuting. It was accepted the defendant did not adapt the house and that he was not involved in the onward distribution of the drugs. The court was told a calendar written on Polish was found in each of the rooms detailing the different phases of growth. During interview, Andrzejak outlined in detail the processes involved in cultivating the plants. The defendant told gardai he had decided to get involved for financial purposes and that the crop was his third harvest. However, he added that the first two were not as big. Andrew Sexton SC said his client, who does not speak English, had only left the house a handful of time in the year before his arrest. He has no trappings of wealth, he was living a very isolated and solitary existence. Mr Sexton submitted his client, who has no previous convuctions, was a small cog in wider drugs trade and that he was not in the upper echelons. Urging the court to be lenient he said life in prison is more difficult for those who do not speak English. Judge ODonnell will impose sentence in October. The Millennium Centre, Caherconlish, was a hive of activity last week when a community fun day was held to launch of the Safefood Community Food Initiative in Limerick. The purpose of the initiative, sponsored by Safefood and Ballyhoura Development, is to encourage young children to eat healthier and to combat the problem of obesity in Ireland. Were trying to work with families to raise awareness of healthy eating and healthy foods, with a particular focus on families with young children, said community development manager at Ballyhoura, Catherine Smyth. This is the first event of what will be six over the next two years within county Limerick, she explained. One of the good things about the project, she said, is that it provides funding for communities in Limerick to develop their own small projects on the theme of healthy eating. Well be working on other small projects in places like Croom and Castleconnell, and these projects will be funded. A number of demonstrations took place during the day which displayed healthy snacks, such as carrots or celery with various dips, vegetable and fruit kebabs and banana and peanut butter wraps. The idea of this, said nutritional scientist Karen OFarrell, is to make simply accessible and cheap foods which look colourful and attractive to children. Were trying to encourage kids to eat this kind of stuff, and that way, theyre getting their fruit and vegetables or their getting their vitamins and minerals, without even realising it, she explained. COUNTY Limerick is to get just over 9 million from the 250 million in Leader funding allotted to the whole country for the period upto 2020. Minister for Arts, Heather Humphreys signed the agreement this month with Limerick Local Community Development Company (LCDC) and the two implementing partners Ballyhoura and West Limerick Resources and Limerick City and County Council as financial partners. The Leader programme will deliver some 250 million into rural towns and villages right across Ireland over the next four years. By signing the funding agreements we are unlocking 9,276,593 in vital funding for rural communities across Limerick, said Minister Humphreys. Chairman of the LCDC and the Cappamore-Kilmallock municipal district, Cllr Eddie Ryan said: I would like to thank all members of the LCDC for their engagement and assistance in the process and look forward to working with them to deliver the programme for communities in County Limerick. He said the funding will support jobs and investment in Limerick over the next four years as the Leader programme funds projects under a diverse range of themes that include enterprise development, rural tourism, social inclusion and the environment. The signing of the agreement cements the future of Ballyhoura and West Limerick Resources. Only two years ago concerns were expressed that they could close due to proposed changes on how local and rural development programmes are delivered. John Walsh, then Ballyhoura chair, said: The changes by the Government could see public bodies take over these programmes which would have serious consequences for citizens and communities across the Ballyhoura area. Minister Humphreys said: I know that communities across Limerick are very eager to access this funding, for the benefit of local groups and organisations. I was very keen to ensure the funding agreements could be signed as quickly as possible so that this money can start to flow into rural Ireland. Now, the majority of funding agreements are being signed, meaning the local action groups can start receiving applications for funding. She said one of the great strengths of Leader is that it puts funding decisions in the hands of the communities where the money is spent - local decisions by local people. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! The net profit at Bord na Mona fell by 50 percent to 17.3 million from 35 million for the year to March 2015, according to its latest annual report which was published on Monday. The companys figures included the write-down of the value of two power stations in Edenderry and the closure of Anua, its air and water treatment business. However, turnover at the company increased by 6 percent from 406.7 million to 432.8 million, an increase of 26.1 million. Sales of peat to the Lough Ree Power and West Offaly Power stations increased by 4.5 million in aggregate. Interestingly, in light of the companys plans to build a wind farm in Killashee, the report shows that in the first full year of operation the sales of the Mountlucas and Bruckana wind farms increased by 13.8 million. Mike Quinn, CEO, Bord na Mona outlined the company's progress. If you went back ten years, just 2 percent of the electricity Bord na Mona produced was generated from renewables. Today we are at 48 percent. Given our pipeline of wind, biomass and other renewable energy projects, by 2020 we know it will be 70 percent and by 2030 it will be 96 percent, making us the number one producer of renewable energy on the island of Ireland. Storm Clouds Italy This summer, China set aside $30 million for a controversial project that involves shooting salt-and-mineral-filled bullets into the sky. Their mission? Make it rain. The project is part of a larger campaign of so-called weather modification techniques that the country has been using since at least 2008, when they claim to have cleared the skies for the Beijing Olympics by forcing the rain to come early. China is far from the only nation trying to bring (or stop) the rain. At least 52 countries including the United States have current weather modification programs, 10 more countries than five years ago, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Operation Popeye It all started in the 1940s, when a pair of scientists from General Electric Co. were experimenting with using super-cooled clouds to stimulate the growth of ice crystals while hiking Mount Washington. The mountain, located in New Hampshire, is often called the "stormiest mountain in the world" and it's considered a prime spot for cold weather testing. After a series of experiments there and in New York, the two researchers managed to make it rain using silver iodide bullets. They got a patent for their technique, referred to as cloud-seeding, in 1948. A few decades later, the US military brought cloud-seeding to the battlefield. Between 1967 and 1972, during the Vietnam War, it spent roughly $3 million each year on weather modification campaigns designed to draw out the monsoon season and create muddy, difficult conditions for enemy fighters. One campaign involved an attempt to flood the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main route that enemy fighters were using to deliver their supplies. Here's a snippet of a document from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) detailing the campaign: FAS weather modification documents vietnam The program was also known as Operation Popeye, Operation Intermediary, and Operation Compatriot. Whenever too many people would learn the name, the military would change it. Whether the program worked or not is still a matter of debate. According to the FAS, its "effects were minimal." Story continues dark clouds Scientists say this is one of the biggest problems with cloud-seeding programs: It's tough to tell if they have any effect at all. Even with today's improved techniques, it can be difficult to distinguish the weather that may have already occurred from the weather that the seeding could have caused. "The question is always, if you didn't do that, would it have rained anyway?" Alan Robock, a distinguished professor of geophysics at the department of environmental science at Rutgers University, told Business Insider. In 2010, the American Meteorological Society released a statement on cloud-seeding saying that although the science of weather modification has improved significantly in the past five decades, "there remain limits to the certainty with which desired changes in cloud behavior can be brought about using current cloud seeding techniques." In other words, we need more research. Desperate times Despite ongoing disputes over how well it works, people across the globe are still using weather modification to try and address large-scale shifts in temperature and precipitation brought about by climate change. In drought-stricken California and several states in the Midwest, cloud-seeding projects are being used in an attempt to increase water production, which is desperately needed both as drinking water and for irrigating crops. And although these projects "may not do so significantly ... even a 10% increase in rainfall or snowfall may be worth the expense," Bart Geerts, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Wyoming, told Business Insider. "We're becoming more and more aware of the constraints that arid environments have on resources. Water is the biggest constraint in the western US and parts of China," Geerts said. drought Across the globe, countries are seeing large numbers of such "extreme weather events," which can take the form of intense dry spells or severe storms and flooding. At the same time, there's a slight resurgence in the use of weather modification techniques, which experts say countries may be using to try and protect vulnerable areas from the brunt of natural disasters. China's Ministry of Finance aims to use the technology to create more than 60 billion cubic meters of additional rain every year by 2020, Reuters recently reported. Last year, the drought-stricken Indian state of Maharashtra spent $4.5 million on cloud-seeding. The current projects aren't limited to prepping for natural disasters or climate change, of course. This May, the Russian government allocated $1.3 million to a project designed to stop rain from falling on International Worker's Day. While some government-run projects exist, the most popular type of project involves coordination between the government and a private company. The largest such company, Weather Modification Incorporated, has operations worldwide and it claims prominently that its technology works. "Weather Modification Inc. is on the forefront of scientific technology to maximize water availability worldwide," it states on its website. "Application of scientific concepts and extensive scientific experimentation has proven that cloud seeding increases the amount of precipitation." Cuban cigar farm One of their recent projects, a pilot program in Wyoming was aimed at finding out if they could use cloud seeding to increase water supplies in the state. The National Science Foundation (NSF) also helped fund the project, although it hasn't had an official weather modification program since the 1970s, when federal agencies essentially froze funding for cloud-seeding projects. Geerts, who worked on that program through his university, says similar projects have been going on for decades. But "more recently, there's been more interest, especially in the dry periods," said Geerts. How cloud seeding is supposed to work All air contains moisture. Even in hot, dry areas, some water remains suspended in the sky. Before it rains, water droplets in the air condense and cool on tiny particles (such as dust) in the atmosphere, forming clouds. Once they grow large and heavy enough, they fall, melting along the way. This is what we know as rain. Cloud seeding operates on the same idea: By injecting chemicals into clouds to lower their temperature and give them more material on which to condense, it hopefully speeds up the process, causing it to rain sooner than it normally would. BI Graphics Cloud seeding Experts agree that in theory, cloud-seeding makes sense. But in practice, "I think the verdict is still out," said Geerts. Nevertheless, people are still striving to improve weather modification technology, hoping that one day it could help with everything from inducing rain to preventing hailstorms. In the meantime, researchers say we're seeing the impacts of what some call "unintentional" weather modification across the globe with the release of fossil fuels into the atmosphere. "Whatever we do locally, whether its industrial processes or burning biofuels, that has a global impact. And at the end of the day, some of that may be more significant than the intentional stuff that I'm involved with," said Geerts. NOW WATCH: The most powerful physics machine on Earth may have found something that breaks the laws of physics as we know them More From Business Insider Killashee hit the national headlines this week when it emerged that Tim Kaine, whom Hillary Clinton has chosen to run for Vice-President in the forthcoming Presidential election, has strong local connections. His great grandfather PJ Farrell was born in Derryadd and emigrated to the US with his family when he was just four years old. The former governor of Virginia visited Longford in 2006 where he uncovered his Killashee roots and even took a trip to the site of his ancestral home. When he visited the site of his homeplace in Derryadd, Killashee with his wife Anne and children, Nat, Woody and Annella, he found a hayshed on the spot where his ancestral home used to be. Just two walls of the old homestead remain. The Longford Leaders Declan Shanley recalls the visit very well. A native of Derryadd, he brought the Kaines to the site and even had the family in for tea and apple tart in his home afterwards. He was a lovely man, very proud of his Irish roots, Declan recalls. He remembers the one thing that struck the teenage Kaine children when they visited his house. I had a basket of turf beside the stove and they were amazed when they seen it because they had never seen turf before! For more extensive information on this story, see this weeks Longford Leader for more! The Foroige Attic House Teen Project is undertaking an overseas leadership programme to Africa. The Leadership programme has become one of the most popular and beneficial programmes offered to young people aged 15 years + at the Attic House. This year was no exception with both Mean Scoil Mhuire and St Mels College offering Module One of the programme to the Transition Year students. Module Two was completed by 25 young people during the Easter holidays at the Attic House. The programme identifies the traits of a leader and what it takes to become good leaders including communication, attitude, work ethic and public speaking. Foroiges Regional Youth Officer James Maher explained that the Attic House Management Committee decided it was again time to offer something unique to members and a plan to take an overseas leadership programme trip was initiated. Many young people applied to take part in the programme, however due to restricted places, only eleven young people were selected. Mr Maher said the group will undertake various fundraising initiatives to raise the required amount of money needed to undertake the trip. This will be done through communal fundraising with the Attic House but also through individual fundraising initiatives. Once funds are raised the group will travel to Cape Town and on to Gordons Bay for seven days and nights where they will engage with the Zola Township in South Africa and support the development of the education centre in the township. Mr Maher remarked that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the young people of the Attic House and one that will remain with them throughout their life. The programme is a yearlong programme which will incorporate more leadership development and also preparatory work for theLeaving Certificate, he added. The first part of the fundraising programme for the trip is the Attic House Duck Derby. If you see any of our young people out and about selling ducks for this years duck derby please support, said Mr Maher. Ducks cost 5 and the derby takes place on Saturday, September 17 at 2pm in the Mall Park Longford. If you have any queries about Foroige, The Attic House Teen project or establishing a Foroige club in your area please contact Foroiges Regional Youth Officer at james.maher@foroige.ie or call (086) 9672920. Food, Wine, & Dining, Music, Movies & Entertainment, Top Ten on Long Island, Arts & Culture, Weddings, Seasonal & Current Events By Kelly Tenny Published: July 30 2016 Tying the knot soon? Then you won't want to miss out on these bridal shows, showcases and trunk shows taking place on Long Island. Browse the latest wedding styles and fashions at these upcoming bridal showcases! When it comes to picking out things for a wedding, theres no place better to scope out than bridal shows, expos and trunk shows! With Long Island, New York being such a beautiful, picturesque spot, it really is the perfect place to host a wedding , with its seaside views, sandy beaches and breathtaking sunsets. This summer and upcoming fall season are jam packed with not-to-be missed L.I. bridal events to attend! In addition to getting a sneak peek at the latest wedding fashions, the hottest venues and the newest wedding styles, bridal show goers also have the unique opportunity to talk with experts in the field, face-to-face, who can help answer questions and give useful advice! Check out our list below of upcoming bridal shows on Long Island! 440 Old Country Road, Carle Place, NY 11514 Tuesday, August 2nd from 6:30 PM - 9 PM 516-334-6125 $20 Tour the beautiful grounds of Chateau Briand, taste delicious cuisine samples and listen to live music at this summer bridal showcase featuring preferred vendors! 85 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724 Friday, August 5th - Sunday, August 7th 631-367-3231 Call for Cost Details Head to the North Shore to check out the much anticipated Liancarlo Trunk Show! Please call ahead to make an appointment. 80 Westbury Ave., Carle Place, NY 11514 Friday, August 5th - Sunday, August 7th 516-742-7788 Call for Cost Details Let your eyes feast on the Victor Harper Collection which seamlessly weaves together refinement, drama and glamor. There will be special pricing. Please call to make an appointment. 3 Broadway, Massapequa, NY 11758 Friday, August 5th - Sunday, August 7th 516-795-2222 Call for Cost Details Make your wedding into a royal occasion by taking a look at these lovely bridal ball gowns! There will be special pricing. Please call for an appointment! 2000 Raynors Way, Smithtown, NY 11787 Wednesday, August 10th from 6 PM - 9 PM 631-754-0594 Free Event Take in an evening bridal show featuring lighting, video, special effects, photo booth, cocktail hour and more at Stonebridge Country Club. 5720 Route 25A, Wading River, NY 11792 Thursday, August 11th from 6 PM - 9 PM $20 Tour the elegant grounds of the East Wind while meeting with top professionals, seeing the newest fashions and much more! 162 Jericho Turnpike, Mineola, NY 11501 Saturday, August 13th - Monday, August 15th 516-747-1888 Call for Cost Details Don't miss out on the 3-day event Justin Alexander Trunk Show! Please call ahead to make an appointment. 230 Sunrise Highway, Rockville Centre, NY 11570 Friday, August 26th - Sunday, August 28th 516-678-0888 Call for Cost Details Make your way over to this exclusive Maggie Sottero Bridal Trunk Show happening at Blossom Brides at the end of August. 101 James Doolittes Boulevard, Uniondale, NY 11553 Monday, August 29th, September 26th, October 24th and November 14th from 6:30 PM - 9 PM 631-563-6280 Free Event Enjoy a live DJ showcase and fashion show, and meet with florists, caterers, photographers and others in the wedding business to make your dream wedding a reality! 598 Broad Hollow Road, Melville, NY 11747 Tuesday, August 30th, September 27th, October 25th & Novmeber 15th from 6:30 PM - 9 PM 631-563-6280 Free Event Before you get ready to tie the knot, be sure to check out this bridal expo featuring wedding planners, DJs, gown specialists and many other wedding professionals! 3845 Vets Memorial Hwy, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 Wednesday, August 31st, September 28th, October 26th & November 16th from 6:30 PM - 9 PM 631-563-6280 Free Event Meet with renowned wedding professionals at this bridal expo with florists, caterers, wedding planners, entertainers and much more! 216 Jericho Turnpike, Floral Park, NY 11001 Friday, September 9th - Sunday, September 11th from 12 PM - 3 PM 516-326-6464 Call for Cost Details Make your reservation for this showcase featuring the latest fashions of Pronovias! 598 Broad Hollow Road, Melville, NY 11747 Monday, September 12th at 5:30 PM Free for Pre-Registers; $5 at Door Your head will be swimming with wedding ideas at this extravaganza featuring live performances, over 90 vendors, raffles and prizes! 1899 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, NY 11554 Wednesday, September 21st from 6 PM - 9 PM 516-542-0700 $25 in Advance; $35 at Door Don't miss out on this 20th annual bridal fashion event showcasing the latest bridal gowns plus cakes, music, limos, flowers and more! 216 Jericho Turnpike, Floral Park, NY 11001 Friday, September 16th - Sunday, September 18th & Friday, November 11th - Sunday, November 13th from 12 PM - 3 PM 516-326-6464 Call for Cost Details 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 Paris (AFP) - Muslim and Christian groups came together Saturday to mourn a French priest murdered by jihadists, as authorities charged a man in connection with the brutal church attack that rocked the nation. A shellshocked France is still coming to terms with the jihadist killing of the clergyman at the altar in his church, sparking fears of tensions between religions in the secular nation. In a bid to forge togetherness between the communities, a "brotherhood march" was held in the southeastern city of Lyon, supported by a regional Muslim council and a Catholic group. Hundreds of people marched in silence, as mourners at the front of the crowd carried banners that read: "This is not a religious war" and "We are all brothers and sisters." "We think it is crucial to leave no room for resignation, resentment or fear, and to take a stand for togetherness," Abdelkader Bendidi, who heads the regional Muslim council, said in a statement. "Let's not give the agents of terror a second victory by giving in to hate," said Azzedine Gaci, a local imam. - 'Criminal conspiracy' - "It doesn't matter what our religious beliefs are, or if we have none at all. These attacks won't divide us. Instead, they will unite us around one idea: reconciliation," said Foucauld Giuliani, of a Catholic group. In the southwestern city of Bordeaux, some 400 people attended a vigil for the 85-year-old Jacques Hamel, who had his throat slit by IS-inspired teenaged attackers. Prayers were also held in the Saint-Etienne church where the killing took place as Hamel was celebrating mass on Tuesday. Among the 300 people who attended the evening mass in northern Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, some 50 were Muslims. Police were still trying to piece together links to the two 19-year-olds who carried out the attack -- Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean -- both of whom were on intelligence services' radar and had tried to go to Syria. Story continues On Friday, authorities filed charges against a 19-year-old man accused of "criminal conspiracy with terrorists" after police discovered a mobile phone video of one of the assailants at his home. Police were still questioning Petitjean's cousin and a Syrian refugee, after a photocopy of his passport was found at Kermiche's house. A 16-year-old was released but could ultimately face a separate investigation for possessing jihadist propaganda, authorities added. A source close to the enquiry said that a 17-year-old, who had tried to travel to Syria with Kermiche, was arrested in Geneva and sent back to France just a few days before the attack. However, "nothing suggests he was in any way implicated in the attack" at this stage, the source added. Both French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have come under fire for perceived security failings. Valls has said he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam after a spate of jihadist attacks. France has just over 2,000 mosques, for one of Europe's largest Muslim populations of around five million. - 'Peace, it's what we want' - Since the assault, harrowing details have emerged about what happened in the church as well as a chilling warning from one of the attackers. On Friday, L'Express magazine revealed that Kermiche had described the modus operandi of the attack on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. "You take a knife, you go into a church. Bam!" says the message recorded just a few days before the attack. Meanwhile, two elderly nuns who were in the church at the time of the attack told AFP the assailants "smiled" and spoke about peace. Sister Helena said when asked if she was familiar with Islam's holy book, she said she had read several suras especially those about peace. According to the nun, one of the attackers replied: "Peace, it's what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop." For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser New Delhi : Government today said in Rajya Sabha that the possibility of sabotage in the mysterious disappearance of AN-32 aircraft of IAF was "comparatively very less" and informed that the help of the US has also been sought in locating the plane. All types of techniques are being used to locate the aircraft, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said while replying to clarifications sought by members on his suo motu statement on the disappearance of the aircraft on July 22. As members expressed concern and raised questions over how the plane went missing, he said, "I can't speculate because we are searching for it and I will not like to speculate. But I can say only this much. The possibility, although we are checking all angles, of any sabotage is comparatively very less because they have standard operating procedures." While sharing the concern of the members, he gave details of the operation being carried out for the last one week in trying to locate the plane, carrying 29 people, which went missing during a flight from Tambaram in Tamil Nadu to Port Blair. "I appreciate anxiety of members. I am also disturbed at the sudden disappearance of the plane. I have spoken to several experts and former air chiefs who were also puzzled by the sudden disappearance," Parrikar said. The Minister said that at the time of disappearance, the aircraft was on "secondary/passive radar" and that "There was no SOS or transmission of any frequency. It just disappeared so that is the worrying part". The Government has sought help from the US for detection of images and is seeking help from American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites had picked up any signal before the disappearance of the plane. "It is total blank. There was not even a single signal recorded. That is the reason we are contacting American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites picked up any signal," Parrikar said. "Besides our own satelleite imagery, we have asked the US for their imagery for the detection of emergency frequency to space based assets. Foreign countries we have already asked. I only hope that our efforts succeed," he added while replying to queries whether foreign help has been sought. Queried about the age of the aircraft, the Defence Minister said it was "almost as good as new aircraft". Elaborating he said, "I don't know exact age but it is well within lifetime. It has undergone first overhauling. Lot of replacement has been done.... They are considered as one of the safest aircraft." PTI VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 29, 2016 / Dolly Varden Silver Corporation (TSX.V: DV | OTC: DOLLF) (the "Company" or "Dolly Varden") has granted a total of 1,000,000 share purchase options to directors and members of the Company's executive and technical team. Each share purchase option entitles the holder to purchase one common share in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.75 per common share expiring five years from the date of grant. The grant of stock options was made in accordance with the Company's January 2012 share option plan. 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. 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. Contact Information: Dolly Varden Silver Corporation Rosie Moore, Interim CEO and President 1-604-925-5881 SOURCE: Dolly Varden Silver Corporation Aden: At least three of the abductors of Kerala priest Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, responsible for the killing for 16 people at an old -age home of Missionaries of Charity in Yemen, has been reportedly arrested by the authorities on last day. Meanwhile, there have been no information about the condition of Fr Uzhunnalil. Contrary to the early belief, the militants said that they belonged to al-Qaeda. It was earlier believed that IS was behind Fr Uzhunnalil's abduction. On March 4, the armed terrorists barged into an old -age home run by Missionaries of Charity at Aden in Yemen, killing 16 people and abducted Fr Uzhunnalil. The North Carolina Department of Transportation recently took delivery of a new, fully customized cutter suction dredge, which it christened the Dredge Manteo in a ceremony held April 28, 2016, at the at the NCDOT State Shipyard in Manns Harbor, N.C.. The 154-foot state-of-the-art pipeline dredge, designed and built by DSC Dredge, based in Reserve, La., will work to keep North Carolinas state-maintained intercostal ferry channels clear, from the Cape Fear River near Wilmington to Currituck Sound near the North Carolina-Virginia state line. It will also maintain an emergency route between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe, south of Nags Head the route used when North Carolina Highway 12 is out of service due to a storm or other event. The state of North Carolina anticipates that its ferry routes will see more and more use. It was imperative that the DOT has a more modern dredge that is capable of dredging more material more quickly than its predecessor, said DSC Director of Sales Charles Johnson. The Manteo built to house two eight-person crews, with a full galley, four bunk rooms and two full bathrooms will replace the Dredge Carolina, which was built in 1968. The dredge also features a 78-foot deckhouse that contains the machinery area, crew quarters and galley. Far more efficient than its predecessor, the 16 x 14 Manteo is capable of dredging a channel to a depth of 30 feet. Spud carriages, which the original dredge did not have, easily move the vessel as it works. At the outset of the engineering work, DSCs designers made several recommendations to improve performance that NCDOT agreed upon. We increased the horsepower of the engine and we increased the diameter of the impeller. This allows it to effectively move more material over a 1.5-mile distance to the discharge point, noted Johnson. Additional custom features designed to make the dredge more efficient include a GPD dredging system, an anemometer, fire and flooding alarm system, VHF radio, loud hailer and marine intercom system and a closed-circuit television system. The custom-designed lever room has tinted shades for vision protection and heat reduction. It is equipped with automation, including sensors to measure the amount of material dredged, and Hypac 3D imaging software to map the bottom of the waterway for more precise dredging. Data gathering and storing capabilities provide real-time reports for operations and maintenance. The dredge has its own password-protected website to which it uploads data. The website also allows DSCs technical staff to log in for trouble-shooting and other technical support. We wanted this dredge to be as self-sufficient as possible for the state of North Carolina, Johnson said. During its christening by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and officials from the N.C. Department of Transportation Ferry Division, McCrory said, We have remained focused on building and maintaining vital connections to jobs, education, health care and recreation. Our states connections across the water are just as critical as our highways, McCrory continued. By ensuring that these waterways remain navigable, this new dredge is not only crucial for the mobility of this region, but also to its tourism industry, economy and continued ability to attract new opportunity. The dredge is named after Native American Croatan Manteo, chief of a local tribe that befriended and helped English explorers who landed at Roanoke Island in 1584. According to North Carolina Ferry Division Director Ed Goodwin, Like its Croatan chief namesake, the Manteo will help North Carolinians navigate the rivers and sounds of eastern North Carolina safely and efficiently. It will be a vital component of the Ferry System for many years to come. Rather than bringing in out-of-state contractors to assemble the Manteo at the NCDOT State Shipyard, DSC chose to work with local contractors for welding, interior work, HVAC, vibration analysis and more. All onsite equipment was sourced from local rental houses. The Manteo's first project is dredging for emergency route maintenance at Stumpy Point. DP World has signed a long-term lease agreement for the expansion and operation of the multi-purpose Rodney Container Terminal at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The global trade enabler will start running existing operations on 1 January 2017 and work in partnership with the Saint John Port Authority on a planned expansion programme expected to be completed in 2021, with the lease continuing for 30 years after. The Rodney Container Terminal is a multi-purpose terminal handling container traffic in Saint John, the only Atlantic Canada port that is served by the countrys Class I railways, Canada National Railway (CN) and Canada Pacific Railway (CP) and is CPs only Atlantic gateway port. The lease will follow the Port Authoritys completion of the expansion works, which will create a 350 metre deep-water berth, an enhanced stacking area and a 12,000 foot intermodal rail yard capable of handling a full train. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, said: We are delighted to further extend our presence in Canada to the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick. We believe that the future growth prospects for the port are strong and we are excited to be participating with Saint John Port Authority in their expansion plans. Our investments and commitment to Canada are for the long term, contributing to trade and the development of its national and local economies as well as providing employment for people with a leader of world trade. Our international experience and expertise will be further enhanced with this project. Jim Quinn, CEO, Saint John Port Authority, said: We are delighted to welcome DP World as the new operator of Rodney Container Terminal and to share in the expansion project for the terminal. The commitments that DP World has made to invest in equipment and systems, commercial promotion and sustainability are critical for the long-term success of the project. DP World is already a major investor in Canada operating the CENTERM terminal in Vancouver, the Fairview Terminal in Prince Rupert and the Duke Point Terminal in Nanaimo. Its entry into Saint John will focus on Canadas trade with Europe and Latin America increasing sector competition in eastern Canada. DP Worlds involvement in Saint John is expected to bring significant benefits to importers and exporters in New Brunswick and the Maritimes, a region of Canada that also includes other Atlantic provinces Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, through: Immediate investment in modern container handling equipment capable of serving post-panamax container vessels Additional gantry cranes and container handling equipment in line with the Port Authoritys expansion works programme DP Worlds strong relationships with global ocean carriers and both Canadian Class I railways, CN and CP Access to DP Worlds world class productivity in container terminal development and operation Access to DP Worlds state-of-the-art supply chain security and safety practices Enhanced competition through the entrant of a new terminal operator in the region The transaction is not subject to any pre-closing Canadian regulatory approvals. An International Maritime Organization (IMO)-led workshop in Maputo, Mozambique is supporting countries in south-eastern Africa in implementing the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping ) Convention, which establishes international standards for training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers. The workshop (25-29 July) is familiarizing maritime administrations and maritime training institutes with all recent amendments to the STCW Convention and Code, including the 2010 Manila Amendments, and supports maritime training institutions in the region to improve teaching and assessment of seafarers in accordance with the Convention. The workshop is organized by IMO and hosted by the Mozambique National Maritime Authority (INAMAR) for 10 international delegates from Cabo Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and 14 participants from Mozambique. International Convention on STCW for Seafarers, 1978 was adopted on 7 July 1978 and entered into force on 28 April 1984. The main purpose of the Convention is to promote safety of life and property at sea and the protection of the marine environment by establishing in common agreement international standards of training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox today announced 40 awards totaling nearly $500 million in funding for the FY 2016 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. Of the 585 applications submitted totaling $9.3 billion in requests, six awards totaling $61.8 million or about 12.36 percent of the total funding are going to commercial seaports or projects that directly aid the efficient movement of goods to and from Americas ports. Port applications totaled 9 percent, or 53, of the total 585 submitted. In his written statement, Sec. Foxx said, For the eighth year running, TIGER will inject critical infrastructure dollars into communities across the country. This unique program rewards innovative thinking and collaborative solutions to difficult and sometimes dangerous transportation problems. A great TIGER program doesnt just improve transportation; it expands economic opportunity and transforms a community. American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle said that AAPA believes its important for Americas seaports to be key components of USDOTs TIGER discretionary grants program because of the critical role ports play in moving goods, sustaining jobs and bolstering the nations economy. He noted that direct funding for maritime infrastructure projects, including connections to ports, will improve freight mobility which helps reduce transportation costs and makes U.S. exports more attractive to overseas buyers. TIGER grants are one of the few federal funding programs available to public port authorities to help them pay for critical infrastructure to move and handle freight more efficiently, said Mr. Nagle. Were pleased that a number of port projects were included in the eighth round of TIGER grants just announced, but this years grants included few funds for major maritime freight gateways. He added, Its important that projects from the full range of port sizes and types receive grant awards in upcoming rounds of TIGER funding. Since its inception as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, AAPA has been a strong supporter of the TIGER grant program. In TIGERs first round in fiscal 2009, port-related infrastructure projects received about 8.6 percent of the original $1.5 billion allocated. In subsequent rounds, port-related infrastructure did better, garnering 14.6 percent (of the total $600 million) in the second, 12.8 percent (of the total $527 million) in the third, 13.6 percent (of the total $500 million) in the fourth,13.3 percent (of the total $474 million) in the fifth, 12.4 percent (of the total $600 million) in the sixth, and 9 percent (of the total $500 million) in the seventh. The six projects receiving awards in TIGER VIII that directly aid the movement of goods through U.S. commercial ports are: $17.63 Million -Port of Everett District Commission New York ExPORT Upstate New York thru Port of Albany Maritime Improvements: The grant supports maritime infrastructure improvements at the Port of Albany to enhance project cargo handling capabilities. Specifically, the project reconstructs the wharf with roll-on/roll-off capacity, replaces a warehouse, reconstructs a cargo storage area, and rebuilds a port roadway. $10.67 Million - Gordon A. Finch Terminal Improvements Virgin Islands Port Authority: The grant will renovate and reconstruct a roll-on/roll-off dock, make waterside improvements to increase berthing capacity, construct an approximately 19,000 square foot multi-use facility for cargo storage and administrative activities, and implement security enhancements on the south side of St. Croix. $10 Million - Port of Everett South Terminal Modernization Project, Port of Everett Washington: This grant modernizes the Port of Everett South Terminal. The project includes strengthening more than 500 feet of dock, creating a modern berth capable of handling roll-on/roll-off and intermodal cargo, and upgrading high voltage power systems. The project will also construct rail sidings to increase on-site rail car storage. $10 Million - Rehabilitation of "H" Wharf Port Authority of Guam: The grant will reconstruct and expand a wharf built in 1948, including a new sheet pile bulkhead retaining wall and upgrades to an access road. The project also includes demolition of surface facilities and construction of additional structural components. $7.33 Million - Portland Marine Terminal Freight and Jobs Access Project Port of Portland, Oregon: The grant constructs a grade separation over a busy marine terminal rail lead and constructs road, intersection, and multimodal improvements to increase access and connectivity between the port and the National Highway System. The project includes a realignment of the North Rivergate Blvd. and North Lombard St. intersection to better accommodate turning trucks. $6.19 million - Little Rock Port Authority Growth Initiative - Little Rock Port Authority, Arkansas: The grant constructs improvements to the slack water harbor area, including a new dock with direct dock to-rail capability; and adds rail storage. Further progress towards identifying and designating Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) in south-east Asia has been made during a regional meeting in Lombok, Indonesia (27-28 July). Some 30 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Viet Nam and observers from Singapore met to identify any gaps in knowledge in potential areas to be selected and proposed to be designated as a PSSA by International Maritime Organization (IMO). They also discussed additional assistance which may be required in developing final submissions to IMO. Participants were also introduced to the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) risk management toolbox, which is a modelling tool used to assess risk of collisions and groundings in a particular sea area. The Third Regional Meeting on the Identification and Designation of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) in the ASEAN Sub-Region involving Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam was organized under the Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP) of the IMO and funded through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). Hysteria and hyperbole are powerful things: put Donald Trump, American Russophobia and national party conventions into the same cocktail shaker and something potent is sure to come out. But one thing seems pretty clear: Donald Trump has never had what it takes to succeed in business in Russia. And barring a miraculous transformation of either Russia or the GOP nominee himself, he never will have. Sure, Trump has always wanted to have an eye-catching project in Russia. But wanting isnt the same as doing, any more than tweeting an indirect invitation to Miss Universe to Vladimir Putin (as he did in 2013) is a world away from actually getting a meeting with him. 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? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2013 And there are two reasons why there are no Trump projects in Russia: in the past, it was too risky, and now, as the country grinds through its third year of austerity, there is no demand for his brand of upmarket bling. The hotel business back in the anarchic years after the collapse of the Soviet Union wassometimes quite literally murderously competitive. U.S. businessman Paul Tatum was gunned down not far from his Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel in 1996 after a highly public dispute with his local partner. In 2002, Konstantin Georgiev, who ran the grand 1950s Peking Hotel, suffered the same fate. Police suspected, but never proved, a falling out with organized criminals. In 1997, Trump had talked to the Moscow City Government, about leasing and redeveloping the vast, monstrous Rossiya hotel (the worlds biggest) right next to the Kremlin; the deal was estimated to be worth about $800 million. But the project died a quiet death in 1998 after the Rossiyas general director Yevgeny Tsimbalistov died a considerably noisier one in a hail of mafia bullets. Story continues Russia is a scary place When Vladimir Putin restored a kind of order in the first decade of the century, there was again a window of opportunity, but it didnt stay open longat least not long enough for Trump to find a way to exploit it. The surge in oil prices between 2002 and 2008from $18 a barrel to a peak of $148rapidly shifted the balance of power between locals and foreigners. In a speech at a 2008 real estate conference, Trumps son Donald Jr. made it clear how far the family was outside the closed community that controlled access to Russias prime real estate and to the petrodollars needed to develop it. "As much as we want to take our business over there, Russia is just a different world," Donald Jr. said, according to an article in the The Washington Post. "It is a question of who knows who, whose brother is paying off who. . . . It really is a scary place." To be sure, serious hotel companies with solid balance sheets like Four Seasons, SAS Radisson, and Marriott have all built businesses as operators there, but Trump is not cut from the same cloth. As Chris Weafer, founder of the consultancy Macro Advisory Services and a long-time Russia veteran, says: Its impossible to do business in Russia without a reliable local partnership. You have to be low-key and easy to get on with, and Trumps personality would generally seem to work against that. 2008 was arguably the last year that the high-end, glitzy project that is Trumps trademark could possibly have succeeded in Russia. The "natural strength, especially in the high-end sector, Trump Jr. called it in his 2008 speech, but that has since been exposed as illusory. Since the Great Recession, and even more since the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions in the wake of the annexation of Crimea, the Russian economy has been on a downward path, shrinking 3.7% last year and an estimated 1.2% this year, according to the IMF. It follows that ostentatious luxury and too-obvious corruption is out of fashion in Russia too. That was proved again this week when Putin fired the head of the Federal Customs Service, Andrey Belyaninov, after investigators found nearly $900,000 in cash at his home. It was, in fact, already out of fashion in 2009, when Trump sold a $95 million Florida mansion to Dmitry Rybolovlev, the owner of fertilizer company Uralkali. But that was far from signalling any closeness to the Russian power center. Not a friend of Putin Putin had for years been squeezing out businessmen whom he deemed uncooperative, and Rybolovlev had already angered Putin with his cavalier attitude to an accident at his largest mine that caused a local scandal. Soon after the deal with Trump, Rybolovlev went into an extremely comfortable exile, having sold Uralkali to an acceptable local buyer, Suleiman Kerimov. In fact, selling U.S. properties to Russians looking to move their money to a place where Putins tax collectors cant get at it seems to be the one line of business that Trump has done in Russia. "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," Trump Jr. told a real estate conference in 2008, according to the Post article. But given that the country has exported over $220 billion of capital since the start of 2014, there are a lot of people who could make similar claims. Bringing the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow Trumps thirdand, to date, finalopportunity to get into the Russian market came in 2013, when he appeared to have found that elusive and desperately-needed trusted local partner, in the person of developer Aras Agalarov. It was Agalarov who paid around $7 million for the rights to bring Trumps Miss Universe pageant to his flashy Crocus City development in Moscow. But there was no meeting with Putin himself, just a few words on the telephone with Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov. To put in terms that Trump himself would understand, Azerbaijanis like Agalarov dont get that close to the real power, any more than Ukrainians like Viktor Yanukovych, the notoriously corrupt former client of Trumps campaign boss Paul Manafort. There has never been any statement from the Kremlin that would substantiate his claim to NBC that I do have a relationship (with Putin) and I can tell you that hes very interested in what were doing here today. Agalarov himself told Forbes at the time that discussions of projects never went beyond a sharing of views (he said they were quite interesting). As for Putin, he doesnt have time for foreign investors who dont actually have skin in the Russian game. Within four months, the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014 had again ended any whiff of real business in Russia. In the meantime, control of the economy has concentrated in an even tighter circle around Putin, much of which is under U.S. sanctions (although that might change once a President Trump gets round to looking at the legality of Russias land grab, the biggest in Europe since World War II). The banks, such as Deutsche Bank AG, on whom Trump has relied so heavily over the years, have no appetite for the place any more (Deutsche said it would end corporate banking there in September last year), and Trump has never been one to build the kind of hotels that Russia actually needsfunctional, unspectacular three-star business hotels in provincial cities far away from the bright lights of Moscow. Donald Trump may have become a big fish in U.S. politics. But whatever political use Vladimir Putin may have him, in terms of actual business, its clear that hes a fish completely out of water in Mother Russia. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com During the last year, Chinas teapot refiners are helping to boost Chinas crude import demand and their influence is expanding, says Clarkson Research Services. Chinese crude oil imports have historically been dominated by a handful of state-owned companies. However, since mid-2015 Beijing has started to liberalise Chinas oil market, and is gradually allowing more independent refiners to process imported crude, and import crude oil directly. Chinas independent, typically small, teapot refiners account for an estimated 20-30% of Chinese refinery capacity, with Shandong province home to around 70% of total teapot refinery capacity. Historically, teapot refiners have had to rely on crude supply agreements with state oil companies or process fuel oil, with refinery utilisation reportedly limited to around 30-40%, compared to over 80% at state-owned refineries. However, to encourage competition in Chinas oil market, Beijing has started to permit some teapot refiners to use imported crude oil. By the end of 2015, 13 local teapot refiners had been granted permission to process a combined 55mtpa of imported crude oil, either through importing cargoes themselves or via purchase from state-owned companies. 11 of these refineries with a capacity of 42mtpa are located in Shandong. This has led to a sharp rise in crude import demand in the province, with seaborne imports into Shandong growing 72% y-o-y to 48mt in the first five months of 2016, accounting for almost 90% of total Chinese seaborne crude imports. Utilisation at Shandongs teapot refineries has reportedly risen to more than 50%, boosting total refinery throughput in the province by 15% in January-May 2016, with more than half of Shandongs refinery capacity estimated to be accounted for by teapot refiners. In 1H 2016, a further five refiners across China were given permission to process imported crude, bringing the total volume allocated to teapot refiners to 72.5mtpa, equivalent to almost a quarter of Chinese seaborne crude imports in 2015. A further 16.6mtpa of quotas are currently pending approval, of which 9.9mtpa are for refineries in Shandong. If all quotas for Shandong refiners are granted, 21 teapot refiners in the province could process up to 66mtpa of imported crude, equivalent to more than 50% of Shandongs total seaborne crude imports in 2015. Increased imports by teapot refiners are also driving shifts in Chinas crude trade patterns. The teapot refiners appear to favour Russian oil, perhaps owing to the availability of small spot cargoes and attractive prices. In January-May, total Chinese imports from Russia rose 99% y-o-y to 12.5mt, whilst almost 25% of growth in imports into Shandong was accounted for by Russian crude cargoes. However, Shandongs imports from other regions have also risen firmly so far this year. So, recent regulatory changes in China have had an impact on oil market dynamics and crude trade patterns. Teapot refiners, especially in Shandong, have been key in bolstering overall Chinese crude imports this year, and seem set to become increasingly important to trends in Chinese oil trade. The first liquefied natural gas vessel from the lower 48 U.S. states is on its way to China, according to a Reuters interactive map on Friday, the latest sign that the expanded Panama Canal is allowing U.S. exports to reach the world's top LNG buyers in Asia. Royal Dutch Shell's Maran Gas Apollonia loaded up with gas at Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana, the map showed. It passed through the canal earlier this week and was moving northwest up the west coast of Mexico on Friday afternoon. Shell does not disclose the destination of its vessels, company spokesman Ray Fisher said. LNG experts at energy data provider Genscape confirmed the ship's destination was China, but said that could change. China's fast-growing demand for gas, to help alleviate high levels of pollution from burning coal, has outstripped its domestic supply since 2007, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. The Panama Canal shaves distances between export plants dotted along the Gulf of Mexico and Asia to 9,000 miles (14,484 kilometres) from 16,000, allowing U.S. producers to better compete in one of the world's biggest gas consuming markets. Since Sabine Pass started exporting gas in February, 20 ships have picked up about 65.9 bcf of gas from the facility, based on the capacity of the tankers. So far, gas from Sabine has been delivered to South America, India, the Middle East and Europe. The United States, which has been exporting LNG to Asia from Alaska since 1969, has not shipped gas directly to China at least since 1973, according to federal energy data going back that far. The United States, however, did re-export some gas from at least one other country to China in 2011, according to the federal data. A surge in U.S. gas production from the shale revolution stimulated billions of dollars of investment in building LNG export terminals, transforming the country from an importer of LNG to an exporter of the fuel. By 2019, the United States is expected to be pumping out around 60 million tonnes of LNG annually. So far only Sabine Pass is exporting LNG from the lower 48 states and output will double to 9 million tonnes per annum as Cheniere adds a second production line later this year. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Richard Chang) The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM) conducted a joint chemical spill exercise at sea along the East Johor Straits to test the Joint Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for chemical spill incidents and the communication linkages between the Operation Liaison Officers (OLOs) and the Environment Liaison Officers (ELOs) in both countries. Jointly developed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM), the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Johor Department of Environment (DOE), the ERP seeks to tackle potential chemical accidents involving the seaborne transportation of hazardous chemicals along the Straits of Johor. The emergency response exercise is part of the bilateral cooperation programme under the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Committee on the Environment (MSJCE). In the event of a chemical spill incident at sea, MPA has put in place the Chemical Contingency Plan (Marine), which covers the roles and responsibilities of the responding agencies for the cleanup operations. "The Straits of Johor is a busy waterway. Regular bilateral exercises are vital to strengthening regional and multi-agency response capabilities. Todays exercise ensures that should collisions leading to chemical or oil spills occur, all agencies are ready to respond swiftly and effectively," said Andrew Tan, MPA's Chief Executive. MPA will monitor and coordinate cleanup operations at sea while NEA is responsible for monitoring the air and water quality, and to coordinate cleanup efforts at affected shore areas. NEA Chief Executive Officer Mr Ronnie Tay said, Spills can have far-reaching consequences on the environment and forums such as the MSJCE allow us to hone our bilateral response to protect our shared environment from pollution. We are heartened by the outcome of todays exercise, which clearly demonstrates the operational readiness of both countries to control and mitigate chemical spill incidents in the Straits of Johor. Gold And Silver Merkel: Example Of How Clinton Is A Globalist Puppet Americans have faced mass murder tragedies over the last few decades, all home- grown killers: Columbine high school shootings, the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, [a false flag?], the recent Orlando shooting, to name a few amongst so many others. The taking of innocent lives in such a senseless manner is a heartfelt reaction experienced by the entire nation. It is with empathy that we identify with the terrorist events that occurred in Germany, equally senseless but attributable to a common external trigger: Islamic terrorists. We use the term Islamic to describe the terrorists with no concern to be politically correct. The source of the murderers is beyond question. We also feel for the French and what that nation has been suffering as a consequence of allowing foreign Middle East immigrants to freely enter the country. German Chancellor Merkel has been very vocal in support of welcoming the growing tsunami of immigrants from war-torn Middle Eastern countries. The United States globalist leaders are directly responsible for unleashing the onslaught of immigrants and inevitable terrorists upon Europe. It has been a purposeful effort to destabilize and weaken Europe, and tyrant George Soros has been the leading champion behind the elites Problem-Reaction-Solution effort to rid Europe of its individual sovereign nations and national identities. Angela Merkel could care less about the citizens of Germany. From the economic weakening of the German economy due to the US-induced European sanctions against Russia to the obvious weakening of German nationality, favoring the protection of unwanted Middle East immigrants against the interests and safety of German citizens, Merkel exhibits no legitimate concern for stemming the immigration problems. Here is a political quote from the deeply concerned [cough, cough] Merkel: We are doing everything humanly possible to ensure security in Germany, she noted, but added, Anxiety and fear cannot guide our political decisions. Who is We, Angela? The elites to whom you pledge your allegiance? Doing everything humanly possible, everything except dealing with the source of the undermining of security of Germans. How about using reality as a guide for your political decisions! The German anxiety and fear are real and demand attention and protection over the misdirected protection of a handful of immigrant terrorists. German Chancellor Angel Merkel is a treasonist sell-out to the German people. Shame on her and every other political hack trying to preserve the political European Union She is an example of what Americans can expect from Hillary Clinton should the globalists prevail and elect this megalomaniac to the presidency of the corporate federal government. Hillary Clinton has a history of scandal attached to every aspect of her political career. That Americans purposefully choose to ignore the facts and remain ignorant of her Machiavellian personality says a lot about how much the globalists have successfully used a propaganda-propelled media to keep Democratic voters fooled by this most transparent of a globalist acolyte who has no regard for the people she uses to get her elected in the same way Merkel shows no regard for German citizens. Globalist politicians only serve one master, and the general population is of no concern, Where Barack Yes we can! Obama turned out to be intellectually deficient George Bush squared, if elected, Hillary Clinton will be Bush/Obama cubed. The majority of Clintons political contributions are from Wall Street and mega-corporations like Monsanto, the corporation bent on poisoning the world, with strong support from Clinton. The Clinton Foundation has billions in contributions from those nations supporting war around the globe in partnership with Obama and the US. Clinton is a known war hawk with a track record to prove it. The Clintons did not rise from being penniless after leaving Arkansas to becoming worth hundreds of millions of dollars from backing the people. Every dime of their now outrageous wealth came from Wall Street and major corporations. She does not mind being owned by them for they have rewarded her well, financially. Clinton will epitomize the worst in every politician but on steroids. It is hard to get people to change their beliefs, especially when it comes to religion and politics. Anyone who takes the time to research the facts will have an incredible political awakening about Clinton. The fear and anxiety Merkel mentions is what will prevail around the world, and those who own and hold physical gold and silver will be the beneficiaries from the corrupt globalists who do everything to discourage gold, while a the same time, they do everything possible now to accumulate it. Keep buying and holding, That the shortened range for July stopped short of reaching nearer the 1400 area can be viewed as a red flag, a caution for a pull-back. Because monthly charts are not used for market timing, the lower time frames will be viewed to see if the caution on this chart also shows on the weekly and daily charts. The caution is warranted based on how price is negotiating its way within the up channel shown below. The last seven weeks have evolved within the half-way area of the channel. The failure of price to work higher and nearer to the upper channel line tells us price is laboring, and there could be some more corrective activity in the next few weeks. This is not a sound for alarm for the trend remains up. The small range on the monthly chart can be seen as the side by the sideways move since the BREXIT rally near the end of June. You can see since the July swing high, the recovery rally attempt, really just the last 3 TDs, remains about mid-range, and mid-range in any sideways move is where the level of knowledge is at is lowest, for price can retrace to the upper or lower part of the range and not violate anything but increase the possible risk within the range. The increased volume adds to the note of caution. Silver does not appear quite as dynamic as the gold charts, yet it continues to quietly outperform relative to gold. We mention the small gap apparent on this chart because little gaps can signify the beginning of an eventual major move, to the upside in this case. Like gold, silver stalled in its rally falling just short of reaching resistance, which is a relative indication of weakness in the rally, but still a rally. The volume increase as price rallied is usually not a positive sign, and for this reason, we take the cautionary view that price may correct more. That remains to be seen, but at least one can be prepared. Higher than normal volume on the rally is the theme that cannot be ignored. The cautionary note may prove wrong and price continues to work higher. That is always a possibility, but it is not a higher probability. Again, one can only be prepared for what the market will do. The discussion is focused on the paper market as our measure, but until something happens otherwise, it is the only current measure available. The physical market is severely underpriced, and so we keep saying to keep buying. All fiats are losing ground relative to gold and silver, and that will be the eventual reality for the months and years ahead. The debt spiral created by the globalist moneychangers is doomed to fail, but at considerable damage to the masses at large who remain unprepared. By Michael Noonan http://edgetraderplus.com Michael Noonan, mn@edgetraderplus.com, is a Chicago-based trader with over 30 years in the business. His sole approach to analysis is derived from developing market pattern behavior, found in the form of Price, Volume, and Time, and it is generated from the best source possible, the market itself. 2016 Copyright Michael Noonan - 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. Michael Noonan Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union states will not oppose the EU executive's decision to cancel Spain's and Portugal's fines for their excessive deficits, two EU officials said on Friday, despite the head of euro zone finance ministers criticising such leniency. Under EU rules, the Council of EU countries could reject the European Commission's decision within ten days, an option that Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem hinted at on Wednesday. However, the majority needed to block the Commission's decision was not reached at a meeting on Friday, paving the way for an automatic waiver on Aug. 8, when the 10-day tacit acceptance procedure ends, the officials told Reuters. Spain and Portugal risked a fine up to 0.2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) for breaching EU fiscal rules requiring that their deficit are below 3 percent of GDP. But the Commission, amid fears of growing euroscepticism in the bloc, decided to waive the fines. Its decision may weaken EU fiscal discipline, but is seen as helpful in not hampering growth in the euro zone's fragile economies. As part of the procedure, the European Commission will decide after the summer recess whether to temporarily suspend EU funds to Spain and Portugal next year. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Louise Ireland) With the crowning of Hillary Clinton at the DNC in Philadelphia, the 2016 election cycle appears to have come full circle. She began as the frontrunner twelve months ago, and she is now officially the party's nominee. However, what we have passed through over the last few months is not a circle, but a contradictory spiral of development. The river of American political struggle has overflowed, and while Sanders' capitulation will inevitably lead to a temporary ebbing of the tide, its course has been changed forever. Many Sanders supporters are understandably disappointed and angry. A truly historic opportunity has been missed. But there are many positive lessons to be drawn from this experience, and there are many reasons to be optimistic when it comes to the future of the socialist revolution in the United States. First and foremost, we must keep the long view of history in mind. It is an undeniable fact that interest in socialism has hit the mainstream. The significance of this development, especially in a country that was subjected to decades of anti-communist hysteria, should not be underestimated. Let's not forget that just two presidential cycles ago, Barack Obama's abstract promises of hope and change we can believe in were sufficient to propel him to the White House. But as the capitalist crisis deepened and dragged on, the problems facing working Americans only got worse. The eventual result was Occupy Wall Street, which introduced the idea of the 99% versus the 1%a much sharper us versus them formulation. Black Lives Matter put racism and police brutality front and center, once again, an us versus them perspective on how society is structured. Then came Bernie Sanders, who rallied millions with his electrifying call for a political revolution against the billionaire classa clear reference to class and revolution. In short, the speed with which millions of Americans' outlook has shifted to the left is almost breathtaking. However, not all American workers have moved to the left. Confronted by crisis and instability, millions have been drawn to the right-wing populism of Donald Trump. How can we explain this? Polarization in a political vacuum During the prolonged economic upswing that followed World War II, a layer of skilled workers, and in particular, white workers, was granted a few more crumbs than the rest, as part of a conscious policy to divide and conquer the working class along racial lines. The American Dream seemed to be a reality for millions. The quality of life available to high school-educated factory workers would make most white-collar workers today envious: widespread access to higher education for their children, a social safety net, generous health care benefits, pensions, and paid holidays. The class struggles of the 1930s and 1940s faded into memory; McCarthyism and the craven policies of the Communist Party led to the purging of the left from unions; the rank and file let down its guard on the basis of gradually improving wages and conditions; and the union leaders drifted far to the right, in effect fusing with capitalist Democratic party. The world economic crisis of 1974 signaled the end of this anomalous period. Over the last 40 years, the hard-won gains of the past have been rolled back and the unions have been numerically decimated. Although worker productivity has doubled since the 1970s, purchasing power has stagnated or declined for most workers, health care and educational costs have skyrocketed, and the idea of summer vacations and a comfortable retirement is entirely out of reach for most American workers and youth. The 2008 economic crisis marked a critical turning point in the history of world capitalism. Confidence in the system was badly shaken. Millions of jobs were lost, millions of homes foreclosedand Wall Street got richer than ever. It took seven years for the number of employed workers to reach pre-crisis levels, and this does not include the millions who have entered the workforce since then. GDP has averaged just 2.4% over last 10 years, which would typically be considered a growth recession. What little growth there has been has gone almost exclusively to the rich. The world's richest 1%a large proportion of whom reside in the UShave more wealth than the other 99% of the population. This is a fact, not an exaggeration. Far from offering a way forward, the trade union leaders have become an objective obstacle to the development of the class struggle, moving might and main to prevent the unleashing of the colossal power of the American working class. Over the course of the last century, the US ruling class, aided by the labor bureaucracy, successfully prevented the formation of a mass working class party. In fact, the US is the only advanced industrialized country in which the workers have never had a mass political expression of their own. After years of crisis, US workers turned to the 2016 presidential elections as an outlet to express their frustrations. In a country where two capitalist parties have dominated political life for a century and a half, it is only natural that the workers turned first to these institutions for a way out. But these parties cannot offer a solution. Both the Republicans and the Democrats represent the capitalists, a rotten and decaying class that no longer has a progressive historic role to play in society. The profound instability of the system has led to deep divisions within the ruling class, who are no longer able to rule in the old way, but have no idea what else to do. Every measure they take to reestablish economic equilibrium only exacerbates the political and social disequilibrium, and vice versa. Into the void stepped two bold candidates with combative anti-establishment messages. Both Trump and Sanders represent historical accidents who in different ways have channeled the working class's burning desire to fight back against the bosses and their bought-and-paid-for politicians. They successfully tapped into reserves of pent-up discontent so deep that even the Marxists could not have predicted how far their campaigns would go. Homeless tent city in Seattle Washington - Photo: Joe Mabel CC BY-SA 3.0As the American Dream fades into memory, and with no fighting lead by the labor leaders, many workers have fallen prey to the anti-establishment-cloaked racism, misogyny, and xenophobia of demagogues like Donald Trump. However, before whole swathes of the US working class are written off as hopeless racists and sexists, it is important to understand that the essence of conservatism among American workers is the desperate desire to cling to what little stability remains in a world that seems to have gone insane. Confronted by colossal, confusing forces beyond their control, there is a visceral desire to find something firm and immutable to hold on to. This can take many forms, including regional, religious, sexual, racial, and even trade union identity, and more often than not these overlap. While making no excuses or concessions to the racism and sexism of many workers, which must be energetically combatted, the real key to understanding Trump's popularity lies in his anti-establishment message. Given a militant and independent working class alternative, many Trump supporters could actually be won to socialism. On the basis of the concrete and tangible improvements in quality of life that only socialism can offer, their pragmatism would in time lead them to view socialist ideas and measures as good common sense. Social and political polarization Under the hammer blows of the capitalist crisis, the so-called center of American politics has disintegrated and the historically narrow political spectrum has been blown apart. On what serves as the left in American politics, Bernie Sanders' at-first virtually unnoticed campaign exploded into the mainstream. Objectively speaking, Sanders is mildly reformist at best. His proposals do not seek to impinge on capitalist private property in any way shape or form. But in the context of the United States, his fiery anti-Wall Street rhetoric struck a chord. The fact that millions of Americansand not only the youthnow say they would vote for a socialist or even a communist marks a tidal change in the situation. Although he had never before been a member of the Democratic Party, Sanders decided against an independent run and instead hitched his campaign to the DNC machine. We explained at the time that we believed this was a crucial mistake, as it would foment unrealizable illusions in the pro-capitalist Democratic Party as a vehicle for fundamental social change. Though an independent run would have received less media attention, it could have laid the foundations for something viable outside the two major parties. When Bernie first announced his candidacy, he was given an ice cube's chance in hell of getting anywhere near the nomination. But he was in the right place at the right time, and his campaign took off like a rocket, giving Clinton and the DNC establishment one hell of a scare. He won primaries and caucuses in 23 states, a total of 13 million votes, and received 1,900 delegates for the Democratic National Convention. Hundreds of thousands attended his rallies. Clinton and the Democratic Party have been gravely wounded and American politics has been transformed forever. Nonetheless, his attempt to reform the Democratic Party from within took a face plant when he buckled to the pressure and endorsed Clinton, the most widely despised Democratic presidential nominee in recent history. This confirms yet again that the Democratic Party is the graveyard of progressive movements. Bernie's capitulation has given them a brief reprieve, but the damage to the party has been done, and the seams will unravel all the more quickly as events continue to stress US capitalism and its political pillars in the years ahead. On the right of the political spectrum, the cultural caricature of The Donald has been catapulted from reality TV mainstay and pro wrestling heel to the doorstep of the world's most powerful office. In 1999, Trump told the Wall Street Journal: Yes, I am considering a run for president. Unlike candidates from the two major parties, my candidacy would not represent an exercise in career advancement. I am not a political pro trying to top off his resume. I am considering a run only because I am convinced the major parties have lost their way. The Republicans are captives of their right wing. The Democrats are captives of their left wing. I dont hear anyone speaking for the working men and women in the center. But he too abandoned his independent stance and took his demagogic message into the heart of the Republican Party. Unlike Bernie, he actually succeeded in winning the nomination. In the process, he has blown apart the modern Republican Party, and if he doesn't finish the demolition job, Ted Cruz will be happy to assist. Bernie and the DNC Photo: Socialist Appeal (United States) With candidates like George W. Bush, John McCain, and Sarah Palin, the Republican National Convention has long been the target of mass protests. However, it has been many decades since so many protesters descended upon the Democratic National Convention to protest against it from the left. Thousands of Bernie delegates and supporters streamed to Philadelphia to pressure him to retract his endorsement of Clinton, and to run against both her and Trump as a third-party independent. After skewering Hillary on the campaign trail and exposing her as big business's preferred candidate, how could he possibly follow through on his promise to endorse her? Adding fuel to the anti-establishment fire, on the eve of the convention, Wikileaks released 20,000 internal emails from the DNC which clearly showed that, far from impartially facilitating the party's primaries and caucuses, the Democratic Party machine was fully behind Clinton from the get-go, and did everything in its power to block Sanders from winning. Despite all of this, Sanders apparently still believed that if he sold his political soul, he could somehow gain leverage in a party controlled by Wall Street and an army of cynical bureaucrats. He hung his hopes on the new Democratic Party platform, which he repeatedly referred to as the most progressive in the party's history. However, like campaign trail promises, the platform of a bourgeois party holds no weight, as they are not binding on elected officials and are unceremoniously shelved once the election is over and the real world of bipartisan politics sets in. In the end, Sanders was reduced to playing the role of a Pied Piper leading his followers into the jaws of the Democrats. But his supporters were not inclined to give in so easily. Before the opening of the carefully stage-managed convention, large crowds marched across Philadelphia chanting: Bernie beats Trump! Hell no, DNC, we won't vote for Hillary! and even Hell no, DNC, party of the bourgeoisie! Sanders spent the hours before formalizing his capitulation trying to minimize the backlash, texting his supporters and urging them not to engage in any kind of protest on the floor. When he finally faced his delegates in advance of the official nomination process, they excitedly cheered the news that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the hated architect of the party's anti-Sanders machinations, was resigning as chair of the DNC. But when he urged them to vote for Clinton, glumly asserting that this is the real world, he was met with a prolonged chorus of boos. Nevertheless, they still held out hope that he would change course at the last moment and broke into chants of We Want Bernie! Outside the convention center, around a cellphone streaming Bernie's speech to his delegates, confusion turned to disbelief then fury: he's a f*cking sellout! While the news was slow to seep into the crowd, many began turning their Bernie signs upside down. DNC protest - Photo: Socialist Appeal (United States)Throughout the convention, speakers shilling for Clinton were met with boos, and their calls for party unity were met with cries of bullsh*t! We want Bernie! Not for sale! and Never Hillary! When Sanders told the full convention that Our job is to do two thingsto 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. I'm proud to stand with Hillary, a massive chorus of boos ensued, and many had tears in their eyes as they watched their political hero wallow in the filth and cynicism of the DNC charade. When the time came to finalize the nomination, Sanders made a motion to suspend procedural rules, calling on the convention to nominate Clinton by general acclamation. Stunned by this final betrayal hundreds of Sanders delegates, many of them in tears, led a walk-out from the building. As delegate Miguel Angel Zuniga from Los Angeles explained, They've been bought. ...The world is watching us and what they're taking from this is that anybody with power or money could be our president. Delegate Luis Eric Aguilar from Illinois, who held a sign that read Hillary delegates acted like Trump supporters, expressed his disgust: Everything we learned about Bernie's campaign is everything standing up against Hillary's. They're the ones with money, backed by corporations and the banks. We're backed by millions around the nation. Around the convention center signs such as #DemExit and Bernie Betrayed Us began to pop up. A mass de-registration from the Democratic Party rolls was organized in front of Philadelphia's City Hall. In conversations with Bernie supporters, many told IMT members categorically that they would never again fall for the bait and switch or vote for the Democrats. Inside the convention hall, liberal darlings such as Al Franken, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren tied themselves and their progressive credentials to the Titanic that is the Clinton campaign. Sarah Silverman indignantly declared that the Bernie or Bust delegates were being ridiculous. What is ridiculous is assuming people should vote for Clinton when they disagree with her and want something else. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albrightwho infamously said there is a special place in hell for women who do not vote for Hillarymade a crass case for Clinton's blatantly imperialist credentials. The hundreds of empty seats formerly occupied by Sanders delegates were reportedly filled with people recruited for pay through an ad on Craigslist, in order to keep the hall full for the TV cameras. Even the small victory of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation was short-lived, as Hillary slapped Sanders's supporters in the face by promoting her to honorary co-chair of her campaign. In this context, the historic nomination of the first female presidential nominee major party rang hollow for millions of women whose class instincts had drawn them towards Sanders. After dragging his supporters kicking and screaming into the odious and corrupt swamp of the Democratic Party, Sanders announced that he was quitting the Democrats after all, and returning to the Senate as an independent. For many, this only added insult to injury. Others hold out hope that he may yet serve as a point of reference in the future. Only time will tell how all of this shakes out. What is clear is that Sanders was in a unique position. He could have lifted a little finger and changed the course of US history forever. He could have led millions of radicalized youth and workers out of the Democratic Party and formed a new party with a mass base that could easily give the Democrats and Republicans a run for their money. 65% of Millennial voters wanted him to reject Clinton and run as an independent. 50% of all American voters consider themselves independents, a plurality, which could have actually won the presidency this electoral cycle. Many polls show that Sanders had the best chance of beating Trump. Even Donald Trump grasped the significance of Bernie's capitulation. At a rally in North Carolina he said Sanders was losing his legacy. He's just sort of given up. Cynically seeking to tap into Sanders supporters' anti-establishment sentiments, he tweeted: While Bernie has totally given up on his fight for the people, we welcome all voters who want a better future for our workers. Sanders claims the American socialist Eugene Debs as one of his political inspirations. Debs, in a crushing reply to lesser-evil arguments, famously stated that it is better to vote for what you want and not get it, than to vote for what you don't want, and get it. But when push came to shove, Sanders did not stick to his guns. In the end, he kept his word to endorse Clinton, but not his word to the millions who wanted him to lead the fight against Wall Street and its politicians. Bernie awakened a giantmillions of workers and youth who were willing to pioneer a new era of American politics. One explanation for his downfall is his lack of confidence in his supporters and their willingness to fight to the end for political revolution against the billionaire class. Without a class analysis, an understanding that once organized and mobilized, the working class is the most powerful social force on the planet, he caved to the pressures of political horse-trading at the top. But another possible explanation is that he himself was terrified by the forces he had unleashed, and under the merciless pressure of the ruling class, he used his remaining influence to dampen the fire before it got out of control. Blowing apart the oldest party in American politics, a key institution of capitalist rule in the US and around the world, was not part of the script. Either way, this is an clear lesson in the betrayal that is inherent in reformism, especially left reformism. Like Tsipras in Greece or Hollande in France, those who do not break with the capitalist system will inevitably end up implementing the same policies as the main capitalist parties. Perspectives for election 2016 Who will be the next occupant of the White House? Reason, logic, and many opinion polls would indicate the US will soon have its first woman president. But reason, logic, and opinion polls are not applicable in times such as these. Other polls show Trump running dead even or even ahead. It is said that a week is an eternity in politicsand there are many weeks between now and November. It is therefore impossible to say for certain, but we can categorically state that it is a lose-lose contest for the working class. Neither of the candidates represents the interests of the working class majority, a conclusion already drawn by millions. Millions more will learn the hard way through the bitter experience of the next presidency. Trump represents the distilled essence of short-sighted capitalist arrogance and demagogy. He is a representative par excellence of the naked cash nexus of human and social relations referred to by Marx in the Communist Manifesto. He represents a world in which lying, cheating, duping, wheeling and dealing are considered the highest of virtues. No class conscious worker wants Trump to be the next Executive-in-Chief. But we must be clear: If Trump wins, it will be the fault of the so-called lesser evil policy, of the trade union leaders for not providing an alternative, and yes, of Bernie Sanders. The key question is not, how can we stop Trump in 2016? but rather, how can we put an end to capitalism, which gives rise to the Trumps and Clintons of the world? This is the question the Bernie or Bust supporters must ask themselves. Many people have sincere illusions in Clinton. In a country rife with the poison of sexism, the nomination of the first female candidate by a major party is seen as a step forward by many. They want to defeat Trump, and sincerely believe she is more electable. But we must bear in mind that despite the impact made by Sanders's anti-Wall Street campaign, millions have not yet drawn the conclusion that the system itself must be attacked. Many others who have drawn this conclusion are hesitant to leave the safe confines of the familiar name and policies she provides. Many others detest Clinton but will nevertheless vote for her in order to stop Trump. However, the lesser evil game has its limits. The flip side of this strategy is the eventual victory of the greater evil. Lesser evilism is also used to cow and marginalize those who understand that a revolution will require much more than merely electing a better or worse candidate. We are fighting for a fundamental change of economic and political relations, not mere cosmetic changes at the top. For this we need not only the numbers but political education, organization, and activity. The same disappointment that followed Obama's election will be redoubled if Clinton wins. Even if she beats Trump in November, the problems that gave rise to his popularity cannot be resolved within capitalism. But Clinton knows no other parameters. Another economic crisis is in the cards and the reaction of the workers will not be shock and paralysis as in 2008, but anger and mass mobilization. And if she fails to defeat Trump, political deal-making in Congress will not be sufficient to stop his attacks. Mass strikes, protests, and demonstrations, factory, workplace, and campus occupations, general strikes, and ultimately revolution will be on the agenda if we want to stop him and his ilk. Jill Stein - Photo by Paul Stein CC BY SA 2.0 Before endorsing Clinton, Sanders spurned an offer from Jill Stein to run as the Green Party's candidate. As she echoes many of Sanders's progressive positions, interest in her candidacy has grown since his capitulation and she will surely win many of his voters. But the Green Party has neither the name recognition, national scope, or mass enthusiasm that Sanders squandered, and the party is unlikely to make a significant impact in the November. Nonetheless, in the absence of an alternative, we should never say never. Only time and events will tell, and the Marxists will follow this and other efforts to harness the energy of Sanders's campaign closely. The fight for socialism is just beginning! Millions of Sanders supporters are in shock and many feel a deep sense of betrayal. But there is no need for dejection or disillusionment. The real surprise is that his campaign went so far. Although the perspective for a new mass political party of the working class has again been delayed, the events of the last few months are proof that the potential for a socialist revolution in the United States is not as far off as most people would have imagined. This should fill us with tremendous enthusiasm and optimism for the future. Blocked on this political front, other political avenues will inevitably open up, and sooner or later, in one form or another, a mass socialist party of the working class will be created. And while strike levels remain historically low, the workers will eventually make a breakthrough in their efforts to fight collectively against the bosses, which will unleash a new era of strikes and lead to the rise of new leaders and unions. Comrades of the Workers International League - the US section of the IMT - at the DNC protest - Photo: Socialist Appeal (United States)Obama's School of the Democrats has been a contradictory and complicated period. For a variety of reasons, he was granted a prolonged honeymoon. But whoever wins the next election will almost certainly have an extremely short or non-existent grace period, at least among the most advanced layers of workers and youth. This will open big opportunities for the Marxists. Our political perspectives have been confirmed and this has led to increased interest in our organization. Many of our readers may have been less inclined to join a relatively small group as long as the Bernie movement seemed to offer a path forward. That door has now closed. If you are serious about fighting for socialist revolution, we invite you to join the IMT to help build the forces of revolutionary Marxism in every workplace, neighborhood, and campus. Earth-shaking events are on the horizon. This is no time to stand passively on the sidelines of history. There is no better time than now to join the struggle for a better world. BROCKTON A Whitman man allegedly told police he intentionally struck his girlfriend with his car because he thought their relationship was over. "I hit her," the Brockton Enterprise quoted from court records. "My anger got me and I hit her with my car because I thought it was over." Seaquist was arraigned in Brockton District Court Friday on charges of attempted murder and driving under the influence of alcohol causing serious injury. He was also charged with motor vehicle violations. He was ordered held without the right to bail pending a dangerousness hearing on August 5. Prosecutors told the court that Seaquist and his then-girlfriend were at his Whitman home Wednesday afternoon when the two began to argue. The alleged victim, a 35-year-old Brockton woman, left him to walk home. He called her and offered to drive her home and picked her up at a nearby convenience store. Once in the car the two began to argue again, and the woman made Seaquist stop and she got out and began to walk home again. That is when Seaquist told police he went into a blind rage. Witnesses told police they saw the victim fly through the air and land in the roadway. Seaquist then backed into a utility police, then sped away from the scene. As he tried to make a corner he hit a curb and rolled his car onto its roof. The woman was airlifted to the Boston hospital with head, chest and lower body injuries. She underwent surgery and is currently listed in fair condition, hospital officials told authorities. NORTHAMPTON Shouting "No justice, no peace no racist police!" Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters staged a march that began in Hadley and ended in Northampton on Friday evening. Walking along the side of the road, the group which included a number of Amherst College students as well as local adult activists made their way between towns, starting at Hopkins Academy in Hadley. Chanting "Black lives matter!" and "Hands up, don't shoot" in reference to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the group traveled along Rt 9 and across the Calvin Coolidge Bridge, before ending their protest at the steps of City Hall in Northampton. A heavy police presence was apparent along the way, with numerous Hadley police cruisers parked nearby to Hopkins Academy, where the protesters began their march. The walk was the first of three one-hour walks being staged by Amherst College's chapter of Black Lives Matter, the next two of which will also occur this weekend, according to the group's Facebook page. The school's marches are also apparently being coordinated in tandem with marches held by BLM chapters in both Boston and South Carolina, as well. The walks are meant to call attention to a number of issues, including "systemic racism, police brutality, microaggressions, anti-black transmisogynist violence, police rape, and other aspects of anti-black racism and violece in America," according to the site. The protest also comes weeks after multiple high-profile, racially-charged incidents of violence between African Americans and police officers, including the "Dallas sniper" shootings that left five police officers dead, and the shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On the steps of City Hall, the protesters chanted support for a number of different racial enclaves, including African Americans and Native Americans. Shouts for LGBT rights could also be heard. Several people cheered at the protesters entered the city's downtown area. Not everyone was enthused, however. The protesters also received multiple heckles including one man who biked by and shouted "What about the hundreds of thousands of white American lives?" The group's next two protests are scheduled for July 30 and July 31, according to the group's website. The third protest will also include a sit-in protest on the steps of Northampton's City Hall, at which time community members are invited to "share words, arts, music, dance, or any other form of expression speaking to themes of anti-black racism, and anti-black police violence." Bridgewater suspect car.jpg Bridgewater police have identified a driver who pulled in front of a motorcycle on Sunday night, leading to a crash that caused serious injuries. Investigators released this photo showing the suspect vehicle on the left. Entered July 26, 2016. (Courtesy: Bridgewater Police Dept.) BRIDGEWATER - A Brockton woman is facing charges in connection to a motorcycle crash that caused serious injuries to two people. Violanta Andrade, 43, is charged with failing to grant the right of way and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. Police released surveillance video of the crash on Sunday, July 24. The video shows a motorcycle go through a solid yellow light, then swerve to avoid a car that pulls in front of it. The motorcycle goes off the road and crashes into a tree. The motorcycle driver, a 49-year-old man from Middleborough, was taken by ambulance to Brockton Hospital, then by helicopter to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The passenger, a 53-year-old woman from Wareham, was taken to Boston Medical Center by ambulance. Andrade was identified by police during a traffic stop on Thursday. She will be summonsed to appear in court at a later date. Chief Christopher Delmonte thanked the public and the media for sharing photos and video from the scene. HONG KONG, July 30 (Reuters) - Fosun Group said on Saturday it has agreed to buy Brazilian fund manager Rio Bravo Investimentos, in the Chinese conglomerate's first acquisition in Latin America. Fosun did not disclose the value of the deal, but said in a statement that it expects to take advantage of the "exceptional period of change and economic renewal" taking place not only in Brazil but also in neighboring economies. Reuters reported this week that Fosun was in advanced talks to buy Rio Bravo, citing a source familiar with the talks. . Sao Paulo-based Rio Bravo manages about 10 billion reais ($3 billion) of clients' money in liquid funds, real estate and private equity investments. Its three main partners include former Brazilian central bank president Gustavo Franco, Paulo Bylik and Mario Fleck. Founded by billionaire Guo Guangchang, Fosun has grown into China's biggest private conglomerate, with holdings ranging from medical companies to French travel group Club Med. "Brazil is geographically a conduit linking Latin America and Asia. With its own distinctive economic characteristics and large size, Brazil has a strong influence in the region," Guo, a self-styled student of U.S. investor Warren Buffett, said in the statement. He said the acquisition marks an important milestone in laying out Fosun's globalisation strategy of being present in important emerging economies. Rio Bravo director Fleck said the deal also offers an opportunity to give its Brazilian clients a greater spectrum of financial products. The Brazilian deal caps a busy week for Fosun in which it struck its first major Indian acquisition, with the $1.3 billion purchase of KKR Co -backed Gland Pharma.. Guo told Reuters in an interview in May that Fosun will be paying more attention to Russia, India, Brazil and Africa, after spending more than $30 billion buying real estate, insurance companies and healthcare firms mostly in the developed markets. (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Kim Coghill) Powers is the co-founder and CEO of CODE2040 that helps prepare college-age African-American and Latino technical talent for careers in the tech industry through summer internships that place them in tech companies whose narrow recruiting efforts often overlook them. The non-profits name refers to the decade in which the United States will have a non-white majority. Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/07/30/code2040-ceo-laura-weidman-powers-heads-to-white-house-megan-smith/87778094/ Recaptured drug lord Joaquin On Tuesday, the Mexican government extradited Mauricio Sanchez Garza, an alleged financial operator in Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. Sanchez Garza has been indicted in western Texas on charges of laundering drug-money proceeds and of committing an extortion scheme that involved a Hollywood screenplay, a production billed as a prequel to the 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ." Clad in handcuffs, Sanchez Garza arrived in San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday, where has been accused of using dirty money to purchase a home and several plots of land on which he planned to build apartments, according to MySanAntonio.com. A 'key piece' In addition to the charges filed in Texas, Sanchez Garza was allegedly involved in the financial network related to the autobiographical film that Guzman wanted to make with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, according to Mexican news magazine Proceso. Guzman exchanged messages with del Castillo about the film and to arrange his meeting with Sean Penn while he was on run late last year. His communications with her are thought to have helped authorities track him down. The Mexican attorney general's office said Sanchez Garza's arrest in January this year was part of an investigation that started when Mexican authorities learned that Guzman, while jailed, wanted to produce books and a movie about his life. Sanchez Garza was a "key piece" in understanding del Castillo's and Penn's role in the possible use of funds of illicit origin, according to Proceso. el chapo kate del castillo sean penn Sanchez Garza's involvement with the screenplay to "Mary, Mother of Christ" the prequel to "The Passion of the Christ" written by the same screenwriter, Benedict Fitzgerald turned violent when he and a partner orchestrated the kidnapping of a business partner's brother in order to force that partner to sign over his rights to the script, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Story continues Sanchez Garza fled to Mexico in 2010 to avoid arrest, but was apprehended in Jalisco, the state where he was born, in January on a warrant for the charges filed in Texas. A long history of involvement While Sanchez Garza was indicted in the US in 2010 and 2011, he is accused of having ties to longstanding members of Mexico's narco underworld. He is accused of laundering money on behalf of Juan Jose "El Azul" Esparragoza, one of the current leaders of the Sinaloa cartel who has been active in the drug trade since the 1970s. And the US Treasury department has accused him of laundering money for Rafael Caro Quintero, an original member of what is now the Sinaloa cartel who was jailed from 1985 to 2013. Caro Quintero has returned to the narco scene in recent weeks. US Treasury Sachez network money laundering Sinaloa cartel According to the US Justice Department, from 2005 until July 2011, Sanchez and two associates conspired to transport proceeds derived from illegal drug trafficking into the US and conduct financial transactions with them in order to conceal their nature and to obscure the involvement of drug traffickers in the transactions. Sanchez Garza's involvement with Hollywood began in 2006, when Fitzgerald had been working for two years to get his prequel to "The Passion of the Christ" made. According to an Esquire profile by Luke Dittrich, Fitzgerald, who was seeking financing, was introduced to Sanchez Garza through several intermediaries. "Fitzgerald wondered a little bit about the source of the Mexicans' wealth," Dittrich writes, "but he didn't wonder too much." NOW WATCH: 1 YEAR LATER: Heres what may come next for 'El Chapo' Guzman More From Business Insider Rafael Caro Quintero Sinaloa cartel Mexican drug cartel trafficker In the '70s and '80s, Rafael Caro Quintero was one member of a triumvirate that built a sprawling drug empire in Mexico. In a wide-ranging interview with Mexican magazine Proceso last week, Caro Quintero who is still wanted by both the US and Mexican governments rejected reports that he was up to his old tricks, even denying that he was ever a major trafficker, and disputed rumors that he had gone to war with his old cartel associates. I know nothing of cocaine. I made my roots in marijuana, nothing more, Caro Quintero said during the interview. I sold it here, among the ranches I never trafficked [drugs] to the United States, he added. Caro Quintero's decades-long reign came to an end in 1985, when he was jailed for 40 years for his involvement in the kidnapping and killing of US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in Guadalajara, Mexico. Caro Quintero was suddenly released in 2013, after a court overturned his conviction on a technicality. A higher court quickly reversed that decision, and new warrants for his arrest were issued, but he had already slipped away and has lived in hiding until recent weeks, when rumors emerged that he was taking on his old compatriots in an effort to reestablish himself in Mexico's narco scene. Caro Quintero claimed in the Proceso interview that he exited the drug business in 1984 and has not returned since. "I was a drug trafficker 31 years ago, and from that moment I am telling you that when I lost the crops from" the Buffalo Ranch in Chihuahua state, where Mexican authorities, tipped off by Camarena, destroyed a multibillion-dollar haul of thousands of pounds of marijuana in 1984, "there I ended that activity," Caro Quintero told Proceso. "And never have I exercised it [since] and I'm not going to do it. I stopped being a drug trafficker and I say to you again: Please, leave me in peace." Story continues mexico drugs marijuana There are good reasons to doubt Caro Quintero's protestations about his role in the drug trade. Working in the drug trade since his youth, Caro Quintero likely doesn't know any other way of life. What's more, since both the US and Mexican governments are looking for him, there's probably little to dissuade him from further criminal activity. "What does he then lose moving some kilos here or there?" Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope asked in his column in Mexican newspaper El Universal this week. Caro Quintero may also have a more urgent reason to pick up his old trade. During the interview, he admitted he was "doing bad economically." Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the DEA who worked in Mexico, told Business Insider that the kingpin was likely destitute, and "not going to settle for living in a shack in the mountains." "My respect to both families" Golden Triangle Mexico Caro Quintero has maintained that he is staying out of Mexico's cartel battles. He has rejected reports that he turned on his former associates in the Sinaloa cartel and joined with the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), a former branch of the Sinaloa Cartel that has since become a rival. In the interview with Proceso, Caro Quintero said that he had met with Sinaloa cartel leaders "El Chapo" Guzman and "El Mayo" Zambada after his release in 2013, greeting them on cordial terms, but saying he had no interest in the drug trade. "In the first place I have no problems with any cartel. I don't know the Beltran Leyva family and I have no problem with them. Nor with the Guzman family, my respects to both families," Caro Quintero said. He stated further that he had no interest in a "war" with other cartels. "Imagine, with almost 29 years that I was jailed, I would want more problems?" On this point, Caro Quintero may be closer to the truth. Rafael caro quintero Vigil told Business Insider that Caro Quintero likely had much more modest ambitions than taking on the whole of the Sinaloa network. "He doesn't have the power to take over any of, like, the Sinaloa cartel. He just doesn't have the muscles," Vigil said. "I think he's just trying to get back into the business and carve out a small piece of geography ... with a good, solid pipeline into the United States." Reports from Mexico's Center for Investigation and National Security indicate Caro Quintero remained involved with the Sinaloa cartel while jailed, suggesting he could be working within the cartel now, rather than against it. The fact that Caro Quintero was willing to come out of the shadows to contest these rumors in an interview a very risky proposition for a fugitive is telling, Hope wrote in his column. Running the risks of going public with his denial might be an effort to convince the criminal underworld of his sincerity and to avoid conflict with the cartels. As Hope has noted, it's one thing to clash with the Mexican government, but quite another to take on both the government and the Sinaloa cartel. NOW WATCH: Federal agents found one of the longest US-Mexico drug tunnels hidden under a dumpster More From Business Insider by Fern Siegel , July 29, 2016 At Viacom, creative exploration is multifaceted. The Viacom Lab is a state-of-the art endeavor that utilizes virtual reality, GIFs, live streaming and immersive experiences to up engagement and the fan experience. But Viacom isnt just on the cutting edge of technology. Manhattan HQ is redefining the aesthetics of the workplace with the Art at Viacom project. Started in 2014 as an initiative to highlight emerging, boundary-pushing artists who construct site-specific art installations. Led by Susan Claxton and Cheryl Family, the program has a serious charge: to create transformative experiences for Viacoms clients, partners, employees and the public. It all begins in the vast lobby of 1515 Broadway, which boasts art both provocative and whimsical. advertisement advertisement Claxton and Family discussed why the medium is the message. What is your charge to artists? We encourage the artists to immerse themselves in Viacoms culture: Where we work, how we work and how creativity drives everything we do. Its more than just creating a piece for the space. The artists engage with employees and other passers-by, who watch them in action and talk to them about their process. We also host moderated conversations and hands-on workshops with the artists. How extensive is the project throughout the company? All employees have access to the program. In some cases, like our Rebecca Louise Law exhibit, hundreds of volunteers helped to produce the finished work. We always acquire works for our permanent collection, so the art can travel to different Viacom offices around the world. We have a tumblr (artatviacom.tumblr.com) and an Instagram feed (@artatviacom) that feature different artists on a regular basis, including employees and fan artists. What is the aesthetic criteria? Artists who are doing interesting work in a variety of media. The filter: whether it will surprise and inspire those who experience it. The goal is work that can transform the physical space and, given its large size, make an impact. Something unexpected. Crystal Wagner, for example, worked in chicken wire and plastic tablecloths. Were never prescriptive with the artists we want to showcase each vision. Does Art at Viacom affect the creative productivity of staffers? Its inspirational. Art inspires from the outside in. We want to keep the installations alive even after theyve come down, so weve created a poster and postcard series for people to put their favorites on display in their workspace. Where do you find the art? Literally everywhere. Its the joy of discovery. We visit Art Basel in Miami each year, we look at social platforms, visit art shows and galleries in New York. Employees are making recommendations all the time. Sometimes, its an artist that worked with one of our brands. For example, Dabs Myla designed last years MTV Movie Awards set, and then we built a relationship with them around Art at Viacom. How often is art changed? We do major lobby installations about once a quarter. We are in the process of commissioning some smaller pieces to put on display in other areas of the building. Our tumblr and Instagram feeds are updated several times a week. As part of the installations, we always acquire pieces for Viacoms permanent art collection, which includes Richard Serra, Robert Raushenberg, Nan Goldin and Andy Warhol. These can hang in different public spaces, or, if an executive has a particular affinity for the artist, it can be on loan in their workspace. What has been the public/employee reaction to the art? Fantastic! Our conversations with the artists for employees sell out and hundreds of employees watch the stream online if they cant attend in person. We get a ton of positive feedback, and it leads to more people wanting to be a part of the Art at Viacom program, which is amazing. Weve also had a lot of attention from the art world press. by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 29, 2016 Alphabet, Google's parent company, served up a little surprise for advertisers Thursday when it released earnings. The company managed to lower the cost per click for online search advertising, yet eke out a profit something analysts worried about since Google began pushing advertisers toward the mobile Web and apps. Google finally sees scale in mobile. In fact, mobile became the primary growth driver for Alphabet's financial success $2.1 billion in revenue, up 21% year-over-year during the second quarter of 2016. Ruth Porat, Alphabet CFO, during the earnings call said the company also "benefited from solid growth in desktop and tablet search, as well as continued strength in YouTube and programmatic advertising." Technology makes it easier to identify intent signals through mobile search, video and programmatic that drive advancements to support speed and agility on the mobile Web through programs like Accelerated Mobile Pages. Google estimates that it now indexes more than over 150 million AMP pages, with more than 4 million new ones published every week from nearly 200 countries. advertisement advertisement "Mobile used to be the Wild West of the digital marketing frontier many were afraid of it, no one knew the rules and there was an anything goes mentality," said Will Margiloff, IgnitionOne CEO, in an email to SearchBlog. "Google has essentially been the sheriff in town, taming it and improving it as marketers become more sophisticated in their mobile strategy and continue to see growth." Another worry for analysts at one time was the growth of YouTube and how Google would monetize traffic and videos. Take a trip down memory lane with me. While back in 2006 Pixsy CEO (at the time) Chase Norlin called the deal "one of the silliest maneuvers" he'd ever seen, James Belcher, senior analyst at eMarketer (at the time), called the deal "a nice switch from many deals done during the dot-com era, where the goal was to build traffic." But the goal was to build traffic and then monetize it. "YouTube revenue continues to grow at a very significant rate, driven primarily by video advertising across TrueView and increasingly Google Preferred, with a growing contribution from buying on DoubleClick Bid Manager," according to Porat. YouTube hosts more than 1,000 content creators crossing the 1,000 subscribers mark each day, and the company had paid out more than $2 billion to partners who use the advertising platform. In a nutshell, it's really about mobile search growth, which should make some marketers darn happy. by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, July 29, 2016 As feared, the disastrously misconceived and bungled coup attempt by a faction of the Turkish military on the night of July 14-15 is giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a tailor-made opportunity to act out his most authoritarian impulses under the pretext of protecting democracy. Many measures that are blatantly in conflict with that very aim. One of the most egregious of his emergency measures is the closing of 131 media outlets across the country, including 45 newspapers, 15 magazines, 23 radio stations and 16 TV channels. All have been shuttered on flimsy charges of supporting the coup, encouraging terrorism, or both. A total of 89 journalists have been arrested or had arrest warrants issued as well. In many cases, the targeted publications and broadcasters are associated (or allegedly associated) with Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric and erstwhile ally of Erdogan who now lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Erdogan has accuses him of orchestrating the coup. Gulen has denied these charges and condemned the coup attempt. Virtually no media outlet in Turkey ever voiced support for the abortive military takeover. Even Erdogans staunchest opponents pilloried the attempt to overthrow a democratically elected leader. But this isnt stopping Erdogan, who appears bent on using the crisis to continue his longstanding campaign to silence dissent by various means. Its worth noting that Turkish regulators and law-enforcement officials were already closing newspapers and jailing journalists well before the coup, undoubtedly at Erdogans order. Back in March, police seized control of the countrys largest newspaper, Zaman, while unleashing water cannons and tear gas against protesters gathered outside in an attempt to stop the takeover. The government subsequently shut it down. Last fall, Turkish police raided the offices of a major Turkish conglomerate with media properties, Koza pek Holding, including the newspaper Sozcu, whose columnists all submitted empty op-eds to protest the raid in the newspapers print edition. Turkish security forces have also arrested a number of foreign journalists who were covering anti-government protests on trumped-up charges of abetting terrorism. While the foreign journalists have been released, some of their local handlers remain in custody. Advertisement A team of 25 surgeons and 12 anaesthetists, led by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Subramania Iyer , worked together to preserve as much tissue as they could and transplanted the new hand over them. The entire surgery on Saji, including the retrieval and transplantation, took 14 hours and was done for free.This was the first time such elbow-level hand transplant had been made in the country, said authorities of the hospital, claiming that AIMS was also the only facility in the country with the capability to conduct hand transplants."This surgery was technically much more complicated than the previous two hand transplants at Amrita Hospital. For hand transplants above the wrist, the tendons are still connected to each other. But in an elbow-level transplant, these connections have to be made to the muscle mass," Dr. Iyer said. Identification, tagging and connecting the nerves, tendons and arteries were very challenging and that is why forearm transplants have been attempted only a few times in the world.After the surgery, Jith spent three weeks in the transplant ICU, and is fit to be discharged. He has been undergoing physiotherapy, and is currently able to use both his elbows. Jith will have to undergo intensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises for at least two years for his hands to function normally. He will have to take life-long immunosuppressants to prevent rejection. Since the patient belongs to an economically backward family, the cost of the surgery was partially met with financial aid extended by individual benefactors and philanthropists from across the State.Three successful hand transplants have been done in India, Saji's case included, all at AIMS. All the three transplants have been bilateral or double, which means both hands were transplanted in a single surgery.India's first hand transplant recipient was Manu, then 29, who got new hands on January 12, 2015. The second recipient was Captain Abdul Rahim, who worked with Afghanistan's Border Security Force and had lost both arms while defusing a bomb near Kabul.The three surgeries have put India among a handful of countries including the France, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Iran and China that have successfully done hand transplants.Source: Medindia Advertisement The new findings which were published in two journals, could not only help detect cancers early, but in some cases would enable doctors to detect a tumour before it becomes cancerous.In their first paper, published in the online journal, researchers showed that levels of a protein called SOX2 are much higher in the fallopian tubes of people with ovarian cancer. It is also prevalent in some people who are at high risk of developing ovarian cancer, such as those with inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.Early treatment hugely improves the odds for patients, so early detection is essential. However, there is still a lot of work to be done because detecting SOX2 in the fallopian tubes is not an easy task.In their second paper, published in the journal, the team identified an enzyme that enables ovarian cancer to spread. When ovarian cancer spreads, it usually does so to the omentum, an apron of fatty tissue covering the small intestine. This can cause death by malnutrition, as the growing cancer obstructs the intestines."The omentum is rich in adipocytes, fat cells, and previous research found that the free fatty acids produced by these cells increase the spread of cancer," Professor Ahmed explained.The findings show that ovarian cancer could only proliferate in the presence of an enzyme called SIK2, which has a role in burning fat to produce energy that is needed by the cancer cells to survive in the omentum.SIK2 levels were higher in secondary tumours in the omentum than in related primary tumours. A series of experiments confirmed that SIK2 not only played a key role in growing ovarian tumours, but in the metastasis that spreads them to the omentum.Further experiments revealed the processes, known to medical researchers as, involving SIK2 that support the development and spread of ovarian cancer. SIK2 is an important target for future treatments because it provides cancer cells with energy and also drives their increase in number.The experiments showed that suppressing SIK2 disrupted these pathways, which in the human body would reduce the possibility of cancer cells spreading and remission.Source: Medindia "One in four people, like me, have a mental health problem. Many more people have a problem with that." - Stephan Fry Mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts a persons thinking, mood, emotions, ability to relate to others and day-to-day activities. Depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, phobias and post traumatic stress disorders are some of the less severe mental disorders. Schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder and manic depressive psychosis are more severe mental disorders that distort reality due to hallucinations and delusions. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as a state of subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence and self-actualization of ones intellectual and emotional potential, among others. Mental illnesses can affect a person of any age and are not a result of bad morals, poor upbringing or any kind of personal weakness. It may occur following a traumatic history at any stage of life. Most of us experience strong feelings of anxiety, sadness and panic at a given time and then recover over time. Mental illness occurs when these feelings interfere with coping of daily activities such as enjoying leisure time, work and relationships. Treatment for mental illness is possible with behavior modification, counseling, suggestion therapies and drugs. Advertisement There are several categorizations of mental illnesses. With respect to being in touch with reality, mental illnesses can be listed under two categories Neurosis and Psychosis. Neurosis is an exaggerated use of defense mechanisms to escape the feelings of a situation or event that the person wants to avoid. For example, showing unusual fear or anxiety to escape certain situations. Anxiety, depression, phobias and eating disorders are some types of neurosis. Although these are experienced at a smaller scale by everyone, if these feelings interfere with day-to-day activities, help must be given. Persons with neurosis can understand that they have a problem that hinders their life routine, but they cant resolve it themselves. Neurotics exhibit unusual anxiety to escape certain situations, though this is at their subconscious level. The anxiety experienced by a neurotic person depends on the type of the disorder. Types of Neurotic Disorders Anxiety neurosis: Most of us experience anxiety in certain situations like exams, interviews and so on. However, a person with neurosis may get panic attacks such as heart palpitations, numbness, fainting, chills, etc. The fears are so overpowering that the person cannot carry out the function and can hinder day-to-day activities. Phobias: It refers to extreme fears of certain objects or situations. They are thought to be a result of a previous bad experience and the person is affected so much that they avoid the situation totally. If faced with the situation, they get panic attacks. This condition can be treated by behavior modification and by associating the experiences with pleasant outcomes. Example: fear of heights, fear of crowded places and so on. Obsessive-Compulsive disorder: It is a persistent unwanted thought or belief that causes anxiety and to get rid of this anxiety, the person has to perform a certain act or behave in a certain way. Example: Fear of germs is an obsession and washing of hands is act of compulsion. The person is fully aware that this fear is irrational but cannot help from doing the act to get rid of anxiety caused by the obsessive thought. Advertisement Depression: It is a serious mental health disorder that can be associated with bitter life experiences or imbalance of chemicals in the body. Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt and despair are the main symptoms of depression. Normally such feelings get resolved over time, but when it is neurotic depression, it can affect the daily living of the person such as taking up responsibilities and taking care of family. Eating disorder: Eating disorders are also similar to obsessive disorders, but pertain specifically to the eating patterns and the anxiety that it causes. Anorexia nervosa: It is a disorder that causes reduced intake of food by the affected person. The persons are obsessed with the thought that they may become obese and reduce their food intake. Even if they eat, they try to get rid of the food in the stomach with laxatives and vomiting, before it is properly absorbed by the body. They may even over-exert themselves by exercising compulsively to spend the calories they have taken in. Bulimia: It is an eating disorder, in which the persons binge-eat and then induce vomiting, and starve themselves to compensate. The therapy involves helping to find healthier ways to eat and dealing with personal conflicts. Persons with psychotic disorders do not understand that they have a problem. They live in the world of delusions and hallucinations and their behavior is a result of the beliefs based on these hallucinations. Their thought processes, beliefs and emotions are so impaired that they lose contact with reality. They also show great personality changes, dramatic mood swings, abnormal emotional responses and lack of orientation of time, place and people around them. The three main causes of psychosis include: Functional Mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder Mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder Organic Chemical imbalance, brain tumors, sleep deprivation Chemical imbalance, brain tumors, sleep deprivation Psychoactive drugs Hallucinogens, amphetamines and barbiturates Types of Psychotic Disorders Schizophrenia: It refers to a group of severe mental disorders that have symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, distorted thought processes and abnormal emotions. The person is totally withdrawn from reality. Schizophrenia manifests in different ways in different individuals like some withdraw into themselves without reacting to any stimulus while others may have delusions of grandeur with unrealistic and illogical thinking. Manic Depressive Psychosis: This type of psychosis is characterized by extreme mood swings from being very happy or extremely aggressive to totally withdrawn. During the manic phase, the person may seem to have unlimited energy and find difficulty in sleeping. During the depression stage, the person becomes extremely tired, hopeless and totally withdrawn. Such a person may even consider suicide. The person is not connected to reality, but is there is no identity loss. Disassociative Identity Disorder: Also called Multiple Personality Disorder, the identity disorder involves a disturbance in both memory and identity of the individual. There is a presence of two or more distinct personalities within one body and each personality is not aware of the presence of the other. The cause of multiple personality disorder is thought to be extreme physical, sexual, emotional or psychological abuse, over a sustained period of time. People with dissociative personality disorder may experience various kinds of emotions. These include depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, panic attacks, sleep disorders, auditory and visual hallucinations and eating disorders. Organic Psychosis: The condition that involves delusions and hallucinations due to the effect of damage to the brain tissue is organic psychosis. The causes of organic psychosis can be untreated syphilis, heavy use of alcohol and drugs, brain tumor, meningitis and chemical imbalances in the nervous system. Some drugs can cause side-effects that result in mental disorders. Drug-induced Psychosis: Drugs like cocaine, marijuana or cannabis and other hallucinogens can cause psychotic symptoms in an individual who is predisposed to psychosis. Early symptoms of drug-induced psychosis surface up very slowly and progress with the continued use of the drugs. The symptoms that manifest can be indicative of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders and might wear off after the effects of the drug wears off. However, the frequent and prolonged drug users can have more lasting symptoms. Both neurosis and psychosis are signs of mental imbalance. They are used interchangeably in day-to-day use, but medically are quite different from each other. While neurosis refers to the inner struggles and mental and physical disturbances, psychosis is a major personality disorder marked by gross mental and emotional disturbances. Neurosis is mild mental disorder and psychosis refers to insanity or madness. Based on the symptoms and psychopathological conditions, the psychotics and neurotics can be told apart. Personality changes: In persons with neurosis, a part of the personality is affected, with sufficient insight into the problem. In psychosis there is a complete change in the personality, with impaired or lost insight. Reality: Psychosis is marked by absolute distortion from reality. A psychotic with suicidal tendencies needs help in hospital or constant homecare. A neurotic understands that he has a problem, but needs help to overcome it. Neurotics are capable of managing their problem with a little external help. Language: In psychosis, language often undergoes a gross distortion in terms of incoherent speech, grammatically incorrect sentences, and so on. The speech and thought processes are disorganized, irrational and bizarre. Delusions and hallucinations are the main culprits behind these speech and thought patterns. In neurosis, language, speech and thought process remain coherent and logical. There is no confusion due to absence of delusions and hallucinations. Cause: Neurosis predominantly occurs due to social reasons, personal experiences and emotional disturbances. Physiological and chemical factors are insignificant in neurosis. Some types of psychotic conditions are based on organic causes. Heredity and chemical factors are also involved. Prognosis: Symptoms of neurosis are temporary and with the will and cooperation of the patient, the treatment outcome is usually good. Treatment of psychotics is long-term, relatively constant and outcome is less favourable. Even if the person appears to become normal, there are high chances of relapse of the psychotic episode. Treatment: Treatment procedures vary markedly for psychotics and neurotics. Psychotics need drugs to control their emotions, behaviour and thinking. Neurotics can benefit largely from counseling, behavior modification and suggestion therapy, although some drugs are prescribed to calm down anxiety and help induce sleep. Although there are differences between psychosis and neurosis, there is no marked line that can separate the two mental illnesses. Studies indicate that about 4 to 7% of neurotics develop psychosis in later life. However, each condition is an independent entity with a different origin, prognosis and outcome. GettyImages 584451670 PHILADELPHIA Following a dark and occasionally rocky Republican convention in Cleveland last week, Democratic planners wanted to strike a different, more harmonious note. But as raucous protesters shouted over convention speakers and refused to fully embrace the call for unity, some Democratic lawmakers began making an argument familiar to audiences watching the Republican national convention: Think about the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland predicted that Sen. Bernie Sanders' former supporters will coalesce around Hillary Clinton once they realize that Donald Trump's election could put several conservative justices on the court. "If one or two or three or four young, radical conservative people were placed on that court, everything the Bernie supporters care about would be at risk," Strickland told Business Insider at an event with climate activists. "If they have a brain and really thought it through I'm sure they do have brains, theyre bright people they would understand the consequences of pulling back and not getting on board with Secretary Clinton." Speaking on a panel on Wednesday, Rep. Keith Ellison urged holdout Sanders supporters to envision what the court would be like if Al Gore would've beaten George W. Bush in the 2000 election, appointing liberal supreme court justices. "This is a very serious situation that we're in," said Ellison, one of Sanders' most high-profile supporters in Congress. "The stakes couldn't be higher when it comes to the Supreme Court. From a constitutional standpoint if you supported Bernie, if you believe in a fair economy, if you believe in criminal justice ... then there's not way you're going to let Donald Trump become president." Many Democrats say that raising awareness of Senate Republicans' refusal to allow hearings to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died is a winning strategy. Hart Research, a polling group that conducts surveys for Clinton-aligned groups, found in a June survey that 50% of voters said replacing Supreme Court justices was a very important consideration in their presidential vote, up from 30% in 2012. Story continues Further, recent surveys conducted by Public Policy Polling showed that many voters in swing states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania don't trust Trump to fill the vacancy. Earlier this year, the Republican presidential nominee released a list of candidates he would consider to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. Many Republicans lauded the potential choices, many of which came straight off a list of potential nominees compiled by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. For their part, Republicans lukewarm about Trump have justified their support for the nominee by citing the liberal threat to the court. In a recent interview with NPR's "Morning Edition," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touted the potential Supreme Court vacancies as the number-one issue that ought to change Republicans' minds. "The single most important thing I would remind right-of-center voters in suggesting that they vote for Donald Trump is: Who do you want to make the next Supreme Court appointment?" McConnell told NPR. "Donald Trump has already put out a list of 10 or 11 right-of-center, well-qualified judges, a list from which he would pick. I think that issue alone should comfort people in voting for Donald Trump for president. The majority leader echoed the sentiment in his speech at the Republican convention in Cleveland. "Tonight I ask you to continue let us continue our work. Let us put justices on the Supreme Court who cherish our Constitution," McConnell said. NOW WATCH: SEN. CORY BOOKER: The Republican position on the vacant Supreme Court seat doesn't make any sense More From Business Insider By Saeed Azhar SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's central bank said on Saturday it is examining the extent of involvement by Goldman Sachs' local unit in bond deals for Malaysian state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been questioning banks and financial institutions since last year as part of investigations into possible money laundering in the city-state linked to 1MDB.. "MAS supervisory examination into the extent of Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte's involvement in the 1MDB bond deals is still ongoing," an MAS spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Reuters. Last week, Singapore said it had seized assets worth S$240 million ($179 million) as part of a money laundering probe linked to 1MDB and would take action against some of the biggest banks based in the city-state for handling transactions linked to the Malaysian fund. "MAS will take decisive regulatory actions against any financial institution or individual in Singapore that has breached regulations or failed to meet the expected anti-money laundering standards," MAS said in the statement. A Goldman Sachs spokesman in Hong Kong declined to comment on the Singapore inquiry. The U.S. government alleged this month that billions of dollars were diverted from bond deals arranged by Goldman, for the personal use of officials and some people associated with the state fund. U.S. prosecutors have filed civil lawsuits to seize more than $1 billion in assets they said were tied to money stolen from the Malaysian fund. 1MDB has said in the past it is not a party to the civil suits, does not have any assets in the United States, nor has it benefited from the various transactions described in the civil suits. 1MDB was not available for comment on Saturday. Goldman Sachs, which earned close to $600 million to arrange and underwrite the 1MDB bonds, has not been accused of any wrongdoing by U.S. authorities. These bond deals were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs International. Story continues The Wall Street Journal, which earlier reported the MAS inquiry, also said U.S. authorities had issued subpoenas to Goldman Sachs for documents related to the bank's dealings with 1MDB.. 1MDB, founded by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 shortly after he came to office, is being investigated for money laundering in at least six countries including the United States, Singapore and Switzerland. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Additional reporting by Praveen Menon in KUALA LUMPUR; Editing by Denny Thomas, Christopher Cushing and Dale Hudson) Tim Kaine Tim Kaine is not to be confused with Tom Kean as Donald Trump did earlier this week. Kaine, Hillary Clinton's running mate and a senator from Virginia, explained on Friday on CNN that Trump's mix-up of the two at a press conference earlier this week made him "scratch his head." "Her running mate Tim Kaine, who by the way did a terrible job in New Jersey first act he did in New Jersey was ask for a $4 billion tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey and he still isn't," Trump said during a Wednesday press conference. Kean was the Republican governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Kaine did propose $4 billion in tax increases when he served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, according to PolitiFact, but did not do so all at once. Kaine is, and Kean was, well-liked in their states. "Two days ago he did a press conference and he told everybody what a lousy governor of New Jersey I was," Kaine told CNN host Jake Tapper in response to being asked what he thought of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, insinuating that Trump was insane during his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Wednesday. "To be honest, you were," Tapper joked back. "Yeah, well, I was a no-show governor of New Jersey when I was governor of Virginia," Kaine responded. "OK, look, the guy's new to it, and we're a big country and there are 50 states and New Jersey's different than Virginia," he continued. "I guess you've got to let him climb the learning curve." He said that he doesn't "know anything about his sanity" because he's "never met him." "But somebody who'd mistake New Jersey for Virginia or Virginia for New Jersey, I just scratch my head," he continued. Tapper clarified that Trump seemed to mean Kean, who's name is pronounced the same as Kaine's. "Tom Kean was governor of New Jersey and he finished his term 26 years ago," Kaine said. "I mean, I don't know, I was 5 years old then and I would've been a bad governor. Nah, I was older than 5, but I would've been a bad governor. At age 5, I would've been a bad governor." Story continues NOW WATCH: INSTANT POLL: Americans viewed Clinton's convention speech more favorably than Trump's More From Business Insider Boston's WCVB-TV posted a picture of the officer and his partner in line at the Saratoga Springs drive-thru Wednesday. The station reports Saratoga Springs Officer John Sesselman ordered a cup of coffee for himself and a glazed munchkin for his horse partner, King Tut. The treat is well-earned for King Tut. The department posted pictures of the horse and Sesselman patrolling the city's downtown Wednesday, noting, "King Tut works hard and doesn't mind if you stop to pet him!" HARBOR BEACH City officials now say a contamination of the Harbor Beach water supply two weeks ago that left residents without water for roughly 60 hours was the result of a human error, not a malfunction of equipment. Two officials and a drinking water emergency report submitted to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and obtained by the Tribune on Friday confirmed the malfunction was actually a human error. Initially, the contamination was reported as an aluminum sulfate transfer pump malfunction, where an over-feed of aluminum sulfate entered the citys water system early on Sunday, July 17. Residents were without usable water until 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 19. I wasnt just sure what had happened, city Water Superintendent Clark Creguer told the Tribune in regards to initially calling the incident a malfunction. It was basically a malfunction because human error was involved. According to the written report, Harbor Beach water operator Rick Murawske contacted Cregeur, around 5:30 a.m. Sunday to notify him that, he was having trouble with the filters shutting down because of high turbidity. Murawske called back shortly after and informed Cregeur he inadvertently left the aluminum sulfate transfer pump on overnight, the report states. Upon his arrival at the plant, Cregeur determined that Murawske pumped around 15,000 pounds of aluminum sulfate, nearly emptying the tank, into the water system. The aluminum made the water unusable and residents could notice a change in color and taste when they began using city water Sunday morning. Residents began notifying city officials of the problem. While the water was contaminated it is not believed to have caused any health problems or injuries. The way Im looking at it is it was human error, Jon Bloemker of the DEQ told the Tribune. When you transfer a chemical from a bulk tank to a day tank, you actually (watch it) until that pump goes off instead of hoping it goes off at a certain point. At the end of every shift, weights are recorded on the day tanks, which are refilled if necessary. Fluoride needs to be changed every three to four days and aluminum is pumped from a bulk tank into a day tank nearly every night. To fill the day tank, an air-powered transfer pump is turned on by opening a one-quarter turn air valve in the air line. The one-quarter turn valve is shut off bringing the transfer pump to a stop. The weight is then read and recorded. The operator, somehow, didnt record the weight and left the transfer pump running and went home for the night, the report states. As of Friday morning, Bloemker, the district supervisor for Cadillac-Saginaw Bay Office of drinking water and municipal systems, said he didnt have an opportunity to review the report, but did note he gave the city suggestions on measures to take to ensure the problem wont happen again. Those measures include: using containment vessels, moving the day tank to another room, and adding a dead mans switch. Thats (dead mans switch) where somebody (who is) operating a transfer pump, they would have to actually stand there with their finger on the switch in order for the pumps to stop operating, Bloemker explained. As soon as you take your finger off the switch, it turns off. Neither the city nor the employee are facing fines or penalties because of the error, Bloemker said. I would rather them spend their money correcting the problem then paying fines, he added. Earlier this week, the city hosted a public meeting to discuss measures to take to prevent the error again. Creguer, who attended the meeting, said the human error wasnt brought up. I just took all the blame, he said. Nobody really asked. It was human malfunction more than anything, he added. The Harbor Beach Water Plant has three full-time employees. Ronald James Cilc, 69, a lifelong resident of Caseville, died Monday, July 18, 2016, at his home. He was born Jan. 29, 1947, in Pigeon, to the late Joe and Grace (Clancy) Cilc. Ron graduated from Caseville High School in 1965; afterwards, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines and served in the Vietnam War as Lance Corporal. Ron was with the 1st Armored Amphibious Company, 2nd Platoon, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Ron received the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device, and Good Conduct Medal. He received his honorable discharge on Aug. 25, 1971. After returning from the service, he attended Delta College to study X-ray Technology, later working at Harper Hospital in Detroit. Upon returning to Caseville, he worked for the family business, Cilc Builders. When his father retired, he went back to school to become a licensed CT Scan Technician, and worked for the VA Hospital in Saginaw. In his younger years, Ron enjoyed jogging, he also enjoyed windsurfing and was often seen at Caseville Beach. He enjoyed working in his yard and around the family farm. He was a proud member of the National Rifle Association and enjoyed target shooting. Ron also enjoyed his beloved dog Holly. Ron was very close to his friends who served in the U.S. military, especially Jimmy Roberts and Bo Dormey. He also remained close to his friend, Fred with whom he worked at Harper Hospital. Surviving are his brother, Joe (Rose) Cilc of Gladstone; his sister, Linda (Dave) Thick of Caseville; his son, Jared Leppek; grandson, Matthew Leppek; and several nieces and nephews. A memorial service with full military honors will be conducted noon Friday, Aug. 12, at the Caseville Eagles Club, F.O.E., with Rev. Karen Bouverette officiating. Burial will be in the Caseville Township Cemetery. Friends may call from 11 a.m. until the time of the service. Memorials may be made to the Thumb Animal Shelter. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. A U.S. Air Force surveillance plane making a routine flight over Russia to fulfill a treaty obligation was forced to make an emergency landing in eastern Russia earlier this week after experiencing a problem with its landing gear, a Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News. The unarmed American military plane had Russian officials on board as part of the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, which bounds 34 nations, including Russia and the United States, to allow military inspection flights to ensure compliance to long standing arms-control treaties and to offer greater transparency into each nation's military capabilities. "On July 27, a U.S. Open Skies Treaty observation aircraft took off from Russian airfield Ulan Ude to begin a Treaty observation flight but the aircraft landing gear did not fully retract," Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza, a Pentagon spokesperson, said in an emailed statement to Fox News. Baldanza said the American surveillance plane landed safely in the city of Khabarovsk on Russia's eastern seaboard to drop off the Russian officials before continuing on to a U.S. air base in Japan. The U.S. plane was not able to fulfill its mission of photographing Russian military sites, according to the Pentagon. Russia has not always been as open as the United States in allowing access to its military sites, which include airfields and nuclear silos, according to senior U.S. military leaders. Russia has placed restrictions on U.S. military flights over Kaliningrad for the last two years where a recent Russian military buildup threatens neighboring NATO-aligned Baltic nations, whom America is bound to defend. Russian jets from Kaliningrad buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer repeatedly in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Poland in April, coming as close as 30 feet to the American warship, Navy officials said at the time. This week, President Obama accused Russia of potentially leading the hack of Democratic National Committee emails that forced the resignation of its Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz at the start of the party's convention in Philadelphia earlier this week. "What we do know is that the Russians hack our systems, not just government systems but private systems," Obama told NBC. It was the first time the president publicly accused Russia of conducting cyber warfare against the United States. In February, the Russians asked their American counterparts if they could install new advanced optical sensors to its cameras for future surveillance flights over the United States, which began in 2002. Defense officials and Capital Hill lawmakers have expressed their unease with the request which they say will boost Russia's ability to spy on the United States. The United States relies primarily on satellites to gather intelligence on Russia. Recent Russian flights in the United States have strayed off course in order to photograph critical infrastructure such as power plants and communication hubs, according to American defense officials. "The treaty has become a critical component of Russia's intelligence collection capability directed at the United States," Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of the United States Strategic Command, wrote in a letter last year to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who heads the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces, according to the New York Times. Russia conducted five flights over the United States in 2014 as part of the Open Skies Treaty and four more in 2015. This year, Russia is expected to conduct six flights, starting from either Dulles International Airport outside Washington, or Travis Air Force Base in California according to the Pentagon. In June, three powerful House GOP committee chairmen wrote President Obama voicing concern that Russia has violated the intent of the Open Skies Treaty and are using the flights to "expand its espionage capabilities" against the United States. "Allowing Russia to upgrade the sensors used in these flights to digital technology would only make this worse... We urge you to heed the advice of senior military personnel and other officials and reject this Russian request while examining modern alternatives to these flights," capabilities," Chairmen Ed Royce, Devin Nunes and Mac Thornberry said in their letter to Obama last month. Related Video: The Giants have activated outfielder Hunter Pence, who had been out after undergoing surgery for a hamstring tear, the club announced. Infielder Ramiro Pena has been designated to open a roster spot. San Francisco will surely be glad to see Pence back in the lineup, as he was producing at a .298/.375/.486 clip before going down with the injury. There had been talk that the team might need to make a deal to fill in for Pence, but that doesnt look to be necessary at this point. The Giants are still said to be looking into corner outfield additions, though. Adding offense would be the primary purpose, but it probably wouldnt hurt to reduce the burden a bit on the 33-year-old veteran. As for Pena, 31, the writing was probably on the wall when the Giants struck a deal to acquire Eduardo Nunez. With fellow infielders Matt Duffy and Ehire Adrianza also on the comeback trail, there just wasnt space for the switch-hitter. He has actually been quite a useful fill-in, though, posting a quality .299/.330/.425 slash line in his 91 plate appearances on the year. 2:52pm: Unsurprisingly, there are numerous obstacles to any deal, particularly with the Braves, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links). In particular, Atlanta isnt keen to take over the entire remaining salary, while New York not only doesnt wish to hold onto financial obligations but also wants real prospects in a swap. As David OBrien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes on Twitter, the Braves should be able to land a catcher via free agency at that kind of salary (or, quite likely, less) given the relative abundance of players at the position hitting the market. The team would not only stand to find a younger player, albeit on a longer commitment, but wouldnt have to give up prospects to get it done. 12:30pm: The Yankees are talking with other clubs about catcher Brian McCann, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. Jonathan Lucroy and Derek Norris have garnered the lions share of the rumors of late, but it seems that New York at least wants to know what kind of trade interest the market holds for its own veteran receiver. While its far from likely that any deal will get done, McCann is available because the Yanks feel good about their options behind him, Heyman explains. Current reserve Austin Romine may be deserving of a longer look, and top prospect Gary Sanchez has shown plenty of bat against Triple-A pitching. The Yankees are surely also curious whether it would be possible to get out from under some of McCanns remaining contract. Hes owed $17MM a year through 2018, which is right at the top of the market for catching salaries. Still, MLBTRs Steve Adams included him among the potentially-available trade candidates behind the dish. McCann does have a no-trade clause, its also important to note. Trouble is, McCann hasnt played quite at his former levels since coming to New York. He has still produced at a league-average rate with the bat, carrying a .233/.310/.423 batting line with better than twenty long balls per year, but thats not what the Yankees thought they were signing up for three years ago. After all, the former Braves stalwart owned a .277/.350/.473 slash over his nine years in Atlanta. Now 32, McCann is also not as celebrated behind the plate as he once was. Certainly, the $34MM left on the deal after this season looks rather steep. But that doesnt mean the Yankees arent fielding interest. Per Heyman, via Twitter, it is believed that both the Braves and Rangers have chatted with the Yankees about a possible move for McCann. Atlanta is looking for a solution behind the dish, and while it surely wont give up much to add the veteran, its easy to see the connection given his roots with the Braves and the desire to drum up interest with a new ballpark on the horizon. Texas would represent a more typical buyer, but may not be a perfect fit given the organizations reportedly-limited financial flexibility unless the sides were able to work out some form of salary swap. McCanns left-handed bat would surely be of interest, and hed form an interesting combination with Robinson Chirinos. At this point, though, its certainly all hypothetical, as we havent seen any reason to suggest that theres any momentum toward a deal. BAY CITY, MI -- Bay City Public Safety officers are investigating a larceny case where a 95-year-old woman had her wallet stolen from her after letting a scammer inside her home. Officials, using the department's Facebook page, said it's the second recent larceny crime where a person works their way into the home and then steals something of value. Earlier this week, the 95-year-old victim allowed a woman into her home to use her telephone. After the woman left, the victim discovered her wallet was gone. The Bay City Department of Public Safety is investigating a larceny case where a 95 year old woman had her wallet stolen... Posted by Bay City Department of Public Safety on Friday, July 29, 2016 Police are advising residents never to let people into their home that they do not know. If someone comes to your door asking to use the phone, police said, offer to make the call for them while they wait outside. Credit card scams are also prevalent, police said. They encourage people never to give their credit card number out over the phone unless they are sure it's a reputable business. Police are also encouraging residents to be suspicious of people asking you to donate to charity. They recommend checking to see if the charity actually exists and who gets the money that is donated. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - State police Lt. Rob Davis says Michigan's "move over" law, requiring motorists to move over or slow when approaching emergency vehicles, can be a lifesaver on the highway. In this week's Ask a Trooper, Davis and Trooper Trevin Antcliff explain why it's important to give rescuers some room. They've spent their fair share on the side of the state's freeways. Other readers' questions are answered below. Have driving questions? Email MSP-AskTpr@michigan.gov, and ask the troopers at the Lakeview and Rockford posts. Beth: I can understand the courtesy behind the concept of slowing down or moving over where an emergency vehicle is on the shoulder, yet I think the signs are vague on four points, and can lead to massive slowdowns, or worse. First - How much are we to slow down? 5 mph? Half speed? Second - How far are we to move over? 2 feet? A whole lane? Third - What constitutes an emergency vehicle? Surely a police cruiser, but an empty car with a flat tire? A mowing crew? Fourth - If I've moved over, must I also slow down? Notice that the sign says "or" not "and." How safe and courteous is it to have all drivers crowd into the second lane? Should not especially the "move over" take into consideration how busy the road is? Thanks for explaining this one - I know you can't legislate common sense. Lt. Rob Davis: I've recently received a number of questions regarding Michigan's "Move Over" law. This law is near and dear to most police officers, as many of us have been personally touched by officers killed while working traffic enforcement on the freeway. I worked I-94 for nearly 10 years and can attest to how scary it is to have vehicles passing you at 70 mph at less than a foot away. With the increase in distracted driving, I can only imagine what it's like now. I asked Trooper Trevin Antcliff of the Lakeview Post to answer the above question; he does a good job of breaking down the law piece by piece. Thanks for reading. Trent Antcliff: 1) How much are we to slow down? The approaching vehicle shall reduce and maintain a safe speed for weather, road conditions, and vehicular or pedestrian traffic and proceed with due care and caution, or as directed by a police officer. 2) How far are we to move over? On any public roadway with at least two adjacent lanes proceeding in the same direction of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, the driver of the approaching vehicle shall proceed with caution and yield the right-of-way by moving into a lane at least 1 moving lane or 2 vehicle widths apart from the stationary authorized vehicle, unless directed otherwise by a police officer. If the public roadway does not have at least two adjacent lanes proceeding in the same direction as the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, or if the movement by the driver of the vehicle into an adjacent lane or two vehicle widths apart is not possible, the approaching vehicle shall reduce and maintain a safe speed for weather, road conditions, and vehicular or pedestrian traffic and proceed with due care and caution, or as directed by a police officer. 3) What constitutes an emergency vehicle? An emergency vehicle is a vehicle equipped with a red, blue, or white flashing, oscillating, or rotating lights visible in a 360 degree arc which is visible under normal conditions from a distance of 500 feet. These vehicles include police vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, and wreckers. 4) If I've moved over, must I also slow down? As stated above, if the approaching vehicle is not able to move into an adjacent lane or two vehicle widths apart is not possible, the approaching vehicle shall reduce and maintain a safe speed. Beth also brought up two additional points to consider. "How safe and courteous is it to have all drivers crowd into the second lane? Should not the move over law take into consideration of how busy the road is?" You are correct in your statement about the safety of crowding approaching vehicles into one lane. If traffic is heavy or the approaching vehicle is not able to move over due to a high volume of traffic, the approaching vehicle shall reduce their speed as it passes by the emergency vehicle. In my experience as a State Trooper with the MSP, I have encountered several occasions where drivers are not paying attention and either don't move over appropriately or they don't slow down as they pass by. This can create an unsafe condition for each driver passing by as well as the police officer or other emergency personnel on the scene. Please be considerate and obey the "Move Over" law to help keep the roads safe for all of us that travel them. Thanks for reading and stay safe. Information was obtained from the Michigan Vehicle Code Act 300 of 1949 Section 257.653a Lt. Rob Davis Ken: If a line of cars is waiting for oncoming cars to clear at a blinking red light does each car have to stop before turning left when oncoming traffic clears? Rob Davis: Yes, each car is required to stop before entering the intersection. I know it sometimes seems ridiculous, but it's designed to make sure each driver has time to double check that there is no oncoming traffic. Dick: Thank you for your excellent articles concerning Michigan traffic laws. I have found them very informative, especially the one concerning changing lanes with a solid white line. My question is: When you come to some curves or cross roads, there are small yellow signs posted with speed limits listed. Are these speed limits suggested speeds for that particularly situation or are they the actual speed limit that you must follow? Thank you. Rob Davis: Those are warning signs that give suggested speeds but are not enforceable. WYOMING, MI -- In April, Wyoming police used a RoboteX Avatar II to scoot inside of a house where a man had fired a gun and endangered others. They used the small robot's dual cameras to locate the suspect -- he was sleeping on the main floor at that point -- then used the unit's speaker system to wake the man and tell him to surrender. He came out of the house peacefully as Wyoming police wearing tactical gear trained rifles on him from a safe distance. The robot deployed in Wyoming that day is becoming a common tool among police agencies big and small in West Michigan. Many departments acquired robots similar to the RoboteX Avatar II, as well as smaller "throwbots," about two years ago during a round of regional Homeland Security grants. Among those agencies are sheriff's departments in Kent, Ottawa and Allegan counties. Police robots and the ever-increasing technology associated with robotics has been in the national headlines recently following the sniper shooting deaths of five police officers in Dallas. Dallas police used a robot with an extension arm to carry a pound of C-4 explosive inside the building where the sniper had barricaded himself. The gunman was in a room behind a brick wall and officers detonated the C-4 next to the wall, killing him. It's believed to be the first time in the U.S. that police use a robot to kill a suspect. The robot used in Dallas was eight years old and cost about $150,000. Local police, including Grand Rapids police and the state police, also have larger robots with arms. They have used them for years to check out suspicious packages left in public places and sometimes to safely destroy dangerous items such as pipe bombs. Grand Rapids police Sgt. Terry Dixon said he wasn't familiar with the exact robot model used in Dallas, but said Grand Rapids police have something similar. He didn't want to disclose the robot's exact capabilities, so as not to divulge details that could somehow help a criminal defeat or impede the robot. For small police departments, robots like the RoboteX Avatar and Recon Scout Throwbot XT are not an offensive weapon but generally used to keep officers safe from unknown hazards. "Let's say there's someone we're looking for inside of a house," Wyoming police Lt. Kirt Zuiderveen said. "We can toss the throwbot inside and it can clear a whole room without putting a person inside." Zuiderveen figured Wyoming police use the throwbot up to 20 times a year for various situations. The Avatar unit only has been used once. The device has a hand-held controller. It works like a toy car controller in some respects, but the police devices are heavy-duty electronics equipped with video screens and other gadgets. The robots have infrared cameras to let police see in the dark and the Avatar unit can climb stairs. "In complete darkness, you can still drive it around," Zuiderveen said. Wyoming police Capt. Kim Koster said the smaller robots are really for intelligence gathering. "It's just for us to collect information so we can put together the most effective and safe plan," she said. The Kent County Sheriff's Department also has a couple of the RoboteX units, said Joel Roon, a tactical team member and community outreach liaison. Each cost about $25,000, he said. He said the smaller robots, including the RoboteX units, have limitations because they can sometimes get hung up on obstacles. Larger units with arms can breach locked doors with a mechanism that blows in door knobs and they can move items out of the way. Still, the smaller robots are valuable tools for safely communicating and locating suspects inside houses and buildings. "Safety is the strategy in today's world. If you're that old-school SWAT team, you think of guys blowing through doors. That's shifting," he said. Room didn't want to speak to the ethical ramifications of using a robot to kill someone. "I can imagine (Dallas police) probably went through a lot of scenarios to try to get him out. It's a last option to do something like that," he said. JACKSON, MI - A petition to grant a writ of habeas corpus for a woman convicted of providing a lethal dose of heroin and concealing the death of her friend in 2011 was denied Monday, July 25. Mary Lyn Danielak filed the writ of habeas corpus request in March 2014 with the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan after having two state court appeals denied, according to court records. The petition challenged Danielak's convictions of delivery of a controlled substance causing death, obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and removing a body without the medical examiner's permission. To obtain a writ of habeas corpus from a federal court, a state prisoner must show that the state court's ruling on his or her claim was so lacking in justification that there was an error well understood and comprehended in existing law. In the judicial opinion penned by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland, the court stated there was sufficient evidence to sustain Danielak's convictions, denying her writ request. The petition argued that the evidence used during her trial was insufficient, crucial evidence was excluded and that her rights to due process were violated by the State Legislature's creation of a strict liability crime that carries the same penalty as second-degree murder. Danielak was tried and convicted for her role in the October 2010 overdose death of Cherie Irving, 19. A jury found Danielak guilty May 23, 2011. In July that year, she was sentenced to concurrent terms of 10 to 20 years in prison for delivering a controlled substance causing death, three to five years for obstruction, two to four years for tampering with evidence and one year for removing a body without notifying the medical examiner. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed her convictions in 2012 and the Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal it on May 22, 2013. In the early morning hours of Oct. 3 2010, Irving left home and met with Danielak at her apartment, leaving a short time later to meet with Danielak's drug dealer, referred to as "Chill," and bought four bundles of heroin. The two returned to Danielak's apartment and began injecting themselves with the purchased heroin and at some point went to sleep. Danielak woke up around late afternoon and found Irving dead on her bathroom floor. She called her boyfriend, Randy Reeser, who told her to go to his mother's house, Anna Marie Rand, to get ready for work and that he would "take care of it." Later that evening, Reeser went to Rand's house and told her there was a dead body in Danielak's apartment. The two then went to Danielak's apartment to pick up Irving's body and placed her in the backseat of the Rand's car. The body was later moved to the trunk. The two drove to the Sandstone Creek Bridge where Reese removed Irving from the trunk and placed her on the side of the road. Her body later slipped down the embankment and fell into the creek. Irving's father reported her missing on Oct. 5. On Oct. 6, a fisherman found Irving's body submerged in Sandstone Creek. Reeser was sentenced to four to 20 years in prison for being an accessory after the fact and other crimes. Rand was sentenced to two years and four months to seven years and 10 months for obstructing justice. Jackson County prosecutors maintained during the trial that Danielak aided and abetted Reese and Rand in committing the crimes she was charged with because she knew what Reeser and Rand intended to do and did nothing to stop it. Cleland wrote that at a minimum, the evidence used during the trial established that Danielak tried to cover up evidence and the fact Irving died in her apartment. When Reese promised Danielak he would "take care of it," the implication was that he would do something with the body. In the writ request, Danielak argued that Irving ingested a lethal dose of cocaine earlier in the day and had no reason to believe the victim's purchase of heroin would be fatal. The writ's claim that the charge of delivery of a controlled substance causing death being unconstitutional was dismissed as the Michigan Court of Appeals stated in her case that the purpose of the law is to protect the public form dangerous controlled substances. Danielak was granted an opportunity to have the decision in part reviewed in the U.S. Court of Appeals. LEONI TWP., MI - Some responded with an obscene gesture. Others simultaneously honked in support. The Confederate Flag, its supporters have learned, is certain to solicit a reaction - and that is part of the point. "It stirs up conversation," Michael Terry, 24, of Hillsdale said as he flew two Confederate Flags on Saturday afternoon off an I-94 overpass in Leoni Township. He and about a dozen others stood on Hawkins Road, west of Sargent Road, with flags of various varieties in an effort to demonstrate the pride they have in their Southern heritage. To them, the divisive symbol is not about hate. "We are trying to show everybody the flag ain't going to jump off the pole and hurt them," said Steve Panther, 34, who lives in the Jackson area and hails from the South. One of his distant grandfathers was a Confederate soldier. He and his companions lined both sides of the highway bridge as a Blackman-Leoni Township public safety officer sat in a patrol vehicle on each end. Vehicles streamed below them. There had been several 911 calls about the group and an unsubstantiated report of the flag bearers throwing items off the bridge. The group was peaceful and officers were there to assure there were no issues, police said. Panther, whose Confederates of Michigan Facebook page has more than 6,000 likes, said they had been on the overpass since about noon and planned to stay a few hours. He held the last flag of the Confederacy. Its pole was marked with the various flag rallies he has attended. In April, he traveled to Georgia to protest the Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, a Confederate landmark. He met Lois Price, 37, of Georgia on Facebook and he picked her up on his way. "It needs to be left alone," Price said of the flag. "The flag, the statues, what it represents. People get it all mixed up." "That it means hate and everything like that," said Terry, her fiance. Terry flies the Confederate flag off the back of his pickup truck. He was born in Michigan, but raised in Alabama. Terry said he also flies an American flag. "We very much love our country," said Panther, who had a blue and black ribbon in support of police pinned on his chest. He also supports the military and is not for or against the "black lives matter" movement, a response to police shooting deaths around the country involving black men. "We all bleed red," Price said. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office reported the following Friday and early Saturday activity: Deputies investigated 57 calls for service, made 3 arrests and conducted 27 traffic stops. 6:25 a.m., Deputies Faouzi and Freeman responded to Harvey Road near Clear Lake Road in Waterloo Township for a property-damage crash. 7:19 a.m., Deputy Bryant responded to U.S. 127 near Reed Road in Liberty Township for a deer kill permit. 10:42 a.m., Deputies Faouzi and Freeman responded to Reid Court in Henrietta Township for a suspicious situation. 11:30 a.m., Deputies Mills and Whiting responded to Kenilworth Road in Summit Township for a residential alarm. 12:03 p.m., Deputy Deering responded to Hoag Road in Parma Township for a trouble with subject report. 1:16 p.m., Deputy Johnson responded to Woodbine Street in Summit Township for a runaway report. 1:30 p.m., Deputy Taylor responded to 110 Teft Road in Spring Arbor Township for a fraud report. 2:25 p.m., Deputy Taylor responded to Wallace Drive in Summit Township for a domestic situation. 2:40 p.m., Deputy Roberts responded to County Farm Road near Sandstone Road in Sandstone Township to assist a motorist. 3:07 p.m., Deputies Faouzi and Freeman responded to Norvell Beach Drive in Norvell Township for a domestic situation. 3:25 p.m., Deputy Johnson responded to Brown Street near High Street in Summit Township for a report of malicious destruction of property. 4:16 p.m., Deputy Roberts responded to County Farm and Rogers roads for a conservation complaint. 4:54 p.m., Deputy Faouzi responded to Norvell Road for a domestic situation complaint. 5:13 p.m., Deputy Roberts responded to Bailey Road for a fraud report. 6:20 p.m., Deputy Meyers responded to Folks Road for a child custody dispute. 6:23 p.m., Deputy Collins responded to Case Road for a civil dispute involving a couple in the process of a divorce. 7:47 p.m., Deputy Meyers responded to S. Jackson Street for a personal welfare check. 8:20 p.m., Deputy Sparks responded to Green Street for a harassment report. 9:26 p.m.,nDeputy Sullivan responded Woodbine Street for a runaway report. 10:47 p.m., Deputy Sparks responded to Maines Road for a personal welfare check. 11:13 p.m., Deputies Meyers and Sparks responded to Fowler Road for a physical domestic. Suspect was lodged for domestic violence. 12:13 a.m., Deputy Sullivan responded to 105 East Mcdevitt Avenue for disorderly subject. 12:30 a.m., Deputy Sullivan responded to Horton Road for a physical domestic. The suspect left prior to arrival. A report will be sent to the prosecutor for review. 12:50 a.m., Deputy Vosters responded to Edna Drive for suspicious barn fire. 1:04 a.m., Deputy Collins responded to Austin Road for an alarm. 2:01 a.m., Deputy Sullivan responded to Robinson Road and West Main Street for property damage accident. 3:27 a.m., Deputies Meyers and Sparks made a traffic stop in the area of Brooklyn Road and East South Street. The driver of the vehicle had several felony warrants out of Pennsylvania. Contact was made with the issuing agency and a hold was placed. 5:01 a.m., Deputy Sullivan responded to Spring Arbor Road for an alarm. LEONI TWP., MI - A 22-year-old man is charged with first-degree child abuse for allegedly hurting his girlfriend's 11-month-old daughter, causing serious head injuries. The girl was in "stable" condition at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Blackman-Leoni Township public safety Deputy Director Christopher Boulter said on Friday, July 29. Ethan Workman was arraigned Friday in Jackson County District Court on the felony count, punishable by up to life in prison. He is being held in the county jail on a $1 million bond. Boulter could not say how Workman allegedly hurt the girl. There could be various "mechanisms of injury," he said. He had been watching the child Monday in the 300 block of Lockwood Street east of Dettman Road while his girlfriend was out of the home, Boulter said. Public safety officers were called to the residence at 2:23 p.m. for a "medical emergency," according to the department's daily activity report. The girl has bleeding on her brain and behind her eyes. Boulter called it "abusive head trauma." He said the long-term effects were unknown. Workman had been living with the girl's mother "on and off," Boulter said. A Michigan Department of Human Services petition addressing any abuse or neglect was filed this week in family court and a case is pending. Boulter said the girl has been placed with family members until the investigation is complete and the court matter is settled. The girl's mother is not accused of any crime. Jackson County court records show Workman has previously been convicted of various misdemeanor offenses, including malicious destruction of property, possession of drug paraphernalia and drunken driving. SAGINAW, MI -- Less than 24 hours before his girlfriend died after overdosing on heroin that prosecutors say was laced with a powerful pain reliever, a Bay City man became ill using the drug himself. The man who supplied Aaron Schaefer with that drug, he told a judge Thursday, July 28, is the same man charged with selling Nichole Rouech the drug on which she overdosed. Testifying on Thursday afternoon in District Judge Kyle Higgs Tarrant's courtroom, Schaefer identified Jaymes D. Collins-Degrate as the man who supplied him with the heroin that made him sick early Jan. 25. Schaefer, who knew Collins-Degrate as "Binky," told Tarrant that Collins-Degrate was his and Rouech's primary heroin supplier around that time. Hours after Schaefer got sick from the heroin he injected, Rouech arranged, through text messages, to purchase more from a person listed in her phone as "binky." Shortly after that, Rouech overdosed in the bathroom of the McDonald's restaurant at South Michigan and Mackinaw on Saginaw's West Side, prosecutors say. A manager at the store found the 28-year-old Rouech on her knees in a locked stall, her face pressed against the wall of the bathroom. Collins-Degrate, 21, is charged with delivering a controlled substance causing death, a felony that carries a maximum possible penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole. His arrest warrant alleges he sold Rouech heroin that was laced with morphine and/or fentanyl, a powerful pain reliever. Tarrant concluded Thursday's hearing by ruling prosecutors showed probable cause to take him to trial in Circuit Court. Addiction struggles Schaefer, who was in a relationship with Rouech for a little more than a year, said he and his girlfriend both were struggling with heroin addiction. He said he and Rouech both had purchased heroin from Collins-Degrate and sometimes had made the purchase together. On cross-examination from Collins-Degrate's attorney Alan Crawford, Schaefer said there was about two or three times that when he met Collins-Degrate for a purchase, he also saw a black man with dreadlocks. Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Van Norman asked Schaefer whether that other man had any connection with his and Collins-Degrate's deals, and Schaefer said he did not. Schaefer said he spoke with Rouech on the morning of her death and spoke with her later through text messages about purchasing more heroin. Schaefer said Rouech often would purchase the drug on her way home from work, but sometimes, she would come home with less than they had talked about purchasing because she stopped somewhere on the way to use. Saginaw police already were at the McDonald's, responding to a call for a disorderly person, when the workers there alerted them to Rouech's body. Saginaw Police Officer Tyler Williamson testifies during the preliminary hearing for Jaymes D. Collins-Degrate in front of Saginaw County District Judge Kyle Higgs Tarrant on July 28, 2016. Saginaw Police Officer Tyler Williamson testified he was able to open the stall by using his baton. He and Officer Isaac Babinski observed Rouech's body, a belt wrapped around her right arm, a hypodermic needle, and a needle cap containing suspected heroin. Babinski testified Rouech's body was already "changing color" and that blood was beginning to pool in the areas of her body touching the floor. Babinski said he worked with the McDonald's workers to deduce which car in the parking lot belonged to Rouech. There was only one car in the lot not belonging to the workers or police, and it was registered to Rouech, so Babinski searched it, he said. Babinski testified he found Rouech's cellphone in the car and was able to find Schaefer's phone number. Schaefer gave Babinski a phone number for Rouech's mother, and he gave the number to his sergeant, he testified. Cellphone evidence Rouech's cellphone was key to prosecutors' case against Collins-Degrate. Michigan State Police Detective Trooper Adam Green testified about a text message conversation she had with the individual in her phone listed as "binky." Police ultimately determined the owner of that phone was Collins-Degrate, Green said. Previous texts showed Rouech had arranged to meet with Collins-Degrate "many times" in December and January in Saginaw, Green wrote in a sworn affidavit. Jaymes D. Collins-Degrate listens to testimony during his preliminary hearing in front of Saginaw County District Judge Kyle Higgs Tarrant on July 28, 2016. A text conversation from the evening that Rouech died showed she arranged to purchase a half-gram of heroin because she could not afford a full gram. She wrote to "binky" that "we" would want a full gram the next day, the messages showed. Rouech and Collins-Degrate had a subsequent phone call, and phone records show the calls originated from an area on the city's South Side, which was where "binky" said he was in the text messages, Green said. The state police fugitive team at one point arrested Collins-Degrate, who denied investigators access to his iPhone, Green wrote in his affidavit. After investigators sought a search warrant, Collins-Degrate provided them with the passcode for his phone, but it was "wiped" and had no data, Green wrote. That led Green to want to examine Collins-Degrate's iCloud service, he wrote. Prosecutors on June 29 charged Collins-Degrate, and state police troopers arrested him on July 13. Now that his case is in Circuit Court, Collins-Degrate either can plead as charge, proceed to trial, or accept any possible plea agreement. He remains jailed on a $200,000 bond. SAGINAW, MI -- Activity police earlier referred to as a 'suspicious situation' on Saginaw's South Side turned out to be a standoff, according to Saginaw police Detective Sgt. Reggie Williams. Saginaw police officers and Michigan State Police troopers were investigating on Lowell near Webber on the city's South Side on the evening of Friday, July 29. A police officer stands at the corner of Lowell and Webber where police investigated a 'suspicious situation' on Saginaw's South Side on Friday, July 29, 2016. Two blocks of Lowell, between Webber and Morris, were blocked off about 7 p.m. while dozens of residents watched from both corners. Williams said a male surrendered to police at 8:30 p.m. Williams also said the standoff started after someone was grazed in the leg by a bullet but police are unsure if the incident was related to the standoff. "It's hard to say," Williams said. "We are just trying to figure everything out." Additional information was not immediately available. The standoff comes nine days after a man barricaded himself inside a home on the city's West Side. Police were dispatched to a home on North Oakley near Weiss about 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 20, for a report that a man was refusing to come out of the home and possibly had guns. The man eventually surrendered and was taken to a local hospital. Police have not released either of the men's names. Poland Pope Pope Francis blesses faithful as he arrives at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (Gregorio Borgia) KRAKOW, Poland (AP) -- Pope Francis encouraged Catholic priests and nuns to leave their comfort zones and tend to the needy as he celebrated a Mass on Saturday in a Polish church dedicated to St. John Paul II, the Polish pontiff whose staunch defense of workers' rights in the 1970s and '80s challenged his nation's then-Communist rulers. Francis said Jesus wants the church "to be a church on the move, a church that goes out into the world," as he gave his homily in a spanking new monumental church dedicated to John Paul on the outskirts of the southern Polish city of Krakow. He said Jesus' call to followers to minister to the world is relevant today to all in the church. "This call is also addressed to us. How can we fail to hear its echo in the great appeal of Saint John Paul II: 'Open the doors'?" Francis said to rows of priests in white robes and nuns sitting in pews on the side. A year after John Paul II was elected pope in 1978, he returned to his homeland, urging millions of his beleaguered Poles behind the Iron Curtain -- in nuanced and coded words -- to oppose communism. That visit inspired the birth of Solidarity, a labor movement that struggled through the 1980s but eventually became a key factor in the collapse of communism in 1989 in Poland, and throughout the Eastern Bloc. At the end of the Mass on Saturday, Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who for decades was John Paul's closest aide, told Francis the church remains open. "We are not closed," Dziwisz said. "We are open to the needs of the church." The religious celebrations came on the fourth day of the pope's five-day visit to Poland, his first ever visit to Eastern Europe. The 79-year-old Francis has had an unrelenting schedule since he arrived in Poland on Wednesday for World Youth Day, a dayslong global Catholic gathering. He has led Masses, visited Auschwitz, and met with Polish politicians, clergy, sick children and many faithful. Francis began his public day with a visit to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, a kilometer (half-mile) stroll away from the St. John Paul II shrine. In 2002, a frail, 82-year-old John Paul II consecrated that new basilica during his last visit to his homeland, anointing its white marble altar. John Paul stressed then his special attachment to St. Faustina, whose accounts in her diary of visions of Jesus spread devotion to Divine Mercy. Francis prayed before the chapel of St. Faustina, where she is buried. Going into the church, the pope paused to see a young girl whose artificial legs were paid for by Francis, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said. The Argentine pope also heard confessions from seven young people and a priest, speaking in Italian, Spanish or French. From there it was a quick drive to the hilltop Sanctuary of St. John Paul II. That church was consecrated in 2013 and dedicated to the late pope. The lower church hosts a glass container of blood from John Paul, who died in 2005, while his body is entombed in a lower level of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Francis at lunch with 12 volunteers at the youth gathering. One of the lucky few, Paula Mora of Colombia, said "it was like being with our father, and we were his children." Francis then rested for a bit ahead of an evening vigil with the youth in a huge meadow just outside Krakow. Pilgrims filled the meadow hours ahead of the event amid high security. He will end his visit to Poland on Sunday after a Mass in the same meadow, the crowning event of the youth jamboree. MSAKEN, Tunisia (AP) -- The uncle of the truck driver who killed 84 people on the French Riviera says his nephew was indoctrinated about two weeks ago by an Algerian member of the Islamic State group in Nice. French officials could not confirm Monday that attacker Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel had been approached by an Algerian recruiter, saying that the investigation is ongoing. IS claimed responsibility for last week's attack, though Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday that investigators have found no sign yet that Bouhlel had links to a particular network. The driver's uncle, Sadok Bouhlel, told The Associated Press that given Bouhlel's family problems -- he was estranged from his wife and three children -- the Algerian "found in Mohamed an easy prey for recruitment." Bouhlel's rapid radicalization has puzzled investigators. Friends and family said he had not been an observant Muslim in the past. Cazeneuve said Monday on RTL radio that the driver may have been motivated by IS messages but not necessarily coordinating with a larger network. "Mohamed didn't pray, didn't go to the mosque and ate pork," said Sadok Bouhlel, a 69-year-old retired teacher, in the driver's hometown of Msaken, Tunisia. The uncle said he learned about the Algerian recruiter from extended family members who live in Nice. Sadok is devastated by his nephew's act, and doesn't want him buried in Msaken. "He made more than 80 families grieve, and stained the reputation of our town and our country." Many of the dead and injured were children watching a fireworks display with their families. Cazeneuve said 59 people are still hospitalized after the attack Thursday, 29 of them in intensive care, out of 308 people injured overall. France held a moment of silence Monday to remember the victims. Thousands of people massed on the waterfront promenade where the Bastille Day celebrations became a killing field on Thursday night. Among the mourners was Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was loudly booed as he arrived at and left the ceremony in Nice. President Francois Hollande's Socialist administration has come under blistering criticism from opposition conservatives after last week's deadly attack. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy accused the government of bad policies that he says failed to prevent three major attacks in the past 18 months. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve hit back Monday, listing a series of laws and extra police forces created under Hollande's presidency "to face a threat that France was not prepared for" when he took over from Sarkozy in 2012. After a special security meeting, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said French forces in the U.S-led coalition struck IS targets again overnight and on Sagturday. French warplanes have been involved in the operation in Iraq and to a lesser degree in Syria. Lagos (AFP) - UNICEF will continue to provide assistance to millions of conflict-affected children in northeast Nigeria, despite an attack on its convoy by Boko Haram Islamists, the UN children's agency has said. The jihadists ambushed a humanitarian convoy that included workers from UNICEF, UNFPA, and IOM while returning from Bama in northeast Borno state on Thursday, injuring several people, including two soldiers, and prompting UNICEF to temporarily suspend relief assistance to review the situation. "We are working at full strength in the Borno state capital Maiduguri," UNICEF Nigeria Representative Jean Gough said in a statement late Friday. "We continue to call for increased efforts to reach people in desperate need across the state. We cannot let this heartless attack divert any of us from reaching the more than two million people who are in dire need of immediate humanitarian assistance." The agency urged donors and humanitarian organisations to scale-up the response to the emerging disaster in Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency. "The violence has disrupted farming and markets, destroyed food stocks, and damaged or destroyed health and water facilities. We absolutely have to reach more of these communities," he said. UNICEF estimates that 244,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year in Borno state alone. And if they are not reached with treatment, one in five of them will die. The agency has provided two million people with health services and treated 56,000 children for malnutrition in the three conflict-affected states of northeast Nigeria. Thursday's attack was the first such attack on aid workers in the volatile region. Nigerian military said the attack left two soldiers and three civilians injured, including UN aid workers. Some cities in the northeast, including Bama, had gone for up to 18 months without any humanitarian deliveries before aid agencies and the UN arrived in June. Many areas can only be accessed under escort from the Nigerian army. In May, the UN said 9.2 million people living around Lake Chad, which forms the border of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, were in desperate need of food. Seven million of them are in Nigeria. Boko Haram, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and displacing more than 2.6 million people since 2009. Ghana is not the only country in the world in which the law of contempt is detested in some quarters. This is because wherever that law exists, it can be misused to shut journalists up when they stumble upon news whose publication could cause embarrassment to some people. The prosecution authorities in some countries take the trouble to inform the media that certain cases the police have been investigating have reached a point where prosecution might be mounted against the individuals or bodies concerned in the investigation and therefore the media had better lay off the subject matter(s) or face contempt charges. The rationale for that is to prevent the media from discussing issues that go before the courts, or in legalese, that are sub judice. Now, the police and the media have a different approach to crime, so this idea of stopping the media from touching subjects which the police are investigating is an anathema to the media. Their concern is this: suppose the police are corrupt and they stop investigating the issues the media are also interested in for reasons known only to the police? Furthermore, the legal teams of individuals or companies, can, on hearing about media investigations that concern them, go to court to obtain an injunction to gag the media and prevent the media pursuing their investigations. Some of these injunctions cover such a wide field that they are known as super-injunctions. If a court grants a litigant a super-injunction, the media can be prevented from even mentioning the fact that a super-injunction has been obtained with regard to the subject matter concerned! These are serious constraints on freedom of the media and journalists, especially in the UK, have been pressing for the law to be changed so as to enable the media to carry out their duty of being the public watchdog. And that is where I want journalists in Ghana to try and acquire a little more knowledge about how life is lived in a democracy. If there is a law in a society which militates against the public weal, the way to deal with it is to get legal experts to come on side and help the media to campaign against those laws. To break the law as it stands, because one does not like it, is suicidal, because the courts are obliged to interpret and apply the law as it stands, not as it should be, in the opinion of anyone, including media practitioners. The very first article I ever published in the DAILY GUIDE dealt with the law of contempt. I made the point, in that article, that journalists should be careful of that law because if they infringe it, not only can they as journalists be punished but that the editors and proprietors of the media organs in which their contempt is expressed would also be liable to punishment. I dont know whether the Montie Radio journalists ever read that article. If they had read and understood it, they would not be where they are today. Nor would the world have heard the directors of their company going to court to denounce the output of their own employees. It was pathetic to hear directors saying that they set up a radio station but had no knowledge of how the station operated from day to day. Radio is a very powerful weapon and that is why in every violent change of government, the insurrectionists make it a point to capture the radio stations that can give a different message to the populace than what the insurrectionists want to convey to the public. To put people in charge of such a sensitive institution and not make sure, through training and constant monitoring, that they are not infringing the laws of the land, let alone the ethics of the journalistic profession, is to be guilty of negligence of the first order. I think the Supreme Court judges dealt with that aspect of the matter very well. The media are not there just to be used obtaining power at all costs. Nor are they there to be used to make money at all costs. They have to operate within the tolerance levels of the societies which they serve. These tolerance levels are made explicit in such laws as the law of defamation or libel; the laws regarding the publication of obscenity; and, of course, the contempt of court laws. Not all these laws ALWAYS serve the public interest. And that is why journalists should be knowledgeable enough to be able to convince legal experts and law-makers to make changes to the law, where necessary. That is how a democracy improves itself: campaigning plus education. (By the way, that is how the criminal libel law was jettisoned from Ghana). Ignorance of the law, as is often pointed out, is no excuse for breaking the law! Be you a mere journalist or the director of a company that employs journalists, you must acquire knowledge about the limits of the freedom that may be enjoyed by the media. If you are not satisfied, campaign, campaign and campaign, until the law is changed. Breaking the law as it stands is to court disaster. To ask the president to grant a pardon to people who deliberately break the law, because they do not know that there are restraints to the free expression of views, is as ignorant as it is dangerous. For after all, who made our current President the President? Was it not the law as interpreted by Supreme Court Judges? When they ruled in his favour, they were all right, but when they punish followers of his who threaten the lives of judges and insult them, then he must overturn the rulings of the self-same Supreme Court that made him President? That is against natural justice, and the country would not tolerate it. So, education is the answer. Journalists can say things in ways that do not break the law. Let them learn how to do that before they even begin to call themselves journalists. www.cameronduodu.com A Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has threatened to sue the Running Mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, for attempting to mislead the State with claims he was in possession of an electoral register full of Togolese nationals. According to Koku Anyidoho, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia deceived the Electoral Commission (EC) when he said the party had some evidence to show that some 76,000 Togolese had their names on the country's electoral register. Rekindling the sentiment that led the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, to call for the NPP Running Mates arrest over same, Koku Anyidoho maintained that Dr. Bawumia must be held accountable for attempting to deceive a public office. Speaking to Citi News, he, recalled that in August 2015, Dr. Bawumia held a press conference and claimed that he had in his possession some Togolese register which was a 10 percent work in progress and that in due course, we was going to produce the extra 90 percent. Where is the extra 90 percent from neighboring countries for which Nana Addo was abroad saying that we have more than one million foreigners on our voters' register, he questioned. Koku Anyidoho My lawyers advised me, I am taking Bawumia court. That is more of interest to me, the NDC Deputy General Secretary declared. Koku Anydoho argued further that Dr. Bawumia sought to deceive public office in the office of the EC with his fake Togolese register for which reason we have gotten to where we are. The criminal offenses act allows us to go and check the law as to whether Bawumia should not be brought to book for his attempts to mislead the EC with his fake and fictitious Togolese register, he added. Background On August 18, 2015 Dr. Bawumia during a presentation alleged that Ghana's electoral roll was flawed with names of minors and over 76,000 Togolese. He also claimed that other African nationals from Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso were also on the roll hence the need for a new one to be compiled before the 2016 general elections but the EC rejected the claims describing it as unconvincing. A committee constituted by the Commission to collate views on proposals for a new register, analysed the NPPs claims and concluded that they were not credible. Some NDC communicators as a result, called for the arrest of the economist for peddling falsehood, most recently the MP for the Juaboso Constituency in the Western Region, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Nairobi (AFP) - Around 1,000 people marched through the streets of Burundi's capital Saturday to protest against a United Nations Security Council decision to send a police contingent to the troubled country. The demonstration -- "organised by the authorities," according to one Western diplomatic source -- passed off peacefully but showed the government's hostility to the proposed unit of 228 UN police. Protesters marched to the French embassy, angry that France had drafted the UN resolution to send the controversial police squad. One demonstrator carried a banner saying that it was France that needed UN peacekeepers, making a reference to a truck attack in the southern French city of Nice that killed 84 people. French ambassador Gerrit van Rossum, who went out to address the crowd, said there was "a deep misunderstanding" about France's role at the UN security council. He said there was "no problem" at the demonstration. The crowd also demonstrated outside the Rwandan embassy, accusing Rwanda of training Burundi rebels. On Friday, the UN agreed to send the force of 228 police to the capital Bujumbura and throughout Burundi for an initial period of a year. The UN police force would be tasked with monitoring security and human rights in coordination with African Union rights observers and military experts. The police force "would help create an environment conducive to political dialogue by averting further deterioration of the security situation as well as human rights and abuses," the UN resolution said. Burundi has agreed to allow 100 AU rights observers and 100 AU military experts into the country to monitor the crisis, but fewer than 50 have begun work on the ground. But the planned police deployment has sparked fury from the authorities, who have said they will accept no more than 50 officers. Four countries on the 15-member UN council abstained from the vote, which passed with 11 votes in favour. The abstentions came from China, Egypt, Angola and Venezuela, which cited the need to secure Bujumbura's consent for the police force. - 'Targeted measures' - Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans in April last year to run for a third term, which he went on to win. More than 500 people have died, many of them in extrajudicial killings blamed on Burundian police, security forces and militias linked to the ruling party, according to the United Nations. At least 270,000 people have fled the country. The UN is under pressure to take action in Burundi, where the descent into violence has raised fears of mass atrocities, similar to those that convulsed neighboring Rwanda in 1994. Political talks scheduled to open this month in Tanzania collapsed when the government refused to sit down with some opponents in exile accused of plotting a failed coup attempt in May last year. The government's refusal to hold serious negotiations is seen as a key stumbling block in diplomatic efforts to end the violence. The UN council threatened "targeted measures against all actors, inside and outside Burundi, who threaten peace and security" in the country. This is where the Idiot-of-Irmo, South Carolina, got his focus wrong on the condign sentencing of the so-called Montie Three to 4 months imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Ghana. These days, we hear he resides in California, and so we need to update our addressing of the man in consonance with his new domiciliary; which is why not very long, I renamed him as the Cretin-of-California. He may well have decamped from the Golden State. But what does it matter? Those who have regularly been reading my columns know exactly who I am talking about. He gloats on being erroneously described as a prominent member of the countrys main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), although he has scarcely made any positive contribution towards the growth and development of the most democratic and progressive political party in the country for quite a remarkable while now. Not very long ago, one livid pro-NPP commentator even called for the executive operatives of the NPP to revoke the nominal party membership of the Idiot and re-designate him as an Enemy Combatant of the New Patriotic Party. And true to form and character, the first gut reaction of the Idiot to the sentencing of the Montie Three, was to scandalously claim that there have been far bigger fishes in the geopolitical waters of Ghana who have called for the total pollution of our otherwise pristine waters without being invited by the members of the Apex Court to explain themselves. The target of his innuendo, of course, is quite clear. The reality, though, is that as far as any among our mnemonically unblemished ranks can recall, it was only the now-late President John Evans Atta-Mills who, in the lead-up to Election 2008, and in the jolly and rabidly anti-Akan company of the late Prof. Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor, threatened to rain hell and Kenya on the Ghanaian people if the electoral dice was not thrown in his favor by the then-Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan. The war-mongering pair would be summoned to the residence of the British High Commissioner to Ghana to explain themselves. They would vehemently deny ever issuing any such threats, although all the available and reliable evidence contradicted the pair. Back then, I dont remember the Idiot calling on the members of the Apex Court to arraign my good, old Uncle Tarkwa-Atta before the court to answer for his dastardly threat to set the nation alight. Well, we think we know why the Idiot went AWOL: it had everything to do with the tribal thing! Indeed, he is not called an Idiot for nothing. And he also has one lie that he has been peddling ad nauseam for years now, to wit, that he was one of the frontline tertiary students who protested the brutal assassination of the three Akan-descended Accra High Court judges on June 30, 1982. I have publicly challenged the Idiot on the whole fabric of self-tickling mendacity and hereby reprise the same that it was the renowned poet-lawyer Mr. Kobina Asiedu-Aboagye, then General-Secretary of the Ghana Law Students Association and a leading studio-panel member of the Godwin Avenorgbor-hosted GBC Fan Club, who called for an immediate enquiry into the savage abduction and brutal assassination of Justices Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Fred Poku-Sarkodie and Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong. He also claims that the wrist-slapping sentencing of the Montie Three has brought the Apex Court into abject disrepute of nonesuch proportions because, somehow, the five justices of the Court whose lives were publicly threatened by Messrs. Alistair Nelson, Ako Gunn and Mugabe Salifu Maase ought to have sat duck and graciously waited to be carted out of their homes and summarily executed, Mafia-style, like their martyred predecessors, whose 34th death anniversary the Montie Three had cited as an occasion to be gloriously celebrated with another bout of judicial martyrdom. Predictably, the Idiot notes that the gaping and flagrant failure of Attorney-General Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong and the taxpayer-sponsored security agencies, including the John Kudalor-led Ghana Police Service, to promptly act on the threat by the Montie Three was wrong but, somehow, of little or absolutely no significance because it was the bounden obligation of the members of the Supreme Court to have assessed, beforehand, whether the three contemnors were actually capable of carrying out the threats which they repeatedly broadcast on the airwaves. I mean, we are talking about 30-plus-year-old men with strong connections to officials inside the Flagstaff House! Which clearly explains why Ghanas Foreign Minister, Ms. Hanna Tetteh, and the Cultural Affairs Minister, Mrs. Agyare (or some such name), would append their signatures to a petition seeking to have President John Dramani Mahama nullify the Apex Courts conviction and sentencing of the Montie Three to a prison term. The Idiot also says that he is appalled by the manner in which the case was handled, but he sees absolutely nothing wrong with the staunch and public backing of the Montie Three by several front-row members of the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress. He also faults the Wood Supreme Court for unconstitutionally constituting itself into plaintiff, prosecutor and jurist in its own cause. God save us from ourselves! *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs UKbased pastor, Brian Amoateng has successfully organized and hosted the first UK edition of the International Youth Empowerment Summit (iYES). The International Youth Empowerment Summit (iYES) is a one-day conference hosted by Pastor Brian Amoateng, of Brian Jones Outreach Ministries. It is a global initiative dedicated to the spiritual, intellectual and emotional growth of young people around the world through proprietary programs, revival summits, events, seminars and practical opportunities. The International Youth Empowerment Summit (iYES) further strives to advance the drive of young Christian's to be daring in order to achieve their dreams and to develop leadership skills that are applied at a global level. The first UK edition of the empowerment summit witnessed attendees from the Netherlands, Italy and various parts of the UK. The speakers for the event which was held this month included Pastor Philip Aryee of Dominion Bible Church and the 2015 GUBA Humanitarian Award winner, Prophet Daniel Amoateng of London Prayer Centre. Some of the topics discussed at the summit was on business and finance, worship and prayer and global impact through education. The first annual iYES, was held in August 2015 in Ghana at the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) with speakers such as Pastor Michelle McKinney Hammond, Minister Sonnie Badu, Prophet Daniel Amoateng and Pastor Brain Amoateng. iYES is the brainchild of award-winning Pastor Brian Amoateng, who has a deep passion for encouraging and supporting the youth and young adults. Meanwhile, all is set for the 2nd annual International Youth Empowerment Summit (iYES) which will be held come August 11th - 12th 2016 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Accra. Fb Img 1467542627763 Fb Img 1467745606644 Akim Oda (E/R), July 30, GNA - A 42-year-old taxi driver at Akim Oda Quarters in the Eastern Region, Eric Kofi Nartey has been killed by three suspected men. The suspects are Sulemana Dauda, Joseph Arthur King, and Emmanuel Kwaku Adjei. They are all in their 20s. The horrific incident had caused an angry mob to set a house ablaze, which they believed the killers might have been hiding in. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Superintendent Ebenezer Ampofo, and the Akim Oda Divisional Police Commander said the police was hinted on July 27, 2016 around 2030 hours of an attack on a taxi driver. He said the police got to the place of the incident and the late Nartey was found lying unconscious by his taxi with registration number GW 9380-16 and was rushed to the Akim Oda Government Hospital. Nartey was pronounced dead after reaching the hospital and the body has been kept at the mortuary. According to the Commander, the taxi driver was hired by the three suspects to convey some items to their house at Akim Oda Quarters. They attacked his neck with an axe and he fell unconscious. This attracted some people to the scene and fearing for their lives the assailants took to their heels. However the following day the police arrested Dauda and King and were processed to appear before the Oda Magistrate Court for prosecution. The suspects were remanded in prison custody to reappear on August 30. Supt Ampofo advised drivers and passengers to be vigilant in their movements, especially in the night to avoid being attacked by unsuspecting persons. GNA Following the emergence of audio evidence of the MP for Nkwanta North, John Bless Oti, verbally attacking the Chief Justice, the President of IMANI, Frankiln Cudjoe has likened the MP's comments to the infamous Hate Radio which ushered in the Rwandan genocide. Listening that man [Oti Bless] on radio was worse than what was said in Rwanda, Mr. Cudjoe held on the Citi FM's News Analysis programme, The Big Issue. Mr. Oti, who is the Deputy Minister designate for Local Government, can be heard verbally attacking the Supreme Court on the same Montie FM 'Pampaso' programme, that saw the host of the show and two panelists imprisoned for contempt . Mr. Oti is on record accusing the Chief Justice of conniving with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in an attempt to reverse the election results in 2008 and in 2012 among other allegations. I am surprised the Chief Justice isn't suing him by now, the IMANI President said in response to this development. The unsavoury comments, the calumny, the vain glorification of treachery that was meted out to the Chief Justice I am shocked. Go to their houses and maim them. Look for them anywhere they are. They are cockroaches fish them out.' Mr. Cudjoe noted as some genocidal propaganda that marked the airwaves of Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC) in Rwanda adding, these were worse comments than what happened in Rwanda. Free speech gone to madness Mr. Cudjoe also described as nonsensical the attempts to defend the Montie three with claims their right to free speech was being attacked. The three; Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, together with the host of the 'Pampaso' political show, Maase Salifu, a.k.a Mugabe, threatened to eliminate justices of the Supreme Court over their handling of the lawsuit on the credibility of the country's voters' register. Dept. Education Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was among signatories to a petition to free the Montie 3 Their incarceration has been met with calls for their release with a petition being started to get President Mahama to pardon the three. Other have called their four month sentence an attack on free speech . But Mr. Cudjoe retorted that, to actually threaten the life of a fellow human being is one explanation of free speech gone to madness. I don't think anybody who talks about free speech in this instance is actually normal. He further indicated that convicted persons comments on the show ostensibly fell short of saying go and kill them [the Justices], go and rape them. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa's main opposition party called on voters Saturday to "punish" the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in a final push for support ahead of fiercely competitive municipal polls. Democratic Alliance (DA) chief 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. "In a democracy, you don't need to be loyal to one party forever; if that party betrays you, you get the chance to punish them," Maimane said at the party's final election rally. "Just because you voted for the ANC in the past doesn't mean you must vote ANC forever." Some 20,000 supporters clad in the DA's sky-blue T-shirts filled the benches of Dobsonville Stadium in Maimane's hometown of Soweto, the iconic Johannesburg township that set the scene for much of the struggle against white-minority apartheid rule. The DA has slammed the ANC's record, citing the country's poor economic performance and a series of corruption scandals plaguing President Jacob Zuma. "People of this country have been betrayed by this government," Maimane told supporters. "You vote for jobs and services, but get unemployment and corruption." The DA rules in the Western Cape province, currently holding the strategic metropolis of Cape Town. The latest Ipsos opinion polls suggest that the ANC, which has ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994, could be under threat in three more major cities -- Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth -- at the election. "The ANC's had their chance -- they had twenty years," supporter Geoff Finn told AFP. "People don't have jobs, services aren't being delivered, and it's opportunity for change." Lucky Dinake, a 22-year-old candidate for the opposition, said the DA was a "forward-looking party". "We get so caught up in our past in this country, and I found a political home that looked to the future," he told AFP. 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. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has done it again! This time round not in the Volta Region but in the Northern Region, to be specific, Walewale Constituency. What did he do? EC officials sent a verification machine to his house and got him verified. Dr. Bawumia in several instances tried to undermine the image of the Electoral Commission of Ghana. The first was when he appeared in court for opposition NPP in 2012 as a clueless witness who led the NPP in their defeat in that court case. The second had to do with the EC registering foreigners in the Volta Region to increase the chances of NDC winning any elections in Ghana. All these were attempts by the NPP to discredit the EC and further create fertile grounds for the "second coming" or if you like "second going" of the NPP to the supreme Court. This morning, I was combing through Ghanaian news websites including international ones just to feed my eyes about political and economic happenings in the world. I first visited Modernghana.com, one of my favorite websites I source information from every single day. The next was Myjoyonline.com. Master, on Myjoyonline.com what I saw and read wasn't pleasant at all. The whole Vice Presidential Candidate of the "Major Functional Opposition Party", the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia verified in his own house! What country are we living in? Must the laws of the country be turned down to favour an opposition Vice Presidential Candidate? This calls for investigation by the National Security. I moved on to visit other social media only to be fed with a press release by my good friend Simon Ali, the Walewale Constituency Secretary for the NPP. He tried to defend Dr. Bawumia only to be chronologically caught red handed about the arrangements of events in his press release. Now, the good question to ask is: where did Dr. Bawumia get verified with the EC officials? Your guess is as good as mine. The press release issued by the NPP in Walewale Constituency can't save Dr. Bawumia from that embarrassment he has cast on himself. The law may elude him but I didn't expect anyone like Dr. Bawumia to be caught in this sad web. The NPP defended this saga in different directions. In fact, they are moving together in different but difficult directions. These are the words of Anthony Karbo, the deputy communications director of NPP : Indeed my understanding is that they [EC officials] only brought the electoral register. He looked at it and realized that his name was still on the register and then asked them to go, Anthony Karbo explained to Joy News Anchor, Evans Mensah. Now take a look at what the Walewale Constituency Secretary of the NPP, Simon Ali said: "Not long after Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia went to his family home, he was informed that the EC Officers had come to verify him (Dr.Bawumia) at home since the clouds had gathered and it was likely it could start raining soon." He continues : "Dr . Mahamudu Bawumia however, declined this offer and rather decided to proceed to the Polling Centre... " so said by Simon Ali. Compare the two defences! There is no correlation between Anthony Karbo and the NPP Secretary for Walewale Constituency. They must come again! Yes, verification is free but not to be varied in your own house as done by Dr. Bawumia. The EC made it clear everyone will be verified in the polling station that he or he registered. Why then should Dr Bawumia demand to be verified in his place of abode? I need some answers from the EC for this omission they helped Dr Bawumia to commit. Who knows the ten thousand Ghana Cedis the media alleged that Dr. Bawumia paid before he got verified might be true. This is because every social gathering Dr. Bawumia attended, he donated ten thousand Ghana Cedis. Hence he is used to issuing ten thousand Ghana Cedis to people. In effect, Dr. Bawumia might end up voting in his house since he was verified in his house. Logic be logic! "All die be die. " AUTHOR: ATINDOW MUSAH TEL:0208532470 Following the emergence of audio evidence of the MP for Nkwanta North, John Bless Oti, verbally attacking the Chief Justice, the President of IMANI, Frankiln Cudjoe has likened the MP's comments to the infamous 'Hate Radio' which ushered in the Rwandan genocide. Listening that man [Oti Bless] on radio was worse than what was said in Rwanda, Mr. Cudjoe said on Citi FM's News Analysis programme, The Big Issue. Mr. Oti, who is the Deputy Minister designate for Local Government, can be heard verbally attacking the Supreme Court on the same Montie FM 'Pampaso' programme, that saw the host of the show and two panelists imprisoned for contempt . Mr. Oti is on record accusing the Chief Justice of conniving with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in an attempt to reverse the election results in 2008 and in 2012 among other allegations. I am surprised the Chief Justice isn't suing him by now, the IMANI President said in response to this development. The unsavoury comments, the calumny, the vain glorification of treachery that was meted out to the Chief Justice I am shocked. Go to their houses and maim them. Look for them anywhere they are. They are cockroaches fish them out.' Mr. Cudjoe noted as some genocidal propaganda that marked the airwaves of Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC) in Rwanda adding, these were worse comments than what happened in Rwanda. 'Free speech gone to madness' Mr. Cudjoe also described as nonsensical the attempts to defend the Montie three with claims their right to free speech was being attacked. The three; Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, together with the host of the 'Pampaso' political show, Maase Salifu, a.k.a Mugabe, threatened to eliminate justices of the Supreme Court over their handling of the lawsuit on the credibility of the country's voters' register. Their incarceration has been met with calls for their release with a petition being started to get President Mahama to pardon the three. Other have called their four month sentence an attack on free speech . But Mr. Cudjoe retorted that, to actually threaten the life of a fellow human being is one explanation of free speech gone to madness. I don't think anybody who talks about free speech in this instance is actually normal. He further indicated that convicted persons comments on the show ostensibly fell short of saying go and kill them [the Justices], go and rape them. -citifmonline By Kodjo Adams, GNA Accra, July 30, GNA - Five political parties have welcomed the launch of the Citizens Energy Manifesto by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) that outlines Ghanaians views and agenda for on the country's energy sector development. The parties are the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention Peoples' Party (CPP), Peoples' National Convention (PNC) and the Progressive Peoples' Party (PPP). The manifesto was developed after extensive consultation processes that involved public forums attended by different political and socio-economic actors in the Northern, Ashanti and Western Regions. Participants, included women, youth and persons with physical disability expressed their opinion and concerns on how the political parties could address the challenges confronting the petroleum and power sectors. Dr Ishmael Ackah, the Head of Policy Unit ACEP, said the manifesto sees the energy sector as one of the critical sectors relevant for charting strong socio-economic development paths for the country. He said it ushered in an era in which elections become platforms for generating policy reforms, building political consensus on policies and creating an effective mechanism for holding elected officials accountable. Dr Ackah said the manifesto process took a more futuristic and consultative approach of social accountability, to take policy discussions out of the arena of expert and scholarly opinions to direct engagement with citizens on their expectations from the next political party in power. Mr Koku Anyidoho, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, congratulated ACEP for launching the document, saying it would help inform the party to consider the concerns of the public in developing an appropriate response for the energy sector. 'This is critical because Ghana belongs to Ghanaians and the need to welcome different opinions to build consensus and build a strong energy sector for development,' he added. Mr Freddie Blay, the Acting Chairman of the NPP, said the country's capacity to generate energy is low and that there is the need for stakeholders to work together to address challenges in the energy sector. He said the party is ready to work with stakeholders to address the energy challenges and commended ACEP for spearheading the course of transparency and accountability in the energy sector. Pro Edmund Delle, Chairman of the CPP, said the party's energy team would study the document and make good use of the contents by adding it to its energy manifesto for 2016. Mr Bernard Monah, Chairman of the PNC said oil is an exhaustible resource and could be depleted, calling for government to invest in other portfolio for future benefit. Nii Allotey Brew Hammond, the Chairman of PPP expressed worry about the failure of successive governments to address the energy situation. He said party would study the document and see how best it could address some of the concerns raised by the public. 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The extended energy bust is reshaping the oil services industry, leaving Schlumberger and Halliburton as the two dominant players, and their competitors to either fundamentally reinvent themselves or fade away. The challenges faced by the smaller companies was demonstrated Thursday, when the No. 3 energy services provider, Baker Hughes, reported that its second-quarter loss widened to more than $900 million and it slashed another 3,000 jobs despite receiving a $3.5 billion breakup fee from Halliburton after their proposed merger was effectively blocked this spring by federal antitrust officials. The No. 4 company, Weatherford International, also reported a wider loss of $565 million this week after cutting 35,000 jobs half its workforce over the past 30 months. Theres some real structural damage to the U.S. services business, and its going to take a while to recover, said Marshall Adkins, director of energy research at Raymond James in Houston. Its just been a massive bloodbath. More than 80 North American services companies have filed for bankruptcy over past two years. The top four companies, all with corporate or operational headquarters in Houston, have cut close to 150,000 jobs worldwide since 2014. None has disclosed how many of the layoffs were in Houston. Of course, the downturn did not spare Schlumberger, the industry leader, and Halliburton, the second-largest. In the second quarter alone, they reported combined losses of more than $5 billion and job cuts of 13,000. While shrinking, though, the big two still dwarf their competitors: Schlumberger and Halliburton reported second-quarter revenue in North America of $1.7 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, compared with $670 million for Baker Hughes and $400 million for Weatherford. In addition, Schlumberger and Halliburton are not facing the same structural changes as smaller competitors. For example, Baker Hughes, whose workers in blue overalls have long been part of the energy landscape, is refocusing on technology and equipment sales, with the idea of putting fewer boots on the ground in the oil patch. The distance between the top two companies and their competitors may also be reflected in their outlooks. Executives of Schlumberger and Halliburton said last week that they believe the worst of the downturn was over and they expected business to pick up in the years second half. But Baker Hughes CEO Martin Craighead was more pessimistic during a conference call with analysts. I dont subscribe to the hopeful commentary that gets thrown around a lot, Craighead said Thursday. We dont expect to see a meaningful recovery in the second half of the year. Likewise, Houston-based National Oilwell Varco CEO Clay Williams said Thursday hes not ready to call bottom yet after his services and equipment manufacturing company cut another 6,000 jobs in the second quarter. Both Craighead and Williams referenced a slow grind upward after recent higher oil prices proved illusory. The U.S. benchmark for oil prices, which rose above $50 a barrel in June, settled Thursday at $41.14 in New York. Weatherford struggled even when oil was $100 a barrel in 2014 and has reduced its employees by more than 50 percent in 30 months. Weatherford Chairman and CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner said $60-a-barrel oil or at least the upper-$ 50s range is needed for any sustainable recovery. North America is now turning, however slowly, but turning it is, Duroc-Danner said, noting he was more optimistic about 2017. But, he added, the rebound will prove difficult because of lost workers and equipment. Increasing activity by about 30 percent is manageable, but then companies have to start training new workers from scratch, Duroc-Danner said. Still, not all of the news is bad. Baker Hughes even saw its stock increase by 3.4 percent on Thursday to close at $46.05 a share after falling short of analysts expectations on quarterly earnings. Perhaps, analysts said, its an indication of how low the bar is set in the struggling energy sector. Youve done enough, go before ... North Americas largest wind and solar energy provider, NextEra Energy Resources, will begin construction on the first phase of its massive Hale Wind Energy, LLC, project during the first quarter of 2017. Planned for the Petersburg area, Phase I is expected to generate 478 megawatts of energy using 239 General Electric 2.0MW turbines, according to company announcement. Ultimately, NextEra plans to expand its Hale Wind Energy project, acquired from Tri-Global, in up to four phases across most of the eastern half of Hale County. Total production capacity is expected to be about 800 megawatts. The Hale Wind Energy project wont be the only new energy stake NextEra will have in Texas. On Friday, Florida-based NextEra Energy unveiled a deal to buy Oncor, Texas largest electric transmission utility. According to The Texas Tribune, the $18.4 billion deal will give NextEra an 80 percent share of Oncor, whose 120,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines deliver power to more than 3 million homes and businesses in North and West Texas within the Ercot grid. Lubbock is making a bid to move out of the Southwestern Power Pool and into Ercot after Lubbock Power & Lights contract to buy wholesale power from Xcel Energy expires later this decade. NextEras acquisition of Oncor could help end the epic bankruptcy of Energy Future Holdings, Texas largest power conglomerate. We are pleased to have reached a definitive agreement, Jim Robo, chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy, said in a statement. We are incredibly impressed by Oncors management team and its employees. If approved, NextEras deal could help deliver Oncors parent company, Energy Future Holdings, from one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in American history. That company, saddled with more than $42 billion in debt, also owns Texas largest electric generation fleet and its largest electric retailer. NextEra, which has sizable footprint in Texas, said Oncor would keep its name, Dallas headquarters and local management. The deal also will eliminate all Energy Future Holdings debt hovering about Oncor, NextEra said. The proposal must be approved by the Delaware judge overseeing Energy Future Holdings bankruptcy, as well as the Public Utility Commission of Texas. This deal comes after another bid for Oncor fell apart. An investment group led by Ray L. Hunt, the Dallas oilman, spent much of this year wrangling at the Public Utility Commission over its plans to buy Oncor a deal that sparked backlash from consumer advocates and others who objected to the way investors would profit from federal tax savings. Regulators ultimately approved that deal, but added a litany of conditions that prompted investors to walk away in May. NextEras more conventional bid is unlikely to face such fierce resistance, even if the company doesnt offer the Texas roots that some officials might prefer. On Friday, one consumer group expressed support. "We think it's a good idea for several reasons," said Tom Smitty Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, adding that most of his excitement relates to its prospects for renewable energy in Texas. NextEra, with its tremendous experience integrating renewable energy, will be able to help harness the renewables from the windy, sunny parts of West Texas and bring it into our cities." (The Texas Tribune contributed significantly to this article.) Acts of vandalism in West Texas or other parts of the nation during the war years were often attributed to simple home-grown adult crime, the black market, or juvenile delinquency; however, the possibility always existed that such crimes were the act of saboteurs or enemy sympathizers. Such vandalism occurred on the night of Feb. 7, 1943, when three grass fires were deliberately set, both on the north and south edges of Plainview. Fire Chief A. M. Hamilton said he suspected the fires were set deliberately and it was determined, he said, that the blazes were not set by the property owners, the Herald stated. Such grass fires, the chief continued, could possibly prevent firemen from answering calls for fires at residences or businesses in town. Police Chief Hoyt Curry said his department was cooperating in efforts to apprehend anyone who might set a grass fire on property other than his own and asserted that if apprehended the offender could expect a severe penalty, the Herald continued. Aiding the police and fire department in keeping the Plainview area safe during the war was the Plainview Defense Guard. This home guard unit was composed of local men who drilled in uniform, provided their own weapons, and met regularly. They were similar to the British Home Guard which was charged with helping defend Great Britain should invasion occur. Most communities around the nation had a defense guard or home guard unit to assist the police and fire departments with maintaining security and safety on the home front. An article from the Feb. 10, 1943, edition of the Herald stated that the Plainview defense guardsmen were hosts last night to their ladies at a supper at the city auditorium. The meal was prepared by Captain Ted Andrews and served by guardsmen following preliminary drill. There was 89 guardsmen and guests present. The Plainview Defense Guardsmen company was composed of two platoons, noted the article. Maintaining security on the ground was only a part of the job that needed to be done to ensure the protection of facilities, vehicles, equipment and people. Many years before the United States entry into the Second World War, the Civil Air Patrol was started in response to what some private citizens saw as an ever-increasing threat from foreign air forces and navies. According to Frank A. Burnham in his 1974 book, Hero Next Door, the CAP was created to help fill in the gap in air power between the United States and foreign powers. In the years just prior to the outbreak of World War II, concern that the United States was sadly lacking in airpower began to mount among the more than 128,000 licensed pilots and nearly 15,000 aircraft mechanics. There was substance for their concern. Despite the fact that aviation was conclusively proven to be a powerful weapon during the latter part of the First World War, it fared very badly in the hands of the military traditionalists during the post-war period. The CAPs primary mission during the war years was to patrol the shoreline looking for enemy ships and submarines and to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent enemy agents or saboteurs from crossing into the United States. However, local communities in the interior of the nation, such as Plainview, had their own CAP squadron. The D-1 squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, composed of fliers at Plainview, Lockney and Floydada, is above the average in flying personnel in the state, according to Captain E. B. Germany of the wing commanders staff of Texas, said the Herald on Feb. 26, 1943. Capt. Germany is going over records of the home squadron Wednesday night at a gathering of Plains personnel at Lubbock commended the tri-community organization highly. T.C. Meinecke, 1st Lieut., CAP, is commander of squadron D-1 and was justly proud of his units showing when compared with the average over Texas. Purposes of the Civil Air Patrol composed of volunteer civilian fliers include work auxiliary to the armed services and organization to preserve civil aviation for the post-war period. CAP pilots patrol hundreds of miles of the Mexico border and are frequently called on for special missions such as flying mail and other routine duties. Since the CAP was organized 14 months ago, eight members of squadron D-1 have gone into some capacity relating to the war effort, as instructors or as fliers in civilian capacities. The squadron is supposed to be in uniform and officers have their insignia, silver propeller and wings with the letters C.A.P., to distinguish them from regular air force. The local squadron does not have uniforms. Meinecke is of the opinion that Army direction will just make a better CAP all the way around and is not at all averse to seeing the Army inject some must into his section of the home-front war effort. Six months before Clent Breedlove started operations at the Plainview pre-glider school the Eastern Wing Command announced that Breedlove had been appointed group commander for the Lubbock area of the Civil Air Patrol, according the Lubbock Morning-Avalanche on Jan. 1, 1942. No one at this moment can foresee the complete variety of uses in which the Civil Air Patrol can be employed by the military services or other government agencies, Breedlove said. More about the history of Finney Field will be discussed in the next article. Readers are asked to visit the Breedlove-CPTP website at www.breedlove-cptp.com for more details about the glider program of WWII. Anyone with information about the Plainview Pre-Glider School at Finney Field should contact John McCullough at 806-793-4448 or email johnmc@breedlove-cptp.org. 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. CLEVELAND General manager David Forst acknowledged Friday that one of the As top potential trade chips, starter Rich Hill, wont be able to work in a game before Mondays deadline. And though the As are still potential sellers before the non-waiver deadline, Forst said Oaklands recent run of success is something that the front office is taking into account, noting that were it not for two walk-off losses at Houston and one at Texas this month, the team would be almost back at the .500 mark. We are having a lot of conversations, Forst said. I couldnt handicap it whether well do something or not. The fact is that this team has played really well since the All-Star break, and these guys and Bob (Melvin) and his staff deserve a lot of credit. Hill, right fielder Josh Reddick and left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski are the top potential players to be moved, and there might be some interest in corner infielder Danny Valencia as a right-handed bat off the bench and outfielder Coco Crisp, who leads the majors with a .436 batting average with runners in scoring position. Crisp has 10-and-five rights and cannot be dealt without his consent. Also, his $13 million vesting option for 2017, which hits at 130 games played, might complicate things. Cindeka Nealy/Midland Reporter-Telegram Hills blister issue doesnt appear to have diminished interest in the pending free agent, although its possible it has affected the quality of offers the As have received. Forst said that there have been plenty of calls on Hill, but, Were not going to give Rich away. Forst said the team could consider bringing back Hill next season. Qualifying offers for players eligible for free agency will be just less than $17 million, and the As certainly would make Reddick an offer if he isnt traded, but Hill seems more of a gamble at that price. He will be 37 and if he goes on the disabled list Saturday as expected, it will be his second stint there this season. The Dodgers, who have scouted Reddick and Hill extensively and who again were linked to both by ESPNs Buster Olney on Friday, have a scout attending Oaklands series at Cleveland. The Orioles and Blue Jays are among the other clubs scouting the series. Hill was having one of the best seasons among AL starters, with a 9-3 record and a 2.25 ERA, but he left his July 17 start after just five pitches because a blister ripped off the middle finger of his left hand. Hill made 60 long-toss throws Friday and said the area felt hot. It feels like were making good progress, but if we run out there and end up in a situation like we were last time, were pushing it back even more, Hill said. Were already at two weeks at this point. ... Let it heal, build up, keep making progress. Right now, its still soft. Forst said the team had considered Hill a long shot to start Sunday. We were never not going to do what was best for Rich, Forst said. Hill, it appears, will go on the DL to make room for Saturday starter Dillon Overton. Sonny Gray will start against the Indians on Sunday on regular rest. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser A week after it started, a fire burning in the Big Sur area has consumed nearly 33,000 acres and continues to threaten 2,000 homes, officials said Friday. The Soberanes Fire has charred 32,930 acres and is 15 percent contained, said officials with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. The blaze has grown by about 5,000 acres since Thursday, but containment was up from 10 percent. A 27-year-old San Francisco man already serving time in prison was accused Friday of taking part in one of the citys most horrific killings in recent memory, the gun massacre of four young men who were attacked in January 2015 while sitting in a Honda Civic in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. Lee Farley, who despite his young age has an extensive rap sheet, was pulled from his cell at a federal lockup in Atwater (Merced County) and booked into San Francisco jail on charges of murdering Yalani Chinyamurindi, 19, David Saucier, 20, Harith Atchan, 21, and Manuel ONeal, 22. Family members of the men who were ambushed and slain expressed relief Friday that an arrest had been made after hearing for months that investigators knew who committed the crime but could not move forward without more evidence. Madrid Johnson, ONeals uncle, noted that investigators believe there were three to four people responsible for the hail of bullets. Maybe one person will lead them to the others, and I just pray that they get the rest of them and that they will be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law, Johnson said. Its not going to bring back four young men. Its not going to bring my nephew back. But at least we know someone is making an attempt to do something about these murders. The four men had been in the black Civic when the shooters opened fire at Laguna and Page streets about 10 p.m. The car had been taken from outside a home in Burlingame more than two weeks earlier, but neighborhood leaders familiar with the victims said they had not stolen it. One of the men, they said, had purchased the vehicle a few days before the shooting. Investigators have long said the shooting appeared to be gang related and probably linked to assailants claiming turf near the scene. However, family members of some of the victims said they werent all affiliated with a gang. Chinyamurindi had been trying to cash his paycheck on a dinner break from his restaurant job in nearby Japantown, said his mother, Salahaquekyah Chandler. He was just a beautiful Hebrew young man who did everything society tells you to do go to school, get a job, Chandler said Friday. He was talented, he was gifted, he was into performance arts. He did everything he was supposed to do. Both Chandler and Johnson said they did not know Farley, who was also charged by the San Francisco district attorneys office with shooting at an inhabited vehicle, being a convicted drug offender in possession of a gun, and participating in a criminal street gang. According to court records, Farley has a lengthy criminal history. In 2007, he was convicted of dealing cocaine base. The next year, he was convicted of drug possession. In 2010, he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and in 2012, he was convicted of second-degree burglary. He was sentenced in April to 76 months in federal prison for possession of a stolen gun, a charge that stemmed from a residential burglary in San Francisco in which city officers caught him fleeing from the home. Farley is expected to be arraigned Monday in the quadruple homicide case, prosecutors said. San Franciscos acting police chief, Toney Chaplin, was in charge of the homicide detail when the four men were killed and has long spoken of the impact he felt from the shooting. He told The Chronicle this year that he believed the violence was unplanned committed on the spur of the moment when the shooters happened to spot the victims while driving by. I promised the victims families that the San Francisco Police Department would do everything we could to solve this brutal crime, Chaplin said Friday in a statement. I have been updated regularly by the Homicide Detail and I am happy to announce that the Department has arrested a suspect and begun the process of bringing justice and healing to the victims families. The killings took place on the edge of the Western Addition, a neighborhood moving forward from a tragic legacy of violence. Several of the victims had ties to the Western Addition, and in the aftermath of their deaths, community leaders rallied for justice and an end to a pervasive no snitching attitude. The African American men died as the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining momentum across the country, and many in the community were concerned their deaths would be written off and never solved. After the shooting, someone stuck flyers on neighborhood cars calling the victims dead criminals. Many in the community questioned why the killing of Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old white woman who was randomly gunned down on the Embarcadero later in the year, gained so much more attention. Chandler and community leaders fought to make sure the killings remained in the public eye, working with Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who represents Hayes Valley, on legislation creating a system to fund rewards for information leading to arrests and convictions in unsolved cases. I refused to have my son be one of those statistics, Chandler said. I want this to send a message to all these other families that when their child is murdered, no matter how they felt they lived their lives, it doesnt matter. We will still fight for them because the very life that they possessed was sacred and theyre worth fighting for. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate History can be biased when it comes to criminals who have captured the publics imagination. Too often it tends to immortalize their names and notorious deeds for future generations, instead of the painstaking investigative work made by law enforcement officials seeking to end their felonious spree. Almost 100 years ago, Bonnie Parker, 23, and Clyde Barrow, 25, became an infamous lovestruck crime duo as they committed murders and robbed gas stations, grocery stores and banks throughout the Midwest and Southwest regions of the United States. The Texas outlaws were able to evade capture since local police and sheriffs were not properly equipped to pursue motorized, multistate bandits in the early 20th century. But Bonnie and Clydes luck quickly ran out when Frank Hamer, the epitome of law enforcement in the Lone Star state, entered the manhunt. Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde, by John Boessenecker, one of the leading authorities on crime and lawlessness in the Old West, is a fascinating look into the epic life of one of the greatest American lawmen of the 20th century. Boessenecker presents Hamer as a modest and humble man whose stern will was molded during 40 perilous years as a peace officer. Hamer pronounced Haymer was born in 1884 in Fairview, a tiny Wilson County village with a population barely reaching 100 residents, situated 40 miles southeast of San Antonio. More Information Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde By John Boessenecker Thomas Dunne Books, $29.99 See More Collapse His law enforcement career began on horseback, chasing desperadoes on the rugged Texas frontier, and continued through the decades as he pursued Mexican smugglers, the Ku Klux Klan, corrupt politicians and even the Texas Bankers Association when it invoked a procedure in which it would only pay a reward for a dead bank robber and not one caught alive. One of Hamers final investigations involved the infamous Jim Wells County Precinct 13 election results from the 1948 Texas Senate race, which featured an up-and-coming politician named Lyndon Baines Johnson. Many of the investigations Hamer was involved in could be books on their own. But it was the search for a murderous couple that captured the publics imagination and brought him unwanted and undeserved notoriety when Warner Brothers released the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. It portrayed him as a man captured by the gang and humiliated, who then kills the couple in revenge. In actuality, the manhunt for the Barrow gang was enormous and justified, involving hundreds of deputy sheriffs and police officers throughout the Midwest, Southwest and West. Officers patrolled roads from Iowa to Colorado and Wyoming, through Missouri and Kansas and south to Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The entire Texas Highway Patrol was assigned to the hunt, but it wasnt until Hamer joined the search that the gangs days were numbered. Boessencker dispels many myths that have popped up surrounding the sociopathic killers in numerous books and articles, and recognizes Hamer for the important role he played in crime-fighting history. Texas Ranger is a solid, detailed account of an old-fashioned lawman whose career was larger than life at a time when the country needed it the most. Vincent Bosquez is a retired Marine Corps captain and coordinator of Veterans Affairs at Palo Alto College. The Soviet Union officially fell on Dec. 25, 1991, but before its collapse, the country was highly focused on science and technology discoveries. Now, nearly 25 years later, some of the Soviet Union's sites that were of great importance to technological progress have become abandoned, places frozen in time that have lost their significance. Police are asking for the public's help in locating nearly 20 Houston-area fugitives. Each week, Crime Stoppers officials in Houston and Montgomery County release a new list of what they consider to be their most highly sought fugitives. New York Milton Glaser still loves New York, but these days, he said, it sometimes worries him. Glaser, 87, created one of the most potent designs of the last century: I (Heart) NY, a rallying symbol for New York when the city and state were in crisis in 1977. On a recent afternoon, he puzzled over what design he would create for the New York of 2016. This city, he said, is in a different crisis, brought on by its own success. "That's an enormous problem," he said, seated in the canary-colored conference room of his design studio on East 32nd Street, where he has worked since 1965. Childish shrieks from the schoolyard next door rippled through the office. Scattered around the room were some of his recent designs, including bottles of Trump Vodka and a poster proclaiming, "To Vote Is to Exist." "You can't have this much development, and the consequential eviction of hundreds of thousands of people who will have no place to live," Glaser said. "There's some fundamental misjudgment about the balance between ordinary people and people who make enormous amounts of money. The idea of apartments for $50 million. What? On what basis?" If he were to design a successor to the I (Heart) NY logo today, he said, "What you would want is more of a sense of fairness in the city, whatever that means." "I can't be glib about this," he continued, "because the problem is too enormous and difficult to deal with." New York is, famously, a town of transience, with newcomers arriving constantly, either making their mark or coming a cropper, then leaving for jobs overseas, or back home, or the sun of California. The human tides are as regular as the cycles of boom and bust and boom. But there are also the lions who didn't leave, who put their imprint on the battered city of the 1970s and remain part of the metropolis that emerged from it. New York is filled with them: Felix Rohatyn and Gloria Steinem, Charles Rangel and Robert Morgenthau, Diane von Furstenberg and Grandmaster Flash, Harry Belafonte and Larry Kramer. When others left, they kept on keeping on. Milton Glaser's 87-year love affair with New York is a fable of the city itself, beginning in one era of economic and ethnic division, the 1930s in the South Bronx, and arriving now in another one, with different fault lines and promises. Along the way, his I (Heart) NY logo, first drawn on a scrap of paper in the back of a taxi, has declared that love in a nearly universal language, understood in every corner of the planet. Glaser has never considered leaving New York City. "I never separated the city from myself," he said. "I think I am the city. I am what the city is. This is my city, my life, my vision." The "I Love New York" concept was a reaction to this sense of decline. Many have claimed credit for the line. If New York was an unlovable wreck, a city on fire, a state in a slump, that only made it the kind of place a certain kind of New Yorker could boast about loving. The state tourism office launched a $4 million ad campaign, commissioning a jingle writer named Steve Karmen, a Bronx-born child of Russian Jewish immigrants, to make the slogan sing. The logo came later. AUSTIN A twice-convicted sex offender who made headlines last December after a judge ordered him freed from a treatment program for sexually violent predators has been ordered back into the program. Texas 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont overturned the earlier decision and ordered Alonzo May, 57, back into the states civil-commitment program for predators who have served their prison time but are held in state custody for additional treatment before they are considered for release back into the community. May has been housed at the states civil-commitment center in Littlefield, in remote West Texas, pending the appeals court ruling. Marsha McLane, executive director of the Texas Civil Commitment Office, said he will be returned to the treatment program. In ordering Mays immediate freedom last December, Conroe visiting state District Judge P.K. Reiter said key revisions to the states civil commitment program by the Legislature last year were unconstitutional. May was freed for a week, and spent time at his mothers home in Grand Prairie before the appeals court overruled his release and ordered him back into state custody. He was the first person ever to be freed from the program by court order. Attorney General Ken Paxton said the latest court decision underscores the legality of the civil-commitment program that has faced numerous legal challenges and was overhauled by the Legislature last year amid growing questions about whether its operations were constitutional. Reiters order freeing May found that he could not constitutionally be placed into the new tiered program because it was designed as an in-patient program instead of the designated out-patient program he had been ordered into by a court. May was among several offenders who did not agree to voluntarily transition into the new program. He had challenged his transfer from a Dallas halfway house to Littlefield, about 40 miles northwest of Lubbock. Mays attorney could not be reached Friday about whether he plans to appeal the latest decision. The appellate court decision affirmed the states efforts to correct acknowledged legal flaws that had threatened to derail the continued operation of the civil commitment program, which already was facing several federal court challenges. Under Texas civil commitment law, the state can keep felons convicted of at least two violent sex crimes under supervision after they leave prison, if they are deemed likely to offend again. State records show that May was ordered into civil commitment following his release from prison after serving a 15-year sentence for a parole violation connected to a sexual assault case. According to state officials, his assault victims included a 16-year-old girl and 17-year-old girl. Texas is one of 20 states with a civil commitment program for repeat violent sex offenders. Those offenders are ordered by a court into confinement at facilities where they are supposed to undergo treatment until they can be reintegrated into society. A 2014 Houston Chronicle investigation found that nearly half of the more than 350 men ordered into Texas civil commitment program were sent back to prison for violating program rules rather than committing new crimes. In May 2015, lawmakers made sweeping reforms to the program in hopes of bringing it into compliance with constitutional requirements. Under the new law, offenders in the program are supposed to be in a tiered inpatient treatment program that allows them to progress to increasing levels of freedom toward an eventual release into the community under supervision. A San Antonio firefighter charged with DWI after an April arrest near Port Aransas has been suspended, SAFD officials confirmed Friday. SAFD Fire Engineer Adrian Garza, 49, whos been with the department since 1989, was arrested by the Port Aransas Police Department on a DWI charge April 3. According to SAFD Charles Hood, Garza was suspended for 60 days without pay starting on July 5. A probationer charged with multiple felonies after firing a pistol from a vehicle in Midland in January is now serving a prison sentence. Derek Jae Bender, 31, was a Michigan Department of Corrections probationer assigned to Mount Pleasant when Midland Police were called to the Speedway at 2500 N. Saginaw Road at 5:30 a.m. Jan. 6 for a report of an intoxicated man who had fired a gun. At the scene, they found Bender was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a woman who became scared by his behavior and pulled into the gas station to call police. He fought with officers, who were seen with their weapons drawn. No one was hurt during the incident. Bender was charged with discharging a weapon from a vehicle, a concealed weapons violation, felony firearm, three counts of resisting and obstructing police, possession of cocaine, felon in possession of a weapon, and receiving and concealing a stolen weapon as a result of the incident. Bender was sentenced earlier this month by Midland County Circuit Court Judge Stephen P. Carras after making a plea. In exchange for pleading guilty to charges of discharging a weapon from a vehicle and two counts of resisting and obstructing officers, as well as an habitual third offender status, the remaining counts were dismissed. Carras levied 34 months to four years in prison for the resisting and obstructing charges, and 34 months to 20 years for discharging a weapon from a vehicle. Credit for 190 days was granted. Bender was represented by attorney James F. Gust of Saginaw. Benders rap sheet includes convictions of possession of burglar tools, breaking and entering a vehicle, conspiracy to break and enter a vehicle, marijuana possession and felonious assault. He was placed on department of corrections supervision on Nov. 5. Elizabeth Cirilo Garcia liked to stay busy. Working as a school nurse for more than 25 years, Garcia migrated to her husbands Southeast Side medical practice after retiring from the Edgewood School District. She was the office nurse and office manager, her daughter Libby Garcia said. She always had a lot of energy, couldnt sit still. In addition to her career, Garcia raised her four children, and, along with her husband, was active in the Democratic Party, a member of their neighborhood watch organization and deeply involved in her Catholic church. It rubbed off on us kids, Libby Garcia said. Theyd tell us, You need to be involved to be helping people all of the time. Youve got to keep working for change to make a better world. Garcia died July 22 at 93. A middle child among 13, Garcia put herself, with the help of her family, through the University of Houston, graduating with a nursing degree in the early 1940s. In turn, Garcia helped her younger siblings attend school. Helping others, and your family knowing that they could help each other and come through some of the hard times together, she was able to pass that along to us, Libby Garcia said. More Information Elizabeth Cirilo Garcia Born: Aug. 15, 1922, Parks Died: July 22, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Husband Cuitlahuac Perez "C.P." Garcia; parents Constancio and Guadalupe Guerra Cirilo. Survived by: Sons Adrian A. Garcia, Damian D. Garcia and daughter-in-law Christine; daughters Libby Garcia and son-in-law Tom DeNiro, Clotilde Marigayle Arambula and son-in-law Joseph; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; three sisters and two brothers. Services: Visitation from 4-9 p.m., rosary at 5 p.m., both Sunday at Heritage Oaks Mortuary, 2502 S. W.W. White Road; Mass at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, 1314 Fair Ave., followed by burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. See More Collapse Garcia was working as a school nurse in the Rio Grande Valley when she met the teacher who would become her husband. They went on three dates, then decided they wanted to get married, Libby Garcia said. They were married for more than 65 years when Garcias husband died in April. Moving to Mexico City in 1959 so her husband could attend medical school, Garcia later returned to the U.S. with their children, working as a nurse in Corpus Christi while her husband completed his education. We missed him terribly, Libby Garcia said. He would come visit us or wed go visit him; he wrote letters to my mom and us almost every day. After the family moved to San Antonio, where her husband opened a family practice near what was then Southeast Baptist Hospital, Garcia began working at Santa Rosa Hospital before becoming a nurse with the Edgewood district. She loved it, working with the kids, Libby Garcia said. She loved being able to help. In addition to their careers, Garcia and her husband made civic participation a priority. It was in the 60s and 70s, there was a lot of civic involvement social upheaval, the civil rights movement, Libby Garcia said. They would take us to all of the events; sometimes we just sat and listened to speeches, but sometimes wed participate with other kids at these events. mheidbrink@express-news.net Years ago before I retired from the San Antonio Fire Department, I visited the site of a fire where tires were thrown around as far as the eye could see. Even though this was just a small brush fire, I couldnt help but worry this place had the potential to be a major disaster. Just walking across the piles of tires and through waist-high grass with snakes, mosquitoes and wild animals hidden among them felt like a hazard . As it turns out, this site effectively abandoned by the Safe Tire Disposal Corp. of Texas is in the district that I now represent in the Texas House. Its potential hazard to our community is worse than anyone could realize. There are more than 15 million illegally dumped scrap tires across Texas in sites such as this, and more than 2 million of those tires are here at Applewhite. As a former firefighter, Ive seen how dangerous a tire fire can be. It does not surprise me to learn that the fire marshal estimates a fire could burn for up to nine months at this site. That is an astonishing amount of time, and I cant imagine the number of lives a fire of that size would endanger. An even more immediate threat posed by the millions of tires dumped at Applewhite is the potential that mosquitoes in the area are carrying the Zika virus. Gov. Greg Abbott and others have already called on cities to help combat the spread of Zika by controlling our mosquito populations. Abandoned tires are an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes because tires can hold rain water and provide a shelter for eggs, and it is difficult to effectively spray pesticides when a site is this large. The proximity of this major tire dump to residential neighborhoods and schools makes it a health hazard, and that greatly concerns me. Between the threat of a major fire and the ability of this site to breed Zika-carrying mosquitoes, I cannot sit idly by. Many of you may remember the Helotes fire of 2007 that took three months to extinguish and cost the city more than $5.8 million. That eight-story pile of mulch and debris, once aflame, poured choking ash into the air, drove residents from their homes, threatened our drinking water, caused substantial health problems for those involved, and ran up thousands in after-the-fact legal fees. Much like the Applewhite site, the Helotes site had gone largely ignored and unregulated for decades while local and state entities turned a blind eye to the looming fire and health hazards. I fear this is where we are headed at Applewhite. As someone who has personally fought devastating fires, it would be inexcusable for me to remain silent knowing how dangerous this site could be to my constituents. The health and safety of our community is important, and the millions of illegally dumped tires at the Applewhite tire site are a threat we cant ignore. As a newly elected state representative, I am disappointed to see the Applewhite site. Previous attempts to clean up the site have been met with limited success and many delays, but I know San Antonio has leaders who care about the health and safety of our community. This is a serious matter, and I will not simply hope a spark does not ignite a fire or a mosquito does not spread a dangerous disease. Often times, it feels like there is nothing we can do to fix a problem of this size, but thankfully we have options. That is why I have sent a letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality asking for assistance. With more than 2 million tires some of them tractor or other larger tires across more than 15 acres, it is estimated that the Applewhite site could cost more than $4 million to clean up. Though the Legislature is not in session, the TCEQ does have the authority, and funding, to clean up illegal scrap sites if they pose a threat to human health. I believe this is exactly the type of threat we face at Applewhite. However, working with TCEQ to clean up the tires is only part of the solution. Even if all 15 million illegally dumped tires across Texas were properly discarded tomorrow, the same problems that created this mess would still exist. When the 85th session convenes in January, the Legislature must take steps to fix the broken scrap-disposal system. Lawmakers must increase enforcement and oversight by updating our tire disposal tracking system, and we must explore end uses for tires. Many places already reuse shredded tires for parks and playgrounds; plus, Texas could use more rubberized asphalt for our roadways. Texas has more tires in illegal dump sites than any other state in the country, and unfortunately we have the second largest site in the state right here in our own backyard. Many of us have probably passed by the Applewhite facility and thought it was an eyesore without realizing how much of a danger it actually poses. I will not wait for something terrible to happen; I hope other local and state leaders will join me in taking action to get this situation cleaned up. State Rep. John Lujan is a freshman Republican whose district includes the tire dump. The youth survey recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that when it comes to the teenage suicide attempts, Latinas continue to outpace girls and boys of other ethnic or racial groups in the U.S. Nearly 10 years ago, news stories told of this mostly overlooked national phenomenon among one of the fastest-growing segments of the American population. And major city newspaper editorials called for action. We need action now more than ever. But more than that, we need sustained action. After all, by 2050, 1 in 4 women in the U.S. will be Hispanic. In 2015, Latinas in high schools across the country had rates of suicide attempts of 15.1 percent, compared with African-American and non-Hispanic white girls whose rates were 10.2 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively. We know, too, that Latinas are more likely to become young mothers, drop out of school and face other social problems. The numbers in Texas are equally bad. In Texas, girls attempted suicide at rates of 13.7 percent for Latinas, 10.2 percent for blacks, and 9.5 percent for whites in 2013, the most recent year data is available. When the CDC releases its survey every two years, there is media attention. But within weeks, the story goes stale. No commissions are formed. No infusion of research dollars occurs. No celebrity or organization adopts the cause to champion through schools or social media. Its a problem Ive studied since the 1980s, and during the past 30 years the pattern has remained the same. This needs to change, and change now. It is true that there have been some local efforts to stem the problem, but there has not been systematic interest in finding ways of reducing suicide attempts among young Latinas. Unlike other maladies, such as drunken driving or teen pregnancy, which have large national organizations and sometimes a celebrity to spearhead an insistent, informative campaign, the problem of young Latinas has not had visible leadership. And the National Institutes of Health does little to fund research or encourage attention to this critical public health issue. We know that triggers for Latina suicide attempts are often the clash of traditional Latin American cultures and Americas fast-paced style and its accent on a self-expression that parents often frown upon. Depression and hopelessness play a part in the attempts. We recognized that teenage girls with families rooted in Latin American cultures are expected to adhere to traditions of tending to family, putting themselves last. They face the age-old generational gap, but for Latinas the issues are magnified because they cannot seem to fit in at home or away from it. It will take will and resolve in Congress and state legislatures across the country, in the White House and among governors, to fund programs that will not just reduce suicide attempts but enhance youths development to make living, not death, a priority. Middle school is the place to start the prevention process, not high school when it might be too late. And any campaign must pay attention to the family, a central part of Latino cultures and a mighty antidote to suicidal behavior. Research shows that improving parent-daughter communication can reduce the chance of an attempt by 50 percent. We need more public health messaging on television and magazines on a consistent basis, and like any attack on a health problem, we need multipronged strategies and adequate funding to accomplish the goals. Ten years ago, it was time to help Latinas. The need to do something anything is even more pressing today. And unless real, systematic action is taken, we will be in the same place 10 years from now. Luis H. Zayas is the dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. In the past weeks, the war on police has gone from a metaphor to a reality, with eight officers killed in targeted attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge. The country hasnt seen anything like it since the early 1970s, when a lunatic fringe of the left undertook a violent campaign against law enforcement. Todays spate of anti-police violence isnt remotely as organizationally or ideologically coherent, but it is more lethal. The Black Liberation Army, a homicidal splinter group of the Black Panthers, never killed more than two cops in one operation, and its body count over the course of about two years was only slightly higher than what weve seen just this month. Vanity Fair writer Bryan Burrough recounts the history in his exceptional book Days of Rage. He dismisses as a myth the popular idea that the lefts violent underground was motivated primarily by opposition to the Vietnam War. Every single underground group of the 1970s, Burrough writes (excepting the Puerto Rican FALN), was concerned first and foremost with the struggle of blacks against police brutality, racism, and government repression. Black militancy had the most allure, or as a radical lawyer told Burrough, Everything started with the Black Panthers. The whole thrill of being with them. Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee gave black militancy a jump-start with his famous speech in Mississippi in 1966 declaring, The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin us is to take over. We been saying freedom for six years and we aint got nothin. What we gonna start sayin now is Black Power! Carmichaels activities in Mississippi spawned various Black Panther groups, the most important in Oakland, California, led by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. They became a sensation with their gun-toting antics and bristling confrontations with police, although they would be outflanked by their information minister, Eldridge Cleaver, a convicted rapist, who called for A black liberation army! Killing cops quickly moved from a rhetorical pose the Black Panther newspaper gave us the phrase Off the Pig to an actual imperative. The Weather Underground targeted police in a series of thankfully relatively ineffectual bombings. It was the Black Liberation Army, an underground force spawned in the poisonous split between Newton and Cleaver, that took up the mission with a deadly seriousness. From 1971 to 1973, the BLA attacked police in San Francisco, North Carolina, Atlanta and New York. In the space of a couple of days in May 1971, it shot four cops in New York, killing two. It carried out a particularly gruesome murder in the East Village in January 1972, ambushing two officers from behind and shooting them to bits when they fell to the ground. All told, the group killed roughly 10 police officers before it was broken up. Obviously, nothing like the BLA exists today. There isnt an anti-police underground with safe houses, mandatory readings in Mao and a funding apparatus built on armed robbery. The cop killers in Dallas and Baton Rouge were, to borrow a phrase , lone wolves. But the logic of the Baton Rouge shooter as he explained it on YouTube the police are a predatory, occupying force that must be resisted violently is exactly the same as the BLAs. The United States has experienced an extraordinary period of social peace dating from the Rodney King riot in 1992 more than 50 dead and $1 billion in damages to today. The recent unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore cant be compared with that five-day conflagration, or the urban riots of the 1960s. But order is always a fragile thing, dependent on the sense of the legitimacy of our institutions. With the police under a withering moral and intellectual assault, politicized assassinations of cops, which a few weeks ago would have seemed a relic of the 1970s, are back. comments.lowry@nationalreview.com July has been a trying month for the men and women who protect communities across Texas and the nation. In Dallas, five brave officers lost their lives and many more were wounded when a sniper viciously and senselessly opened fire through downtown. Two days later, shots were fired at the San Antonio Police Department headquarters. And two weeks after that, a man opened fire on police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, killing three and injuring several others. The common thread throughout these tragic events is the intentional targeting of the men and women who work day in, day out to defend us and keep our communities safe. Each incident serves as a sobering reminder that while our law enforcement officers face threats to their lives every day, there are some twisted, disturbed individuals who will stop at nothing to attack them. During the memorial for the slain officers in Dallas, Mayor Mike Rawlings and President Barack Obama both pointed out that the officers did nothing wrong. They were simply doing their job: keeping order and protecting civilians during a peaceful protest downtown. The same can be said of the officers in Baton Rouge who surely expected to make it home that evening. This nightmare is in the minds of every police force across the nation. Because every day, while those in law enforcement serve honorably and with great integrity, they do so knowing they may not come home to their loved ones. Now, in the aftermath of these deliberate attacks on our nations law enforcement, we must come together to support those who get up every morning, put on their badge, and put their lives on the line. We can do that by passing the Back the Blue Act legislation Ive introduced, along with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. It makes clear America will not tolerate crimes against police officers. Many know the phrase Back the Blue from social media as a small way for the community to show solidarity with law enforcement. With that sentiment in mind, the Back the Blue Act offers unequivocal support for our law enforcement officers and makes clear their lives are worth protecting. First, the bill would increase penalties for those who commit crimes against our communities defenders. The Back the Blue Act creates a new federal crime for killing, or attempting to kill, a federal judge, law enforcement officer or federally funded public safety officer. (Asked if this would affect all local officers, Cornyns office said it is its understanding that most police forces receive federal funds). Its important to make clear that violent crimes against law enforcement officers will not be tolerated anywhere in our country. Thats why this measure allows for and expedites the death penalty for those who kill a public safety officer. It also establishes tough mandatory minimums for those who engage in violence against police officers. By making these federal crimes, victims and family members of federally funded law enforcement officers will be certain they have another path to justice in federal court. But this legislation guards against federal overreach by deferring to state and local jurisdictions. It limits federal prosecutions to instances where state and local authorities request it, or when crimes arent adequately prosecuted at the local level. But this legislation isnt just about punishing those who attack law enforcement. Its also about reducing violence and improving relationships in our communities. The Back the Blue Act would strengthen federal grant funding for evidence-based programs to improve relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve. These community policing programs mirror those that have been successfully implemented by the Dallas Police Department under the leadership of Chief David Brown. If we can enhance the ties that bind together our citizens and those who promise to protect them, we can strengthen the community and prevent violence. Thats a goal we can all get behind. Finally, the Back the Blue Act includes several commonsense proposals that will help protect our law enforcement and make sure justice comes swiftly. The legislation would make sure criminals arent rewarded for committing a crime by recovering civil damages from injuries sustained while defying the law. That criminals shouldnt receive compensation for committing a crime should go without saying. And because those who dedicate their lives to defending us dont always know when they will be called upon to do so, this legislation will allow law enforcement officers to carry their weapons into federal facilities. Shortly after the Dallas attack, Texans in Congress worked together to pass vital legislation that helps police officers get the training they need to respond to an active shooter. I was proud to introduce this bill, called the POLICE Act, in the Senate and see it unanimously pass the chamber in May. With the leadership of Rep. John Carter and several other Texas members, the House of Representatives passed it, too. The bill went to the presidents desk and he signed it recently. The bill would allow law enforcement and medical personnel to use federal grant funds to better prepare for active shooter situations. Now more than ever, we need to come together to make clear there is no justification for attacking the police. We need to show that our nation is one that values the lives of our law enforcement and the justice our nation stands upon. The bottom line is we must do all that we can to better serve the men and women who risk their lives for their communities every day. The Back the Blue Act would do that, and Congress needs to get it done. John Cornyn, a Republican first elected in 2002, is the senior U.S. senator from Texas. Colorado has nearly halved its teen birth rate in the last seven years. Texas, like the nation as a whole, also saw its teen birth rate decline. Yet Colorado is ranked 18th lowest in teen birth rates nationally and Texas is 46th. Colorados teen birth rate at 20.3 births per 1,000 teenage girls is below the national average of 22 births per 1,000. Texas is 37.8 births per 1,000 teenage girls. These figures are from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies. They illustrate a simple truth: Some states are trying hard. Texas is not, lagging both in providing access to contraceptive services to minors and in how sexual education is taught when it is taught at all. Because Texas started with higher teen birth numbers, its 8 percent decline from 2013 to 2014 is simply not enough. Colorado declined 13 percent. Colorado and Texas too dissimilar in demographics for useful comparison? OK, lets look at California, a state with similar demographics. Texas population is 38 percent white. California is 43 percent. And California, with 21.1 births per 1,000 teen girls, is ranked 20th in the nation in teen births. Remember, Texas is 46th. Why even mention Colorado (68.7 percent white)? Because, though California and Colorado skew higher in disproportionately affected minority populations, this is also a factor in Colorado and its found a big answer. Those states with larger minority populations should especially be looking at best practices elsewhere. Texas is not just a late adopter of these practices, it is virtually a nonadopter. Both California and Colorado are modeling some of these best practices. Colorado, first with a five-year grant from the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation and then with tax dollars, has made long-acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs, available free to the states women and girls. These are so-called set and forget hormonal implants or intrauterine devices that act for years. LARCs have higher success than either oral contraceptives or condoms in preventing births. But there are other practices that differentiate states with lower teen birth rates from Texas. In California, sexual education is mandated, with a requirement that it be medically accurate and age appropriate, and doesnt promote religion. It is not mandated in Colorado, but if it is taught, it, too, must be medically accurate and age appropriate. Texas does not mandate sexual education but says it must be age appropriate when taught. Medically accurate? Nope. Abstinence-only has been the preferred way of teaching sex education when its taught. More important, California and Colorado are among the 22 states that explicitly allow minors to consent to contraceptive services. Texas does not, allowing an exception only for teens who are married. Of these 22 states, only one matches Texas teen birth rate New Mexico and another exceeds it, Arkansas. In Texas, no state funds may be used to provide contraceptive services. Three states Massachusetts, New York and Wyoming fund state programs to give minors access to contraceptives. And they respectively rank first, eighth and 40th in lowest teen birth rates. There are consequences for not addressing teen pregnancy aggressively. In 2010, Texas spent $1.1 billion in costs related to teen births. Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, tap into social services, have higher incarceration rates, and become teen parents themselves. Then, along with babies, cycles of poverty are born. Texas has the ability to break this cycle at the source, preventing teen pregnancies. It could make contraceptive services without parental consent the norm by explicitly permitting that, and it could fund access for Texas teens. It could mandate that sexual education be taught in schools, and require that these lessons be medically accurate and not promote religion. The best programs are abstinence-plus, teaching teens how to protect themselves if they are sexually active. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, using 2011 data, says that 52 percent of Texas high school student have had sex (47 percent nationally), and 17 percent have had four or more partners (15 percent in the U.S.). But, of course, it only takes once and lives are changed forever. If Texas is a national leader in teen pregnancies, it logically follows that it should be a leader in preventing these. The 2017 legislative session would be a grand place to start. Of course, abortion is likely to again be at the top of the next legislative agenda. Preventing unwanted pregnancies generally is also a good place to start if preventing abortions is the goal. Re: The original Baylor scandal, Roy Bragg, Sports, July 22: This column was fascinating! I truly enjoyed reading about this history in Waco and at Baylor in the late 1800s. Well done! When I reached the end of the column, it left me wanting more. Thank you for the research and the excellent column. Wendell Hall Daily dangers Policemen everywhere put their lives on the line every time they report for duty. The nature of their law enforcement efforts often evolves into a life-or-death confrontation with dangerous elements. Generally, I dont think these officers, many with families, look forward to such predicaments. All too often, it appears their opponents initiate these encounters. George Carrera Yesterday and today Re: Yearning for an America that never really existed, Lionel Sosa, Opinion, July 17: This is one of the most thoughtful, intelligent pieces I have read on the I want my country back attitude prevailing in the U.S. Part of the generation he describes, I grew up in what many perceive as a happier, more stable time. I particularly agree with his statement that many in older generations seem to conveniently forget that most every generation has experienced unrest and even chaos. My generation grew up with the development of the atomic bomb, duck-and-cover drills in school, polio epidemics, the Korean War and other threats to our security. Kudos to Mr. Sosa also for his statement, Sooner or later it will dawn on us that the times we pine for never really existed, and it is high time we move out of the time gone by and into the here and now. Thank you, Lionel Sosa. Sandra Martin Proud of Cruz Politically, I consider myself a middle-of-the-road person who can look at both sides of an issue. I didnt support Ted Cruz in any election and probably never will. I must say Im proud of him for not supporting the candidate just because he has a certain letter behind his name. It has always sounded strange that people with the same level of education and working in the same job can be so outraged when someone with a different letter behind their name (R or D) does something that many think is wrong, but when that person has the same letter behind their name, they give them a pass. Good for you, Ted, for putting your values before political alignment. If all our representatives stood up for values before standing up based on the letter behind their name, perhaps something would get done. Mark Hansen Texas toast Ted Cruz walked onto the convention floor stage to enormous cheers from a crowd anticipating his support of the Republican Partys duly elected nominee (something he had pledged to do). Instead, he delivered a totally self-serving speech that revealed his 100 percent self-absorbed focus and personal ambitions. In doing so, he showed himself to be small, mean, petty and deliberately divisive. The Texas GOP must seek a replacement for the Senate seat occupied by this misguided professional politician. Ted Cruz has made himself Texas toast. Patricia Hart McMillan Editorial in disguise Re: Republican focuses on threats to nation, Clinton lawlessness, front page, July 22: You chose a New York Times article to give an overview of presidential candidate Donald Trumps acceptance speech. Amazing how much of the article read like an editorial! Diane Hogan Saw no evil After constantly hearing how divided we are, I was greatly encouraged by what I saw and didnt see outside the Republican National Convention. There were multiple factions roaming the streets, many of them armed, like the military, in a very provocative manner. Passions were high and divisive, and the potential for armed conflict seemed inevitable. And yet there was none. Fisticuffs? Sure, a few. Not much worse than a downtown Saturday night. The Cleveland police did a superlative job routing antagonistic people away from each other, and they deserve our highest praise. And those who congregated deserve congratulations for being able to protest and oppose without violence. Gives me hope. Sue Snyder So contradictory Re: Whom do you trust? Your Turn, July 20: The letter writer presents some salient points. Many of the transgressions ascribed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been manufactured by her critics. It would be ludicrous to hear the contradictions in the statements of some pundits and political leaders if they did not have such a negative impact on the country. For example, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee berated Attorney General Loretta Lynch because he said she abdicated her authority by accepting the recommendations of the experts who worked for her department. This from a leader in a Congress that has abdicated its responsibility to make laws for the past 7 years and a Senate that has failed to fulfill its duty to advise and consent. Another contradiction is that while Donald Trump stoops to name-calling, he is revered for his Christian values. While he described Clinton as lying and crooked, we learned from reports that he often failed to pay the contracted amount to subcontractors who worked on his projects, and that he cheated those who attended Trump University by leveling exorbitant fees and not providing the education he promised. Lying? Crooked? Whom can we trust? We need politicians who remember that ours is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. So many of todays politicians are more concerned about the party than the people. Etta Tricksey Trumps speech A speechwriter. A teleprompter. Sticking to the RNC script. Lipstick on a pig. Tom Garber, Spring Branch Posted on 07/30/2016, 1:00 pm, by mySteinbach Manitoba Sustainable Development advises there is no immediate threat to Manitoba water from an oil spill on the North Saskatchewan River in Saskatchewan. Efforts to capture the oil are ongoing in Saskatchewan, with oil-absorbent booms deployed in at least six locations. Manitoba is receiving regular updates on the cleanup and while initial recovery efforts have shown some success, efforts to recapture the oil have been hampered by high water and floating debris. While containment is expected to be completed in time to protect Manitoba waterways, the slow travels of the oil slick through the eastern portions of the Saskatchewan River allow time to implement emergency plans if any cleanup is still required. There is no risk to the water supply of any Manitoba community at this time, but discussions about alternatives are underway with the Town of The Pas, which uses the Saskatchewan River as a drinking water source. Provincial staff are monitoring the situation closely and will advise if any further action is required. Botanists Sniff at Mystery of Smelly Corpse Flowers Blooming Wall Street Journal Plastic bag use plummets in England BBC Australia Has Moved 1.5 Metres, So Its Updating Its Location For Self-Driving Cars Slashdot (Dr. Kevin) Brexit Hinkley Point: I am prime minister, this is my method, says May Financial Times. This looks like a Brexit tit for tat. Hollande took a tougher line with May but also said he regarded the Hinkley Point project as important. The Frenchman who will negotiate Brexit Financial Times Study Exposes BBCs Deep Anti-Corbyn Bias Jonathan Cook (Catherine A) Monte Paschi Capital Wiped Out in European Bank Stress Test Bloomberg Monte dei Paschi board backs private sector rescue plan Financial Times. Details of how the bailout works too fragmentary to post on it. Even the comments at the FT are making best guesses. French PM: France needs new relationship with Islam The Local (Mark Twain) Italys broken banks the spectre haunting Europe MoneyWeek. From earlier in the month, but a good overview. Anglo trial: Three ex-bankers jailed over 7bn fraud Irish Times (Neal R) Scottish firm behind global essay mills offering to write students work for cash Herald Scotland. Note that theres an essay mill in the US. Brussels Briefing: IMFs Athens Hangover FT Alphaville Goldman Sachs Subpoenaed by U.S. Agencies for Documents Related to 1MDB Wall Street Journal Provoking Russia Le Monde Diplomatique (Sid S) Erdogan to drop insult lawsuits BBC. Guess he wants to make nice to Merkel. Big Brother is Watching You Watch Imperial Collapse Watch 2016 An uncomfortable conversation we need to have: Is the U.S. spending too much money on the elderly? Salon (Dr. Kevin). Moi: Die faster! Lambert: Could barely wait till after they were done with the convention to start selling the Grand Bargain. The smoking gun proving North Carolina Republicans tried to disenfranchise black voters Washington Post (Dan K) Two Onondaga County men accused of running check cashing ring Syracuse. Bob: More small frys for Schneiderman. Like hed go after the real big guys. Six more Michigan employees charged with misconduct in Flint water crisis Washington Post (Dan K) U.S. economy disappoints with 1.2% growth CNN US economy close to stagnant for almost a year as growth shudders Telegraph U.S. in Weakest Recovery Since 1949 Wall Street Journal Fed Speed Traders Invade Sleepy Corner of England, Locals Bristle Bloomberg (Randy K) Class Warfare Everything is Broken Medium. Todays must read. Brian C: In light of the recent hacking stories in the news, I thought it would be a good time to share one of my favorite blog posts of all time. I have been reading about information technology and working with it since about 1974, and I have never found a narrative that so perfectly captures my personal observations of the state of computer technology today. Antidote du jour. Alan T: Our new tiny Pomeranian. Chewing on a toy and a plastic coat hanger. Perfect dog. Instinctively loves to sit in laps. Doesnt bark. Doesnt shed (?Yet). 7 mos old, about 3 lbs. Parents were 4 and 6 pounds. See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. New method for making green LEDs enhances their efficiency and brightness (Nanowerk News) Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign have developed a new method for making brighter and more efficient green light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Using an industry-standard semiconductor growth technique, they have created gallium nitride (GaN) cubic crystals grown on a silicon substrate that are capable of producing powerful green light for advanced solid-state lighting (Applied Physics Letters, ""Maximizing Cubic Phase Gallium Nitride Surface Coverage on Nano-patterned Silicon (100)"). A new method of cubic phase synthesis: Hexagonal-to-cubic phase transformation. The scale bars represent 100 nm in all images. (a) Cross sectional and (b) Top-view SEM images of cubic GaN grown on U-grooved Si(100). (c) Cross sectional and (d) Top-view EBSD images of cubic GaN grown on U-grooved Si(100), showing cubic GaN in blue, and hexagonal GaN in red. (Image: University of Illinois) "This work is very revolutionary as it paves the way for novel green wavelength emitters that can target advanced solid-state lighting on a scalable CMOS-silicon platform by exploiting the new material, cubic gallium nitride," said Can Bayram, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois who first began investigating this material while at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center several years ago. "The union of solid-state lighting with sensing (e.g. detection) and networking (e.g. communication) to enable smart (i.e. responsive and adaptive) visible lighting, is further poised to revolutionize how we utilize light. And CMOS-compatible LEDs can facilitate fast, efficient, low-power, and multi-functional technology solutions with less of a footprint and at an ever more affordable device price point for these applications." Typically, GaN forms in one of two crystal structures: hexagonal or cubic. Hexagonal GaN is thermodynamically stable and is by far the more conventional form of the semiconductor. However, hexagonal GaN is prone to a phenomenon known as polarization, where an internal electric field separates the negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes, preventing them from combining, which, in turn, diminishes the light output efficiency. Until now, the only way researchers were able to make cubic GaN was to use molecular beam epitaxy, a very expensive and slow crystal growth method when compared to the widely used metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method that Bayram used. Bayram and his graduate student Richard Liu made the cubic GaN by using lithography and isotropic etching to create a U-shaped groove on Si (100). This non-conducting layer essentially served as a boundary that shapes the hexagonal material into cubic form. "Our cubic GaN does not have an internal electric field that separates the charge carriers--the holes and electrons," explained Liu. "So, they can overlap and when that happens, the electrons and holes combine faster to produce light." Ultimately, Bayram and Liu believe their cubic GaN method may lead to LEDs free from the "droop" phenomenon that has plagued the LED industry for years. For green, blue, or ultra-violet LEDs, their light-emission efficiency declines as more current is injected, which is characterized as "droop." "Our work suggests polarization plays an important role in the droop, pushing the electrons and holes away from each other, particularly under low-injection current densities," said Liu, who was the first author of the paper. Having better performing green LEDs will open up new avenues for LEDs in general solid-state lighting. For example, these LEDs will provide energy savings by generating white light through a color mixing approach. Other advanced applications include ultra-parallel LED connectivity through phosphor-free green LEDs, underwater communications, and biotechnology such as optogenetics and migraine treatment. Ralph Maccarone: Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award finalist Meet Ralph Maccarone and his cause, Who We Play For. Ralph is one of four finalists chosen for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian award for his dedication to helping children. TSA has extensive history of sexual abuse against travelers (NaturalNews) A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screener working at Seattle's Sea-Tac International Airport was relieved of his duties without pay recently after being caught sneaking video footage of a female traveler walking up an escalator.Reports indicate that 29-year-old Nicholas Fernandez was seen leaving his post at the security line to follow the woman up the escalator to take pictures of her with his mobile phone. But he wasn't filming her face; instead, he pointed the camera underneath the woman's skirt, claims a TSA special agent who saw it happen from afar.The agent says Fernandez's phone released a sudden flash as he aimed it underneath the woman's garments, a form of sexual assault that resulted in intervention from local law enforcement who later arrested Fernandez and charged him with voyeurism.Responding to the incident, a TSA spokesperson indicated that the federal agency "does not tolerate illegal, unethical or immoral conduct," and that "when such conduct is alleged, TSA investigates it thoroughly.""When appropriate, TSA requests that it be investigated by a law enforcement authority," reads a statement issued by TSA in the wake of the controversy. "When an investigation finds that misconduct has occurred, the appropriate action is taken."Fernandez remains jailed at the Regional Justice Center (RJC) in Kent, near Seattle, in lieu of a $7,500 bail that was later upped to $20,000 after authorities declared that he had "abused his position of authority." It also appears that this isn't Fernandez's first rodeo; he's apparently done this before, and is only now facing consequences.And this is hardly the first time that TSA screeners have been outed for such perversion while on the job. In April 2015, two TSA screeners were fired after witnesses say that the one screener, a woman by the name of Yasmeen Shafi, aided the other screener, a man by the name of Ty Spicha, in selecting attractive males from the security line for pat downs. According to NBC News , the duo had a little system in place where when a good-looking male traveler came through the security line, the female would intentionally tamper with the naked body scanner to detect a false anomaly on the traveler's body. The male TSA screener would then come over and pat the male traveler down in the groin area with the palm of his hand, in violation of TSA protocol Victims of this unlawful sexual contact by federal employees never actually came forward to press charges because, like most Americans, these highly-invasive, full-body pat downs are now considered to be completely normal. But witnesses identified the scheme and notified the proper authorities, who took action in removing the two TSA screeners from their posts.Later that year, a TSA screener at New York's LaGuardia Airport was charged with unlawfully imprisoning and sexually abusing a college student traveler outside of the security area. Forty-year-old Maxie Oquendo reportedly targeted the 21-year-old girl for a "screening" in one of the airport's bathrooms.Oquendo lured the girl into the bathroom after telling her that he needed to scan her body and luggage. When she requested a female screener instead, Oquendo pretended to be a police officer, demanding that she face the other way and put her hands up, at which he proceeded to lift up her skirt, unzip her pants, and repeatedly grope her body. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday proposed a fine against a government contractor after it found the company deliberately falsified soil samples at a superfund site in San Francisco thats slated for homes, shops and parks. The NRC is proposing a $7,000 penalty against Tetra Tech, the company in charge of cleaning up radiation at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The Investigative Unit first exposed in 2014 that the Navy caught Tetra Tech mishandling soil samples and falsifying radiation data when cleaning up parcels of land and various buildings on Hunters Point. The NRC launched an investigation, which determined two Tetra Tech workers deliberately falsified soil samples in 2011 and 2012. When reached by email, Tetra Tech spokeswoman Charlie MacPherson said the company took corrective actions to resample the suspect areas. The commission said it did not find any information to suggest that suspect buildings or land had been inappropriately cleared for unrestricted use, which includes future development. The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit first exposed in 2014 that former Tetra Tech workers questioned the cleanup of radiation at Hunters Point. The Investigative Unit uncovered an internal Tetra Tech report that details how the company believed employees mishandled soil samples and falsified radiation data. In March, a Tetra Tech worker told the Investigative Unit that his bosses ordered him to conceal radiation on the site. He said supervisors told him to replace potentially contaminated soil samples with clean ones, dump potentially contaminated soil into trenches on Hunters Point and sign falsified documents that were later submitted to the government. Tetra Tech has 30 days to pay the NRCs proposed penalty or request in writing that the fine be withdrawn. If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com. The two San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officers who were shot Thursday night during a traffic stop in Southcrest are both husbands and fathers, deeply dedicated to serving and protecting, SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman said. Officer Jonathan De Guzman, 43, was rushed in a squad car to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. The father of two did not survive. He was a 16-year veteran of the SDPD and a family man, according to Zimmerman. On Friday, Heritage Elementary School in Chula Vista issued a statement to the parents of students, informing them of De Guzman's death. The school stated that De Guzman was a "quality, involved parent" that many other parents knew and interacted with. In full uniform, kids would flock around him. He was an active parent, an amazing father. Chula Vista is mourning for him, Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendant Francisco Escobedo told NBC 7 Escobedo says De Guzman was a role model for kids and had been active in several school clubs and loved the children. "We have a family that doesn't have a father, doesn't have a husband," Escobedo said. He told NBC 7 that the community was shocked to hear the news of De Guzman's passing. "We all feel it. We felt the loss and it's very tragic," he said. Escobedo says De Guzman was a tue hero. "[We're missing] a man who first, was great father, great teacher, and obviously an amazing police officer. We're missing a real American hero." De Guzman was awarded the police departments Purple Heart in 2003 after being stabbed by a suspect he stopped for speeding. I can tell you he is a loving, caring husband, father, talked about his family all the time, SDPD Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said of De Guzman in a news conference Friday morning. I personally worked with him when I was a lieutenant at Mid-City Division. I know him. This is gut-wrenching. He cared. He came to work every single day just wanting to make a positive difference in his community. Zimmerman called his killing "senseless" and said the only thing the officers were trying to do was protect the community. The second officer wounded in the shooting, Wade Irwin, 32, survived and was taken to UC Medical Center, also in Hillcrest, where he underwent surgery. Although he is in serious condition, he is expected to recover, according to Zimmerman. Irwin and his wife, who has not left his side, have a 19-month-old baby. By Friday afternoon Zimmerman said Irwin was resting comfortably and was awake. He has been informed of his partner's death, according to Zimmerman. Irwin has been with the department for nine years. Outside UC San Diego hospital. One officer recovers after surgery. His wife hasn't left his side. #SDPDShooting pic.twitter.com/D9vaGd625X Megan Tevrizian (@megantevrizian) July 29, 2016 "It's a long haul until he makes a full recovery, but the good news is that he is going to survive, and he is going to recover," Zimmerman said. The chief said Irwin has not yet been interviewed about the deadly shooting. She said the officers were both wearing body cameras and added, "there is video evidence." Both De Guzman and Irwin were officers in the departments gang suppression unit. De Guzman had been in the unit for a couple of years, while Irwin joined in June. The officers were conducting a pedestrian or traffic stop around 11 p.m. Thursday in the 3700 block of Acacia Grove Way, near Boston Avenue, when they were shot. They called for cover, and dozens upon dozens of law enforcement officers swarmed the area. Two men were in custody by Friday afternoon. Jessie Michael Gomez, 52, was arrested for murder and attempted murder, and Marcus Antonio Cassani, 41, a potential suspect, was arrested for an outstanding warrant. It is unclear if Cassini was involved in the shooting. Funeral service arrangements are pending. The San Diego Police Officers Association has established a fund for Officer De Guzmans family. Donations can be mailed to: San Diego Police Officers Association 8388 Vickers Street, San Diego, CA 92111 Checks can be made payable to the San Diego Police Officers Association (SDPOA). Please write Officer Jonathan De Guzman in the memo line. All donations will go directly to the family. The SDPOA is also accepting online donations through their website. Check back for updates on this developing story. A 10-acre wildfire prompted evacuations in Clearlake, Lake County late Friday afternoon. Cal Fire said the blaze was reported at about 3 p.m. near Highway 53 and 18th Avenue. Nearby St. Helena Hospital was told to shelter in place while crews worked to contain the blaze. Firefighters are battling two fires Friday afternoon burning in Clearlake. Officials said at least one structure was destroyed in another nearby fire, which charred 15 acres in Clearlake Oaks. It was unclear if the structure was a home or outbuilding. Both fires were 50 percent contained at 5 p.m. No other information was immediately available. San Francisco city officials announced a plan on Thursday to build a new BART station at 30th and Mission Streets, as part of a larger plan to invest in housing and small businesses, according to a press release. The new station aims to link the Muni J-church line and connect the various modes of transportation that converge at this intersection. A plan to build this station was first proposed back in 2003, but has only recently become possible because of engineering advances. The group behind this proposal consists of Assemblyman David Chiu, BART Board Director Nicholas Josefowitz and District 9 Board of Supervisors Candidate Joshua Arce. They announced their plan to build thousands of new units of affordable housing and give more financial backing to local, small businesses during Thursdays press conference. Arce addressed several community members and local small business leaders who attended the announcement, ensuring that this project is working for the good of the community. "Our plan will deliver housing for all of us, including low-income, worker, artist, teacher and middle-income affordability," Arce said. "Working together we will support the long-term success of long-time local businesses. All along the way, the plan will create good-paying local construction jobs and opportunities for local contractors and professional service providers." There are many different building options for the new site, according to Arce, including a new Safeway in the parking lot of the BART station. Josefowitz and Chiu came together to announce details of the plan as well as show their support for Arce. "In the face of wrenching change, our communities cannot stand still or move backwards, Josefowitz said in a statement. We need leaders who can bring folks together to hammer out a vision for our future. Josh is that leader, and what hes presenting here is that vision." Police arrested a man Friday morning in connection with the homicides of four young men who were fatally shot at as they sat in a parked car in San Francisco's Hayes Valley neighborhood last year. After investigating the homicides for more than a year, police recently developed probable cause to arrest San Francisco resident Lee Farley, police said. Farley, 27, was arrested around 9 a.m. Friday at the U.S. Prison at Atwater, in Stanislaus County, where he was in custody on an unrelated charge, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to police. Court documents reveal he has a history of drugs- and weapons-related charges. Officers then booked him into the San Francisco jail on suspicion of four counts of murder, four counts of shooting at an inhabited vehicle, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted narcotics offender, and one count of participating in a criminal street gang, police said. The homicides occurred on Jan. 9, 2015, on Page Street between Octavia and Laguna streets. Around 10 p.m., officers responded to the area on a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers discovered the four victims, all suffering from fatal gunshot wounds, inside a stolen car that had been double-parked on the street and was riddled with bullet holes. The four victims were later identified as San Francisco residents Yalani Chinyamurindi, 19, Harith Atchan, 21, Manuel O'Neal, 22, and Antioch resident David Saucier, 20. Friday's arrest drudged up a lot of emotions for Sala-Asalhaquekyah Chandler, the mother of Chinyamurindi. "His life was taken before he could even get started," she said. Chandler said she has been pressuring police to find the gunman for nearly 1.5 years. "I could not rest unless they made an arrest," she said. "How could I say I love my son if I don't fight for my son?" Chandler said she hopes Farley's arrest is the first step toward justice for all the families involved. She wants the case to go to trial, she said, adding, "I want that for my child. He deserves that and so [do] the rest." Meanwhile, San Francisco's Acting Chief of Police Toney Chaplin had a very personal reaction to Farley's arrest. "I was the officer in charge of the Homicide Detail at the time of this homicide and later promoted to Commander of Investigations," he said in a statement. "I promised the victims' families that the San Francisco Police Department would do everything we could to solve this brutal crime." He continued: "I am happy to announce that the department has arrested a suspect and begun the process of bringing justice and healing to the victims' families." Police said their investigation into the homicide continues. A car crash near a major thoroughfare in Santa Clara killed a 15-year-old girl and injured five other people Friday afternoon, a police spokesman said. The teen was a passenger in a white Chevrolet pickup truck heading south on Lafayette Street north of Montague Expressway, where the vehicle crashed into a pole, police Lt. Dan Moreno said. The collision was reported at 3:13 p.m., Moreno said, and responding officers found six people inside the truck. Employees at Taqueria Cazadores, which closed early Friday, told NBC Bay Area that the people in the truck were returning after catering an event in Oakland. The car crashed one block away from the restaurant. Santa Clara woman Mary Kelly said the accident was "awful." Employees said the restaurant owner was driving the truck. Everyone else in the vehicle was an employee or family member, all of whom had helped at the event. It remains unclear who died. "It looked to me like it was really bad," Kelly said. The 15-year-old girl was a passenger and emergency crews pronounced her dead at the scene, Moreno said. The driver and the other passengers were transported to hospitals for varying degrees of injuries that weren't considered life-threatening, according to Moreno. A car crash near a major thoroughfare in Santa Clara killed a 15-year-old girl and injured five other people Friday afternoon, a police spokesman said. Ian Cull reports. Some employees and customers of Taqueria Cazadores went to the hospital to check on their friends Friday. Cindy Jordan was shocked and saddened by the news. "I'm just hoping it's not the girl who I think it is," she said, calling the accident a "real tragedy." The close Santa Clara community prayed for the people who were hurt and killed. "I'm trying to absorb it and believe that happened but I can't. I can't," Jordan said. Witnesses reported the vehicle was driving at the speed limit, then for unknown reasons veered off the road and into a traffic signal, Moreno said. Police are now checking traffic cameras and the truck's own computer system to verify. There were no obvious signs of drugs or alcohol being involved, but investigators are looking into the circumstances surrounding the crash, police said. Southbound Lafayette Street was closed at Agnew Road through the evening commute. It was later reopened. The slain passenger had not been identified as of Friday night. Jailed transgender soldier Chelsea Manning is facing "administrative offenses" related to her July 5 suicide attempt that could result in indefinite solitary confinement, her attorneys have said. Manning, who was convicted in 2013 on espionage charges for sending more than 700,000 classified documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, was briefly hospitalized earlier this month for an unknown medical condition. It was later confirmed she had tried to end her own life. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the new charges against Manning include "resisting the force cell move team," "prohibited property" and "conduct which threatens." A spokesman for the Army did not return NBC News' request for comment. France is facing questions over its monitoring of extremists after both of the attackers who slit the throat of an elderly priest were known to authorities - including a teen who twice tried to wage jihad in Syria, NBC News reported. Adel Kermiche, 19, was intercepted and arrested as he traveled to fight alongside ISIS using family members' identity documents two times last year. He was put under house arrest in his hometown of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy, with an electronic surveillance ankle bracelet after a judge freed him, terror prosecutor Francois Molins said. Kermiche was one of 1,100 French citizens or residents who want to travel to the Middle East to fight alongside ISIS or who have already been and come back, according to government estimates. One of the standout speeches at the Democratic National Convention came not from the slew of politicians or celebrities but from the parents of a Muslim-American war hero who shared a stirring reprimand for GOP candidate Donald Trump. But that was only part of their message. Khizr Khan appeared on MSNBC's "Last Call With Lawrence O'Donnell" on Friday with his wife Ghazala Khan and said there were two other individuals he wanted to address: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Khan called both men "patriots" and "decent human beings" and appealed to them: "Isn't it time to repudiate Trump?" Thirteen people were hospitalized for heat-related illnesses at a Chicago post office Saturday morning, officials confirmed. About 10 ambulances were called to the post office located at W Ohio and N Dearborn Streets around 8 a.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department. Thirteen people were taken to area hospitals for heat exhaustion, heat stress, and dehydration, authorities said. Another 23 refused medical treatment on the scene. Employees said the air conditioning in the building was not working, and it was at least 100 degrees inside. 135 employees were working at the facility at the time, according to a statement from the U.S. Postal Service. The building was evacuated and dozens of postal workers were seen standing outside in the street, on the sidewalk and inside a cooling bus following the incident. One postal worker said he saw two people vomiting, and a supervisor who had passed out taken away in an ambulance. Employees were allowed to reenter the building around 9 a.m. to collect their belongings in the event that they would be sent home. Around 10 a.m., postal workers were told to stay on the clock and head to the main post office at Harrison and Canal Streets in the South Loop to continue working. If employees wanted to go home, a spokesperson said they could fill out a slip and leave. The post office will remain closed through Monday, according to the U.S.P.S. "We regret any inconvenience this suspension may cause for our customers," acting Postmaster Tangela Bush said in a statement. "Our first priority is to ensure our employees have a safe working environment. We will resume our Fort Dearborn operations at the earliest appropriate opportunity." Mail service will likely be interrupted in the 60610, 60611, and 60654 zip codes, according to Mark Reynolds, a spokesperson for the United States Postal Service. Not that this observation of mine has any bearing on this thread and I don,t know why it came to mind just now but I,ve noticed from watching hours of the war in Syria that them Muslims look like tanned Nova Scotians. Muslims come in all shapes sizes and colours. Attacking a religion is insane. We are in the material world, material armaments are a priority. Inmtroducing the F-35. Fuk we,re going to get screwed. Two Chicago Police officers have been "relieved of police powers" after they were involved in a fatal shooting last night, a department spokesman said, adding that the officers may have "violated" department policy. "Tonight, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has relieved two officers of their police powers following last night's police involved shooting from 73rd and Merill," said Anthony Guglielmi, director of communications for the Chicago Police Department, in an emailed statement Friday evening. There were two separate police-involved shootings on Chicago's South Side, one of which was fatal, Thursday night. He said the "chronology of events is complex" and still being investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority. Johnson spent the afternoon with advisors and department command staff going over the incident, Guglielmi wrote. Thursday night, officers saw a Jaguar S-Type convertible that had been reported stolen from Bolingbrook about 7:30 p.m., police said. Police said they "attempted to curb" the car near 74th Street and Merill Avenue when the Jaguar sideswiped the police vehicle and another nearby parked car. Two officers then fired their weapons at the Jaguar, police said. A teenage boy in the car was taken to an area hospital where he died, police said. According to police, officers sustained injuries while attempting to stop the vehicle and were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The officers were wearing body cameras, police said. "CPD investigators determined three officers discharged their weapons in the course of their duties and given what is known thus far, it appears that departmental policies may have been violated by at least two of the police officers," Guglielmi said in the email. The two officers will be assigned to administrative positions pending the IPRA's investigation, he said. About 6:50 p.m., officers responded to a separate call of a robbery in-progress on the 6700 block of South May Street in Englewood, police said in a statement. A 24-year-old man who said he had just been robbed told police the person who robbed him had run down a nearby gangway. The officers saw the man in the gangway with a weapon in his hand, police said. When the man refused orders to drop the weapon "the officers fired two shots striking the offender in the lower extremities," police said. The man shot by police was taken to the hospital where his condition had stabilized. A weapon was recovered at the scene, police said. Gary police seized weapons, marijuana and cash while executing a search warrant at the home of a man wanted for his involvement in a shooting Tuesday in northwest Indiana. Police raided the home of Rickey ONeal Smith Jr., 33, in the 300 block of Matthews Street and found more than $7,800 in cash, 355 grams of marijuana and a large gun safe, according to a statement from Gary police. Inside the gun safe, police discovered three shotguns, three semi-automatic, assault-style rifles and six handguns, as well as ammunition and high capacity magazines. The street value of the marijuana was estimated at $6,000, police said. Authorities raided the house while investigating a shooting that happened about 9:55 a.m. Tuesday in the 400 block of Burr Street, police said. Officers found an occupied house that was shot several times and a crashed, unoccupied vehicle nearby with gunshot damage. Smith was driving the vehicle at the time of the shooting and was taken to an area hospital by a friend with a gunshot wound to the head that he suffered during the shooting, police said. Smith was later transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, according to Cpl. Douglas Drummond of the Gary Police Department. Authorities later determined Smith was involved in the shooting, but were not able to take him into custody and said he is currently at large. Smith was charged Wednesday with three felony counts of criminal recklessness for firing at the occupied residence. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators at (219) 881-1210 or the departments tip line at 1-866-CRIME-GP. It may be typical for there to be a little sibling rivalry among brothers and sisters, but for fencing Olympians Kelley and Courtney Hurley, they might just be the closest sisters youve ever met. There was definitely some competitive battles we had, but as soon as we left for college I feel like I really was able to sort of separate myself from Courtney and realize I dont have to compare myself, I am who I am, Kelley Hurley said. Kelley and Courtney are headed for their second Olympic games together, among seven sets of siblings competing in Rio this year. In 2012 the sisters took home the bronze medal in the Womens Team Epee at the London Games. I mean two medals for one family thats hard to do, Courtney Hurley said. So winning with my sister and also my parents in the crowd, you cant beat that feeling. Fencing isn't new to the Hurley family. Kelley and Courtneys parents met in fencing and introduced the girls to the sport when they were around seven or eight years old. I think it comes with our family. The way our family works, we call ourselves Team Hurley, mom and dad and Courtney and I, its a win for Team Hurley, Kelley said. We dont look at it as me trying to prove Im better than Courtney, thats not the way we were raised. Both sisters attended the University of Notre Dame because of its notable fencing program. Kelley attended the university two years before Courtney. Courtney was between Notre Dame and Ohio State University. If Courtney had gone to Ohio State University that probably wouldnt have helped our bond, Kelley said. The Hurley sisters lived together throughout college and as they have progressed in the sport. For the past year Kelley and Courtney have lived in Houston, Texas. The awesome thing about having my sister there is I truly want her to do well, Kelley said. And in fencing I find that to be very rare to want the best for them [sibling]. Kelley and Courtney motivate each other every day to practice and train. We genuinely want us to do well, Courtney Hurley said. I dont think Ive ever smack-talked Kelley. A friendly sibling rivalry moment when they were starting-off in the sport, Kelley Hurley recalls it happening just once. "There was one time I lost and Courtney said I sucked," Kelly Hurley said as she laughed. The sisters have competed against each other multiple times in America but never against each other in international competitions. As for the Rio Games, the chance of competing against each other would be at the very end of the Olympics. I think if we did run into each other, it depends on what round, if it depends on a medal or no medal, it would be a pretty intense match, Kelley Hurley said. A wins a win for Team USA and Team Hurley. The Hurley sisters hope that regardless of the competition, one of them makes it to the end. We cant both win, Kelley Hurley said. Thats what happens when you pick the same sport. As for now, Kelley and Courtney are unsure what the future holds for the Hurley Team. I think eventually were going to part ways, I dont know if its now or after the Olympics, Courtney Hurley said. We thought about recently that this might be the end and this might be a break and its kind of sad because weve always lived with each other. Hillary Clinton has used the days following her convention to try and win back some of the white working class voters that once made up a key piece of the Democratic Party's electoral coalition. Trump's anti-trade message has appealed to those voters, who feel frustrated with an economic recovery that's largely left them behind. On Saturday, Clinton made stops in rural western Pennsylvania, a largely white part of the swing state that traditionally votes Republican. Clinton is playing up economic opportunity, diversity and national security. Democrats hammered home those themes this week with an array of politicians, celebrities, gun-violence victims, law enforcement officers and activists of all races and sexual orientation. Their goal is to turn out the coalition of minority, female and young voters that twice elected Obama while blunting some of the expected losses among the white men drawn to Trump's message. At a rally in Pittsburgh, she was introduced by Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, technology investor and television personality who recently endorsed her. "Leadership is not yelling and screaming and intimidating," he said. Cuban tweeted his support for Clinton before making the introduction at the rally. He said "hello" to Trump in Russian, then taunted the reality TV star by saying "Shark Tank," a television show he invested on, was more popular than "The Apprentice." Trump has made plans to visit some of the same areas Clinton is campaigning in during her three-day bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, scheduling Monday stops in Columbus and Cleveland. The Trump campaign swaggered out of the convention weeks, feeling bullish about the bump the nominee received from his own nominating convention. While Clinton and Kaine attempted to sell their positive economic message, much of their strategy centers on undermining Trump, particularly the business record that makes up the core of his argument to voters. Clinton highlighted Trump's use of outsourcing to manufacture some of his branded products, arguing he's profited from the same foreign labor he now blames for killing U.S. jobs. "What part of America first leads Trump to make Trump dress shirts in Bangladesh not Ashland, Pennsylvania," said Clinton. "I just find it so maddening that Trump goes around saying this and all the stuff he makes in other countries." Speaking at a rally earlier Saturday in Johnstown, Clinton criticized Trump's reaction to retired General John Allen. Trump attacked Allen during a rally Thursday in Ohio, after the retired general spoke out against the Republican nominee during the DNC. "They had a general named John Allen. And he, I never met him, and he got up and he started talking about Trump, Trump, Trump," Trump said Thursday. "You know who he is? Hes a failed he was the general fighting ISIS. I would say he hasnt done so well, right?" Clinton told supporters Saturday Trump lashed out because Allen didn't believe he should win the general election. "Our commander in chief shouldn't insult and deride our generals, retired or otherwise." The sixth anniversary of a mass shooting at Hartford Distributors in Manchester is next week -- but for nearly two months the distributors warehouse employees and drivers have been locked out as the company and the union fight over a new contract. So will those workers be able to attend the memorial? While union negotiations are unresolved, both union workers and HDI have agreed to have a temporary truce for next weeks memorial. HDI attorney, Bud ODonnell, told NBC Connecticut in a statement: "Ross Hollander (the companys president) thought it was appropriate that the company and the union put aside their differences to remember the lives of their fellow employees, which ended so tragically." O'Donnell said the company has even asked those employees to be involved in the planning of the memorial. While Teamsters Local 1035 union workers have been picketing at HDI since June 8th as HDI bosses try to work on a new contract for those employees, they said now is the time to take a break in memory of the 8 people killed inside the distribution company in 2010. Two others were wounded. The HDI employee and shooter also turned the gun on himself. "We dont want to bring a labor dispute to do anything to take away from our members that weve lost. Wed never do that. we wouldnt hold that. We want to make sure the families have the right to go onto the property and see it." The memorial will be held at 7 a.m. on Aug. 3 at HDI in Manchester. While everyone agrees on paying tribute to those lost six years ago, both sides will continue contract negotiations. O'Donnell said HDI will have discussions with union officials on Monday about having workers come back to work, even though theyre still in talks. As patrons pick up tickets in the lobby of the Music Hall at Fair Park to see one of Dallas Summer Musicals' modern shows, they do not realize Sally Soldo, Dallas Summer Musicals' archivist, is steadily working to uncover, catalog and digitally preserve an extensive collection of Dallas' theatrical history. Soldo's job, unlike the show business going on just above her, is not glamorous. In a section of a basement that is noisy due to mechanical equipment, stifling hot in the summer, frigid in the winter and constantly covered in dust, Soldo sorts through file drawers, boxes, and cabinets and comes face-to-face with history that is both professional and personal. Soldo began performing with the Dallas Summer Musicals in 1955 at the age nine in a production of South Pacific. By the time she was sixteen years old and officially joined the dance ensemble, she had performed in thirty shows. "Every day was a learning opportunity. It was the best education. I was working with the best directors, choreographers, and actors," Soldo said. In a photo of the stage shortly after the company moved from Fair Parks Band Shell to the Music Hall at Fair Park in 1951, Sally points out five small microphones evenly spaced out on the edge of the stage and comments on her own singing. "That's why I'm so loud. I grew up here and those were the only microphones we had here. There were no body mikes or booms. I had to learn how to project," she said. Her experience at Dallas Summer Musicals helped her develop a career as an award-winning actress and she treasures the lessons she learned and the friendships she made at the beginning of her career. Her personal scrapbooks are filled with photos and playbills signed by celebrity cast members. Sally Soldo Soldo appeared in Calamity Jane with Carol Burnett playing the title role. At the time, Burnett was four months pregnant and the cast hosted a baby shower for her. Soldo still has the handwritten thank you note from Burnett, expressing gratitude for the "cute Texas outfit" Soldo's mother selected for the legendary performer's baby. The archives in the Dallas Summer Musicals' basement mirror Soldo's personal collection, but on a larger scale. Dallas Summer Musicals archives The organization began in 1941 as Opera Under The Stars with a production of Blossom Time. There were no performances in 1942 because of World War II. A new season was launched in 1943 under the name of Starlight Operetta. Ten shows were presented over ten weeks in the summer and ticket prices during the first season ranged from $.30 to $1.10. The archives date back to the first season in 1941 and include promotional photos, production photos, playbills, souvenir programs, and scrapbooks filled with advertisements, postcards, subscription brochures, reviews, and articles. Boxes and shelves are filled paperwork, Kodachrome slides, hand-typed scripts and performers contracts. Soldo particularly loves the contracts. She can see how much the celebrity actors like Judy Garland, Carol Channing, Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Joel Grey, and Rock Hudson were paid for specific roles over the years. "Sometimes I find something glorious. I've found telegrams from Cole Porter and a script of Porgy and Bess," Soldo boasted. She is still looking for her first contract at the Dallas Summer Musicals. Soldo appreciates the photos of window displays at Neiman Marcus and Sanger Bros department stores. The displays advertises a specific show and a mannequin is dressed in an outfit suggested for theatre-going. A news article from 1951 shows off the organization's usherettes and their new uniforms. Patrons often donate their vintage playbills and Soldo is charmed to discover they taped their ticket stubs and reviews of the show within the pages. Many patrons have also written notes about which actors they liked and which they did not. With those donated playbills, the audience becomes part of Dallas theatrical history. The tape used to enclose the ticket stubs and reviews in donated playbills is one of Soldo's archiving challenges. Often the glue from the tape stains the documents. As Soldo opens one scrapbook, the glue fails and documents slide to the spine of the book, leaving a stain mark on a blank page. When Soldo started this archiving project seven years ago, she gravitated towards the massive collection of photos. She discovered she needed to erase crop marks, wax penciled numbers and the artistic outlining intended to improve contrast in the photos before she can scan it into a digital archive. Flooding is a constant concern and Soldo is often surprised to discover how vibrant the colors of the publications have remained despite being exposed to extreme temperatures. She often needs to physically take apart the scrapbooks to successfully scan its contents and sometimes maintenance staff are called upon to grind the brads. After she scans the photos, she seals them in a plastic bag. At a glance, Soldo can identify which photos she scanned and which she has not. Soldo admits deciding what to keep is challenging. "It sounded easy until I got down there and started trying to prioritize what I thought needed to be preserved," she said. "It's more than scanning a scrapbook." Dallas Summer Musicals does not intend these archives to remain hidden in a basement. For their 75th anniversary in 2015, many of the pictures of the shows and Fair Park were used in a souvenir book about its history. The non-profit organization plans to create a lobby display of archival materials, hoping to educate patrons about its place in Dallas' vibrant history. Sally Soldo knows this archiving project will outlive her, but she is proud to help preserve the history of a place where she found her artistic calling. Chris Jose, NBC 5 News Kimberly Richard is a North Texan with a passion for the arts. Shes worked with Theatre Three, Inc. and interned for the English National Opera and Royal Shakespeare Company. She graduated from Austin College and currently lives in Garland with her very pampered cocker spaniel, Tessa. The U.S. Army released a report Friday evening detailing a 2014 investigation into Micah Xavier Johnson, the gunman who attacked Dallas Police on July 7, killing five officers. The report details a bizarre incident that resulted in Johnson being sent home from Afghanistan. It says an Army investigation determined Johnson "took underwear" from a laundry bag belonging to a female soldier who was a friend of his and tried to "dispose of the evidence" after unit leaders found some of the underwear in Johnson's room. The report says that Johnson also made comments to that female soldier that "constitute sexual harassment." During a search, investigators also found Johnson was "storing an explosive article" in the barracks where he lived and did not have any reason to possess that explosive device. NBC 5 Investigates spoke with one of the soldiers involved in the search in Afghanistan. Army Reserve Sgt. Mark Wallace describes how Johnson ran after being caught with a stash of women's underwear, leading commanders to disarm him and separate him from the rest of the unit. It happened at a remote military post called "FOB Shank" in eastern Afghanistan. A female soldier reported some of her underwear missing from her laundry, prompting unit leaders including Wallace to conduct a search. "We discovered that there was a stash of women's underwear in his room. And as we discovered it he, of course, jumped into the room, swooped them up and put them in his hoodie in his front pouch, which added to the bulk that was already there. So we were like, 'Hey, dude, you got what's in your hoodie?'" said Wallace. As commanders confronted Johnson, Wallace says Johnson took off running. They eventually caught up to him, but a search of the base found Johnson tried to dispose of more underwear in the latrines and a dumpster. Concerned about Johnson's behavior, commanders put him under watch, posting an officer outside his room at all times. "So when somebody does something off the wall like that, the first thing to do is take away anything they can hurt themselves or anything else with. So, of course, we took away his rifle, all of his ammunition," said Wallace. Days later the Army sent Johnson away to Bagram Airfield and eventually back home. Unit leaders with whom we spoke say there's no question the incident left Johnson as an outcast from his friends in what's been described as a close-knit unit. But people who served with him still cannot understand what would have ultimately led Johnson to hunt down police officers in the streets of Dallas. Even with property values rising and many taxpayers likely to pay more with the same rates, the Dallas Independent School District is considering a property tax rate hike. District officials are discussing a November referendum for a 13-cent tax rate hike. It would increase the overall Dallas ISD property tax rate from $1.28 to $1.41 per $100 value. The owner of the district average $157,000 home would pay $205 more a year. The extra money would be used for three programs school officials say they cannot afford without the rate increase. "We're asking our Dallas ISD property owners to make an investment. I think it's an investment that's going to pay off well as we go down the road," said Dallas ISD Board President Lew Blackburn. When school board members first heard about the plan from Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, Blackburn said board members wanted the money earmarked for specific programs with benchmarks to grade performance. Blackburn said a tax rollback promise will be included if the programs fail. "And if we don't reach those benchmarks, then we say to the public, 'It was a bad idea. We're going to give the money back to you,'" Blackburn said. The programs are: Expanded full day Pre-K for four year olds to get kids learning younger. Expanded college credit and career programs in high schools to better prepare graduates for college and jobs. Performance-based pay incentives to get the best teachers in the toughest schools. Two frequent critics of the Dallas Independent School District voiced support for the plan Friday. Alliance AFT Teachers Union President Rena Honea said Dallas schools are underfunded and need more money, but she is still polling members to determine their support for this specific plan. "We just have needs within our district that have not been addressed because of the funding," she said. "If we want the best education for our students, we have to be willing to provide that." Former teacher Bill Betzen agreed the district needs more money and he supports this plan to spend it. "I think this is wonderful," Betzen said. "This is a very minor adjustment to the tax rate. It will put us in line with most suburban schools that are already ahead of us. Our students will benefit and ultimately we will benefit." Betzen said returning Superintendent Michael Hinojosa has made good progress in boosting staff morale and student achievement in his first full year back on the job. "There are times we've stumbled as a district, but I think this is one time we are going in the right direction," Betzen said. The school board has not yet approved the plan, but Blackburn said members expect to receive more details soon, in time to post the tax increase for a November referendum. Two social media powerhouses joined together for a business lunch at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters on Thursday, no doubt striking a few business deals, comparing notes on the best brands of dog food, and arguing over who really is the internet's favorite dog. The dress code was, ahem, collar optional. Beast Zuckerberg, sporting a professional top-knot (or is it a dogbun?), invited social media star Doug the Pug for a sit down chat. The meeting's minutes and agenda were not released to the public, so there's no way to know for sure what the pooches were plotting. However, a photograph Beast's personal assistant, Mark Zuckerberg, posted to Facebook does provide some hints: "Apparently Beast had an important meeting at the office today with Doug the Pug," Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. "They agree that Facebook needs more kibble and belly rubs. Beast also wants some sheep." After their clandestine luncheon, Doug the Pug used his vast social media following to share a picture of the new business buddies, although Doug couldn't help throwing a little shade in the process. Beast has yet to respond to this potential dig via his personal Facebook. A developer has dropped plans to turn a historic Hollywood apartment building into a boutique hotel, after opposition from a city councilman and community activists. Councilman David Ryu announced Monday that the owner of the Villa Carlotta decided to withdraw his application to have the formerly rent-controlled apartment building converted into a 50-unit hotel. "I am grateful for the developer's decision," Ryu said in a statement. "Our goal is to create and preserve great neighborhoods." The 1926 building was purchased in 2014 by a developer, CGI Strategies, with plans to convert the building at 5959 Franklin Ave. into a boutique hotel. That year, CGI filed to have the Carlotta's tenants evicted under the Ellis Act, a California law that allows property owners to evict tenants from rent-controlled apartments if they plan to convert the building for another use. The last of the Carlotta's tenants moved out in June, after nearly two and a half years of fighting their evictions. Activists said the decision to withdraw the hotel plans is a victory for tenants' rights. "This is a big win for tenant activists and for people in the city whose housing is threatened by the incentive to convert it to another use," said Sylvie Shain, a former tenant of the Carlotta and housing activist. "It sends a message about taking rent-stabilized units off the market." Shain said that message is an important one, especially after a similar project to turn another formerly rent-controlled apartment building into a hotel was given the go-ahead by the City Council. Down the street from the Villa Carlotta, the owner of the building at 1850 Cherokee Ave. filed an application last year to turn the vacant building into a hotel. Shain gave up fighting her own eviction so she could focus her efforts on appealing that project. The tenants had been evicted through the Ellis Act in 2013, after the owner filed plans to demolish the building and replace it with condominiums. That proposal fell through during the recession. The new plan, to restore the building and turn it into a hotel, caught the attention of community activists, who said a hotel would be a detriment to the mostly-residential neighborhood near Hollywood and Highland. The 1850 Cherokee project, though a few blocks away from the Villa Carlotta, falls into Councilman Mitch O'Farrell's district. O'Farrell's representatives told the City Planning and Land Use Management Committee in June that the proposal was "not a project that the councilman supports, but it is one that he inherited." The City Council ultimately decided to let the project go through, despite questions about whether the former tenants received proper relocation assistance, which they are entitled to under the Ellis Act. Dana Sayles, whose consulting company Three6ixty was involved in both projects, cited the buildings' zoning designations as a major difference between them. The zoning for 1850 Cherokee already allowed for a hotel project, without the City Council making major changes. The Carlotta, however, would have required a completely new zoning designation. "It takes legislative action to approve that," Sayles said. The Villa Carlotta's fate is still unclear. CGI's owner, Gidi Cohen, said they will continue renovations that are already underway, but the building's future use is undetermined. "It will be determined through a process with the council office," a representative for CGI said. "We have work to do." Sarah Dusseault, a representative for Ryu's office, said the councilman will be a part of those conversations. "We would like to sit down with them and think through what would be next," Dusseault said. "The councilman would like to see it return as housing." Shain said she hopes Ryu holds strong in his opposition to zone changes at the Villa Carlotta. "It means so much that Ryu has so far maintained his promise," Shain said. "In order to reduce the incentive to evict people under the Ellis [Act] or otherwise, it is important to send a clear message that conversions of any type will not receive support." Cohen could make plans to convert the Carlotta to condos, which would still leave the former tenants displaced. "As stewards of this beloved local treasure," Cohen said in a statement, "we appreciate the importance of Villa Carlotta to its neighbors and the Hollywood community... We intend to honor and celebrate that legacy by meticulously working to return the building to its original grandeur." Sayles praised her client for their decision to reassess the project. "I appreciate that I have a client [who] was able to hear what [the community] had to say and walk away from a substantial investment," she said. "That is rare." Ultimately, Shain said she's relieved that her former home won't become a hotel. She just wishes the developer would have decided that before she moved out 18 days ago. "That's the part that's frustrating," she said. "Couldn't you have figured this out three weeks ago?" Black Lives Matter condemns arrest of man filming policeTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSFirst posted: Friday, July 29, 2016 02:59 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, July 29, 2016 03:07 PM EDTSYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Black Lives Matter activists on Friday protested the arrest of an anti-violence advocate who was taken into custody while videotaping officers frisking a handcuffed motorist.Maurice Crawley was standing across the street from a traffic stop in Syracuse, streaming the video live on his Facebook page Thursday, when one of the officers threatened to throw him in jail if he said "one word.""I didn't hear you. Say it again, officer. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," Crawley shouted back across the street.The officer then put on a pair of black gloves, strode across the street and placed Crawley under arrest while swearing at him and threatening to beat him if he moves.Crawley, the officer and the motorist are all black.Crawley, a well-known local advocate against gun violence, pleaded not guilty Friday in Syracuse City Court to charges of obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. He was released on his own recognizance. His attorney wasn't available for comment.Crawley was met with loud cheers from about two dozen Black Lives Matter protesters as he walked out of the Onondaga County Justice Center late Friday morning after spending the night in jail."He was within his legal rights, yet he was thrown to the ground. We need this to stop," said Herve Comeau, the Black Lives Matter organizer.Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the arrest.At the start of the nearly four-minute video showing a white officer and a black officer arresting a motorist, Crawley can be heard saying he decided to go live to "see what's going on with these boys, make sure they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing."A few seconds later, Crawley zooms in on the black officer handcuffing and searching the man who had been in a car the officers pulled over. Crawley can be heard referring to the officer as an "Uncle Tom." It doesn't appear that the officer heard his comment.A United States flag, with blue and black stripes in support of law enforcement officers, flies at a protest by police and their supporters outside Somerville City Hall, Thursday, July 28, 2016, in Somerville, Mass. Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone is promising not to remove a Black Lives Matter banner from City Hall despite complaints from police officers in the state. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) A woman who allegedly ran off after smashing her car into a Harbor Gateway house where a prayer group had gathered, killing a 73-year-old woman and injuring others, surrendered to police, officials said Friday. The driver was identified as Rashanda Norman, a 34-year-old transient, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. She turned herself in to the LAPD's Southeast Division station, claiming she "blacked out" before the crash but remembered getting into an argument. Norman was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony hit and run. She was being held on $50,000 bail. Eleven people, many of them elderly, were inside the home at 14837 S. Orchard Ave. and pinned by the maroon 1999 Buick Regal just after 8 p.m. Wednesday. Hailing from local Catholic churches, they were gathered for a weekly prayer circle. Five went to the hospital with critical injuries and Elsa Debelen was killed. The homeowner, a retired schoolteacher, regularly hosts prayer meetings in her living room, according to a family member of one of the victims. A $50,000 reward was offered in the case. Ending a cold case that lasted over four decades, a man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the beating death of a 79-year-old Hollywood widow in 1972. Judge Laura Priver sentenced Harold Holman, 70, for the murder of Helen Meyler on August 2, 1972. Meyler was found in her secured second-floor unit after she had been sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death with a candelabra in her bed. There were no witnesses or fingerprints left behind, leaving detectives frustrated for years. Then last year, DNA evidence from a blanket at the scene of her death led detectives to Holman, who has been serving a 45-year sentence for killing a Santa Monica couple in 1980. "I didn't dream that 43 years later, I would be testifying on this case," retired detective Chuck Gourley said last October. Gourley was part of the original investigation. Holman admitted to robbing high-rise apartment buildings every other day for several years before he went to jail, according to Richard Bengtson, a cold case investigator with the Los Angeles Police Department. He would scale the side of the building by jumping and pulling himself up, he added. "It's almost unhuman," Bengtson said. Holman's methods earned him the nickname "Spider-Man." He revealed in a jailhouse interview he would take cash, jewelry and fur coats. Holman said during the prison interview that he had special shoes with suction cups on them and that he wore night-vision goggles during the burglaries, LAPD detective Richard Bengtson testified during the trial. "Harold Holman was not targeting a certain type of victim," Bengtson said in October. "He was targeting a certain type of building." Earlier this month, jurors found Holman guilty after deliberating for less than half an hour, convicting him of first-degree murder. The judge noted Friday that Holman has to serve a minimum of seven years in prison before he is eligible for parole under sentencing guidelines in place at the time of Helen Meyler's death. Holman -- who complained that he had not been properly defended during his trial and objected to being "part of a media blitz" as a result of a TV camera being allowed in court -- was taken back in a wheelchair to a courtroom lockup to listen to the proceedings through a speaker. "This case will give them (state parole officials) plenty to keep him in state prison for the rest of his life. He's never going to get out," Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said outside court. Nikki Meyler Miller told the judge that her grandmother "spent much of her life helping others" and had moved to a security apartment building because she felt exposed and unsafe after her husband's death shortly after their 50th wedding anniversary. "Her death was devastating to our family," she said, noting that her grandmother had decided to stay home from a family vacation at the last minute. Her body was discovered when a family member came to pick her up for church. "Two of her children and two of her grandchildren have passed, but when the detectives told us they had identified the killer, we were all relieved to find out he had been in prison for most of those years,'' Miller said. "And that is all we are asking for now -- to keep him in prison until he is no longer breathing, and prevent any parole or compassionate release at any time, now or ever." A person can only rack up so many gentle toe taps, or hip sways, or head nods, or thigh pats, before they finally admit that, in their heart of hearts, they want to full-on, hands-in-the-air, let-go-be-free dance. It's hard to do that if you're not a regular in-public dancer, but there's an annual event that opens the door to freedom of movement, no shyness necessary. It happens on National Dance Day, which is Saturday, July 30 in 2016, and you're invited to Grand Park for a no-admission-required morning of shaking your stuff. The holiday's "flagship west coast celebration" is led once again by some of the stars from "So You Think You Can Dance," including Nigel Lythgoe, the creator of the hit series (he also co-created National Dance Day back in 2010). You won't need to garb-up as glamorously as dancers do on television to join, so think in terms of loose-fitting, keep-cool clothing, the kind of easy wearables you can really stretch in (literally and figuratively). What's on tap for the morning-into-early-afternoon happening? You'll learn some routines, and go over the steps multiple times, before dancing, en masses, among other Southern Californians eager to embrace the benefits of dance. (Those benefits, of course, include health, less stress, more joy, a glow to the skin, and about 500 other good things.) Will there be performances and other dance-delightful goodies during the four-hour shimmy-thon? There will be. Will you feel free to be you, beyond the low-level toe tapping or hip swaying you normally do in public? It's all about letting go, living large, and finding expression in one of the oldest of human pursuits, an activity that only grows more energetic the more people join in. And if those people are all doing the same steps? Watch out it's like a joyful movie musical come to life. The force returned to Los Angeles on Friday night when the Dodgers held their annual "Star Wars Night" at Chavez Ravine. Many fans in attendance who ordered tickets through the team's website received a free Star Wars T-shirt featuring Chewbaca that read "Wookie Sensation." Restaurants throughout Dodger Stadium featured Star Wars themed food and drink items and characters from the successful movie franchise were on hand to greet fans and throw out the first pitch on the field. The Dodgers players managed to awaken the force from within during as the trailed the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3 heading into the seventh inning stretch. LA answered with five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to recapture the lead as they went on to win 9-7. Below are some of the best tweets and pictures from fans throughout the stadium as they enjoyed the Jedi and Stormtroopers throughout the night. The father of a Muslim-American army captain killed in Iraq blasted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for accusing him of not allowing his wife to speak during his emotional address at the Democratic National Convention, according to NBC News. "Running for president is not an entitlement to disrespect [a] Gold Star family and Gold Star mother, not realizing her pain," Khizr Khan said during an interview on ABC News Saturday. "Shame on him! Shame on his family!" Khan said. "He is not worthy of our comments. He has no decency. He is void of decency. He has a dark heart." Trump had criticized the bereaved Khan, who in his convention speech Thursday challenged the real estate mogul by asking if he'd ever read the Constitution and offering to lend him a copy. The lawyer said Trump has "sacrificed nothing and no one" for his country. Trump disputed that Saturday, saying he'd given up a lot for his businesses. "I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures," he said, in an interview with ABC's "This Week." He added: "Sure those are sacrifices." Trump's comments sparked immediate outrage on social media, including from Republican strategists, who criticized Trump both for attacking a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim. Critics from both parties on Saturday questioned whether Trump had the empathy and understanding to be president, particularly after he questioned why mourning mother Ghazala Khan stayed silent during her husband's Thursday night address. "It just demonstrates again kind of a temperamental unfitness. If you don't have any more sense of empathy than that, then I'm not sure you can learn it," Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said after a campaign event in Pittsburgh. Former President Bill Clinton, who joined his wife and Kaine at the event, agreed: "I cannot conceive how you can say that about a Gold Star mother." John Kasich, the Ohio governor who sought the GOP presidential nomination, said on Twitter, "There's only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family." The Trump campaign also released a statement Saturday, calling Khan's son, Capt. Humayun Khan, "a hero to our country." "While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution," Trump said in the statement. Khan gave a moving tribute to their son, who posthumously received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. In the interview, Trump also reiterated his criticism of Khan's wife, Ghazala, who stood silently on stage, wearing a headscarf. "If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me." In an earlier response to Khan's speech, Trump told Maureen Dowd of The New York Times: "Id like to hear his wife say something." Ghazala Khan has said she didn't speak because she's still overwhelmed by her grief and can't even look at photos of her son without crying. Trump's comments sparked immediate outrage on social media, both for attacking a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim. Appearing on MSNBCs Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell on Friday, Khan said being on the DNC stage was difficult and he couldnt have done it without having his wife at his side, NBC News reported. She told ODonnell about her reaction when her son first told her he was heading to Iraq: "Don't become [a] hero for me. Just be my son. Come back as a son," she told him. "He came back as a hero." Ghazala Khan said the last time she spoke to her son was on Mother's Day 2004, just months before he was killed. During the interview, her husband made a plea to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, asking them to "repudiate" Trump. "You are about to sink the ship of the patriot Republicans," Khizr Khan warned. "There is so much at stake, and I appeal to both of these leaders: this is the time. There comes a time in the history of a nation where an ethical, moral stand has to be taken regardless of the political costs," he continued. "The only reason they're not repudiating his behavior, his threat to our democracy, our decency, our foundation, is just because of political consequences." Ryan didn't address Khan's comments directly, but tweeted his support of American troops "at home & abroad" Saturday. "We owe everything to those who serve our country at home & abroad. We also owe them the tools they need to tackle new threats. #BetterWay." In a statement, Hillary Clinton said she was "very moved" by Ghazala Khan's appearance. "This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country," she said. "Captain Khan and his family represent the best of America and we salute them." One of three South Florida-based men accused of stealing $4.8 million in gold from a truck along a North Carolina interstate has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. A federal judge sentenced Roberto Cabrera on Friday. He had faced up to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty in April to robbery, firearms and other charges. The FBI says Cabrera, Adalberto Perez and an unidentified third person used a GPS device in March 2015 to track the gold-laden tractor-trailer heading from Miami to Massachusetts. Investigators say pepper spray was released by remote control to sicken the driver and a passenger before the robbery along Interstate 95 in Wilson County, North Carolina. The thieves made off with 275 pounds of gold bars. Perez pleaded guilty to robbery and firearms charges last month but hasn't been sentenced. A Miami man is being sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for a massive Medicare fraud scheme. Jorge Lorenzo along with two others from Miami involved in the scheme were also ordered to pay more than $40 million in restitution to the federal health care program for the elderly and disabled. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the sentence Friday. Authorities said it was the largest Medicare fraud case prosecuted in south Florida in 2015. Lorenzo, Yahima Pardo and Roberto De Jesus Alonso pleaded guilty to charges in May. Over a period of four years federal officials said that Lorenzo owned or controlled eight home health care agencies that bilked Medicare. Shell companies were then used to disguise the flow of millions Lorenzo spent on real estate, luxury vehicles, artwork and jewelry. Police are investigating after a woman was struck and killed by a car in northwest Miami-Dade Friday evening. The incident happened in the area of 105th Street and Northwest 7th Avenue. Police didn't release the woman's name. Witnesses said she had just left a nearby beauty parlor and was trying to catch a bus when she was struck by a blue Tesla. "He hit her on that side of the car, I don't think it was malicious cause you're not supposed to walk in the middle of the street," witness Marta Rojas said. The driver of the car stayed at the scene. So far no charges have been filed in the accident. Check back with NBC 6 for updates. 'Worse than a prostitute'; Politician charged for insulting female leaderTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSFirst posted: Friday, July 29, 2016 12:32 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, July 29, 2016 12:39 PM EDTPATNA, India -- Indian police on Friday arrested a Hindu nationalist leader on charges alleging he insulted a senior female politician by describing her as "worse than a prostitute."Police officer Upendra Kumar Sharma said Dayashankar Singh was arrested in his hometown in Bihar state where he was found hiding in a relative's home.Singh was expelled last week from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party for making the remark against Mayawati, a leader representing millions of lower-caste Dalits. He has been hiding since then.Singh held a senior BJP position in northern Uttar Pradesh state.Singh accused Mayawati, leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, of selling party nominations for state elections for millions of rupees and said "her character is worse than that of a prostitute."Singh later apologized for his remark, but Mayawati demanded his arrest as she rejected his accusation.Mayawati, a former top elected leader of Uttar Pradesh state, is leading her party campaign in the state for a key legislature election due early next year.Police registered a case of criminal intimidation, insulting the modesty of a woman and promoting disharmony and hatred against Singh. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years.In this Sept. 22, 2015 file photo, India's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati smiles as she addresses journalists at a press conference in New Delhi, India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File) What to Know Emails show DNC staffers secured tickets for a party booster to President Obama's Rutgers commencement speech. At least two tickets were said to have been secured by DNC staffers, while the number of guests graduates were given was limited. The emails were made public by Wikileaks after a hack of the Democratic National Committee. Democratic National Committee staffers claimed to have secured tickets for a party booster to President Obamas Rutgers University commencement address in May whereas students were allotted just three guests because of high demand, emails made public by Wikileaks show. Michael Kasparian, former Chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Committee, was told by DNC staffers that he could have two tickets to the commencement address days before the event. It is not clear if he attended the address. Kasparian wrote to New Jersey Democratic fundraiser Orin Kramer on May 10, five days before the address, to ask for tickets, according to the emails. Orin, If at all possible this former Obama for President Finance Committee Member, who hosted both the President and his wife at his home on separate occasions in the fall of 2007, would like to attend the Rutgers commencement, my alma mater. We supported the President when few in NJ had an inkling of his inherent greatness. I can thank you for that! So, if you know of anyone who may be able to accommodate me, it would be very much appreciated. All the best to you tomorrow evening with Hillary, the email read. That message landed in the inbox of Zachary Allen, who identifies himself on his email as the finance director for the New York Tri-State Democratic National Committee. Allen went to work securing the tickets, the emails show, ultimately reaching out to Caitria Mahoney, a special assistant to the president and deputy director of political strategy and outreach at the White House, according to her Linkedin profile. We can do it - what name should we hold the tickets under, Mahoney wrote to Allen on May 12, three days before the address. You are the BEST, thank you. Michael Kasparian is the name, Allen responded. NBC 4 New York reported that Rutgers set a limit of three guests per graduate because of high demand in late April, weeks before the address was scheduled. We have absolutely no knowledge of this, a spokesperson for Rutgers told NBC 4 New York about DNC staffers securing tickets. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event for our graduates and their families. We were happy that we were able to accommodate the graduates and their guests. Kramer was unavailable for comment. The DNC, Allen, Kasparian and Mahoney did not return requests for comment. State police and deputy sheriffs responded to a report of armed intruders inside a house by locking down an Upstate neighborhood for two hours -- until they determined the report was a sham. John Sheehan, 28, told deputies on Friday night that he had gone to a friend's house in Putnam Lake to walk the friend's dog and had seen several heavily armed people wearing masks inside the house, Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith said Saturday. Law enforcement officers cordoned off an area surrounding the house at about 11:30 p.m. and locked it down for two hours. No intruders were found and Sheehan was subsequently charged with falsely reporting an incident, Smith said. He was later taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. There was no information available indicating that Sheehan had obtained a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. Wealthy Republican donors are descending on Colorado Springs, Colorado, this weekend to attend the Charles and David Koch bi-annual retreat where the cloud of Donald Trump hovers over the rich influencers, NBC News reported. The wealthy conservative activists and the sum of their vast donor network have shunned Trump throughout the entire presidential election. But as they gather this weekend, Trump is sure to be a topic of discussion as it's the first time the group is meeting since Trump was crowned as the Republican nominee. Trump, coincidentally or not, held a rally in Colorado Springs Friday despite being 10 points behind in the latest poll in Colorado, a gap that explains why Democrat Hillary Clinton pulled advertising from the state. On Saturday he tweeted, "I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!" A shooting at a house party in Mukilteo, Washington, left three people dead and a fourth injured, police and city officials said Saturday, NBC News reported. About 15 to 20 teens and young adults were inside a home when a suspect walked in and opened fire. A 19-year-old male suspect was apprehended many miles from where the shooting took place. Snohomish County Jail records show Allen Christopher Ivanov was booked on three counts of murder, including one count of aggravated murder. One of the victims was identified by his family to NBC News as Jordan Ebner, who listed on Facebook that he attended Everett Community College. Susan Gemmer told The Associated Press that her 18-year-old granddaughter, Alexis Gemmer, hid in a closet to escape the gunman who was carrying a rifle. Neighbors in Philadelphia cheered as rescuers pulled a man out alive who'd purposely jumped into the sewer and then got sucked down Friday afternoon. The 46-year-old man removed a storm drain that covered an 18-inch pipe and leapt in. Suction from rushing water below pulled him down about 10 feet.[[388725761,C]] Emergency crews worked for several hours at the intersection of 9th and Pike Streets in the Hunting Park neighborhood of Philadelphia in what the fire commissioner called a difficult environment filled with sewage and water. "Very challenging incident. Very difficult rescue." Commissioner Adam Thiel said. "It was very dark so they have to deploy all these specialized techniques with all this specialized equipment."[[388718012,C]] Rescuers had to ventilate the area due to toxic and flammable gasses before they climbed down a ladder to reach the man. The victim was in stable condition at Temple hospital. Rescue workers had to decontaminate. The police department and water department workers assisted in the rescue. "This is what we do... All of us working for you every day," Thiel said.[[388709151,C]] HATFIELD, Pa. -- Dozens of people braved the heat late Friday afternoon, standing in a grassy area outside the KNEX factory in Hatfield, Pennsylvania as Hillary Clinton continued her bus tour following a campaign rally at Temple University. The crowd, made up mostly of parents and children, was overwhelmingly pro-Hillary, and seemed excited at the chance to see the Democratic presidential candidate following her tour of KNEX. Dave McDowell, 74, of Hilltown Township, stood out from the crowd however. He was one of the few people actually standing in the shade rather than directly in the sun. He also held up a sign that was in stark contrast to the pro-Hillary messages of support. It was a mock check that read, Special Offer: $Buy-Hillary $1,000,000 +No Sence. David Chang McDowell wasnt the first person in the crowd that we spoke with but he was one of the first to come up to us. You guys probably wont talk to me, McDowell said with a slight grin. After seeing his sign, I knew that I had to. McDowell, who informed me that he was a local business owner, was more than happy to explain what the check meant. Hillary has been caught by a number of people and she has done favors for a number of people while she was in power, McDowell said. And if anybody wants a favor they can just send a note. Hillary, a million dollars, and it says, no sence on there. Thats referring to Hillary. McDowell continued to explain his issues with Clinton. Shes an insider, he said. She has all the friends in Washington that youll ever meet. Washington will never shrink if shes elected. The government has gotten too big. McDowell said he plans on voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Ill be voting for Trump, he said. Not because Im a great supporter of his but I just feel that you cant do much worse than whats been happening in this past administration and the new administration to come if its Hillary. McDowell admitted Trump was flawed though he believed some of the criticism hes received, especially from liberals, has been overblown. Some of the remarks that he makes are kind of stupid and some of the remarks are also on the moment, he said. To me, they're funny. To the Left, they're disgraceful. McDowell said he was drawn to Trump for two main reasons; his experience as a businessman and his reputation as a political outsider. I was a businessman for many years and worked hard, McDowell said. From my perspective, being in the business world and working super hard, you try and stay ahead of things. I just don't like super politicians. According to McDowell, Clinton is a politician in the worst possible way. I don't trust her because of the things she's done in the past and I don't trust her because she's just another insider, he said. It goes through her husband. Unfortunately, he was not a bad president but he was not, how should I say it, the nicest of people. Theyve become such an inside family and if you go and speak for $250,000 in a meeting, those people expect something from you. She owes people so many favors." Despite his strong stance, McDowell said he received no animosity from the pro-Clinton crowd during Fridays campaign event. That certainly was not due to a lack of passion from Clintons supporters who were in attendance however, as evidenced by Michele McClure. The 61-year-old Northeast Philadelphia native and mother of two who currently resides in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, said her own experience as a woman making historic strides in a male-dominated field is what made her feel connected to Clinton. David Chang I was one of the first female officers in the 82nd Airborne Division, McClure said. I am looking forward to saluting the commander and chief. McClure served from 1977 to 1983. It was also during her service when she met her husband Randal Nonemaker, who served in the U.S. Army from 1972 to 1976. Nonemaker was by his wifes side during Fridays campaign event. I know a good man when I see him, McClure said with a smile. Unlike McDowell, McClure believes Trumps experience as a businessman makes him unfit to run the country. He cannot function, given his background, as a commander and chief, she said. Hillary can. Its not a business. He doesnt know how to work with the three branches of government. All he can say is youre fired! This is not an oligarchy. Hes in for a real awakening. Welcome to the real world Donald. He has never functioned in the government. McClure also addressed the supporters of Bernie Sanders, some of whom remain angry not only by the fact that Clinton secured the Democratic nomination but also by the recent leak of emails suggesting the Democratic party showed a bias towards Clinton over Sanders. To the Bernie Sanders people, I really understand where youre coming from, she said. But we have got to beat Trump and come together now. I totally can identify with them, I relate to them, but right now we have a common goal, objective and mission. And that is to beat Trump. Her message seemed to resonate with Alex Wilczewski, a 20-year-old Arcadia University student, who also attended Friday's campaign event. David Chang Im actually a Bernie supporter but the way I see it, Trump is a million times worse [than Hillary], Wilczewski said. This mans a lunatic. Ive seen my little cousin throwing a tantrum and he makes more reasonable demands and at least those are demands we can deliver. Wilczewski claimed a Trump presidency could potentially impact both him and his friends. I have Muslim friends, Indian friends, Hispanic friends, people whove immigrated from Mexico that I know and I think of the idea of what can happen to them, he said. Then I think of my culture after that. Im Jewish, so who knows, if he gets his way, if he puts all these restrictions, bans on the Muslims, its going to be the Jews next. Wilczewski also believes Trumps rhetoric could damage international relations and ultimately, his own future plans. Whats going to happen to my future? he asked. I want to go into the video game industry. I want to be able to travel abroad. Whats going to happen if countries start putting bans on us? Spain still has some ties to Mexico in some way. What happens if Trump is so harsh on Mexico that theres this movement in Spain and they completely block us from going there? I want to work in Spain. Just because Trump threw a hissy fit and destroyed diplomatic relations, thats going to screw over the entire next generation. Wilczewski said his biggest fear is that Trump will actually follow up on some of his more controversial statements. Do I believe that Trump is serious about everything he says? No, but he could be pressured into making it happen, Wilczewski said. Hes already gone too far to back down on what he said. And even if he doesnt believe it himself anymore, hes gonna have to go through with it or his own people are going to turn against him. I dont want my friends to be ridiculed and sent away. I dont want myself to lose opportunities and I dont want this country to become something Im ashamed to admit. Despite his strong stance against Trump, Wilczewski also admitted to being a bit apprehensive about Clinton. I dont necessarily always trust Hillary, he said. I trust her to do the right thing but I dont necessarily trust her to reveal when shes made a mistake. Yet Wilczewski still plans on supporting her at the polls in November. Trump, I fear. Hillary, I sort of am intrigued, I want to see where it goes," he said. "Im voting for someone who I dont think necessarily is going to do the best job but shes gonna do a better job than anybody else I see right now whos still in the race. Whether it be to personally call her out, finally meet an inspiration or gain a greater sense of trust in her, McDowell, McClure and Wilczewski all appeared to be anxious to see Clinton Friday. A slight sense of disappointment could be felt from them and the rest of the crowd when they only caught a glimpse of Clintons bus and not the nominee herself as she left KNEX. It was a strangely comforting hint of commonality among the three individuals who hold drastically different views on Clinton, Trump and the political process as a whole. Whether that commonality will grow or weaken for the three and voters nationwide as November 8 draws near, remains to be seen. NBC10's Vince Lattanzio and David Chang are on the road with the Clinton-Kaine campaign as they tour Pennsylvania and Ohio by bus. Follow their travels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and NBC10.com to get dispatches from the trail and behind the scenes views of what it's like to cover a presidential campaign. A block in University City has a new memorial after a dedication ceremony honored the memory of a young student who lost his life in 1958. Republican Councilman David Oh hosted a ceremony to name the 3600 block of Hamilton Street as "In-Ho Oh Memorial Way" to commemorate the death of his cousin, In-ho Oh, in 1958 and his familys response asking for lenient treatment for their sons killers. A top graduate of Seoul National University, In-Ho Oh came to Philadelphia to study at Eastern College and the University of Pennsylvania and hoped to return to Korea to serve his nation as a "Christian Statesman." On April 28, 1958, In-Ho Oh, who lived in the 3600 block, stepped outside his uncles apartment to mail a letter when he was assaulted by a group of 11 teenagers and beaten to death. After his death, founder of Philadelphias first Korean American Church, Ki Hang Oh, established the "In-Ho Oh Memorial Korea Center" which provided social, religious, educational, and charitable services until 2006. Among the centers board members was Mayor Richardson Dilworth, who established the "Mayors In-Ho Oh Memorial Scholarship" to provide a Korean University of Penn student full tuition. In-Ho Ohs parents were in Korea at the time of their sons death, but their response to the killing stands out. NBC News obtained a copy of a letter written by In-Ho Ohs parents, Ki Byang Oh and his mother Shin Wynn H. Oh, expressing disbelief in the loss, but no rage. "We are sad now, not only because of In Hos unachieved future, but also because of the unsaved souls and paralyzed human nature of the murderers," the letter reads. "Our family has met together and we have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the laws of your government be given to those who have committed this criminal action without knowing what it would mean to him who has been sacrificed, to his family, to his friends, to his county Our whole family has decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational, and social guidance of the boys when they are released." NBC News reports that Councilman David Oh believes his cousins story "coincides with a real need in our nation today for understanding among our different communities" and his story shows that "forgiveness worked then, and can also work today." Freeholders in northern New Jersey have approved an ordinance to ban circuses and other exotic animal shows on county property. The Record newspaper reports Bergen County's freeholders unanimously adopted the ordinance Wednesday. The ban covers exhibitions, shows and performances on county property not private or municipal land. It specifies a dozen categories of animals, including tigers, snakes and elephants, but doesn't cover horses, dogs or other domesticated animals. Zoos, sanctuaries, rescue centers and educational programs featuring animals are all exempt. The county ban also targets parades, carnivals and trade shows in which animals have no permanent home or are removed from their permanent home for more than 18 hours at a time for performances or exhibitions. The state's chapter of the League of Humane Voters praised the action. The group's regional director, Julie O'Connor, said the move will help end animal abuse. "This experience has reinforced my faith in you as public servants for using your power for good," she said. "You will help put a nail in the coffin of animal abuse." [[211053881, C]] O'Connor and other group members spearheaded the effort about two years ago. She said the county law is a first step and that she wants other counties and municipalities to prohibit such shows until there is enough support for a statewide ban. Tavana Brown, general manager for the Oklahoma-based Kelly Miller Circus, said the time constraint effectively halts traveling circuses. Brown has said it's unfortunate that law-abiding companies are being punished alongside those that ignore the laws. Two men are heading to trial on charges they ambushed a suburban Pittsburgh cookout and killed five adults and an unborn child. A judge ruled on Friday there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed against Cheron Shelton and Robert Thomas, who are facing criminal homicide and other charges in the March 9 shooting in Wilkinsburg. Allegheny County prosecutors say Thomas fired a handgun so the guests would run for cover toward a home, where they were gunned down on a porch by Shelton, who fired an assault rifle from close range. [[238427591, C]] Authorities say the men were trying to kill a cookout guest they believed had killed Shelton's friend in 2013. Nobody has been charged in that killing, and the target of the ambush shooting survived. Defense attorneys say the men are innocent. A foreign visitor comes to Canada pregnant, has her baby here and the baby becomes automatically a Canadian citizen.This also happens in the US and it's very big business in the US bringing pregnant moms to the US, giving them shelter and birth services just so the babies can become US citizens.It's a back door approach to be able to sponsor the parents later in life so the parents can retire in the West at taxpayer expense.-----------------------The baby houses, as they are called in Asia, are used by women seeking instant Canadian citizenship for their newborns.The internal briefing document, titled Birth by Non-B.C. Residents, was created in response to a Vancouver Sun story last year about the three-fold increase since 2009 of non-resident births.A department in Victoria called the Audit and Investigations Branch, Eligibility, Compliance and Enforcement Unit (ECEU) knows about 26 private residences offering hospitality services to foreign pregnant women. It said the residences are used by two groups.The first includes those in Canada on a temporary resident document, such as a tourist visa, work or study permit. They come to deliver a baby who by birth is then granted Canadian citizenship status. They do not access Medical Services Plan-funded benefits and they declare themselves as self-pay at hospitals and to doctors.The second category includes permanent residents properly enrolled in MSP, but at some point cease to meet the definition under the Medicare Protection Act. They return to their country of origin but remain enrolled in the MSP. They then return to B.C. to have a baby and since they still have MSP coverage, bills related to the mother and baby are billed to the plan. They stay long enough to obtain a birth certificate, a Canadian passport and enrolment in MSP for the baby before returning to their country of origin. A nurse has lost her job at a central Pennsylvania county jail and been charged with having sex with an inmate. Twenty-four-year-old Shelby Renee Houck, of Mechanicsburg, didn't immediately return a call for comment Monday on the charge of institutional sexual assault filed by the state troopers based in York. They say she worked for PrimeCare Medical, the health care provider for the York County prison, when another worker alerted police to suspicions that Houck had a relationship with an inmate. When police questioned the inmate last month, they say he acknowledged the relationship with Houck. She's charged because the law says an inmate cannot legally consent to have sex with a jailer. Todd Haskins, vice president of operations for PrimeCare, says she is no longer employed by the company. A Hemet, California, family is trying to raise money to replace their stolen car so their grandmother can get to her cancer treatments. Their method of choice: a lemonade stand. The grandmother (The family asked that she not be identified) was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2014, the family said. After undergoing surgery, the family thought she was in the clear. But earlier this year the doctors told her the cancer was back. "We were sad and heartbroken," her daughter said. Her mother underwent emergency surgery to have the fast-growing tumor removed, but now she has to have chemo and radiation treatments five times a week. To make matters worse, the family's only car was stolen three weeks ago. Police returned it, but the family said the thieves damaged it to the point where it was no longer safe to drive. "I was driving to [the grocery store] and it broke down four times," the daughter said. "That was just to the store; the hospital is much farther away." The daughter said the car was their only way to get her mom to the hospital for her much-needed treatments. Now they're trying to come up with the money to replace it. Her children and nieces found a novel way to help. "An idea of a lemonade stand just popped into our heads," said a niece. "We don't have a lot of money, so that seemed like a good way to help." Her four grandchildren set up the stand Friday morning complete with a small pool for staying out of the heat. "I'm getting cups and pouring," one of the grandchildren said. "You pour, and then you get back in [the pool]." One person said her grandparents were moved to tears when they saw the stand. "We didn't tell our grandma before," she said. "We set it up, and when [our grandparents] walked out there they just started crying." "Isn't that awesome," she said. "My grandkids just mean so much to me." "It's been really hard for us," she said. "We're just trying to get some help." Editor's note: This story has been altered from its original version. The names and identifying information of the family profiled have been removed after they received threats following the story's publication. The grim events in San Diegos Southcrest area Thursday night are all-too-fresh evidence of how risky police work can be. The city has now lost 33 officers in the line of duty, dating back to 1913. Jonathan De Guzmans shooting death during a traffic stop was the departments first on-duty fatality in nearly five years. Coming as it did in the wake of deadly police ambushes in Baton Rouge and Dallas, there's concern among those in uniform about a recent uptick in police casualties becoming "the new normal". These things have to stop, said retired SDPD Sgt. Bill Nemec, former president of the San Diego Police Officers Association. These activists who are calling for the death of police officers -- we have to stop this kind of talk. This has gone beyond rhetoric." Nemec was on the force to see more than half of the city's officers who have been killed on duty buried. Between 1977 and 1985, ten officers died in the line of duty, ten by gunfire, prompting speculation that San Diego's finest maybe were too "laid-back". Before long, a series of fatal shootings on the part of officers raised concerns about an unspoken "no more Mister Nice Guy" approach in the ranks. Now, decades later, law enforcement has been coming in the crosshairs more frequently, with 34 peace officers nationwide shot to death so far this year -- versus 42 for all of 2015. The men and women get into law enforcement knowing the risks that they'll face, on a somewhat regular basis, unfortunately, retired Chula Vista police captain Gary Wedge said. But they never fully appreciate that 'it could happen to me', Wedge added. When something like this happens, it reminds us in law enforcement how vulnerable we are. But what I also think tends to get lost in that is the support the community gives." Law enforcements top brass" fervently hope that people appreciate how quickly their badge-wearing protectors can become victims. [De Guzmans slaying] happened in just a matter of seconds, Sheriff William Gore observed in an interview Friday. And within a matter of seconds [the gunman] was able to shoot one officer in the throat and fatally wound another officer. And that happened in a split-second." One scary, trending theme sounded by officers who routinely work the streets is how much mental illness is out there these days and if society doesn't get a better handle on it, more of them -- as well as the average citizen -- will be in harm's way. "I don't think the officers nowadays have the support of the Justice Department, Nemec told NBC 7. And in some cases, local government has to step up. The officers are understaffed, they're overworked, and they're asked to do more and more." A 16-year San Diego police veteran killed in the line of duty Thursday night was previously attacked by a suspect and received a Purple Heart from the department twelve years ago. Jonathan DeGuzman, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Southcrest Thursday, was stabbed in 2003 after he stopped a parolee for speeding in City Heights. DeGuzman intended to give the man a warning for going 30 mph in a 25 mph zone, but the driver, Carl Thompson, got out of his car and stabbed DeGuzman in the shoulder. When he tried to stab DeGuzman again, the officer shot Thompson in the hip. Thompson was convicted of attempted murder on a peace officer in 2004. Former chief of police William Lansdowne presented DeGuzman with his Purple Heart, given to officers injured in the line of duty. Lansdowne said DeGuzman was special to him. I found him to be very calm and dedicated, Lansdowne told NBC 7. I was very much impressed. He wanted to be a police officer. He was excited about the job, and he wanted to work in the high profile job. Thats how he got to the gang unit. He did an incredible job there. I am going to miss him, like everyone else I am going to miss JD. DeGuzman was a husband and a father of two children. On Friday, Heritage Elementary School in Chula Vista issued a statement to the parents of students, informing them of DeGuzman's death. The school stated that DeGuzman was a "quality, involved parent" that many other parents knew and interacted with. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the city stands behind the families of two police officers shot in the line of duty officers who are true heroes. The mayor and chief held a news briefing Saturday to discuss the shooting of two SDPD gang suppression officers, Jonathan "JD" De Guzman and Wade Irwin. The shooting shocked the city, and left De Guzman dead and Irwin seriously wounded. Faulconer and Zimmerman said they have been visiting the families of both officers, sharing the outpouring of love and support from the San Diego community with the grieving spouses, children and loved ones of the officers. At this point, investigators have not determined a motive for the shooting. Faulconer said he spoke with De Guzman's wife and young son and daughter and told them to hold their heads high. We told them directly how proud all of us are our city, our state, our nation for JD. I told his wife and his son and daughter that hes a hero for what he did, and that they have all of us standing behind their family. All of us. "We lost a terrific man," the mayor said of De Guzman. "He served our city well, served this community for a number of years. Faulconer said the past two days have been very emotional for the officers families and San Diego as a whole. He said the support from the community for the police department and the unity in the city is palpable, and can be felt by the families as they mourn. This city is behind you and its going to stay behind you, the mayor added. "We have two heroes who absolutely represent the best of the best." Meanwhile, Zimmerman said Saturday that the police department deeply appreciates the support from San Diego. Her officers are more determined than ever to continue to protect and serve the city. Our resolve as San Diego Police officers is as strong as its ever been," the chief said. "We will continue to go out there every single day to proudly wear our badge, proudly wear our uniform and make sure that our communities are safe." On Thursday, at around 11 p.m., De Guzman, 43, and Irwin, 32, were on duty in San Diegos Southcrest community, south of downtown. As the officers conducted a traffic stop in the 3700 block of Acacia Grove Way near Boston Avenue, they were fired upon. Within seconds, the officers called for cover. Dozens upon dozens of law enforcement officers raced to the scene, blanketing the neighborhood with patrol cars, sirens blaring. When backup officers arrived, they discovered both De Guzman and Irwin suffering from gunshot wounds. De Guzman was rushed in a police patrol car to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. The officer a 16-year-veteran of the force died shortly thereafter. Irwin a 9-year veteran of the department was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. Zimmerman said Irwin is expected to survive. His wife has been by his side as he recovers. They are parents to a 19-month-old baby. The heartbreaking loss of Irwins partner was felt by the entire police department, Zimmerman said. The chief called the killing of De Guzman senseless. On Saturday, the chief said telling De Guzman's family that he had died was one of the most difficult moments of her law enforcement career. "Its the most difficult thing a chief will ever have to do to make that announcement, make that notification," she said. "It was the most difficult thing Ive ever had to do." Zimmerman said she had worked with De Guzman at SDPDs Mid-City Division and knew him well. In 2003, De Guzman earned a Purple Heart from the department after being stabbed by a suspect while in the line of duty. That time, Zimmerman got to tell De Guzmans wife that he was going to survive. This time, sadly, the chief said things turned out differently. I was driving over that night, I knew I was going to have to make that notification that he was not going to be okay, and he was not coming home, Zimmerman lamented. Nothing prepares you for that." On Friday evening, Zimmerman identified Jesse Michael Gomez, 52, as the suspect in the shooting of the officers. He was taken into custody shortly after the shooting in a ravine in the 1300 block of 38th Street. The chief said another possible suspect is Marcus Antonio Cassani, 41. Cassani was arrested for an outstanding warrant Friday after an hours-long standoff at a home on 41st and Epsilon streets in Shelltown. At this point, it is still unclear is Cassani was involved in the shooting of the officers. Zimmerman said the shooting occurred extremely quickly within seconds to a minute or so. Both De Guzman and Irwin were wearing personal body cameras on their uniforms and the chief said there is video evidence on those cameras. On Saturday, the chief said investigators were still working around the clock on the case, and she had no further details of the suspects to share. She said although Irwin is now awake, he is still recovering from significant injuries and not in a condition to be interviewed by investigators about the incident. She said details from the surviving officer are forthcoming. With the preliminary investigation underway, Zimmerman said details of the shooting could change. The chief has not said whether the shooting was an ambush. Sources told NBC News the suspects are believed to belong to a local San Diego gang and there is no indication at this stage of the investigation that the officers were specifically targeted, as in recent incidents in Dallas and Baton Rouge that collectively claimed the lives of eight officers. Zimmerman said that when the police shooting happened in Dallas and Baton Rouge, her department talked about and practiced what to do if this ever happened to San Diego officers. She said Saturday that investigators are not making any correlation to police shootings in those other cities. We just dont know yet. Our investigation will determine this, she added. At this point, the chief said investigators are not looking for any additional suspects in connection with the deadly shooting. Zimmerman said the police department is overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support San Diego has shown to officers. "Since this tragic incident I've heard from our officers, as they're out patrolling, [that] so many community members are coming up and thanking them; more than ever before, Zimmerman said. And I'll tell you, that means everything." "We became San Diego police officers because we are proud to wear the uniform and the badge of the San Diego Police Department, she added. We are unwavering in our commitment to make sure we have the safest city in the United States." Zimmerman said a funeral for De Guzman has not been planned yet, but will share those details publicly once they're available. She described the fallen officer as a loving, caring family man who came to work every single day just wanting to make a positive difference in his community. The chief described Irwin also as a caring, passionate police officer who works to serve the community each and every day. "Its a calling for him for all of us," Zimmerman said. "He wants to make sure our community can live in safety." She said Irwin is eager to fully recover and get back to his duties as a police officer. "Thats what he wants; he wants to get back out there as quickly as he can," she added. The deadly shooting is a grim reminder of the dangers police officers face in the line of duty every day. Police officers go out every single day, that wear a badge with pride. We all took an oath to protect and serve all of our communities. To have this happen to our police officers weve seen this happen way too many times just in these last few weeks across our great country. It is tragic for everyone," Zimmerman said at an earlier news briefing. On Saturday, the chief added that the police department and city is "in this together," and it's "never an us [SDPD] versus them [the public]." I want to thank all San Diegans who have shown their incredible support for these officers, for their families, Faulconer added. In times like this, its what brings us together. As we grieve, lets stand strong for these families, for these officers, and what they mean to our city. The last time an SDPD officer was killed in the line of duty was in 2011, when Officer Jeremy Henwood was shot in San Diego's City Heights community. Since 1913, the city has lost 33 officers in the line of duty. A funeral mass will be held for De Guzman at Corpus Christi Catholic Church at 450 Corral Canyon Road, in Bonita next Thursday at 11 a.m. Members of the public are welcome. A public memorial service will be held at 11:00 am next Friday at Shadow Mountain Community Church at 2100 Greenfield Drive in El Cajon. Armando Morales was a gang leader, drug dealer and a jailhouse snitch. But he was also a commanding, dynamic presence on the witness stand when he told jurors that his cellmate, Ingmar Guandique, confessed to the murder of Washington intern Chandra Levy. Jurors believed Morales, and prosecutors obtained a conviction against Guandique at his 2010 trial despite lacking a confession, witnesses or DNA evidence. They obtained a conviction even though everyone knew that police had initially suspected another man, former California congressman Gary Condit. But for the last five years, while Guandique was imprisoned on what was to have been a 60-year murder sentence, defense lawyers accumulated new information that cast doubt on Morales' truthfulness. They learned that he asked to be put into the witness protection program in exchange for his testimony, even though he testified he hadn't sought any benefit for testifying. Last year, a judge ordered that Guandique receive a new trial after prosecutors acknowledged a retrial was warranted. Meanwhile, as questions about Morales continued to grow, a woman named Babs Proller who met Morales by happenstance began recording her conversations with him, and turned them over to authorities earlier this month. On Thursday, prosecutors dropped all charges against Guandique, saying they had received evidence recently that would make it impossible for them to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. It's not entirely clear what's in the recordings. Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to say whether the recordings prompted prosecutors to seek dismissal of the case. Edward Brady, an attorney for Proller, said his client became involved in the case by sheer coincidence and contacted prosecutors, defense attorneys and Levy's mother. ``She did this because she believed then, and believes now, that it was the right thing to do,'' Brady said. Susan Levy, Chandra Levy's mother, said in an interview Friday at her Modesto, California, home that she had indeed been in contact with someone, then called the prosecutors to alert them. Levy described feeling despair over her daughter's unsolved murder and, at the same time, relief that she won't have to rehash the case in court in October, when Guandique's retrial had been scheduled. ``It's weird, all of a sudden it's no longer there and he's released,'' Levy said. ``I'm not sure what's going to happen next _ I clean my house, I wash my dishes and, when I feel better, I try to get back to being a halfway human being.'' David Benowitz, a partner at Price Benowitz LLP in Washington, said prosecutors have clear obligations to inform defense attorneys of any potential issues when they use jailhouse informants. ``Jailhouse snitch testimony is inherently unreliable,'' he said. The problem is exacerbated, he said, when prosecutors refuse to disclose information that would allow the defense to attack the informant's reliability. Brandon Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who wrote a book detailing the degree to which false testimony from jailhouse informants contributes to wrongful convictions, suggests that such testimony should be banned altogether. ``If they are to be used there should be reliability review by a judge and all statements and interviews they give should be videotaped. All leniency offers should be documented and disclosed,'' he said in an email interview. In Guandique's case, prosecutors argued to the jury that Morales' story had the ring of truth. Guandique's purported confession actually came as he was trying to convince his cellmates he wasn't a rapist. Specifically, Morales testified that Guandique confided to him: ``Homeboy, I killed that b----, but I didn't rape her.'' Defense lawyers sought to undermine his testimony, eliciting testimony from a third cellmate who said he was almost always with Morales and Guandique during the time in question, and that he never heard any confession. During Morales' cross-examination, they suggested Morales was simply trying to take advantage of his cellmate's notoriety. Ultimately, though, the defense failed to persuade the jury there was reasonable doubt. While Guandique no longer faces charges _ and now faces deportation _ a lawyer for Condit said it would be wrong for people to think that his client could again become a suspect. Condit's attorney, Lin Wood, issued a statement Friday saying Condit remains in the clear despite the collapse of the case against Guandique. ``Mr. Condit was long ago completely exonerated by authorities in connection with the death of Chandra Levy,'' he said. ``Mr. Condit's counsel was informed yesterday by the U.S. Attorney's office in charge of the Levy case that Mr. Condit is neither a subject nor a target of the investigation into the murder of Chandra Levy.'' A teen was seriously injured after falling nto a crevasse at a national park in northern Frederick County Friday afternoon, Maryland State Police say. A state police helicopter was called to Chimney Rock, a rugged and remote area of Catoctin Mountain National Park, for reports of an injured hiker. Ground emergency personnel discovered the teenager in the crevasse. Police said the teen suffered traumatic injuries in the fall. The victim was hoisted up into the helicopter due to the severity of the injuries, according to police. The teen, who has not been identified, was taken to Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Former suburban Chicago police officer Drew Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison Friday for trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for killing his third wife. During his sentencing hearing in Randolph County Circuit Court, Peterson told Judge Richard Brown he never wanted Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow killed and claimed to know all along a fellow inmate was recording their conversations. He added that at the time of the recordings, in November 2014, he was suicidal and didn't believe he would live to see the scam come to fruition. "I never did try to have you killed," Peterson said toward Glasgow. "You can think what you want." After the hearing, Glasgow expressed skepticism about Peterson's statement, calling him "deluded." Peterson's fellow inmate, Antonio "Beast" Smith, wore a wiretap for prosecutors, and during the trial, jurors heard hours of Smith's recorded conversations with Peterson at Menard Correctional Center. Smith also testified Peterson enlisted him to help kill Glasgow. Peterson was convicted in the case in late May. Glasgow said in court Friday that a lengthy sentence was necessary as a deterrent, otherwise convicts will believe they can kill a prosecutor and get the minimum sentence. "It's critical that a message be sent that this will never be (allowed) in Illinois," he said. The 62-year-old Peterson is serving a 38-year sentence for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He is scheduled for parole in 2047, but Friday's sentence must be served consecutively, making it likely Peterson will die in prison. Savio's death was initially deemed accidental. Glasgow reopened the case after the 2007 disappearance of Stacy Peterson, his 23-year-old fourth wife. Drew Peterson was never charged in her disappearance but told the informant he worried that Glasgow would eventually do so. Four Massachusetts Army National Guard soldiers are being credited for saving the life of an 87-year-old woman in the woods of New Jersey. Jeanette Haskins, of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey said she was headed to her birthday party at her daughter's in Maryland when she made a wrong turn on the way. She ended up getting stuck in the woods outside Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst where soldiers from G Company 186th Brigade Support Battalion, Massachusetts Army National Guard were training. Staff Sgt. Dana Francis and Sgt. Tommy Coppola were looking for a place to conduct recovery training when they veered off the base themselves and discovered Haskin's Cadillac stuck in the sand. "We were just going down different spots looking for spots to train our younger soldiers," said Sgt. Francis. "I made the decision to go through a tank trail in the woods instead of the regular route back." It was at that time when Sgt. Francis and Sgt. Coppola noticed Haskins' car with all four doors open in an area of the training base. Inside the car, the elderly woman was slumped over. "We had no idea how long she was out there, we thought we were walking up to the worst situation," said Sgt. Coppola. Haskins had been there for two days with no food, a dead cell phone and only a small amount of rainwater she collected. The soldiers immediately went to get the help of two other Massachusetts soldiers who are medics, Spc. John Shively and Pfc. Aaron Amardey-Wellington. "She's a trooper. I'm amazed that she made it," said Sgt. Coppola. She was severely dehydrated with signs of heat stroke but the two medics with the guards were able to help. After a brief stay at an area hospital, Haskins was ready to celebrate her big day. "Being 87 and being out there for that long time she must be really healthy to survive that long duration and we are really glad we were able to help and she was able to celebrate her birthday," said Pfc. Aaron Amardey-Wellington. Unfortunately, Haskins had her cat with her at the time and told the soldiers that she decided to let him go in hopes he would find his own water and food. The Mashpee, Massachusetts, HAZMAT team responded to a call at the Franey Medical Labs on Mercantile Way Saturday morning. There were reportedly lower levels of carbon monoxide and a decreased level of oxygen. There was also a distinct odor. The cause is unknown at this time. The fire department and HAZMAT officials ventilated the structure. Everyone self-evacuated the building safely. There were only three employees inside the building when the event occurred. One of the employees was taken to Falmouth Hospital for evaluations after complaining of a headache. The scene is now clear. what? you didn't hear about it on the 'news'? ;-)(HeatStreet) July 26, 2016 - On Tuesday afternoon, organizers of the Black Lives Matter march screamed at white reporters to adhere to a scheme of racial segregation. "White people go to the back of the crowd," she woman barks into the mic. The response is mixed and confused and the segregation process drags on for a while. A few SJWs eventually decide to pitch in and chant "Get back, get back" at any and all white people.Random quotes: "you will appropriately take your place in the back of this bitch""all y'all go to the back""take your rightful positions and get behind us [black people]" "that's right, black people love their own leadership""so if you see any white folks, direct them to the back""get back or you're out of this march. We are not afraid to put you out."White media get to the back! Black media come to the front! shouted the organizer with a bullhorn.The organizer, annoyed that people werent immediately adhering to her instructions, began hectoring white journalists who hadnt complied.Excuse me, sir! she yelled. Somebody needs to tell this person to get to the back. Somebody needs to tell these folks to get to the back!We are not afraid to put people out! the organizer yelled. White people to the back! Black people to the front!As the Democratic National Conventions agenda shifts to gun violenceincluding the deaths of black men at the hands of policethe tone among many demonstrators in Philadelphia on Tuesday was emphatically hostile to cops.This is an anti-police rally, one local Black Lives Matter activist told a crowd, speaking from a microphone in the back of the pickup truck. At the march, which was called Black DNC Resistance March Against Police Terrorism & State Repression and began near Temple University, protestors chanted: No Justice, No Peace, Take it to the Streets and **** the Police.One woman, wearing a bandana across her face, held a sign declaring, Blue Lives AINT REAL. Another demonstrator carried a poster that read, A violent system will meet a violent demise.Meanwhile, cops in the city are on edge. Tonight, the DNC has given a prime slot to Black Lives Matter, featuring the families of seven men slain by police, including the mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.Notably absent are the families of murdered cops. That imbalance has irked local law enforcement. In a news release last week, the local police union slammed Hillary Clinton for pander[ing] to the interests of people who do not know all the facts, while the men and women they seek to destroy are out protecting the political institutions of this country.Though no officers approached by Heat Street were willing to go on the record, the general sentiment is that the DNCs embrace of Black Lives Matter has made it tougher for them to do their jobs this week.Repeated calls to the police unions president, John McNesby, went unanswered; hes not ignoring media, insisted several staffersthe police are just unusually busy this week.As of April, Philadelphias Police Commissioner told the City Council he was about 400 officers short and struggling to graduate enough cops to replace those retiring. Law enforcement from all 50 states have come to help maintain order amid as many as 50,000 anticipated protestors.Martina White, a state representative from a Philadelphia district that represents roughly 2,500 police officers, says its fair for law enforcement to feel slighted by the DNC.I think theyre upset that theyre being painted with broad strokes, White said of local polices response to the DNCs embrace of Black Lives Matter. She added that on Sunday and Monday, protestors screamed inches from officers faces, and theyve shown restraint.To be treated the way theyve been treated and for them not to have a voice at the convention, Im sure thats a disappointment, White said.The anger among demonstrators Tuesday wasnt limited to the police. At the very front of the march, right beside a Black Lives Matter banner, protestors held a sign that said, Hillary has Blood on Her Hands and another that said, Hillary, Delete Yourself.One of the marchs organizers told the crowd, We are here on the eve of the election for two parties who have not stopped police from killing us. This so-called democracy is nothing but hypocrisy. Another speaker claimed Democrats had pimped our vote, pimped our movement.Despite demonstrators scorching frustration, as of Monday police said they had not arrested anyone, though they issued 55 citations. Most of those went to Bernie Sanders supporters who jumped fences to try to break into the convention centers secure perimeter. Jillian Kay Melchior An inmate in Manchester, New Hampshire is back behind bars and facing a judge after escaping the Valley Street Jail Thursday morning still wearing his orange jumpsuit and shackles. "It's just kind of weird, just kind of surreal," said Chris Aubin who works on Elm Street. He was pulling into work Thursday morning when a flash of orange caught his eye. "It was strange, he was in a full orange jumpsuit and when he turned around it said, 'Department of Corrections,'" Aubin explained. What Aubin saw was captured on surveillance cameras at the AL Prime Gas Station. You can see 50-year-old Kevin Gearhart walking in full shackles wandering around downtown Manchester. It was unusual enough that even police are surprised. "Certainly something new in my eyes, as well as many of my peers who have been here for a long time," said Manchester Police Lt. Brian O'Keefe. According to court documents, Gearhart was being transported from the jail to the courthouse for a Thursday morning appearance, but somehow slipped out of the sally port without deputies noticing. "It's very disturbing actually," said Randy Beliveau who also works on Elm Street. "It's pretty scary," said nearby resident Maya Romero. "I want to know why." It was just minutes before officers caught up with Gearhart and arrested him, again. He was charged Friday morning with felony escape and also attempted theft for trying to steal a woman's car at the gas station while on the run. "This side of town is a magnet for strange occurrences," Aubin said. "But that's got to take the cake right there." Gearhart is being held on $15,000 bail. NECN reached out to the Valley Street Jail as well as the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office several times throughout the day, but no one has returned our calls. A Rhode Island man has been ordered held without bail on charges he fatally stabbed a man whose body was found in a car outside a Providence restaurant. WPRI-TV reports 27-year-old Pablo Mendoza was arraigned Friday on a murder charge in connection with the killing of 44-year-old Harold Northrup. It's unclear whether Mendoza has retained a lawyer. Police say Northrup was found dead in a car outside a Chinese restaurant in the city's West End on Thursday morning. Police say Northrup had been stabbed in the chest and had a defensive wound on his hand. Mendoza was arrested Thursday. Police have not released a motive in the killing but have said that it was not a random attack. The slaying is the city's fifth homicide this year. A new business called the "Ice Cream Float" is turning heads on Vermonts Lake Bomoseen. Its the summer job of a teenager from Rutland. "It's spreading really fast," Adam Babb said, describing the buzz about his new business. Babb, 17, is in his first summer of small business ownership on Vermont's Lake Bomoseen. He pulls up to residents' docks or even to passing boats to serve ice cream and other treats. "I think it's a great idea," customer Jim Cook said. The senior at Rutland's Mount St. Joseph Academy said he relied on his savings to buy a used pontoon boat that a person in northern New York advertised online. Then, he said he got help from his parents and family friends converting it into the Ice Cream Float. The boat features awnings and illustrations of desserts on the side of the business. The colorful presentation was designed to ensure the business is eye-catching, Babb said. "Last Sunday was really good," Babb recalled. "It was hot and I sold out of just about everything." Babb sells Italian ices, ice cream sandwiches, frozen pops, and other treats. "I feel it's brilliant," customer Erica Rossini said after purchasing an ice cream sandwich from Babb. "I really, really hope you're very successful with this," another customer, Susanne Rossini, told the teenager. Babb told necn he is considering studying business in college. However, he already got a crash course in capital investments a few weeks back, when his freezer died and he had to upgrade his generator. "It's just a good experience for the future," Babb said. "And it's cool talking to the different people around the lake." The most rewarding part of his summer job, Babb said, is making families happy. Or happier, really, since most people are in a pretty good mood in the relaxed setting around Lake Bomoseen. "There's no one really angry to see me," Babb laughed. "Except for maybe those parents who don't want to buy ice cream!" To those parents, watch out: the Ice Cream Float's going to keep floating on Lake Bomoseen through at least Labor Day. The Maine Republican Party is facing criticism for letting York County GOP Chair Jim Booth keep his job after he wrote a disparaging email about a gay lawmaker. In an email to fellow Republicans, Booth called Senate candidate Justin Chenette "Little Justine." "Currently our old friend Little Justine is running unopposed," Booth wrote. "There is a lot of HATE for the Democratic nominee. But, we have no one as yet to take Chenette on. His liberal agenda must stop NOW! If you know anyone that would be interested in talking about taking on Little Justine please call me anytime." Chenette said the "feminizing" of his name was "clearly going after me as someone who is openly gay," but added that the worst part, he felt, was the emphasis on hate. "There has to be repercussions for this sort of hate speech and rhetoric," said Chenette, who represents Saco in the Maine House. "Otherwise, it's deemed acceptable." Elected at the age of 21, he was the nation's youngest openly gay politician. "This is not Maine values," he said. Chenette and other Democrats, including Maine Democrat Party Chair Phil Bartlett, are calling for Booth's resignation. Even some Republicans have asked him to step down. "I think [Booth] got carried away," said Republican State Senator David Woodsome. "I felt Jim should have stepped down, and he didn't." Members of the York County Republican Committee met this week to discuss the email controversy. Booth apologized for the email and kept his job. Maine GOP Chair Rick Bennett released a statement calling the email "completely inappropriate and unfortunate," but did not call for Booth's resignation. Booth declined to comment for this story when reached by phone Friday. In a rare weekend meeting session, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation on Saturday establishing a paid family and medical leave program for all workers. The Paid Family and Medical Leave Bill protects employees who must take time off from work to recover from serious health issues or to care for a new child or sick family member. The bill requires employers to offer employees up to 16 weeks of paid leave for family care and up to 26 weeks for temporary disability leave. Employees would be eligible for such benefits after 1,250 hours of service, the current federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) standard. No one should have to choose between a paycheck and their own health or the well-being of their families, said Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chair Senator, Karen E. Spilka. Paid leave is a common sense benefit that workers in nearly every other country in the world receive. Most working families cannot afford unpaid leave - we may need to take time off from work, but our financial obligations dont ever take time off. We have also heard from many Massachusetts businesses that it is in their competitive best interest to offer paid leave, in order to attract and retain the most talented workers. The bill would protect employees who use family or medical leave and prevent retaliation. Should an employee take paid leave, they must be restored to their previous position, or a similar one. In addition, the employee must maintain their previously accrued vacation time, sick time, bonuses, advancement or other employment benefits. Our nation remains the beacon of hope throughout the world as a country where an individual can prosper through ambition, education, and hard work, said Senate President Stan Rosenberg. However, we lag behind every industrialized nation when it comes to paid family leave. This bill ensures that Massachusetts residents will not have to choose between taking care of a newborn baby or caring for a sick loved one and their job. The bill now goes to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. St Mark's looking for a lollipop person to start in September COLD Ash St Marks School is looking for a lollipop person to help tackle speeding motorists and improve childrens safety in the village. The school has received funding to pay for a lollipopper for the school year starting in September. Chair of governors at St Marks, Neil Ralph, said that the request followed parents concerns over childrens safety during the beginning and end of the school day. Currently the view is a school crossing patrol will help improve safety, he said. Its very busy outside the school and we have had a number of close calls. We feel this is a sensible way to help to reduce the dangers. Mr Ralph said the school was hopeful of recruiting someone for September and that anyone interested in the role should leave a message with the school. The school has worked with Cold Ash Parish Council into improving safety along Cold Ash Hill. However, plans for a speed hump outside the school were pulled, following opposition from residents, with many questioning whether it would actually solve the problem of speeding during school runs. Cold Ash parish councillor Mike Munro said that the parish council was delighted with the news. Mr Munro said that traffic got a bit hairy outside the school as lots of children crossed the busy road connecting Thatcham to the A34 and M4. He added that there had been a number of incidents where cars had driven on to the pavement in order to pass cars parked outside the school. We are looking to improve the road safety through the village because we do have a traffic problem, he said. In the absence of having a crossing and more chicanes its a good alternative for us. St Marks was one of 20 schools to receive funding out of more than 6,000 primary schools that applied. The campaign is run by Churchill Insurance, launched alongside PTA UK and supported by Road Safety GB. Churchill said that the number of lollipoppers in the UK had declined after legislation no longer making them a statutory requirement for councils was introduced in 2000. Indeed, West Berkshire Council ceased its funding for six lollipoppers in the district as part of its 17.5m cuts to services this year. Churchill Insurances Lucy Brooksbank said: We are thrilled to be providing the parents and children of Cold Ash with a lollipopper and ask any members of the local community interested in filling the role to put themselves forward with their local council. I will not grasp it in the rain. I will not grasp it on a train. I do not like it here or there. I do not like it anywhere. I do not like this confusing TIF It feels like reading hieroglyph. For some, TIF or tax increment financing, connotes a convolution of numbers, math, obscure economic principles and controversy. And the above Dr. Seuss parody on Green Eggs and Ham may reflect some of that frustrated bewilderment. But as with many things, take a moment to examine and some clarity may start to emerge. Welcome to day two in the Fremont Tribunes three-part effort to offer at bit of clarity to a topic currently at the forefront of discourse in the continuing saga of a proposed poultry processing facility. TIF: THE SIMPLE DEFINITION Tax increment financing represents an economic incentive tool whereby a developer borrows against future tax revenue through the issuance of a TIF bond or TIF promissory note. That borrowed revenue is acquired through the incremental increase in valuation of land due to the economic development occurring upon that land. TIF funds are then used for certain expenditures related to the redevelopment project. Lee Hamman, outside council assisting the City of Fremont with TIF related matters, said under state statute, TIF-eligible expenditures fall under a broad interpretation. The funds can aid in public improvements such as sewer, power, site preparation or other aspects that make a site feasible for development. TIF helps defray the costs that are excessive for the development of challenging areas and helps turn them into properties for industrial, commercial or residential use, Hamman said. The concept of TIFs mechanisms resides in the very words, tax increment financing THE TAX In terms of TIF, tax represents real property (not personal). Real property is land and the immovable structures attached to that land. Property tax is calculated based upon tax rate and the valuation of the real property. According to Dodge County Assessor Debbie Churchill, the value of a parcel of land derives from several things that all feed into the economics of market activity. Often, the assessor determines property value by monitoring trends in the sales of land and other market drivers, such as instances of multiple land sales in one area, then the assessor adjusts those values accordingly, Churchill explained. In essence or for TIF purposes the valuation of a parcel of land reflects the economic activity taking place upon that land; the better the economic environment the more valuable the land. THE INCREMENT A TIF project is established from a sites baseline valuation. For instance, imagine a piece of property (the site) that is valued today at $1 million (the baseline valuation). If tomorrow a TIF project begins on that land, the land will continue to generate tax revenue based on that $1 million baseline valuation, which remains the baseline taxation rate for the duration of the TIF agreement (no more than 15 years in Nebraska). However, as a project begins to develop on the land (i.e. increased economic activity) the valuation of that land might increase to $2 million, which is $1 million above the baseline. That $1 million above baseline represents the increment. Hamman emphasized that that tax revenue generated by the baseline valuation continues to cover all the usual levies and expenses (city operations, schools and etc.); only the tax on the increment above baseline is used to pay off the TIF indebtedness. The key for people to understand is that the base value is always there. Its only the additional value that results from the construction of (site) improvements (that pays the TIF indebtedness), Hamman said. THE FINANCING Bi-annual property tax payments end up in the office of county treasurer; in Dodge County Cathy Dill fills that position. The treasurer takes up the task of dividing and distributing those property tax payments based on the various levies and entities existing in Dodge County such as the City of Fremont, the public school system, the community college and others. The treasurer also keeps a list of ongoing TIF projects. When property tax comes due, the owner of a TIF property writes a check to the treasurer for the full amount based on the current valuation of the property. It is Dills job to divide and channel that payment to all the right places. All tax generated by the baseline value goes to the usual tax levies. However, on a TIF project, after the baseline revenue is collected and distributed, the increment revenue generated by economic development remains leftover. That money is used to finance the TIF indebtedness. Dill stressed a crucial point to remember: any incremental revenue generated by a TIF project stems only from real property. Personal property is not TIFed, Dill said. Owners of personal property will be paying taxes based on the full value of that personal property. In the case of a large development project like Costcos, personal property would include items such as machines to run the factory, office equipment, copiers, computers and etc. POSSIBLE COSTCO SCENARIO For the Costco poultry project the TIF funding represents a sum not to exceed $13.5 million, as stated in the Redevelopment Agreement between the city and Costco. The funding takes the form a TIF note. To simplify the concept, Hamman said a TIF note can be thought of as promissory note between Costco and the city. Basically, the note represents a promise by the city to fund the various TIF eligible expenditures through the tax revenue generated by the incremental increase of property value (above baseline) due to the new development. Generally, the developer (Costco in this case) takes the note to a banker lender and receives a lump sum loan in the amount of the TIF note ($13.5 million). This loan is used to begin paying for the TIF eligible expenses so that the development project may commence. The bank now becomes the holder of the TIF note/bond. The TIF revenue generated from the incremental increase in valuation is then paid by the developer (Costco) through bi-annual property tax payments. It is the county treasurers job to channel the tax generated by the incremental increase back to the bank, to pay off the original TIF note. According to the TIF note defined in the Redevelopment Agreement resolution between the city and Costco, neither the city nor the Community Development Agency of Fremont hold, or are responsible for, any indebtedness related to the promissory note. The city never dips into its general fund to pay this bond off, Hamman said. Willard Hunzeker held 33 metal pins in his hand. Each pin is attached by string to a tag. Each tag has a number and the name of a city. And each tagged pin represents a two-month period when the Wahoo man served his country during a brutal global war. Today, Hunzeker is a 95-year-old retiree and great-grandfather. Area residents may recall when Hunzeker was superintendent at Wahoo Public Schools, a job he had for 14 years. But long before Hunzeker ever became a guiding force in Wahoo, he was a navigator on a B24 Liberator during World War II. Hunzeker was a senior at Peru State College when he and about 24 other young men, whod enlisted in the Army Air Corps reserves, were called to Omaha and inducted into the service. After basic training, Hunzeker took flight training to become a pilot. He didnt pass that, but later passed training to become a navigator. After his commission, he was sent to Boise, Idaho, where he met the pilot and other crew members. Hunzeker remembers when they picked up a new B24 bomber in Lincoln. They had to calibrate the aircrafts compasses and complete other tasks. They ended up flying, low-level, over Hunzekers familys farm southwest of Humbolt. There, he saw his parents and sister standing in the yard. We had a 40-foot silo on that farm and it was very visible out of the waist windows of the plane, he said, adding, We kind of stirred up the chickens and the cows and the horses. That was the last time Hunzeker saw his family until he returned from overseas. From there, the crew went to Bangor, Maine, and then via Iceland to England. We had an interesting flight to Iceland, because we were in overcast weather, flying over water. Its pretty tough to do navigation, he said. Wesley Cable Sr., the pilot, was very good at his job, Hunzeker said. In One Familys Story, Wesley Cable Jr., wrote about his dads experiences. Cable said his father had never flown over an ocean before _ or a place like Iceland or toward a war zone. Bad weather over the stormy North Atlantic had the crew flying by the planes instruments. And navigation, at that time, was done by the dead reckoning method with a compass and knowledge of wind direction, Cable wrote. The crew traveled all night without seeing the sea below. Toward dawn, Hunzeker Zeke called to the planes crew, saying they were approaching Iceland. Cable said he hoped his navigator was correct, because if it wasnt there, they didnt have the gas to go anywhere else. Hunzeker assured the pilot that Iceland would be there. They came out of the clouds and saw Icelands mountains, as Hunzeker had promised. Every one of the 10 breathed a sigh of relief, Cable wrote. In windy Iceland, rocks were piled around the barracks to keep them from blowing away. The next day, the crew flew to Ireland, where their new plane went to another crew. They stayed until boarding a ship to England. We didnt fly until our first mission on June 7 the day after D-Day, he said. This time, however, the crew didnt have a new plane, but what Hunzeker calls an old clunker. Everyone was nervous on this first mission and the crew would learn that their clunker was a fuel burner. We landed in southern England and had to refuel before we got back to base, he said. It was the start of Hunzekers 33 missions. He recalls getting up at 2 or 3 a.m., for briefings on destinations and weather conditions. He remembers the 10 or 12 planes per squadron and how there would be between 500 and 1,000 planes. Since enemy oil fields had been hard hit and their fuel was short, the American planes werent attacked so much by the air, but had lots of ground fire. Hunzeker and the others liked flying above the clouds on overcast days when they dropped chaff tinfoil-like material. The enemys radar would hit that and reflect back providing erroneous readings so their ground fire flak would hit below the planes. But if there was a break in the clouds, the flak was right up with the planes. You could see the explosions, he said. Hunzeker remembers the small space in which he worked. We were in the nose of the plane, behind the front turret gunner and beside the front wheel, he said. A bombardier worked in the same space as the navigator and turret gunner. Since the bombardier had nothing to do until the plane reached the target, he often slept on a catwalk that extended from flight deck to the front wheel and their compartment. Hunzeker also remembers the blister-type windows and the time they were shot off. I didnt notice it until air kept coming in, he said. It was about as close as I ever got shot, he said. He pull a small piece of flak out of one of his boots. Hunzeker recalls a raid over Politz, Germany in June 1944. The ground was lit up with anti-aircraft shooting, he said. We lost a whole bunch of planes. Seeing planes go down was not too comforting, but you just thank God that you got back. Hunzeker has some unusual reminders of the war. Each bomb had a tag and a key. Those keys have to be removed before the bomb is released and I kept one of those from every mission, he said. I have a bundle of 33 of them. Due to the shortage of navigators, Hunzeker flew missions with two other crews besides his original one. When you fly 33 missions in 60 days, youre up in the air a lot, he said. Hunzekers original crew didnt complete its missions until after the Battle of the Bulge, then returned shortly afterward. But because Hunzeker had flown with three crews, he finished in August and returned to the states. He and other servicemen returned to America on a ship with German prisoners of war. Hunzeker figured hed be sent to fight in the Pacific. He would be sent to an Air Force training base in Liberal, Kan., to be a navigation instructor for pilots. He remembers how glad Americans when the war ended. In 1945, he re-entered Peru State College. He graduated in 1946 with a degree in education. He and his wife, Marjorie, married that year and moved to Falls City, where he taught for a year. He and Marjorie later taught in Dubois. He later finished his masters degree in education. His working years included teaching sixth grade in Omaha and then working as a bookkeeper for a general milling company followed by serving as superintendent at Endicott and then Daykin, now Meridian, public schools. In the fall of 1958, he began working as superintendent of Fullerton Public Schools, where he worked for 13 years. He then became superintendent of Wahoo Public Schools and worked there 14 years, retiring in 1985. He and Marjorie would become the parents of two children, Julie and Mark. Marjorie died a few years ago. Hunzeker has four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Hunzeker belongs to the 93rd Bomb Group of veterans and plans to attend a reunion in October in San Antonio, Texas. The military in peace time is not too bad, he said. I think its good training for males. You learn to take orders and learn to live on not much pay. But in wartime, its not so good. More than 70 years after the war, Hunzeker looks over his medals and a framed list of his missions. If he had it to do over again, would Hunzeker still serve his country? His answer comes in two words: Sure would. KUNDUZ, Afghanistan -- The sound of small arms fire sporadically rings out inside a mud walled compound in rural Kunduz, a province in northeastern Afghanistan bordering Central Asia. Ostensibly the compound, close to the provincial capital also named Kunduz, is a madrasah. But it is an Islamic religious school in name only. Afghan officials say the Taliban are using such madrasahs across Kunduz to train children and teenagers in an attempt to recapture the provincial capital, which the insurgents overran and controlled for nearly a week last September. Mohammad Masoom Hashmi Safi, deputy provincial police chief, said they have uncovered such training camps in raids across the province. Most of the insurgents we arrested were teenagers, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. The Taliban actively recruit them because it is easy to influence young minds. The Taliban are abusing them in their war effort on a large scale. Another police commander, who requested anonymity, said the young fighters are so indoctrinated that they become some of the most diehard fighters Afghan forces encounter. Most, he said, are 15 to 18 years old. Even when they are fighting, the Taliban broadcast their fiery sermons through loudspeakers extolling the virtues of dying a martyr, he said. Another police commander, who also requested anonymity, said most Taliban training camps operate in Dasht-e Archi and Chardara -- two agricultural districts surrounding Kunduz city. They served as a launch pad for the Talibans foray into the provincial capital last year. In seeking to turn young students into jihadist fighters, the Taliban are returning to their roots and key constituency. The term Taliban is plural for Talib, a Pashto derivative of the Arabic word for student, Talib-e Ilm. The Taliban first emerged as a student militia in southern Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. Open Taliban recruitment and training also underscore the tenuous control that provincial authorities retain over the province. Asadullah Omar Khel, the governor of Kunduz, said they have been monitoring one particular madrasah in Dasht-e Archi for months. There are up to 300 students. Most are very young and are being brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers and extremist fighters, he said. Provincial lawmaker Amruddin Wali said the governments inability to control such schools further erodes its legitimacy and ability to reclaim lost territories. Some of the training schools have even moved closer to the center of Kunduz city, he said. Sultan Khan, a tribal leader from Kunduzs Imam Sahib district, said the Taliban and allied foreign fighters are training a large number of young recruits in a nearby forest. We have been speaking out about the presence of such training camps and the threat they pose, he said. But no one has taken any action to address our concerns. The Talibans drive to train young fighters even goes against the Taliban rule book, which specifically forbids field commanders from recruiting fighters before their beards are fully grown, which usually happens between the 17 and 20 year of age. Zabihullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, rejected claims that the Taliban are recruiting teenagers. He said they do have training camps in the region but that they only admit fighters older than 20. Civilians in Kunduz are bracing for more trouble as their hopes for peace fade. Provincial lawmaker Safiullah Amiri wants the government to go after insurgents so Kunduz residents can get some respite from violence. People are suffering immensely because of the fighting and insecurity, he said. Abubakar Siddique wrote this report based on Ajmal Aryans reporting from Kunduz, Afghanistan. A third car wash over a 2-mile stretch is being proposed in Middletown The Planning Board on Nov. 9 will take up a proposal for a 110-foot tunnel carwash with associated parking and vacuums. Download Now The News-Gazette mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the News-Gazette on your mobile device just as it appears in print. Volunteers from the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) returned to Vietnam this year to provide corrective surgery for children and adults with lower extremity deformities and disabilities. For three weeks, AOFAS volunteers traveled to hospitals and rehab centers in Ba Vi, Hanoi and Lao Cai, treating patients and working with local orthopaedic surgeons. This year's volunteer group evaluated 218 patients in clinics and performed surgery on 66, all at no cost to the patients. Since the first AOFAS Overseas Outreach Project to Vietnam in 2002, more than 1,300 patients have benefited from surgery performed without charge by AOFAS volunteers, and more than 3,000 patients have been seen in the clinics. Most patients are from impoverished areas and lack access to care. Others are unable to afford advanced medical services. Scope of Volunteer Work Patients with untreated congenital deformities are common in the clinics, and they have a range of challenging conditions. AOFAS volunteers used basic orthopaedic principles to accomplish specific surgical goals because many of the implants and imaging tests used in the United States for diagnosing and treating orthopaedic foot and ankle problems are not available in Vietnam. "Most of the surgeries we performed involved complications of clubfoot and cerebral palsy," said A. Holly Johnson, MD, who practices in Boston. "The patients were amazingly resilient and brave, and we felt lucky to have the opportunity to offer them our care. We also enjoyed teaching the local surgeons diagnosis and treatment algorithms for different foot and ankle problems." The AOFAS surgeons volunteered their time and paid for their own travel to Vietnam. In-country expenses were supported by the AOFAS Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Foundation with charitable donations from individuals and industry. This was the 15th annual project sponsored by the AOFAS and its partner organization, Mobility Outreach International (MOI). During the multi-week project, which ended in mid-June, the volunteers worked at orthopaedic rehab centers and taught residents. In addition to Johnson and Mihalich, volunteer surgeons included Naomi Shields, MD, of Wichita, Kansas, and Raymond J. Sullivan, MD, of Hartford, Conn. Education is an important part of the outreach project, and the AOFAS volunteers presented at the annual conference on Surgery of the Lower Extremity held on June 11 in Hanoi. Co-sponsored by the AOFAS, MOI, the Vietnam Ministry of Health and Viet Duc University Hospital, the conference utilized simultaneous translation and was attended by 120 Vietnamese orthopaedic surgeons. The program included presentations by four Vietnamese surgeons. The AOFAS volunteers also presented at smaller seminars in the hospitals where they worked. A Save the Children-supported maternity hospital in Idlib, Syria was bombed today. The hospital serves over 1,300 women and performs over 300 deliveries each month. Save the Children is working to confirm reports of casualties among the patients and hospital staff. Save the Children President and CEO Carolyn Miles said: "We are deeply saddened by the tragic bombing of the maternity hospital in Idlib. Our thoughts and hearts are with the patients, staff, and their families." Save the Children supports the hospital through its partner, Syria Relief. The hospital has six incubators for premature babies, and an outpatient clinic for supporting pregnant women and providing after-delivery care. The closest hospital providing similar services is 43 miles away. To support Save the Children's efforts to provide life-saving help to children in Syria, visit http://savethechildren.org/Syria. His moms name was painted on the hood of the race car, right in front of the driver as he raced around the track. To Nathan Pavelka, there could be no more fitting tribute to his mom, Dixie, a NASCAR fan who died in 2004 during her third bout with cancer. I can assure you that if 15 years ago I would tell my mom one day your name will be on a NASCAR car during a race she would have thought I was losing my mind, Pavelka said. She would have never believed it. But as Pavelka and his family and friends in the Britt area watched the Kentucky Speedway Quaker State 400 earlier this month, he knew she was able to see it as well. She is going bonkers right now, knowing this is going on, Pavelka said of his thoughts on race day. Pavelka had a little trouble of his own believing his moms name would be on a NASCAR race car when he first learned of it. Pavelkas friend, Joe Engels, works for Fifth Third banks. The bank sponsors Ricky Stenhouse Jr.s No. 17 NASCAR car. Fifth Third worked with Stand Up To Cancer and asked for submissions of names of those who are battling cancer and those who fought and have been lost to be painted on Stenhouses car. Engels submitted Dixies name. Dixie was one of the biggest race fans I ever met so I didnt even think twice when I read this, Engels said in an email to Pavelka. I remembered racing being part of the conversations (growing up), Pavelka said. Going to the (Hancock County Speedway) and going to Mason City, I remember racing being part of her life. His mom became a bigger NASCAR fan later in life. When hed come home from college a NASCAR race was often on the TV. Engels met Stenhouse when the driver and the car stopped in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Engels was able to talk with Stenhouse. Engels told Stenhouse, There are a lot of people in a small town in northern Iowa that will be your biggest fans this week, Pavelka said. Engels pointed out the name on the top of the hood of the car right in front of the steering wheel, closest to the steering wheel. Her entire family and all her friends will be rooting for you. The names, the car and the race created a last memory for the family. It was really neat, Pavelka said. Im not a NASCAR fan in any way. I can appreciate the sport. But he was big one on July 9. I felt like the largest NASCAR fan. My friends, family were all rooting for it and it felt like we were lifelong NASCAR fans, Pavelka said. Express Diagnostics Int'l, Inc. (EDI), FDA-registered and ISO 13485:2003-certified medical device manufacturer, announces Express Diagnostics Global, Ltd. (EDG), a new subsidiary based in Sofia, Bulgaria is operational. Central to a strategic plan to deliver increased production capacity and enhanced support to distributors in the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East, Africa), EDG will dedicate manufacturing at its Sofia facility primarily to satisfying EMEA demand for EDI's DrugCheck onsite drugs of abuse screening devices. Express Diagnostics Global has completed construction and installation of new manufacturing lines for their onsite urine drug test dip and cup products. EDG has incorporated advanced manufacturing and quality systems designed to global standards. The subsidiary is operating in partnership with Royal Medical Supplies Pty. Ltd. - exclusive distributor of DrugCheck product in Australia and New Zealand - based in Sydney, Australia. "We are very excited to announce the start of operations at Express Diagnostics Global," says Paul Johnson, CEO of Express Diagnostics Int'l. "Establishing this new subsidiary in Bulgaria offers Express Diagnostics several strategic advantages in pursuing accelerated growth with our EMEA distributors, including expanded production capacity and reduced lead and shipping times within the EMEA. "In addition to opportunities presented by the extra capacity and physical location of the EDG-Bulgaria facility, is the potential of the skilled, available workforce in Sofia," adds Johnson. "Throughout the process of initial fact-finding to the current preliminary hiring stage, the quality of the people, candidates for employment, and in-country consultants our team has encountered is unsurpassed. We look forward to a long, mutually-beneficial relationship with the people of Sofia." Express Diagnostics International's catalog of products satisfies two distinct, accelerating trends in both healthcare and non-diagnostic screening: focus on cost control and the desire for ever-faster results. With accuracy comparable to laboratory testing, EDI onsite screening devices provide a variety of industries fast, cost-effective alternatives to higher-priced lab services. As a result, continually growing orders from long-standing customers has stretched the production capacity of EDI's Blue Earth, Minn., facility in terms of locally-available workforce, due in part to the state's historically low unemployment rate. The added capacity available through Express Diagnostics Global will free up production-line time at EDI's Minnesota facility and enable manufacturing dedicated to North American, South American, and Pacific Rim distributors. EDI estimates that Express Diagnostics Global's proximity to EMEA customers, relative to its Minnesota facility, will cut shipping times by up to 40 percent, with corresponding reductions in shipping costs. Due to anticipated reductions in both product lead times and shipping costs, EDG forecasts subsequent EMEA sales growth will necessitate the recurring addition of production staff at its Sofia facility through at least December 2018. High Desert Medical College will begin a new chapter in growth and commitment to higher education with a major move and expansion for their branch campus in Bakersfield, California. The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training (ACCET) has approved change of location for High Desert Medical College in Bakersfield from their current location on 211 South Real Road to 2000 24th Street. Scheduled to open in August 2016, the new branch campus is centrally located in downtown Bakersfield. The upgraded facility will increase space from approximately 8,000 square feet in the current location to 26,515 square feet at the new location. "This move represents a major community investment which will strengthen the commitment and long-term goals of High Desert Medical College. It is completely in line with our mission to provide quality healthcare career training for our students while becoming the basis of building a legacy of education for students and their families. We couldn't be more excited about becoming even more dedicated to our students and the Bakersfield community," said High Desert Medical College President & Founder, LeeAnn Rohmann. The larger space will accommodate additional students and enable current students to take advantage of up-to-date technology in both labs and classrooms. With the move, the Dental Assisting program that has been offered at the main campus in Lancaster will now be part of the programs offered in Bakersfield. "Our students, staff and faculty are energized about our beautiful new campus and about being centrally located and close to so many great businesses and restaurants. It is a win-win for everyone," said Sheri Johnson, Bakersfield Branch Campus Director. In the first comprehensive work of its kind, a Michigan State University criminologist has completed a study on the implementation and outcomes of public safety consolidation - the merging of a city's police and fire departments. In the study, released recently in a report by the U.S. Department of Justice, professor of criminal justice Jeremy Wilson details that while public safety consolidation can work well for some communities, it isn't the best solution for others. "If there is one overarching lesson in our case studies, it is that consolidation of police and fire agencies is not a one-size-fits-all solution," Wilson said. "Communities must very carefully assess for themselves if it is right for them." Across the United States, more than 130 communities provide consolidated police and fire services. The study examined public safety departments in states ranging from Texas to Michigan, and California to South Carolina. Michigan has the most consolidated departments of any state, with 61, which includes the communities of Meridian Township, East Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Wilson hopes that this research will assist communities that are considering consolidation as an option, often as a result of budget constraints in struggling economies. He said that the knowledge gained from the study is a tool to use in exploring solutions to the contentious and sensitive issues surrounding public safety services in communities strained for resources. "We're not advocating for consolidation, we're objectively examining its short- and long-term advantages and disadvantages," Wilson said. "In some communities, consolidation has worked well, leading to increased efficiency and enhanced service provision, but in others it hasn't." The study found that consolidation efforts generally encountered more difficulties in the larger and more diverse communities sampled. Some communities deconsolidated after encountering leadership issues or a lack of full community support, and others discovered that it simply didn't meet their needs. Still other communities achieved success with consolidation, in some cases surpassing firefighting standards and earning better insurance ratings than most U.S. communities. The models and methods of implementing consolidation differed as much as the outcomes these communities experienced. "We've found that there are as many potential ways to consolidate public safety agencies as there are communities attempting to consolidate them," Wilson said. Source: Michigan State University Insilico Medicine, Inc in collaboration with scientists from Atlas Regeneration, Inc, Vision Genomics, Inc and Howard University published two research papers on fibrosis in the lung and liver and fibrotic signatures in glaucoma. Scientists utilized the new software tool referred to as "Regeneration Intelligence" to evaluate the perturbation status of many signaling pathways. This new system aimed to identify robust biomarkers of fibrotic disease and develop effective targeted therapy. Fibrosis, a progressive accumulation of extracellular matrix, can occur in a wide range of organs and potentially distort their structure and function; most commonly it affects lung and hepatic tissues, causing idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and liver fibrosis respectively. Fibrosis accounts for up to 45% of deaths in the developed world, yet to date no effective therapeutic treatment has been developed. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The two papers titled "Common pathway signature in lung and liver fibrosis" and "Pro-fibrotic pathway activation in trabecular meshwork and lamina cribrosa is the main driving force of glaucoma" were published in the journal of Cell Cycle. "Fibrosis is one of the age-related pathologies that disrupt organ functionality dramatically. Currently, there are no approved anti-fibrotic remedy and no reliable fibrotic biomarker. "Regeneration Intelligence" is an intelligent system that can detect hidden fibrotic molecular signatures based on a pathway network analysis. The system can identify specific fibrogenic molecular changes regardless of detecting platform and tissue of origin. Despite many efforts, fibrosis if often misdiagnosed. Our system is supposed to help with proper and timely diagnostic." said Eugene Makarev, PhD, VP of pathway analytics at Insilico Medicine. With broad screening across multiple fibrotic organs, a platform developed by Insilico Medicine identified pathogenic pathways that served as potential targets for the anti-fibrotic therapy. This approach led to a selection of the list of small molecules and natural compounds by their ability to minimize the signaling pathway difference between a fibrotic and a healthy state of the tissue. Further work with 'Regeneration Intelligence' provides promising opportunities to identify conserved biological pathways that play a critical role in fibrosis development. "We are very excited to continue our collaboration with Insilico Medicine. Using the innovative "Regeneration Intelligence" software, we have discovered previously-undetected pro-fibrotic signatures in glaucoma, based on pathway analysis. This new knowledge will allow Vision Genomics, Insilico Medicine and Howard University to cooperatively select and develop anti-fibrotic small molecule interventions to minimize or reverse this fibrotic state, and restore the tissue to normal function." said Antonei Csoka, PhD, CEO of Vision Genomics, Inc. BBI Solutions (BBI), recent winners of the Made in the UK Export Award, will be attending the AACC Clinical Lab Expo in Philadelphia next month. BBI, a leading manufacturer of raw materials and finished test platforms for the in-vitro diagnostics market, has been recognised for its exporting achievements over the past 25 years, winning the prestigious Made in the UK Export Award. Whilst enjoying the company's success, BBI Solutions Managing Director, Liam Taylor explained, "It has been events like the AACC Clinical Lab Expo that has contributed to our growing export sales, providing us with opportunities to engage with customers in new markets." This year, AACC, the world's largest gathering of clinical lab professionals, is being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia on the 2nd - 4th August 2016. BBI will be showcasing their products and services on booth 2649. Customers new and existing will be able to learn of BBI's extended antibodies offering, which is on the verge of being launched to the market. New products to the range will include Vitamin D, NT-ProBNP, Procalcitonin and Thyroid TSH, T3, T4 and PTH, plus many more. With cancer being one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and new case rates expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades. BBI will have a focus on cancer at this year's event, promoting their CA15-3 and CA125 antigens and antibodies. BBI's team are also excited to unveil new products soon to be launched to the portfolio including Troponin I antibodies and SCIPAC Clinical Specimen Panels. These new panels from BBI's Biobank range will provide customers with a quantity of trusted patient samples for infectious disease. Mr Taylor continued "AACC is a great platform to showcase new products to the market and we can't wait to share these exciting new products with our customers." A team of BBI Solutions' technical experts and commercial managers will be on hand at AACC to discuss BBI's biological raw materials capabilities, as well as, their expertise in lateral flow assay development and manufacturing. The team looks forward to welcoming attendees to booth 2649 and is offering an appointment booking service at its website http://www.bbisolutions.com/events/aacc2016/, so visitors can make the most of their time at this important event. Western Dental & Orthodontics, one of the nation's leaders in accessible, affordable oral healthcare, today announced the opening of a new, state-of-the-art dental clinic in Dinuba, located at 285 West El Monte Way. The new office will serve residents of Dinuba and surrounding communities with nine patient treatment rooms, the latest digital equipment and a highly trained, bilingual staff. In addition to accepting uninsured and privately insured patients, Western Dental welcomes patients covered by the Medi-Cal Dental program (known as Denti-Cal) at this location and all of its 160 California offices. Western Dental is the leading provider of services to the Denti-Cal program, which provides health care benefits for more than 13 million low-income individuals and families in California. Western Dental dentists provided care to over half a million Denti-Cal beneficiaries in 2015. Western Dental is committed to continuing to partner with the State to help improve the program. Western Dental's arrival in Dinuba fills a significant void in dental services in the area. Until now, patients seeking braces, oral surgery or more extensive dental services had to travel to Fresno for treatment. "We're particularly excited to be here because there's a real need for quality oral healthcare in Dinuba," said Dr. Dina Mattar, Managing Dentist. "Our office is staffed to serve patients throughout the area, including Reedley, Orange Cove, Orosi, Cutler and Parlier." The office will begin seeing patients on Tuesday, August 2nd, and a public ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration will be held at the office August 17. SOURCE Western Dental & Orthodontics The CM had said that Burhan Wani would have been spared. Can we please have the J&K state government on same page? https://t.co/xk6Do0y8Ep Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 30, 2016 Oh so now Burhan's killing was deliberate? Unbelievable how many different versions of these events have been given! https://t.co/7bG8JWV2BL Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 30, 2016 : Jammu & Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister, Nirmal Singh, on Saturday, called militant Burhan Wani's encounter as an accident a day after the state chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told the media that Burhan would have got a second chance, had the Police and security personnel known about his presence."The forces didn't know that Wani was there at the spot else they would have taken precautions," Singh said. However, the deputy CM, in the same breath also said that Wani was a terrorist and terrorist should be dealt with in such a manner."Operations take place every day here and the process of identification starts only after an operation gets over," he said.After seeing Nirmal almost parroting his Chief Minister, many in the valley perceive this to be a part of a concerted effort by the BJP-PDP alliance to calm the tempers in the valley.Kashmir has been simmering for the last twenty two days and the clashes between protesters and security personnel have claimed forty seven lives after Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter on July 8.Former Chief Minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah took to Twitter to express his disillusionment over the way the entire situation was handled by the ruling BJP-PDP alliance. Prohibitory orders were imposed near Hero Honda Chowk in Gurgaon, dubbed as 'Millenium City', in a bid to ease the congestion caused by massive traffic jams. A day after heavy rainfall triggered waterlogging and traffic jams in the city, Gurgaon Police Commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk has been transferred to Rohtak. Sandeep Khirawar has been asked to take over as the new Commissioner of Police in Gurgaon.Heavy rains and subsequent waterlogging crippled several parts of Gurgaon leaving thousands of people stranded for hours.Schools were also ordered to be shut down in the city.Many motorists abandoned their vehicles and waded through knee-deep water which accumulated on both the carriageways of Delhi-Jaipur road, including Hero Honda Chowk, bringing traffic to a standstill with the tailback extending up to 15-20 km.Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday called an emergency meeting in Chandigarh to tackle the ongoing traffic jam and waterlogging problem.Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had also ordered National Highways chief Raghav Chandra to send a team of officials to clear the traffic and submit a report to him. Here are some headlines from the leading newspapers: 1. No law to scrap 15-yr-old diesel vehicles: Centre There's nothing in the law on scrapping diesel vehicles more than 15 years old, the ministry of heavy industries says. It has filed an affidavit before National Green Tribunal (NGT) to this effect, adding that the forcible scrapping of such vehicles may lead to innumerable writ petitions by affected owners in the courts, reports The Times oF India. The Union ministry was responding to a recent NGT order in the Vardhaman Kaushik case, highlighting Delhi's severe air pollution. 2. AAP blames Haryanas poor drainage network for chaos Countering allegations of lack of cooperation made by the Haryana government and its police, the AAP government on Friday blamed them for poor planning of their drainage networks, which it claimed has led to severe waterlogging in Gurgaon, reports The Hindu. While Gurgaon Commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk alleged that the Delhi administration closed the gates of the Najafgarh drain leading its drains to overflow into the roads, the Delhi Flood and Irrigation department denied of having done anything of that sort. Explaining his stand from Delhis perspective, chief engineer in the department V.K. Jain said: The Najafgarh drain has a capacity of 8,000 cusecs, whereas, Gurgaon after the rains has around 300 cusecs of drainage water. The amount generated by the entire city is too small for the massive drain to even reach the warning level. Hence, there is no reason for Delhi to shut the gates of the drain as it hardly affects it. 3. Wet weekend awaits capital There are more showers in store for rain soaked Delhi and NCR in the next three-four days. But there could be some relief for commuters as the Met office predicts a slight reduction in intensity of rainfall during this period, reports Times Of India. Rain activity peaked on Friday , with Indira Gandhi International airport recording 63.4 mm--around 10% of total rainfall it gets in the four monsoon months-in a span of two hours, 10.15am to 12.15pm. Although Delhi's main weather station, Safdarjung, recorded just 10.5mm, much heavier rain was seen in places such as Ayanagar (41.4mm), Jafarpur (49.9) and elsewhere. 4. Road Ministry Wants Uber, Ola to Ply on Meter Gauge Uber and Ola have been asked by the government to start calculating fares using taxi meters rather than GPS as they are doing now, reports The Economic Times. Taxi aggregators are currently violating the law by measuring distance through GPS, a top road ministry official told ET. The Motor Vehicles Act clearly says that they have to go by the taxi meter. The ministry's reasoning is that distance estimated by GPS is not accurate enough, according to the feedback it's been getting. 5. SC Promises All Help to Kashmiris, Seeks Report The Supreme Court on Friday was seized of the serious situation in Kashmir and wanted to extend a healing touch to the violence-affected people and to that end sought a ground report from the Modi government's second senior-most law officer on the situation after the recent round of violence which crippled normal life in the valley, reports The Economic Times. A bench, comprising CJI TS Thakur and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, asked for a report from Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar by Monday at the insistence of Panthers Party leader and senior advocate Bhim Singh. 6. In Smartphone Age, Feature Phones Making Comeback This might be the era of highflying smartphones but India's mobile phone industry isn't writing off the humble feature phone, just yet. The basic device which lets people make calls and send messages without accessing the Internet, and being used by over half the Indian populace, is seeing a revival of sorts, reports The Economic Times. It's just not the relatively lesser known brands like MTech and Josh that are in the business.Smartphone world leader Samsung says it continues to focus on feature phones in the rural markets of India and that the segment is an important one for it. 7. Doctors, medical students protest Doctors and medical students of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, along with those from the NDMC and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, protested against an irrational proposal by the Union Health Ministry to change affiliation of the college from Indraprastha University to Delhi University. Over 100 doctors and students marched from Mahavir Medical College to Safdarjung Hospitals main office to speak with the administration on Friday, reports The Hindu. 8. Nocturnal protests spread across Valley Violent nocturnal protests, airing of songs in praise of slain militant Burhan Wani on public address systems late into the evening and torch marches are the new challenges facing the security forces in the Kashmir Valley, reports The Hindu. A senior police official told The Hindu that late-night operations on Thursday to contain street protests by detaining stone-throwers in areas of Srinagar and north Kashmir were hampered by violent protests. 9. After confusion, DU extends admission process by a day The admission process to the university will now continue till noon on Saturday, reports The Hindustan Times. The university in a press statement said: It has come to our knowledge that some colleges could not announce the merit lists in time for the admissions to be completed on July 29. Therefore, it has been decided that admissions which was scheduled for July 28-29 will be continued on July 30 up to noon. The time for payment of online fees too has been extended till 6 pm on Saturday. The extension, the press release said, was only for morning colleges and not for the evening ones. 10. Noidas better city planning saves it from waterlogging, traffic snarls Noida does not suffer from waterlogging during rain like Gurgaon did on Thursday because of the difference in their planning, say urban planners, reports The Hindustan Times. Noida authority allots land to buyers after developing roads, drainage, sewage network and other infrastructure. Noida is a well-planned city like Chandigarh. Here, an authority acquires agricultural land in bulk. Then develops infrastructure for the next 100 years or more, said urban town planner and School of Planning and Architecture alumnus Pradeep Kharbanda. Here are some headlines from the leading newspapers: 1.This I-Day, threat to PM's life greater The security agencies have advised that Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the nation from within a bulletproof enclosure at Red Fort this Independence Day . Intelligence agencies and the Special Protection Group are learnt to have made a strong pitch to national security adviser Ajit Doval in this regard. Highly-placed sources told The Times Of India that they hoped the PM wouldn't ignore the advisory this time as the threat perception was extremely high.Should the PM heed the caution, it might be the first time he would be allowing this kind of security around him. Last year and the year before, Modi, in a last-minute decision, had decided to do away with the bulletproof enclosure while giving his speech. 2.HC WARNING - `Cut bad air or face the music' Delhi high court on Thursday warned that it may take action against central and state government officials who fail to check rising air pollution in the capital reports The Times Of India. A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar pointed out that disappearing green and forest cover poses a grave threat to air quality levels in the city and rampant construction, increased vehicles have all caused PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels to increase. 3. AAP fears arrest of more MLAs Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the kingpin behind the alleged targeting of its MLAs, AAP on Thursday expressed fears that more legislators could be arrested in the coming days reports The Times Of India. Senior party member Ashutosh claimed that his sources had informed him about the impending arrest of MLAs Rakhi Birla and Sharad Chauhan. The party also backed the statement of CM Arvind Kejriwal--they may get you killed, they may get even me killed--in the backdrop of allegations that BJP was behind the arrests and FIRs against AAP MLAs. To support this claim, AAP put out Twitter handles of two persons who have posted messages that Kejriwal should be killed. This is important, the party claimed, because both of them are followed by Modi. 4. UNIQUE PLAN OF UIDAI - Your Smartphone can be Public Policy Game-Changer Your smartphone may become a gamechanger for India's public policy, becoming a one-stop instrument for instant identity authentication that will allow you to receive all government services that work on the Aadhaar platform reports The Economic Times. A meeting on Wednesday between Ajay Bhushan Pandey, chief executive officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administers Aadhaar, and senior executives of smartphonemakers Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Micromax, and product software think tank iSPIRT, discussed ways to make mobile phone handsets Aadhaar-enabled. 5. GST Constitution Amendment this Session The Constitution amendment bill for framing the law for setting up the Goods and Services Tax regime may be passed in this session of Parliament. But the GST bill may have to wait till the winter session due to lack of consensus between the Centre and states on the proposed 18% GST rate, sources said after two rounds of formal negotiations between the government and N Congress on Thursday reports The Economic Times. Once the Constitution amendment bill is passed in this session, perhaps next week itself the finance ministry could initiate further nego tiations with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and the GST Council with the aim of arriving at a consensus on a feasible GST rate so that the bill could be passed during the winter session, sources added. This will, however, mean a delay in the actual rollout. 6. SC|ST Parliamentarians' Forum to Ask Dalits to Stop All Menial Work The forum of SC|ST parliamentarians has called a meeting of its 160 MPs next Wednesday to discuss the recent atrocities against the Dalit community . On top of the agenda is asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unequivocally condemn atrocities against Dalits apart from evaluating the `extraordinary situation' prevailing in the country . The forum also plans to give a call to Dalits to immediately stop scavenging, clearing animal carcasses and skinning them reports The Economic Times. Dalits in Gujarat have already stopped taking away animal carcasses for skinning in protest against the violence meted out to four Dalits by `gau rakshaks' for skinning a dead cow in Una. The anger spilled onto the streets when Dalits dumped cow carcasses next to the district magistrate's office in Surendranagar. 7.Modi asks NITI Aayog to drive transformation Create a new architecture of policy making that anticipates problems and suggests remedies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the NITI Aayog on Thursday. This was his second visit to the policy-making think tank he established in January 2015, after scrapping the historic Planning Commission, reports The Business Standard. On Thursday, officials said Modi, who is also the chairman, gave last-minute directions to NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya to change his presentation from a 15-year vision document to flaws in the earlier Plan process. 8.Revenue department, IRS officers at loggerheads A divide between the department of revenue (DoR) and Indian Revenue Service officers (IRS), particularly those in Mumbai, sharpened on Thursday, with both sides toughening their stance over some officers passing a resolution against the department for interfering in day-to-day work, reports The Business Standard. The resolution was passed at a meeting of these officers in Mumbai, after one of their colleagues received a transfer order for allegedly using unfair means to meet tax collection targets. 9.Medical entrance papers may have leaked in other States too Leakage of medicine paper may not be confined just to Telangana and the accused could have attempted the same in several other States in the country. Going by the modus operandi of the accused, it is possible that they might have also made similar attempts in other States, a senior official said. In those States, medical college entrance exams are not as emotionally connected with students and parent communities as they are in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, reports The Hindu. Police are believed to have come across certain revelations during interrogation that point towards such a possibility. When their whole effort is to make money why would they confine only to Telangana where the systems are much more fool-proof compared to other States, an official said. 10.Rahul, Jaitley get steamed up in House over dal price The Opposition and the government faced off in the Lok Sabha on Thursday on the issue of rising prices, with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi declare a date when we can expect to see the price of dal (pulses) come down and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley terming the attack bluster not borne out by statistics, reports The Hindu. Mr. Gandhi made a direct attack on Mr. Modi on what he termed were false promises to control prices. You give us a date by when the prices of dal will come down, he said. - , , , . EAGLE GROVE As Prestage Foods advances plans to locate its $240 million pork processing plant in Wright County, schools in that area are developing a wait-and-see strategy as a number of unknown factors affect preparations. County officials have said their plan is to spread students from the families of 900 workers Prestage says it intends to hire in its initial phase among several county school districts rather than have one shoulder the burden of a sharp enrollment increase. But Wright County schools will have to make do without the $1.4 million over 10 years the company offered to the Mason City School District before the Mason City deal collapsed with the City Councils 3-3 vote in May. Were looking at this as a regional issue, not an Eagle Grove issue, said Eagle Grove Superintendent Jess Toliver. If we got a bonus from Prestage that wouldnt help the other districts. School leaders in Eagle Grove recently met with education officials in Fort Dodge, Humboldt, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, Webster City and Belmond-Klemme to discuss preparations. Right now, the process is just to gather questions, Toliver said. Hed like a timeline for when management moves in and other workers are in training. Other questions the group has discussed are resources and funding to expect from the state with a jump in students, and what resources they could share across districts, he said. Some of the biggest challenging will be determining whether to hire new staff or get existing teachers certified to teach English Language Learners (ELL). You dont want to be overstaffed, he said. Well wait and see who registers and go from there. We dont know what kind of increase well get, Toliver said, noting 100 to 200 new students would be significant for the district, which had a certified enrollment of 839 last school year. Like other small, rural districts, the state is projecting schools in Wright County will see flat enrollment or slight declines over the next five years, not including the impact of the proposed pork plant. We need to grow, with or without this plant, Toliver said. Eagle Grove currently has three ELL teachers, one full time and two part time, teaching 88 students in the program. The district sees about 20 new students each year in the program, he said. Not every child of a plant worker will need ELL services, which are designed to immerse a native foreign language speaker in English, Toliver said. ELL is not designed to teach Spanish speakers, its designed to teach English. People dont understand that. They can come speaking many languages, he said. Its not easy for the student. It would be like me moving to France, he said. Prestage Foods of Iowas proposed 650,000-square-foot plant would be built on a 150-plus-acre site off the southwest corner of Highway 17 and 320th Street. Wright County officials said if approved, construction would begin in October. The plant would take just under two years to complete and would be operational by summer 2018. HM accompanied by CM Assam Shri @sarbanandsonwal and Dr. Jitendra Singh conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas pic.twitter.com/E7YNVfCzSD HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 A high level meeting is currently underway where the HM is reviewing the flood situation in Assam with CM &officials pic.twitter.com/ZxdBdpUevW HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday conducted an aerial survey of the flood situation in Assam and announced a compensation of 4 lakh rupees to the families of the people who lost their lives in the flood situation.Singh who was accompanied by chief minister Sarbanand Sononwal and MoS PMO Dr. Jitender Singh also held a high level meeting with the concerned officials after more than 25 people were killed and over 18 lakh people were affected in the state's 21 districts."Declaring this as a natural calamity is not the solution, there is a need for an action plan to deal with such serious flood situation," Singh told reporters post the aerial survey adding that the situation is quite serious.Singh said that all the MLAs have been directed to go to the worst hit areas of the state by suspending the assembly adding that the government of India is going to help Assam in every possible way.Asked about whether the state could receive a special package, Singh told reporters that the state government has an amount of Rs. 620 crore under the State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) and that more funds will be given to the state as per the requirement to deal with the flood problem."Assam govt has sent a memorandum which would be reviewed by an interministerial team and a decision on the same will be taken in the due course," Singh added.At least nine rivers are flowing above the danger level mark and over 2 lakh people have been moved to relief camps across the state.On Friday, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had visited the flood-affected areas in Dhubri and Chirang districts and directed the district administration to accelerate relief and rescue operations.The Chief Minister also visited a relief camp set up at Pratap Chandra Higher Secondary School at Gauripur and took stock of the medical, drinking water and other ancillary facilities being given to the people lodged there. From deciding complex constitutional questions, the top court in the country has now been called on to adjudicate on the issue of cruelty to egg-laying hens in the poultry farm industry. A petition to this effect was filed in the Supreme Court recently, and on Friday a bench of the court headed by the Chief Justice of India asked the central government to respond to it. The petition, filed by a government body the Animal Welfare Board submits that the poultry industry follows the practice of keeping hens in in battery cages - (a small cage that houses 5-10 hens). The battery cages offer each bird a highly restrictive space and prevents all forms of natural behavior of the bird. Animal Welfare Board further argues that the use of battery cages promotes diseases in the birds and subsequently violates provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. The space available to hens in these battery cages is even less than the area of a single sheet of A4 size paper. The Board had in 2010 written to all state governments recommending that no new battery cages be set up and all existing cages be phased out by 2017. However, no state has taken any step in this direction. The Animal board while arguing the matter in the court on Friday alleged that states are dragging their feet on the issue because many politicians own poultry farms. And more space for egg laying hens would mean more expense to the poultry farm owners. The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the issue and has asked central government to explain its six-year silence on the draft rules. It is a story the country seems to have missed. There is a state of near emergency in Tripura as the state has run out of fuel supplies.Over the last three months, incessant rains have rendered unusable the badly-maintained National Highway 8 (NH-8) which connects landlocked Tripura from the northern side. Over 3000 trucks carrying food, fuel and other essential commodities are stuck; the supply of petrol, diesel and LPG are the worst-hit.Only one fuel pump in capital Agartala has any stock, and at any given time there is at least a six km queue of vehicles waiting to fill up. This week the state government imposed an odd-even policy at the fuel station, but that hardly addressed the problem.The acute shortage has hit household budgets, with LPG cylinders costing around Rs 550 going in the black market at over Rs 2500.Prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed. Schools have stopped bus services and some students are forced to walk over 10 kms to attend classes.NH-8, the only life-line for the state, is surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides. Even by March, the stretch of highway in Barak Valley - which falls in Assam - had turned into a stretch of mud; with the arrival of the monsoons, cranes and elephants were called in to haul trucks across.Left-ruled Tripura complains it is left to tackle by itself an issue which originated in a neighbouring state. We have had no support from the Centre or from our neighbouring state. The monsoon has made things worse and the reserves have dried up, says Tripuras Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bhanulal Saha.The condition of the national highway was one of the issues in Barak Valley during the recent Assam state polls. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sarbananda Sonowal, the BJP leader who was subsequently elected Chief Minister, had promised to get the road repaired. Two months and several rains later, the stretch has been further riven by floods and landslides.With patience running out, this week saw massive protests in Agartala. People complain that Manik Sarkar - who has been chief minister since 1998 - is getting complacent, while the government says neither the Centre nor BJP-ruled Assam are responding to their pleas.A direct train connecting Agartala to Delhi will be inaugurated on July 31, but it remains to be seen whether this alone would address the crisis. Till more help comes in, Tripura would continue to suffer in isolation, and for the rest of the country, the issue would remain in the foot notes. New Delhi: Delhi Police on Saturday filed an FIR against BJP leader Harak Singh Rawat after a woman accused the former minister of raping her. Police have launched an investigation into the complaint. Rawat recently defected from the Congress unit in Uttarakhand and joined the BJP. Earlier in February 2014, an FIR was registered against Rawat for allegedly molesting a 30-year-old woman in Delhi. New Delhi Munshi Premchand was one of the biggest influences in Gulzar's association with literature and the eminent poet-lyricist feels his writings have not lost its relevance even after a century. The 81-year-old National Award-winning songwriter, who today launched the screenplay format of Premchand's classics Godan and Nirmala penned by him, said the problems depicted in the stories are still persistent. "Premchand's is as relevant now as he was during the pre-independence era. His literature, the characters he wrote, the problems he talked about, we are still struggling to get over them. Be it the poverty or the caste discrimination, these things are still there in our society and the situation has even gone worse. Hori and Dhaniya are still living in our village," Gulzar told PTI. The screenplays were part of the 26-episode TV series Tehreer... Munshi Premchand Ki and Gulzar thought of bringing it in the format of a book, to make it appealing to the youth. "To bring back our literature we have to present it in the format which appeals most to the young generation living in metropolises. This is my effort to bring back people to reading the literature which is not looked for beyond school or college books," he said. Gulzar feels the best thing about Premchand was his ability to focus on the problems faced by the country during British Raj, without even pointing directly at the rulers and he has tried to maintain that. Premchand tried his hands in cinema, but couldn't continue with it and Gulzar, who has become one of the most sought after writers in the film industry, feels his motive in life was all together different. "It is tough to be in the industry and say what you want to in the purest form. Premchand tried his hands, but he was more more inclined in the independence movement. If a writer wants to be in the industry they should not expect to be accepted without any changes being made to their work. Only Sahir Ludhiyanvi and Pandit Pradeep managed to go ahead with their originality." Translated by Saba Mahmood Bashir, the screenplays are published by Roli books. Saba, who has also worked with Gulzar in the past, said working with the writer is always a pleasure and a responsibility at the same time. "It's an honour to translate a book which has names of both Munshi Premchand and Gulzar sahab on it. It was a pleasure, but with a sense of responsibility," she said. Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt on Friday rubbished the reports that things have soured between him and his good friend actor Salman Khan, and urged media not to make an issue out of it. The Munna Bhai M.B.B.S actor said: "Salman is my younger brother. He was, he is and he will always be my brother. God has given him all the success, all his cases are over, but I request the media not to make an issue out of it." "We all are busy, we can't meet every day. We met at Madrid but you (media) didn't write about it, you all write only about fights. Will someone fight with their brother? I love him and that's it," said Sanjay Dutt, who celebrated his 57th birthday with the media at his residence on Friday. The actor said he is very happy for Salman as the Rajasthan High Court acquitted "Sultan" actor in two 18-year-old chinkara poaching cases on Monday. Did Sanjay call Salman after he was acquitted in the chinkara poaching cases? Sanjay said: "Of course, I always call him and I always feel happy for him. I don't want Salman or anyone to go through what I did. Somewhere justice prevails and I am happy it happened." New Delhi: Union Social Justice Minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday criticised the Centre over violence against Dalits and minorities. He said the government should ensure safety of Dalits - along with that of cows. He said that killing humans to save cows is not right. "In Hindu religion cow is seen as mother. If cows are killed then we should go against it. Along with protecting of cows, we must protect human. Killing humans in the name of saving cows does not seem right to me," Athawale said. The statement comes after a cow vigilante group thrashed a group of Dalit youngsters in Una town in Gujarat. The issue came to light when a video, purportedly showing the persons being beaten up with iron rods and sticks, went viral on Whatsapp and Facebook. In the video, some people are seen chained to a car while the accused are seen thrashing them. The incident sparked a huge outrage in Gujarat with the Dalits taking to streets and indulging in vandalism and arson. My thoughts are with Siddaramaiah ji & his family on the demise of his son. May God give the family strength to bear the irreparable loss. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 30, 2016 : Rakesh Siddaramaiah (39), son of Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah died at a hospital in Brussels on Saturday. He was the eldest of two brothers. According to family sources, he died due to multiple organ failure after a brief illness.Rakesh was touring Europe and suddenly fell ill in Brussels, last week. He was immediately admitted to a hospital there. Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi, Rakesh's wife and his brother rushed to Brussels two days ago after they were informed about his illness.Rakesh was Siddaramaiah's political heir apparent and quiet active in politics. He had declared that he was going to contest in the next Assembly election due in 2018.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed Indian embassy in Belgium to extend all help to Siddaramaiah's family to bring Rakesh's dead body back home. He also took to Twitter to express his condolences to the Siddaramaiah family."My thoughts are with Siddaramaiah ji & his family on the demise of his son. May God give the family strength to bear the irreparable loss," he tweeted. In the face of a stiff challenge to its ideological re-positioning since NDA's ascension to power two years back, the RSS has begun to train it's own opinion makers to take on the liberal Left. More than 300 bloggers and thinkers seen to be sympathetic to BJPs ideological mentor RSS, will learn the craft of discourse-domination at a convention centre in New Delhi for two days beginning on Saturday. BJP President Amit Shah will be giving the key note inaugural address at the seminar on Saturday being organised by Dr Shyama Prasad Mukjerjee Research foundation, a trust closely associated with the RSS. Participation is strictly by invitation. The larger theme to be covered by a host of speakers over the two days will be: Space for acceptance of alternate narrative and ideologies in a new-age India. RSS has been working on a long-term strategy aimed at gaining larger traction in the new age media. The exercise gained momentum in the aftermath of the nation-wide outrage generated earlier this year by the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a dalit student of Hyderabad Central University. A section of the RSS believes that the Left intelligentsia despite attrition in its political capital continues to dominate the public discourse. This also was evident during the Award Vaapasi campaign late last year. At its annual general body meeting in Rajasthan in March this year, the RSS discussed and debated a larger strategy to reach out to the dalits in particular. But the recent flogging of dalits in Gujarat, a BJP stronghold, has shattered this tactical dalit outreach. Party leader Dayashankar Singh's slur against BSP chief Mayawati has made things worse for the party in poll bound UP. So over the next two days, RSS's intellectual warriors will be trained and taught how to fight this war in the media space. Party General Secretary Ram Madhav, MPs Vinay Sahastrabushe and Swapan DasGupta will hold separate sessions over the next two days. Niti Ayog members are also likely to address the participants. The training programme will end on Sunday evening with RSS Joint General Secretary Dr Krishna Gopal delivering the keynote address. Chinese technology giant LeEco is all set to enter the Indian TV market on August 4. The company has already sent out media invites for its event on August 4 in New Delhi.While the company has not yet revealed as to what it has up its sleeve for the event, the media invite suggests the launch of TV sets at the event."The company will enter the TV market in India on August 4," said a company spokesperson, adding, "We will launch screens at the event". The spokesperson refused to shed more light on what kind of "screens" will be unveiled.It is believed that the company will introduce its next-generation smart TVs - the Super 4 X50 and the Super 4 X50 Pro - in India next week. Both the models were first unveiled to the world back in April this year.Both TV sets have a 4K display measuring 50 inches. They are engineered with the latest Springer operating system - EUI5.8 TV. The new TV sets are expected to be first available on the company's own online retail store LeMall. LeEco, this week, bought US consumer electronics company Vizio for $2 billion. California-based Vizio makes affordable flat screen televisions, soundbars and LCD monitors. Founded in 2002, the company is now one of the largest manufacturers of TV sets in the United States.Vizio's hardware and software units will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco. The company's Inscape TV viewership data business will be spun out as a privately owned company, LeEco said.LeEco, which positions itself as an internet company, entered the Indian market early this year in January , with the launch of two smartphone models - the Le 1s and the Le Max.By the end of this year, LeEco plans to have 6,000-8,000 outlets across the country. A 32-year-old Hindu doctor, Anil Kumar in Pakistan was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital. Kumar was found dead sitting in a chair yesterday after he had gone inside surgical ICU early in the morning, said senior police official Naeemuddin. "His death is being investigated as he was found dead in mysterious circumstances," he said. Kumar was discovered after he did not answer to knocks on the door of the surgical wing. The door was broken and he was found dead sitting on his chair. A syringe was found from the spot. "It appears he had administered an injection on his hand as it was bandaged," said Naeemuddin. The body was shifted to the hospital's mortuary where doctors reserved his cause of death for chemical examination while the syringe has also been sent to a forensic laboratory for examination. Earlier this week, a young Hindu businessman was killed and his Hindu friend injured when someone from a mob fired upon them during protests over the desecration of a holy book. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Double tragedy Rajdaye and Tarmatie Balkissoon, aged 53 and 40 respectively, along with their 50-year-old cousin, Indira Lackhansingh, were attacked at about 1 a.m. on Sunday last at their Sapata Hill, Preysal home. The sisters had just returned from the San Fernando General Hospital after taking their mother, Tolly Balkissoon, there after she fell ill. Rajdaye, Tarmatie and Indira were ordered out of their beds by the bandits and made to lie on the floor. The men then proceeded to beat them on their heads and about the body using their fists and cutlasses. The men, wearing ski masks, had moments earlier broken into the home and announced a hold up. It was as if we had done something wrong, a traumatised Rajdaye told Newsday yesterday. The blows kept coming one after the other. They did not stop until we were covered in blood, She sustained injuries to her head, face, fingers and arms. She was warded at the San Fernando General Hospital for the ensuing four days and discharged on Wednesday evening. It was then she learned from relatives that her ill mother had died. Tarmatie had bruises to her neck, face and head while Lackhansingh had injuries about her face and leg. Tarmatie and Lackhansingh were, up to yesterday,still in hospital in serious condition. At the familys Preysal home yesterday, a tearful Rajdaye recalled the tragic incident. When Ma got a bed we came home late that night, Rajdaye told Newsday. We all fell asleep immediately. I awoke to the screams of my sister and cousin. I did not know what was happening, so without thinking I just rushed out of the bedroom to see what was happening. In the living room, she said, were two men wearing ski masks and her sister and cousin on the ground covered in blood. When I came outside the men had cutlasses and they were beating them and they were bawling, she recounted. I tried to run but I had nowhere to go. They grabbed me and pushed me to the ground and began beating me. Rajdaye said it was only a matter of minutes before she could no longer feel her hands. Her vision, she said, became slowly blurred from the blows to her eyes. I could not move, I just lay on the ground helpless, she added. The pain was so much I did not know if it was real. I watched my little sister and cousin next to me on the ground bleeding and tears came to my eyes. I was really hurting to know what was happening. As the women lay on the ground, the men began to tie them up. They tied our hands together with strap tape. They tied our feet with pieces of cloth and used duct tape to cover our mouths. Rajdaye continued, As we lay on the floor, they walked over us and shouted, Where the money and gold, where is it? We want all your money and gold. Rajdaye said that the men ransacked the rooms. The men escaped in a waiting vehicle with jewellery and $15,000. These were not human beings, these were monsters. They moved so heartless they did not show us any compassion. I think they wanted to kill us. As the bandits left, Rajdaye dragged her body to the outside of the home and called for help. Her brother Solo Balkissoon, who lives a few houses away, was able to hear his sisters screams. Solo, along with another neighbour, climbed the wall and was able to gain access to a cell phone which they used to contact the Couva Police Station. The sisters and cousin were rushed to the hospital via ambulance. They were placed on an adjoining ward, next to their 84-year-old ailing mother. Tollys condition deteriorated that day. She did not know of the tragedy that had befallen her daughters and niece. She was getting worst and had no idea that we were right next to her in the hospital and it breaks my heart. I did not get to say goodbye, Rajdaye said. Tolly died shortly after 11pm on Wednesday. Now I have to live with the nightmare that happened to know that someone invaded our home, beat and robbed us and now my mother is dead, the emotional Rajdaye said. Still warded, it is uncertain whether the younger sibling, Tarmatie, would be attending her mothers funeral service as arrangements are being made. Police officers have since questioned three men as the search continues for the attackers. Woman with two husbands ordered to pay $5000 The woman was charged in 2001, having married her second husband during the life of her first husband - an offence which carries a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment. She had earlier sought a Maximum Sentence Indication from the Court through her attorney, Tara Thompson, and formally pleaded guilty to the charge at the Port-of-Spain Fourth Criminal Assizes. Justice David Harris accepted the womans guilty plea and proceeded to sentencing. Thompson, in making a plea in mitigation on behalf of her client, asked the judge to consider that the woman was of tender age at the time of her first wedding. Thompson stated that her client was just 19 years old and did not fully appreciate that her first marriage was official, as she never saw her marriage certificate. The woman soon left her first husband due to physical abuse, the Court heard. Thompson also stated that the woman, once aware of the charge, had since properly sought to divorce her first husband and this was finalised in 2010. She also has no other pending matters before any other court , and no other previous convictions. Harris noted that as a starting point, the woman could have been sentenced to serve one year in prison but agreed that were more overwhelmingly mitigating factors operating in her favour that would go towards reducing her sentence. Harris also agreed with Thompson that there appears to have been no intent by the woman to advance any other illegal activities such as financial fraud or evasion, since she is still married to her second husband and continuing to raise a family. Ashas Emancipation But when she walked out of the Arouca Police Station on July 18, after spending six days in a holding cell as the main person of interest in a homicide investigation into her husbands death, it marked, as she explained, the end of an oppressive and abusive relationship, and the beginning of her days as a free woman. When they told me that I was free to go and they let me out of that cell, I was so happy, said Ramnarine in an exclusive interview with Newsday. I just wanted to see my children. I just wanted to be with them. As I got out of the cell I prayed to God and said Lord please dont let me go back in there. I dont want to live this kind of life. I dont want to be like this. When I got home my two children ran up to me and hugged me tightly. I cried so hard as I held them. I never wanted to let them go. On July 12, Sharma and Ramnarine got into a row at about 11 pm and the situation escalated resulting in Sharma being stabbed in the chest by Ramnarine. After perusing the polices file on the investigation, Director of Public Prosecutions, Roger Gaspard, gave instructions to release her from custody and ordered a Coroners Inquest into the incident. At the office of her attorney, Fareed Ali, on Wednesday, Ramnarine told Newsday that when she first met Sharma, she never knew that he would be such an abusive person. I went up by my aunt in Brazil, Arima, to spend some time and I happened to meet him sleeping in a van, she said. After a while he began to profess his love to me. He told me that he had a wife but they separated, so we started a relationship. Ramnarine left her aunts home in Brazil and moved into a small apartment in the same area. She told Newsday that Sharma was an attractive man and had a way with words. She called him a charmer, and a smooth talker. Their honeymoon ended quickly when another woman allegedly stormed their Brazil home and attacked Ramnarine. After that, they moved to Warren, Caroni, and that was when the beatings allegedly began. While we were living together that second time I started to suspect that he was still seeing another woman. When I confronted him about it he would beat me. He would lock me in the house so that I could not leave, and go and see the woman. She told Newsday that the beatings came almost daily. Neal never worked. The only money we had was what we got whenever I worked. Ramnarine recalled Every day he used to pick me up and drop me off from work, so I would not run off and go anywhere and not come back. He used to make sure I took my pay for the day and take the money to drink. One day I had a little money put aside and I decided to take some change and play a slot machine to see if I got lucky. I won about five hundred dollars. There was this man at the bar where I won the money, who would normally give us groceries. The man offered me a beer, and I accepted, but as soon as I came in with the beer, Neal came in. As soon as he saw me he started to slap me up inside the bar. Ramnarine said she tried for years to escape her abusive lovers grasp, but every time she got away he would find ways to make her come back. She told Newsday that she would run away from their home and stay where her two children, whom she had by another man, were staying. However, Sharma would show up and threaten her and her family. For fear that Sharma would do something to harm her children, she would go back with him. The night of July 12 was the last night that Sharma would ever hit Ramnarine. In a drunken fit of rage, Sharma began beating the mother of two during an argument. The blows he inflicted left bruises and marks about her body, but during the fracas, Ramnarine grabbed a knife and dealt him a stab to his chest. Even though he abused me for years, while I was in that cell I still thought about Neal, I prayed that he would be alright because despite everything I still loved him. I would tell every woman out there who is in a relationship like this, do not stick yourselves in any relationship where you are being hurt in any way. Ali confirmed that there were successive reports at the Cunupia and St Joseph Police Stations about the beatings which Sharma dealt to Ramnarine through the years. What about the balance? If the current administration does not change its position with respect to the condition of acceptance of the $57.9 million within two weeks as of yesterdays date, attorney at law representing some 2342 cane farmers, Gerald Ramdeen, said proceedings will be filed in the High Court to enforce the legitimate expectation and the promise that was made to the cane farmers for the remainder owed them. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and his Cabinet, he said, is not going to use that $57.9 million as a noose around the neck of my clients. The cane farmers will fight this Government to the end even if they have to take it all the way to the Privy Council to get what they are entitled. Ramdeen told the media yesterday at a press conference held at his Woodbrook office, My clients were informed that they can accept the $57.9 million, but they will receive no more money, and if they accept the $57.9 million they must put in writing that they are giving up their rights to the remainder of what was promised to them. Representatives of the five cane farmers association, he said, met on Thursday with Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Planning Joanne Deoraj who presented the offer and conditions to them. Noting that Planning Minister Camille Robinson- Regis announced on Thursday that Cabinet had agreed to pay cane farmers the final settlement of $57.9 million representing the second and third tranches of the transitional payment that was promised to them, he said, she did not say when and how the money will be distributed. The second tranche, he said was supposed to be $75 million. Of the $75 million, he said, the European Union had agreed to pay eight million Euros which represents the $57.9 million, while Government was to pay the balance. The third tranche which becomes due on December 31, 2016, is supposed to be $28 million. The cane farmers, (not former Caroni 1975 workers), he said, were promised in December 2014, that they will be paid $130 million as part of a compensation package for exiting the sugar industry. Cane farmers were paid earlier in 2015, the first tranche of $27 million which was made available under the EU accompanying measures of sugar protocol programme, while the second tranche was due to be paid by the end of 2015. However, Ramdeen noted that the second tranche was not received by December 2015, but was received on March 22, 2016 from the EU, and it has been held by Government since. When the matter of non payment was brought to him, he said, on March 9, 2016, he issued pre-action protocol letters to the Cabinet, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Planning and the Attorney General. To date he has received no acknowledgement or substantive reply to the pre-action protocol letter. On August 24, 2015, at a political meeting in Couva, he said that Rowley, then leader of the opposition had said he would honour the previous governments commitments and pay the cane farmers their due. However, at another political meeting in Malabar on April 13, 2016, he changed his tune and said that cane farmers will be paid $52 million and not a cent more. That he said, does not reflect the promise made to cane farmers by the previous administration. Dog days for cop on perverting justice charges Anthony Sutherland, 44, appeared before Magistrate Cheron Raphael in the Eighth Court and was granted bail with surety of $175,000. The charges will be heard at the High Court and he was, therefore, not asked to enter a plea. The magistrate ordered him to report to the Tunapuna Police Station every Sunday and warned his relatives a warrant for his re-arrest would he issued if he failed to show. The first charge against Sutherland alleges that on May 19, at the Inter Agency Task Force office at Aranjuez, with intent to pervert the course of public justice, he knowingly made a false entry in the IATF diary. According to the charge, the officer inserted a note into the diary claiming that on the day in question he went home at Upper Fairley Street, Bamboo Trace, Tunapuna, and observed two ferocious pitbulls attacking his pet dog while his children looked on in fear and he became concerned. As a result, he discharged ten rounds in the direction of the pitbulls. The second charge alleges that Sutherland, on the same date, at the Tunapuna Police Station made a false report to a woman police constable and caused her to make an entry in the station diary in similar terms as that entered at the IATF office in Aranjuez. US: We See No Signs Putin Will Use Dirty Bomb NEW YORK, July 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Guggenheim Investments, the investment management division of Guggenheim Partners, today announced that the following Guggenheim exchange traded funds (ETFs) have declared distributions. The table below summarizes the distribution for each ETF. Distributions Schedule Ticker Exchange Traded Fund Name Ex-Date Record Date Payable Date Total Rate Per Share GSY Guggenheim Enhanced Short Duration ETF1 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0466 GTO Guggenheim Total Return Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.1203 BSCG Guggenheim BulletShares 2016 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0135 BSCH Guggenheim BulletShares 2017 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0235 BSCI Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0257 BSCJ Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0321 BSCK Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0366 BSCL Guggenheim BulletShares 2021 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0414 BSCM Guggenheim BulletShares 2022 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0446 BSCN Guggenheim BulletShares 2023 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0482 BSCO Guggenheim BulletShares 2024 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0499 1On September 30, 2013, Guggenheim Enhanced Short Duration Bond ETF changed its name to Guggenheim Enhanced Short Duration ETF. Distributions Schedule Ticker Exchange Traded Fund Name Ex-Date Record Date Payable Date Total Rate Per Share BSCP Guggenheim BulletShares 2025 Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0501 BSJG Guggenheim BulletShares 2016 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0264 BSJH Guggenheim BulletShares 2017 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0779 BSJI Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0870 BSJJ Guggenheim BulletShares 2019 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0982 BSJK Guggenheim BulletShares 2020 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0968 BSJL Guggenheim BulletShares 2021 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.0988 BSJM Guggenheim BulletShares 2022 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.1013 BSJN Guggenheim BulletShares 2023 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF 08/01/16 08/03/16 08/05/16 $ 0.1029 Past performance is not indicative of future performance. To the extent any portion of the distribution is estimated to be sourced from something other than income, such as return of capital, the source would be disclosed on a Section 19(a)-1 letter located on the Funds website under the Literature tab. Distributions may be comprised of sources other than income, which may not reflect actual fund performance. For more information, please visit http://www.guggenheiminvestments.com/products/etf. About Guggenheim Investments Guggenheim Investments is the global asset management and investment advisory division of Guggenheim Partners, with $202 billion1 in total assets across fixed income, equity, and alternative strategies. We focus on the return and risk needs of insurance companies, corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, consultants, wealth managers, and high-net-worth investors. Our 275+ investment professionals perform rigorous research to understand market trends and identify undervalued opportunities in areas that are often complex and underfollowed. This approach to investment management has enabled us to deliver innovative strategies providing diversification and attractive long-term results. Read a funds prospectus and summary prospectus (if available) carefully before investing. It contains the funds investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information, which should be considered carefully before investing. Obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus (if available) at http://guggenheiminvestments.com or call 800.820.0888. The referenced funds are distributed by Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC. Guggenheim Investments represents the investment management businesses of Guggenheim Partners, LLC (Guggenheim), which includes Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC ("GFIA") and Guggenheim Partners Investment Management (GPIM), the investment advisors to the referenced funds. Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC, is affiliated with Guggenheim, GFIA and GPIM. 1 Guggenheim Investments total asset figure is as of 06.30.2016. The assets include leverage of $11.4bn for assets under management and $0.5bn for assets for which we provide administrative services. Guggenheim Investments represents the following affiliated investment management businesses: Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, LLC, Security Investors, LLC, Guggenheim Funds Investment Advisors, LLC, Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC, Guggenheim Real Estate, LLC, Transparent Value Advisors, LLC, GS GAMMA Advisors, LLC, Guggenheim Partners Europe Limited, and Guggenheim Partners India Management. (Newser) The same day a federal judge ruled North Carolina's voter ID law was racially discriminatory and unconstitutional, a federal judge made a similar ruling in Wisconsin. While he didn't strike down the state's entire 2011 voter ID law, Judge James Peterson did repeal big chunks of it, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Limits on early voting have been removed, as has a requirement that voters must live in Wisconsin for 28 days prior to the election. According to the AP, expired student IDs will also once again be valid at the polls. Wisconsin's voter ID law had been accused of unfairly targeting African-Americans, Latinos, and other people likely to vote Democrat. However, an appeal of Friday's ruling could keep the restrictions in place for November's election. (Read more voter ID laws stories.) (Newser) There will be no payday for 29 people who claimed to be Prince's heirs, including a woman who said the CIA covered up her marriage to the superstar, a Minnesota judge ruled in an order disclosed Friday. Reuters reports that Carver County Judge Kevin Eide ordered genetic testing for six other claimants: Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, three half-siblings by his father, and a possible niece and grandniece. Two half-brothers from Prince's mother will not be tested under the judge's ruling, which will determine the future of an estate thought to be worth up to $500 million. Other rejected claimants include at least five people who claimed Prince was their father, and several who claimed that their father had an affair with Prince's mother, making their father Prince's real father and the late star their half-brother, the AP reports. Under Minnesota law, the estate of Princewho left no known will or surviving offspringwill be split between siblings, half-siblings, and the offspring of any deceased siblings. Despite the order for genetic testing, Eide's ruling says he "is not aware of any objection or dispute" to the six siblings or half-siblings being legitimate heirs. (A DNA test ruled out an inmate in Colorado who claimed he was Prince's son.) (Newser) All of Russia's weightlifters were banned from the Rio Olympics on Friday for doping after what the international federation called "extremely shocking" test results that brought the sport into disrepute. The eight competition spots have been offered to other countries. The International Weightlifting Federation says the "integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians" and the punishment was an "appropriate sanction" to "preserve the status of the sport," the AP reports. The IWF described the doping results as "extremely shocking and disappointing." Weightlifting became the second sport after track and field to issue blanket bans on Russian athletes. Other sportsincluding rowing, wrestling, modern pentathlon, and sailinghave banned one or more Russians from competing in Rio de Janeiro, but not all of the country's eligible athletes. To replace the eight Russian lifters in Rio, five countries were offered places in the men's competitionBelarus, Croatia, El Salvador, Mongolia, and Serbia. In justifying its actions against Russia, the IWF said retests of samples from seven Russian weightlifters who took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics or 2012 London Olympics resulted in positive tests, and more are expected. (A Russian whistleblower says during the Sochi Olympics, urine samples were swapped through a "mouse hole.") (Newser) The name Sandy Hook Elementary School is one that will conjure up images of horror for most Americansbut officials want it to be a place of hope and happiness. The new school in Newtown, Connecticut, is ready for students, almost four years after 20 students and six educators were massacred at its now-demolished predecessor, which stood at the same site, reports the New York Times. "Despite its birth from a horrible tragedy, Sandy Hook School will be a place full of laughter, of love and learning," Newtown First Selectman Patricia Llodra told reporters given a tour of the new school. Nearly 400 students have enrolled at the school, which will teach students from preschool through fourth grade when it opens at the end of next month, the Wall Street Journal reports. Around 60% of staff at the new school worked at the old Sandy Hook. The only students at the new school who were in the old building during the massacre will be in fourth grade, and officials say none of them witnessed the shootings. The new school was designed to have a calming atmosphere, though security was also a major concern, the Times notes. There is no official memoriala public one will be built in the town insteadbut a grassy mound at the spot where the students and teachers were killed is considered sacred ground, reports People. Officials say the new school will be an "unbelievable learning space," though they of course wish that they had never had to build it. "Let me state unequivocally that we would trade in a minute this beautiful new school for the more familiar and ancient Sandy Hook school, built in the '50s, if we could just change the past," Llodra said, per the AP. (Read more Sandy Hook Elementary School stories.) (Newser) A gunman killed three and injured a fourth person early Saturday in a suburban Seattle home where young people had gathered, the AP reports. The suspect was pulled over and arrested three counties away, Officer Myron Travis of the Mukilteo Police Department said. About 15 to 20 people were in the home at the time of the shooting, and all have been interviewed by police, he said. Police did not release the names of the victims, but a woman tells the AP her granddaughter hid in a closet to escape. Susan Gemmer says her 18-year-old granddaughter was hanging out with friends at the home when a young man showed up with a rifle. Gemmer says the gunman shot two people at a fire pit before going onto a roof and firing more shots from there. Washington State Patrol trooper Will Finn said the male suspect was pulled over around 2am near Chehalis, about 113 miles from the shooting. Finn declined to release information about his identity. No motive has been given for the shooting. But Gemmer says the shooter and one of the victims had recently broken up.The shooting happened in the Chennault neighborhood of Mukilteo, a waterfront town of about 20,000 people, 25 miles north of Seattle. (Read more shooting stories.) (Newser) A woman who was recently released from prison in Oregon robbed a bank in Wyoming only to throw the cash up in the air outside the building and sit down to wait for police, authorities say. Investigators say 59-year-old Linda Patricia Thompson told them she wanted to go back to prison. Thompson said she had suffered facial fractures after strangers beat her at a Cheyenne park last weekend. She said she couldn't get a room at a homeless shelter and decided to rob the bank Wednesday because she could no longer stay on the streets, court records say. Officials say Thompson had been serving time at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, for a second-degree robbery conviction until her release in June, the AP reports. FBI Special Agent Tory Smith said in court documents that Thompson entered a US Bank branch in Cheyenne and handed a teller a cardboard note that said, "I have a gun. Give me all your money." The teller turned over thousands of dollars. Outside, Thompson threw money into the air and even offered some to people passing by, Smith stated. He added that Cheyenne police Lt. Nathan Busek said he found Thompson with a large sum of money when he arrived at the bank. "Lt. Busek asked Thompson what was going on, and Thompson replied, 'I just robbed the bank, I want to go back to prison,'" Smith wrote. (Read more Wyoming stories.) (Newser) An elderly California couple is being kicked out of their home of 56 years after they say they were scammed by their grandson, Fox 11 reports. Hank and Helen Kawecki say they agreed to give the deed to their Thousand Oaks home to their grandson, Chad Moore, on the condition he take care of them financially. Instead, they say he took out multiple loans on the home, didn't repay them, and then sold the house without telling them. "You wouldn't think that a grandson would do that to you," Helen tells KTLA. According to NBC Los Angeles, the sheriff's department is investigating, and the Kaweckis have sued Moorewho they say disappeared after they confronted himfor fraud. Regardless, the Kaweckis' time in their home appears to be nearly up. While Moore's sale of the home was stopped, the house is still being foreclosed on, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the Kaweckis. They were supposed to be evicted this week until a judge granted them an extra 60 days to get out. But the Kaweckis aren't alone in their plight. The Ventura County Star reports neighbors are banding together to help them in any way they can. The Emersons, who only moved into the neighborhood 18 months ago, are helping with legal fees, offering to let the Kaweckis stay with them while they look for a new home, and even planning to buy the Kaweckis' home out of foreclosure to let them stay put. The GoFundMe page has so far raised more than $121,000 for the Kaweckis' legal fees and moving costs. (The internet came to the rescue of a Pearl Harbor vet scammed out of his life savings.) (Newser) A Ku Klux Klan member currently serving four life sentences in Alabama for murdering four black girls in 1963 is up for parole after serving only 15 years, AL.com reports. Thomas Blanton was convicted in 2001 of planting a bomb outside a Birmingham Baptist church that killed an 11-year-old girl and three 14-year-old girls inside. According to the AP, two other Klansmen convicted in the bombing have since died in prison. Former US attorney Doug Jones, who prosecuted Blanton, calls the bombing an "act of terrorism." And an NAACP volunteer in Alabama says it was a "heinous crime against innocent children." Despite the life sentences, a parole hearing for the 78-year-old Blanton is scheduled for Wednesday. The parole board is expected to make a decision the same day. Like all other Alabama inmates, Blanton won't be present at his parole hearing. But prosecutors, families of the victims, civil rights groups, and members of the black community all plan to attend to oppose Blanton's release. "I think it would be a travesty of justice if he were paroled," the president of the Metro Birmingham NAACP tells AL.com. He has shown no remorse. Hes shown no acceptance of responsibility," Vibe quotes Jones as saying. "He has not reached out to the families or the community to show acceptance of responsibility." The president of the Alabama NAACP says it would be a "slap in the face" to let Blanton go free in the middle of the nation's high-profile incidents of violence against black people. (Read more Ku Klux Klan stories.) abhi758 wrote: The State Constitution bans the legislature from reducing the benefit package of the state and local workers during their employment, but it does allow improvement of the package. Thus, the governors veto power remains as the only possible obstacle to the new pension enhancement program for recently hired public school teachers. The author of the argument is assuming which of the following? (A) The governor wants to reduce the benefit of the package (B) The new pension program is not part of the benefit package (C) The legislature supports the new pension program (D) The governor will probably veto the new pension program (E) The State Constitution permits the governor to reduce the benefit package of employees during their employment Kindly justify the option you choose.. OA will be posted shortly.. Hi,Let's first understand the passage:Information not relevant to the argument: legislature can't reduce the benefit package of the state and local workers during their employmentPremise: Legislature can improve the package of the state and local workers during their employmentConclusion: the governors veto power remains as the only possible obstacle to the new pension enhancement program for recently hired public school teachers.So, legislature can improve the package of the workers. This also means they can chose not to improve the package.Now, governor's veto is the only obstacle to pension enhancement -> there are no other obstacles -> legislature is no more an obstacle -> legislature has already passed or supports the pension enhancement.This is what is given by option C.Hope this helpsLet me know if further clarity is needed.Attend the event this weekend to learn how to improve by up to 70 points in 25 days.Thanks,Chiranjeev_________________ (Newser) Disney has received a patent to take pictures of visitors' feet at its theme parks, the Los Angeles Times reports. Specifically, the patent titled System and method using foot recognition to create a customized guest experience would scan guests shoes when they enter the park then track them as the move about. According to the Orlando Business Journal, this would allow Disney to track guests' favorite rides and paths through the park. It could also allow them to have Donald Duck greet guests by name or get souvenir photos or videos to them more quickly. The scanners could discern everything from shoe color, to wear patterns, to gum stuck on the sole. Disney filed for the patent back in 2015; it was issued by the US Patent & Trademark Office on July 19. The company, however, says it has no plans to actually use its foot camera patent. A spokesperson tells the Times that Disney files a lot of patents in an "ongoing effort to relentlessly innovate and push the boundaries of creativity and technology to create immersive experiences and legendary guest service." Disney had already decided against biometric scanningsuch as fingerprinting, retinal scans, and facial recognitionto track visitors because it considers it too invasive, the Stack reports. Plus those methods can be thrown off by things like hats and sunglasses. The company also didn't want to track clothing because that would "require cameras that are visible to the person." The shoe-scanning cameras throughout the park would be "out of a person's line of sight." (But will members of "Club 33" have their photos taken?) (Newser) The speech by Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim-American Army captain killed in Iraq, was hailed as a high point of this week's Democratic National Convention. In the speech, Khan called out Donald Trump for his proposed Muslim ban and for having "sacrificed nothing and no one" for his country. On Saturday, Trump responded to Khan. "I've made a lot of sacrifices," Trump told ABC News. "I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot." He also wondered if Khan even wrote his own speech, saying maybe it was the work of Hillary Clinton's speech writers. Trump also addressed Khan's wife, Ghazala Khan, who stood silently beside her husband during his speech. "She had nothing to say," Trump said. "She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me." It was a reiteration of a point he made late Friday in an interview with the New York Times. It was also a bridge too far, according to Ezra Klein at Vox. Klein says the idea that Ghazala Khan was forbidden from speaking because she is a Muslim is "bullshit." In interviews, Ghazala has said she was too "overwhelmed by grief" to speak. Klein argues Trump used a "speech by the bereaved family of a fallen Muslim soldier" to "slander" them. "This is the gauge of his cruelty," Klein concludes. (Read more Donald Trump stories.) (Newser) A Nevada man whose family was nearly killed weeks ago by bombs set off by a former colleague has no idea why he was a target, the AP reports. "I don't have a clue what Glenn Jones was up to," Joshua Cluff says. "Do you know why crazy people do crazy things before they do them?" In a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cluff, 36, said that Jones never threatened him when they worked together as nurses at a hospital in Caliente. He could not recall Jones ever saying a harsh word. Authorities say Jones drove to Cluff's home on July 13. He then detonated bombs inside Cluff's home and in a rental car in front of the house. Cluff's wife and two daughters had fled their home moments earlier. A third daughter and Cluff weren't there. A search of Jones' motorhome turned up what authorities characterized as a bomb-making lab. According to documents, Jones had bomb diagrams and notes intimating a planned July 4 terror attack against an unidentified US Bureau of Land Management facility. Jones had written in journals that someone named Josh had ordered and funded the construction of the explosive device that would be used. Those notes prompted FBI agents to question Cluff and his wife and search their home. He has since been cleared. "My family is freaking broken now," Cluff says. Jones shot himself in the head during the bombing attack. His body was blown up. (Read more bombing stories.) Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. getmba wrote: Theater Critic : The play La Finestrina , now at Central Theater, was written in Italy in the eighteenth century. The director claims that this production is as similar to the original production as is possible in a modern theater. Although the actor who plays Harlequin the clown gives a performance very reminiscent of the twentieth-century American comedian Groucho Marx, Marxs comic style was very much within the comic acting tradition that had begun in sixteenth-century Italy. The considerations given best serve as part of an argument that (A) modern audiences would find it hard to tolerate certain characteristics of a historically accurate performance of an eighteenth-century play (B) Groucho Marx once performed the part of the character Harlequin in La Finestrina (C) in the United States the training of actors in the twentieth century is based on principles that do not differ radically from those that underlay the training of actors in eighteenth-century Italy (D) the performance of the actor who plays Harlequin in La Finestrina does not serve as evidence against the directors claim (E) the director of La Finestrina must have advised the actor who plays Harlequin to model his performance on comic performances of Groucho Marx Solution Passage Analysis Gist of the passage The play La Finestrina was originally written in the 18th century in Italy A theater critic talks about a director who has produced a theatrical presentation of the same play and it is now playing in Central Theater. This director claims that he has kept his theatrical production of the play as similar to the written version as it is possible to, when one is adapting a written play to modern-theater production The play has a character called Harlequin, the clown. The theater critic comments that the actor who enacts the role of Harlequin gives a performance that reminds one of the 20th century American comedian, Groucho Marx. Though Marx was a 20th century actor, his comic style was very much in keeping with the comic acting style that had begun in the 16th century. We can infer here that the actor who played Harlequin in the modern production actually used a comic style that had begun in the 16th century and was also used by Groucho in the 20th century. Question stem analysis The considerations given best serve as part of an argument that Answer Choice Analysis A Understand the choice Analyze in the context of the passage and the question stem B Understand the choice Analyze in the context of the passage and the question stem C Understand the choice Analyze in the context of the passage and the question stem D Understand the choice Analyze in the context of the passage and the question stem E Understand the choice Analyze in the context of the passage and the question stem Theater Critic: The play La Finestrina, now at Central Theater,A theater critic says that the play La Finestrina, which is currently playing at Central Theater,was written in Italy in the eighteenth century.Was originally written in the 18th century in Italy.The director claims that this productionThe director of the play La Finestrina says that his theatrical productionis as similar to the original production as is possible in a modern theater.Is as similar to the original written play as is possible to produce a written play in the modern theater.Although the actor who plays Harlequin the clownIn spite of the fact that, the actor who plays the role of Harlequin, the clowngives a performance very reminiscent of the twentieth-century American comedian Groucho Marx,gives a performance that reminds one of the performance of the twentieth-century American comedian Groucho Marx,Marxs comic style was very much within the comic acting tradition that had begun in sixteenth-century Italy.Marx himself displayed a comic style that was in keeping with the comic acting style that had begun in 16th century Italy.The information given in the passage acts as the strongest logical support to which of the following options?The option talks about the reaction of the modern audiences viewing the modern production of a play written in the 18th century. It says that the audience would not find it easy to bear certain characteristics of the older century play.The passage talks about director's claim that in his theater production of the play he had adhered to the original play as much as was possible to when adapting a written play to a theater. Does the passage imply that the modern play was an absolutely accurate performance of an 18th-century play? No.The critic commented that the performance of an actor in the theatrical production reminded one of another comedian of the 20th century who had followed a 16th-century comic acting style. But does the critic talk at all about the reaction of the audience? No.Therefore, no comment can be made about the tolerance level of the audience.Hence this is not the correct answer.As per this option, Groucho Marx had earlier played the role of the character Harlequin in La FinestrinaThe passage only talks about the comic acting style of Groucho Marx who acted in the 20th century. He followed a style of comic acting that had begun in the 16th century. And the passage tells us that the actor who played the role of harlequin in the theater production of the play La Finestrina performed in such a way that he reminded one of Marx. But whether Marx had ever played that same part earlier or not cannot be concluded. Here we can infer that the style of the two actors might have been quite similar, but we cannot comment the same about the role played by the two.Hence this is not the correct option.This choice states that in the 20th century the actors in the U.S. were trained on the basis of principles that were not much different from the principles that lay behind the training of actors in 18th century Italy.The option means that actors in 18th century Italy and actors in the 20th century U.S. were both trained along the lines of similar principles of acting. The passage talks about Groucho, one comedian, who followed the comic style of acting that had begun in the 16th century. Whether he was trained or not, do we know? No. Was the comic acting style that had begun in the 16th century still followed in the 18th century or the 20th century? We dont really know except for Marx. One case cannot be representative of the general.Hence, this is not the correct option.The performance of the actor who plays Harlequin in the theater production La Finestrina, does not contradict the claim made by the director of the play.The critic commented that the performance of the actor who played Harlequin in the theatrical production reminded one of another comedian of the 20th century who had followed a 16th-century comic acting style. The director too claims to have adhered to the original 18th-century production as much as was possible. We, therefore, know that both the director and the actor followed the styles of an earlier period, and we can thus infer that some of the period and the prevalent style may have been common to both.Thus, we can say that the actors performance was not going against what the director had claimed. Rather it was in keeping with the claim.Hence, this is the correct option.The director of the play La Finestrina must have told the actor who played the part of harlequin to follow the comic style Groucho Marx.The director of the play wanted to keep his production as similar as possible to the original earlier version. He may have advised his actors to follow a certain school of acting or he may not. He may have told his actor playing Harlequin to follow Marx or he may not. Can we say this for sure? No. Marx might have been that actors role model and so he followed Marxwe dont really know.Hence, this is not the right answer choice._________________ 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 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called for a meeting with senior party leaders to discuss upcoming Goods and Services Tax or GST bill. Congress hopes to persuade government on the ring fencing of the GST to an outer limit of 18 per cent as also creating an independent mechanism for resolution of disputes. The long-awaited tax reform bill will go to Rajya Sabha for floor test on Tuesday. We hope to persuade the government in national interest and in the interest of people to agree to these two issues, partys chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters. Noting that 18 per cent is not some arbitrary figure, he contended that imposing the burden of taxation on people of this country at a very-very high limit, ultimately will dis-incentivize them from paying their taxes leading to creation of parallel black money. With income tax slabs already between 30 per cent and 40 per cent, is it not reasonable and proper on part of Congress to say that let us put an outer limit of 18 per cent beyond which you cant go, he asked. On reports of government seeking a higher cap, he said We have given certain suggestions to make GST meaningful, practical and acceptable to the people who will be finally taxed. GST is an instrument of growth that Congress conceived and introduced something that was blocked by Modi ji, Jaitley and Sushma ji and entire BJP for nearly 6 years, he said, taking a dig at the BJP for opposing the measure during the UPA days. He said the entire endeavour of the Congress is to ensure that the GST as passed by Parliament is not only consensus based but reflected the will of this country and it should meaningfully be implemented on the ground and it should incentivize conformity to payment of taxes. Efforts to hammer out a consensus on the Goods and Services Tax bill gathered momentum yesterday for its likely tabling in the Rajya Sabha next week with the government reaching out to Opposition parties. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Parents of TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee, who allegedly committed suicide in April, have alleged that police were going easy on absconding accused in the case Rahul Singh and giving him multiple opportunities to get away as they expressed dissatisfaction over the probe. Singh, a TV producer and actor, was in a relationship with the Balika Vadhu star. Rahul has been provided help by police. He was given multiple opportunities to get away. Rahul is absconding, his phone is switched off... So if he is absconding, the Investigating Officer is solely responsible for that, the late TV stars father, Shankar Banerjee, said. He is absconding after the charge sheet was filed. The Investigating Officer should have kept a watch on him, he told a press conference here. Besides, Pratyushas parents raised several questions over the investigation and reiterated their daughter didnt commit suicide, but was murdered by Singh, who is on bail. We have been saying since the beginning that this is murder. But police didnt listen to us. They called it a suicide and filed an abetment to suicide case. We havent got a copy of the charge sheet yet, we kept roaming in court, but police didnt cooperate with us, Shankar said.Shankar claimed they were not given investigation-related reports despite repeated requests. We didnt get investigation papers like her medical, post-mortem and viscera reports, as well as record of telephonic conversations between Pratyusha and Rahul, which was produced in the high court. The 24-year-old actress parents claimed her abortion was done forcefully. I know it (abortion) was done forcefully and not with her consent, Shankar said. When contacted, a senior police officer associated with the probe, refused to make any comment on charges levelled by Banerjee. I dont want to comment anything. You people (referring to media) know how the investigation has been going since beginning, he said. Singh has been charged with abetting the suicide of Pratyusha, who was found hanging at her flat here on April 1. He had gone missing for a few days after he took Pratyusha to the Kokilaben Hospital, where she was declared dead. Singh has disappeared again after his anticipatory bail plea in a separate case was rejected by a local court. A woman, Heer Patel, has accused him of cheating her and her parents of Rs 25 lakh by promising to make a film on them, a commitment he did not fulfil. New Delhi: A day after Narsingh Yadav's dope scandal hearing got over, there was no clarity today over when the NADA's Anti-Doping Disciplinary Penal will announce its final verdict, which will decide the wrestler's Rio Olympics fate. After the conclusion of the two-day hearing on Narsingh's dope positive case yesterday, the NADA counsel had said that the verdict would come either tomorrow or on August 1. But there is still no clarity on whether the verdict will come tomorrow or on Monday. When contacted,the counsels of both NADA and Narsingh said they have not been told when the panel would give its final decision. Wrestling Federation of India is also clueless when the verdict will come." We have not been told when the verdict will come. It maybe tomorrow or Monday but we don't know when," a Wrestling Federation of Indian source said. "There is a 50-50 chance that he might be let off with a warning or may be handed a ban by the NADA disciplinary panel," the source said. As per the revised NADA Code of 2015, the maximum sanction for a first-time offence is four years. Narsingh's lawyers had presented their case on Wednesday, arguing that there was a conspiracy against the grappler while the NADA's legal team gave its arguments against the sabotage theory before the disciplinary panel yesterday. "The argument by NADA was that he is not eligible for remission which he has been asking. Narsingh did not produce the relevant circumstantial evidence that there could have been sabotage as had been claimed by them," NADA's lawyer Gaurang Kanth told reporters at the end of the hearing yesterday. "They filed an affidavit that his drinks or water was spiked but they did not produce the evidence to prove it to satisfy NADA and WADA," he argued. The wrestler, who has alleged the involvement of fellow grapplers in the conspiracy, has already been replaced by Parveen Rana in the Olympic bound squad but will be reinstated if he gets a favourable verdict from NADA. NADA's lawyer, however, said that Narsingh's claims of conspiracy are not backed by sufficient proof. "We argued that the requirements of due diligence andcare which was needed to escape from punishment was not provided as to satisfy the WADA Code. So we said he should be given punishment as appropriate this panel thinks fit," Kanth had said. Washington: The US has expressed concern over the violence in Kashmir and called on all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to the issue as it wants to see the tensions de-escalated. We encourage all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to this, State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters when asked about the ongoing violence in Kashmir. We have obviously seen reports of the clashes between protesters and Indian forces in Kashmir. And were, of course, concerned by the violence, as you might expect we would be, he said. Kirby said the US was in close touch with the Indian government over the issue.But were obviously concerned by the violence and we want to see the tensions de-escalated, Kirby said. Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with Indian security forces.In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 47 persons, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: Never one to pull his punches, a combative Donald Trump today said he wanted to hit several Democrats who spoke against him so hard, their heads would spin. The Republican presidential nominee often uses the term hit to mean verbally attack, rather than physical contact. After hearing speeches at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week, Trump said he wanted to hit a number of those speakers so hard, their heads would spin. Theyd never recover. The real estate tycoon zoomed in on one speaker especially, though he didnt mention his name, CNN reported. I was going to hit one guy in particular, a very little guy, Trump said to laughs at a campaign rally in Iowa. I was going to hit this guy so hard his head would spin, he wouldnt know what the hell happened, he reiterated. Trump said this individual came out of nowhere and had done work with him in the past. He made deals with me. Will you help me with this? Would you make this deal and solve the problem? I solved the problem, Trump said. Several speakers this week have gone after Trump including Michael Bloomberg. The former New York City mayor made a surprise endorsement over the weekend for Hillary Clinton, and described Trump in his convention speech last night as a dangerous demagogue. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine also targeted Trump, mocking the businessmans tendency to bolster his promises with a plea of believe me. He said a lot of things about me, I never met the guy, Trump said. I mean the things that were said about me. I mean, should I go through some of the names?Trump recalled telling a friend this week that he wanted to retaliate against the people who slammed him at the convention, mentioning current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio by name. I was going to say that de Blasio is the worst mayor in the history of the city, but I didnt say it, Trump said to laughs. Hes a terrible mayor. I was going to say that, but now I wont say it. Trump said his friend, who he labelled a very great governor, urged him to stay focused on attacking Clinton, not other Democrats. He said, Dont hit there. Dont hit down. You have one person to beat. Its Hillary Rodham Clinton, Trump recalled, adding that he initially objected to the advice. I said, But I really want to. I dont like what theyre saying because a lot of it is lies. Not all of it but a lot of it is. I said, I just really ... it makes me feel good." Ultimately, he said, he conceded and decided not to launch into verbal assaults against the Democrats. But every once in a while I still wake up, I say boy, I wanna, Trump said, growling as he stopped himself from saying more. Someday!. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Newly inducted Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale on Saturday lashed out against gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes. Speaking to media, the Dalit leader said that the protection of cows should not be at the expense of human lives. He asked the government to ensure that incidents, such as the recent flogging of youths from his community by gau rakshaks in Gujarats Una, are not repeated. Expressing deep concern over the Una incident, Athawale said, I want to ask gau rakshaks: There is a law against gau hatya (killing of cows), you continue with gau raksha (protection of cows) but why do manav hatya (killing of human beings)? If you do gau raksha, who will do manav raksha (protection of human beings)? The veteran leader from Maharashtra and president of the Republican Party of India (RPI), also called on Dalits to convert to Buddhism and asked why BSP leader Mayawati was yet to do so. Attacking Mayawatis position as a leader of Dalits, Athawale said, Why is Mayawati not Buddhist yet, if she claims to be a true Ambedkarite? She keeps criticising Manuvaad (casteism), talks about conversions but has not accepted Buddhism. She announced her conversion many times but remains a Hindu. Dalits should embrace Buddhism. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considered as a good friend of US President Barack Obama and the two nation have cooperated and worked on a number of projects together, White house said . "We are in close contact with the government of India. President Obama considers Prime Minister Modi a good friend. Weve collaborated on a number of projects," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters at his daily press conference. Schultz was responding to a question on Chinese aggressive behaviour on South China Sea. "Most recently, most notably the agreement that the United States worked with India on, allowed for the Paris climate deal to happen. So the president is enormously proud of that work. He is also enormously grateful to Prime Minister Modi for his work on that," Schultz said. "But thats not the only facet of our relationship. Obviously, we have economic ties, deep security ties. So the president deeply values his relationship with Prime Minister Modi," he said in response to a question. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today New Delhi: China's state media praised Nepals rebuffed leader KP Oli as "probably the most important prime minister of Nepal since the 1990s". The Chinese media hailed him as a hero who nearly ended the land-locked country's "full dependence" on India. "He almost broke his country's full dependence on India, which has lasted since 1956 when Nepal became a modern state," an article in the Global Times said. It described Oli, who recently resigned, as "probably the most important prime minister of Nepal since the 1990s." "He turned India's belief that the blockade can make Nepal surrender into thin air," it said, referring to the months long blockade of Nepal's trade routes with India by Madhesis, who are mostly of Indian-origin. "Another notable achievement is that Nepal has become a dialogue partner of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which will help it become involved in East Asian affairs," it said. "This has made India frustrated as it breaks the tradition that Nepal should only join India-led regional blocs such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, (SAARC)", it said. The article also said that Prachanda, who is tipped to become the next Prime Minister of Nepal will rectify "pro-China" policy of Oli and balance it by taking India's interests into consideration. Prachanda in a bid to balance factions within his own party "formed the principle of keeping an equal distance from China and India", it said. "So once Prachanda takes power, he is bound to rectify Oli's pro-China tendency when in government and take India's interests into account, as India is sour about losing its grip on Nepal," it said. "The fixed agreements between China and the Oli government are unlikely to be changed, or it will deal a heavy blow to bilateral ties, which is too much for the new government to bear," it sid. In the first nine months, given Prachanda's equi-distance principle, there is little chance that China-Nepal ties will retreat, but the relationship will proceed very slowly. After the first nine months, it remains to be seen how the pro-India Nepali Congress will cope with trilateral relations, it said. There has been a chill in India's relationship with Nepal after the months-long crippling blockade by Madhesis who are demanding amendments to the newly-enacted Constitution to ensure adequate political representation and reorganization of the federal boundaries. India has denied playing any political role in the protests by the Madhesis in Nepal. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Two Indian soldiers today laid their lives in Kashmir while trying to foil an infiltration bid by militants in Kupwara district. Congress President Sonia Gandhi will meet with senior party leaders to discuss strategy for persuading government to agree on 18% cap on GST. Haryana Government finally wakes up to grim reality in Gurgaon traffic mess, planning to avert future chaos. Here are the top 5 stories of the hour. 1. Army foils infiltration bid, 2 militants, 2 soldiers killed Army today foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmirs Kupwara district, killing two militants in the operation that also left two soldiers dead. Troops noticed suspicious movement along the LoC in Naugam sector during the intervening night and challenged the intruders, who opened fire, an army official said. 2. Sonia Gandhi calls for party meet on GST, hopes to persuade govt on 18% upper cap Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called for a meeting with senior party leaders to discuss upcoming Goods and Services Tax or GST bill. Congress hopes to persuade government on the ring fencing of the GST to an outer limit of 18 per cent as also creating an independent mechanism for resolution of disputes. 3. Gurgaon traffic mess: Haryana govt wakes up to grim reality, launches clean-up After 48-hours of misery the Gurgaon Police seems to have taken a lesson from the big traffic mess caused by rains in in the city. The cops have finally come up with a fool-proof plan to avert chaos during the ongoing monsoon season. However, according to reports, the city is now struggling to limp back to normalcy and the restoration work is on full swing. 4. If you do gau raksha, who will do manav raksha, asks Dalit leader Ramdas Athawale Newly inducted Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale on Saturday lashed out against gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes. Speaking to media, the Dalit leader said that the protection of cows should not be at the expense of human lives. He asked the government to ensure that incidents, such as the recent flogging of youths from his community by gau rakshaks in Gujarats Una, are not repeated. 5. Flipkart laying off at least 700 employees to cut cost Indias largest e-commerce player Flipkart is sacking at least 700 employees, or over 3 per cent of its workforce, as it looks to cut cost to compete with rivals like Amazon and Snapdeal. Flipkart is asking under-performing employees to either resign or face the prospect of being sacked, sources said. The number of employees who may be handed pink slips could run as high as 1,000, they said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: Expressing concern over reports of rising intolerance and violence in India, the US has asked the Indian government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrators. Responding to questions on reports of alleged violence against people eating beef and assault on two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat in Madhya Pradesh, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said, We stand in solidarity with the people and Government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in confronting all forms of intolerance. Were obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence...As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable, he said. Kirby said the US looks forward to continuing to work with the Indian people to realise their tolerant-inclusive vision, which is so deeply in the interests of both India and the US. In an instance of cow vigilantism earlier this week, two Muslim women who were carrying buffalo meat were assaulted by people at a railway station in Mandsaur on suspicion that it was beef in the presence of police which arrested the duo. The incident came close on the heels of the attack on dalit youths in Gujarat by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday did an aerial survey to take stock of flood situation in Assam where death toll has gone up to 25. Accompanied by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Singh reviewed flood-affected areas in Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga. Rajnath Singh will also hold a high-level meeting with Sonowal, ministers of state departments concerned and senior government officials. After concluding the meeting, he will head back for the national capital. Twenty-five people have lost their lives and nearly 19 lakh have been affected across more than 3,300 villages in 22 districts in the state. (with PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: AAP MLA Naresh Yadav was on Saturday granted bail by a local court in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident in Malerkotla on June 24. Naresh Yadav has been granted bail by the court of Additional District & Sessions Judge A S Virk here in Sangrur, AAP leader and Head of party's legal cell Himmat Singh Shergill said today. The Mehrauli MLA was remanded in police custody for two days by Malerkotla court on July 25. On July 27, the AAP MLA was sent to the judicial custody till August 1 by the court. Accusing the Parkash Singh Badal-led state government of wrongly framing Yadav, Shergill, who is Yadav's counsel, alleged, There is no evidence with the police to link Yadav with the Malerkotla sacrilege case. Police have failed to find anything objectionable against Yadav. Police had done this at the behest of Badal government. On July 24 Punjab Police had arrested Yadav from Delhi in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident in Malerkotla after one of the accused arrested in connection with the case claimed he had acted at the behest of the AAP MLA. However, Yadav described the police action against him as a conspiracy. Police had claimed that Vijay had met the MLA before the incident and calls were also exchanged between them. Later it was alleged that it was a political conspiracy to malign AAP's image ahead of Assembly polls in Punjab. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Pune: Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar visited the family of flight lieutenant Kunal Barpatte, who was navigating the Indian Air Force transport plane when it went missing, and reassured them that he was personally monitoring the situation. Parrikar expressed his shock and sympathy to the parents of the officer. I am shocked. This was one of the IAFs safest and sturdiest aircraft. How can it go down? I am personally monitoring the situation, he said as he spoke to Rajendra, the father of Kunal. The minister said he had instructed Air Force officials to keep in touch with family members of all the crew of the ill-fated plane and provide updates on the search operation. Earlier, the parents had complained that despite their repeated efforts to get information after the news of the missing plane broke out, they did not receive a response from the Sulun base of IAF. A tweet sent by one of the relatives addressing Parrikar led to official contact with the affected family after 30 odd hours. On July 22, the ill-fated aircraft of the IAF, with 29 personnel on board, including four officers, had gone missing over Bay of Bengal on its way from near Chennai to Port Blair. soon after taking off from Tambaram air base. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Rakesh Siddaramaiah, son of the Karnataka Chief Minister passed away in Belgium due to multiple organ failure. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has expressed shock and deep anguish. Extending her condolences to Siddaramaiah, Gandhi said that she and the entire Congress party stood with him and his family in this moment of loss. Gandhi prayed for the peace of the departed soul and hoped that the almighty gives strength to the bereaved family.My heartfelt condolences to Siddaramaiahji on the passing away of his son. My thoughts & prayers are with his family in this time of grief, party vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted. Rakesh died of multi-organ failure at a hospital in Belgium today. Rakesh, 39, was undergoing treatment at Antwerp University Hospital in Brussels, where he was rushed on Tuesday after he developed sudden pancreas-related complications. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: At least eight bank accounts have been frozen by Thane police with over Rs 90 lakh, of former film actress Mamta Kulkarni in Gujarat, Mumbai and some other areas in connection with the multi-crore ephedrine racket. The former actress has already been named as a prime accused in the case linked to international drug lord and her partner Vicky Goswami. According to a senior police official, all the eight bank accounts were frozen this week as part of the probe in the case, as her properties and bank accounts are suspected to have helped the drug cartel. According to police Kulkarni held a sum of Rs 67 lakh (in foreign currency) in a single account with a private bank in Malad. The rest--Rs 26 lakhs-- were stowed away in seven other seized bank accounts at Kalyan, Badlapur (in Thane), Parel, Nariman Point, Dharavi, Rajkot and Bhuj (in Gujarat). Sleuths are also questioning elder sister of Kulkarni and others who dealt with the bank payments, he said. Police have also approached authorities to get details of properties owned by the accused and are expected to attach it. Earlier Police had stated that Kulkarni who had a significant role to play in the racket attended crucial meetings at Kenya and Dubai, where drug deals were struck and the modalities for logistics were finalised. This entire drug racket first came to light when Thane Police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug case on April 12. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: BSP president Mayawati accused Union Minister Ramdas Athawale of playing into the hands of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "harming" the interests of Dalits. Sushma Swaraj has ignited a new mission to provide food to nearly 800 jobless Indians starving in Saudi city of Jeddah. A Delhi court on Saturday convicted 'Peepli Live' co-director Mahmood Farooqui for allegedly raping a 30-year-old US researcher in 2015. Sniffing a conspiracy behind the rape case against Harak Singh Rawat, BJP today said his vocal style of politics may have prompted his adversaries to lodge a case against the former minister. Here are top five stories of the hour. 1: Mayawati hits out at Athawale, accuses him of harming interests of Dalits BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday accused Union Minister Ramdas Athawale of playing into the hands of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "harming" the interests of Dalits. "With a view to divide Dalit votes and make them work as subordinates to other parties, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have recently inducted some ministers with a slave mentality into the cabinet. RPI's Ramdas Athawale is one of them," she said in a party release. 2: 800 Indians starving in Jeddah, Sushma Swaraj on a mission External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has ignited a new mission to provide food to nearly 800 jobless Indians starving in Saudi city of Jeddah. Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh is traveling to the Gulf nation to sort out the issue. Sushma Swaraj said the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia has been directed to serve food to them and that she was monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. 3: Delhi Court convicts 'Peepli Live' co-director Farooqui for raping US scholar A Delhi court on Saturday convicted 'Peepli Live' co-director Mahmood Farooqui for allegedly raping a 30-year-old US researcher in 2015. Farooqui, who was out on bail, was taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the judgement. 4: Harak Singh rape case: BJP alleges conspiracy behind conspiracy Sniffing a conspiracy behind the rape case against Harak Singh Rawat, BJP today said his vocal style of politics may have prompted his adversaries to lodge a case against the former minister who was disqualified as an MLA along with eight Congress legislators after revolting against the Harish Rawat government. 5: Home Minister Rajnath Singh goes for aerial survey in Assam Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday did an aerial survey to take stock of flood situation in Assam where death toll has gone up to 25. Accompanied by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Singh reviewed flood-affected areas in Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: The prosecution today sought maximum punishment of life imprisonment for the 12 convicts including Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and 26/11 Mumbai attack plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, in the 2006 Aurangabad Arms Haul case till August 2. The special MCOCA court here reserved its order on quantum of sentence till August 2. Special prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade said the entire world was now fighting the terror menace and the convicts were preparing to carry out acts of terrorism. Rebutting the defences argument that the convicts were merely footsoldiers and not the masterminds, Bagade said they were participating in the crime of their own will and not under somebodys pressure or under duress. The convicts were part of the conspiracy too, Bagade said. He also pointed out that Yakub Memon, convicted in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, was not the mastermind of the conspiracy, yet the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. The background of the accused, family or other facts should not be given consideration while convicting, he argued. The main accused are still absconding and if lesser sentence is awarded to the convicts, they (the convicts) may be harmful to the society, Bagade argued. Some of the convicts were accused in other terror cases too, he pointed out. The arms and ammunition seized by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had come from Pakistan and were to be used in India, the prosecutor said. On May 8, 2006, an ATS team chased two cars on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and seized 30 kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets, arresting three persons. Jundal, who was driving one of the cars, escaped. He later fled the country, and was deported to India from Saudi Arabia in 2012. On July 28, the special court for Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act cases convicted 12 persons including Jundal and acquitted eight others. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Pune: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today took a jibe at Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan as he raked up his remark about leaving the country and described it as arrogant. One actor had said that his wife wants to live out of India. It was an arrogant statement. If I am poor and my house is small, I will still love my house and always dream to make a bungalow out of it, he said, without naming Khan. Parrikar was speaking here after releasing the Marathi version journalist-author Nitin Gokhales book on Siachen. In November last year, the PK actor had joined the chorus against growing atmosphere of intolerance, saying he was alarmed by the number of incidents with his wife Kiran Rao even suggesting that they leave the country. When I sit at home and talk to Kiran, she says Should we move out of India? Thats a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm. You feel why this is happening, you feel low. That sense does exist in me, Khan had said. According to Parrikar, when the actor made the statement last year, many people had protested against his remark and even uninstalled the mobile application of an online shopping site he was associated with, while the firm had also pulled out the advertisement featuring him. In an oblique reference to the alleged anti-national sloganeering at JNU earlier this year, Parrikar said those who speak against the nation need to be taught a lesson by people of this country. How come people get guts or courage to speak against the country? Such people who speak against the country need to be taught a lesson by the people of this country, he added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Karachi: Two bomb blasts today rocked the Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Sindh, killing one personnel and injuring 15 others, a day after the new chief minister of the southern province was sworn in. The blasts occurred as a Rangers convoy was coming out of the headquarters on Miro Khan road in Larkana city. The explosives were planted in a bicycle and in a garbage bin close to the headquarters, police officials said. The twin blasts left four Rangers officials injured and one of them later passed away in hospital, police official Qadir Nizamani said. He said 12 other civilians who were passing by the headquarters were also injured in the blasts and taken to hospital for treatment. Nizamani said two suspects have been arrested so far and a search operation was underway to nab other suspects. Hours after the attack, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility in a statement, in which he warned of more such attacks in the future. Larkana was the site of a standoff between the Rangers and the Sindh government and local police earlier this month when the paramilitary force raided government offices to arrest a high-profile member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Asad Kharal and his relative Tariq Kharal. The Rangers later said that Larkana police had helped Kharal escape although he was wanted in corruption cases. Relations between the Rangers and provincial government soured when police arrested the raiding party members who were in plain clothes on charges of trying to kidnap Asad. The Rangers and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials wanted to question Kharal about his alleged role in two corruption cases involving 500 million rupees. In apparent retaliation, the Rangers raided the home of outgoing home minister Anwar Siyal in Larkana and later Asad was arrested from Hyderabad. Earlier this week, two military personnel belonging to the intelligence wing were shot dead in Karachi in a target killing in the busy Saddar area. Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack. Todays bombing attack came a day after Syed Murad Ali Shah was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Sindh province. Shah replaced Syed Qaim Ali Shah and faces a tough challenge of managing law and order in the province. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a first, parents of around 16 lakh students studying in over 2,500 government schools in the national capital today attended a Mega PTM (Parents Teacher Meeting) organised to bring the quality of education at par with that imparted in private schools. From bad handwriting to poor calculations, improper usage of grammar to lack of concentration, good speed to excellent leadership skills, parents were updated about shortcomings and positives of their wards in the meeting, perhaps the first in country for government schools. As parents queued up in government-run schools across the national capital today waiting for their turn to listen to feedback about their wards performance, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia visited several schools to see if all was in order and how were parents responding to this initiative. However, the initiative was overshadowed by an alleged suicide of a girl who ended her life after her mother received negative feedback about her during a PTM at Government Senior Secondary School in Khayala area. BJP attacked the AAP government for making the PTM a mega political show alleging it resulted in suicide of the 12-year-old girl. Today PTMs have been organised in all government schools and parents of 16 lakh students have been invited today to attend the meeting. This is a new experiment and parents are excited about it that they are being involved in the schooling of their children. This is another step towards bringing the quality of education being imparted in government schools at par with that of private schools, Sisodia told reporters. Parents termed the initiative to be an apt start for working towards improved education standards in government schools. We are unable to send our kids to expensive private schools and I am not educated enough to keep a check on my sons activities and performance. This will help me in being updated about his weaknesses and positives, said Ramkishan, a rickshaw puller whose son studies in the school in Nand Nagri. In order to make parents of government school students as stakeholders of education, Sisodia had earlier this week made an announcement for the Mega PTM which he described as first positive dialogue between parents and teachers. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Jammu: Contradictory to Mehbooba Mufti's stand, BJP said security forces had the knowledge of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani's presence at the encounter site.Terming the killing of Wani as "success", Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Sharma said identity of the terrorist "doesn't matter" in such operations."As far as the question of the event (killing of Wani) is concerned, definitely the security forces had the knowledge they knew who was inside and they undertook their job after taking everything into consideration", he said, adding "without information" security forces do not act. He said, "the people who take up gun to disintegrate the nation and don't consider Jammu and Kashmir to be part of India, they are terrorists and deserve to be killed." "...the way our security forces have acted by eliminating the terrorist who wanted to disintegrate the country is worth commendation," Sharma said. Earlier Mehbooba had said the security forces were not aware of Hizbul commander Wani's presence during the July 8 raid at his hideout at Kokernag in South Kashmir in which he was killed.Mehbooba also indicated that had the security forces known about Wani's presence, the situation could have perhaps been controlled better. As far as the statement of chief minister is concerned, we must keep the morale of the security forces high. As the president of the state unit of BJP, I can say the identity of the terrorist does not matter for the security forces." He said Wani carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head and his killing was a "success" for the security forces. He said while security forces were doing a commendable job, it should be ensured that no innocent civilian was killed. About unrest in the Valley, he said the government was trying hard to bring peace in the state. "Some people tried to disrupt the environment in Jammu but people from various walks of life came together and foiled such designs," he said. Rejecting the demand of governor's rule in J and K, Sharma said the need of the hour was that all political parties work for bringing peace in the state. Protests broke out across Kashmir Valley on July, 9, a day after Wani was killed in the encounter. In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 47 persons, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. With 1.3 million citizens, Estonia is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but its ambition is to become one of the largest countries in the world. Not one of the largest geographically or even by number of citizens, however. Largest in e-residents, a category of digital affiliation that it hopes will attract people, especially entrepreneurs. Started two years ago, e-residency gives citizens of any nation the opportunity to set up Estonian bank accounts and businesses that use a verified digital signature and are operated remotely, online. The program is an outgrowth of a digitization of government services that the country launched 15 years ago in a bid to save money on the staffing of government offices. Today Estonians use their mandatory digital identity to do everything from track their medical care to pay their taxes. Estonia is marketing e-residency as a path by which any business owner can set up and run a business in the European Union, E-residency does NOT include a passport and citizenship. Nor do e-residents automatically owe taxes to the country, though digital companies that incorporate there and obtain a physical address can benefit from the countrys low tax rate. The chance to run a business out of Estonia has proven popular enough that almost 700 new businesses have been set up by the nearly 1,000 new e-resident. Last September an Indian citizen flew to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and spent half a day setting up a bank account and a virtual office. In addition to the price of the trip, initial setup costs were around $3,300 (3,000), and he has ongoing expenses of about $480 (440) a year. The Indian system of setting up a new business is tedious by contrast, says Kumartime-consuming, difficult, and expensive. A Serbian high end car services company had been paying credit-card processing fees of 7 percent. By setting up in Estonia, they can settle credit-card transactions through PayPal subsidiary Braintree for 2.9 percent and there is no tax on corporate profits so long as they remain invested in the business. Since getting his e-residency and moving the company to Estonia, profits are up 20 percent, Tasic says. Annual revenue is around $2 million. SOURCE- Technology Review Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State says he is considering reducing the number of work days in the state from five to three, to enable t... Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State says he is considering reducing the number of work days in the state from five to three, to enable the government cut salaries.Okorocha said this while briefing journalists on the state of affairs in Imo at his residence in Owerri on Friday.He said the reduction of work days would enable workers to attend to other activities that would generate money to supplement their monthly salaries to take care of their families.I encourage Imo workers to find additional things to do to support their families because of the economic situation we are facing in Nigeria.We are considering to reduce the working days from five to three in Imo, so that workers will use the rest of the days to work and support their families, he said.Okorocha, who was not specific on when it may commence, added that Imo government was equally planning to review workers salaries downward.He said that in spite of the current payment of 70 percent of salaries to workers, the state still paid the highest salary scale among South-Eastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu.Directors in these other South-Eastern states receive something a little above N90, 000 while in Imo they receive more than N100, 000.We intend to clear salary arrears up to July by next week. After that, we will consider downward review of salary to workers to be at par with other states of South-East, he said.On the just-concluded rerun election, Okorocha commended Imo people for electing the candidates of APC in Imo North Senatorial District, Isiala Mbano and Oru East State Constituencies.He said with the victory, APC had shown that it was strong in the South-East and should be given its due right.With these victories, it shows that APC candidates won most of the national and state assembly seats during the 2015 general elections.I call on the leadership of the National Assembly (Senate), to correct the abnormality in its leadership which resulted in an opposition member occupying the Deputy Senate President seat, he said.On his urban renewal programme, Mr. Okorocha said the relocation of Ekeukwu-Owerri market, Orji and Nekede Mechanic villages to Avu was irreversible.From Monday, Aug. 1, a taskforce to enforce the relocation order for the mechanics will commence work, and I am advising vehicle owners not to take their vehicles to any of these places from Monday, he said. Amina Yahaya has achieved the feat of becoming the first female student union leader in northern Nigeria for the first time in more than... Amina Yahaya has achieved the feat of becoming the first female student union leader in northern Nigeria for the first time in more than three decades.Asides breaking the norm of male leadership, Yahaya, a 400 level student of English, is also the first woman to lead the students of Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto state.Najatu Mohammed, prominent activist and politician, became the first SUG president of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, more than 30 years ago.She is believed to have contested the post and won in the early 80s, which earned her the record of the first female to lead a student union in Africa.Speaking to the BBC Hausa service, Yahaya said she didnt always get the support of her female colleagues.When it comes to leadership issues we [women] are own enemies, the new student union leader said.We dont support one another mostly because some of us assume that women are arrogant so I wont support her. When I came to this university, there was only one female professor in my department. Shes been my role model.Yahaya, who was elected vice president of the schools union in September 2015, took over the office on Wednesday after the impeachment of the elected SUG president.On Wednesday, Umar Faruk Said, the former student union leader, was impeached after getting a no confidence vote from the legislative arm of the student assembly.Said was accused of abusing the provision of the unions constitution by withdrawing N200, 000 from the coffers without approval, among other alleged misdemeanours.In the interview with BBC, Yahaya further disclosed her aspiration to go into national politics in the future and possibly break more glass ceilings.In May, Lauretta Obakpolo, another female 400-level Pharmacy student, was elected president of the Students Union Government (SUG) of the University of Benin (UNIBEN).Obakpolo beat five other candidates to win the election with 2,283 votes. Some residents of riverside communities in Lagos State are selling off their lands and houses in fear following attacks by suspected Niger... Some residents of riverside communities in Lagos State are selling off their lands and houses in fear following attacks by suspected Niger Delta militants in the areas.In the first week following the last attack by militants in Igbo-Olomu and Isawo areas of Ikorodu, residents fled hurriedly to avoid being killed.But during a visit to the communities, our correspondents learnt that the residents had gone beyond fleeing the troubled communities to selling their houses, lands and other properties in panic.The panic sale was confirmed by the head of the Olomu family, the main landowner in Igbo Olomu.A real estate agent, Ojo Alaso, told newsmen that he had been approached by at least three people, whom he had helped to buy lands in the areas.Alaso said, I cannot blame them, all the things happening here are enough to scare anyone.Honestly, I know this problem will be addressed one day, but people have become so scared of the attacks that they are having a rethink about living here.One of the men who told me to help resell his land already planned that by the end of this year, he might start the construction works. But he called me early in the week to inform me that he was no longer interested in the building plan.They are even willing to sell the lands below the market value.In Igbo-Olomu, a plot of land close to the major road is sold for between N3m and N4m, while in Isawo, it goes for up to N5.5m, one real estate agent, David Ashana, told newsmen.But as you go inwards, the cost can be as low as N400, 000 and as high as N1.5m, Ashana, said.The agent explained that a woman who bought a land in the area for N900, 000 about seven months ago had now put it up for sale for N500, 000.If you have N400, 000 you can buy it from her, you only need to pay my commission, he added.When our source visited the office of the Olomu family, a man who was later identified as the Olori Ebi (family head), explained that he had been receiving reports about people putting their houses up for sale.He said, People dont feel safe because of the insecurity caused by militants. This is a serious issue; the policemen deployed here do not patrol the inner areas of the community.So, people may be raped and killed in the interior parts of our community and the policemen will not do anything. This is why people are selling their properties. The police presence here is not effective.He directed one of our correspondents to a street where an agent announced on a signpost that a house was available for sale in the community.When one of correspondents called the agent over the phone, he said he was out of town but gave a description of the location of the three-bedroomed house previously occupied by the owner until he fled the area about a month ago.The man who owns the house decided to sell it two weeks ago and N2.5m is the asking price, he said.The cost of land alone in that same location is between N1.2m and N1.5m.An estate agent, Mr. Victor Oluyi, who said his company had dealt with a number of clients in that part of Ikorodu, Lagos, explained that normally, a finished three-bedroomed house is worth over N4m in the area.A community leader and rights activist in the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid being killed by militants, told reporters that a man simply identified as Aroso Alajo (a popular thrift collector) wanted to sell his three-bedroomed house. The asking price for the house, according to him, is N2.5m.He said another resident he identified as Pastor Ogunsanwo had also put his house up for sale.The rights activist said, My opinions were published in the newspapers after the attacks in the community. The militants said if I did not keep my mouth shut, I would die.We were there when the militants first killed nine people in our area. Right now, no fewer than 40 residents have been killed in the community. They even beheaded some of the victims and took their heads away. So, people selling their lands and houses are not overreacting at all.One of our correspondents, who visited the Aroso Alajos house, noticed that no single person was in sight in the whole area. It was learnt that none of the residents had returned to the area.A commercial motorcyclist said it was too risky to visit the house put up for sale by Pastor Ogunsanwo earlier identified.He said the area was too deserted but took one of our correspondents to another house, a storey building with a servants quarters with at least half a plot extra land. It was put up for sale for N5m by the owner.At Totowu, a community in Igando area of Lagos, that had initially been attacked by militants few weeks ago, residents are also disposing of their homes in fear.Findings by newsmen showed that a good number of landlords had already put their houses up for sale fearing that the militants might strike again anytime.They promised to clear our community, so what is the use of staying here, when none of the security agencies has visited this place since the last attack. Since the militants promised to come back, Im sure they will have a field day, so its best to run away before they come, a landlord said.Meanwhile, all the houses on offer for sale are at prices far below their market value.It is so bad that most of us just want to sell before we are killed by those boys, because it doesnt even seem this place will be safe in the nearest future, the landlord, who identified himself as Jonathan, said.Jonathan said he had already succeeded in selling his property, a three-bedroomed flat for N2m. He said it was a better option for him as he didnt know what would become of the area in years to come, more so that the militants could make good their threat.Jonathan said, If they succeed with that threat, we would be killed while the houses would be gone as well.Although a plot of land in the area costs around N1m, Jonathan explained that he spent N4m to complete the house.Though there are no To Let boards on the properties, our correspondents learnt from reliable sources within the estate that many properties were already put up for sale and the owners were ready to sell them at any reasonable price.On one of the streets is an uncompleted four-bedroomed flat. The construction has reached lintel level but the owner has already sold it for a meagre N600, 000.A resident confided in two of our correspondents that the owner of the building sold it to raise money to relocate. One of the landlords said, I can confirm to you that some of us are offering our properties for sale. Two people have sold their own already. Somebody sold a bungalow for N2m. And another person sold his four-bedroomed flat to avoid staying there and be killed by militants.There are many houses for sale now and they are very cheap. All of them are on a dry land. If you want to buy a house, whether completed or uncompleted, just come. You will get many of them because many people want to sell.Since that incident, some people have not come back because there is this fear that the militants could come back. Some even told us to help them look for buyers. There is no police presence since then. They have not deployed their men. In fact, we are living under the mercy of God here.In same vein, Iyewo Estate in Akesan, Igando area of Lagos is another community that had come under attack by the militants earlier in the month.As a result of the attack, some residents had fled the community, while some others, who seem to have lost hope in the security of the place, have put up their houses for sale.At least two landlords on Samuel Olaoluwa Street are said to be looking for buyers for their houses. Meanwhile, a source close to the landlords said they seemed ready to accept any reasonable offer just to hurriedly flee the area.Commenting on the development and its impact on property values, an estate surveyor and valuer, Mr. Dipo Fakorede, said, Of course, it will have effect on property values, because when everybody is leaving a particular location, it means the area is not safe and when there are no demand for properties, automatically the prices will crash. Definitely the prices, both rental and sale, will crash.Meanwhile, some speculators will take advantage of the situation. When people are abandoning their properties and selling at ridiculous prices, people who have the cash would definitely buy, although for future advantage. This is because by the time the insecurity there is addressed, the values will keep rising and people who have taken advantage of that would be laughing to the bank.On whether it is a good idea to buy such a property, some people might think you are taking advantage of the victims, but there is nothing wrong for any investor who wants to buy such a property inasmuch as they are not going to the bank to borrow the money.However, the police in Lagos said the panic in the areas previously attacked were unjustified, promising that they are on top of the situation.People dont have to move out of the areas, the Lagos State Police Command is on top of the situation, spokesperson for the police in Lagos, Dolapo Badmos told newsmen.On Thursday, news filtered in that the military in company with other security agencies were conducting operations in Ikorodu, Lagos. The operation was also extended to Arepo and Ibafo areas of Ogun State where the military bombed some militants hideouts. Former Governor of Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel has announced that he will no longer seek the chairmanship position of the Peoples D... Former Governor of Ogun state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel has announced that he will no longer seek the chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the national convention billed for August 17 in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, but will be supporting High Chief Raymond Dokpesi for the post.The two term governor stated this when he hosted Dokpesi and his team at Conference Hotel & Suites, Sagamu, adding that he has confidence in the ability of the media mogul to rebuild the party and make it the darling of Nigerians.He said he has been under pressure from stakeholders to contest but he will abandon his ambition to support Dokpesi. I have known High Chief for more than four decades and it beholds on me that I should support him whenever he is seeking any position, he said amidst applause. Chief Dokpesi thanked Otunba Daniel, assuring him that he will not disappoint as he will work assiduously to bring unity to PDP South West and ensure that the party wins elections in the region.The PDP delegates from Ogun state prayed for him and pledged their support during the convention.Ogun is the 13th state visited by Dokpesi and his team made up of former Chief Whip of the senate, Victor Kassim Oyofo; Edo state PDP organizing secretary, Hon. Henry Duke Tenebe; former chairman of PDP Kaduna, Chief Abubakar Gaiya Haruna and his Nasarawa counterpart, Chief Yunaha Iliya. Others were Mrs. Kafilat Ogbara, Prince Lekan Tejuoso, Benson Olaoluwa, Sola Kuti among others. The police in Lagos State has commenced investigation into an alleged scam regarding the sum of N30 million appeal fund raised for a pat... The police in Lagos State has commenced investigation into an alleged scam regarding the sum of N30 million appeal fund raised for a patient at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Miss Mayowa Ahmed.Following an order by the states Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni that the matter be investigated, the police yesterday invited the founder of LIFESTAKE foundation, Ms Aramide Kasumu, and two of Mayowas relatives, Mr Iwaloye Seun and Mrs Zaneen Ahmed, to assist in the investigation.A statement issued yesterday by the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police also said the the Access Bank account opened for the fund raiser as well as the management of the GoFund Me account were being investigated.Trouble had started when Mayowas family members posted her picture on the social media, saying she needed N30 million for her treatment at Emory International Hospital, Atlanta, USA.Realising that Mayowa is an alumnus of her secondary school, popular Nollywood actress, Toyin Aimakhu, was said to have involved herself actively in the campaign for Save Mayowa fund and grew very familiar with the patient and members of her family.Aimakhu was, however, shocked to visit Mayowa at LUTH after the campaign had generated more than N30 million only to be told that she could no longer see the patient because the family had instructed that no visitor should be allowed access to her.The situation prompted Aimakhu to suspect a foul play on the part of the family and raised the alarm that the fund-raiser was a scam perpetrated by Mayowas family members.Badmoss statement yesterday said the Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, had directed that full scale investigation be launched into the report that the Save Mayowa campaign is a fraud.Founder of LIFESTAKE foundation, Ms Aramide Kasumu, and two members of the ailing Aramide Shukura Ahmeds family, Mr Iwaloye Seun and Mrs Zaneen Ahmed, were earlier today invited to the commands headquarter on a fact finding mission, the statement added.Consequently, the command has placed a red alert on the Access Bank account opened in the name of Mayowa, as it has been frozen while effort is ongoing to contact the managers of Gofundme online account so as to ensure funds raised through that platform is not fraudulently diverted.Investigation will be extended to LUTH hospital, Idi-Araba where the patient is currently undergoing treatment.The command wishes to inform all the good spirited people who had donated generously to this cause that it will ensure it does not return as a hoax and every outcome of the investigation shall be made open. A popular blogger, Linda Ikeji, had reported on Thursday that some people involved in raising money to save Mayowa had told her that it was a scam.According to the report, Mayowas condition was terminal and doctors at LUTH, where Mayowa is on admission after she was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer had given up on her case, adding that the family was aware of this but went ahead to raise funds for her treatment.Youtube videos on Thursday showed the actress Toyin Aimakhu being accosted at LUTH by some people who accused her of telling Linda Ikeji that Mayowas case was a fraud.The actress was also seen in the video denying talking to Linda Ikeji.Mayowas story had gone viral last weekend when she made a video of herself pleading for funds to save her life.According to her, she needed N32 million to save her life and had been able to raise over N6.5 million. This prompted Aimakhu to pay Mayowa a visit at LUTH on Monday.Aimakhu posted pictures of her and Mayowa on her Instagram account and pleaded with Nigerians to help fund a Go Fund Me account opened for that purpose.This is Mayowa, she wrote. I dont know her. I have never met her. The only thing I know about her is that she is my fan. I am an actress and I believe this is the time to use my voice. We need your help.However, on Thursday, Aimakhu again posted that there was a fake Go Fund Me account using Mayowas case and the public should be aware of this.Please, to the public, this is so so fake. No more gofunds on behalf of Mayowa and whoever is behind this, shame on you. Please disregard any information about her.If you need any information, kindly get in touch with me. I will bring more information tonight again. Whoever created this account, shame on you again.And lastly to all our pastors, alfas and traditionalists and everyone, please, she needs our prayers more now, and Im sure God wants to use Mayowas case to let us know we Nigerians love ourselves and we are the best country in the world.The development left many many Nigerians confused as to what to believe.A snapshot of the Go Fund Me account that was raised for Mayowa said she was diagnosed with bilateral Ovarian Mass Carcinoma and needed 100, 000 dollars for treatment at Emory International Hospital, Atlanta, USA.But according to Linda Ikeji, there is no letter from Emory Hospital inviting her over. Mayowa does not have a US visa and the cancer has even spread to her liver.The blog added that some of Mayowas family members are being detained at Area D in Mushin (Lagos) while they investigate.But the Ahmed family members on Thursday denied that the Save Mayowa appeal was a scam.In a statement, they said that the sole purpose the funds were raised was to take Mayowa abroad for proper medical care.As a family, we want to make these affirmative statements, the statement reads, noting that some people doubted her surviving her present condition.Mayowa is presently at LUTH receiving treatment for her seven-hour trip to Abu Dhabi. We also engaged the services of Flying Doctors to accompany her on the trip based on recommendation by doctors in LUTH.She is receiving treatment to allow her to be able to travel as advised by doctors. Shes been transfused to help improve her PCV.The funds raised are solely for Mayowas treatment and for no other reason. We await her visa to commence the journey as we are in touch with the doctors abroad and they are awaiting her arrival.We appreciate the contributions made by Nigerians on this journey. Mayowa will live to tell this story and you shall be one of the audiences by His grace.We have been misled by the so-called top hospitals in Nigeria and have only helped to make the issue worse. We require every support to help to give our dear Mayowa another attempt to regain her life and live the remaining as God has ordained.In an interview granted to online news platform, Pulse.ng, Mayowas sister, Mariam Ahmed, said her sister has sickle cell and ovarian cancer and said Linda Ikeji cooked up her story. Two workers of the Nasarawa State Civil Service were feared dead while five others sustained various degrees of injury when an officer of ... Two workers of the Nasarawa State Civil Service were feared dead while five others sustained various degrees of injury when an officer of the Nasarawa State Police Command shot at protesting workers during a visit by the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress to the state.The National President of NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, stated this while briefing journalists at the police clinic on Friday in Lafia, the state capital, where four workers who were shot at were receiving treatment.He said the incident took place at the Nasarawa State Government House while the leadership of the organised labour was negotiating with the state government over the 50 per cent salary deduction of workers in the state.Wabba said that of the four workers, one was killed, another was unconscious, one was receiving treatment, while the fourth victim had been treated.He gave the name of the dead worker as Ali Umbugadu, a staff member of the Ministry of Education.The other victims were: Mr. Musa Saliyu, a staff member of the Finance Department, Doma Local Government Area of the state, who survived with gunshot wounds; Mrs. Salamatu Mohammed, a judicial worker critically ill; and Mr. Rabiu Mohammed, a journalist for Nigerian Newsday, a state-owned media outfit, was unconscious.Our correspondent gathered that a police officer was also attacked during the mayhem.The NLC president said, It is really an unfortunate situation where workers were attacked with maximum force. You can see one dead and three critically ill. These were workers who were protesting for their rights. Their salaries were cut by 50 per cent without following due process by the state government and they were protesting in a very peaceful manner.In fact, they escorted us to Government House where we were going to have the meeting to resolve the issue, but the police opened fire on them. That is most unfortunate.Wabba called on the police authorities to do everything possible to fish out the officer responsible for the shootings and disengage him.Failure to do so would lead to the organised labour embarking on a nationwide protest against police brutality, he said.He however called on workers in the state to remain calm and be law-abiding as the national leadership of the union would do everything possible to safeguard their rights.The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Abubakar Bello, said the police would investigate the incident. The military has defended its decision to dislodge vandals and militants operation at Arepo with Air Force strikes, saying it was due... The military has defended its decision to dislodge vandals and militants operation at Arepo with Air Force strikes, saying it was due to the inaccessibility of the swampy hideouts of the criminals.It said the joint operation involving the Army, Police, State Security Service (SSS) and Civil Defence engaged the Air Force to capture wider latitude of the vandals shanties and nab suspected operatives.The military swung into action last Thursday following a directive of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to smoke out criminals operating in the entirety of Arepo and its extensions to parts of Lagos.The Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, addressing the media, said the obnoxious development of kidnapping, robbery attacks and vandalism, which has overtime saturated the area, prompted military strikes.He said the force was yet to put a figure to the number of casualties recorded in its first strike action as it was yet to wholly penetrate the creeks.According to him, the military was fully braced up with well-wrought strategies to demolish their base.He said: We have commenced an ongoing operation around Arepo.We are all very familiar with the ugly situation that have been developing around Arepo, ranging from pipeline vandalism to kidnapping, armed robbery, and so on.Just last month, we got directive from the Chief of Defence Staff that we should carry out an operation to the general area of Arepo, with a view to dismantling vandals shanties scattered around Arepo, Ibafo, Ishawo.Initially, we were directed not to use air power, but when we carried out assessment of the operation area, a lot of them had moved from areas accessible by water and land to areas that are very swampy, into the mangroves of the area.We had to get back to the CDS that the best way we can take out these targets is by the use of air power, and the CDS granted us permission to do a general re-assessment and employ attack helicopters to take out those targets.We had to use air power because of the nature of the terrain.He explained that an assessment of the target area revealed that oil bunkering operation was ongoing at full fledge.The military vowed to bring to book the sponsors of the act and thwart the extant market they supply.Yesterday, we initiated the operation and we were able to knock off some targets, then a surveillance aircraft went up to do the after battle surveillance for us.We were able to interpret the video clip, and we could see that after the first attack, they came out from where they were hiding with guns.We could see one of their canoes which they mounted a GPMG on it. The interpretation is that all that is happening there is deliberate and well planned since they could arm themselves to that magnitude.It is our wish that at the end of this operation, we would find a means to go into the place to comb that general area.We anticipated that some of them will run away and the only two ways they could leave that place is either by land or water.The land component: the army, the police, Civil defence have identified some get-away routes.The get-away routes by water, the naval forces have blocked them. We have also employed the SSS.On the other hand, we have blocked escape routes towards Ogun State.The essence of having blockages on land is that when they are running out, we would be able to grab them, profile them, investigate them and trace their sponsors.Being in business means that they have a market. We want to identify that market. We are going to sustain this operation and see where it would take us.Bobai noted that the two states involved, Lagos and Ogun states, have been adequately informed of the operation, adding that residents had no cause to panic.We are in touch with Ogun and Lagos state governments because the general operation area lies between the states, he said. Most wanted.jpg Harold Flint Jr. and Alejandro Rivera (submitted photos) BRIDGETON -- The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office would like your help in finding two of their most-wanted fugitives. Harold Flint Jr., 39, is being sought on two Superior Court of New Jersey Family Court warrants for failing to pay $97,328.87 in child support payments. Flint is described as a white male, 5-foot-9-inches tall, 190 pounds, with hazel eyes and brown hair. He has a tattoo on his right hand "Christy." His last known address was Lodge Place in Millville. Alejandro Rivera, 39, is being sought on seven Superior Court of New Jersey Criminal Court warrants for failure to appear. Rivera is described as a white male, 5-foot9-inches tall, 160 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. He has a tattoo on his right hand " Perdon madre." His last known address was East Street in Millville. Sheriff Robert A. Austino asks anyone who comes in contact with these individuals to call the police immediately. You should contact state or local police, or the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department TIP-LINE at 856-451-0625. If you know the whereabouts of this individual, share this information anonymously by downloading the CCPOTIP App at the Android or iPhone Store and choosing Cumberland County Sheriff's Department, submitting an anonymous tip via text to 847411 with CCSONJ and your tip in the message line or going to the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Facebook page and clicking "submit a tip" and submitting a tip to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department. Citizens are reminded not to approach, confront, or detain these fugitives. Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook. UPDATE: Shooting of 76-year-old man by State Police a 'tragic mistake,' family friend says UPPER DEERFIELD TWP. -- A man was wounded after an exchange of gunfire with state police late Friday night, authorities say. A man was wounded after opening fire on state troopers, authorities said. (File Photo) Troopers from the Bridgeton Station were called to a township home around 11:30 p.m. for a 911 hang-up call, according to New Jersey Stage Police Sgt. Greg Williams. As troopers approached an unidentified male at a home there, there was an exchange of gunfire between the man and police, according to Williams. The troopers were not injured. The wounded suspect was taken to an area hospital for treatment and the scene where the shooting took place was cleared by 12:30 a.m. Saturday, Williams said. Reports said the incident took place on Centerton Road, but Williams could not confirm that information. Williams said state police had no other details immediately available. Upper Deerfield: Troopers exchanged gunfire w/ subject outside home after 911 call. Subject struck and being treated, troopers not hit. NJSP - State Police (@NJSP) July 30, 2016 Since it was a police-involved shooting, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office's Shooting Response Team is taking over the investigation, Williams said. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said a statement on the shooting would be released Saturday afternoon. Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook. This story has been updated here. NEWARK -- A person identified only as a male was shot and killed Friday afternoon, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. The shooting occurred around 5 p.m. on South 20th Street, said Kathy Carter, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office. No additional information was available Friday night. The shooting occurred around the time police were removing a 64-year-old man from a 7th Avenue home following a lengthy standoff with SWAT officers. Earlier Friday, authorities say the man stabbed his wife in the chest. She was in critical condition at University Hospital. Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 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. Natural Gas Rises Natural gas sprang to life this week, jumping up by 21 cents per million BTUs on Thursday. The increase in natural gas stockpiles was only 17 billion cubic feet, which is the smallest increase in summertime for the last ten years. One of the reasons for the small increase was the fact that the eastern seaboard has been having unusually hot weather. More people have been running their air conditioners to combat the heat, so more natural gas is being used to power the AC. The reduced stockpile has some traders concerned this could affect natural gas in the winter, when it becomes the primary fuel for heating homes. US farmers use natural gas for grain production for drying crops in the bin and gas serves as the major component for producing nitrogen fertilizers in the US. Forward thinking corn growers must now add gas prices, along with insects, weeds, and weather, to their watch lists. Gasoline Prices Continue South Unlike natural gas supplies, which continue to decline, the world-wide production of gasoline cant seem to hit the brakes. The glut is worsening as crude producers continue to pump, refineries continue to crack, and storage tanks of unleaded of all sizes are filled to the brim. Inventories are now 11% over this time last year despite increased demand from summer drivers who are thrilled about cheap fuel. The one big question on the mind of drillers, refiners, and investors is will the price of crude be able to hold above $40.00 per barrel? Dollar Dumping Helps Commodities The U.S. dollar dropped on Friday when the weaker than anticipated U.S. gross domestic product report came in way weaker than expected. Virtually all commodities, from soybeans to silver and from crude to cattle, saw a boost at weeks end as a weak dollar makes our exports cheaper and more attractive to international buyers whose paper suddenly will buy more. Soybeans jumped 17 cents, gold and platinum rose over $15 per ounce, crude recovered 11 cents, sugar was up almost 2%, and foreign currencies rallied significantly. As of midday Friday, the Japanese yen, for example, blasted up 3% on the day. Opinions are solely the writers. Walt & Alex Breitinger are commodity futures brokers with Paragon Investments in Silver Lake, KS. They can be reached at (800) 411-3888 or www.paragoninvestments.com. This is not a solicitation of any order to buy or sell any market. Roy Davis, a Kouts resident who retired after 24 years from the former Bethlehem Steel mill in Burns Harbor, takes 10 different prescription drugs for heart disease and various ailments. He was in for a shock when he went to refill two prescriptions this month. Two prescriptions that had previously cost him $5 each now had $75 copays. I need them just so I can function on a daily basis, he said. Its a 1,500 percent increase. How can they expect you to live? Davis is just one of thousands of retirees who faced greater out-of-pocket costs when they were switched over to a Medicare Advantage Plan on July 1st after ArcelorMittal workers ratified a new contract with the Luxembourg-based steelmaker. Forged out of the collapse of the steel industry in the early 2000s, ArcelorMittal took over the former LTV, Ipsat Inland, and Bethlehem Steel mills, as well as the health care plans of their retirees. The Inland Steel mill alone has 15,000 living retirees, according to the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees. Under the new contract, retirees health care premiums have risen 42 percent from $35 a month to $50 a month, or from $70 a month to $100 a month for retired couples. Deductibles increased from $250 per family under the old company plan to $322 through Medicare. And maximum copays shot up from $600 a year to up to $2,500 a year for married couples. This is a bunch of BS, Davis said. This is a billion dollar company. I gave my health and my life for that mill, and this is how Ive been treated. He said most of his health problems originated from his work relining ladles with heavy brick for decades. Its hard on your back, your arms, your shoulders, your joints, he said. The bricks can weigh 10, 12, 14 pounds a piece. Its hot dirty work. Davis is on a fixed income, so hes worried he just wont be able to afford all his prescription medications. The two prescriptions with the $75 copays were the first he filled, so he still had eight to go and didnt know what the copays would be on those. Im just trying to live, he said. Im trying not to die from a heart attack or heart disease. I need my heart medicine. I take four meds for my heart alone. Im scared. United Steelworkers union officials said they got the best deal they could under the circumstances when negotiating the contract last year and into this one. Last year was when foreign imports grabbed a record 29 percent market share. There have been 19,000 layoffs of steelworkers and iron ore miners nationwide. Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees, or SOAR, had made several demands during bargaining, such as that health care premiums remain untouched and coverage get extended to surviving spouses who were married after retirement, SOAR Secretary Don Lutes said. ArcelorMittal USA CEO John Brett said in a recent blog post the company had to contain health care costs, which totaled $250 million for active employees last year, and nearly as much for retirees. That was a 7 percent increase compared to 2014 and a 42 percent increase compared to 2009. Under the new contract, the steelmaker will stop paying $25 million per quarter into the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association trust, which pays medical benefits for retirees of legacy companies like ISG and Ispat Inland. The balance in that trust is now about $600 million. ArcelorMittal wont pay any more into that fund until 2018, and then it will only contribute 5 percent of its earnings before interest and taxes each quarter. In 2015, retiree health care benefits cost ArcelorMittal more than $225 million, Brett wrote in the blog post. Under the new labor pact, ArcelorMittal retirees are shouldering more of the cost with the first premium increases since 2008, and the federal government will be picking up a bigger piece of their health care tab through its Medicare program. The new contract ends employer-sponsored retiree health care for new hires altogether, and instead deposits $0.50 per hour worked into a 401(k). Mitigating the exponential rise in health care costs was essential for the sustainability of our company moving forward, Brett wrote. CHICAGO Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced sweeping charges against dozens of alleged Latin Kings street gang members including nine in Northwest Indiana accused of using violence to further the gangs operations. Zachary Fardon, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced new charges Tuesday in Chicago alongside U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana David Capp, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, and federal agency heads. Law enforcement officials from Gary and East Chicago also were present. In all, 26 alleged Latin Kings gang members have been accused in an ongoing investigation into the gangs operations in Northwest Indiana. Two separate indictments out of Chicago accuse 34 gang members in the citys western suburbs and Southeast Side of using violent means to control territories, distribute drugs and kill rival gang members, according to court documents. Fardon called the geographical scope of the investigation and indictments breathtaking, saying law enforcement agencies have been working for years to bring charges against dozens of alleged gang members. During the afternoon news conference at the Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, Capp called criminal organizations like the Latin Kings a regional problem that requires the blurring of state lines and cooperation from law enforcement. Weve got defendants from Indiana, to our biggest cities to our smallest farm communities over a four-county area. It is a regional problem, and to address a regional problem, it needs a regional team of law enforcement, Capp said. Reynaldo Sneaky Robles, 24, of Portage; Nicholas Cali Baez, 22, of Whiting; Antonio Stacks Gamino, 19, of Griffith; Efren Payoso DelAngel, 21, of Hammond; Mark Anthony Slim Toney, 37, of Lake Village; William Dennis Salazar, 40, of Hammond; Darrick Vallodolid, 27, of Hobart; Robert Cowboy Nieto, 42, of Gary; and Peter Pudge Salinas, 30, of Hammond, are accused of taking part in a conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity and to distribute narcotics in Northwest Indiana and elsewhere. Seventeen alleged members and associates in Northwest Indiana previously were indicted in connection with the investigation. The indictments allege members of the Latin Kings violently enforce discipline within its ranks, retaliating against rivals and former members to prevent cooperation with law enforcement. The indictment accuses gang members of various acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, witness retaliation, sex trafficking, narcotics distribution and assault with dangerous weapons. The new charges allege, in part, that Latin King gang members are responsible for a deadly shooting in July 2011 in Hammond and another fatal shooting at Estrellas Bar in August 2014 in Hammond. One listed defendant, Robles, is accused of taking direction July 18, 2011, from Aldon Spooky Perez, who was indicted previously, to shoot and kill Travis Nash, believed to be a rival gang member in Hammond. After the news conference Tuesday, Gary Deputy Chief Derrick Cannon said the indictments are significant in slowing down the Latin Kings operations in Northwest Indiana and the rest of the Region. This shows law enforcement is serious about going after violent criminals and actively investigating these gangs, Cannon said. Capp said just two of the nine gang members indicted from Northwest Indiana have eluded arrest as of Tuesday afternoon. He offered a warning Tuesday to those alleged gang members still out on the streets. If you are a member 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, we are coming after you and you are next, he said. CHEYENNE, Wyo. A woman who was recently released from prison in Oregon robbed a bank in Wyoming only to throw the cash up in the air outside the building and sit down to wait for police, authorities said Friday. Investigators say 59-year-old Linda Patricia Thompson told them she wanted to go back to prison. Thompson said she had suffered facial fractures after strangers beat her at a Cheyenne park last weekend. She said she couldn't get a room at a homeless shelter and decided to rob the bank Wednesday because she could no longer stay on the streets, court records say. She faces a detention hearing Tuesday on a bank robbery charge and doesn't have an attorney yet. FBI Special Agent Tory Smith said in court documents that Thompson entered a US Bank branch in Cheyenne and handed a teller a cardboard note that said, "I have a gun. Give me all your money." The teller turned over thousands of dollars. Outside, Thompson threw money into the air and even offered some to people passing by, Smith stated. He added that Cheyenne police Lt. Nathan Busek said he found Thompson with a large sum of money when he arrived at the bank. "Lt. Busek asked Thompson what was going on, and Thompson replied, 'I just robbed the bank, I want to go back to prison,'" Smith wrote. Thompson had been serving time at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, for a second-degree robbery conviction in Union County until her release in June, Betty Bernt, communications manager with the Oregon Department of Corrections, said Friday. Thompson told investigators then that she didn't want to be released and advised the Oregon state parole office that she would not do well on parole. An attempt to reach Thompson's parole officer for comment wasn't successful on Friday. GARY Police are investigating after two men opened fire on a man and woman as they fled from a bus stop Thursday night in the citys downtown section. Police were dispatched to the 700 block of Broadway Street about 10:40 p.m. Thursday, according to Gary Police Cpl. Douglas Drummond. There, a man and woman, both 18 of Gary, told police they were approached by two individuals, one of whom they knew, at a bus stop at Fourth and Washington streets. A physical altercation ensued. The man and woman fled on foot from the bus stop when the two men driving a black truck and a burgundy vehicle fired several gunshots at them. Police say the confrontation stemmed from an incident that occurred earlier in the day in Indianapolis. The man and woman were uninjured. Anyone with information is asked to call Gary Police Sgt. Dan Callahan at (219) 881-1210. HAMMOND A 23-year-old Hammond man was wounded in a shooting outside a party early Friday outside a home a few blocks from City Hall, police said. A person flagged down a Hammond police officer about 2 a.m. near Highland Street and Tapper Avenue and reported the shooting, Lt. Richard Hoyda said. Police located the 23-year-old, who had been shot in the lower body area. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, Hoyda said. Police learned the man was leaving a house party in the 900 block of Merrill Street and was outside the residence when he was shot, Hoyda said. An argument among several women at the party continued outside the residence just before the shooting, he said. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Lt. David Carter at (219) 852-2984. The Civil War years were a difficult time for the great American poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his family. Julie Franklin described their struggles in a 2006 speech to the Brigham Young University student body. She said: The fighting . . . touched the lives of the Longfellow family personally. Mr. Longfellows son Charles, who had enlisted in the Union Army at 17 years of age, had arrived home about two weeks prior to Christmas 1863 after being critically injured in a battle. While Charles eventually recovered from his wounds, his father was likely concerned about the long-term health of his son and of his country. In addition to these concerns, Mr. Longfellow continued to feel the grave loss of his beloved wife, Francis Appleton Longfellow, also known as Fanny. In 1861, the same year the Civil War broke out, Fanny died from injuries she sustained when her light summer dress ignited in their home. The light weight of the fabric and the hoops she wore allowed ample oxygen to feed the flames and Mrs. Longfellow was quickly engulfed. Mr. Longfellow attempted to extinguish the fire and was himself burned in the process. With her death, he was left to raise five children and manage the affairs of his home as a single parent. Sadly, these were not the only terrible sorrows in the life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Fanny was his second wife; together with her they had a daughter who died at the age of 17 months. Longfellows first wife, Mary Potter Longfellow, died shortly after miscarrying during the sixth month of pregnancy. Tragedies like those experienced by the Longfellow family would fill many of us with anger, self-pity and bitterness. We should be particularly grateful that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow somehow refused to allow his life to be swallowed up in such feelings. Had that occurred, we might never have heard nor sung these words we know so well, for they came from his pen on Christmas Day, 1863: Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men. Till, ringing, singing, on its way, the world revolved from night to day, a voice, a chime, a chant sublime of peace on earth, good will to men! There is tragedy on a monumental scale all around us. Recent months have seen a parade of heart-stopping headlines telling of despicable acts of violence. Lives at home and abroad have been shattered and forever changed. We search desperately for meaning in the mayhem and find little; we look for answers, hoping for an illuminated path forward, and none appears. There are no quick solutions, and glib answers dont cut it. Were reminded that solutions require hard work, and we may not get it right. Most of the horrible sorrows we experience will never make the front page. These gut-wrenching challenges are more often than not beyond our control, deeply personal and known only to us individually. Again, no easy solutions or answers. Deep inside, we know that for many of lifes greatest tests the only way out is through, and the thought terrifies us. How do we do it? When we face lifes greatest trials, how do we find anything remotely resembling peace? Though difficult, a measure of peace is possible as we endure our private Gethsemanes. Where do we find that peace? Consider the answer found in the beautiful hymn Where Can I Turn for Peace? by Emma Lou Thayne and Joleen G. Meredith: Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole? When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice, I draw myself apart, searching my soul? Where, when my aching grows, where, when I languish, where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only one. He answers privately, reaches my reaching in my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. Constant he is and kind, love without end. Who can understand? He, only one. He who reaches our reaching and is constant and kind brings peace to our beseeching. He, only one. A man has pleaded guilty in connection with a series of barn fires set last year in several northern Indiana counties. The South Bend Tribune reports that an Elkhart County judge gave preliminary approval Monday to the plea agreement with Joseph Hershberger who was charged with eight counts of arson. The fires were started in Elkhart, Kosciuosko, Marshall and St. Joseph counties between April and October in 2021. Police say eight of the fires were in Elkhart County. Hershberger was arrested in December. Sherry Thomas, his girlfriend, also was charged late last year with eight counts of arson. VALPARAISO The Porter County Sheriff's Department is wading into the national debate over the use of body cameras by seeking to equip each of its officers with the documenting technology. "We think it's the right thing to do," said Porter County Sheriff Dave Reynolds. The cameras will better protect both the officers and the public by providing a visual record and verification of what transpires during calls, he said. The debate over the cameras heated up in the wake of several high-profile cases across the country of alleged police brutality caught on law enforcement and civilian cameras. Reynolds voiced confidence in the conduct of his officers. "It's not a secret what we do," he said. The Hammond Police Department equipped each of its officers with body cameras last year as part of an effort to improve community relations "through improved officer accountability and transparency." Reynolds' proposal surfaced during a Porter County Council meeting last week when officials from the department appeared seeking to secure the necessary funding from a federal drug enforcement forfeiture fund. The council tabled the request after asking for more information. Reynolds said he will need between $40,000 and $50,000 a year to equip every officer with body cameras. That price, which includes the hardware, software and cloud storage, could come down after the program is in place. There is about $109,000 available through the forfeiture fund for the effort, he said. The department is working on developing policies and procedures involving the cameras, he said, and will be testing out a couple of different types of equipment before choosing a preferred make. He hopes to have the entire proposal together by late August or September to ask the council for funding approval. The cameras in question are worn by officers on the front of their uniforms and are designed to capture footage of their activities, Reynolds said. All the officers at the department are in favor of the cameras, including members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, he said. Local defense attorneys have questioned the absence of cameras in police cars over the years considering the large amount of federal dollars that were directed back to area departments for their purchase. Reynolds, who helped introduce the technology locally as chief of police in Portage, said it was discovered that vehicle cameras did not hold up well to the changing temperatures in the area. "They kept breaking down," he said. While some officers initially distrusted the use of those cameras as a form of "big brother" watching, they later came to like them, Reynolds said. It is Reynolds' hope that each officer in his department will be equipped with the newer body cameras this year. GARY The city has reached a deal with a private redevelopment partner with ties to former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley that could impact a large segment of the city. The Gary Redevelopment Commission on Friday quickly and without initial comment, approved an agreement with MaiaCo LLC. The quick approval upset several residents who attended the meeting and said the public should have been involved from the inception of a deal that could have a dramatic effect on the city. Resident Ruth Needleman, who along with many other residents attended a community forum on the MaiaCo proposal Wednesday, characterized the action Friday as a travesty of justice and democracy. She said people attending the forum were not told at that time that there would be a vote on the agreement Friday. Redevelopment Director Joe Van Dyk said it is only the beginning of the process in which MaiaCo will be working with the city. He said there will be opportunity for the public to be involved in the process as it moves forward. The agreement calls for the company to create and implement a community outreach and development plan within six months. Van Dyk and a representative of MaiaCo said the public-private partnership agreement is designed to implement plans that already have been created by the city, but which the city does not have the resources to fully implement. The agreement calls for MaiaCo to provide $1 million worth of resources, which may include cash as well as in-kind contributions, by July 29, 2017. By July 29, 2036, the company is to have provided a cumulative value of $15 million in resources toward Garys revitalization strategy. The agreement comes out of a proposal submitted to the development commission earlier this year. In the proposal the personnel roster, included Daley, architect Peter Ellis, Resolute Consulting Chief Executive Officer Greg Goldner, and Michael Reinhold, who has been a principal at Tur Partners LLC. Daley is executive chairman of Tur Partners. Ellis is no longer with the group and Reinhold said Daley will only serve as an unpaid adviser. Reinhold, who appeared at Fridays meeting, said neither Daley nor his companys will profit from the deal. Reinhold said he is no longer working for Tur and will instead be devoting his time to MaiaCo. He said he is looking for space to establish an office in Gary and could locate in the same building where the redevelopment commission currently is housed. The plan involves the company helping the city acquire vacant and other properties sold at tax sales that can be used for future development. In its initial proposal, the company said it anticipated funding the acquisition of as many as 3,500 parcels via tax sale within the first 12 months, but that level of specificity is not in the contract approved Friday. There is roughly 12,000 parcels that consistently show up on the tax sale and those properties cripple the city in a lot of ways, said Reinhold on Friday. They are part of the blight issue, they prevent development, they absolutely diminish the tax base. So I think we are going to look in certain areas to help bring the resources for the development commission to start to acquire these parcels through the tax sale. MaiaCo will not own the properties, but will share in the profit from the sale or lease of the properties. According to the agreement, the proceeds from the sale of any commission acquired property will be used first to reimburse MaiaCo for investments it has contributed. After that point, 65 percent of any remaining proceeds will go to MaiaCo and 35 percent to the commission. The same reimbursement formula will be used for leased property. Reinhold notes the company has to meet specific milestones when it comes to the agreement. In addition to $1 million the first year, the company has to invest $2 million in resources by July 29, 2018, and $5 million by July 29, 2021. He said if the company doesnt meet the milestones it will get nothing and the agreement will be terminated. He said, however, he is confident about meeting the milestones. Reinhold said the company has investors behind the deal although he did not disclose who those investors were on Friday. He said the company will continue to work with the city and as appropriate disclose those things. EAST CHICAGO A retired Hammond firefighter and former battalion chief with the Lake County Marine Unit was among the two people who died early Saturday in an East Chicago marina boating accident. The death of Richard Wade, 68, of Hammond, came as a shock Saturday to Lake County Sheriff John Buncich. Buncich noted Wade's decades of experience on the water. "I knew Wade very well. He was one of the original members of the marine unit. Very well-schooled in boating. That's why it came as a very terrible shock," Buncich said Saturday. Wade and Timothy Dunlap, 62, of Lynwood, Illinois, were pronounced dead on scene early Saturday. A third person was injured in the crash. Police say a powerboat crashed into a break wall in Lake Michigan near the East Chicago Marina and ArcelorMittal. Lake County coroner's officials were called to the scene at 6:10 a.m. Reduced visibility, speed and alcohol are believed to be contributing factors in the crash, according to a statement from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Hammond Fire Chief Jeffrey Smith said he worked only a short time with Wade, who retired from the department in the early 1990s. Smith said he knew Wade more through State Auto Body, a body shop in Hammond that Wade owned. "I talked to Rich maybe Monday or Tuesday. We were getting some body work done on one of our ambulances," Smith said. Smith said Wade was an avid boatman, and owned a boat at the East Chicago marina. He was known to spend his summer evenings at the marina, he said. "He will be missed," Smith said. "He was an all-around good guy. I never had a person said anything bad about him." A DNR officer said the boat involved was a 42-foot Fountain powerboat. Officers were using a remotely operated vehicle Saturday to search the site for other possible victims. Indiana conservation officers were assisted by the Lake County Sheriffs Department Marine Unit, U.S. Coast Guard, East Chicago Police and Fire Departments, the Hobart Fire Department, Portage Fire Department, Crown Point Fire Department and Porter Volunteer Fire Department. Its exciting to see Indiana Gov. Mike Pence run for vice president, but hes far from the first Hoosier to seek that ticket. Counting him, there have been eight Hoosiers on the ballot. Those were all great races for Hoosiers to watch. But the most thrilling of all was 1916. One hundred years ago, two Hoosiers ran for veep and both had previously been elected vice president. Before we take a deeper look at Thomas R. Marshall and Charles W. Fairbanks, however, lets let Ted Frantz, associate professor of history at the University of Indianapolis, put that era, and Indianas role during it, in perspective. Progressive Era The Progressive Era, which included 1916, was a time of rapid changes. Women were clamoring for the right to vote, and Prohibition was on the horizon. As governor, Marshalls accomplishments included child labor laws. The automobile was changing commerce and commuting, and leisure time was beginning to be created with labor-saving devices as well as worker demands for shorter work days and weeks. Republican President Teddy Roosevelt was a great champion of reform. His larger-than-life persona overshadowed his vice president, Fairbanks. But not all Republicans were as progressive at Roosevelt. They refused him the Republican nomination for president in 1912. Roosevelt and his supporters bolted and created the Progressive Party, which nominated Roosevelt for the presidency in 1912. He lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, who had chosen Marshall as his running mate. This election (1916) was so important because it was the first after the calamitous split in 1912, where the Republican Party fractured, Frantz said. Its also why the choice of a running mate was so important. Indiana was so important in every election because the Democratic and Republican parties were so close, Frantz said. If the presidential candidate were from New York or New Jersey, Indiana looked like a good balancing point. Charles W. Fairbanks Fairbanks role as Roosevelts veep was to be a more conservative Midwesterner. He would have done the same for Hughes. Fairbanks was a cold, rather prickly, corporate lawyer, mostly for railroads, Frantz said. He was not the kind of guy you would want to have a beer with. His claim to fame, really, was being Roosevelts No. 2. Even though Fairbanks was a U.S. senator from Indiana, theres not really a single legislative accomplishment that you could point to as a way of establishing his legacy. Fairbanks, Alaska, is named in his honor, however. Thomas Marshall Marshall was different. He also was a lawyer, but he made it a point to avoid acting like an aristocrat. While Marshall served as governor, he lived in a modest house and rode a streetcar to the Statehouse each day. His legacy largely remains an enigma for the rest of the country, Frantz said, but Hoosiers know of him. Frantz noted a historian once described Marshall as a liberal with the brakes on. Marshalls role in history includes being the only vice president to have been targeted by a would-be assassin. On the evening of July 2, 1915, Eric Muenter, a German professor at Harvard University, wanted to show his opposition to American support of the Allied war effort, prior to U.S. involvement in World War I. Aaron Mathieu is assistant director of the Whitley County Historical Museum in Columbia City, where Marshall practiced law. He (Muenter) broke into the Senate chamber and placed dynamite around Thomas Marshalls office door and set it with a timer, Mathieu said. Just before midnight, when no one was in the offices, the timer went off prematurely, hurting no one. Marshall declined the offer of a personal security detail following the incident. His role as president of the Senate brought the good-natured Marshall the incident for which he is most remembered. Kansas Sen. Joseph Bristow was making a long-winded speech, beginning each sentence with What this country needs Each time, he would finish the sentence by naming something of importance to the nation, Mathieu said. For Marshall, this literary device quickly grew stale. After about 10 or 11 times of hearing that phrase, Mathieu said, Marshall leaned over to Harry Rose, assistant secretary of the Senate, and said, Bristow hasnt hit it yet. What this country really needs is a good 5-cent cigar. After that incident gained him notoriety, Marshall told an Indianapolis newspaperman, I have traveled lots of miles and probably had a million cigars sent to me since my remark about what this country needed. But it is still elusive. Marshall expounded on that remark: What I meant by saying that this country needed a good 5-cent cigar was this: All of us should quit living so high. Trouble is that for the last few years we have all been advocating industry and thrift for our neighbors while we continued to live high..." People dont often smoke cheap cigars today, and certainly not the wisest ones. Life was different then. Campaign strategy So was campaigning in that era. We talk about candidates having surrogates today to spread the message where the actual candidates are unable to go because of the demands on their time. Back then, the surrogates were the primary campaigners, not the candidates. Prior to 1912, it was thought to be beneath a presidential candidates dignity to campaign on his own behalf. The party organization mattered a lot, which is how campaigns are fundamentally different today than they were then. It was the era of whistle-stop campaigning, the likes of which havent been seen in decades. I remember Bobby Kennedy stopping his train in my hometown during the 1968 campaign to give a short stump speech a few brief paragraphs, really before going on to the next town. Frantz considers me lucky to have witnessed this relic of old-time presidential campaigning. Vice presidency When you think about the expansion of presidential powers that was beginning to happen in the early 1900s, and conservatives longing for a limited role for the presidency, along with a stronger role for Congress hey, some things havent changed after all the limited role of the vice president back then becomes all the more remarkable. The vice presidents role was to oversee the Senate, attend funerals and stay out of the presidents way. Marshall was so unimpressed by the vice presidencys lack of responsibilities that he first turned down the offer. After being promised more duties, he accepted, Mathieu said. When Wilson had a stroke in October 1919, Marshalls limited role was clear. He wasnt permitted to talk to Wilson. The only information he received was from the first lady. Whenever there were papers to sign, she took them to the sick room. Marshall wasnt personally acquainted with Wilsons condition. To Marshalls credit, Frantz said, he resisted pressure by Wilsons critics to put Marshall in the Oval Office. Marshall showed some real character and remarkable restraint for neglecting to pursue that at all, Frantz said. Party unity was important to Marshall, Mathieu said. Marshall was worried that the nation, having just come out of the Civil War a half century before, might slip back into another one. Following this crisis and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the need to provide a smooth succession of power became clear. It took another Hoosier, Sen. Birch Bayh, to author what became the 25th Amendment, which spells out whos in line after the vice president and under what circumstances the vice president should take over for an incapacitated president. 1916 election returns This year, the presidential race looks to be a close one, at least at this point. 1912 was an easy victory for Wilson, with the Republican Party splintered. To win, Wilson just had to perform as well as William Jennings Bryan did in losing the previous election, Frantz said. The 1916 election, with the battle between the two Hoosier veep candidates, was different. California, with its late election returns, made the difference in the race. Wilson, the incumbent, was re-elected by a margin of just 23 electoral votes and 49.2 percent of the popular vote to Hughes 46.1 percent. Legend has it Hughes went to bed on election night thinking he had won only to awaken to the contrary news. This year, history will be made again if Pence becomes the sixth Hoosier to be elected vice president. But then, Indiana has been making history throughout its 200 years of existence and the 1916 election is an intriguing part of that history. Democratic allegations that Donald Trump doesnt have the mental discipline to serve as commander-in-chief wasnt the only politically significant development last week. Lake Superior Court Judge William Davis issued a final order telling five county politicians their days of double-dipping are over. The judge upheld the 2012 law prohibiting elected officials from being employees of the same government agency. The plaintiffs are Hammond city Councilmen Michael Opinker and Scott Rakos, Hobart Councilman Matthew Claussen, New Chicago Councilwoman Susan Pelfrey and East Chicago Councilman Juda Parks. They lost their federal lawsuit last year. Their case against the state ended with Davis Wednesday ruling. Municipal employees dont have any business serving on the councils that make city policy and set salary schedules. And if they abstain from voting on issues that impact their jobs and pay schedules, they are shortchanging the residents who elected them. Elected officials who work for a city also can dictate hiring and promotion of existing employees, another unhealthy proposition. The 2012 law left the city employees the option of serving on a city council or working for the city. Some of the comments from the plaintiffs made one wonder if their intent was public service or acquiring a second income from the city for which they work. Pelfrey, for example, said she cant live on the $8,000 she receives as a councilwoman and opted to keep her job with the town. Opinker also gave up his city council job that pays an impressive $30,000 annually for part-time work. Opinker said he couldnt afford to give up the substantial salary he receives as an assistant Hammond fire chief. Ive been a councilman for more than six and a half years and a firefighter more than 22 years, Opinker said. My taxpayers and constituents interact with me on a daily basis. And it is a fairly lucrative existence getting paid from the same pot for sometimes performing two jobs at the same time. And, as for Trump, the Democrats seem to have a point. WHITING Like everything else thats Pierogi Fest, quirky weather alternating between downpours, a steady drizzle and bright sunshine created a backdrop for Fridays 23rd Annual International Polka Parade. Cheers for parade favorites including the Precision Lawn-mower Drill Team, the Twirling Babushka Brigade and the Beer-o-gies competed with the sizzle of food preparation all along 119th Street. Bringing up the rear on his own float, CBS 2 meteorologist Steve Baskerville made his 12th appearance as the parades grand marshal. Ive lost count, Baskerville said about his grand marshalling gig. It all started back when Baskerville was hosting a segment on CBS-News called Best of Chicago that visited peoples favorite eateries or watering holes. People would call or write about places to go, he said. I got a call from Tom Dabertin (about Pierogi Fest). We show up and its terrific. Pierogi Fest is like Pop Rocks. Youd put them in your mouth and BOOM! It exploded into something else, Baskerville said, adding that the Polka Parade is an explosion of personality. What makes Pierogi Fest and the International Polka Parade special are the people. It never loses its personality, he said. Im honored I can participate. I like being out of the studio. I feel so accepted. Whether they live in the neighborhood or traveled from the far ends of the nation, those enjoying the festival and the parade quickly got into the spirit of this tongue-in-cheek salute to the areas Eastern European heritage. Were 100 percent Polish, said Jen Kosakowski of Hadley, Massachusetts, who attended Pierogi Fest with her cousin Liz Moorhead of Beaverton, Oregon. The cousins were in the Region visiting Moorheads brother-in-law Dave Hollar of Odgen Dunes. This is part of their tour of Chicago and Indiana, Hollar said. Were enjoying the pierogies, the Polish sausage and the halupkis. Family is a strong bond at Pierogi Fest as demonstrated by The Buscias, a group of women garbed in housecoats, aprons, babushkas and stockings falling down below their knees. An electic group, each wore something that honored their own Buscias or grandmothers. An apron here, a coin purse there. We carry on the heritage of our grandmas, great-grandmas, aunts. We do it with dignity and love, said Carolyn Kruzynski, who said she wasnt the spokes-Buscia but had the biggest mouth. We laugh a lot, said Laine Kaminsky, showing the red lipstick stained teeth that symbolize Buscias. A man was shot multiple times and killed early Saturday morning in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to the city police department. Officers responded to the call of a man being shot saround 1:21 a.m. in front of the Brevoort Houses on Bainbridge Street near Ralph Avenue. When they arrived, they found Charles Byrd, 26, with multiple gunshot wounds in his torso, according to the police report. Byrd was taken to Interfaith Hospital, police said, where he was pronounced dead. Neighbors described Byrd as a smart, genuine man. Hearing about this is so saddening because knowing that the only thing he wanted to do was make it out of this environment and do positive things with his life," one neighbor said. "And for his life to be taken away at such a young age -- his friends, everybody is so heartbroken," she continued. There have been no arrests, and police are investigating. We asked readers without any context how they would caption the photo shown above. After sifting through more than 500 responses, we selected a handful of our favorites: Here kitty, kitty, kitty. I told them Bring Your Pet to Work Day was a bad idea. Dan Lammey Brutal heat wave in Europe motivates maintenance workers at Air France headquarters to find new ways to keep cool. James Bordner Hair France tests its very large blow dryer. Andrew Ricci Michelangelos worst gig. Nick P. I always heard Flonase works well on these nacelle drips. Chris Seymour Boy, Banksy gets around! Howard A worker is collecting parts of birds cooked by the engine of a Airbus A380, a new culinary fad sweeping France. Gordon Montgomery When Alice in 25D said she lost her wedding ring on a flight to Paris, she had no idea how seriously Air France would try to help her. David Naunton Competition for French mimes has become so intense that a risky new regimen has been developed to learn the walking against the wind technique. David Dyte Air France worker installs finishing touches on the newest low-fare seating sections for trans-Atlantic flights. Fred Knowles Jet-setter. Robert Brancale I found the problem: Pikachu! David Swain Isnt it funny how you always have a few bolts left over when youre done? Steve Dodds Im positive I saw the right-wing party using the Brexit row to escape. Megan Johns I forgot my glasses at home. Is this the business-class entryway? Bernard Katz The actual caption, from an article about Airbuss plans to curtail production of the A380 superjumbo jet: A worker on an Airbus A380 at a maintenance hangar near Paris. The jet, with four engines, lists for more than $400 million. Thank you to everyone who participated! We hope you had fun. Look for a new challenge next week. New Montana K-12 health and physical education standards for public schools adopted in July hope to address some looming health crises in Montana. From 2008 to 2010, 41 percent of Montanas 18-24 year-olds were overweight or obese, said Reg Hageman, a Capital High School health and physical education teacher. Nationally, 27 percent of 18-24-year-olds are too fat to fight and therefore unable to enter the military. Statistics also show an increase in Type 1 and Type II diabetes in youth, according to a CDC report. Montana has one of the highest teen suicide rates in the nation, which is a compelling reason the new standards focus more attention on mental health. The standards were last updated 17 years ago, said Hageman, and a lot has changed. Major changes According to Office of Public Instruction, major changes in the standards include: Setting distinct health education and physical education standards; Organizing standards by grade level for grades K-5 and by grade band for grades 6-8 and 9-12; Addressing topics such as mental health; respectful relationships; chronic diseases, including diabetes and asthma; substance use; environmental factors that affect health, wellness or physical activity levels; and bullying, including cyberbullying; Encouraging the use of new technologies to allow students to monitor pulse rates, track calories burned and steps walked, and use innovative software programs to develop fitness plans that provide feedback regarding physical activity and nutritional intake; and Integrating Montanas Indian Education for All. Hageman, an enthusiastic supporter of the standards, served on the negotiated rules committee of educators, administrators and the public in reviewing the rewritten standards before they were adopted. From the get go, Montanas health and physical education teachers helped draft the new standards, Hageman said -- a process dating back to spring 2014. I think one of the things people are really going to like, he said, are the physical education standards at the elementary level are done by grade level. They used to be banded K-1-2 and then 3-4-5. The new standards give classroom teachers a really good picture of what their responsibilities are as far as physical education. A really nice addition is a greater focus on mental health in the health standards, he added, particularly given Montanas suicide rate. In Montana its a key component of what were doing with kids. Previously mental health was tucked in under total health. Bullying ... has really been highlighted in the standards as all encompassing for the mental health and positive relations part of the health standards, he said. These new standards come from a national level, he said, but are tailored to Montana. Projected costs A survey of schools found that 83 percent of Montana schools reported they could meet the new standards with existing staff. OPI has identified $35,000 to support implementing the health enhancement standards, according to an OPI economic impact report. Hageman predicts there will be little if any extra cost to Helena School District in implementing the new standards, which go into effect July 1, 2017. Many Helena teachers have already been using the new national standards for guidance. Health-teaching changes Health information is changing constantly, said Hageman. And so have teaching approaches. When Hageman started teaching at CHS 12 years ago, cellphones were used more as toys. Now kids can use smartphones to do research and to track their nutrition, calories, and health and fitness goals. Another change is the rise in kids using social media, he said, which means teachers are putting more emphasis on its proper use so kids keep themselves safe. We are consistently reinforcing about appropriate behavior. The new health and physical education standards also comply with the Indian Education for All constitutional requirement, Hageman said. One way teachers can do this is playing American Indian games like lacrosse and rhythm games in their physical education classes, he said. In addition, Hageman uses the annual youth risk survey information to fine-tune his health classes to his schools population and the specific health issues that could affect them. Training the teachers Megan Chilson, a professor of health and human performance at University of Montana-Western has been involved in revising the health standards since 2014 -- working on both the drafting and negotiated rules committees. Clearly delineating the health and PE standards separately is a huge improvement, said Chilson, who trains college students to become teachers. When they were combined in the previous standards it made it difficult to know if you were meeting all the standards. The standards are much more clear ... and the ways you can assess and ways you can meet them, she said, but it keeps them fairly general so they wont burden small schools. The standards include topics such as body awareness and body safety, she said, but they leave how these topics are taught to the local school districts. The teachers Ive talked to really like it, she said of the new standards. So far, all the feedback has been positive. Im really excited with the final product, she said. For me, Im excited to use them in training teachers. OPI Both Hageman and Chilson applaud OPIs efforts. OPI did such a marvelous job, said Hageman. I did want to emphasize the work done by OPI. Its a big process and they handled it very well and very professionally. It was huge, said OPI Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau of the effort involved on updating these standards, as well as newly adopted art standards (which the IR will cover in a future article). Also in the works are the rewriting of science education standards. Montanas efforts echo national efforts to revise health and physical education standards for the past eight years, said Hageman, which is how long the Society of Health and Physical Educators has lobbied in Washington, D.C., against No Child Left Behind. With the new federal education bill, Every Student Succeeds Act, the laws focus moves away from test scores and puts it, instead on the whole child, said Hageman. P.E. and health are now a core subject. Physical education is considered part of a well rounded education. For more information, visit http://opi.mt.gov/Curriculum/CSI/index.html?gpm=1_2 -- standards, information, and resources Or missionreadinenss.org for info on weight stats for Montana youth A woman who bribed a top United Nations official to support business ventures was sentenced to 20 months in prison by a judge who said bribery schemes do substantial damage to the international organization's image. Sheri Yan was sentenced on Friday by Judge Vernon Broderick of the United States District Court in Manhattan after Ms. Yan pleaded guilty to a bribery charge in January. There is substantial damage done to the U.N., and the image of the U.N. itself, Judge Broderick said. Whenever members of institutions accept or are given bribes, it diminishes that institution." Ms. Yan admitted to having paid more than $800,000 in bribes to John W. Ashe, the former president of the General Assembly, who died several weeks ago in an accident at home in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. He was awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to a tax charge in the case. Tesla Motors has told Senate investigators that its crash-prevention system failed to work properly in a fatal crash, but said its Autopilot technology was not at fault, according to a Senate staff member. Instead, Tesla told members of the Senate Commerce Committee staff on Thursday that the problem involved the cars automatic braking system, said the staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. It was not clear how or why Tesla considers the automatic braking system to be separate from Autopilot, which combines automated steering, adaptive cruise control and other features meant to avoid accidents. Tesla declined to comment on Friday. Those systems are supposed to work together to prevent an accident, said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, an auto research firm. But either the car didnt know it had to stop, or it did know and wasnt able to stop. That involves Autopilot and the automatic braking. 3. One of the best things to come of this election is the fact that the G.O.P. has been forced to examine the monster which has been allowed to grow in its midst. I firmly believe that something similar is required on the Left. Hillary Clinton is no monster like Trump, but she is the calcification of a leftist-flavored version of what is wrong with politics today: the intransigence and pandering, the corruption and secrecy, the influence of big money, and a no-holds-barred, the ends-justify-the-means approach to an entitled sense of rulership. The Democratic Party has a chance to see what its Bernie contingent is pointing out to party leadership. Were the G.O.P. candidate any better than a buffoon, it would be easier for the mainstream Left to see what is wrong with Hillary. It has nothing whatsoever to do with her gender. The D.N.C.s treatment of Bernie Sanders and his supporters has alienated me to a degree I didnt think possible. Kelvin F. in the Pacific Northwest. The Zika-carrying mosquitoes are here. Public health officials said on Friday that four people in the Miami area have become infected with the Zika virus. This is likely to be the first local transmission of the virus by mosquitoes in the continental United States. Perhaps this news will shock Congress and state and local governments into taking more forceful steps to fight this disease. The Zika virus can cause babies to be born with small heads, a condition known as microcephaly; it has also been linked to neurological disorders in adults. Before the Florida cases, the virus had been found only in people who had traveled to Puerto Rico or Latin American countries that had an active epidemic, or who had sex with a partner who had been in those regions. But these new cases are not unexpected. Health experts had said there might be clusters of locally acquired infections in about 30 states where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is found. Despite those warnings, Congress left for a seven-week vacation this month without appropriating emergency funds to fight Zika. A bill to allocate $1.1 billion failed in the final days of the session because Republicans insisted that the money allocated for contraception and maternal care in the legislation go only to public health departments and Medicaid-run clinics, a provision designed to keep money from private providers like Planned Parenthood, on which many women rely. The average 12-ounce beer has 153 calories, slightly more than a can of Coca-Cola. But the typical beer drinker probably doesnt know that, because regulators have long exempted alcohol producers from stamping their products with the kinds of nutritional labels that are required on other beverages and on food. Recently, the countrys biggest beer companies, including Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors and Heineken, announced that they would soon begin putting calorie, alcohol content and other information on bottles and cans. This is a good step, but its not sufficient. Unless all alcohol companies start labeling their products under the current voluntary standards, federal regulators ought to require it. With obesity a national health problem, health experts have been particularly concerned about the consumption of empty calories from alcohol, soft drinks and other foods that contain few or no essential nutrients. About one-third of men and 18 percent of women drink alcohol on any given day, and those drinks account for about 16 percent of the calories they consume, according to a 2012 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Labeling alcohol products would help consumers make better choices. Studies like one published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2010 have found that calorie counts on menus influence people to pick healthier options. Labels on alcoholic drinks could have the added benefit of encouraging people to drink less and thus help reduce drunken driving and other dangerous behaviors. Donald Trump is mad at me. He thinks Ive treated him very badly. But he returned my call on Friday night on his way to a rally in Colorado and agreed to do a lightning round on the Democratic convention. He began, naturally, by bragging about his convention ratings and bounce, but then we got down to specifics. On Michael Bloombergs speech suggesting Trump is not sane and mocking him as a con man: A guy who didnt have the guts to run for president. Little Michael. He doesnt know anything about me. But he never had the guts to run. He probably wished he did but he didnt. He spent millions of dollars on polling but he was missing one thing: guts. Little Michael. On President Obama calling him not really a facts guy and a businessman who left a trail of lawsuits and people who were unpaid and felt cheated: Obama gave a good speech but not nearly as good as the press would have you believe. Whether its good or bad, the press will say its fantastic. In many ways, I like Obama. Its hard to define. Theres something about him I do like. Im embarrassed to admit it. I give him a lot of credit. Its very unique and very hard to do and I give him tremendous credit. He became a two-term president of the United States. Hes got some quality going. On Bill Clintons reminiscences about his storybook romance with that girl, Hillary: He left out the most exciting chapter by far. On Michelle Obama, who said you cant boil down the issues a president faces to 140 characters: She gave a very good speech. On Chelseas introduction of her mother: I thought Chelsea was excellent. I thought she was very good. Shes very friendly with Ivanka. They like each other and they should continue to be friends. My children were the stars of my convention. FRONT PAGE An article on Wednesday about the victims of terror attacks around the world during two weeks in March referred incorrectly to some of the perpetrators. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a Marxist group in Turkey that broke off from the Kurdistan Workers Party, claimed responsibility for the bombing of a public square in Ankara, the capital, on March 13; not all of the perpetrators were Islamist extremists. An article on Friday about Hillary Clintons acceptance of the Democratic Partys presidential nomination referred incorrectly in some editions to coverage of her by Life magazine in 1969. While she was featured in the magazine, she was not on its cover. An article on June 30 about reasons that the European Union seemed undemocratic to those leading the British campaign to leave it misidentified the body whose members are appointed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. It is the European Commission, not the European Council. INTERNATIONAL An article on July 1 about a military shake-up in Russia, which replaced the top commanders of its Baltic Fleet, misidentified, in some editions, the type of ship that was reported to have collided with a Russian submarine in April, one of several possible blunders that might have prompted the dismissals. The reports said it was a Polish military ship, but not a battleship. WASHINGTON Computer systems used by Hillary Clintons presidential campaign were hacked in an attack that appears to have come from Russias intelligence services, a federal law enforcement official said on Friday. The apparent breach, coming after the disclosure last month that the Democratic National Committees computer system had been compromised, escalates an international episode in which Clinton campaign officials have suggested that Russia might be trying to sway the outcome of the election. Mrs. Clintons campaign said in a statement that intruders had gained access to an analytics program used by the campaign and maintained by the national committee, but it said that it did not believe that the campaigns own internal computer systems had been compromised. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fund-raising arm for House Democrats, also said on Friday that its systems had been hacked. Together, the databases of the national committee and the House organization contain some of the partys most sensitive communications and voter and financial data. The Nielsen ratings just came out, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said with a smile on Friday in Colorado, hours after his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, delivered her climactic convention speech. We beat her by millions. Well, yes and no. Mr. Trump did deserve some bragging rights: His fiery convention address in Cleveland edged Mrs. Clintons remarks in Philadelphia by about 2.4 million viewers, according to cable and broadcast ratings released by Nielsen on Friday. About 29.8 million Americans watched Mrs. Clinton Thursday night; a week before, 32.2 million tuned in to Mr. Trump. But over all, Mr. Trumps side came up short. The Democratic convention this week beat its Republican counterpart on three out of four nights, thanks in part to memorable prime-time speeches by President Obama, Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton not to mention a song by the pop star Demi Lovato. Presidents, it turns out, may be bigger draws than sitcom stars like Scott Baio, one of Mr. Trumps featured speakers. On average, 26.2 million viewers watched the Democrats each night, compared to 24.6 million for the Republicans, Nielsen said. Declan Walsh, our bureau chief in Cairo, is reporting on the 2016 American presidential campaign for a global audience in much the same way he would cover an event overseas. He spent a week in Cleveland, where Republicans nominated Donald J. Trump for president, and then traveled to Philadelphia for the Democratic convention, where Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated by a major political party for the nations highest office. Declan will continue to cover the race through November for Abroad in America, and you can follow him on Instagram, where he is sharing pictures of what he sees on the campaign trail. If all goes as planned and thats a really big if Eddie Braun will not only rocket over Idahos Snake River Canyon this September, hell clear three times that 1,600-foot span. I should go three-fourths of a mile to a mile, Braun said of his quest to do what his longtime idol, the late Evel Knievel, failed to do in 1974: take off from one side of the canyon and land on the other. Braun was in Butte for the Evel Knievel Days festival this past weekend, showing off a replica of the steam-powered rocket he plans to launch over the Snake River a few miles down from Twin Falls, Idaho on Sept. 17. The real rocket is made from spare parts Knievel used in his Skycyle X-2 to make the jump in 1974. On that September day 42 years ago, the parachute deployed just as the rocket left the launch pad. Winds blew it backwards and it landed at the bottom of the canyon on the same side as the take-off. Knievel survived with only minor injuries, and since then, at least seven others have said they might make the same jump. But nobody has done it. Braun, 54, idolized Knievel growing up and, at 17, began his career as a stuntman because of it. He did stunts in movies that include The Avengers, Transformers and The Green Hornet, according to imdb.com, and has performed in television shows too, including Walker, Texas Ranger. He was a kid when he met Knievel in California after Evel had done a jump. He wound his way through a crowd and got Knievels attention. He came over and put his arm around me and that was something, Braun told The Montana Standard on Saturday. I mean, for a kid, thats as close as it gets to touching Supermans cape. Braun said he has spent $1.5 million of his own money on the Snake River project and his rocket, which he calls Evel Spirt. He hopes to collect $10 a pop for people to watch a livestream of the jump, money he says would pay for the effort to bring this to the masses. A television network had approached him about a deal, he said, but they wanted to dress it up too much. I will not have this cheesified or sensationalized, he said. Braun said the jump wasnt about making money or gaining fame. As a stuntman all these years, he said, Im the guy whose face you dont see anyway. This was about finishing something his hero did not. In 1974 Evel left one side of Snake River Canyon, he said. I hope this time his spirit lands on the other side. How many people get to fulfill a dream of their hero? He also wants to do it for his four children. This will always be an example to them of something that has never been done successfully, that I did something that everyone thought was impossible, he said. Braun said it took him three years to get through all the bureaucratic red tape, but he has all the necessary paperwork completed and permission from the federal government to make the jump. Unlike Evel or Joe Namath when he boldly said his Jets would win Superbowl III (they did) Braun is not saying he will make it. This is an attempt, he said. If my parachute fails, you wont be talking to me for a follow-up story. RIO DE JANEIRO Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former president who has been one of Brazils most towering political figures, will stand trial on charges of obstructing the investigation into the colossal bribery scheme at Petrobras, the national oil company, a federal judge said Friday. The decision by Judge Ricardo Augusto Soares Leite adds to the mounting legal problems of Mr. da Silva, who was president from 2003 to 2010, a period of robust economic growth in Brazil. Even as his handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff, prepares for an impeachment trial and their leftist Workers Party reels from graft scandals, Mr. da Silva has emerged as a leading contender in the next presidential race, in 2018. The trial could complicate his ambitions. Mr. da Silva, 70, was already facing a tarnished political legacy as he battled corruption investigations, including a case in which prosecutors in Sao Paulo tried to have him arrested over his ties to scandal-plagued construction companies. OTTAWA A Canadian couple who planted what they believed were pressure-cooker bombs outside British Columbias legislature in 2013 were freed on Friday after a judge ruled that they had been entrapped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The couple, John Stuart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody, are recovering drug addicts who once lived on the street. They had been convicted of terrorism-related charges and were possibly facing life in prison because of their actions on Canada Day on July 1, 2013. But in a scathing decision, Justice Catherine Bruce of the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that the Mounties had instigated the terrorist plot and manipulated the common-law couple. The defendants were the foot soldiers, but the undercover officer was the leader of the group, Justice Bruce wrote in a decision that also dismissed the credibility of testimony by several police officers. Without the police it would have been impossible for the defendants to carry out the pressure-cooker plan, she added. Patrons of Sweetgreen are very particular about their salads. When the company recently removed bacon and sriracha from the menu, customers took to social media to complain. But after a handful of Sweetgreen restaurants stopped accepting cash in January, barely anyone noticed, according to the companys owners. Even Sweetgreen executives thought going cashless was a harebrained idea at first, said Jonathan Neman, a co-founder and co-chief executive of the company. But we looked around and saw that airlines havent been taking cash for a while. At Sweetgreens locations throughout the United States, cash purchases have declined to less than 10 percent today from 40 percent of all transactions when they opened their first location nine years ago, he said. Sweetgreen now has 48 locations. Although America is far from becoming a cashless society, cash transactions are less frequent than even a few years ago and some restaurant owners are betting that customers will be comfortable doing away with cash for convenience. Restaurants like Sweetgreen are pushing credit and debit cards and mobile apps for payments. Apps enable restaurants to gather data and feedback, and allow consumers to order ahead and skip long lines. LOS ANGELES Last month, when the 32-year-old co-owner of Hostess Brands plunked down $100 million for the Playboy Mansion, the snickering was instant: Hugh Hefners pleasure palace had sold to the maker of snack cakes like Twinkies and Ho Hos. The buyer, J. Daren Metropoulos, heir to a fortune built on Chef Boyardee meatballs, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Bumble Bee tuna, sure seemed to fit the playboy bill. He was the kind of guy who, judging by a quick web search, could put even Mr. Hefner to hard-partying shame. One photo showed the young tycoon posing with a P.B.R. tall boy on a private jet while wearing sunglasses and a trucker hat. Another found him whooping it up at the Playboy Mansion with Snoop Dogg and several Playmates. A sordid TMZ moment resurfaced a former girlfriend, the 2002 Playmate of the Year, claimed in a 2009 lawsuit (since dismissed) that Mr. Metropoulos had assaulted her and a close relationship with his older brother only appeared to complete the picture. As Evan Metropoulos once told a night life reporter for The New York Times, as Daren lounged nearby, Ive been with more chicks than any fat guy you know, except Pavarotti. Classy. But something didnt quite add up. For a start, none of the usual suspects in Los Angeles knew this supposed mover and shaker. I called party promoters, paparazzi, neighbors (Daren Metropoulos has lived next door to the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills since 2009) and Hollywood agents who make it their business to know everyone in town with money to burn. Their repeated response: Daren who? Dara Lynn Gordon and Chris McCoy were married July 30 at the Foxfire Mountain House, an inn in Mount Tremper, N.Y. Robert J. Berson, the leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Northern Westchester, officiated. Ms. Gordon, 31, is keeping her name. She is a talent manager in the New York office of Anonymous Content, a film and television production and management company. She graduated from Cornell. She is the daughter of Barbara H. Gordon and Fred J. Gordon of Kings Point, N.Y. The brides father retired as the president of the Graymor Chemical Company in Elizabeth, N.J. Her mother, who worked in New York, retired as a general manager of program development for Weight Watchers International. Mr. McCoy, 35, who is based in New York, wrote and directed the feature film Good Kids, a comedy starring Nicholas Braun, Zoey Deutch and Ashley Judd that is scheduled to be shown in theaters in October. He is also the author of two novels, The Prom Goers Interstellar Excursion and Scurvy Goonda. He graduated from N.Y.U. SAN JUAN, P.R. The Zika epidemic that has spread from Brazil to the rest of Latin America is now raging in Puerto Rico and the islands response is in chaos. The war against the Aedes aegypti mosquito carrying the virus is sputtering out in failure. Infections are skyrocketing: Many residents fail to protect themselves against bites because they believe the threat is exaggerated. Federal and local health officials are feuding, and the governors special adviser on Zika has quit in disgust. There are only about 5,500 confirmed infections on the island, including of 672 pregnant women. But experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they believe that is a radical undercount. As an example of emotional differences, if I were to do a media interview in the United States and become visibly angry at a reporters question, I would be seen as unstable. By contrast, in the Middle East, emotional responses are often expected to emotional questions. If you stay cool and calm while discussing a heated issue, you may be viewed as untrustworthy. Another big cultural difference revolves around the level of context provided in a conversation. As an American, I am what is known as a low-context communicator, so if I want something done, I say so bluntly and directly. By contrast, in high-context cultures, as in Asia, people may communicate more subtly. You have to pick up on body language and other contextual cues to realize that your colleague who just said yes to you has actually communicated that she does not agree to your plan. One of the cultural differences that people find most difficult to cope with is conceptions of time. When I worked in the Obama administration as a spokeswoman for international affairs in the Treasury Department, I once flew with a senior official from Washington to Africa to meet with a head of state. When we arrived for the scheduled meeting, the president was not in the office. My boss was furious because in monochronic cultures such as the United States, it is expected that people will be prompt and deadlines will be met. However, in polychronic cultures, such as in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, plans are less firm and are constantly changing. It is also critical to understand local social expectations in different cultures. For example, an executive for a large public relations firm in Chile told me that citizens there expect organizations to explain how their work and presence in the country benefits Mrs. Juanita a Chilean term for the average person. As for those brown envelopes that poorly paid journalists may expect, one way to get around that is by offering meals at events and press briefings. Transportation may also be offered. When I traveled to Togo with a senior United States government official who addressed the countrys Parliament, our embassys communication officer drove around the capital city of Lome in a van picking up reporters to attend the speech, because otherwise many of them would not have gone. The retreat from free trade, meanwhile, is a bipartisan one. Republicans who are concerned about their partys drift toward protectionism will not be drawn toward Mrs. Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, who have repudiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Obama hasnt, but at the convention he didnt speak up for it or for trade generally even though there is some evidence much of the public remains favorable to trade. Some middle-of-the-road voters who find Mr. Trump alarming nonetheless share some of his stated concerns about crime, the Islamic State and immigration. Democrats did little to reassure them that they shared those concerns. They ignored the preliminary evidence that the violent crime rate, while still well below its peak rates, has started to increase again. Mrs. Clinton affirmed our existing strategy against the Islamic State, but her remarks stood out at the convention, where the topic was rarely mentioned, especially by progressive favorites. The Democrats also made it clear that they viewed illegal immigration almost exclusively through the eyes of illegal immigrants themselves: If it has costs, or enforcement of the laws against it has benefits, they werent mentioned. You dont have to think it wise to deport them all to find this treatment of the issue cavalier. Mrs. Clinton said that she loved talking about her plans for public policy. But she did less of it than Democrats usually do, perhaps because the conventions dual political imperatives reassuring both the left end of the party and the general public made it impossible to make a coherent case for an agenda. One might have expected the Democrats to use center-left policies to attract white working-class voters who are unhappy with their lot and considering Mr. Trump. They didnt make this pitch very prominently, except for when Bill Clinton promised vaguely to take coal miners on a ride to the economy of the future. Making college free for the middle class was a repeated applause line in Philadelphia: Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all! said Mrs. Clinton. But not all people are going to get a college degree. They got two sentences from her, and less from her allies. Instead of reasons for hope, the Democrats offered these voters bromides about optimism: Americas best days are always ahead of it, etc., etc. These bromides came with a liberal spin, the genius of America being defined as its closer and closer approximation of egalitarian ideals. The idea that American patriotism consists of loyalty to a future country clearly speaks to many of our citizens. Will it be enough in an anxious era, when Americans are deeply dissatisfied with their politicians? And when Mr. Trump is offering a more pointed explanation of that dissatisfaction than the Democrats are? The Democrats optimism about the country is tightly related to their optimism about their own political fortunes, which is based on demography. They represent growing demographic groups including nonwhites and the unchurched rather than shrinking groups like the white working class. But that optimism is unlikely to prove contagious among that group. And the Democrats rhetorical optimism is vulnerable to events in a way Mr. Trumps is not. Terrorist attacks and high-profile crimes may not make Americans find new virtues in Mr. Trump, but they will validate his campaign message and make the Democrats look naive or worse. Mrs. Clinton said in her speech: There is no other Donald Trump. This is it. Thats right: We know his campaign will focus on her alleged incompetence and crookedness. What we dont know is how well she will be able to adapt to Mr. Trumps unusual pursuit of the presidency. Donald Trump and his allies at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland peddled two falsehoods about Americas immigration problem. One was the vision presented by speaker after speaker of a nation overrun with foreigners crossing American borders and infiltrating communities to rob and kill. Another was the notion that most Americans are desperate for the kind of tough-guy response including massive deportation and building a wall that Mr. Trump offers as his solution. A careful examination of the facts undermines both claims. It is true that this is a complex issue inspiring strong passions. But its resolution, or at least progress toward a resolution, requires clear thinking. It benefits not at all from wild and poisonous assertions. People on all sides of this issue, including Republicans of good will who might be seduced by Mr. Trumps hyperbole, would do well to take a moment or more to reflect on a few simple truths. One is that the country is divided over immigration, but not nearly as much as Mr. Trump claims. Americans by wide margins have long supported the principles of sensible immigration reform: modernized laws to better match workers and jobs, strong border security (though not the equivalent of a 2,000-mile wall), better workplace standards and wages, and an opportunity for the 11 million immigrants living outside the law to earn inclusion and citizenship. Recent polling from the Pew Research Center is instructive: Fifty-nine percent of the public said immigrants strengthen the country, while only 33 percent said they were a burden. And 75 percent said immigrants should be allowed to stay legally, if they meet certain conditions. These principles recognizing the good that immigrants do for the country and rejecting the folly of high walls and mass expulsion are the basis of the reform legislation that Mr. Trump so deplores as amnesty and that many Republicans themselves support. As recently as 2013, bipartisan reform legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 68 to 32. At 10 years old I was called into the living room by my mother and my grandmother. Hurry up an sit, chile, my grandmother said, her command like a hand pressed against my back, shoving me forward onto the plastic-covered sofa. After a moment of silence, my mother spoke. She told me she never again wanted to see me dancing and playing in public as I had been that morning. I was confused. I did not know that practicing my cartwheels and splits on the long veranda warranted such reprimand. My mother had enrolled me and my little sister in dance classes and never minded our practicing before even if we leapt into furniture or crashed into a captive audience of red hibiscus, bougainvillea, eucalyptus and ferns. Rudy, the yard man, would pause to give a brief applause before returning to whack at the weeds with his machete under the mango tree. Yous no longah a likkle girl, my mother explained to me, her eyes fixed on the small bumps on my chest visible in the thin blouse two raisins that had appeared overnight. In private I pressed hard on them, hoping they would go away. But the pain that coursed through my body would remind me that they were here to stay, and that their pending growth loomed large in the uncertainty and fear written all over my mother and my grandmothers dark faces. Yous ah woman like us wid breasts an yuh period on di way. Watch how yuh conduct yuhself in di presence of men. They glanced in the direction of Rudy, who whistled a mellow tune in the distance, wiping sweat off his sunburned face with the back of his hand. It was as though they felt it inevitable that someone maybe even Rudy would come and take the one thing they felt they had no power to protect. You have television questions. I have some answers. Q: Can I get DVDs or stream episodes of Hell Town starring Robert Blake? A: The former Baretta star played what one reference calls the most unusual clergyman seen on TV Father Noah Hardstep Rivers in a TV-movie and then a series that lasted 16 episodes in 1985. (That was 20 years before he was acquitted of the 2001 murder of his second wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley.) I do not know of an authorized version on DVD or streaming. * * * Q: Me and my friends loved The Catch on ABC. Why is The Catch not being renewed? Bring back THE CATCH!! A: Uh, it was renewed. The first season concluded on May 19. The second season will begin sometime in the 2016-17 season; it does not have a slot on ABCs fall lineup, so look for it later perhaps in the spring, where it was used in the previous season. On the other hand, I dont share your enthusiasm for the show, which tried to be a cool romantic caper but always looked as if it was trying too hard. Which is definitely uncool. * * * Q: Could you tell me what happened to Martin Milner? He appeared on several TV series in the past. Is he still around? Is he still acting? A: Milner was long a TV mainstay, including by co-starring on Route 66 (1960-64) and Adam-12 (1968-75), as well as through many guest appearances. In later years he also hosted a radio show about sport fishing. He died in 2015 after a long illness. He was 83. * * * Q: I would like to know something about the commercial where Owen has been hired by GE, and the father wants him to have grandpappys hammer. Who portrays the father? Seems like he must be an actor with many roles behind him. And what if anything has he done before? A: The father is played by Rick Overton, an actor, comedian, writer and according to his website, RealRickOverton.com a self claiming imperfectionist. His list of credits on IMDB.com is long, going back to 1978, and includes such movies as Groundhog Day, the 2005 version of Fun With Dick & Jane and Bad Teacher, along with bunches of TV appearances. * * * Q: I am a big fan of Blue Bloods and was wondering what happened to the original Nicki on the show. What is her name, and has she done any other TV or movies? A: Before Sami Gayle became the Nicky Reagan-Boyle that most Blue Bloods fans know, Marlene Renee Lawston played the part on the series pilot. (Shows get recast after their pilots pretty much every year.) Before that, she was in the movies Flightplan and Dan in Real Life. She was also in an episode of Law & Order. I have not seen any recent credits for her. * * * Q: Will CSI: Cyber be returning to CBS this fall? What about Perception on TNT? A: No on both counts. Cyber, the last show with the CSI brand, did a second-season finale that also served as a series conclusion, sending characters down new roads, and that made sense when the network did not renew it. Perception lasted three seasons on TNT but was then canceled; the last episode aired in March 2015. * * * Q: Do you know if there will be more episodes of Last Tango in Halifax on PBS? A: A fourth series of episodes has been expected for some time, but in January series creator Sally Wainwright said she was just beginning to write them. British series often take their time getting on the air, and sometimes even longer to get shown over here. Readers say progress has mostly been made under national education standards. To the Editor: Re Renouncing the Common Core (Sunday Review, July 24): Diane Ravitch perpetuates myths about the Common Core and doesnt match reality. In Delaware and in a majority of states students of all backgrounds and income levels are rising to the challenge of higher standards and are gaining the skills they need to meet the demands of college and the workplace. While assessments aligned to the Common Core are just one measure of student performance, they are showing progress. Recent test results in Delaware show that students improved nearly across the board in both English and mathematics. We also saw improvement among our students with disabilities, English language learners, low-income and minorities. The hard work of teachers, parents and students is paying off. Teachers helped write the Common Core standards, and while their implementation has not been perfect, teachers overwhelmingly support them. Lets not turn our backs on the great work of our educators, students and schools. There is much more to be done, but we should build on the progress were making together, not turn backward. In its annual report released this spring, Freedom House, an American democracy advocacy organization, downgraded Israels freedom of the press ranking from free to partly free. To anyone following Israeli news media over the past year and a half, this was hardly surprising. Freedom House focused primarily on the unchecked expansion of paid content in editorial pages, as well as on the outsize influence of Israel Hayom (Israel Today), a free daily newspaper owned by the American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and widely believed to promote the views of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel Hayoms bias is well documented. A 2013 investigative report on Israeli television revealed drafts of several articles written by the papers journalists that had been systematically changed by the editor in chief to remove criticism of the prime minister. For a newspaper to have a political agenda is, of course, nothing new. But Israel Hayom isnt conservative or right wing in the broad sense. Rather, the paper megaphones whatever is in the interest of the prime minister. Naftali Bennett, a far-right government minister, has said Israel Hayom is Pravda the mouthpiece of one man. In many ways, the Freedom House report missed the real worrying shifts. Mr. Netanyahus attempts to control the countrys pages and airwaves go much further than Israel Hayom. For the past 18 months, in addition to his prime ministerial duties, he has served as Israels communications minister (as well as its foreign minister, economy minister and minister of regional cooperation). In this role, he and his aides have brazenly leveraged his power to seek favorable coverage from outlets that he once routinely described as radically biased. Efforts to stifle freedom of the press can be seen as part of a broader attack by Mr. Netanyahu and his ministers on Israels democratic institutions, including the Supreme Court and nongovernmental organizations. Dissent from the official government line is consistently called into suspicion. In this climate, the news media has become a personal battleground for Mr. Netanyahu. Nahum Barnea, a pre-eminent Israeli columnist, said last year that Mr. Netanyahus obsession with the news media showed him to be gripped by fear and paranoia. While chastising us for supposedly meddling in his internal affairs, Mr. Putin expanded his campaign to weaken democracy abroad. Kremlin-aligned media like the TV station RT have championed his policies internationally, while challenging the legitimacy of democratic leaders, including our own president. Around the world, but especially in Europe, the Russian government supports by both rhetorical and financial means political parties and organizations with illiberal, nationalist agendas. Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and its intervention in eastern Ukraine in support of separatists, as well as the invasion of Georgia in 2008, were violent efforts to destabilize new democracies. Many are impressed and aim to copy the Putin playbook. Autocrats in Asia, the Middle East and Africa have emulated Mr. Putins draconian laws restricting civil society groups. The leader of Frances far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, has praised Mr. Putin and his policies; her party has taken a $10 million loan from a Russian bank and seeks another $30 million for next years presidential election. Two champions of the Brexit campaign Nigel Farage, the former leader of the anti-immigrant U.K. Independence Party, and Boris Johnson, a Conservative member of Parliament and now Britains foreign minister have spoken fondly of Mr. Putin. So, too, does Hungarys increasingly authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. The Republican Party nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, has frequently praised Mr. Putin. Hes a strong leader, Mr. Trump said in December. As well as overt means, Mr. Putin has deployed cyber methods of subversion. This week, WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. This action by a foreign agent prompted the resignation of the Democratic National Committee chairwoman and raised new electoral challenges for the Democrats presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. American intelligence agencies have high confidence that the Russian government stole the data and likely also hacked into the Clinton campaigns computer systems. While we cant be certain yet whether its agents passed the data directly to WikiLeaks, the circumstantial evidence points overwhelmingly to Russia. Who else? We also know that Russias use of signals intelligence to advance an antidemocratic agenda is not a new tactic. I have firsthand experience. During my stint as ambassador, Russian agents secretly recorded a conversation I had with American business executives at a Moscow hotel and published my remarks in a way to make it sound as if the United States was plotting against the Russian government. In 2014, an intercepted phone call between Americas ambassador in Ukraine and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was leaked to suggest that Washington was choosing the new government in Kiev. Against Russian opposition leaders, the Kremlin deploys such tactics all the time. Mr. Putin may be the boldest but he is not alone in this growing movement. Chinas economic success challenges democracys appeal. Iranian theocrats hold on to power at home and defend autocrats like President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Elsewhere in the Middle East, strongmen like President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt are ascendant, forcing their citizens and foreign allies to accept their repressions as supposed protection from Islamist extremists. Saudi Arabia intervened in Bahrain to crush a democratic movement there in 2011, while private Arab foundations continue to promote illiberal ideas throughout the region and beyond. TAKE Josh D., who was molested by an uncle when he was 11 or 12. Soon afterward, he had sex with a younger cousin. I acted out what was done to me, he said. At 13, he was placed on the Delaware registry for 10 years and sent for two years of treatment in South Carolina. He returned to Delaware and finished high school in 2007 with a 3.7 grade point average. In 2014, he entered Wilmington University in Delaware, but soon received a letter from the school telling him to stay off campus. The reason? He was still on Delawares registry (the state had by then extended the number of years offenders were on its registry to 15 years or more) and he hadnt formally notified the school. Had the school looked further, it would have found that he was also on Virginias and South Carolinas registries. He had lived in Virginia for eight years with his mother, and any sex offender who goes to South Carolina for more than 30 days appears on its registry. In 2014, judges and officials in Delaware and Virginia agreed to take his name off of their states registries. Its like the government wants me to be a monster, he said. Bobby Garzas lifetime involvement with the criminal justice system started 20 years ago with a broken bathroom light bulb. Scared of entering the dark bathroom of their Taylor, Tex., house, 11-year-old Bobby and his brother went to urinate outside. A little girl saw them and reported that Bobby and his brother had exposed themselves to her. A charge for indecent exposure to a child resulted, as did Bobbys placement in a foster home. He fled when an adult in the foster home tried to molest him, which led to his being held in custody, including youth prison, until he was 17. Upon release, he had to register as a sex offender for 10 years. He refused, and spent five years in prison for it. In 2013, he was arrested for aggravated robbery, for which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I was robbed of my childhood, he said in a letter from prison. The expansion of sex offender laws to include juveniles was based on the assumption that kids who sexually transgress cannot be reformed. However, research has shown this assumption to be false. Only 1 percent to 7 percent of children who commit sexual offenses will do it again much lower than the 13 percent recidivism rates for adult sexual offenders. The policy seems to succeed only in making life difficult for offenders, subjecting them to harassment and isolation. Of the more than 500 youth sex offenders whose cases Ms. Pittman examined, about 100 had attempted suicide. If you wanted to make things worse, we could not have designed a better policy, Ms. Letourneau said. Knowing this, prosecutors like Vicki Seidl, the senior lawyer in the juvenile division of the Kent County district attorneys office in Michigan, now push for pleas that keep youths off registries. Other prosecutors are following suit. But that alone will not solve the problem. Juveniles, particularly ones under 14, need to be off the registries entirely. In 2011, the Department of Justice relaxed the requirement for registering juveniles, but legislators still fear that theyll be accused of being soft on sex crimes. Matthew Grottalio, who has had a second child with Jennifer, has decided to stop trying to keep his story secret. I have two boys now and I dont want the same thing to happen to them, or to anyone, he said. I just cant sit around and act like it never happened. I want to do something about it. 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. Michelle Obama, Day 1 Every time he says it, I get sick. Brenda Ray, a Bernie Sanders supporter from Virginia Beach, Va., on how she feels when Mr. Sanders says he endorses Hillary Clinton, interviewed by Emma Roller on Day 1 Trump even talks like Putin at times, only with a better American accent. Andrew Rosenthal in The Times, Day 1 Nashville Two years ago, a day before the baby bluebirds were due to hatch, I checked the nest box just outside my office window and found a tiny hole in one of the eggs. Believing it must be the beginnings of a hatching, I resolved not to check again right away, though the itch to peek was nearly unbearable: Id been waiting years for a family of bluebirds to take up residence, and finally an egg was about to shudder and pop open. Two days later, I realized I hadnt seen either parent in some time, so I checked again and found all five eggs missing. The nest was undisturbed. The cycle of life might as well be called the cycle of death: everything that lives will die, and everything that dies will be eaten. Bluebirds eat insects; snakes eat bluebirds; hawks eat snakes; owls eat hawks. Thats how wildness works, and I know it, but I was heartbroken anyway. Just in case the pair returned for a second try, I called the North American Bluebird Society for advice. The guy who answered the helpline thought perhaps my bluebirds not mine, of course, but the bluebirds I loved had been attacked by both a house wren and a snake. House wrens are furiously territorial and will try to disrupt nesting by any birds nearby. They fill unused nest holes with sticks to prevent competitors from settling there; they destroy unprotected nests and pierce all the eggs; they have been known to kill nestlings and even brooding females. Snakes simply swallow the eggs whole, slowly and gently, leaving behind an intact nest. The bluebird expert recommended that I install a wider snake baffle on the mounting pole and clear out some brush that might be harboring wrens. If the bluebirds return, he said, I should install a wren guard over the hole as soon as the first egg appears: parents arent likely to abandon an egg, and disguising the nest hole with a cover might keep wrens from noticing it. I bought a new baffle, but the bluebirds never came back. Watching the Democrats smoothly staged, potently scripted convention last week, voters could easily think that Hillary Clinton has this election in the bag. The critiques of Donald Trump made devastatingly clear that hes a preposterous, dangerous candidate for the presidency. The case for Clinton was compelling, and almost every party leader who mattered showed up to make it. That included President Obama, who answered Trumps shockingly gloomy vision of America with a stirring assurance that we have every reason to feel good. Clinton forcefully amplified that assessment. She peddled uplift, not anxiety. But in 2016, is that the smarter sell? Are prettier words the better pitch? They made for a more emotional, inspiring convention, so much so that many conservatives loudly grieved the way in which Democrats had appropriated the rousing patriotism and can-do American spirit that Republicans once owned. But Trump has surrendered optimism to Clinton at precisely the moment when its a degraded commodity, out of sync with the national mood. Thats surely why he let go of it so readily. The Virginia Supreme Court erred earlier this month when it ruled that Gov. Terry McAuliffes blanket executive order restoring the voting rights of more than 200,000 people who had been barred from voting for felony convictions violated the state Constitution. The poorly reasoned ruling which holds that the governor can legally restore voting rights only on a case-by-case basis has no legitimate basis in the state Constitution. To his credit, Mr. McAuliffe has vowed to reinstate voting rights to those Virginians even if it means signing the restoration orders one at a time. When he issued the blanket order in April, Mr. McAuliffe acknowledged what politicians in Virginia and elsewhere have long lacked the courage to admit: The disenfranchisement law was expressly designed to permanently bar as many African-Americans as possible from the polls. Each Saturday, Farhad Manjoo and Mike Isaac, technology reporters at The New York Times, review the weeks news, offering analysis and maybe a joke or two about the most important developments in the tech industry. Mike: Ahoy, Farhad! Whats new with you? Right now Im watching my dog sleep and thinking if somehow my cryogenic life extension fails and I eventually die, I hope to be reincarnated as a Bernese mountain dog. All she does is sleep, eat and play. Farhad: Thats an odd choice. I would much rather come back as a bird and not just any bird, but one of those huge, mean, absolutely lethal birds of prey, something like an eagle or condor or falcon. When youre an eagle no one messes with you, least of all some silly mountain dog that cant even fly. Mike: Me as a dog will totally bark at you as an eagle. Moving on to tech news! So this week was tech company earnings week, or what I like to call boring hell week. It is not a lot of fun because its a bunch of numbers and math, which is really not what I signed up for when deciding to enter journalism as a career. I studied Faulkner in college, not Fibonacci. Medicare, the insurance program for older Americans and disabled people, is run by the federal government. Medicaid, for low-income people of all ages, is financed jointly by the federal government and the states. Eligibility, benefits and provider payment rates vary from state to state. About seven million low-income people receive financial help through the program for qualified Medicare beneficiaries. Under this program, state Medicaid agencies help pay Medicare premiums, deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance. But states do not have to pay doctors the full amount of such costs, and in some cases they pay nothing, leaving doctors with hundreds or thousands of dollars in unreimbursed expenses. Because of this gap in payment, many doctors and other health care providers try to bill the beneficiaries or refuse to provide services to them, said Denny W. Chan, a lawyer at Justice in Aging, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization. Many states have adopted policies that limit how much they will pay. For example, a doctor performs a service for a Medicare patient and bills Medicare for $100. Medicare pays 80 percent, or $80, and the doctor could ordinarily collect the other $20 from the patient. But if the patient is also on Medicaid, and if Medicaids payment rate for the service is only $70, then the state does not have to make any additional payment, and the claim is considered to be paid in full. The doctor is forbidden to bill the patient for the balance. Medicaid is supposed to operate like a supplementary insurance policy, filling gaps in Medicare for people who could not easily afford to pay their share of the bills. But under a 1997 federal law, states have the option of making payments based on Medicaid rates rather than on Medicare rates, which saves them money. Medicaid payment rates for physician services are often well below Medicares a reason that some doctors cite for refusing to participate in Medicaid or for limiting the number of Medicaid patients they will see. The Obama administration has warned doctors that if they participate in Medicare, they must abide by the balance-billing prohibitions, regardless of whether they also accept Medicaid patients. Medicare providers who violate these billing prohibitions are violating their Medicare provider agreement and may be subject to sanctions, the administration said in a bulletin for doctors. For their part, doctors say they do not always know that a patient is a qualified Medicare beneficiary and is therefore exempt from Medicares cost-sharing requirements. The government is increasing efforts to educate doctors and patients after finding widespread confusion. Federal officials have also reminded private Medicare Advantage plans that they too are bound by the billing restrictions in federal law. DECATUR Timothy Bradley, 32, was seen by a passer-by lying down in a construction area of the roadway on North 22nd Street. Police who were sent to check on on his welfare about 1:30 a.m. Thursday found him staggering westbound on Eldorado Street from the construction area, said an affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Tamara Tucker. What started out as officers trying to help a man facing imminent danger changed quickly, with Bradley taken into custody on multiple charges, including two preliminary counts of aggravated battery to officers. As Tucker drove along Eldorado, she activated her emergency lights to signal that Bradley should stop. When officers tried to speak with him, he continued to walk away, Tucker wrote in her statement. After he was ordered to stop, Bradley continued walking away and used profanity toward officers, the affidavit said. Officer Aaron Carr grabbed Bradley's arm to detain him, but he pulled away. Officers ordered him to place his hands behind his back, but he refused, continued to walk away and threatened to sue the officers. After a Taser was deployed against Bradley's back, he was taken into custody and transported to the jail. In the prebooking area another struggle ensued. As Carr attempted to secure him against a wall, Bradley resisted. He struggled with officers as they tried to place him in handcuffs. While officers were trying to control Bradley, he struck Officer Carr on the right cheekbone area with the back of his head which caused pain, redness and swelling to the right side of officer Carr's facial area, Tucker wrote. Bradley was very intoxicated and combative, wrote Macon County sheriff's Sgt. Michael Hawkins, one of five officers who attempted to calm down and restrain him at the jail. After he was taken to the floor and handcuffed against his will, officers tried to place him in a restraint chair. After two more sheriff's officers arrived on the scene, correctional officer M. R. Gessaman tried to secure Bradley's leg in a restraint fastened to the chair. Bradley responded by kicking Gessaman with his knee twice in his jaw. The incident was recorded on surveillance video. The injury to the officer's jaw was photographed. Bradley eventually was booked into the jail, where he is being held on $30,000, pending his arraignment by Friday. Bradley recently served a two-year term in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a 2014 Effingham County DUI conviction. He has eight other criminal convictions since 2002, for crimes including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, three cases of resisting a police officer. Donald J. Trump belittled the parents of a slain Muslim soldier who had strongly denounced Mr. Trump during the Democratic National Convention, saying that the soldiers father had delivered the entire speech because his mother was not allowed to speak. Mr. Trumps comments, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that will air on Sunday, drew quick and widespread condemnation and amplified calls for Republican leaders to distance themselves from their presidential nominee. With his implication that the soldiers mother had not spoken because of female subservience expected in some traditional strains of Islam, his comments also inflamed his hostilities with American Muslims. Khizr Khan, the soldiers father, lashed out at Mr. Trump in an interview on Saturday, saying his wife had not spoken at the convention because it was too painful for her to talk about her sons death. Mr. Trump, he said, is devoid of feeling the pain of a mother who has sacrificed her son. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, a rival of Mr. Trumps in the Republican primaries who has refused to endorse him, castigated him on Twitter. Theres only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect, he wrote, using the term for surviving family members of those who died in war. Donald J. Trump, confronting a daunting electoral map and a significant financial disadvantage, is preparing to fall back from an expansive national campaign and concentrate the bulk of his time and money on just three or four states that his campaign believes he must sweep in order to win the presidency. Even as Mr. Trump has ticked up in national polls in recent weeks, senior Republicans say his path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for election has remained narrow and may have grown even more precarious. It now looks exceedingly difficult for him to assemble even the barest Electoral College majority without beating Hillary Clinton in a trifecta of the biggest swing states: Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. President Obama won all three states in 2008 and 2012, and no Republican has won Pennsylvania in nearly three decades. With a divisive campaign message that has alienated many women and Hispanics, Mr. Trump appears to have pushed several traditional swing states out of his own reach. According to strategists on both sides of the race, polling indicates that Mrs. Clinton has a solid upper hand in Colorado and Virginia, the home state of Senator Tim Kaine, her running mate. Both states voted twice for George W. Bush, who assiduously courted Hispanic voters and suburban moderates. PHILADELPHIA The American news media is wildly overplaying Russias role in a major email leak. The Democratic National Convention was troubled by chaos and dissent. Donald J. Trumps request for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to hack Democratic emails was a joke that American pundits simply did not get. Such is the worldview presented by RT, the state-run, Moscow-based international news organization that, this week, found itself in a strange position: covering an American presidential election where Russia is suddenly playing a major role. The network, formerly known as Russia Today, has long been scrutinized for being a propaganda outlet of sorts for the Putin government, which oversees its finances. But its American arm, which attracts about eight million weekly viewers, has aspired to more mainstream success, hiring a team of on-the-ground journalists and familiar, if past-their-prime, television stars like Larry King and the former MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz. That balancing act has been strained by Russias suspected role in the release of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, a leak widely viewed as an attempt to meddle with the American election process. But the small group of RT journalists in Philadelphia said this week that their only instructions were to find fresh angles in a crowded news marketplace. AUSTIN, Tex. On Aug. 1, 1966, Charles Whitman ascended the University of Texas clock tower here with a trunk full of weapons and unleashed 96 minutes of terror that effectively became a template for mass shootings and aroused in the public a new sensitivity to the threat of violence in public spaces. Mr. Whitman, a 25-year-old student, Eagle Scout and Marine veteran, killed a receptionist and two members of a visiting family inside the tower. He then went onto the observation deck and began spraying sniper fire, turning a tranquil summertime campus into a scene of chaos and death. In the half-century since, Mr. Whitmans savagery has been echoed in mass shootings on other university campuses and at workplaces, elementary schools, post offices, movie theaters and nightclubs. And what seemed unthinkable in 1966 was re-enacted with alarming repetition in places like Columbine High School in Colorado; Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.; Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.; and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. When I hear theres another tragic shooting at a university, my heart breaks and I relive every excruciating moment of pain and mental anguish, knowing what the survivors or loved ones of those who are injured are going to go through, said Adrian Littlefield, a semiretired minister from Kirbyville, Tex., who was severely wounded in the University of Texas attack. PHILADELPHIA First a black president and now, just maybe, a woman. Karen Willis, an African-American delegate to this weeks Democratic convention here, was exhilarated by the historic possibilities of Hillary Clintons election run, viewing it as a natural succession to Barack Obamas eight years in power. But when it comes to persuading voters, she noted, Mrs. Clintons gender milestone was the one thing her party was likely to play down. We dont want to offend some of the white men out there who may not take too well to a first woman, said Ms. Willis, who is from San Diego, citing internal party talking points. We dont want to rub it in their faces that shes a woman, any more than we rubbed it in their faces that Barack Obama was black. It makes sense. As the United States kicks off an unprecedented presidential campaign contest this week, setting Mrs. Clinton against her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, the sensitivities of the countrys gender politics are bubbling to the surface. Americans find themselves confronted with an uncomfortable question: Are they really ready to accept a Madam President? The soaring optimism of Mrs. Clintons address to her party in Philadelphia, with its promises of breaking the worlds highest glass ceiling, comes against the backdrop of a contest notable for its misogynistic discourse. It is a section of Panamas newly expanded canal that has troubled veteran canal workers. To safely guide the new generation of massive ships through the two sets of locks, tugboat captains and ship pilots rely on an approach wall to properly align the vessels before escorting them into the first narrow chamber. The wall is an antidote to the currents and winds that push and pull ships into awkward angles, making tugboats wrestle the elements before achieving the proper position. Each entrance has this structure except one. And it was at this opening on the afternoon of July 21 that the Chinese container ship Xin Fei Zhou struck a lock wall, tearing small holes in its hull canal officials call it a dent and forcing it out of service. The new canal was not even a month old. Another container ship had experienced tense moments three weeks earlier as crew members responded to countless instructions from a canal employee who was attempting to guide it into the same set of locks. Critics argue that Chinese teachers place an unhealthy emphasis on test preparation and rote memorization at the expense of critical thinking skills and creativity. They also say international exams overstate the strength of Chinas system because they exclude students from poorer regions. The Stanford study, based in part on exams given to 2,700 students at 11 mainland universities, has its own limitations. It does not account for people who are not enrolled in universities, a large swath of Chinese youth. It looks exclusively at students in computer science and engineering programs. And while it measures critical thinking, it does not offer insight into creativity, a topic often hotly debated in discussing the Chinese education system. Still, the researchers found stark differences when they compared Chinese students with their overseas counterparts. In addition to examining critical thinking skills, the study looked at how Chinese students compared in math and physics. While testing for the United States is not yet available, the researchers found that Chinese students arrived at college with skills far superior to their Russian counterparts. After two years of college, though, the Chinese students showed virtually no improvement while the Russians made substantial progress, though not enough to catch up. The Stanford researchers suspect the poor quality of teaching at many Chinese universities is one of the most important factors in the results. Chinese universities tend to reward professors for achievements in research, not their teaching abilities. In addition, almost all students graduate within four years, according to official statistics, reducing the incentive to work hard. They dont really flunk anyone, said Scott Rozelle, an economist who has studied Chinese education for three decades and a co-author of the study. The contract is, if you got in here, you get out. HONG KONG A political candidate in Hong Kong has been barred from running for office, after government officials said Saturday that his support for the territorys independence from China made it impossible for him to uphold the legal duties of a lawmaker. The government previously said candidates for the legislative election in September must declare that they recognize Hong Kong as an inalienable part of China or face disqualification. The candidate who was disqualified, Chan Ho-tin of the Hong Kong National Party, signed a pledge to uphold the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that has governed Hong Kong since the former British colony was returned to Chinese control in 1997. But he refused to answer an election officials follow-up questions about whether he would continue to push for Hong Kongs independence from China. In a reply, posted online, he questioned whether the official had the right to ask such questions. MOGADISHU, Somalia Barely 12 hours after a failed coup in Turkey, Somalias cabinet met to consider a request from Turkey to shut down two schools and a hospital linked to Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric whom the Turkish president blames for the attempted coup. The influence of Turkey in Somalia, where it has spearheaded international reconstruction efforts after decades of war and instability, is so strong that it was not a difficult decision. Teachers and pupils almost all of them Somali at the two boarding schools run by Mr. Gulens Nile Academy educational foundation were given seven days to pack their bags and leave the school. Considering the request of our brother country Turkey, the cabinet ministers have agreed upon the following points to stop the services provided by Nile Academy including schools, hospitals, etc., the Somali government said in a statement on July 16. I accompanied Iraqs elite counterterrorism force and other units from the Iraqi military and the federal police into Falluja at the end of June, during the final days of their long battle to wrest back control of the city from the Islamic State. Falluja was the first Iraqi city to fall to the Islamic State, more than two years ago, and the militant group had all that time to learn the city, sowing traps everywhere. It was only after a long siege that the Iraqi forces moved to take the center. In the last stages of the battle, members of the counterterrorism force, in coordination with other Iraqi units, fought their way into the neighborhood of Al Jolan in Falluja, where Islamic State fighters were making their last stand. As we moved through the bombed-out streets, gun battles raged, and the insurgents improvised mortars exploded among the narrow alleyways and rubble in a last-ditch effort to halt the advance of Iraqs security forces. DECATUR Mexican food is a favorite of Gary and Ina Brown. With several Decatur restaurants from which to choose, they have narrowed their preferences. The newest choice is served out of a truck, simply known as the Burrito Truck. The food is fresh, Ina Brown said. And you can see the people working on your food. Food trucks have gained popularity in warmer regions of the country, such as Florida and Texas. Although the cooler seasons allow few options for a food truck in other parts of the country, some businesses in Central Illinois still find the mobile restaurant works for them. Raymundo Padron has parked the Burrito Truck in the same Pershing Road location for more than five years. After testing other foods and locations, he is now comfortable with his portable business. Padron believes he could not afford to experiment with his business in a brick-and-mortar restaurant. To open a restaurant, you have to spend a lot of money, he said. If it works, fine, but if it don't you lose a lot of money. To start a mobile food truck business, owners typically begin with smaller overhead costs. You pay less on rent, less on power, less for employees, Padron said. According to Clint Carter, owner of Carter's Fish and Chips, a smaller work space has other advantages. It is a good way for a young person to start, he said. It is less expensive to test your product out. Carter's 8-by-20-foot trailer has enough room for a sink, refrigerator, preparation counter and a cash register. It's a small kitchen, more personable, he said. You get to know the customers. Mobility may be what sets the restaurants apart from others, but where they park is still important. Harold Ryan, owner of H&D concessions, travels throughout the summer to various events and festivals. But every weekday his little yellow camper sits on the corner of Oakland and Grand avenues selling his famous jumbo tenderloins. His customers know where to go. I have good, faithful customers that come here, he said. Anita Netherton is a regular customer often stopping by on her way to visit her mother in Taylorville. Her granddaughter owns a traveling food truck, but Netherton only buys from Ryan's truck. I stop at just this one, she said. I love his tenderloins, and he is a friendly guy. With their ability to travel, businesses are allowed to test what foods are most appealing to the customer. Gyro King owner, Chris Droukas, began making gyros from his truck 34 years ago. The ethnic food wasn't immediately popular in Decatur. Droukas was able to offer the gyro during Decatur Celebration, giving his business the push it needed. People became familiar with them, he said. I see it was good business. As with most restaurants, food trucks have regulations, including health and government laws. According to Decatur City Code street regulations, food truck season is from March 15 to Nov. 30. All restaurants must follow the same health guidelines. Authorizations and permits are needed, including a sanitation permit, a health permit and a small-business permit. Every county I go to I have to have a different permit, Ryan said. That's why I stay in DeWitt, Piatt and Macon county. Ryan's customers also keep him in the area. It took me 12 years to be where I'm at today, he said of stable enterprise. Most vendors see their food as the commercial draw. The venue is just a novelty. According to Padron, his customers run the socioeconomic gamut. I'm surprised the type of people that come to the truck, he said. Office people, doctors, lawyers, blue collar workers. Dan Gillen visits the Burrito Truck because of the menu's authenticity. You can't find this type of burrito elsewhere, he said. But the experience is cool. You are outside; you can relax a bit and get out of the office. Robert Carswell, a Treasury Department official who was instrumental in choreographing the delicate financial negotiations that coaxed Iran into releasing 52 American hostages in 1981, died on July 22 at his home in Great Barrington, Mass. He was 87. His death was confirmed by Shearman & Sterling, the Manhattan law firm that he joined as an associate in 1952 and retired from in 2014. As a Treasury official who served under three presidents, Mr. Carswell was also involved in the negotiations that led to federal loan guarantees to New York City during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and to the bankrupt Chrysler Corporation, which was granted $1.5 billion in 1979 in what was then the biggest government bailout of an American company. But his most historic role began after militant student supporters of the Iranian revolution seized the United States Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. They held 52 diplomats and other Americans hostage for 444 days during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, a diplomatic and political embarrassment that contributed to his defeat for re-election. The day we left India was the first day we saw a computer, said George Kurian, who after graduation worked at Oracle while Thomas Kurian was a consultant at McKinsey. The two also went to Stanford Business School together. Mark V. Hurd and Safra A. Catz, both chief executives at Oracle, manage the companys sales and finance. Mr. Ellison, who is 71 and shows no inclination to retire, counts on Mr. Kurian to run the core of any big tech company: thousands of engineers. The NetSuite deal is something of a coming-out party for Oracles global cloud, possibly signaling the start of a new round of acquisitions, along with hefty spending to keep building out this network. But spending upward of $2 billion a year on building a cloud network, Mr. Kurian said, is table stakes for the biggest tech companies. In NetSuite, Oracle saw a cloud company whose sales of e-commerce and manufacturing software to smaller businesses were stalling as it tried to move into international markets. Oracle figured it could distribute that software efficiently over its cloud. It also hopes to reach smaller companies that cant afford Oracles traditional high-cost, high-maintenance product. Mr. Ellison played no role in the acquisition of NetSuite, according to Oracle, since he owns about 40 percent of that company. Mr. Ellison, who is already worth $45 billion, according to Bloomberg, will reap another $3.7 billion on the NetSuite deal. He still attends regular corporate strategy sessions, along with Mr. Hurd, Ms. Catz and Mr. Kurian, grilling each on their respective portfolios. Oracle has hundreds of different types of software for businesses, but more than anything it is known for powerful databases. Many global airlines, banks and manufacturers wouldnt function without them. Customers treat the big, Oracle-strength software like sacred objects that should never be altered, while theyre happy to experiment, for example, with a new offering from Amazon. Thats one reason Oracle has a hard time moving toward new technology, said Steve Miranda, Oracles vice president of applications development. DECATUR Alan Boyer and Doug Hagen, the best of friends from MacArthur High School's Class of 1964, are finally together again. The discovery that Boyer would be buried near Hagan in Arlington National Cemetery was among the most emotional moments of his memorial service June 22, coming more than 48 years after the Army Sergeant 1st Class disappeared while on a reconnaissance mission in Laos in 1968. Hagen, who enlisted to find out what happened to his friend, was killed in Vietnam in 1971. We were in utter disbelief; this was beyond our wildest dreams, recalls Steve Pyle of Bowling Green, Ky., one of several members of their class who attended the service. Things like that don't just happen in the Army. And yet it did happen, Boyer's sister believes, because she asked about the possibility during a March 16 visit by Michael Linnington, then director of the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, to discuss the full report on her brother's remains. When I think about that and about all the people who showed up, I still feel overwhelmed, Judi Boyer Bouchard said in a telephone interview from her home in Hayesville, N.C. It was the most amazing day. Indeed some of Boyer's and Hagen's schoolmates were drawn to attend because they hadn't been able to make it to Hagen's services nearly 45 years earlier and wished to honor both of them. Al's remains not only made it home, but were laid to rest only a few strides away from his great friend Doug, said Jim Lewis, a classmate who lives in Boulder, Colo. Tears still well up in my eyes picturing that scene. Boyer received a Purple Heart and Silver Star posthumously; Hagen the Medal of Honor. Other members of their class in attendance, in addition to Pyle and Lewis, included Roger Bumgardner, Phil Cargill, Bill Charneski, Joel Crames, Mary Kapernick Minger, Dick Maxwell, Greg Morrison and Bob Musson. Phil continued to stay in touch with my parents, so he is particularly dear to me, Bouchard said. Members of other classes who also made it there included Diane Biscan Morrison and Jim Morrison (both '67), Bob and Pete Kapernick ('60 and '66, respectively), and, notably, Doug Hagan's brother Mike and two of his classmates from the Class of 1965: Carol Bingaman Dilks and Pat Ryan. Ryan, who still lives in Decatur, said his dad taught social studies at MacArthur and just knew Boyer and Hagan were going to do something with their lives. You just don't forget certain people, he said. By the same token Bouchard never forgot her brother, not when he didn't come home with 591 American prisoners after the war was over in 1973 and not after both of their parents died, their father in 1994 and their mother in 2013. Charles Boyer worked at Borg-Warner when the family lived in Decatur, and Dorothy Boyer taught at Brush College School. Originally from suburban Chicago, the family moved to Rockford after Alan Boyer graduated from MacArthur in 1964. A bone fragment from his leg, in the possession of remains traders in Laos, recently ended up with a peace activist who turned it over to the U.S. government. The Army confirmed his identify by comparing the DNA to samples given many years earlier by his mother and sister. For an occasion as rare as Boyer's memorial service, the Army accorded full military honors, such as a riderless horse, a horse-drawn caisson carrying the casket and pallbearers from the ranks of the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknown. I thank my Lord for making everything possible, Bouchard wrote in a thank-you email afterward. It could not have been more perfect. Four cases of Zika virus infection in Florida have been confirmed as the first cases of local transmission of the Zika virus in the continental United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced. As we have anticipated, Zika is now here, CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said during a conference call with the media. These cases are not unexpected [as] weve been saying for months, based on our experiences with chikungunya virus and dengue which are viruses spread by the same mosquitoes that spread Zika that individual cases and potentially small clusters of Zika are possible in the U.S. CDC Dr. Thomas Frieden The cases in question occurred within several blocks of each other in Miami. The individuals were infected in early July, became symptomatic within a few days, and were diagnosed a few days later. Frieden explained that the CDC is proceeding as though these are confirmed cases of local mosquito-borne transmission, which he emphasized is not the same as simply confirming that a person has Zika virus infection. Weve been working closely with Florida and weve been impressed by the comprehensiveness of their investigation, Dr. Frieden said. Since these cases became diagnosed, Florida officials have implemented aggressive mosquito control protocols, which include trying to significantly reduce the local mosquito population by spraying both adult and larval mosquitoes. Dr. Frieden reiterated that killing mosquitoes is one of the most effective ways to ensure local transmission does not occur. Screening of travelers coming into Florida has also been ramped up. Teams are also going door-to-door to eliminate any standing water that may be harboring mosquitoes. Were coordinating closely with Florida, and will continue to support their efforts to assess the situation on a daily basis, he said. To reduce the chances of an individual contracting the virus through mosquitos, the CDC continues recommending mosquito repellent; wearing clothing that covers as much of the body as possible; avoiding any areas with still water; and staying in rooms that have air conditioning, fans, or mosquito nets. We have been working with state and local governments to prepare for the likelihood of local mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission in the continental United States and Hawaii, said Lyle R. Petersen, MD, MPH, Director of the CDCs Division of Vector-Borne Diseases and Incident Manager for the CDCs Zika Response efforts, in a statement. We anticipate that there may be additional cases of homegrown Zika in the coming weeks. Our top priority is to protect pregnant women from the potentially devastating harm caused by Zika. To combat the growing domestic Zika burden, the American Public Health Association called on Congress to allocate more funding, saying that the lack of Congressional support is directly leading to the diseases incursion into the United States. Sadly, we knew this outcome was probable with each passing day that Congress failed to fund Zika protection and response [and] now Congress has adjourned for summer recess. said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive Director of the APHA, adding that when Congress comes back in September, it must make sending bipartisan Zika legislation to the president a top priority. The American Medical Association echoed that position. This should be a wake up call to Congress and the Administration that they must resolve their differences and immediately make the necessary resources available for our country to combat the growing threat of the virus, Andrew W. Gurman, MD, AMA President, said in a statement. The announcement of locally transmitted Zika virus cases in the continental U.S. comes on the heels of the CDCs latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which found that cases of Zika virus have increased dramatically in Puerto Rico. There have been 5,582 individuals diagnosed with Zika virus so far in 2016, as of July 7. That figure includes 672 pregnant women, with the rate of positive tests increasing from just 14% in February to 64% in June, according to the MMWR (doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6530e1). Puerto Rico is in the midst of a Zika epidemic. The virus is silently and rapidly spreading in Puerto Rico, Dr. Peterson said in a separate statement. This could lead to hundreds of infants being born with microcephaly or other birth defects in the coming year. We must do all we can to protect pregnant women from Zika and to prepare to care for infants born with microcephaly. dchitnis@frontlinemedcom.com SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France Muslims and Catholics joined in Friday prayers at the mosque in the Normandy town where an elderly priest was slain this week, with one imam chastising the extremists as non-Muslims who are not part of civilization. Muslims came from other parts of France for the service shared with Christians. The killing Tuesday of 85-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel as he celebrated morning Mass sent shockwaves around France and deeply touched many among the nations 5 million Muslims. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as the July 14 truck attack in Nice, where 84 people were killed by a man who plowed his truck down a seaside promenade. The head of the main Muslim umbrella group, Anouar Kbibech, who attended Fridays gathering, reiterated a call for Muslims to visit churches on Sunday to show solidarity with Christians as they pray. But one imam made a rare direct strike at the killers who claimed to act in the name of Allah. You have the wrong civilization, because you are not a part of civilization. You have the wrong humanity, because you are not a part of humanity, said Abdelatif Hmitou. You have the wrong idea about us (Muslims), and we wont forgive you for this. How, he asked, addressing the extremists, did the idea reach your mind that we might loathe those who helped us to pray to Allah in this town? How could you think that, Mr. killer? Mr. criminal? He was referring to the help by the Sainte Therese church, which is adjacent to the mosque in the northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The church sold the plot to Muslims for a symbolic sum so they could build a house of worship. The two 19-year-old attackers were killed Tuesday by police as they left St. Etienne church, where they had held two nuns and an elderly couple hostage as they slit the priests throat. A third nun escaped and gave the alert. That church has now been sealed shut. Another 19-year-old was handed preliminary charges on Friday for criminal terrorist association after investigators found a video at his home showing one of the slain teens Abdel Malik Nabil Petitjean warning of a violent action to come, a judicial official said. The discovery was made a day before the church attack when the man was arrested. While investigators are seeking information on the July 26 church attack, they were also making arrests in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 victims. An Algerian and a Pakistani transferred recently to France from Austria were also handed preliminary charges Friday of criminal terrorist association, the official said. Investigators were reaching across France to unravel the church attack plot. A Syrian refugee was detained on Thursday in the Allier region of central France because a photocopy of his passport was found at the home of one of the attackers killed by police, Adel Kermiche, the official said. Also being held was a cousin of Kermiches accomplice, Petitjean, on suspicion he was aware of the attack plan based on information culled from social networks, the judicial official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. A 16-year-old arrested just after the attack remained in custody. How Kermiche, from northwest Normandy, concocted the attack plot with Petitjean, from Aix-les-Bain in the Alps of eastern France, remained unclear. What is known is that Petitjean arrived in Kermiches town just three days earlier, apparently staying at his home, according to the judicial official. Kermiche wore a tracking bracelet after arrests with false IDs trying to go to Syria but had four hours a day of freedom. Petitjean had no criminal record. Petitjeans identity was made public Thursday based on DNA tests. Anti-terrorist officials came close twice before the attack to identifying him as a threat. Four days before the attack, an alert with a photo of him went out to French police with a note he may be planning an attack but the photo had no name. He was spotted in Turkey in June, but French authorities were alerted too late and he quickly returned to France. Outside the mosque a sign read: Mosque in mourning. The Rev. Pierre Belhache, in charge of relations with the Muslim community, affirmed to the Muslim and Christian faithful that we wont let anyone divide us. It is so rich to have these differences but still be together. A college in California has scrapped plans for a fall play developed in the wake of the San Bernardino terror attacks after victims family members objected to the proposed production. As part of the call for community feedback on this topic, our faculty received indications that the production would lack support from many family members of victims at this time, San Bernardino Valley College spokesman Paul Bratulin said in an email to The Washington Post. Their participation would be absolutely vital to making the production successful, and we cant go on without their full support. Fourteen people were killed in the Dec. 2 attack when two shooters opened fire at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. The attackers, a husband and his wife, died in a shootout with police. Authorities later said the woman, Tashfeen Malik, wrote in a Facebook post that they pledged allegiance to the head of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The devised play that was being planned at San Bernardino Valley College was announced earlier this month, although details of the production were still unclear, according to the San Bernardino Sun. The newspaper noted in its report that this type of play is worked out by the ensemble, once assembled, rather than being written by a playwright. That meant that those working on the production would do interviews with community members about the attack and other research, creating a new community response to the attack and its aftermath, the Sun wrote. Ive done this in the past, and this is one of my favorite types of plays to direct. Theres a little bit of anxiety, but not too much, Melinda Fogle-Oliver, chair of the schools theater arts department, told the Sun. But, yeah, we dont know too much whats going to happen, but thats kind of whats exciting. We do want that input from the community and their honest input. In a letter sent Thursday, Diana Rodriguez, president of San Bernardino Valley College, wrote that faculty members at the school were very sympathetic to the sensitive nature of their work and were considering a new theme for the fall play. Rodriguez also said that the college wouldnt move forward with the fall production, which had been titled SB Strong, and added please accept our deepest apologies for any pain or hurt we may have caused. Although we encourage originality on the part of our faculty and cannot censor their academic work, we also highly value the communitys input into the work we do, Rodriguez said in the letter. We strive to be an institution that excels in bridging cultural gaps and providing improved access to rewarding careers and professional opportunities. We would never seek to exacerbate the profound grief with which our community still lives. The letter was sent to community members who contacted us to share their concerns, Bratulin said in an email. The majority of recipients were family members or friends of victims, he wrote. Mark Sandefur, whose son, Daniel Kaufman, was killed in the shooting, was among those who were unhappy about the proposed project. As the father of one of the 14 people killed, I am aghast at the suggestion that youd want to profit from Daniels death, Sandefur wrote in an email to Valley College officials, according to the Sun. What incredibly bad taste you show. I cant imagine who thought this was a good idea. He was not the only family member who questioned the play. I think it was very offensive for them to think of something like that, Evelyn Godoy told the Sun. Its insensitive of them. Godoys sister-in-law, Aurora Godoy, was killed in the shooting. ANKARA, Turkey Turkeys president slammed the United States on Friday, claiming it was not standing firmly against a failed military coup and accused it of harboring the plots alleged mastermind, as a government crackdown in the coups aftermath strained Turkeys ties with key allies. Turkey has demanded the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania whom it accuses of being behind the violent July 15 coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead. It is accusing Western nations of not extending sufficient support to its efforts to counter further threats from followers of the Gulen movement, which it says have infiltrated the countrys state institutions. Turkey considers Gulens movement a terrorist organization. Gulen has denied any prior knowledge of the plot and says his movement espouses interfaith dialogue. The United States has asked Turkey for evidence of his involvement, and said the U.S. extradition process must take its course. Instead of thanking this nation thatquashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary,you are taking sides with the coup plotters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an angry speech Friday at a police special forces headquarters in Ankara. The facility was bombed and fired upon during the attempted coup, and 47 police officers were killed. The putschist is already in your country, Erdogan said. The president also lashed out at an American military official who expressed concern that the failed coup may have longer-term effects on the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. Gen. Joseph Votel said Thursday the unrest could affect U.S. relations with the Turkish military, noting that some of its leaders have been jailed. Weve certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular. And so Im concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue to move forward, Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum. Erdogan criticized the comment. Its not up to you to make that decision. Who are you? Know your place, he said, and hinted the United States could be behind the failed plot. My people know who is behind this scheme they know who the superior intelligence behind it is, and with these statements you are revealing yourselves, you are giving yourselves away, he said. Speaking later in the evening at an event in Ankara to commemorate the dead and wounded, Erdogan said nobody from the European Union or the Council of Europe had visited Turkey to express their condolences for those killed in the coup. He noted the West simply offered condolences and then followed up with messages of concern about those suspended or fired. You simply send a message of condolence, and you follow it up with nine kinds of advice? Erdogan said. Keep that to yourself. The president insisted a broad crackdown on the Gulen movement was necessary and would continue. Some say youve dismissed 10,000, 20,000. We will purge tens of thousands of whomever they are, Erdogan said. It is not possible for them to remain in this countrys institutions, those who rained bombs purchased with taxes on my pristine people, he added. Speaking earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey wanted Gulens extradition process to conclude rapidly and has asked the United States to make sure he does not escape to another country. He also criticized Turkeys European and Western allies for their stance on the governments broad crackdown, which has included a purge of the civil service, military, judiciary and education sectors, and the closures of hundreds of schools and dozens of media outlets. We are disturbed by our European and Western friends approach, Cavusoglu told reporters. Very few have given us clear support against the coup. They started to give us lessons in democracy, to talk down to us, to warn us. The European Union and other countries, as well as human rights groups, have voiced increasing concern about the crackdown. According to recent figures from the interior ministry, more than 18,000 people have been detained since the coup attempt. Of those, more than 3,500 have since been released, a senior government official said. More than 66,000 people in the wider civil service have been suspended from their jobs. Ankara has also been seeking to extend its crackdown on the network of schools and institutions abroad connected to his movement. In Germany, the governor of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said his regional government received a letter from the Turkish consul-general in Stuttgart asking it to check and reevaluate organizations, facilities and schools which in the opinion of the Turkish government are, it says, controlled by the Gulen movement. That surprised me greatly, Winfried Kretschmann told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Of course we will not do that. Kretschmann said he has seen no evidence to back Turkeys assertion that the Gulen movement was responsible for the coup attempt or that Islamization is taking place at schools in Germany. Germanys foreign minister said it was good that the coup had been foiled but now the reactions are getting far out of proportion. When tens of thousands of civil servants, teachers and judges are dismissed, thousands of schools and education facilities shut and dozens of journalists arrested without any direct connection with the coup being discernible, we cannot simply stay silent, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was quoted as saying Friday in the Ruhr Nachrichten paper. Steinmeier said bringing back the death penalty would be a major step backward for Turkey. In his Friday night speech, Erdogan said that I hear the people chanting about the death penalty and we are a democracy. He said the issue would be discussed by Parliament. Cavusoglu, in an interview with Germanys Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to be published Saturday, raised the possibility of a referendum on reinstating capital punishment. This decision should not be taken in the heat of the moment, he was quoted as saying. Perhaps the decision on this will be taken in a referendum. These are very serious questions. He argued that officials are getting thousands of tweets and texts saying if you dont reintroduce the death penalty, we wont vote for your party anymore. The EU doesnt have the right to give us lessons on this matter, Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. SANTA ANA Workers cleared away a concrete slab from a back yard on Friday as police investigators continued a search prompted by a tip that a body might be buried below. Its a slow and arduous process, Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. On Thursday, Santa Ana had police started demolishing the 20-by-20-foot slab after a tipster said that a body had been buried there more than 30 years ago. Bertagna said that anthropologists that work with the county coroners office would likely start carefully digging Friday afternoon in search of any human remains. They have to go layer by layer, Bertagna said. I was told it could take days. The houses tenants were free to come and go as they please, he said, so long as they stayed out of the backyard because it was considered a crime scene. On Thursday, a police cadaver dog made a positive hit for human remains, police said. The homeowner has told detectives that about 10 years ago workers found two human bones that were possibly human and a knife in the backyard. The discoveries were discarded, and police were never notified. Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com Its a nightmare made real. An Eastside Costa Mesa resident awoke in the dead of night one spring to a burglar in his bedroom who then doused him in pepper spray. Somehow the homeowner found a nearby handgun and fired off several shots in the intruders direction. On Friday Costa Mesa police detailed a caper that stretches from Los Angeles to Mexico over four years and involves a dead body in the back of a rented Cadillac, a fugitive art dealer, a string of burglaries and, of course, social media. Police contend that days after that burglary-gone-awry in May of 2012 Los Angeles police discovered the decomposing body of 33-year-old Steven Simmons found wrapped in a painters tarp and plastic in the back of a rented Cadillac Escalade. Simmons, a resident of Running Springs and the man shot by the homeowner in Costa Mesa, died from the gunshot wound to the chest at a Villa Park home and was taken to a West Hollywood art gallery where he was wrapped in canvas and plastic before ending up in the rental car. Police tracked the SUV to a Los Angeles art dealer and gallery operator Jacob Anthonisen who posed with celebrities like Lindsay Lohan on social media. When authorities went looking for Anthonisen, he already cleared out his artist space, the Peanut Gallery. Costa Mesa police contend the Costa Mesa homeowner who shot Simmons knew Anthonisen from earlier art sales. Thus began a years long investigation in which Costa Mesa police learned of a burglary ring involving Simmons, Anthonisen, another suspect 36-year-old Brent Buckner of Villa Park and a woman police havent identified. The foursome targeted people they knew and tracked them on Facebook. When someone posted they were away from home, police claim the suspects burglarized their friends homes. In April of 2013 Costa Mesa police arrested Buckner in Orange. Buckner showed police where he sold his stolen goods in the jewelry district of Downtown Los Angeles. It was then that police learned Anthonisen was on the lam in Mexico. In October of that year Mexican authorities tracked Anthonisen to Ensenada, arrested him and turned him over to Costa Mesa detectives at the boarder. In January of 2014 an apparent family member of Anthonisens started a fundraising page to help with his legal expenses writing He is a creative smart, gentle, and loving person with many friends. Jacob is a good person in a bad situation everyone knows he is innocent but it is essential this is proved in court. The page raised $3,387. In May last year Anthonisen pleaded guilty to one count of first degree burglary and was sentenced to two years behind bars. Last month Buckner pleaded guilty to four counts of first degree burglary and one count of attempted robbery. Buckner will be sentenced Oct. 7 this year. Police allege he was involved in burglaries in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Orange, Villa Park and Anaheim Hills. The Orange County District Attorneys office ruled Simmons death a justifiable homicide. The victim who shot Simmons in the burglary in the 2400 block of Elden Street hasnt been identified. Contact the writer: lwilliams@ocregister.com From as early as his school days in Orange and Villa Park, Amir Kamyab knew he was funny. And he liked how it felt to be the funny guy, too. But to make a career of that? Well, thats just not something you could do, says Kamyab, who goes by the stage name Amir K and last week made his network television debut in the CW networks reboot of the sketch comedy series Mad TV. I didnt know that could be an option, he says. I thought I could be a funny teacher. I had a teacher, Mr. Smith, in the fifth grade at California Elementary in the city of Orange who was just so funny to me. I thought, This is so cool, maybe I could be a funny teacher. And that might actually be a career his immigrant parents, especially his dad, would accept, Kamyab says. In our culture, Im Iranian, thats just not a viable option, Kamyab says. Theres no standup comics in Iran. So to them it was just such a foreign, crazy idea, like, What are you even talking about? They wanted me to be a successful person and that was not a thing in their reality that you could be successful at, he says. So even though he could still feel how great it felt to make his classmates, and sometimes his teachers, laugh in his role as the class clown at Villa Park High School, after graduating in 1999 he attended Orange Coast College and then UCLA, where he graduated with honors in history and political science. He did a few open mic nights at comedy clubs in L.A. and Orange County after college, but the real estate market was booming and a friend whose father had a real estate appraisal business helped him get a job there. It was something to pay the bills, Kamyab says, and he fully intend to get back to comedy, though he continued to tell his father that law school was on the horizon, too. But all the real estate money proved too tempting to give up, he says. He started his own company and moved to Huntington Beach and later Newport Beach. The lifestyle kind of got to me because I was making a lot of money at the time, Kamyab says. I thought, Let me make a bunch of money and then Ill do it. Then in 2007, the market turned and Kamyab says he lost it all, the condo and the expensive car, and eventually his business. I said, You know what? Im going to leave all this life behind and with my girlfriend at the time she had a job in L.A. Im going to pursue my dream, he says. I literally went from making like $15,000 a month to having no money and living like a bum with the open mics and all that, Kamyab says. It was hard work, the life of an unknown stand-up comic, and all-consuming. When I did go all-in the grind is so hard, Kamyab says. I didnt have time for my girlfriend, I didnt have time for my personal relationships. I was just focused so hard on becoming a great comedian, doing two or three shows a night every night for the first three years. And eventually, he made his own breaks, started building a name for himself as Amir K, making an easier living, and earlier this year, landing a gig on the new version of the sketch comedy show that ran for 14 seasons from 1995 to 2009 on Fox and now jumps to the CW network for a 15th season. When you hustle in the business of standup, when youre grinding or doing your thing, I think these opportunities, theyll come up, says Kamyab, now 35. When you put in your work you get a payoff at some point, if youre willing to make the sacrifices. Its exciting, he says, to join a show that has a legacy like that of Mad TV. Were coming back with an all-new cast of such talented performers, Kamyab says. Everybody is hilarious and everybody is unique in their own way. And every episode will feature two of the old cast members, which will be a treat for the viewers. Its also a treat for his parents, who eventually did get over their concerns about his desire to work in comedy. Theyre beyond excited, Kamyab says. Its a complete 180 from where it was when I first started. About five years ago, when hed build his career to the point that he could tour the country doing comedy shows, they stopped worrying so much about his life and his future, he says. My mom remembers me watching Mad TV, which is crazy, Kamyab says. My dad lives in Iran now, he was just visiting, and it was cool to see him be proud of me and be bragging to his friends. To watch him and the joy in his eyes when he was showing his friends, This is my son, the clown. Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com Lynsi Snyder, president of the beloved In-N-Out burger chain, has been recognized as a most trustworthy leader in the county. Snyder and 30 popular brands were recognized Wednesday at the fifth annual Most Trustworthy Brands event sponsored by The Values Institute and the Center for Brand Values Communication and Research at Cal State Fullerton. Snyder thanked her late grandparents, the founders of In-N-Out, for setting the standard she emulates today. They created In-N-Out; they set the standard, she said in her acceptance speech. They loved people, and Im just just trying to continue that. In 1948, Harry Snyder, the son of Dutch immigrants, and his wife, Esther, opened the first In-N-Out across the street from their Baldwin Park house. Today, the Irvine-based chains simple menu remains largely unchanged. The privately run company in 2014 generated sales of roughly $575 million and employs some 18,000 people across 309 units in California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Texas and Arizona. Snyder said keeping her familys high standard in food, which is made fresh at every In-N-Out, can be tough. The more we grow, the harder it gets, and I just feel like Im fighting for our people, fighting for the customer to keep delivering what weve delivered all these years and to make it even better, she said. The 10 Most trustworthy bands of the year are (winner, category): Trader Joes, general retail In-N-Out, restaurant chain AAA, finance and insurance Disneyland, entertainment Google, technology Hoag hospital, health services Vans, apparel UC Irvine, higher education Honda, automotive Goodwill of Orange County, nonprofit The Center for Brand Values Communication and Research at CSUF studies the link between brand values, corporate communications and consumer trust. It was formed in 2013 by the College of Communications at CSUF and TVI, a think tank based at Santa Ana, and Californias Amusement Park, a manufacturer of creative content. Survey respondents narrowed 200-plus companies down to 30 finalists. Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... SPRINGFIELD Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed a bill that wouldve blocked changes his administration wants to make to a program that provides services to help keep elderly Illinoisans out of nursing homes. Advocates say changes could mean the loss of services such as assistance with cooking, laundry and bathing for thousands of older residents, which could result in them requiring more-costly nursing home care. But in a veto message, Rauner says the bill would prevent the state from managing ever-rising costs and jeopardize our ability to ensure that essential community services remain available to more than 40,000 people served through the Illinois Department on Agings existing community care program who arent eligible for Medicaid. The program currently serves about 84,000 people. The Republicans administration has proposed shifting those people into its new community reinvestment program, which it believes can save $200 million a year by providing services more efficiently. Department on Aging spokeswoman Veronica Vera wrote in an email earlier this month that the department remains committed to its mission to continue providing the services necessary to keep seniors in their homes longer and do so in a fiscally responsible and sustainable manner. The department argues that the changes are necessary in light of the states fiscal constraints and a growing elderly population. Officials have been meeting with the local agencies that will implement the program ahead of a planned January launch, Vera said. But state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, one of the sponsors of the bill, said the administration is rushing into large-scale changes to a program on which many people rely. Biss said he has seen no evidence of how the community reinvestment program would work or what the governors office has in mind for tens of thousands of Illinois seniors in the current program. Ive talked to a lot of seniors who are very anxious about what the governors office has in mind for them, he said. State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, the bills main sponsor, called Rauners veto another in his ongoing campaign targeting child care, people with disabilities and senior citizens. We should be encouraging seniors to remain in their own homes and low-cost community settings instead of driving them into more costly institutions and nursing homes, Harris said. The bill also wouldve codified in state law eligibility standards for the program that the Rauner administration had previously attempted to tighten. The governors veto message said thats unnecessary because he has since committed to leaving the standards unchanged. AARP Illinois, which backed the bill wholeheartedly because it saves significant money while also protecting our most vulnerable citizens, was anticipating the veto and has been working to win support for an override, said Ryan Gruenenfelder, manager of advocacy and outreach. The bill was approved with broad support in the General Assembly but didnt garner a veto-proof majority in either chamber, despite backing from Democrats and Republicans. It was a bipartisan piece of legislation, so we want to make sure we hold the votes that supported it when it passed in addition to gaining new supporters, Gruenenfelder said. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Thunderstorms, some heavy during the morning hours, then skies turning partly cloudy during the afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 74F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight A few clouds. Low 54F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Natural gas sprang to life this week, jumping up by 21 cents on Thursday. The increase in natural gas stockpiles was only 17 billion cubic feet, which is the smallest increase in summertime for the past 10 years. One of the reasons for the small increase was the fact that the Eastern seaboard has been having unusually hot weather. More people have been running their air conditioners to combat the heat, so more natural gas is being used to power the AC. The reduced stockpile has some traders concerned that this could affect natural gas in the winter, when it becomes the primary fuel for heating homes. U.S. farmers use natural gas for grain production for drying crops in the bin, and gas is the major component for producing nitrogen fertilizers in the U.S. Forward-thinking corn growers must now add gas prices, along with insects, weeds and weather, to their watch lists. Gasoline glut worsens Unlike natural gas supplies, which continue to decline, the worldwide production of gasoline cant seem to hit the brakes. The glut is worsening as crude producers continue to pump, refineries continue to crack, and storage tanks of unleaded of all sizes are filled to the brim. Inventories are now 11 percent over this time last year despite increased demand from summer drivers who are thrilled about cheap fuel. A big question on the mind of drillers, refiners and investors is: Will the price of crude be able to hold above $40 per barrel? Dollar drop helps commodities The U.S. dollar dropped on Friday when the U.S. gross domestic product report came in much weaker than expected. Virtually all commodities, from soybeans to silver and from crude to cattle, saw a boost at weeks end as a weak dollar makes our exports cheaper and more attractive to international buyers whose paper suddenly will buy more. Soybeans jumped 17 cents, gold and platinum rose more than $15 per ounce, crude recovered 11 cents, sugar was up almost 2 percent and foreign currencies rallied significantly. As of midday Friday, the Japanese yen, for example, blasted up 3 percent on the day. Walt and Alex Breitinger are commodity futures brokers in Silver Lake, Kansas. They can be reached at 800-411-3888 or www.paragoninvestments.com. A lawn care company dumped yard waste and dirt on the property of an Omaha homeowner as a result of a billing dispute. The lawn care companys actions involving two workers with bins and shovels scattering debris across the homeowners driveway and yard were caught on camera by a neighbor. Homeowner Kristin Andersen and her mother, Carri Prusia, posted the 15-minute video on their individual Facebook pages, sparking the attention of social media. (The video had been viewed 179,000 times by Friday afternoon.) When contacted by The World-Herald, Joe Kozol, the owner of Omahas Kozy Lawn Care, said I did it, acknowledging that workers from his company parked a truck and trailer near Andersens home and dumped debris onto her property. Kozol said he did it because Andersen refused to pay in full for yard services for which he said they had agreed on a price earlier in the week. I regret it it was a bad idea, Kozol said, referring to his decision to have workers scatter yard waste on Andersens property. Kozol said he had an agreement with Andersen: She would pay $425 to have the backyard cleared of weeds and bushes, the front yard mowed and waste hauled off, or pay $225 to have the backyard cleared and front mowed, but the waste left for Andersen to clean up herself. Kozol said Andersen on Monday verbally agreed to the $425 option, which his crew proceeded to do on Tuesday, leaving the yard cleared as well as cleaned. Andersen said thats not correct she said she agreed to the $225 option. There was no written agreement. Andersen said she went to the offices of Kozy Lawn Care on Wednesday and paid Kozol $225. But Kozol insisted she owed him $200 more because his crew had cleared the yard waste. Andersen said she received a receipt from Kozy Lawn that said Paid in Full, but at the bottom of the receipt, which Kozol allegedly signed, he wrote, Will Take Piles Back to House. Andersen said she thought the lawn service would bring back some bundles of weeds, but instead, the service flung dirt and debris all over her front yard and driveway. She discovered the mess when she returned home late Thursday, she said. It was a complete nightmare. Andersen filed a report Thursday with the Omaha Police Department. A police spokesman said the information report is not available to the public. If charges are filed, it would become available, Officer Phil Anson said Friday. But no charges have yet been filed. Andersen on Thursday also posted to Facebook the video her neighbors had recorded. Friday, after the post blew up on social media, Kozols crew cleaned up the yard waste that had been dumped on Andersens property. Andersen said shes satisfied with the cleanup. Its back to where I want it to be, she said Friday. Kozol said hes upset that Andersen trumpeted the dispute on social media, potentially damaging his and his 30-year-old business reputation. He said Friday that he has contacted an attorney. Jim Hegarty, head of the Better Business Bureau in Omaha, said Andersen and Kozol of Kozy Lawn had each contacted him separately about the incident. Hegarty said the matter would go through the BBBs typical dispute-resolution process. Our hope is the business will be able to satisfy the homeowner, he said. But, Hegarty added, Its going to be challenging because there was no written contract. Oftentimes when there is no written contract it comes down to a case of he said, she said. As far as the decision made by the company to put the yard waste back were going to need some more time to review it, he said. Apart from that, in this day and age, Hegarty said: Everyone needs to be careful, because everything is on tape. Contact the writer: 402-444-1142, janice.podsada@owh.com * * * Better Business Bureau tips >> Get a complete understanding of all the work that is to be done in writing. >> Get a start date and an anticipated completion date for the project. >> The BBB does not advise paying upfront. But if there is a request for payment, the BBB advises paying no more then one-third the amount. >> When the job is completed to your satisfaction, then make the final payment. LINCOLN Did Thomas Peterson violate the civil rights of four women he supervised while they were on probation? A U.S. District Court prosecutor said that he did, subjecting the women to unwanted sexual contact by intimidation, harassment or coercion. Petersons defense attorney said he did not, citing a lack of evidence that Peterson threatened or coerced the women. A federal jury decided Friday that the former probation officer was guilty on four counts of deprivation of civil rights and one count of making false statements to the FBI. Federal prosecutor Jan Sharp called 12 witnesses during the trial this week. Peterson didnt take the stand, and defense attorney Robert Creager of Lincoln didnt call any witnesses. Sharp argued that Peterson used his caseload as a state probation officer between October 2010 and January 2014 as his personal hunting reserve to troll for women. Creager told jurors it was the female probationers who played him. Peterson, 57, was a community-based intervention officer in Kearney, Nebraska, which meant that he regularly had office and home visits with probationers and made sure they attended the required classes and completed mandated drug and alcohol testing. Sharp said Peterson used his position to sexually exploit some of the women he supervised, fondling their breasts, persuading them to perform oral sex and, in at least one instance, engaging in sexual intercourse. These women are going to tell you that he was their probation officer, and they felt he was the difference between whether or not they could continue on probation ... (and) whether or not they would go to jail, Sharp told the jury. The women didnt fight off Peterson and didnt report the incidents until later. But Sharp said that it doesnt mean they were consenting to his advances. They didnt consent, they submitted. They submitted because they were afraid of what would happen to them if they made their probation officer mad, he said. Creager suggested that the women saw an opportunity to take advantage of not only the system, but also of Peterson. The defense lawyer said there is no evidence that any of the women told Peterson no or resisted his advances or that Peterson coerced the women. Theres no doubt that Mr. Petersons judgment was poor. His sense of morality is not good, Creager said. Sharp played a recorded interview that FBI Agent Michael Maseth had with Peterson on May 14, 2015. In the hourlong video, Peterson admitted to being intimate with two of eight women who testified at the trial. He also said there may have been some hugging and kissing with other probationers. The relationship with one of the two women, Peterson said, involved sexual conduct at her apartment and his office, but he said it never interfered with her probation. I never used coercion on her, no, he told Maseth. ... I never used coercion on any of them. Peterson said the relationship that he had with the woman was a rarity. At the time, he said, he was unhappily married, and he and his now ex-wife were struggling. In the video, he denied telling another woman that he was supervising that she was going to have to put out for him if she kept resisting completing her probation requirements. He said that he had known the probationer for years and that he was kidding. The first woman who Peterson acknowledged being intimate with testified that 10 minutes into his first home visit he asked about her sex life and later kissed her and felt her breasts. I was shocked, she said. My mind was just reeling. I remember standing at the door after he left saying, What just happened? What just happened? and thinking What if Im going to get in trouble? Sharp questioned why she didnt resist Peterson or slap him when he made the advances. He was my probation officer. It would be like slapping a police officer, she said. The woman testified that Peterson never threatened her that, if she didnt succumb to his sexual advances, she would go to jail. Throughout their relationship, she testified, Peterson said he would never hurt her. The other woman that Peterson admitted to being intimate with recorded a video of them engaging in sexual activity at her home. The woman testified that it wasnt the first time she had sexual contact with him. She said there were unwanted advances from him during an earlier home visit and visits to his office. The woman didnt tell him to stop, she said, because she feared going to jail. Within two weeks of making the video, the woman said, she turned it over to a probation department administrator. Peterson was terminated in early 2014. Concert: St. Paul United Methodist Church, 5410 Corby St., will offer special music by cellist Holly Stout as part of its 10:30 a.m. worship on Sunday. Stout, a local music educator and longtime member of the Omaha Symphony, will perform solo works as well as with the combined adult choirs. All Aboard!: Albans Episcopal Church will hold its annual service on West Lake Okoboji, Iowa, Sunday. There will be no meeting at the church building. Instead, the congregation will hold its Holy Eucharist service aboard the Queen II boat. The Queen II will leave Arnolds Park at 9 a.m. Transportation from the parking lot to the boat (and back again) will be provided. The Rev. Terry Dinovo will lead the service. Coffee and donuts will be served following the service. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased at the church office before boarding the boat. The service is open to the public. For more information, call 712-336-1117, email: stalbanschurch@qwestoffice.net or check the churchs website atstalbansepiscopalchurch.org or facebook.com/stalbansspiritlake. Vacation Bible School: Westwood Heights Baptist Church, 3343 Pedersen Drive, will hold Vacation Bible School from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 13 for youths in seventh through 12th grades; and from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 14 for children in kindergarten through sixth grades. It is free. For more information, call 402-333-8689. Fashion show and open house: The Lost and Found Clothing Center inside Trinity United Methodist Church, 8009 Q St. in Ralston, will present a fashion show and open house from 2 to 4 p.m. on Aug. 6. Girl Scouts will model fashions from the center in the fellowship hall from 2 to 3 p.m. Tours of the remodeled center will be given from 3 to 4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. The event is open to the public. Rummage sale: Living Faith United Methodist Church, 5310 S. 182nd Ave., will host a rummage sale from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Aug. 6. Fulfilling purpose: Roger Gabriel, master educator at the Chopra Center, will speak Thursday on the law of dharma at Countryside Community Church, 8787 Pacific St. The seventh spiritual law of success, the law of dharma, says that we are spiritual beings who have taken physical form to fulfill a purpose. The 7 p.m. lecture is part of the Center for Faith Studies lecture series. Tickets are $10; groups of five or more may receive discounts upon request. To reserve tickets, email kellyk@countrysideucc.org or call 402-391-0350. For more information, go online to centerforfaithstudies.org. Retreat: Musician and composer The Rev. Bob Dufford will present a retreat titled Tongues as of Fire at St. Benedict Center, Schuyler, Nebraska, Friday through Aug. 7. The retreat will feature specially composed instrumental music and texts to help participants enter into moments in the life of Jesus. For more information, call 402-352-8819. Block party: St. Pauls Lutheran Church, 13271 Millard Ave., will host a block party that is open to the community from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. The event will feature live music from School of Rock, childrens activities and more. Food will be available for purchase. The Omaha Public Library wants to help readers find new books or at least books new to them. Every month, library employees recommend several reading options. Here are their latest suggestions: As summer starts winding down, Omaha Public Library staff members have shared some of their favorite summer selections. Find these titles at your local branch or omahalibrary.org: Chris Cahill, clerk at Millard Branch: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Volume 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North. The book is a fun, family-friendly graphic novel featuring a superhero who will take on anything from college to the planet-eating villain Galactus. The story features a squirrel sidekick, squirrel army and some villain identification trading cards from the superhero, Deadpool. Nancy Chmiel, youth services librarian at W. Clarke Swanson Branch: Liar Liar by M.J. Arlidge has short, compelling chapters. The story is about a deadly serial arsonist who sets six fires in 24 hours. The book is part of Arlidges Detective Helen Grace series. April Earl, book club coordinator at W. Dale Clark Main Library: Three Bodies Burning by Brian Bogdanoff. This book has been a top read for the Omaha Public Librarys book clubs for the past two years. The story is Bogdanoffs account of one of Omahas most gruesome drug-related homicides in which three men from Arizona and Colorado were executed and set on fire by two members of Omahas 40th Avenue Crips street gang to avoid paying for 3,000 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $3 million. Joanne Ferguson Cavanaugh, branch manager at Charles B. Washington Branch: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. This book covers the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Details from scrapbooks, correspondence and diaries give insight to a fascinating life in the Wright family home during the brothers lifetime pursuit of manned flight. Doe Osuniga, clerk at W. Clarke Swanson Branch: The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth. The book is about 38-year-old Anna Forster who is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. Her family feels that it is best to put her into an assisted living facility. While there, Anna meets another young patient, Luke, and they form a relationship against Annas familys wishes. Eve, a single mother who begins working at the facility as a cook, finds herself willing to risk her job in an effort to help Anna and Luke. Paige Wagner, youth services librarian at Florence Branch: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is a funny, quirky and enjoyable read. The story is about genetics professor Don Tillman, who makes up a questionnaire to assess the suitability of female partners. His plans are set off course when he meets Rosie, who doesnt fit many of Tillmans criteria, but becomes a big part of his life. LINCOLN A state senator from Papillion is accused of having a sexually explicit video of himself on his state computer. State Sen. Bill Kintner, 55, sent The World-Herald an email Saturday declining comment. I will comment when there are there are facts to comment on, which is when NADC (Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission) has made their decision, he wrote. Gov. Pete Ricketts on Friday evening called for Kintners resignation. In a statement, Ricketts said he had called Kintner in July of last year upon learning from the Nebraska State Patrol of an investigation and urged him to resign if the allegations were true. Due to the ongoing investigation of this issue, I have been unable to say anything publicly, the governor said in a statement. If the allegations are true, Sen. Kintner needs to resign. Sen. Bob Krist, chairman of the Legislatures Executive Committee, said he alerted Ricketts chief of staff, Matt Miltenberger, last year about a sexual video involving Kintner. Krist said he told Miltenberger that one of the Legislatures junior senators had been solicited online by someone offering to sell the senator an explicit video involving Kintner. Krist said he never saw the video, but he wanted the executive branch to know because Kintner is married to Lauren Kintner, who leads Ricketts policy research office. The two will have been married seven years in October. Lauren Kintner has ovarian cancer and was able to fulfill her duties throughout the legislative session. I wouldve hoped (the executive branch) wouldve handled it, Krist said of the matter. At the time, Krist sent out an email reminding senators that state computers are to be used only for state business. The State Patrol got involved in July 2015 when Kintner contacted it to investigate what he believed to be a potential Internet scam that occurred while the senator was in Massachusetts using his state computer, the patrol said in a statement. At that time Ricketts called for Kintner to step down if the allegations were true, according to the governors spokesman, Taylor Gage. Kintner did not resign. The State Patrol completed its investigation in October 2015 and provided investigative information to the Attorney Generals Office. Following a review of that information, the matter was referred to the accountability commission, according to Mike Meyer, a spokesman with the patrol. Meyer said he could not comment further until the accountability commission had acted. Commission Executive Director Frank Daley said he could not comment on whether there was an investigation. State law bars commission members and staff from talking about complaints filed or investigations in progress. The commission has a regularly scheduled meeting Aug. 5. By law, state resources, including state computers and networks, must be used for state business. The acceptable-use policy put out by the Office of the Chief Information Officer allows use of those resources for essential personal business, such as contacting children at home, teachers, doctors, day care centers and family members. Krist said he was made aware of the matter after two State Patrol troopers and a legislative information technology worker went to Kintners office to look into his concerns about his email possibly having been hacked or scammed. The Executive Committee that Krist chairs supervises all legislative services and employees. Krist said the IT worker went to him because he felt he had been interrogated by Kintner and the patrol about the Legislatures security system on senator email accounts. Krist said he met with Patrol Col. Brad Rice after the incident, and Rice agreed that the State Patrol breached protocol, and that the IT worker shouldve been represented by legal counsel. Krist also said he was approached by the junior senator who got the offer to buy a video involving Kintner. Krist urged the junior senator to go to the patrol, which the senator did. Another senator, who belongs to a Capitol Bible study group with Kintner, said Kintner had asked to meet recently. When they got together, the senator said, Kintner explained that it would soon become public that he had used his state computer for sexually themed exchanges with a woman. The senator said Kintner expressed deep remorse, both as a Christian and as a senator, for his actions. Hes just very broken about the situation, the senator said. I do, as a Christian, understand that there is forgiveness. As a senator, we are held to a higher standard. The senator urged Kintner to resign from office because of the situation, the senator said. He refused to do so. Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley called the situation very serious if proven. He expressed sympathy Friday for Kintners wife, who has worked with state lawmakers for years. He said he would hold off on further comment until the accountability commission meets. Hadley said he doesnt know what options the Legislature has if the commission finds Kintner in violation of state law. He said he would work with Krist to look at the possibilities. Miltenberger, Ricketts chief of staff, said the governor supports Lauren Kintner 100 percent. He called Lauren Kintner one of the strongest people I have ever met in my entire life. Shes been an invaluable member of our team, he said. Kintners Twitter social media page was removed Friday evening. Before the account was removed, Kintner had tweeted from an American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Indianapolis. Krist said he spoke with attorney J.L. Spray last year, and Spray said he was representing Kintner. Reached Friday, Spray said he would neither confirm nor deny that. He declined to comment further. Kintner is known for speaking his mind, which has created several controversies. He is a Republican who represents a district that includes Cass County and parts of Otoe and Sarpy Counties. He was elected to the seat in 2012 and 2014. Kintner was chastised in February by Hadley after Kintner wrote a newspaper column that compared state lawmakers to monkeys. The same week he posted on his Facebook page that he spends my fair time in the Capitol with prostitutes. Asked to explain the reference to prostitutes, Kintner pointed to politicians, former politicians and lobbyists. Later in the comments thread, he said he had been having fun. Last June he was condemned by the Nebraska Latino American Commission for repeatedly using an ethnic slur while referring to a 1950s crackdown on illegal immigrants. Jane Kleeb, the incoming chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, used Twitter to call on Republican officials to join the state Democratic Party in asking Kintner to resign. Party of Trump and Ricketts look other way while Sen. Kintner has sexually explicit video of himself on state computer, Kleeb tweeted. *Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that Kintner was appointed to his seat by Gov. Dave Heineman. Robert Ananyan, a reporter for Armenias A1+ news outlet, is being treated at the Yerevans St. Gregory the Illuminator for wounds to his legs and hand when police let loose with percussion grenades on crowds demonstrating near the police building seized by an armed group two weeks ago. Ananyan, who was there to cover the demonstration, says that most reporters complied with a police call to leave the area as a group. He adds that the first percussive grenade thrown by police was towards the reporters. Its my impression that the reporters were targeted, especially those with video equipment. I believe the cops wanted to corral the reporters in one place, making it easier to neutralize us, said Ananyan. The reporter says gunshots and explosions started to be heard after 11:30 p.m. last night and that people didnt know what was going on. He says that crowd had done nothing to incite the police. Ananyan and his cameraman Tigran Badalyan soon were in the midst of exploding percussion grenades. But they continued to cover the demonstration even when they realized they had been injured. Residents of the Sari Tagh neighborhood rushed to Ananyans aid and covered his wounds. A resident offered to take Ananyan to hospital. Before leaving the neighborhood, a policeman in civilian clothes stopped the car and asked who they were. The reporters showed the cop their ID badges. The cop ripped the cameramans badge off. Ananyan says they were dragged out of the car and were forced to walk. The reporter, who cant stand on his own, wants answers to what happened last night. I want to get a legal evaluation as to why we were targeted by the police, why I was injured, and why I wont be able to work, Ananyan says. Photo and video: A1+ Customers would walk into OK Cleaners & Tailors and the first thing they might hear was, Would you like a highball? Dad, its not even noon, Petros Anastasios Axiotes daughter, Katina, would protest. What, are you driving? Come on in, hed say. Anything was worthy of celebration for the life-of-the-party Axiotes, who tailored suits for a range of customers that included former Nebraska Sens. Ed Zorinsky and Bob Kerrey, U.S. Rep. John Cavanaugh, community members and police officers for more than 50 years. Axiotes suffered a stroke and died a few days later on Wednesday at age 97. His mom-and-pop shop was a downtown Omaha staple on 16th Street for years until moving to 35th and Center Streets in the mid-1970s. Katina Rogers said her father was the sixth of seven children. He was born in Koroni, Messinia, Greece, on April 20, 1919. Axiotes served as an Athens police officer for 10 years before coming to the United States. After stops in New Jersey and Sioux City, Iowa, he married Olympia B. Fotoplos on Nov. 30, 1958, in Omaha. They opened OK Cleaners, which Rogers said became a community meeting place stocked with coffee, cookies and good conversation. It was literally Starbucks before there was Starbucks, she said. Wherever he went, there was a good chance hed be overdressed, Rogers said. He wore a three-piece suit to cut the grass, she said her family always said jokingly. Axiotes was a Greek immigrant, but he maintained a steadfast love for the United States. Rogers said he was grateful for the opportunities the country afforded him, and the American people who frequented his shop. He tailored, cleaned and repaired police and military uniforms for free. He did the same for college students and priests, altar boys and choir members in the Greek Orthodox Church. Rogers shared a story of her dads patriotism. A man came in to Axiotes shop with a tattered U.S. flag in January 1975. The man asked how much repairs would cost, to which Axiotes replied: no charge. The man was a top commander at U.S. Strategic Command. He arranged for a special ceremony and accompanying plaque honoring Axiotes at the local rotary club for his good deed. The plaque was present at his wake Friday. Axiotes was a former military man himself, serving Greece in the 1930s. Funeral services for Axiotes are 9 a.m. Saturday at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church at 602 Park Ave. He is survived by his four children and 10 grandchildren. BROKEN BOW, Neb. Frank Lomax was the first Custer County veteran to lose his life in World War II. On Monday, Lomaxs sword was returned to Broken Bow after nearly 70 years. Frank Stuart Lomax was born in Broken Bow on April 24, 1917, the middle child of three boys. Known to family and friends as Stuart, Lomax joined the Navy and in 1940 graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He was commissioned an ensign on June 6, 1940. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Lomax went to investigate why ammunition was not getting to anti-aircraft guns when a bomb struck the USS Arizona. Lomax was never seen again, and his body was never recovered. A few years after Lomaxs death a local boy named Tom Hill was helping a woman clean out her house and ran across items that had belonged to Lomax. I think it was about 1948, and this lady lived a couple of blocks west of the (Custer County) Courthouse, Hill said. I think this may have represented something very painful in her life, and that may have been why she was getting rid of it. She was just throwing things out the window ... and I thought Thats too neat Ill take it, Hill said of the sword. Through his travels to places such as California, Texas, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas City, Hill kept the sword with him. It is the Naval Academy sword presented to Lomax when he graduated. A few years ago Hill decided to research the sword and its origin. He checked ancestry.com and other genealogy sites and ran across the Palmer-Lomax Legion Post, named for Lomax and for Joseph Palmer, the first Custer County native killed in World War I. Tom contacted the Custer County chief, and then we were able to make contact, said Gene Hendricks, Palmer-Lomax Legion Post adjutant. He was planning to make a trip to Nebraska to visit his sister, so we made arrangements to meet. Hill, a Broken Bow High graduate, now lives in Duncanville, Texas. He said his goal when he began researching the history of the sword was to one day return it to its rightful home. I found this book commemorating the 60th anniversary of the graduation of the Naval (Academy) class of 1940, and one chapter is called This Is No Drill. It is an account, from the Navys point of view, of what happened beginning at 7:55 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941, when the first bombs started landing, Hill said. It mentions when the Arizona got hit, and when Frank and some of his classmates lost their lives on the Arizona, and theyre still there. Ann Keller of Broken Bow, Lomaxs cousin, and Joyce Lomax of Oconto, wife of another cousin, both attended Mondays ceremony at the Broken Bow American Legion Hall as Hill presented the sword to Hendricks. He was very active as a gymnast, Joyce Lomax recalled as she and Keller began sharing stories of the young man they fondly remember. Paul Robison, an old friend and World War II veteran himself, also recalled the young Stuart Lomax. I grew up right across the street from them and was great friends with his brother, Harvard. I remember the day I heard he had been killed. I said Oh, no, it couldnt be Stuart. Not Stuart, Robison said. Hill said he was delighted to be able to get the sword back home to mark the 75th anniversary year of the Pearl Harbor attack and of Lomaxs death. Palmer-Lomax Post Commander Rod Sonnichsen said receiving the sword is a special honor for the post. We have items here on display that share the history of Palmer, but we didnt have anything for Lomax, Sonnichsen said. So this is a really big thing. We are just thrilled and deeply grateful to Mr. Hill for doing this. The sword was mounted in a display case inside the Veterans Memorial Building, where it will remain as a legacy of Custer Countys first WWII casualty. Airmen at Offutt Air Force Base last month gave a retirement send-off complete with tributes, cake and medals to Ada and Tex, two military working dogs whose bomb-sniffing noses saved lives during combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. But the two 10-year-old German shepherds face very different fates. In retirement, sweet-tempered Ada will live with her last handler, Senior Airman Kathryn Malone of Offutts 55th Security Forces Squadron, lying about on a comfy bed and playing with her favorite toy: a purple rubber snowman that squeaks. But Tex, who is high-strung and has persistent seizures, will likely be killed. For me, its going to be like losing a best friend, said Staff Sgt. Matthew Stewart, 31, Texs handler and closest companion for more than a year. He was one of those dogs that youd know he had your back. For many years there was little question what would happen to military dogs like Ada and Tex. Retired dogs used to be considered surplus military property to be disposed of, like an obsolete weapon or tank, and were routinely euthanized. That changed with Robbys Law, which Congress passed in 2000. The law is named for a military dog, Robby, who was killed despite his former handlers attempts to adopt him, because the law at the time didnt allow it. Now the law requires the Defense Department to make retiring dogs available for adoption or transfer to a police department or other government agency, except when euthanasia is medically necessary, or necessary for public safety. In 2001, the first year after the law was passed, two out of three retiring dogs still were euthanized, according to congressional reports compiled by Save-A-Vet.org, a support group. But a decade later fewer than one in six dogs were killed. More recent figures arent available because in 2012 Congress stopped requiring the reports. The U.S. military began training and using dogs in 1942. The Air Force runs the military working dog program for all service branches, training dogs to sniff out drugs and bombs. Master Sgt. Michael Iverson, the kennel master at Offutt, said demand for bomb-detection dogs greatly expanded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and about 370 dogs now are trained at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, each year. The careers of Ada and Tex have run parallel. Both were born in Europe, where the Air Force frequently buys dogs because European-bred shepherds have purer bloodlines and are less prone to hip paralysis, Iverson said. The dogs arrived at Lackland in early 2007 for training in patrol and bomb detection with the 341st Training Squadron. Ada was assigned to the Offutt kennel in August 2007 and Tex arrived in March 2008. Both dogs received special training in jobs most needed at Offutt, such as inspecting vehicles and checking fence lines. Iverson said Adas laid-back temperament made her highly adaptable to the airmen who worked with her. Ada was kind of the training wheels for new handlers, he said. Shed accept everyone. Not that she wasnt tough. Ada deployed to combat zones twice: to Iraq in 2008-09 and to Afghanistan in 2012, clearing bombs from roads and villages. She saved her handlers life when she was over there, Malone said. Shes a hero. Malone said Ada still acts goofy at times, like a puppy. But she has a bit of arthritis and spinal fusing, and that has slowed her down. In human terms, shes like a spry 75-year-old. When Malone found out Ada would be retiring, she got permission to adopt her. The dog now lives at home with Malone, her husband and two other dogs. Malone, 22, said Ada seemed a little uncertain at first about not going to work, but now is enjoying retirement. As soon as she hit that memory-foam dog bed she said Im ready, Malone said. Tex isnt likely to have such a happy future. He was forced into retirement by his seizures, and he is considered too aggressive to be adopted. Even at his retirement ceremony, Tex had to wear a muzzle. You have to keep him extremely close to you, Stewart said. When he comes out of the kennel hes straight business. Hes got a reputation, for sure, Iverson added. During his career, Tex went on four combat deployments averaging eight months between 2008 and 2013. Hes been on a lot of outside-the-wire missions, Stewart said. He said Tex shows signs of post-traumatic stress, which may make him more aggressive. Its just like a human: loud noises, blasts, gunfire, being on high alert all the time, Stewart said. Tex is being treated for his seizures, which are believed to be epilepsy. Hes on very high doses of medication, but its not sustainable, Iverson said. Hes a shell of his former self. Tex still lives in his concrete and chain-link kennel at Offutt. He no longer patrols the bases perimeter, but Stewart takes him outside to play. Visitors are warned that he might bark or jump. But he stayed calm when a World-Herald reporting team met him recently. He looked alert, wagged his tail, nuzzled Stewart and Malone, and played happily with his pink rubber snowman. The Offutt dog handlers are somber, waiting for the Air Force bureaucracy to complete the reports that likely will end his life. He has been examined by the base veterinarian, and experts at Lackland will study his case file before deciding his fate. But his handlers are sure they know what it will be. I dont see any other outcome, Stewart said. I would hope he would go to a home or something, but I doubt thats going to happen. Some experts are puzzled that the Air Force might consider euthanizing a dog for a treatable ailment like epilepsy. Its not curable, but you can keep it under control with medicine, said Dr. Rod Van Horn, a veterinarian with the Omaha Animal Medical Group. Ron Aiello, president of the U.S. War Dogs Association, said he has helped place dogs with serious health conditions, including dogs that seem bad-tempered. They find owners who know how to work with them. Weve had some dogs that had aggression issues, and weve had no problems, said Aiello, who was a military dog handler during the Vietnam War. He frequently works with Mission K9 Rescue, a Houston nonprofit that matches former military working dogs with new owners and supports them. Kris Maurer, Mission K9 Rescues president and co-founder, said she owns two dogs with epilepsy. One of them also was aggressive. Both are doing well. She said changing medications can make a big difference, and just getting a dog away from its military kennel can calm a stressed-out animal. Its amazing how when these dogs retire, they retire. Ninety-eight percent of the aggressive behavior goes away, Maurer said. There are other options. The military doesnt have them, but we do. Private groups sometimes will go to extraordinary lengths to help a military working dog. Aiello and Maurer hope the Air Force will work with them to do the same for Tex. It doesnt sound right, Aiello said, after all the lives this dog has saved to just throw it away. Contact the writer: 402-444-1186, steve.liewer@owh.com * * * An earlier version of this story referred to an American Humane Association campaign to help a military dog named Cairo. That campaign has been canceled. * * * See more U.S. War Dogs Association: http://www.uswardogs.org/ Mission K9 Rescue: http://missionk9rescue.org/ The jets screamed across the sky toward each other. A woman gasped Oh, my God as they passed and missed colliding by mere feet. All part of the show. Thousands of people pointed their phones at the sky and covered their ears as the Thunderbirds air unit soared overhead Saturday afternoon at the Defenders of Freedom Open House and Air Show at Offutt Air Force Base. The U.S. Air Forces famed demonstration squadron headlined and capped the days events with dazzling dips, dives and rolls. The weekend marks three anniversaries for Offutts 55th Wing: the 75th anniversary of the units activation as the 55th Pursuit Group, the 50th of its move to Offutt and the 25th of its continuous deployment to Afghanistan. The air show was canceled last year because of taxiway repairs. Several booths and stationary planes sat out on the concrete next to the shows runways for visitors to check out. Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Blake of the 55th Wing said things were running smoothly Saturday. She didnt have attendance numbers as of 5 p.m. but said the turnout was pretty good. She said the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navys performance air unit, are set to perform at next years air show. Troopers and airships of a different, more forceful kind had their own booth at the open house. People dressed as Star Wars characters such as Darth Vader and Stormtroopers took pictures with plane and starship fans alike. They were with the 501st Legion: Vaders Fist, an organization of people who dress as members of the evil Empire from the Star Wars series. Ryan Ihnken, a Bellevue native who was dressed as an Empire officer, said the group was invited back after its first appearance at the Offutt air show in 2014. Members brought a special group of five bounty hunters with armor inspired by the Thunderbirds. A large, gray plane sat several feet from the booth. The plane is a specially modified EC-130H Compass Call, according to a member of the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron. The particular model plane was designed in 1973. Its normally a troop transport plane, but has been modified to jam communications of enemy forces. The squadron member said that the plane was used in Afghanistan as well as Kuwait from 2003 to 2011. Its since returned to Kuwait with the rise of the Islamic State, he said, coming back to the U.S. in the past few months. The plane was open for people to look around inside. Dennis Smith, 67, examined the machinery on the walls. It reminded him of the transport planes he rode in when he served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971. The Bellevue resident was an artillery man with the 4th Infantry Division. Smith came to the air show and open house to see the planes and see how things had changed since his service. He pointed at the chairs and said there were more chairs and far fewer computers in the transports he rode. They were fun to ride, Smith said. Ive always liked flying, he said. Its just, I dont know, being up in the air and the sound of everything. Lt. Col. Nate Graber of the Air National Guard watched a plane paint the sky with red smoke. He will coordinate an air show in Burlington, Vermont, in a few weeks as its air boss. He observed the show for aspects that he did and didnt like. He praised the variety of comedy acts, military planes and prop planes mixed throughout the show. Those guys know how to keep the crowd going, like a DJ or something, he said. Graber said that hes partial to flying the F-16s, which are the jets that the Thunderbirds fly. He said he has great respect for the training they undergo. I find it very impressive every time I see (them) do it because I know how hard theyre working to make it happen, he said. Contact the writer: 402-444-1304, news@owh.com STANTON A northeast Nebraska school board member has been found not guilty of charges related to animal cruelty. Court records say a judge acquitted 44-year-old Kirk Van Pelt after a nonjury trial Thursday in Stanton. Van Pelt had been charged with aiding and abetting cruel mistreatment of an animal and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child. Police had said he played a role in the torture of a cat and an opossum. Four juveniles convicted in the case were sentenced to probation and community service. His attorney said there was no evidence that Van Pelt aided any crime or encouraged any delinquency. Van Pelt is a member of the Stanton Community Schools board. Armenias Chamber of Advocates has strongly condemned yesterdays actions of police against demonstrators and journalists, describing them as violations of accepted norms. The Chamber, in a statement, says that Yerevan police have overstepped their bounds during the past few days by using force and special measures against demonstrators and members of the press. The Chamber expresses its solidary with the press community and calls on authorities to conduct an objective and comprehensive investigation of such police violations. After my story on spring bear hunting in Canada earlier this month, a reader asked why it is acceptable to bait animals in the area of northwest Ontario where I hunted. The question inferred that many species of animals can be hunted over bait. To my knowledge, the use of bait is limited to black bears. In Canada, hunting black bears over bait is not exclusive to the region of northwest Ontario. Eight provinces and two territories allow black bear hunters to use bait. The provinces where baiting is allowed: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta. The territories where baiting is allowed: Northwest Territories, Nunavut. British Columbia is the only province where baiting is prohibited, while Yukon Territory is the only territory that bans baiting. You can employ emotional reasons for believing that baiting for black bears falls outside the definition of responsible hunting. But you cant ignore the fact that a primary purpose of hunting black bears is to control their population. Ontario learned that lesson when it banned the spring season in 1999, only to see the bear population spike the number of nuisance bear incidents increased, too. Ontarios minister of natural resources and forestry says the agency is committed to reducing the preventable causes of human-bear conflicts. That is a primary reason the spring hunt, with its legal baiting system, was reintroduced to reduce those nuisance bear incidents. In the North Woods, an encounter between a black bear and a hunter is extremely rare when baiting is not involved. The timber and brush are so thick that sighting bears is nearly impossible. I also hunt moose in that area. Ive had a bull moose only 20 yards from me, and it was impossible to get a shot. All I could see was the mooses head swaying back and forth above the thick brush. Many people believe that baiting runs afoul of responsible hunting ethics, especially in the area of fair chase. The Boone and Crockett Club and the Pope and Young Club define fair chase as: ... the ethical, sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and taking of free-ranging wild game animals in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the animal. Neither of these hunting and conservation organizations considers hunting black bears over bait as unethical or says it provides hunters with an unfair advantage. Without baiting, the success ratio would hover just above the zero mark in the North Woods. Rifle hunters would have slightly better odds of seeing and shooting a bear than a bowhunter. I prefer to hunt with a bow, and the outfitter with whom I hunt runs a hunting operation strictly tailored to archery hunting. Without baiting, a bowhunter might just might kill one bear during a lifetime of hunting. I dont consider road hunting to fall within the boundaries of responsible hunting, but that would be the only successful method of shooting a bear in the North Woods. I saw 33 bears during six days of driving on the main road and on several logging roads. I saw only one bear the one I killed while sitting in my tree stand. Bears once were considered vermin in Ontario and many other areas including several U.S. states. People were allowed to kill bears on sight at any time of the year. In Ontario, black bears were recognized as game animals in 1961. Seasons were set and regulations were put in place, which provides a huge economic boost. A report written by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources stated that black bear hunting is dominated by non-resident American hunters and consequently contributes significantly to tourism benefits. It is estimated that black bear hunting generates $30 million throughout Ontario. The report added: A considerable source of income for a number of residents is derived from guiding and outfitting bear hunters. That economic benefit would plummet if baiting were not allowed. No bait, no bears. No bears, no hunters. In the U.S., 11 states allow hunting black bears over bait. Baiting is restricted to archery hunters in Utah. Other states where baiting is allowed are Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Efforts to ban baiting for black bears were rejected by voters in Idaho and Michigan in 1996 and in Maine in 2003. Baiting, however, is prohibited in 17 states Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. In closing, all hunters must be guided by their own sets of ethics. As the retired World-Herald outdoor writer and a hunter for many years, I have established a stringent code of ethics for myself and for those with whom I choose to hunt. I firmly believe the use of bait to hunt black bears falls within the framework of the ethical conduct I demand for myself and my hunting companions. Contact the writer: 402-444-1201, sports@owh.com Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Operation against Burhan Wani lasted for 4 minutes Bengaluru oi-Vicky Srinagar, July 30: The operation against Burhan Wani lasted four minutes and the security forces had launched the mission knowing fully well that he was present at the hideout. On Friday, Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti said that the security forces were unaware of Wani's presence. She further went on to state that she would have given him a chance had she known that he was trapped in the encounter. Her statements were criticised by many who called it a "theatrical lie." It is was not a coincidence several leaders said. Security officials too confirm and told OneIndia that the operation that was launched on July 8 was specifically meant to target Wani who had through his viral social media posts lured several youth of Kashmir towards terrorism. A four minute operation For the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, Wani had become a headache and a nightmare. "He was on a recruiting spree and had inducted several Kashmiri youth into the Hizbul Mujahideen. The situation was turning dangerous and had we not carried out the operation thousands of youth would have joined him," an official informed. The original plan was to capture him alive. However, he and his accomplices decided to retaliate and this is what led to the encounter in which he was finally killed at Kokernag area in South Kashmir, officials also confirmed. "The intelligence inputs were spot on and we knew exactly about his location. The operation did not take too long and it was done in a matter of minutes," the officer also noted. Mehbooba's statements came under criticism from the BJP as well. A BJP legislator in J&K said that the security forces led by the state police were fully aware of his location and they knew every detail in advance. Even leaders in the National Conference said that Mehbooba should not play safe on this issue. She should either condemn or condone the Wani operation. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, July 30, 2016, 12:42 [IST] Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Bengaluru comes out against Mahadayi verdict amidst cries of "we want justice" India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, July 30: A sea of protestors braved the rains and took out a march from the Town Hall to Freedom Park, Bengaluru in support of the state-wide bundh call given to protest the tribunal's order on the Mahadayi issue. Amidst chants of "we want justice," the protestors, members of the film fraternity including Shivrajkumar, the son of Dr Rajkumar marched to the Freedom Park. Many had come out on the streets to catch a glimpse of the cine stars which only added to the commotion. The march was led by Vatal Nagaraj, leader of Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha. While some of the leaders were ferried in trucks, others decided to walk. Addressing the gathering at the Freedom Park, Nagraj lashed out at Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the MP's from Karnataka. He demanded that the MPs from the state to pitch for an out-of-court settlement for water dispute and also seek the intervention of Modi. Demand for Modi's intervention "Plight of the farmers in Naragund and Navalagund is very bad. They are in desperate need of water. Many farmers' association from the region have been for an year demanding an out-of-court resolution to divert water from Mahadayi basin to Malaprabha," Nagraj said. He further added that it appeared that the cry of the farmers have fallen on deaf years of the MPs of Dharawad and Gadag districts. It is high time all representatives in the parliament urged Modi to intervene in the matter, failing which MPs should resign, he further added. Sa Ra Govindu, chairman of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) thanked all the unions for supporting the bandh. He too demanded for a political solution for the problem to end the woes of farmers by diverting water to parched districts of North Karnataka. Mahadayi issue must be viewed on humanitarian grounds Former chairman of KFCC and Congress MLC Jaimala told OneIndia that the whole issue of Kalasa-Banduri has to be viewed on humanitarian grounds. In the tribunal itself there is an act that ensures drinking water to the people. "All the political parties should stop engaging in mudslinging and unite for the cause of farmers,'' she said. She hit out at BJP leader and former Chief Minister, Jagadish Shettar for blaming the Congress entirely on the issue. What has he done on this issue? Has he provided justice to the people of Naragund and Navalagund? Has Shettar convinced Modi who is from the BJP to resolve this issue, she also asked. Freedom Park also saw a verbal spat between Rajkumar's son Shivrajkumar and protesters. When agitators raised slogans against Narendra Modi and Goa government, Shivrajkumar objected to it saying "stop it, we should not raise slogans against Goa or Modi. We have to raise slogans against ourselves for our failures." However, some protesters argued that slogans must be raised against both the PM and Goa government. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, July 30, 2016, 17:41 [IST] Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Bengaluru: Metro takes a beating of bandh; stops plying India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, July 30: After commotion prevailed at two metro stations on Saturday following the call for a state-wide bandh, the city's rail corporation stopped services. As many as 30 activists from pro-Kannada organisations brought tokens and attempted to ransack the Mysuru road metro station. An official from Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) told OneIndia: "30 members bought tokens from ticket issuing counter. They entered the station raising slogans and attempted to ransack stations in Mysuru road and MG Road.'' However, the security at both the stations was present. The police succeeded in forcing the protesters out from the terminals. "On a precautionary note we have stopped rail services,'' the official added. The services may kick-start once the deadline for the bandh is over. OneIndia News Delhi: Gupta, AAP woman worker's family meet Rajnath Singh India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jul 30: Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta accompanied by the husband and daughter of the AAP worker who had committed suicide last week after being allegedly harassed, today met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. "It is a serious matter and calls for in-depth and expeditious enquiry ... Justice will be done to her and members of the family," Singh was quoted as saying in a release by Delhi BJP. The 28-year-old woman had consumed poisonous substance at her home in north west Delhi's Narela and died during treatment at LNJP Hospital on July 19. The woman had filed a complaint against Ramesh Bhardwaj for allegedly touching her inappropriately and a case of molestation was registered in June. The accused was arrested and later released on bail. On July 20, Delhi Police had registered a case of abatement to suicide and handed over the entire matter to a Special Investigation Team. Delhi Police may arrest 2 more AAP MLAs' The family members of the woman had claimed that she had gone into depression after her alleged molester Bhardwaj, an AAP colleague, was released on bail. Bhardwaj was again arrested by a police team from Sonipat on July 26. The victim had also alleged that the accused was being protected by a local AAP MLA. Her husband Ashok Mishra told Singh that the family has received "no concrete help so far". PTI J&K protests: Terrorist was told to stand behind stone pelters, fire at police officials India oi-Vicky Bahadur Ali, the Pakistani terrorist captured alive during his ongoing interrogation has told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that he had planned to join the stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir and hurl grenades at the security forces. Ali who was captured by the security agencies in J&K three days back is currently being questioned by the NIA in New Delhi. Ali told his interrogators that he was being handled by a Lashkar-e-Taiiba operative Walid who was based at Muzzaffarabad, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). "After my two accomplices were killed by the security forces in J&K, I stayed in touch with Walid. The stone pelters were supposed to be my cover," Ali said. Stone pelters as cover After capturing Ali, the security forces recovered from his three AK-47 rifles, two pistols and Rs 23,000 in cash. He says that he was to head towards a protest in the state and stand behind the stone pelters and then open fire on the police and security forces. The Lashkar-e-Taiba has several such people ready in Muzzaffarabad, he also says. He said that they were being sent in batches to join the stone pelters and kill security personnel. "We were told by our handlers to take full advantage of the commotion in Kashmir. We were a team of three who were fully equipped with guns and grenades," he said. Ali says that after his two associates Dadra Bai and Saad Bai were killed, he was told by his handlers to go ahead with the plan. "I was told that there would be two persons who join me and we could go ahead with the plan," he added. However, Ali was later arrested by the security forces in Kashmir. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, July 30, 2016, 11:14 [IST] Mahadayi row: While all agitate, Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka opposes bandh India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Mangaluru, July 30: This district of Karnataka refuses to observe bandh called by pro-Kannada organisations over Mahadayi tribunal verdict. The region presents a strong case to opt not to stand in solidarity with the protesting mass to get water. Dakshina Kannada, a district located in southern part of Karnataka is functioning normally, like usual Saturdays. "While we were fighting to stop the Yettinahole diversion project that aims to provide water to parched Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, no so called pro-Kannada organisations bothered to stand with our voice," hits out M G Hegde, a social activist from a coastal district. People of this region have been vociferously opposing the implementation of Yettinahole river diversion project. The project will destroy the Western Ghats, an eco-sensitive geography as tunnels will be laid in the area. Moreover, water will be diverted from other rivulets of Netravati, the life-line of Dakshina Kannada. Yettinahole too is a rivulet of Netravati and district will reel under water scarcity, if water is diverted, Hegde explained. "We too have a right cause for our fight. But no politicians, pro-Kannada activists listening to our cry. We are not saying do not provide water to natives of Kolar and Chikkaballapur. There are alternative ways to provide water. We are not supporting Karnataka bandh over Mahadayi issue,'' Hegde told. Dinesh Holla, the trustee of Sahyadri Sanchaya (registered body spearheading anti-Yettinahole campaign) speaking to OneIndia said, river diversion will leave massive damage to the environment and river itself. "We are opposed to this Mahadayi bandh. When we were fighting to save Netravati River, no body joined hands and we will not now," he added. Holla further delineated diverting water from Mahadayi will also effect some parts of Western Ghats. Goa will suffer the most due to this project. "Like we (Dakshina Kannada people), Goa is at the losing end." Sahyadri Sanchaya has been organising trucking to Western Ghats. Since five years, water levels in the rivulets have been declining. At this time, diverting water, effect the rain patterns and water level will further decline leaving water rich Dakshina Kannada parched. "We oppose diversion and bandh call." Another activist, Shashidhar Shetty of National Environment Care Federation said, these projects only benefit politicians and contractors. Kalasa-Banduri will cost Rs 450 crores, while Yettinahole costs Rs 13,000 crores. diversion will damage both river and environment. It will provide water as envisaged. "We are not fools. We will not be get fooled by these politicians. We oppose this bandh as it will not yield results but waste a day," Shetty said. OneIndia News Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board On bandh day; early morning in Bengaluru, a few shops, autos, cabs operating India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, July 30: In the early morning hours of bandh day, around 6 am-7.30 am; shops, milk vans auto-rickshaws and a few buses started business. However, in all probability services will stop after 9 pm. In major localities of Bengaluru, like Majestic, Jayanagar, Town Hall, Shivajinagar, Shantinagar and others, auto rickshaws have started operation hoping early morning business. Ramesh, a rickshaw driver told OneIndia "we are giving services in the morning. But we will stop after 9 or 10 am." He said in major areas like Majestic and Shivajinagar, rickshaws and a few buses are plying. One stone-pelting incident will end the services, he observed. Milk agencies have opened in the morning. A milk-van driver said, so far all vans are functioning normally. "I don't think protestors will stop milk vans but have to see what would be the situation in the afternoon hours. Shops in the major area too opened with the aim of making some business. In all likelihood, shops will shut after 9 or 10 am. A shopkeeper at Majestic, over the phone said, "I have opened my shop in the morning. But depending on the situation, I will close after 9 or 10 am." Ola and Uber cabs too giving services. But the number of cabs are very less. A cab driver said he will take booking till 10 pm. Massive police forces have been deployed across the city as the situation after 9 am could be tensed. Many protestors will hit the streets after 9 am. In Town Hall itself many police personnel are keeping high vigil. OneIndia News The following statement was issued by the United Nations office in Armenia We are closely following the events in Yerevan unfolding since the seizure of a police compound in Erebuni on 17 July. The United Nations in Armenia is concerned by reports last night of numerous detentions and use of force resulting in injuries. The use of force against journalists exercising their functions is never acceptable. We join the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia and other international organizations in calling for immediate investigations, restraint and tolerance on all sides. The rights to freedom of assembly and to freedom of expression must be respected, and arbitrary detention cannot be tolerated. We express condolences to the family of the police officer (Artur Vanoyan) who has lost his life in the Erebuni events. We also condemn taking medical personnel hostage, which can never be justified. We hope for a swift and peaceful resolution of the standoff. We also encourage enhanced mechanisms for constructive dialogue between broader civil society and the authorities. In Turkey, freedom is in danger International news brief: Series of earthquakes rattle Hawaii and more Turkey: 35 Kurdish militants killed International oi-IANS By Ians English Ankara, July 30: At least 35 Kurdish militants were killed on Saturday by Turkish security forces in the country's Hakkari province. Read more on Turkey coup attempt 2016 Air strikes were launched against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members who attempted to infiltrate into Beybuta Hill Military Base Region in Yuksekova district, Xinhua news agency reported. The strikes killed 23 persons, while four others were killed in ground operations. Meanwhile, eight militants were killed in operations launched by the army forces in Cukurca district. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union, resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish government in July 2015. IANS Belgium police arrest 2 brothers suspected of plotting terror attack International oi-PTI Brussels, July 30: Belgian police arrested two men "suspected of planning an attack" in Belgium following raids ordered by an anti-terror judge, federal prosecutors said on Saturday (July 30). Read more stories on Brussels terror attack 2016 Belgium has remained on high alert following deadly March bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in Brussels and a wave of deadly attacks in the last month in France and Germany, some of them claimed by the Islamic State (IS). The two men, identified as Noureddine H and his brother Hamza H, were arrested late on Friday (July 29) following house searches in the French-speaking areas of Mons and Liege, a spokesman for the federal prosecutors said. "Both are suspected of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium," the spokesman said in an English version of the statement. The French version referred to "planning attacks" in the plural. The prosecutor's office said there was for now no connection with the bombings on March 22 at Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters that left 35 people dead. No weapons or explosives were found in the raids ordered by the judge specialising in counter-terror cases, it said. More than 300 people were injured in the attack. The IS claimed responsibility for the attacks. A judge will review the arrests of the brothers later Saturday and decide whether to keep them in custody. Several of those involved in the Brussels bloodshed were directly linked to the November 13 attacks in Paris which left 130 dead. Belgian authorities last month charged two men with terrorist offences amid reports of a planned attack on a Euro 2016 fanzone in central Brussels. Belgium then beefed up security for its July 21 national day celebrations after the truck attack that killed 84 people in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14. Belgian authorities had previously anticipated a possible truck-style attack before the Nice carnage. AFP Post-terror attacks, France mulls ban on foreign funding of mosques International oi-IANS By Ians English Paris, July 30: Following the recent terror attacks, the French government is considering a ban on foreign financing of mosques in the country, the media reported on Friday (July 29). [Yet another terror attack hits France; 1 priest killed] Nice terror attack According to Le Monde, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the prohibition would be for an indefinite period but gave no further details. [Read more stories on Paris terror attack 2016] "There needs to be a thorough review to form a new relationship with French Islam," he added. "We live in a changed era and we must change our behaviour. This is a revolution in our security culture... the fight against radicalisation will be the task of a generation," The Independent quoted Valls as saying. France was "at war" and further atrocities were predicted, Valls said, following the murder of a priest at a church in Normandy and the attack in Nice in French Riveira by Islamic State supporters. "This war, which does not concern only France, will be long and we will see more attacks," the Prime Minister said. "But we will win, because France has a strategy to win this war. First, we must crush the external enemy." The French government has come under increasing criticism for failing to prevent atrocities, including the attack in a Normandy church. Security services were tipped off that Abdel Malik Petitjean, 19, was planning an attack but police were reportedly unable to identify him from photos and a video showing him declaring allegiance to the Islamic State terror group, The Independent reported. He was already on country's "fiche S" terror watch list - an indicator used by France law enforcement apparatus to signal an individual considered to be a serious threat to national security. He attempted to travel to Syria in June but was intercepted by Turkish authorities and forced to return to France. Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, 19, took six people hostage at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy and slit the throat of its priest, Father Jacques Hamel. Both were shot dead by police. Kermiche was also known to security services and was wearing an electronic surveillance tag while on bail as he awaited trial for membership of a terror organisation at the time. It came less than a fortnight after the Nice attack, when a Tunisian man killed 84 persons and injured over 300 when he ploughed a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was not among the 10,000 names on the "fiche S" but the inclusion of terrorists - among them, several of the Paris attackers, the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen and their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly, as well as a lorry driver who beheaded his manager and attempted to blow up a chemical plant - has shown the system to be ineffective, said The Independent. Intelligence officials have admitted that they are under-resourced to deal with the potential threat from each individual, who would need up to 20 people monitoring them every day. France's continuing state of emergency has drastically expanded security forces' detention powers, sparking a wave of controversial house arrests since November. Responding to criticism, Valls said his government would not create a "French Guantanamo" or be swayed by populism. IANS At UNSC, US calls on world to tell Russia to stop its nuclear threats Protect citizens amid 'rising intolerance': US to India International oi-PTI Washington, July 30: Expressing concern over reports of "rising intolerance and violence" in India, the US has asked the Indian government to do "everything in its power" to protect citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrators. [US expresses concern over violence in Kashmir] Responding to questions on reports of alleged violence against people eating beef and assault on two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat in Madhya Pradesh, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said: "We stand in solidarity with the people and Government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in confronting all forms of intolerance." "We're obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence...As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable," he said. Kirby said the US looks forward to continuing to work with the Indian people to realise their tolerant-inclusive vision, which is so deeply in the interests of both India and the US. In an instance of cow vigilantism earlier this week, two Muslim women who were carrying buffalo meat were assaulted by people at a railway station in Mandsaur on suspicion that it was beef Dalit youths in Gujarat by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. PTI What does the US actually want in Syria? Death merchants have a ball as weapons worth over 1 bn Euros reach Syria from East Europe International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer London, July 30: An investigation has revealed that countries in East Europe have approved secret sale of weapons worth over 1 billion Euro to Middle Eastern countries that ship arms to Syria---in the last four years---the Guardian has reported. The illegally traded weapons include thousands of assault rifles like AK-47, mortar shells, rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and heavy machine guns and they are being taken to the Middle Eastern countries bordering war-ravaged Syria via a new arms pipeline from the Balkans, the report said. The Guardian report said much of the weapons and ammunition are being sent to Syria fuelling the five-year civil war there, according to investigative reporters in Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Weapons sent from 8 countries The year-long investigation which took into account several aspects like UN reports, plane tracking and weapons contracts revealed that the weaponry was being sent from countries like Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Montenegro, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania and Croatia, the Guardian said. It said eight nations approved the weapons and ammunitions worth the whopping amount to four Middle Eastern countries of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and the UAE since the escalation of the conflict in Syria in 2012. They are the key arm markets for violence-hit countries like Syria and Yemen. While refugee route has been shut, arms trade flourish "...over the past two years, as thousands of tonnes of weapons fly south, hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled north from the conflicts that have killed more than 400,000 people. But while Balkan and European countries have shut down the refugee route, the billion-euro pipeline sending arms by plane and ship to the Middle East remains open - and very lucrative," said the BIRN report. The report further said that while the region had zero instances of buying from central and eastern Europe, it now looks that the purchase is escalating and some of biggest deals have been settled in 2015. Oneindia News Aurangabad arms haul: Vedict on quantum of sentence deferred to Aug 2 New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, July 30: The special MCOCA court will pronounce its verdict on the quantum of sentence in the Aurangabad arms haul case on August 2. The court which was originally to deliver the verdict on Saturday postponed the same for August 2. During the arguments on the quantum of sentence, the defence pleaded for a lenient punishment against the 12 convicts. The prosecution however, sought a stringent punishment while asking the court to take into account the gravity of the crime. While convicting 12 persons in connection with this case the court had held that the entire conspiracy was hatched to eliminate Narendra Modi who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the judge also accepted the prosecution's view that the weapons were procured from Pakistan. The arms and ammunition seized during the Aurangabad case were sourced from Pakistan, a Special MCOCA court delivering its verdict had said. The court which was hearing the Aurangabad arms haul case held 12 persons including Abu Jundal, the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative guilty. The Maharashtra ATS based on a tip off, arrested several persons on May 8, 2006 near Aurangabad. The ATS also seized a huge cache of arms which were being transported in a Tata Sumo and Indica. One of the vehicles was being driven by Jundal alias Zabiuddin Ansari. The ATS was however, not able to arrest Jundal as he managed to escape. Jundal is said to have escaped to Bangladesh from where he left for Pakistan. He rose in the ranks of the Lashkar-e-Taiba at an astronomical pace. He was then roped in to give the ten terrorists Hindi tuitions so that they would look like locals when they entered Mumbai to stage the attack. He was finally deported from Saudi Arabia to India two years after the attacks of 26/11. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, July 30, 2016, 13:25 [IST] No bilateral talks with Pak during SAARC: MEA New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, July 31: The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday made it clear that union minister Rajnath Singh will not have any bilateral talks with Pakistan when he visits Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference on August 3 and 4. Singh's visit would be to promote regional cooperation and he is not visiting Islamabad for a bilateral meeting with Pakistan, the MEA's official spokesperson, Vikas Swarup had said at a presser on Friday. However, sources say that Singh will raise certain points with his Pakistan counterpart Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan relating to unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, cross border terrorism and infiltration. A Home Ministry official tells OneIndia that Singh will on the sidelines of the summit will speak with Khan about these issues. Dossier diplomacy Armed with the interrogation report of Bahadur Ali the terrorist who was captured recently at Jammu and Kashmir, Singh would place proof of Pakistan's continued involvement in terror related activities. Ali has already confirmed he was launched out of Pakistan to strike terror in Jammu and Kashmir. While the MEA states that Singh emphasis would be on regional cooperation, at the home ministry the agenda points for a meet with Khan on the sidelines of the summit is already being set. India has already sent out several dossiers to Pakistan regarding their involvement in terror. Another one based on the Kashmir unrest and also the interrogation details of Ali would also be provided. Top home ministry officials say that the main focus of the meet would be on regional security. Terror attacks in Bangladesh. infiltrations into India and the instability at Afghanistan would be key issues to be discussed. While a lot of emphasis would be laid on these issues, India would still rake up directly with Pakistan issues relating to the border and the situation in Kashmir. It would be part of the agenda, but not the main focus for now. Issues with Pakistan will be raised strongly later on as well, the official informed. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, July 30, 2016, 12:59 [IST] There will be a complete shutdown in Karnataka due to bandh today. in protest against the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) order declining Karnatakas plea for diversion of 7.5 tmc of water from the river to the Malaprabha basin. All hotels, schools, recreational facilities and shops would remain closed at least till 6 PM. No means of transport would be available either, except for the local trains. Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Rumble 01 Jun 2022 Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann gave a brief, celebratory statement to the media after being found not.. Upworthy 27 Oct 2022 The former president can still appeal his case to the Supreme Court. #supremecourt #appealscourt #trump Newsy 27 Oct 2022 Watch VideoHalloween is less than a week away and that means now is the perfect time to binge-watch some scary movies and.. Eurasia Review 31 Jul 2022 An archaeological study has determined that cowrie-shell artifacts found throughout the Mariana Islands were lures used for hunting.. BANG Showbiz 11 Oct 2022 'Sex and the City' star Cynthia Nixon says Sarah Jessica Parker is finding things "really rough" after the death of her stepfather.. Reprinted from Counterpunch The 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was a multi-layered, raucous display of political theater. A host of delegates loyal to Senator Bernie Sanders were inside in large numbers exclaiming "No more war" during former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's speech and raising all kinds of progressive, rebellious signs and banners against the Hillary crowd. Although Hillary addressed them directly in her acceptance speech, "Your cause is my cause," those dissatisfied delegates in the hall saw her rhetoric for what it was: insincere and opportunistic. She said she'd tax the wealthy for public necessities, but declined to mention a sales tax on Wall Street speculation that could bring in as much as $300 billion a year to support such initiatives. She opposed "unfair trade agreements," but remarkably omitted saying she was against the TPP (the notorious pending Trans Pacific Trade Agreement backed by Obama that is receiving wide left/right opposition). She paid lip service to a "living wage" but avoided endorsing a $15 an hour minimum wage, which would help single moms and their children -- people she wants us to believe have been her enduring cause. Few people know that it took until the spring of 2014 before candidate Clinton would come out for even a $10.10 minimum wage. News reports noted that Clinton, a former member of Walmart's board of directors and Arkansas corporate lawyer, was wrestling with how to support $10.10 per hour without alienating her Wall Street friends. "Caring for kids" doesn't extend to encircled Gaza's defenseless children, hundreds of whom were killed by American-made weapons wielded by the all powerful Israeli military. Gaza is the the world's largest open-air prison and under illegal blockade. Remember, as Secretary of State, Hillary fully backed war crimes, condemned by almost all countries in the world. On the stage in Philadelphia, she spoke of backing Israel's security without any mention of Palestinian rights or the need to end Israel's illegal occupation of the territories. It is true, as numerous speakers repeated, Clinton is "most qualified and experienced," but her record shows those qualities have led to belligerent, unlawful military actions that are now boomeranging against U.S. interests. The intervention she insistently called for in Libya, with Obama's foolish consent, over-rode the wiser counsel of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (and his generals), who warned of the chaos that would follow. He was proven right, with chaotic violence now all over Libya spilling into other African countries. This is but one example of what Bernie Sanders meant during the debates when he referenced her "poor judgement." The media coverage of political conventions tends to sink to the level of the circus. The PBS/NPR coverage with some half dozen reporters and two commentators proved to be thin, light, soft and superficial. Otherwise smart media communicators were reduced to very heavy focus on exactly what the Party's manipulators wanted. "What is Hillary really like?" Of course the stage was filled with frothy admiration, awe and acclamation. But why didn't the media point out some of the factual omissions, the contradictions to the endless sugarcoating of the nominee? To her credit, NPR/PBS reporter, Susan Davis, did blurt out that the Convention program was mostly about personality and character with little policy. Reporters did, however, point out that unlike all other candidates, Hillary Clinton has not had a news conference since last December to showcase her supposed experience, qualifications and knowledge! Why wouldn't Hillary Clinton, in her attack on Donald Trump, demand the release of his tax returns? Hillary and Bill have regularly released their tax returns. Maybe because Trump would demand Hillary release her secret Wall Street transcripts of her $5,000-a-minute paid speeches to big bankers and other businesses. To her verbal credit, Hillary Clinton raised the "unpatriotic" charge against too many U.S. corporations (not all she added) when it comes to our country. Born in the U.S.A, grown to profit on the backs of American workers, bailed out by American taxpayers and occasionally by the U.S. Marines overseas, these giant companies have no allegiance to country or community. They are, with trade agreements and other inducements, abandoning America's workers and escaping America's laws and taxes. Hearing the word "unpatriotic" applied to those companies I could imagine these firms' executives and P.R. flacks shuddering for the only time during her 55-minute address. The stigma of being "unpatriotic" to their enabling native country can have consequential legs for turning public opinion even more deeply against these monetized corporate Goliaths. Stung by the consistently high "untrustworthy" ratings since polling started asking that question (only Trump exceeds her in most polls), she declared again that no one achieves greatness alone, that it takes us working together, that it "Takes a Village," alluding to her earlier book. If that is true, then Together must have more power than the Few. "Together" should include workers, consumers, small taxpayers, voters and communities who are excluded from power, from the tools of democracy -- electoral reforms and clean elections, more unions and cooperatives, access to justice for wrongful injuries and against crony capitalism and corporate crime and greater citizen empowerment. Does she have an agenda for a devolution of power from the few to the many so that we can be "stronger together," (her slogan for 2016)? No way. Mum's the word! This immense gap has been the Clinton duo's con job on America for many years. Sugarcoating phrases, populist flattery, getting the election over with and jumping back into the fold of the plutocracy is their customary M.O. An anti-Hillary campaign button sums it up. Imagine a nice picture of Hillary with the words "More Wall Street" above her head and the words "More War" below her head. Alert voters could see it coming at the Convention: the militarism for Hillary the Hawk on day four in Philadelphia and the arrival of the corporate fat cats. Or, as the New York Times headlined: "Top Donors Leave Sidelines, Checkbooks in Hand." Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Yesterday, I saw the lines in the sky again. I'd always heard about them, but had never actually seen them myself, until this Spring. I had seen the Facebook Meme's, of course, about mind control and the dumbing down the populace. I never put much stock in any such wild theories. First, this is Ohio, why the overkill? Secondly, this is the United States where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the presumptive party nominees for the Presidency of the United States. A nation in perpetual war mode, that doesn't know where and doesn't know why, wars are fought in its name. Spun in a web of good guys and bad guys, whatever fails in fantasy is righted in repetition. Hillary Clinton, rubbed her hands together gleefully at the murder of Muammar Gaddafi saying, "We came, we saw, and he died." Gaddafi had resolved his differences with the West and had been on the straight and narrow. The Secretary of State of the United States of America, not only takes credit for his murder, she gushes over it. The Congress investigates Benghazi and lost E-mails with the fervor of a mechanical bull cowboy. Ignoring, The Secretary of State for the United States of America and presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for the office of the President, takes joy in the murder of another world leader. Generally speaking, murder is frowned upon in the civilized world. Religious texts stand united in their opposition; legal covenants follow suit. Actually, murder is a crime, being joyful at murder is only gauche. Imagine, you're talking to your neighbor over the back fence and ask, what's new? "Oh, the guy down the street really pissed me off. So we dragged him out into the street and beat him to death. You should have been there"it was great!" The Party of small government wants to build the largest public works project, since the Interstate highway system"with no upside. A public works stunt, like wrestling Mexican's caricatures on stage. Appealing to the darkest corners of the American soul. Immigrants, minorities, guns, abortion, crime and violence and the Republican nominee's platform is"nothing. Nothing except, stage wrestling Mexicans, talking loudly, without a stick to back it up. It begs the question, what does the Presidency even mean anymore? Both candidates will continue the wars, both will continue devastating trade deals. Both will continue the love affair with big oil and both will subvert environmental protections. Both will work to keep down wages and both will campaign against the poor. Bernie Sanders? He was the bait to draw you into the trap, the public option gambit. Public option, no public option, public option"no public option. Bernie, Hillary, Bernie, Hillary, No Bernie, Just Hillary as clear as the white lines painted across the sky. The media claim victory before the votes are even cast. I've seen Trump tee shirts and bumper stickers and Bernie bumper stickers too. So far, at least, the pro murder party don't go in for such swag in this zip code. I'm thirty miles East of Cleveland, Ohio in rural Geauga County. Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport is on the other side of Cleveland. It is a rare sight in Geauga County to see an aircraft of any kind. Seeing multiple white lines across the sky is bizarre. My father was a Navy pilot and a private pilot. I grew up around air shows and aviation. A vapor trail behind an aircraft is primarily made up of frozen water vapor and exhaust gasses. If you follow a vapor trail with your eyes, you'll find the aircraft on one end of the trail. The vapor trail, will remain the same length across the sky as the aircraft flies. When they aircraft disappears, the vapor trail will rapidly dissipate. I don't know what these white lines across the sky are. I make no claims to know, only I know what they aren't, they aren't vapor trails. These trails or if you like, "clouds" are there. Something or somebody is spending a vast fortune to produce them. One thing I know for sure, jets are expensive. The average cost of operating a Boeing 737 is around $5,000 per hour. Now, let's conjecture the cost of the chemicals, needed to create the "clouds" is a dollar per pound. A fully loaded aircraft with $20, 000 in chemicals flies for an hour or $25,000 per hour. The $64.00 question is why? What is to be gained? Who gains by this and why the secret? Now remember, this is a do nothing government, nothing beneficial is done for the people. Food stamp cuts, assaults on Social Security, failing infrastructure and education. Yet someone, somewhere, has created a covert program of spraying chemicals into the sky, for reason or reasons unknown to a reality show public. Clearly, this cannot be of a casual interest. The need for secrecy means the reasons for the program must be dire. An overt lie could easily dispel the mystery, yet there is only silence. Why sure, we could say it's an attempt to fix the ozone layer led by the United Nations. Republicans could decry the actions of the UN on US soil. Democrats could sing "Kumbayah" with environmentalists. Hillary could be against it, before she was for it. Trump could promise if elected, to end the program. CNN could host mindless debates; Fox could tell outrageous fabrications, becoming the foundation for Facebook meme's, until we forget. Someone is covertly spending millions, upon millions of dollars to spray chemicals into the atmosphere, without the consent of the governed. Record temperatures across the US Southeast and Southwest. In Asia, all-time, record high temperatures in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, India, China as well as portions of Africa. Super Typhoon Nepartak hits Tiawan and China while the Pacific hurricane season is the quietest since records have been kept. Something funny is going on here, it's the elephant in the room. The weather is different from what it once was, when I was young. We can argue for it with facts and figures or we can argue against with just the same ammunition, but only one thing really matters. Person or person's unknown are spending a fortune to spray chemicals into the atmosphere, for reasons unknown. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, much has been written about "the Russian idea." Subsumed under this term are the very issues - moral, religious, and national/cultural - that [Dmitrii] Merezhkoskii treated in the works we have discussed. In a replay of the fin de siecle, Russians are again discussing how to make Christianity relevant to life in this world, Christian attitudes toward sex, Christian art, and the proper relation of church and state. They are trying to define a postcommunist Russian identity and to find the organizing principles by which they can reconstruct their world. (page 143, Merezhkovskii's Readings of Tolstoi by Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal) Russian Thought After Communism: The Recovery of a Philosophical Heritage is a book of essays by various contributors (edited by James P. Scanlan), published in 1994, elaborating on the work and thought of several Russian philosophers of the pre-Soviet era and how this heritage is influencing the post-Soviet era. Rosenthal's essay is about Dmitrii Merezhkovskii, who was a philosopher, playright, historical novelist and literary critic. He was active in the years just prior to and during Russia's revolutions of the early 20th century and focused much of his attention on the thought and work of the great Russian literary writers, namely Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy. However, the focus over the years would center on Tolstoy to the point of near obsession, representing a complex - often contradictory - assessment of whether Tolstoy was a prophetic saint or a nihilistic hypocrite. Around 1900, he published a study and contrast of the two preeminent novelists, Tolstoi and Dostoyevskii, LIfe and Art. A Study . With a deep interest in morality and Christianity, Merezhkovskii believed that literature - which, at its best, can serve as a vehicle for exploring important moral and philosophical issues in all of their complexity and nuance - should be a guiding force in the inevitable choice between good and evil. He was correct that Russians were about to face a momentous choice of paths to follow in the form of reform versus communist revolution. Merezhkovskii believed that communism, particularly the Bolshevik manifestation, was the equivalent of evil, largely due to its atheism and repression of religion and spirituality. Merezhkovskii's apocalyptic Christianity was said to be a reaction to Nietzsche's "God is dead" nihilism with Jesus serving in Merezhkovskii's mind as the countervailing "Superman" who would return to earth offering a "Third Testament" that would reconcile paganism with Christianity and the spiritual with the earthly life. In this study, Merezhkovskii held Dostoyevsky in high regard and "deconstructed" Tolstoy as having a "slave morality" and conducted a lengthy contrast between Tolstoy and the poet Pushkin, whom Merezhkovksii lionized, stating that where Pushkin represented harmony, successful integration of artist and intellectual, and reconciliation of the cultured man and the proud Russian, Tolstoy represented "rupture," emotional and spiritual dearth, and advocacy of an "abstract cosmopolitanism" that rejected Russian patriotism. He criticized Tolstoy's characters for being passive contemplators and victims rather than heroes with a sense of agency. He also expressed disdain for what he saw as Tolstoy's "rational Christianity" lacking any sense of the mystical, mysterious or experiential, and attributed these shortcomings to a profound fear of death on Tolstoy's part. This fear, Merezhkovskii claimed, prompted him to view man's relationship to God as "the criminal sentenced to death, and God is the executioner." (p. 128) Merezhkovskii also felt Tolstoy did not have a proper appreciation of the cause and effect patterns of history, stating "his Christianity did not grow from Russian or west European soil but fell from the heavens already prepared." (p. 129) Merezhkovskii's views of Tolstoy would evolve over the years with Tolstoy's excommunication by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in 1901. By 1905, Merezhkovskii's religious and political views had changed in a way that made them compatible with a re-examination of Tolstoy. Advocating "religious revolution," Merezhkovskii now recast Tolstoy as "a prophet of Christian anarchism" but criticized his rejection of the 1905 revolution (which decreased the Czar's rule from that of an autocrat, at least on paper), and Dostoyevsky was now "a prophet of the Russian Revolution" but open to criticism for his theocracy. (p. 131) As disillusionment with the 1905 revolution in the areas of society and culture set in, Merezhkovskii saw Tolstoy's doctrinaire moralism no longer with disdain but with qualified acceptance. A common theme in Russian philosophy of the 19th and early 20th century involved trying to reconcile difference forces and influences. To some extent, these are universal concerns for most cultures at various points in their development, but for Russia, it is perhaps even more so due to the nation's particular geography, climate and history. The country is vast, situated between the West (represented by Europe) and the East (represented by Asia), multiethnic and multiconfessional, with a history filled with foreign invasions, natural disasters, and social upheaval that creates a yearning for security and stability. After 70 years of relative cultural and philosophical stagnation under the Soviet system, Russians find they are grappling with many of the same issues that their pre-Soviet thinkers did with respect to religion, culture and the nature of the state. Consequently, they have been getting reacquainted with these thinkers over the past 25 years. Much has been made among the usual western pundits who have little depth of understanding when it comes to Russia, yet sally forth onto the pages of western newspapers and magazines anyway, about Vladimir Putin's assignment of the works of 3 pre-Soviet Russian philosophers to be read by all the regional governors during the 2014 Winter holiday. Those 3 philosophers were Vladimir Solovyev, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Ivan Ilyin. This book includes essays dealing with all 3 of those philosophers and, due to their contemporary relevance to Russian political thought, the remainder of this review will focus on them. Vladimir Solovyev Solovyev has been categorized as one of the early Slavophiles, along with Ivan Kirveevskii, Alexei Khomiakov, and Nicolai Fedorov who were considered trailblazers of Russian philosophy in general. The basic elements that underpinned early Slavophile philosophy included being pioneers of a philosophy that was unique and original to Russia, fitting with its culture and experience. Pre-Slavophile Russian philosophers are typically ignored or dismissed by the Slavophiles, according to Scanlan, as being too heavily influenced by external intellectual forces. 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). Riyadh-based Yemen government in exile Thursday quit peace talks underway in after Houthi militants and their allies formed a 10-member "supreme council" to run the war-torn nation. "The negotiations have completely ended," said Abdallah al-Olaimi, a member of the exile government team to the talks. UN special envoy Ismail Ahmad Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who has been brokering 100 days of talks aimed at a peaceful settlement, condemned the move without formally announcing the collapse of negotiations. The Houthi militants and the General People's Congress of former president Ali Abdallah Saleh earlier Thursday announced the formation of "a supreme political council of 10 members". They did not name the council's members. "The aim is to unify efforts to confront the aggression by Saudi Arabia and its allies," they said, in reference to the Riyadh-led Arab coalition that launched air strikes against the militants in March 2015 in support of Hadi. More than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched brutal airstrikes against the targets in Yemen. Another 2.8 million people have been displaced and more than 80 percent of the population urgently needs humanitarian aid, according to UN figures. More than one year on, it still remains unclear who is winning the war. Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners claim to have regained control of more than 80 percent of the country, but the Houthis remain in control of the key strongholds of Sanaa, Ibb, and Taiz. One thing is clear: Yemeni civilians are losing the most. UN Security Council Resolution 2216 UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmad said the rebels' move to form a ruling council "represents a grave violation" of UN Security Council Resolution 2216. The UN Security Council resolution was approved on April 14, 2015, where Russia abstained. Explaining the abstention, the Russian delegate said it had abstained because the resolution was not fully in line with what was required by the crisis in Yemen. "The text failed to take into account proposals his country had made and to call on all sides to halt fire, did not provide for due reflection on consequences and lacked clarity on a humanitarian pause. There were also inappropriate references to sanctions," he added, stating that the resolution must not result in an escalation of the crisis. He stressed that there was no alternative to a political solution and action by the Council must be engendered from already-existing documents. Not surprisingly, the resolution, co-sponsored by France, the United Kingdom and the United States, was silent on the Saudi air strikes but mentioned the Houthis and Houthi 18 times. The resolution demanded that the Houthis withdraw from all areas seized during the latest conflict, relinquish arms seized from military and security institutions, cease all actions falling exclusively within the authority of the 'legitimate Government of Yemen', and fully implement previous Council resolutions. The resolution also called upon the Houthis to refrain from any provocations or threats to neighboring states, release the Minister for Defence, all political prisoners and individuals under house arrest or arbitrarily detained, and end the recruitment of children. Imposing sanctions, including a general-assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, on Abdulmalik al-Houthi, whom it called the Houthi leader, and Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, son of the president who stepped down in 2011. Ironically, the United States, Britain, and others, meanwhile, have continued to supply a steady stream of weaponry and logistical support to Saudi Arabia and its coalition. Britain, the United States, and France continue to authorize lucrative arms deals with the Saudi-led coalition -- apparently without batting an eyelash. Since November 2013, the U.S. Defense Department has authorized more than $35.7 billion in major arms deals to Saudi Arabia. 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). Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. On July 24, Lindsay Bessick hosted the first brunch for Lady Forward Tea Celebrations, a new catering business aimed at connecting and pamperi 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. WICHITA, Kan. Wichita wife and mother Jenifer Sauer, 37, is a sponge for beautiful design that she incorporates into her house in east Wichita. "I wish I could change my house every six months, because I like so many things," she said. But she knows she can't do that, so she prioritizes. She and her husband, Joe, bought their ranch seven years ago, and Jenifer expects that getting the house done the way they want it will be a 10-year project. Here are places she goes for inspiration, projects that she's accomplished, and ways she organizes and charts her ideas. Her style: "Transitional traditional with more straight lines and somewhat eclectic, though, because I like the juxtaposition of different styles against each other." Organizing on Pinterest: "I'm a Pinterest addict. It gets to where I can't believe I have so many pins. I use Pinterest to study groupings and to get an idea of how things should flow." She searches for terms such as "white galley kitchen" and "gray and white transitional bathroom." "When I find things I'm going to use, I put them on Pinterest to keep me organized." Make your own pins: When Sauer sees something she likes in a magazine, she takes a photo and makes her own pin with it so she can keep things together on Pinterest. "It's really easy." Pinners she follows: Nelson Designs and Social Manor, plus Nell Hill's, Social Manor, Sita Montgomery Interiors out of Salt Lake City, Chrystie Vachon's Designer Decor Knockoffs, Claire Brody's copycats on a budget, Joanna Gaines, the Property Brothers. Magazine subscriptions: House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Veranda, Architectural Digest, Traditional Home. "And I kind of steal ideas from (catalogs) Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and Ballard Designs." On Instagram: Some design sites have better Instagram accounts than Pinterest ones. She likes Sita Montgomery Interiors and One Kings Lane on Instagram. Ideas she's gotten from Pinterest: empty frames filled with chicken wire for hanging children's artwork; a giant ornate frame turned on its side with smaller framed mirrors from Tuesday Morning hanging inside; a wall of clocks in the kitchen dining nook (that don't necessarily keep the correct time); a table centerpiece that is a long narrow trough filled with pinecones, greenery and flameless candles, for example, for the winter and can be switched up seasonally. Favorite room in the house: The hall bathroom, the only room that has been taken down to the studs under Sauer's ownership. "I used Pinterest to put together my ideas and see products. Some of it then I was able to track down. Sometimes things are a couple years old." An arched mirror carried by Lowes had been pinned "a million times, but they stopped making them." She then obsessed until she eventually found another company that was making them, and Sharon Nelson at Nelson Designs in Wichita, her husband's aunt, was able to order them for her. For the girls: Sauer also used Pinterest to decorate her daughters' room. She saw sunburst mirrors and ordered one to go above each bed. Her 12-year old wanted lots of color with a Moroccan theme, and Sauer balanced it out with white. NORMAL Community advocates hope to open, by next June, Central Illinois' first health clinic and community center for the lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer or questioning and intersex populations. "Our vision is to provide health care, mental health and social support to the LBGTQI community and its allies," said Len Meyer, executive director of the Central Illinois Pride Health Center. Meyer and health center board President Jan Lancaster spoke with The Pantagraph on Friday. The goal is to provide primary health care, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and hormone replacement therapy within three years. But they hope to open the center next June, beginning with meetings and mental health counseling. The board is working on its 501(c)(3) status to be tax-exempt and is searching for space, Lancaster said. The center already sponsors a youth group, and a parents group will begin meeting in August, Meyer said. "We want to offer our community a safe atmosphere to get care and to not be made to feel less of a person," Lancaster said. Meyer is a retired emergency medical technician who is operations manager for Merry Maids, the Normal-based residential cleaning company. Meyer has a bachelor's degree in health care administration. Lancaster, who owns The Bistro in downtown Bloomington, is a member of the Bloomington Human Relations Commission and vice president of the Downtown Bloomington Association. Meyer is transgender. People who are transgender don't identify with the sex of their birth. Meyer has been put off by doctors' offices whose choices for patients' sexual identity was male or female. One doctor didn't understand transgender issues and didn't care, Meyer said. Lancaster said Meyer's experience isn't unique. The result is that LBGTQI people are less likely than others to seek primary care, Meyer said. "There definitely is a need for this in our community," Lancaster said. Asked why the group doesn't focus on education and advocacy rather than opening a clinic, they said education and advocacy take longer than growing a clinic. "The time to do the clinic is now," Lancaster said. "We are trying to add to the quality of care in Central Illinois. We are not trying to replace existing doctor's offices." Advocate BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center were given opportunities to comment. Tony Coletta, Advocate BroMenn human resources vice president, said: "Advocate BroMenn is supportive of any group that is working to improve the health and well-being of members of our community. "Our own organization has made a concerted effort to be inclusive and sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQI community ... Through ongoing leadership and staff education in health care-specific areas of diversity and inclusion, we continue working to ensure that our processes, communication and environment work together to create a welcoming atmosphere for all of our patients and their loved ones." A fundraiser for the center in partnership with YWCA McLean County will be 6 p.m. Aug. 17 at The Bistro, 316 N. Main St., Bloomington. "Our mission informs us to provide justice for all," said Jenn Carrillo, YWCA mission impact director. Criminal sexual abuse A Bloomington man has been sentenced to six years in prison for criminal sexual abuse. Darryl Vinson, 53, of the 1200 block of Theta Drive, was convicted of molesting a minor girl between February and August 2015. Cocaine Drugs charges have netted a Chicago man six years in prison. Albert Johnson, 36, was convicted of unlawful possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. BLOOMINGTON A decorated Iraq war veteran's six-year prison term has been reduced to probation after the state agreed to vacate a home invasion conviction for the soldier who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Sam Siatta, 26, of Diamond, near Joliet, was released from prison in May after serving about five months for an April 2014 break-in of a home in Normal where he was attending Illinois State University. Siatta hit a man on the head with a frying pan and suffered nine stab wounds himself after he mistakenly entered the man's home that was near his own. Siatta contends he has no recollection of the incident. In May, the McLean County State's Attorney's office agreed to request that Siatta's conviction for the non-probationable Class X felony be replaced with attempted home invasion and a sentence of 48 months probation. A hearing on Thursday finalized the agreement to cancel a jury's guilty verdict returned against Siatta in a November trial. Court records filed with the Fourth District Appellate Court describe Siatta's history of bravery with the Marines during two tours of duty in Afghanistan. A statement from Maj. Scott A. Cuomo characterized Siatta as "the best marksman in our unit, as well as the Marine feared most by our enemy." As a young soldier serving in a combat zone, Siatta protected innocent Afghans from fire, said Cuomo, adding that "it is almost impossible to explain in words the type of physical and moral courage required to make such decisions in dire life and death situations." First Assistant State's Attorney Adam Ghrist said Friday the decision to support a lesser charge and sentence for Siatta came after more thorough information about the veteran's military service was provided to the state. "Based on this information, we reassessed the balance of justice, talked with victims, and determined that a prison sentence was not appropriate," said Ghrist. The state agreed to 48 months probation, the maximum allowed for a Class 1 felony, "with other conditions geared toward rehabilitation," said Ghrist. Siatta had previously agreed to continue his treatment for PTSD and alcohol dependency. Bloomington defense lawyer Harold Jennings said Friday that the new outcome "will allow Sam to go back through the VA system and continue his care for PTSD." The Chicago law firm of Holland & Knight took on Siatta's case without charging a fee after he was sentenced, with attorney Richard R. Winter filing the documents with the appellate court that led to Siatta's release from prison on bond. During Siatta's sentencing hearing, Judge Scott Drazewski expressed regret that he could not impose a sentence other than the six to 30 years mandated by state law for a Class X felony. NORMAL This year's Republican national party platform would be "catastrophic" for Connect Transit if implemented, an official said this week. "Theyve stated that (mass transit) is a local thing and the federal government should not be in the business of public transportation," said Connect Transit General Manager Andrew Johnson. "That would be catastrophic, to say the least." The platform, which was approved during last week's Republican National Convention in Cleveland, spells out the party's priorities and establishes goals for a potential Donald Trump presidency. It refers to mass transit as "an inherently local affair that serves only a small portion of the population." "I have seen a draft Democratic platform which vaguely talks about increasing investments in public transportation. No specifics. Thats more promising, but well see," Johnson said. The final Democratic platform, approved this week at that party's convention in Philadelphia, says officials "will make new investments in public transportation," but includes no further details. Johnson noted he is "not weighing in on any of the candidates" for president, including Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. The president presents a federal budget request each year, but Congress approves the final budget. Eliminating Connect Transit's federal funding would cut 20 percent of its $14 million budget, Johnson said. That includes grants that helped make its new route map, debuting Aug. 15, possible by matching new local sales tax money. "Its not the first time that's been floated. ... This is a little more extreme," he said of slashing public transportation funding. "It just shows that it is so very valuable for us to continue to state our case to our federal delegation and show the value of public transportation." The American Public Transportation Association, a group that lobbies for more mass transit spending, also condemned the platform change. "Hundreds of public transportation systems and the communities they serve can point to the huge impact that public transportation has on the national economy and the lives of everyone in all those communities," Johnson said. "The federal government ... is doing a fantastic job of enabling people to get to work, get to school, go shopping and do whatever they need to do." NORMAL The rain came down as Illinois State University's solar car team arrived in Ohio on Friday to get ready for the American Solar Challenge road race, but students retained a sunny outlook. ISU finished fifth among 20 teams from colleges and universities in the United States and Canada at the Formula Sun Grand Prix track race in Pennsylvania, leading up to the ASC. The team also had the second fastest lap, 1 minute and 54 seconds. The fastest lap, 1:14, was turned in by the University of Michigan, which finished first with 518 total laps. ISU completed 327 laps in the three-day race, which ended Thursday. Jim Dunham, an ISU model maker who serves as an adviser for the team, thinks this year's car is our best one so far. It's our most competitive. He said the three-day track race was a good shakedown for the 1,975-mile cross-country road race. Only 11 teams qualified for the road race with their performances at the track race and two teams received provisional qualification. Three teams were unable to pass scrutineering and unable to participate in the track race. Team leader Nick Reichman feels good about the team's chances. Both he and Dunham think they have a reliable car a key to doing well. We had a few issues on Day One. We got those kinks out., Reichman said. Days two and three ran smoothly. The graduate student in project management from Crystal Lake said the team will make a few tweaks here and there before the road race begins Saturday morning at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Brecksville, Ohio. The route will take teams through seven states and nine national parks, historic sites or National Park Service partner properties before ending at Wind Cave National Park in Hot Springs, S.D., on Aug. 6. Reichman and the other three drivers will take turns behind the wheel, usually in four-hour stints. Driver Brad Derry of Tinley Park is looking forward to finally being able to see our yearlong hard work come together. Derry, who graduated in May with a degree in entrepreneurship and small business management, said being on the team helped him build leadership and business skills. He was the mechanical leader for the group and also wrote reports and worked to find sponsors. The whole thing has been incredible, Derry said, noting that Dunham makes sure we actually learn something. Weather challenges are just part of the race. The first few days, we're going to have very little sun, Reichman said. "We'll keep an eye on the weather. Part of the shakedown during the track race was figuring out the rate of power consumption of the car's new hub motors and the best configuration for the batteries, Reichman explained. While on public roads for the Solar Challenge, the solar car will have a lead vehicle and a chase vehicle. Team members in those vehicles will help with safety and navigation as well as monitoring systems within the solar car, such as power consumption. In at least one sense, Kyle Ham was pushing the same message Michelle Obama had delivered the night before when she said, We cannot sit back and hope that everything works out for the best. The first lady was speaking, of course, at the Democratic National Convention. Ham, CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, was part of a generally upbeat presentation 12 hours later at Busey Banks 18th annual Economic Outlook for McLean County. Ham mostly discussed the BN Advantage initiative, an effort to spur local economic growth through community collaboration in five specific areas, ranging from transportation logistics to agribusiness. Afterward, I asked him whether McLean County has an economic Achilles heel. Theres a little bit of complacency sometimes, he said. People kind of settle in, and theyre comfortable with that. But he sees BN Advantage as perhaps the communitys first-ever drive that says we want to push further. Ham thinks too much has been made of a few contentious instances of competition between Bloomington and Normal. Just flashes in the pan within given moments, he called them. At the end of the day, people want to work together. They see the value of working together. It may be that local concerns about State Farms future here, stirred up by its locating major operations in other states and a leadership change at the very top, have had a sobering effect on local movers and shakers, causing fresh attention and commitment to economic stability and growth. Hams confident the financial services giant (from which I retired four years ago) will remain this areas economic backbone. He said in his 1 years here, he has pressed State Farms senior leadership pretty hard multiple times about its plans, always walking away confident the companys local employment will remain at the 14,000 to 15,000 level four or five times the size of the next-biggest employer, ISU. They reiterate theyre not going anywhere, he said. Theyre here to stay. This is their base of operations, and that number will probably stay the same for quite a while So lets stop talking about State Farm. Lets talk about ways we can grow in other areas, to diversify. As if almost on cue, fresh unemployment data late this week rang a warning: McLean County had 1,500 (1.6 percent) fewer jobs last month than it did in June of 2015, even as the entire state was adding 39,700. The local unemployment rate is 5.4 percent up from 5 percent a year earlier. In todays world, complacency is a bad bet, or, as the old saying goes, Todays peacock is tomorrows feather duster. Ballot update A LeRoy mans attempt to be an independent candidate for U.S. Senate this fall looks like its headed for the shredder, and it wont take much shredding. Eric Conklin was able to round up 250 petition signatures only 1 percent of the 25,000 valid signatures hed need to get on the statewide ballot. The 53-year-old admitted he underestimated what it would take to gather the needed John Henrys, but filed what he had. The board hasnt formally ruled him off the ballot, but its only a matter of time. Two people have filed objections to his candidacy. One is from Michael Bigger, the Republican state central committeeman for the 18th Congressional District. The other is from Rob Sherman, the Green Party candidate for Congress in the 5th District. The same two are objecting to Constitution Party candidate Chad Koppie of Kane County in the same race. If the elections board removes Koppie from the ballot, too, that would leave four candidates for the Senate seat: incumbent Republican Mark Kirk, Democrat Tammy Duckworth, Scott Summers of the Green Party, and Libertarian Kenton McMillen. "Off-Grid" or Unconventional parenting may be a huge trend for liberated countries, but most parents pleaded to keep things on the down low. A British couple was slammed by parents after they introduced their parenting style. Adele and Matt Allen made an appearance on British TV with their five-year-old Ulysses and the one-year-old Ostara. Though family interviews maybe adorable, The Sun reported that the TV appearance turned out to be a disaster. The children were all over the place and Ostara even peed on the floor, which Adele described as a "nappy failure", while they were on air. Adele and Matt Allen made a TV appearance not only to introduce the concept of "Off-Grid" parenting but to educate other parents about unconditional parenting as well. The family of four are asking for donations for them to live a self-sustaining lifestyle. They are on a quest to come up with 100,000 euros so that they can start their self-sustaining lifestyle and continue to spread the word of "Off-Grid" parenting in Costa Rica. "We have an all-natural approach to parenting and are reaping the benefits," Adele wrote. "Our ultimate goal is to become self-sufficient, the way of making that happen is by moving to Costa Roca [sic] and buying a big plot of land where we can grow food, and have access to wildlife and nature in its natural state. That's where we need YOUR help, we would love if you could donate any amount and help us achieve our dreams. The Guardians then highlighted that "Off-Grid" or unconventional parenting is a form of parenting narcissism where the parents would want other attention as they sought to go out of the norm. Off-Grid or unconventional parenting often involves non-vaccination, placenta preservation, and even home-schooling the kids. There are countless pros and cons when it comes to these parenting techniques thus it often leaves a negative impression. Are you in favor of Off-Grid or unconventional parenting? Do let us know your thoughts through the comment section below. After four months since it launched on Netflix, "Flaked" has been confirmed for Season 2. The streaming service has renewed Will Arnett's dramedy for another run. 'Flaked' Season 2 Coming 2017 The announcement was made via the show's official Facebook page, saying, "We're headed back to Venice for #Flaked Season 2. Can we stay in your guest house?" The news came two months after words spread out that the show is under consideration for renewal but with a reduced number of episodes. "Flaked" Season 1 was eight episodes and debuted on March 11. For the sophomore season, not confirmation yet as to how many episodes there will be but rumors are that it would be six only, Deadline reported. A Quick Recap "Flaked" stars Will Arnett, who play as Chip, a self-proclaimed guru when it comes to personal insights. On the contrary, he is having trouble with his sobriety and personal baggage. He and his best friend Dennis (David Sullivan) fall for the same girl, London (Ruth Kearney). And things got tangled, including his deceptions and mistakes. Arnett, known for his role in "Arrested Development," told The Hollywood Reporter how he can relate with his character. He revealed that he is also struggling to deal with his own sobriety, and there were times he got off the track while filming "Flaked." "Flaked" is created by Will Arnett and Mark Chappell. In addition David Sullivan and Ruth Kearney, the show also stars George Basil (Cooler), Robert Wisdom (George), Lina Esco (Kara), Dennis Gubbins (Heckler) and Travis Mills (Stefan). "Flaked" Season 2 is slated for a 2017 release. When it returns, Arnett said that Chip is probably taking the same path, and with the help of his friend Dennis, he will still try to get sober. Arnett has several other projects, including "BoJack Horseman" Season 3 that launched on July 22. He is also busy with "Lego," "Nut Job," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Lifetime has given its go signal for the remake of "Beaches," a classic film by the late Garry Marshall. It will star Idina Menzel, who is taking the role of CC Bloom that was originated by Bette Midler. Idina Menzel Excited With The News Before the official announcement on 1988's "Beaches" remake came out, "Frozen" star Idina Menzel teased about an exciting news via her Twitter. She wrote, "Nothing can compare to tonight but I have some pretty cool news to share with you in the morning. You'll never guess." She added, "Exciting news coming very soon! About an hour from now. Xoxox." The production for the small screen version of "Beaches" will begin on Aug. 15 in Vancouver, according to People Magazine. Idina Menzel will perform the two classic songs from the movie, "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "The Glory of Love." She will also record additional songs for the remake, which will be produced by Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan. 'Beaches' Remake Team Allison Anders will be at the helm of the reboot of "Beaches" for Lifetime. Bart Baker and Nikole Beckwith will be the people behind the script, Deadline reported. The rest of the cast are yet to be revealed, but the remake is slated for a 2017 release on the female-centric network. Nothing can compare to tonight but I have some pretty cool news to share with you in the morning. You'll never guess. Idina Menzel (@idinamenzel) July 28, 2016 The tearjerker film "Beaches" tells the story of CC and Hillary (originated by Barbara Hershey), who met as children in Atlantic City in New Jersey during their vacations. They remained friends for decades, with ups and downs in their relationship given. CC pursued her singing passion while Hillary became a lawyer. The confirmation of the remake comes just a week after the demise of Garry Marshall at age 81. Idina Menzel, 45, started to rise to fame with her role of Maureen Johnson in "Rent," a Broadway musical, which gave her Tony Award nomination back in 1996. "Suits" Season 6 has been amazing so far, showing the consequences of Mike's decision of entering a guilty plea deal and Harvey, Jessica and Louis' attempts to get the firm back up. Spoilers for episode 4 tease that Mike will have the chance to buy his way out of prison under one condition: sell out his roommate. Will he take the deal again? This article contains spoilers. Read on if you want to learn more about the details of this story. "Suits" Season 6 episode 4 spoilers reveal that Mike (Patrick J. Adams) will be offered a chance to get out of prison sooner than the two-year sentence he was given after entering a guilty plea deal. According to Carter Matt, Mike will decide between entering another deal to get out of prison soon or keeping his friendship with his roommate. As seen on the latest episode of "Suits" Season 6, Mike was offered to sell out some info on his roommate in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. However, from the looks of it, Mike will not sell out on his roommate in order to get out of prison soon. Of course, Mike will find himself torn before he makes his decision on "Suits" Season 6. So far, fans and viewers have seen his struggle with prison life, especially because of Frank Gallo, who has been determined to make his prison life one of a living hell. Meanwhile, Zap2It notes on a possible "Suits" spinoff series after Season 6. According to the publication, with the way things have been going for the USA legal drama, it seems like the show is prepping for a spinoff based entirely on the ladies of the show. Jessica Pearson has been one of the strongest ladies and characters on "Suits" Season 6 so she would definitely deserve to get her own series. However, there have also been rumors that actress Gina Torres will be leaving the show after Season 6 because of her new drama on ABC. Should there be a "Suits" spinoff series after Season 6? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! In a dramatic moment July 26 at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, former candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders asks during Vermont's turn in the roll call that Hillary Clinton become the party's unanimous presidential nominee. With a single observation, Maria Montessori, the Italian educator and physician, ignited a revolution in education. She jump started what could loosely be called a new appreciation of childhood. Or, in other terms, a culture of education. She challenged us, as a society, to think differently. What was Maria Montessori's original insight? As one of the first female physicians in Italy, working at the turn of the twenty-first century, Montessori hypothesized that under the right conditions - with the right set of core values and principles at play - children would flourish of their own accord, with little or no overt didactic instruction from adults. This radical idea is slowly making its way into mainstream culture. And, it is our belief that parents are the ones that will carry the torch and complete the movement that she enacted, now over one hundred years ago, by asking their children the simple question, "What do you want to learn?", and then "following the child". While Montessori education is typically represented as brick and mortar schools with little to no technology usage, the method is increasingly being called upon for digital education. Those inroads are already happening with apps like Primary and Alpha Writer. If we consider current trends in educational approaches, for instance, we only have to consider two of the most popular, the Alt School and the Kahn Academy, to readily identify their primary source of inspiration: Maria Montessori. As these types of programs, and others, work to offer digital solutions to education, the Montessori philosophy is near at hand, with its personalized approach. For parents, this personalized approach is the big differentiator to consider. Instead of thinking about education as the transmission of knowledge by a teacher to a child, as centuries of educators before her had, Montessori promoted the idea that the teacher should be the one that follows the interests of the student. The defining nature of Montessori, this personalized education, means that the classroom is designed for any and every child. The curriculum moves with the child, at their own pace. The teachers observe and present students with new information when they are ready, or give a guiding hand at the right time if a child is frustrated. Perhaps the real question is if Montessori is right for your family, and a good way to find this out is to observe a classroom in action and ask a lot of questions. In closing, what purpose does following the child serve? "The sacred fire of culture," Montessori wrote, is when the spark of interest is coupled with the flame of enthusiasm. You see, Montessori thought that a single student should be the exemplary case by which a personalized approach to learning would be developed. She thought that education should be based on interests and enthusiasms and not administered by administrators or those with administrative powers. In short, education should be reinvented. It should inspire a life long love and passion for learning. The question we should be asking is, "What do you want to learn?" "Star Wars Rogue One" Darth Vader updates continue to give fans more reasons to watch the first Lucasfilm standalone flick. As latest reports also suggested, fans will also see how bad the Galactic Empire really is. In a Reddit forum, one fan noted that "Star Wars Rogue One" will be a very important movie for the franchise. "Among other things, one of (if not, the biggest) things Rogue One will bring to Star Wars is the realization how BIG & BAD the Galactic Empire was," user shocktroopco noted. "I mean, we've always seen how big the Empire was compared to the Rebellion, but we haven't seen the cruelty of them in a live-action film yet. The most cruel we've seen them was probably the destruction of Alderaan (which is a BIG loss, but we didn't see people dying/hurting on screen)," he added. "It will definitely be something I'm going to be looking forward too along with the same characteristic in Vader. I want to see him cruel like the new Vader comics." Meanwhile, apart from the "Star Wars Rogue One" Darth Vader cameo, it would seem that fans need to brace themselves for a rumored death in the upcoming movie. At the Star Wars Celebration in London, cast member Jiang Wen may have volunteered some information he shouldn't have. "I pretend [to all the characters to do a very, very big mission. I cannot say [anything more about] that," the "Star Wars Rogue One" actor tried to explain as he struggled with his English, The Independent noted. "And [he gestures to Donnie Yen], when this guy dead I do something better. Maybe I believe by my action - he's thinker, I'm doer so-" At that point, his co-star Gwendoline Christie tried to salvage what she can by saying, "I think we need to leave it there. I think you've got to leave it there." "Star Wars Rogue One" is slated for a December 14, 2016 release date. Stay tuned for more "Star Wars Rogue One" Darth Vader updates here! "Transformers 5" is definitely a worldwide sensation. It boasts of having fans across all age groups as it sparks the interest and the imagination of the young and the old alike. The upcoming movie in the franchise boasts of a sensational action packed battle between Camaro and Mustang. The upcoming "Transformers 5" might even attract new fans. This is because the vintage car enthusiasts will now join the troupe. "Transformers 5" is busy in production and there are reports that this is keeping the cast very busy. The scenes in the upcoming movie are expected to be quite dramatic too. Mark Wahlberg, playing Cade Yeager, who is one of the main protagonists, was seen filming an action-packed scene where he has to jump out of a Camaro. This scene was shot at the Michigan location, reported Games Radar. The center stage of "Transformers 5" will be taken by Bumblebee's alter-ego. This is a yellow Camaro which is an autobot. Since there are scenes where Mark Wahlberg has to perform stunts both in and out of the car, the seats of the yellow Camaro were modified to facilitate this, reported Daily Mail. We can also expect mesmerizing effects in the movie as Laura Haddock and Josh Duhamel were seen shooting behind a green screen with a gigantic fan. As Bumblebee and Barricade will lock horns, we are sure that fans across the globe will be awestruck. The franchise had delayed the release of "Transformers 5" for a while now. However, this does not mean that the fame or the following that the film enjoyed would have diminished. "Transformers 5: The Last Knight" has released a short video teaser where the Mustang and Camaro can be seen fighting it out. Mark June 23, 2017 on your calendars when the fight begins! Visit Parent Herald for more news and updates on "Transformers 5." As part of Tesco's continuing healthy eating initiative, the supermarket giant will offer free fruit to kids for eating in store as their moms and dads are shopping. This initiative definitely eases parents' pain out of the weekly grocery shop. Just the other year, Tesco had tested this initiative in Scotland. Now, the biggest supermarket in UK offers in 800 stores a variety of fruits: bananas, apples and citrus fruit for parents to pick up for their kids at the start of their shopping trip according to a report on International Business Times. Confronted with fierce competition from fast-growing discounters Lidl and Aldi and, Tesco is now looking for ways to win over shoppers. Maria Simpson, one of the supermarket's checkout assistants, came up with this idea. Working in Lincolnshire store, Simpson suggested that handing out free fruit to kids would really provide a healthy alternative to sweets, which are more often a last resort for harassed parents. Tesco was the first ever major retailer to take out sweets and chocolates from its checkouts two years ago. Tesco announced in 2015 that it sells children's lunchbox-sized soft drinks that have no added sugar as cited on The Guardian. Every month, Tesco gives away 1 million pieces of fruit as part of its new healthy eating push. "We are Britain's biggest greengrocer, so we want to make it easier for parents to get their children eating more healthily," Matt Davies said. Davies is the UK chief of Tesco. "As a dad, I know it can be tricky getting children to eat their fruit and vegetables, so we're hoping this initiative will help create healthy eating habits that will stay with children as they grow up," Davies added. The British Heart Foundation has definitely welcomed Tesco's idea. "It's a positive step towards improving children's health throughout the UK and helps parents ensure their children get their five portions of fruit and vegetables every day," said Simon Gillespie, the foundation's chief executive. Samsung is planning to launch the new Galaxy Note 7 this August, reports say. Being one of the most popular smartphone manufacturers today the company is always trying to make better smartphone every year. How good will the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be? Reports say that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be available in black, blue, and silver colors in the United States, and a gold model will be distributed worldwide. The new device is described as a next-generation phablet having a single curved edge display. But unlike Galaxy S7 Edge, the curved edges of Note 7 will be toned down, BGR reported. The flat version of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was shown in some leaks, although recent rumors were that there is no flat version coming out. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will arrive with a 5.8-inch screen with a better battery, expected to be at 4600mAh. It also rumored to have a large memory capacity, 6GB RAM and 823 Snapdragon chipset, and an internal storage of 64GB, which is common nowadays. It will feature a 4K AMOLED feature display, but it is not yet confirmed if it can record the same capacity. Bendable or foldable display. Samsung is known for having one of the best camera features. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 primary camera is 20MP while its front camera is 15MP, making it a great smartphone for photography and all selfie lovers. Of course, it will run on the latest Android OS version. Since Galaxy S7 was a waterproof smartphone, some rumors suggest that Samsung would make all new smartphones in the series waterproof. Galaxy Note 7 is expected to be water resistant also. One of the highlights of the rumored specs for Galaxy Note 7 is that it can support IRIS scanner for added smartphone security. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will be available in stores on Aug. 19, according to reports. But the pre-order will be available as early as Aug. 2, which is the scheduled Samsung's Unpacked event, Droid Life reported. Galaxy Note 7 is expected to come at a price of US$1,200. Jessica Terry has been divorced from her husband. For her, custody arrangements may change while children grow up. "My oldest, who is almost 13, is getting to an age where she doesn't want to go to her dad's every weekend because she wants to be with her friends," Jessica said as cited on The Star. There has apparently been lots of compromising on both parties. A psychologist and internationally acclaimed expert on the subject of co-parenting after divorce, Dr. Robert Emery would want to see divorced parents bring to rearing their children after a relationship as married couple ends. Emery's book entitled "Two Homes, One Childhood: A Parenting Plan to Last a Lifetime" essentially implores parents to formulate win-win parenting plans to their children's changing needs as cited on Emery on Divorce. The book will be out this August. "Parents who arrive at an agreement in traditional ways - through lawyers, through courts - once you finally get to a schedule, people can just be locked into it because they don't want to go through it all again," Emery said. "But if you arrive at it in a more flexible and fluid way, through mediation or at your kitchen table, you're more likely to achieve a schedule that will adapt over time," the professor added. And this is particularly significant considering that kids may have far different needs during infancy than they actually do in toddlerhood, and so in their early school years and into their teenage years. "Two Homes, One Childhood" is essentially founded on the ideas found in Dr Emery's first book entitled "The Truth About Children and Divorce". But it certainly comes with a lot more practical details on how to develop efficient parenting plans as well as create schedules in age-appropriate ways. However, co-parenting becomes tedious and challenging especially when both parents, living in separate houses, try to figure out how to address the needs of their child who is still an infant, most especially since a breastfeeding relationship most likely tethers the child to one parent. But instead, a parenting plan could allow for more time when the child turns 9- month old. Yet more time again when the child is 12-month old, and quite a bit more when the child becomes 18-month old and even a whole lot more when he reaches three years old, according to Emery. While her children were well past the baby and toddler stages respectively during the separation, Kimberley Healey-Fernandez, a mother of three, could hardly stand the idea of being locked into a set schedule. "In our separation papers, we left the parenting plan fairly vague so we could shift and flow with the needs of the kids. It's primarily set so neither parent has to be away from the kids for more than three days at a time unless a vacation is scheduled," Kimberly said. She chose to stay in the matrimonial residence situated close to the school. Although their parenting agreement directs that the kids should be with her 60% of the time, Kim and her ex-husband have decided to keep it loose. "If the kids have events or schoolwork that are super important, they can choose to stay with me. It was important to both of us not to have a strict and rigid arrangement," Kimberly said. "I didn't want a piece of paper dictating when I could and couldn't see my children," the Toronto mom added. After the announcement of Disney that "High School Musical" will have its fourth installment, news about the whole cast returning are making wave on the net. However, Disney did not confirm on whether Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens will play an important role in the movie or if they are going to do a cameo. According to reports, "High School Musical 4" is not yet done with casting although filming will already start this August. Disney has still to confirm who among the actors who auditioned are called back and who will officially be working for "HSM 4." "High School Musical 4" is what made Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens rise to fame. "HSN" also became a worldwide success which was followed by similar themes from Disney movies. With the upcoming "High School Musical 4" in production, the stake is high for Disney. The big responsibility of casting the right people that may create the new Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are considerably high. Production of 'HSM 4' Starting on August The production of "High School Musical 4" will commence on August although Disney has not announced who will be the lucky main stars are. However, Malachi Aldridge is rumored to be one of the casts. According to a previous report from Parent Herald, filming may happen either in Vancouver or Los Angeles. 'High School Musical 4' Plot and Twist Everything is seemed set now for "High School Musical 4" but Disney is still tight lipped with most of its casting and production details. Although reports have indicated that the plot will revolve around a love triangle and will involve cross-town school rivalry. The new "High School Musical 4" will be titled "High School Musical: East Meets West" and will be directed by Jeffrey Hornaday, according to High School Musical Wiki. The current status of "HSM 4" is for certain thrilling for fans since it will not be that long before we hear great updates about the upcoming movie. Exact Sciences Corp. is making more stock available to the public to raise money for marketing Cologuard, the Madison company's test for colorectal cancer. Exact Sciences said it will sell 8.5 million shares of stock at $15.50 a share, in a secondary offering through underwriters Jefferies and Robert W. Baird & Co., with Canaccord Genuity as co-manager. If there is additional demand, another 1,275,000 shares will be made available, the company said. If all the shares are sold, gross proceeds could total $151.5 million before costs are subtracted. The company will use the money to expand marketing and awareness of Cologuard, for product development, and for general corporate purposes, Exact said. Exact Sciences stock closed Thursday at $17.32 a share, up 50 cents from Wednesday's close at $16.82. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions This service is a courtesy for our print subscribers to give them access to our online edition at no additional cost. If you haven't registered on the new site, you must do it now before you do anything else. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. And here, the smiling sister said to me, is our second chapel. I entered the room a bit confused as she explained, this is our second chapel because here we also encounter Christ. The religious sister had led me into a room with about fifteen girls, all suffering from various birth defects and severe ailments. This room housed the older girls of the house, the few that had lived past just a few years after being abandoned by their parents due to their inability to care for them. The girls though severely limited physically and verbally, were joyful. The love with which the nuns fed them and held them was palpable. I had no doubt these girls were loved, that Christ was present, and that love plus proper care had kept them alive this long. The sister who led our visit knew the story of every single girl we encountered that day. Every story was heart-breaking and gut-wrenching, but the terrible stories gave way to a hopeful joy that sprung forth from the girls and those caring for them. The work of the Missionary Servants of the Poor of the Third World in Cusco, Peru is truly admirable. Priests, brothers, religious sisters, and lay families have responded to a call to care for the most abandoned and forgotten in the unforgiving altitude of the Peruvian Andes Mountains. Father Giovanni Salerno arrived to Peru in 1968 to take care of the spiritual and medical needs of the poorest of the poor in Apurimac, Peru. Over the years, he and the many who have followed his invitation to serve the poor, have encountered Christ in those who are forgotten and living in the margins of society. This movement strives to go where nobody else goes to seek the poor and the marginalized, so that they may reach a condition that is in accordance with the dignity of the children of God. Countless times Pope Francis has urged us to seek those in the margins of society so they may feel loved and part of Gods family. In the Joy of the Gospel, the Pope challenged us to reach out to those who are completely disenfranchised; those who cannot even stand in the margin of society because they are completely left out. If we stand in judgement, waiting for those most distant from us to change and become acceptable to our standards, that day will never arrive. It is by showing Gods love to them that they will be transformed. It is Gods love that makes the unlovable, lovable. It is Gods love that makes the broken, whole. It is not necessary to travel to Perus high mountains to allow Gods love to transform those who are in need of love. The margins of society surround us. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta stated that the greatest disease in the West today is not tuberculosis or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness in love. Look around your home, workplace, and community. Where can you allow Gods love to transform the unlovable in your midst? The second chapel may be found wherever we enter, wherever we allow Christ to manifest himself where He is most needed. Saturday Link Love is a new feature where I collect and post links to various articles Ive come upon over the past week. Feel free to share any interesting articles youve come along as well! The more the merrier. Note: Inclusion does not suggest full agreement. I Kissed Dating Goodbye told me to stay pure until marriage. I still have a stain on my heart, on the Washington PostAs a young home-schooled evangelical, Harris was a paragon of all the Christian virtues an autodidact, motivated and pure. How Abigail Adams Proves Bill OReilly Wrong About Slavery, on The AtlanticMoreover, Mrs. Adams took note of their conditionand her observation stands at odds with OReillys. Bathroom Bills Hurt People with Disabilities, on FeministingA memo from Disability Rights NC, the state-wide disability protection and advocacy organization, argues that not only does HB2 harm those people with disabilities who are transgender, it narrows disabled peoples and caretakers ability to navigate public space. Trump, Inspired by Nixon? in the New YorkerTrump said, I think what Nixon understood is that when the world is falling apart, people want a strong leader whose highest priority is protecting America first.' The Clit List: A porn resource website with sexual assault survivors in mind, on FeministingBut rather than an actual porn website itself, The Clit List acts as a pre-screening resource for survivors interested in exploring porn again. Why dont they want us to vote? Ex-felons cope with losing voting rights twice in Virginia, on Washington PostMcAuliffe has framed his decision as a civil rights achievement, saying he is removing the last vestiges of Jim Crow-era laws that disenfranchised African American voters. Nearly a quarter of the states black population cannot vote because of felony convictions. Grounded Pregnancy: Its Okay Not to Be Beautiful, on Grounded ParentsI was taking a break from throwing up and arguing with people on the internet when I saw it an image of a woman standing by her hospital bed eating a meal, wearing only a pair of post partum mesh panties and a ginormous pad (which brilliantly appears to be a folded lap pad). Patna: Determined to make drinking, selling, or keeping alcohol at home a more serious crime than rape or murder in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday circulated his new Excise Amendment Bill that contains rules that are being considered 'too draconian' for even an Islamic nation. Sparking protest from both within the coalition and the opposition parties, the new rules allow some serious actions, including arrest and imprisonment of all adult members of the family living under the same roof, in the event of the discovery of alcoholic beverage from a home. Talking to the media on the opening day of the short monsoon session of the Bihar Assembly, the Chief Minister said his decision was final and was not going back to make the law less stringent. "I have already cleared the draft of the new Excise Amendment Bill and I am confident it would be approved in the Assembly," the Janata Dal U President said. Calling the law 'draconian' in nature, former Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that only in the eyes of a leader like Nitish Kumar, keeping a bottle of alcohol was a more serious crime than rape or murder. "By this token, the entire family of a rapist or a murderer should also be arrested and sent to prison for life," he said. Ironically, Kumar's own Excise Minister Abdul Zalil Mastan is also opposed to the new provisions in the bill saying it defied common sense and existing laws. He said that he would oppose it and hopefully persuade the Chief Minister to relent on this issue. Former Chief Minister of Bihar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rabri Devi also expressed her shock with the new law demanding from Nitish Kumar to explain how it made sense to arrest the entire family if one person in the family was struggling with alcoholism. Besides arresting other family members in the house, the 44-page draft also includes harsh punishment to advertisers who market their products in print or digital media including films and social media. Under the new law, advertisers would be jailed for five years or face fine of Rs. 10 lakh or both depending on the seriousness of the advertisement. If the liquor ads or sale of liquor involves a minor or a woman, the punishment would be life sentence in prison. Two Madison startups in very different fields Invenra and Markable have filed papers with federal regulators saying they have raised money from investors: nearly $5 million between the two of them. Invenra, a biotech company whose products could someday become cancer-fighting drugs, has added $3 million to its coffers. The money will be used to develop products for its collaborators and for its own product pipeline, said Mark Kubik, senior vice president of business development. Invenra makes antibodies, which are proteins created by the immune system to fight infection. The company says it has a faster, less expensive way to produce antibodies and test their cancer-fighting powers than standard methods. Invenra has collaboration agreements with U.K.- and San Jose, California-based Oxford BioTherapeutics as well as several other biopharmaceutical companies, providing antibodies for them to test as drug candidates and, in some cases, partnering to develop drugs, Kubik said. Eventually, Invenra would like to discover and develop its own antibody therapeutics, Kubik said. Monoclonal antibodies have been shown to effectively treat not only cancer, but also a range of other diseases including cardiovascular, infectious and autoimmune illnesses, he said.Invenra, 505 S. Rosa Road, has 18 employees, all but one in Madison. The company has raised about $12 million since it was formed in 2012. Markable is a fashion and shopping app, created in 2014. It has drawn $1.9 million from investors. With offices in the 100State co-working community at 30 W. Mifflin St. as well as in Chicago, Markables technology helps people find and buy the clothing they like. Someone using Markable can take a photo of apparel that catches the persons interest, and the app will show the user similar merchandise and make it available to buy, spokesman JJ Pagac said. See it? Shop it! Markables website says. More than 800 brands are featured on the website. Cellectar founder Weichert resigns Jamey Weichert has resigned as chief scientific officer and director of Cellectar Biosciences, and apparently is no longer directly involved with the Madison company he founded more than a decade ago to work on drugs to attack cancer. Weichert established Cellectar in 2002 based on research he was doing as part of a team at the University of Michigan in the early 1990s research that was brought to the UW-Madison in 1998. Cellectar has gone through a variety of changes over the years including several CEOs since 2007 but continues to pursue efforts to turn its technology into cancer drugs. Jim Caruso is the current CEO, appointed in June 2015. In a terse statement filed with federal regulators, Cellectar said Weichert tendered his resignation as chief scientific officer, effective July 15, and ended his service as a member of the board of directors on May 19. The board of directors thanks Dr. Weichert for his years of service and wishes him well in his future endeavors, the filing said. Neither a Cellectar spokesman nor Weichert would comment on the development. In a separate announcement, Cellectar said it has hired Jarrod Longcor, as of July 15, as senior vice president of corporate development and operations at a base salary of $285,000 a year. Longcor most recently was chief business officer of Avillion, a drug development company in London, England. Weichert is an associate professor of radiology at UW-Madison. Pressure Chamber finalists named Five Madison startups have been named competitors in this years Pressure Chamber pitch event. They are: Akitabox, with building management technology; Lynx Biosciences, predicting a patients response to specific treatment for multiple myeloma; Manifestly, software that uses visual checklists to manage a companys workflow: POLCO, a platform for civic engagement; and Rigbot, using big data to make the trucking industry more cost-efficient. Pressure Chamber, a program of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, will be held Aug. 23 at Monona Terrace as part of the Forward Festival, an eight-day series of events on entrepreneurship. The winner of Pressure Chamber will be part of a Madison area delegation that will go to Palo Alto, California, this fall and meet with Silicon Valley investors. The eVoice video conferencing service starts at $12.99 per month for its eVoice Lite payment tier, though this plan probably won't suffice for any but the smallest business operations. However, when you travel up the plan tree, you'll find that eVoice goes beyond most of its competitors by offering its service as part of a full-fledged business-oriented Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone service that includes features such as voicemail, call forwarding, and even faxing services. Although it's missing some features found in competing services, eVoice is a solid choice for small companies looking for an easily managed business phone system. Still, it's not our Editors' Choice in this category, a designation that instead goes to RingCentral MVP. While it also includes video conferencing, eVoice also doesn't quite catch our Editors' Choice winners in that category, which include Intermedia AnyMeeting and Zoom. However, eVoice's pricing packages and decent feature set still make it worth consideration here, especially for small businesses that might need fewer features than RingCentral MVP delivers. (Editors' Note: eVoice is owned by Ziff Davis, the parent company of PCMag.com.) Getting Started With eVoice eVoice's conference call plans are bundled with the company's virtual phone service. Plans start at $12.99 per month for two extensions, six numbers, and 300 minutes. There's also a $29.99 monthly plan that includes five extensions, 15 numbers, and 1,000 minutes; a $49.99 plan with 10 extensions, 30 numbers, and 2,000 minutes; and a $79.99 plan offering 15 extensions, 45 numbers, and 4,000 minutes. Overages are billed at 3.9 cents per minute. All plans are available with a free, 30-day trial, which requires a credit card on file. To sign up, first select the plan you'd like to try out. I went with the $49.99 monthly plan, which is also marked on their website as the most popular one. Then, select a toll-free number for conference calls and an available local number for virtual phone use. You can also port in existing numbers. You can either choose an area code and or input an address to find a local number. Not surprisingly, in the New York area, no native 212 or 718 numbers were available, but I was able to get numbers with a 646 area code. The eVoice service also has a selection of toll-free numbers, including 800 numbers that you can use. After that, you provide your name, company, email, and phone, and tell eVoice how you heard about the company. Finally, you input payment information and choose your currency. To cancel your account, you need to call customer service before your trial is over. After you submit your information, the confirmation screen provides your password and displays your eVoice numbers. The next screen shows add-on features included in the trial, including web conferencing, which costs an extra $9.95 per account per month for 100 minutes, $19.95 for 300 minutes, or $49.95 for unlimited minutes; overage charges are 10 cents per minute. Once you select a web conferencing plan, you can set up phone extensions or skip that step, create an alphanumeric password for phone calls, and provide the number of employees, before landing on your dashboard. To log in, you provide your dial-in number and password. The user interface (UI) is nice enough; it's businesslike but not dated or confusing. One small oddity is that eVoice refers to the meeting host or presenter as the chairperson. It's easy to start a meeting using the Conferencing button that's on the top right-hand side of your screen when you log in. You can also easily manage your account including billing, settings, users, and incoming voicemails and faxes. During the trial period, I never had trouble finding what I needed, and the Help section is thorough and searchable. Setting Up a Meeting After you press the Conferencing button, you start either an audio or video call. For audio calls, you can view dial-in instructions for the chairperson (host) and for participants, and click to send those instructions to your invitees. For web conferences, you either schedule a meeting or open meeting controls to set up your space. Conveniently, participants can be invited directly from eVoice, and the invitation includes both web and audio instructions. Once you've set up your meeting, click to add it to your Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, or Google calendar. From the meeting space, choose whether to enable webcams (up to four at a time), share your screen, grant control of your screen to an attendee, or invite more participants. Screen sharing can be enabled by participants. Only 25 participants can view the video feed at a time; however, all attendees can hear audio and view the web meeting. You can share your screen with up to 2,000 viewers when running web-only meetings. Invited participants join the meeting by supplying their name and optional fields for their email address, phone number, and company name. Audio conferences can be held via the dial-in number or over a virtual phone. The Meeting Experience During a web conference, you build your presentation in the eVoice program by using images and Microsoft PowerPoint files, or you can share your desktop or a specific application. Online chat and private chat are available in all meetings, but eVoice does not have a whiteboard feature, like our Editors' Choice video conferencing app Zoom does. Sound options include setting an entry tone for attendees and enabling computer and microphone access to participants. Presenters can record both the meeting audio and video or record the audio-only. Meetings can be password-protected, and presenters can also require a password for attendees to enable their webcams. The eVoice service has apps for Apple iOS and Google Android but they only include calling features, not conference features. To use web conferencing, you need an up-to-date web browser with support for SSL encryption. Getting Help If you run into any snags, eVoice offers a thorough support section with short how-to articles on various features. You can sort the Help section by category or search directly for what you need. Before you sign up, you can consult a FAQ section on the website. If you can't find what you need online, you can also call support or send an email using a web form. Beyond Conference Calling eVoice offers plenty of options for meeting hosts and participants, including toll-free dial-in numbers, virtual phone calling, video chat with up to four webcams, and screen sharing. Presenters can share their screen with up to 2,000 viewers and video feeds with up to 25 participants, which is generous. Since eVoice offers many features beyond conferencing, it can be a bit confusing to navigate, however. I'd recommend trying it out for your small business, especially if you're looking for phone service for your office as well. If you only need video conferencing features, be sure to check out our top pick, the versatile and easy-to-use Intermedia AnyMeeting. eVoice 3.5 (Opens in a new window) Check Price (Opens in a new window) Pros Toll-free dial-in numbers. Minutes included with plans. Can share screen with up to 2,000 users. Cons No whiteboard feature for sketching. Apps don't include conferencing features. Free trial requires a credit card on file. The Bottom Line Though it's got some weak areas in administration and electronic whiteboarding, eVoice is a solid entry for small business unified communications. GoToMeeting is the video conferencing software offering from GoTo, which rebranded itself from LogMeIn in 2022. To its credit, the software has undergone a lot of improvement in recent years, particularly in regards to its user interface. GoToMeeting strikes a good balance between cost and feature set, but doesn't quite rise to the level of our Editors' Choice picks, a group that includes BlueJeans (for multi-platform use), Intermedia AnyMeeting (for SMB use), Webex by Cisco (for enterprise use), and Zoom Meetings (for general use). GoToMeeting's Pricing and Plans Like most of its competitors, GoToMeeting offers tiered pricing (a free 14-day trial is available, too). The Professional tier is the entry-level plan, and it starts at $12 per month per organizer, billed annually. This tier supports 150 participants per conference. However, if you want the distinctive features that truly make GoToMeeting a competitive platform, you'll want to go with the Business tier, which is priced at $16 per month per organizer. In addition to meetings with up to 250 participants, this tier offers smart transcription, drawing tools, note-taking, unlimited cloud recording, and other useful features. Due to the inclusion of these many tools, GoTo tends to be a little higher on the pricing side than similar products, such as BlueJeans. GoTo also offers custom packages for enterprise customers, but you'll need to contact the company to get a quote. Getting Started With GoToMeeting GoToMeeting is commendable for its broad platform support. Like BlueJeans, GoToMeeting clients are available for Android, Chrome OS, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows. As with its competitors, GoToMeeting has a browser-based client, too. Once you've created an account, it's easy to start a meeting. The fastest way is to simply hit the Start button under Meet Now. However, if you want to schedule a meeting at a later time, or you need to personalize the meeting by setting a color scheme and custom URL, then you'll want to go the Create Meeting route. The client's layout is intuitive and comparable to competing products. Along the bottom of the window is a series of buttons that give you the typical meeting features, such as the ability to mute audio and video for when you need to hide away. The People flyout menu is essentially the moderator control panel. You can mute or unmute audio and video for individuals, lock the session, and invite new participants. There's also a Settings menu for when you need to adjust which camera or audio source you are using. This can be necessary if you swap out headsets mid-meeting. Fortunately, GoTo figures this out, and asks if you want to automatically make the change. Screen Sharing and Chat As with most video conferencing clients, GoToMeeting lets you share either your whole screen or a specific application. Once you've shared your screen, a presentation bar appears. This gives you controls to start or pause recording, annotate the screen, and hide or show various meeting aspects for yourself. The screen-annotation tools are good, but not outstanding. You have a brush at your disposal that you can use to set color, size, and transparency, as well as a toggle flag for making drawings automatically disappear. There's also a fading feature that causes whatever you draw to fade after a few seconds, so that you don't waste time hunting for the eraser tool. One annoying omission is a true whiteboard. If you want a white screen, you must launch a blank page or application that offers that functionality. You can also let another user request screen control. This is great for when someone else needs to drive the bus. The feature works so well that I'm inclined to say that it's GoToMeeting's best aspect. You can access chat via a flyout window along the right-hand side of the screen. Unfortunately, the chat feature is basic at best. For example, it doesn't let you use rich text or emojis as you can with Intermedia AnyMeeting, our Editors' Choice pick for general SMB conferencing. That said, it gets the job done. Advanced Conferencing Features There's a button on the leftmost part of the screen to control meeting recordings. Something to note about this feature is that, by default, recordings go to your pre-configured documents folder. Recording to the cloud has to be enabled by an admin. Beyond that, recording meetings works as expected. Once your meeting is over, you'll have the ability to not only review the recording, but also get a full transcription and meeting highlights. Like Zoho Meeting, GoToMeeting lets you trigger reactions. This is the virtual equivalent of raising your hand, thumbs up, thumbs down, clapping, laughing, and so on. Any reactions you post show up in the lower right-hand corner of the meeting area. This is a good feature, but arguably nobody does it better than Webex, our Editors' Choice pick for small to midsize enterprises, which lets you trigger and record reactions by making hand gestures in front of your webcam. One improvement over earlier versions is the ability to integrate GoToMeeting directly with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 calendars. Although you can only sync one calendar at a time, this is a tremendously useful feature. It lets you immediately see meetings you create so that they can be shared with others. Add-ons are also available that let you add meeting invites directly from Google Calendar or Outlook. However, a feature that has long been missing from GoToMeeting is the ability to set virtual backgrounds. GoTo has rectified this gap somewhat by providing a free license for ChromaCam Pro, a third-party app that lets you replace or blur your background without resorting to a green screen. Still, we'd like to see this or similar technology built into the base product, as it is with most competitors today. Even Google Meet, which is strictly browser-based, does a better job of this. Readers' Choice/Business Choice 2022: Video Conferencing Services Readers' Choice/Business Choice 2022: Video Conferencing Services Competent Conferencing GoToMeeting has leveled up its game since we last tested it, serving up a new UI and really effective screen annotation tools. However, it still lacks a true whiteboard, and virtual backgrounds still require you to install a separate app. Still, GoToMeeting best serves customers who use GoTo's other products for webinars, contact centers, and remote IT management. If, on the other hand, your needs steer more toward general video conferencing, we recommend our Editors' Choice picks, including BlueJeans, Intermedia AnyMeeting, and Zoom Meetings. If you've got more sophisticated needs (and you have the budget), you should look into Webex by Cisco. Finally, if all you need is a simple system for the occasional, browser-based video conferencing get-together, check out Google Meet. GoToMeeting 4.0 (Opens in a new window) Check Price (Opens in a new window) Pros Works on all platforms Useful smart assistant Unlimited cloud recording Annotation during screen sharing View More Cons Virtual backgrounds require a separate, free product Lacks whiteboard functionality The Bottom Line Despite a few quirks and omissions, GoToMeeting includes many tools that make it an useful video conferencing app, particularly if your company's already invested in the GoTo ecosystem. Whether you're working remotely or in a small office, staying in touch with your small business can be a challenge. That's where videoconferencing software like PureCloud Collaborate comes in. PureCloud (whose first tier is free and whose second tier is $9.99 per user per month) is built around business chat, with videoconferencing, a dynamic directory, and shared document repository thrown in for good measure. It's a very clean, slick piece of software, but it lacks some of the power of its competitors like Editors' Choice ClickMeeting. It's important to note that PureCloud Collaborate is relatively new, having only launched with a freemium model in March 2015. As of this writing, many features in PureCloud are still in development, including soft phone, chatting with federated chat organizations, video chat for 20 participants, and video calls in the mobile applications.. For the purposes of this review, we looked at what was available for users today and based our score on the features that were actually working. Pricing and Plans Finding a service that actually offers small businesses a fully free option is rare, and it's especially rare to see one that is as generous as PureCloud Collaborate. Free users get a whopping 1 TB of free storage space, instant messaging (IM), and videoconferencing and screen sharing for up to five users. PureCloud Collaborate Pro is the next tier up and costs $9.99 per user per month. At this tier, users get access to unlimited storage for their files, more powerful search tools, and improved customer service support. Along with these two tiers, Interactive Intelligence also lists PureCloud Communicate and PureCloud Engage, at significantly higher price points. PureCloud representatives explained that these are completely separate products, focused on enterprise telephony and customer communication. Though they do include Collaborate as part of their price, these products won't be the focus of this review. Features and Interface We were pleasantly surprised to discover that PureCloud Collaborate has a distinctly Mac-like interface. Everything is big and clean, with a primarily blue color scheme that reminds us of Facebook or task management tool Asana (Visit Site at Asana)(Opens in a new window) . Though we do like the big, circular avatars and OS X-style buttons, we're less of a fan of PureCloud's panel interface. On the far left-hand side is a listing of the service's sections: Chat, Directory, and Content Management. Starting from chat and clicking directory moves chat out of the way, and focuses us on directory. But clicking around to pages and panels sometimes compacts the screen down in an effort to keep everything within view. This does mean that many of the features can be viewed simultaneously, but we found it disorienting. A button can expand a section to fill the screen, but these interactions could be made to feel less chaotic. Chat is at the heart of PureCloud. Each avatar has a status indicator around it, indicating if a person is free to have a conversation. You can change your status by clicking your icon in the upper right, and can start a new chat from anywhere within PureCloud. From the chat section, you can talk directly to other members of your organization, or create ad hoc chat groups with multiple users. Chats are threaded, IM-style affairs and even support a host of emojito our delight. PureCloud's chat also borrows from online forums, letting you quote a previous thread directly by clicking a special button. This lets you respond directly to specific comments to keep the conversation on track. PureCloud also supports video chat and screen sharing, but we had a hard time using these features. Both are supported natively in Google Chrome, but they will require special plug-ins for Safari and Mozilla Firefox. Unfortunately, even when using Chrome we were unable to connect computers on our network into the same video chat. PureCloud recently added video chat and screen sharing with individuals outside your organization, making PureCloud Collaborate your single communication hub. The Directory section is, true to its name, where you view other members of your organization. Each employee entry has spaces for name, a picture, contact information, a list of skills (which are like tags), and other information like education. Companies can customize the information that appears in this area from the Admin section. You can even add an employee's exact location by dropping a pin on an uploaded floorplan. Thankfully, employees who are pressed for time can simply import this information from LinkedIn. Unfortunately, we weren't able to import all of our work history or education information into PureCloud, so your mileage may vary. LinkedIn limits the amount of information third parties like PureCloud can import. PureCloud can import a user's name, photo, headline, current position, and primary email address without issue. The directory also maps connections between employees, showing who reports to whom, and so on. These become very powerful in PureCloud when you create groups in the directory. You can add individuals to these groups by search, or create ruleslike automatically adding everyone of a particular skillset or everyone who reports to a particular manager, and so on. Tapping a button turns the group into a chat group, which muddies the distinction between directory groups and chat groups quite a bit. The developers told us that this is one area they're working to improve, and they plan to tie directory groups closer with workspaces and shared documents. Speaking of workspaces, you'll find those in the final area called Content Management. Here you can upload all types of documents to share with your colleagues through PureCloud. Uploading is easy; simply drag and drop and ensure that your batches of files are under 2 GB (future versions will expand this limitation at the Pro user level). Once you've uploaded the files, you can add additional tags, though the text of documents will be searchable. PureCloud's developers also say that the software can read images as text using optical character recognition or OCR. By default, files are loaded into an area called My Workspace. In PureCloud Collaborate, workspaces are a little like high-level folders. Administrators can create additional workspaces, giving employees a hub for necessary documentation. I can see how this feature would be extremely useful, but it feels too isolated right now. Other services like Google Drive give you far more control over who can see and access files, and they allow for more sharing options, too. Tying Workspaces to Groups will go a long way toward giving this feature, and PureCloud, more utility. Apps and Integration Though our review focuses on the web version of PureCloud Collaborate, the company also offers local desktop apps for OS X 10.8 and newer, as well as Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10. On the mobile front, Collaborate apps are available for both iOS and Android, the latter of which we tested on our Samsung Galaxy S5 . Video for the mobile Collaborate apps is in development. We were surprised that, unlike most collaboration software, the Collaborate app has an excellent user interface (UI) and felt familiar after having used the web application. PureCloud's developers said that a second app, for handling documents from mobile devices, is available on both the Google Play Apps store and the iTunes App store. Though it looks full-featured, the Android PureCloud Collaborate app is a pared-down offering and does not support document reading or uploading. You also cannot search documents you've already uploaded. But it does put your company directory, groups, and chat close at hand. We spoke with the developers behind PureCloud, and was told that the service does offer an API for other developers and users who are interested in crafting their own tools on the PureCloud platform. Unfortunately, PureCloud Collaborate does not currently support Zapiera popular web-based tool that uses IFTTT-style ($0.00 at Google Play)(Opens in a new window) rules to connect software. PureCloud's developers pride themselves on their integrations with other business software. Groups, for example, can be used to manage address books in Exchange. PureCloud also works with Active Directory, making it a snap to enroll new employees. Recently Added and Coming Soon Reviewing PureCloud collaborate was difficult because we were simultaneously seeing what it was and what it can become. The developers at Interactive Intelligence told us that they have used their early roll out and free tier to rapidly change their product to make it better and more capable. They described tools for building powerful chat groups and for tying Workspaces to Groups so that documents, discussions, and head counts can exist together. In the past year, PureCloud added the following neat features: chat rooms capable of supporting up to 1,000 participants, screen sharing, integrated content management a corporate directory, including search across employee profiles, and advanced presence and status capabilities, including geolocation services. Unfortunately, there are still a bunch of features missing that you'd expect to find in any videoconferencing or collaboration suite. For example: The company has yet to introduce videoconferencing and screen sharing for more than 20 participants, and there's no way to record video, even with third-party integrations. As we previously mentioned, you can't whiteboard during videocalls and you can't integrate calendars. Because these features are in the works, PureCloud is a tool that very much feels like a work in progress. However, recent additions and added features put it in the mix with some of the best videconferencing and collaboration tools on the market. Interactive Intelligence PureCloud Collaborate 3.0 (Opens in a new window) Check Price (Opens in a new window) Pros Desktop, web, and mobile access. Excellent, clean design. Integrated text and video chat. Groups. Shared document repository. Roadmap to rapidly add more features. View More Cons Group organization poorly defined. Unreliable video chat. Many critical creation tools relegated to buried admin panes. Issues with mobile chat. View More The Bottom Line PureCloud Collaborate aims to put your entire organization at your fingertips with tools to get organized and keep in touch, but not all features are currently available. LOMA LINDA Deputies arrested a Hemet man Thursday who they say had sexual relations with a teenage girl he met on a dating application. Daniel Bambo, 35, of Hemet was arrested and booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of unlawful intercourse with a minor and oral copulation. Hes being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Authorities say Bambo met the girl two months ago on a cellular dating app and after a short time texting each other he lied to her about his age, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department news release. Over a series of weeks, Bambo arranged to meet the girl several times in Mentone, where he persuaded her to have sex with him in his pickup truck, the release states. Bambo and the girl went to his home to have sex Thursday, authorities said, but her parents reported her missing and the girl was contacted by deputies. Bambo drove her back home in Loma Linda, where deputies took him into custody, the release states. Deputies discovered Bambo is a disc jockey under contract at a high school in Hemet, as well as other events in and around his home city. Anyone with information about this or other similar incidents is asked to call 909-387-3545. Contact the writer: dsaunders@scng.comTwitter: @crimeshutterbug Riverside police said Friday that its possible the suspect and victim in Wednesdays Casa Blanca fatal shooting knew each other. Officer Ryan Railsback said in an interview Friday the early investigation shows that 35-year-old Victor Aguilar was likely the intended target of the shooting. Still unclear is how the suspect, identified as 37-year-old Jose Ramon Cabrera Jr., came to the 7200 block of Evans Street. Railsback said its not clear whether the suspect drove or walked to the area before he fired at Aguilar, hitting him in the torso. Someone did shoot back at the suspect, though its unclear whether that was Aguilar or another person. Railsback said whether the shooting was gang-related is still under investigation. Bobby Ramirez and Robert Gutierrez didnt set out to be trailblazers in the hip-hop arena. They were just teenagers with egos. Gutierrez spent his middle school and high school days, in Santa Ana and Riverside, battling peers with his rhymes at school dances. Ramirez spent afternoons at the dinner table writing lyrics, and reciting them out loud. We were just what we called brag rappers, just ego, said Gutierrez, known as ODM, or One Dope Mexican. They didnt know each other, but in 1990 a promoter immersed in the local music scene put the two together, and from that came Lighter Shade of Brown, now hailed as a pioneering Chicano hip-hop group. http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); With a debut album titled Brown and Proud and the hit On a Sunday Afternoon, the group became a source of pride for Latino youth in Southern California, and across the U.S. during the 90s. With the recent death of Ramirez, who died earlier in July, scores of fans are remembering the group as advancing Latinos in musical history, as a soundtrack to their youth spent at family barbeques at the park and backyard parties in the San Gabriel Valley, and as a form of empowerment for Latinos who did not have much music reflecting their identity. It was embraced with acceptance right away because I think at that time, I dont want to say the Latino community, Chicanos, didnt have anyone to look up to, but it just made hip-hop that much cooler for Chicanos, because we got one of ours doing it, said Gutierrez, 42, now an on-air radio DJ at 99.1. KGGI FM. Looking back, sharing the stage with hip-hop artists such as Salt-N-Pepa and Chubb Rock was fun, Gutierrez recalled, but the road to success wasnt always easy. LATIN ACTIVE Gutierrez was only 16 when the group formed. Ramirez, who went by DTTX, or Dont Try To Xerox, was about 20. The Riverside duo had no training in storytelling until their manager Clif Richey introduced them to themes to abide by. At the time, Will Smiths Summertime was a hit, and Richey wanted them to write a song with that vibe, but about what their friends and family did at the park. Out of that emerged, On a Sunday Afternoon, with a video at Legg Lake Park in South El Montes Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, showing Ramirez and Gutierrez rapping about jamming the oldie tunes, kids playing on the merry-go-round, and cruising around in the parking lot. Following their managers advice, they created other songs that touched on barrio life growing up with a single parent, about mom supporting the family, and even about a young woman suffering from AIDS. They sang about revolutionary heroes like Pancho Villa and Viva Zapata. They had hits such as Homies, Hey DJ, and Latin Active that featured a Latina rapper known as Teardrop and vocalist named Shiro who collaborated with them to make On a Sunday Afternoon. Fans were hooked. When I listen to a Lighter Shade of Brown, I think of the memories that are tied to them, said Ana Anguiano of Sherman Oaks. From cruising down Laurel Canyon Boulevard in San Fernando, California on Sunday afternoons, to simply hanging out with family barbecuing, their music gives good vibes. To Anguiano, the group played a significant role in representing Latino heritage. Gutierrez and Ramirez, though, didnt fully grasp the cultural relevance of the group early on. It wasnt until the group started impacting social movements, such as organizations pushing for Chicano Studies courses at UCLA, that they started to become more aware. They found themselves getting invited to perform on college campuses for organizations like MeCha, and getting involved in rallies that they didnt fully comprehend. I was like why are we doing this? Why are we here? I was 17, Gutierrez recalled. But, it was cool because it was great to get educated and thats how we learned as artists as well. Then I started thinking maybe I could write about this in our next album, he said. A COMEBACK With a recent wave of 90s nostalgia, Gutierrez and Ramirez found themselves performing more often. There were doing two to three shows a month and recently played in San Diego and Fresno. Their next show was scheduled for Aug. 6. A reality show about the group is also in the works. The group parted ways when Gutierrez got involved with radio, but Ramirez wanted to keep making music. He just had that dire passion. I mean, we all did, but that was his thing, Gutierrez said. Thats what I was meant to do, I cant do anything else, he would say. Ramirez believed in what he was doing, his mother Barbara Ramirez said. He wanted to be out there because he knew he had something, she said. What made him happy was being in front of the crowd. Ramirez eventually moved out of California. His father passed away in 2000 and Gutierrez said he went through tough times and battled alcoholism. He had his off days, (but) when he had his on days, it was easier. He was confident in his performance He was feeling it, Gutierrez said. His unique style in the studio, his voice that he carried People loved his voice, Gutierrez said. They used to call him the Mexican Eazy-E. He was one-of-a-kind for sure. Ramirez was 46 when he suffered heatstroke that led to cardiac arrest July 7. He was found unconscious on a Las Vegas street and pronounced dead at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, his family said. A number of fans have taken to social media to remember Ramirez, who is survived by a 24-year-old daughter Destiny, a 20-year-old son Anthony, and his mother. His voice was so unique and recognizable for me, one fan wrote on Facebook. Hearing him makes me feel like a kid again with my little radio ready to hit play and record. 25 YEARS LATER Gutierrez said hes proud of what theyve accomplished, but he doesnt think they get the recognition they deserve. In our mindset we were A-listers, but I dont think people saw us like that, Gutierrez said. When everybody would talk about Latinos in hip-hop, it would be Cypress Hill or Big Pun but theyre forgetting who was before them, he added. He credits hip-hop artist Kid Frost, who came out with the hit, La Raza, and Mellow Man Ace, a Cuban-American rapper, for spawning the genre of Latino hip-hop. While Cypress Hills Public Enemy-inspired sound resonated with mainstream rap and rock audiences, Gutierrez and Ramirez rapped over samples familiar to West Coast Chicanos who grew up listening to Lowrider oldies. But those sounds attracted loyal fans. Their music was important because it signified and identified a new genre Chicano rap, said Pete Marrero, who remembers listening to the group during his overseas military years as an 18-year-old. It made me look forward to coming home having a cookout with the family or just hanging out with my friends. They didnt have to cuss to express the ways of their upbringing in their music they expressed themselves in a respectful way which made you appreciate their music more, Marrero added. And for that, Gutierrez is grateful. It was a great era for us, for musicians as a whole, Gutierrez said. Breaking down doors as the public had put us out there It helped us to become popular quicker, and that was because of our people supporting our music. I am fine by that. Twenty-five years later here we are. Contact the writer: amolina@pressenterprise.com, @alemolina on Twitter, or at 951-368-9462 Local governments are the bedrock of democracy. Its at the local level that elected officials know our constituents residents and business owners. We ensure our government works to improve our region and meet our residents needs. But the ability of local government representatives, like me as Fontanas mayor, to represent the community is threatened by a short-sighted, harmful bill Senate Bill 1387. While SB1387 currently targets just one local agency the South Coast Air Quality Management District it represents a serious threat to the heart of local control. The bill would enable an unelected state agency to override and replace policies developed at the local and regional level. It would also dilute local representation by adding three new Sacramento appointees to the SCAQMD Board of Directors. SB1387 is emblematic of a growing and deeply troubling trend in Sacramento the belief that local elected officials are incapable of governing the communities we were elected to represent, and that Sacramento knows best. This belief is completely false. In cities like Fontana and others throughout Southern California, a diverse and qualified group of local elected officials carries out the important work of governing and bettering their communities day in and day out. These local officials serve city and regional interests on important matters transportation, water and air quality, sanitation and much more. These capable men and women tirelessly serve the needs of their communities, leaning on a personal knowledge of local issues to ensure that parochial community concerns are balanced with regional needs. The result paves the path toward a better collective future. If SB1387 passes, this local control could change. The spread of the idea that local elected officials are incapable of representing their communities could spur the unraveling of local control. Imagine what our state would look like if every time Sacramento disagrees with a local boards decision, it sweeps in and overruns the board with non-elected, appointed state representatives with no direct community ties, a lack of understanding of local needs and no true stake in our regions future. This top-down, Sacramento-knows-best control threatens our ability to sustain and protect local job growth, economic health and environmental needs. We cannot let this happen. Government works best for the people when we respect the importance of its many levels local, regional, state and national and divide responsibilities accordingly. The importance of local government cannot and should not be casually swept aside by overtly political concerns. Local representatives are deeply and personally invested in the communities we are elected to represent. If we allow Sacramento politicians to systematically strip local elected officials of the ability to represent our communities and replace us with unaccountable political appointees, democracy suffers. Thats why opposition to SB1387 is wide and growing. A coalition of more than 80 local officials, government groups and organizations from throughout the state including the statewide League of California Cities and its Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire divisions have united to stand up for local control by opposing SB1387. I urge you to join us. Say no to SB1387 by saying yes to local representation. Acquanetta Warren is the mayor of Fontana. Updates with reaction to the pilots death. TWENTYNINE PALMS >> A jet fighter pilot killed in a crash during a training exercise in Twentynine Palms on Thursday has been identified as a 36-year-old Arcadia man, the U.S. Marines announced Saturday. Third Marine Aircraft Wing pilot Maj. Richard Stranger Norton died in the F/A-18C Hornet crash, which took place about 10:30 p.m. Thursday near the Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, U.S. Marine Corps officials said in a written statement. Norton was based out of Third Marine Aircraft Wing based in Miramar. He was a pilot in Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232, Marine Aircraft Group 11. RELATED: Pilot killed in training exercise Col. William Swan, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 11, offered his thoughts and prayers to Nortons family. Losing Maj. Norton is a tremendous loss to the MAG-11 Team, he said. He was one of the best and brightest Hornet pilots our nation had to offer. Maj. Mark Wise, commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing, also offered his condolences to the fallen Marines loved ones. My heart goes out to our Marines family as we supported them through this difficult time, said Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, Norton had taken off from Miramar to conduct close air support as part of a pre-deployment training exercise when the crash occurred, according to the Marine Corps statement. The cause of the crash remained under investigation. Norton was commissioned in the Marine Corps in March 2005, officials said. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and he deployed multiple times to Japan, officials said. He is a recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, as well as the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with gold star. Expect long lines at Costco and Sams Clubs gas pumps this weekend. The chains are offering regular gasoline around $2.30 a gallon, far below the regions average. But even without a membership discount, this summers average is causing drivers less pain than in years past. In the Riverside-San Bernardino area, the average price of gas Friday was $2.76 a gallon down 7 cents in a week, 14 cents in a month and $1.32 compared with this time last year, according to AAA. ARCO and Mobil stations in Riverside were selling gas for as little as $2.55 a gallon on Friday, according to GasBuddy, com. Were seeing a lot of reports now of larger-than-normal gasoline inventories, and thats good news for drivers, said Marie Montgomery, a spokesperson at the Automobile Club of Southern California. Its bringing the price down locally and nationally. We expect the trend to continue. GasBuddy petroleum analyst Allison Mac added that refineries in the area are producing at full capacity and trying to get rid of summer blend ahead of the winter months. We are getting ready to switch over to winter-blend gasoline, so we are trying to get rid of inventory, Mac said. Early October is when gasoline can be winter blend. Its like last-season clothes at Nordstrom. You can get this gas at a discounted price. Wholesale prices have dropped 40 cents since July 1, so Montgomery expects price to fall relatively quickly. Were entering a lower demand time of year, so that will also put some downward pressure on prices as well, and as long as there is adequate supply of the summer blend, which needs to last through Oct. 31, then we will see further price decreases into the fall, she added. Staff writer Fielding Buck contributed to this report. Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans Gunfire wounded a man near a Riverside apartment complex during what may have been a robbery gone bad, police say. The victim suffered a leg wound during the 12:30 p.m. violence Friday, July 29, outside apartments along the 1400 block of University Avenue. The complex is designed for students but is not owned by UC Riverside. It appearsit could be robbery motivated, said Sgt. Lavall Nelson. The incident appears to have happened between the apartment complex and the Taco Bell that sits along University Avenue, said Officer Ryan Railsback. Someone approached the victim described only as a man in his mid-20s and demanded some sort of property, according to the preliminary investigation. It may have been a backpack. Whatever the victim had, he dropped it on the ground, Nelson said. Then the victim ran and heard the gunshot that hit him in the leg. When police arrived, the dropped property was gone, presumably taken by the shooter, who Nelson said may have had an accomplice. It isnt clear whether the shooter left on foot or by vehicle. The victim is not a UCR student and does not live at the complex, Railsback said, though he may frequent the apartments. The shooting is Riversides third of the week. None of the shootings appear to be related, officers say. The victim is being semi-cooperative in this case, meaning theres a chance he knows slightly more than hes offering to police. Anyone with information about the shooting can call the University Neighborhood Enhancement Team at 951-686-7289. This story is developing. Check back for updates. Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Throughout this absurdly and excruciatingly long presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have been fond of claiming that the system is rigged. Ive never been entirely sure which system theyre talking about or how exactly its rigged. But if by any chance theyre talking about a nomination system in which delegates spend thousands of dollars of their own money to attend conventions whose outcomes are determined before they get there and whose candidates raise and spend hundreds of millions of dollars of other peoples money, then I agree: That system is totally rigged. I never thought too much about what all those sign-waving, funny-hat-wearing delegates go through to attend their conventions. But apparently, it aint cheap. Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia told this newspaper of spending as much as $3,000 or $4,000 each for lodging, travel and other expenses to attend the four-day, made-for-TV political infomercial (my words). Brian Westrate, a Trump delegate from Fall Creek, said he shelled out about $2,500 to attend his partys dog-and-pony show (also my words) in Cleveland. Kelly Ruh, a Ted Cruz delegate from Green Bay, said she spent about $2,000 on her trip and was warned when she applied to become a delegate that the trip could cost between $4,000 and $5,000. Sanders campaign reportedly helped some of his delegates cover convention-related costs which sounds like the least it can do given that Sanders whole shtick was to champion the poor and working class while raising and spending more than $200 million to not end up the Democratic nominee. How extensive his help might have been isnt clear; Sanders campaign didnt respond to my inquiries. Mostly, from what I know, delegates did local fundraising, said Jeff Cohen of the Bernie Delegates Network, a die-hard group of Sanders supporters independent of the campaign. GoFundMe pages of Bernie delegates are all over the internet. To my knowledge, every single delegate financed his own trip, Westrate told me, but he and Ruh also said they knew of delegates who had to raise money to get to Cleveland. For some people of our delegation, it was a significant sacrifice to go, Westrate said.If Sanders campaign was helping its delegates, it might have been the only one. The state Democratic Party said it isnt paying for any delegates. The state Republican Party, and the Trump, Cruz and Hillary Clinton campaigns, didnt respond to my inquiries. Despite the expense, Democratic delegates appeared to enjoy their experience, and Westrate and Ruh both first-time delegates had no regrets. Ruh said it was the culmination of all the actual work shes done with the Republican party on the local level. I was all about the experience and trying to experience the political process from beginning to end, she said. David Blaska, a local blogger and alternate delegate to the RNC, told me in a Facebook message that he didnt get any funding help from any candidate or political group, but I can supply mailing address for cashiers check. When Matt Bond went to register his daughter for classes at Cottonwood School last year, he didnt know he would find a new calling. He drove onto the Aguanga campus and noticed the old Cottonwood School building. Established in 1897, the one-room school sits on property near a much newer Cottonwood School, where children from the rural community south of Hemet and northeast of Temecula attend classes. I had no idea this was here until I showed up, said Bond, 48, who grew up near Boston and lived in Temecula until moving to the area 18 months ago. I grew up in the city. Id never seen anything like this before and fell in love with it. Cottonwood School was the last one-room schoolhouse in Riverside County when it ceased operating in 1975. It is now used for community meetings but does not meet engineering standards for a school. Its not structurally safe, Bond said. Were not making it for (school) use; were just cleaning it up. Bond, director of engineering and construction at Redlands Community Hospital, contacted colleagues and vendors who have volunteered to assist in refurbishing the old building. They will supply labor and materials for free. I know a lot of people, and I knew we could fix this up, he said. Vince Christakos, assistant superintendent for business, said it could cost the district as much as $200,000 in materials and labor if it did the work. We have discussed this project (in the past), and all of a sudden a miracle happened, he told Hemet Unified School District board members earlier this month as Bond pitched his plan to trustees. Work will begin once the district is satisfied the Aguanga community is behind the project. I think its great there is a grass-roots kind of effort to refurbish the thing, trustee Vic Scavarda said. It definitely needs some loving care. Scavarda recalls giving music lessons in the building after joining the district as a teacher in 1979. The morning sun slanted through that thing and it was like being transported back 100 years, he said. It was very easy to imagine you were there in the early days. Among the refurbishments will be a new roof, a restored bell tower, adding an air conditioning unit, fresh paint and new flooring. Bond said a landscaper recently offered to add artificial turf and flowers to the site. The building has had improvements over the years, such as a ramp near the front door, a kitchen and a restroom. It was repainted and refurbished in 1997 in advance of the centennial celebration as part of an Eagle Scout project. Were not going to change anything that is of a historical nature, Bond told the board. What we change, well match the best we can. Were going to keep it as original as possible. The project is special for Bond in part because of how his daughter, Nicole, was treated when she entered the new school. The 10-year-old fifth-grader has special needs, and Bond said staff and students couldnt have been nicer to her. When the community celebrated the schools 100th anniversary in 1997, Esther Trunnell, who attended classes at Cottonwood in the mid-1930s and later came back as a teacher, recalled how teachers and students would keep warm by huddling around a wood-burning stove in the center of the room, trek to an outhouse to go to the bathroom and study together in one room with about 20 students from first through seventh grades. Cottonwood School opened Sept. 13, 1897, and was closed in 1975 because it did not meet state earthquake safety standards. A new Cottonwood School was built next to the old one in 1989 and now serves about 250 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Bond hopes the building can be restored so children can visit and see what it used to be like. You come in here and its like going back in time, he said shortly before reaching up to pull a rope and ring the bell on the roof. Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@scng.com Free college education was one of the issues spotlighted at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. True, it was dwarfed by the historic nomination of the first woman to represent a major political party as a presidential nominee, but it was in the mix. And as fall terms approach, it becomes an even more important issue to students pursuing degrees while worrying about their finances. Last September, President Barack Obama launched an effort to provide free community college education for all Americans. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had been campaigning for the Democratic nomination, in part, pushing the idea of free public college tuition, including at four-year schools. The proposal was one of the main compromises Hillary Clinton made with Sanders in constructing the Democratic platform. She is proposing free public college education to students whose families make $125,000 or less. Efforts already are underway in California to make community college more affordable. The California Community College Promise Program is a trio of pending State Assembly bills, one of which was introduced by Jose Medina, D-Riverside. He is a co-author of the other two. The states community college fees are some of the lowest in the nation, ranging from about $750 to a little over $1,100 per year, depending upon the school. One of the bills would allow more students to qualify for tuition waivers. But one might question how significant that is, even for low-income students. The other bills go further. Medinas would expand the number of Cal Grants available to students and would nearly double the current annual amount from $1,656 to $3,000. For students struggling with book costs and living expenses, that could have an impact. The third bill would not affect students financially but would provide grants to qualifying schools for programs designed to increase college readiness and success rates. Medina said there is a lot of moral support for his Cal Grant bill, but he doesnt believe the state can afford its estimated $475 million price tag. Im not giving up on this bill, Medina said. We have been working on narrowing the scope of the bill to try to get the number down a little bit. Medina said he has had contact from the White House regarding the bill. They had interest in it because it was similar to the presidents plan to make community college free, he said. Despite calls for free college from Sanders and a modified plan from Clinton, Medina said he doesnt see much hope for those plans in California. I dont see that getting a lot of traction in Sacramento, he said. A new study by the Brookings Institution shows relative parity in the amount of financial aid provided to in-state students at public universities across the economic spectrum. Though in-state students whose families fall into lower economic brackets receive higher amounts of aid from schools that are deemed more selective, when it comes to averaging out the numbers, the aid for in-state students is nearly identical. The authors of the study, which can be found at http://brook.gs/2aEk4DJsaid their data counter what they say is a general perception that most financial aid goes to high-performing students from wealthy families. It turns out that isnt true, and its especially not true in California, where performance counts for little when it comes to financial aid. According to figures compiled by Money magazine, students at California public universities pretty much have to be in the top 5 percent of their class to receive merit-based scholarships. UC Riverside provides only 3 percent of its financial aid based on merit. A figure for Cal State San Bernardino was not available, but a spokesman said very little aid is portioned out for merit scholarships. UCR spokesman James Grant said our on-the-ground experience would seem to support the new reports findings. UCR is one of five finalists for a national award recognizing innovative approaches in improving graduation rates and student retention. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities named UCR along with Cal State Fresno, Cleveland State University, Montana State University and Wayne State University as finalists for the award. The winner will be announced in November and will receive a $15,000 prize. Contact the writer: 951-368-9595 or mmuckenfuss@pressenterprise.com How in the world could Disney change the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride? Thats the question that many theme park fans are likely asking, after Disney confirmed during Comic Con in San Diego that it would transform the Disney California Adventure version of its popular drop ride into Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT! by summer 2017. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will drop its last elevator in January. Before you grab a pitchfork to join the online mob protesting this change, let me make a few points. First: Disney already has shown that it can install a successful Tower of Terror attraction without the Twilight Zone theme. At Tokyo DisneySea, Rod Serling is nowhere to be found in that parks version. Instead, DisneySeas Tower is said to be the former property of a character named Harrison Hightower. Hightower is a member of fun collection of Disney theme park characters called the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, who are referenced in a couple of Disneys Asian theme parks but who are beginning to show up in the back stories of a few new restaurants at the Walt Disney World Resort, too. Anyway, Hightowers not exactly a nice guy. He traveled the world collecting (plundering?) treasures and artifacts from native cultures, bringing them all to his tower, where he kept them in a collection in the basement. If you are familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise or if you just paid close attention to Disneys announcement last weekend this might be sounding a bit familiar to you. For in the new Guardian of the Galaxy ride, the Tower is said to be the property of Taneleer Tivan (aka The Collector), another bad guy who travelled around the Galaxy plundering stuff for his private museum. In Tokyo, the action gets going when one of Hightowers prizes, the Shiriki Utundu idol, turns out not to be as inanimate as it seemed. After dispatching Hightower and cursing his hotel, the Shiriki Utundu has been sending visitors on a wild ride up and down and up and down the hotels elevators as revenge upon those who would disturb sacred relics. At Disney California Adventure, the narrative catalyst will be Rocket Raccoon, who will have escaped the Collectors grasp and enlists our help in rescuing his friends, the Guardians of the Galaxy, who have been collected by Taneleer Tivan. Disney will be adding random drop sequences to the Tower for this rescue, which should make the ride more appealing to repeat visitors, such as Disneylands huge contingent of annual passholders. (Well, to the passholders who give the new ride a chance, at least.) OK, but how is this scenario any better than the current Twilight Zone theme? Heres my second point with some tough love for Tower of Terror fans. While I love the old shows and I love the ride, Tower of Terror makes for a pretty weak episode of The Twilight Zone. The best episodes illustrated ironic punishment: townspeople fearing aliens discover that they are their own worst enemy, or, a woman whom other characters consider a hideous outcast is beautiful to us. The show wasnt really about the supernatural. It just used supernatural tropes to hold a mirror to human attitudes and behavior. On Disneys Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, we visit an old Hollywood hotel thats been hit by a freak lightning storm. Visitors disappeared in the strike, and now were entering the decrepit remains of the hotel, only to fall under the influence of the weird forces that remain. Theres no irony. No statement about human behavior. Its just a wild elevator ride in a fried building. You want irony? With its story of a sacred idols revenge on a treasure hunter, Tokyos Tower of Terror does a better job it. Besides, those who want the Twilight Zone version can still travel to Walt Disney World. Robert Niles is the founder and editor of ThemeParkInsider.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThemePark. Car show for Ronald McDonald House LOMA LINDA The Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House, 11365 Anderson St., will host its 17th annual car show from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 21. The registration fee for car entrants is $25. All proceeds benefit the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House. Information: Eric Goodman at 909-855-7625 or rmhcsc.org/lomalinda/ events/view/126 Manny Otiko HEMET Quel Bordel, a five-piece acoustic world band from San Diego, and BandapArt, a French band, will perform Aug. 11 at the Diamond Valley Arts Center, 123 N. Harvard St. Admission is $15 for members of the Diamond Valley Arts Council and $20 for nonmembers. Student tickets are $10 for online presale and $15 at the door. The concert is at 7 p.m. Tickets: thedvac.org or purplepass.com Staff report MORENO VALLEY The Moreno Valley Animal Shelter is hosting a Five Dollar Fridays cat and kitten adoption special every Friday in August. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Information: 951-413-3790 or moval.org (click on animal shelter) Manny Otiko REDLANDS LifeStream is hosting a blood drive and marrow screening event with the Redlands police and fire departments. The event is from 1 to 5 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Ave. Info: 800-879-4484 or lstream.org Manny Otiko Parliament has passed the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) Bill, 2015 to replace the old NADMO Act 1996 (Act 517) to address weaknesses in disaster management in the country. The purpose for the enactment of the new NADMO bill is to reorganise NADMO and make realistic provisions for the management of disasters and emergencies. The organisation, which has been coordinating the efforts of relevant agencies to manage disaster whenever they occur, has faced a number of challenges. According to the Memorandum of the bill, one of the challenges facing the organisation is the unavailability of trained volunteer corps to render service when disasters strike. Another reason is that the public has not been cooperative and has ignored the advice of the organisation to mitigate the effects of natural disasters in some instances. Furthermore, the access to victims and search for and rescue of victims during disasters has sometimes been hindered, it said. The passage of the bill will reorganise NADMO to ensure a citizenry participatory approach to disaster management and motivate people to act responsibly to prevent or mitigate the effects of disaster. In another development, the Public Financial Management Bill, 2016 was taken through the Second Reading in the House. The bill seeks to improve accountability for financial management framework of government and enhance transparency in the execution of fiscal policies. The bill is expected to ensure a more efficient, effective, and economical use of the government resources as well as contribute to the achievement of national goals. A report by the Committee on Finance on the bill observed that the bill would establish a Treasury Single Account which is a consolidated bank account system for processing all central government receipts and payment transactions. Source: The Ghanaian Times 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 Details are emerging of how the three National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists now known as Montie 3 convicted for contempt by the Supreme Court, were whisked away to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons to start their four-month sentences. The three Salifu Maase aka Mugabe, host of Pampaso, a political programme on an Accra-based radio station Montie FM together with Godwin Ako Gunn, 39 and Alistair Tairo Nelson, 41 apart from the jail term, were ordered to pay GHC10,000 each as fines or in default serve an additional month in jail for scandalizing the court. Alistair was said to have sobbed as they were being conveyed to Nsawam. The Journey Immediately the five-member panel of judges, presided over by Justice Sophiah B. Akuffo, handed down the sentences, Mugabe, Ako Gunn and Allistair were handcuffed and put in a police bullion van. Daily Guide learnt that the gang was first sent to the Adentan Police Station, Accra to await the warrant to Nsawam, and when the prisons authorities confirmed the arrival of the detention warrants, they were driven straight to Nsawam. At Nsawam they were searched thoroughly as the rules demand before being admitted. Phone Calls While in the bullion van, the NDC convicts were said to have made touching phone calls to their respective families, asking them to ensure that their personal effects and other belongings were safely kept. Daily Guides sources said Alistair appeared to be sobbing while Ako-Gunn was in a somber mood; but Mugabe looked shocked and seemed frustrated at what had befallen him after boasting that he was not afraid of prison. Montie Owners The apex court had slapped Kwaku Kyei Attuah and Edward Addo both directors and shareholders of Network Broadcasting Limited, operators of the station Lawyer Kwaku Bram-Larbi, secretary to the board of directors and Harry Zakour, a vice Chairperson of the NDC and Zeze Media, owners of the frequency, with a GHC30,000 fine or in default be individually held liable. Network Broadcasting Limited, parent company of Montie Fm and Radio Gold, was also fined GHC30,000, bringing the total amount of money to GHC90,000. They have since paid the GHC90,000 according to court sources. Death Threats Apart from scandalizing the courts, the panel of judges was not happy with the Attorney General for refusing to press criminal charges against the convicts when it became clear that they had crossed the red line with death threats and criminal attack on judges, particularly Supreme Court justices. Mugabe had told his panelists to open fire on the justices, and they in turn did so with threats of death in addition to a claim by Allistair that he would allow a certain Nash of Mataheko to marry Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood if a war broke out. NDC Protests Since their conviction, the NDC has been thrown into disarray, with a call by party foot-soldiers and gurus on President John Mahama to veto the sentences by activating the prerogative of mercy to free the convicts. The sentencing of the three has been condemned strongly by the ruling NDC, which is putting pressure on President Mahama to invoke Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution to release them. Lawyers of the trio had said they had petitioned the president to pardon the convicts, while a desk has been set up by the NDC at the premises of Radio Gold, which also houses Montie FM, to collect as many signatures as possible to get the president to invoke Article 72. However, other sections of the public have said it will be suicidal for President Mahama to pardon the convicts who threatened to take the lives of the Lord Justices. The book, opened by a group calling itself the Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP), believed to have been formed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has received several signatures, including those of high-profile government officials like a deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare and an official at the presidency, Valerie Sawyerr, who was a former deputy chief of staff. Apart from the signatures, some angry NDC members besieged the party headquarters in Accra on Thursday to put pressure on the partys leadership to call on President Mahama to use his powers to grant pardon to the trio. GIBAs Caution Meanwhile, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) has asked its members to be circumspect when commenting on national issues. The Supreme Court has sent a clear signal that within the freedom of expression guaranteed under our constitution, there are lines that ought not to be crossed and there is the need to make it universally unacceptable for anyone to engage in such conduct. We will continue our engagements with various stakeholders such as the National Media Commission, the Judiciary, Parliament, National Communications Authority and Ghana Journalists Association, to ensure that the media remain free but the industry is well regulated, GIBA President Akwasi Agyeman said in a statement. GJA Warning The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has cautioned the public not to interpret the sentencing of the trio to mean an attack on the media, press freedom and free speech. GJA General Secretary Dave Etse Agbenu, after the sentencing, said The Supreme Court did not go after the Montie three because they did something that is lawful. The charges were read to them, they contested the charges and they were finally jailed. We must be careful not to confuse that with a media attack. I am not sure the law courts were dealing with them because they are media practitioners. They were dealing with them because they were in contempt of court. Experts Advice Veteran communications expert, Professor Kwame Karikari, has counseled President Mahama not to accede to pressure to release the convicts since it would send a dangerous signal and wreck his chances of retaining power in December. Professor Karikari, who has been championing media and journalists rights through his Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) for decades said, Theres no serious president in a democracy that will cede to a call like that under our circumstances. It will be politically suicidal for the president to accede to the call of his party. 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 President John Dramani Mahama on Friday announced Ghana's readiness to strengthen her trade and security relations with Liberia and other neighbouring countries. He said although the West African sub-region is engaged in some form of trade and commerce, cementing their regional integration would become the final endorsement that would strengthen the blocs and the entire continent. President Mahama announced this at a joint news conference with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Flagstaff House, Kanda. The Liberian President who is on a day's visit to Ghana was at the Presidency to discuss diplomatic and bilateral relations with President Mahama. The news conference was held after the two West African leaders had held an hour-long closed door discussion. President Mahama said discussions hinged on trade, security, economy and regional integration and joint cooperation between the two countries would help accelerate development. He said the two countries also discussed cooperation in power generation and once Ghana had the comparative advantage in the commodity, efforts would be made to support Liberia to restore electricity to the West African country that was engrossed in numerous years of internal conflicts. President Mahama said Ghana through Volta River Authority and GridCo would also help train the Liberian technicians in power generation and extension to restore the damaged power generators that were affected by the prolonged conflicts. The Ghanaian President said a Memorandum of Understanding would soon be signed on those issues as part of the regional partnership programmes. On security, President Mahama said they had also agreed to come out with a regional decision that would help to ward off terrorism and other security threats on the continent. He said armed forces collaboration also came up for discussion and with Ghana's experiences in various sectors of the military and peace-keeping programmes, would help Liberia to re-build their army in the coming days. President Sirleaf on the other hand commended Ghana for her support to Liberia over the years, mentioning the Accra Peace Talks during the Liberian conflict as one of the landmark contributions Ghana made for the restoration of peace and harmony in Liberia. She said Ghana has been helpful to Liberia in several areas including energy, infrastructural development and mining sector and Monrovia would continue to seek her support to harness their potentials in those areas for development. She said although numerous Ghanaian companies were already in Liberia to support their re-building exercise, there was the need for more partnerships because of Ghana's vast experience in infrastructural development, energy and the mining sectors. "We have so many Ghanaian companies working especially on our roads, and we shall continue to collaborate effectively with Ghana because of your experiences in infrastructural development, energy and the mining sectors." The Liberian leader who paid a similar visit to late President John Evans Atta Mills in 2010 has since returned home. 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 Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has received the Liberian President Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Jubilee Lounge of the Kotoka International Airport. President Sirleaf, who is in Accra for a day's visit, was accompanied by Liberian government officials. As part of the visit, President Sirleaf, who is also the Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), shall also hold talks with President John Dramani Mahama at the Flagstaff House on bilateral relations between Ghana and Liberia. She is also expected to thank President John Mahama for leading the campaign in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in the affected countries in the sub-region and the activities of Bokom Haram terrorist group and other militant groups in the West African sub-region are also expected to be discussed. Other Ministers of State who were at the airport to receive the Liberian President include Mr Prosper Banni, Minister of Interior; Dr Ekwow Spio Garbrah, Minister of Trade and Industry; Ms Sherry Ayitey, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture; and Mr Nii Lante Vanderpuje, Minister of Youth and Sports. Ghana and Liberia have had a long standing diplomatic relations which dates many years back. Ghana was one of the first countries to send troops to intervene the Liberian conflict and spearheaded the peace-talks that led to the Accra Peace Accord- leading to the establishment of the transitional government. Ghanaian and Liberians have had decades of interaction at the people-to-people level spanning several areas including business, commerce, education and family ties. Ghana has to work closely with Liberia to reactivate the Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation to provide an effective instrument for promoting common socio-economic projects between the two countries. 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 A 22-year-old Russian woman named Kristina Medvedeva was beheaded on her very first date with a man she met online. Kristina, a shop assistant in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg, was seeking for love on the internet and reportedly described her relationship status as 'actively searching' on one social media site. Russian Media say she was known to be active on at least one dating website. She shared a flat with a friend, and had gone on a first date with a stranger on 24 July, the day she was murdered. Her badly mutilated body with her head almost totally severed was found on the shore of a lake close to a residential area, three days after she was last seen. Reports say there was no evidence that she had been raped and the police have also not been able to track the man she was with from her internet history. 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 Ghana has decided to offer technical support to Liberia in the power sector. The decision was the outcome of bilateral talks held between President John Dramani Mahama and the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at the Flagstaff House when the Liberian leader paid a one-day official visit to Ghana yesterday. The two leaders, who also discussed issues on trade, security and sub-regional integration, used the meeting to advance bilateral relations between the two countries. Liberia has a challenge in power distribution, and President Mahama said the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), with experience in that area, would give technical support and training, both in hydro and thermal, to Liberia. At a joint press briefing after the meeting, President Mahama mentioned the role the Volta River Authority (VRA) played in restoring power to Monrovia after the Liberian civil war and said "We believe we can build on that, especially in technical support. " The planned support by Ghana to Liberia is against the background of the fact that VRA, GRIDCo and other companies in the power generation and distribution sector have vast experience in the area. Ghana and Liberia have had longstanding and fruitful relations. Ghana played a key role in ending the civil war in Liberia. The 4,000 strong ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) Force, under the command of Ghana's Lt. General Arnold Quainoo, that protected lives and property and provided security for the interim administration of Liberia, was drawn from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia EPA Touching on trade, President Mahama mentioned the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and said it had become imperative for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to go ahead and sign interim EPAs with the European Union (EU). "We will continue to work to ensure that we bring the whole sub-region on board so that it advances the cause of our integration," he added. Security On security, President Mahama said the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) had reached agreement with Liberia to offer training and technical support to Liberia. President Sirleaf expressed gratitude to Ghana for the support it continued to offer Liberia to overcome its challenges. She said in the areas of infrastructure, mining and energy, Ghana had played a significant role in Liberia's development, adding, "We will learn from Ghana's experiences. "Liberia today is very heavily dependent on the public sector, and we are trying to change that because we know that at the end of the day sustainability is from the private sector," she said. In that instance, she said, Liberia would learn from Ghana that had moved far in private sector growth. Arrival Earlier, Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was received at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) by the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, when she arrived in Accra for a days official visit, reports Sebastian Syme. The dignitaries who accompanied the Vice-President to meet the Liberian leader included the Interior Minister, Mr Prosper Bani; the Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah; the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ms Sherry Ayittey; and Nii Lantey Vanderpuje, the Minister of Youth and Sports. Ghana-Liberia relations Diplomatic relations between the two countries date as far back as 1957 when Ghana attained independence from colonial rule. The two countries have sought to expand cooperation in mutually rewarding areas, including economic trade and investment, energy and mineral resources, agriculture and livestock development, education and health, tourism and culture, science and technology, security and military cooperation, as well as foreign affairs. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said Government is not being factual with the claim on increasing expenditure on infrastructure development. They said the reality was that the countrys expenditure on infrastructure relative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is declining. The numbers indicate that relative to GDP, this government is investing about half what the previous government invested in infrastructure, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, Minority Spokesperson on Finance, told journalists at a news conference in Parliament, in Accra. It is in fact a travesty that Ghana before the discovery of oil was spending a higher proportion of its income on infrastructure investment than after the discovery of oil and the massive increase in debt stock. This decline in investment in infrastructure runs counter to what one would expected, the NPP said. Mr Seth Emmanuel Terpker, Minister for Finance and Economic Planning last Monday requested Parliament to approve GH1.8 billion to supplement the 2016 budget, due to recent developments in both domestic and global markets. He said Ghanas economy has turnaround with the prospects looking very bright despite the few challenges. The success, he noted, was a result of the countrys Home Grown policies which were designed to achieve fiscal consolidation; address short-term vulnerabilities; reduce a high budget deficit that had become harmful to the private sector; as well as stabilize and reverse the rise in public debt. Mr Speaker, we are on course to achieve these goals through the management of prudent fiscal, financial, sectoral and monetary policies, Mr Terkper said. For instance, he said, fiscal data up to end-December 2015 shows that total revenue and grants were higher than the budget targets by 5 per cent. The overrun in total expenditure including arrears, he added, narrowed to 2.1 per cent above target. These performances resulted in a cash budget of 6.3 per cent of GDP, much better than the budget target of 7.3 per cent and 10.2 per cent in 2014. Indeed, at 0.2 per cent of GDP at the end of 2015, the primary budget balance that shows our ability to service loans for development was a surplus for the first time in over a decade. GDP also grew by 3.9 per cent at end-2015, better than the projected 3.5 per cent, he said. He added: It is getting better with the economy growing by 4.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, compared to 4.5 per cent for the same period in 2015. In spite of unanticipated shortfalls in price and production of crude oil, GDP growth is projected to end the year at 4.1 per cent or better. The Finance Minister said under no circumstances will Ghana become a Highly Indebtedness Poor Country (HIPC) again considering the rate at which the economy is recovering. However, the NPP said government has hoodwinked Ghanaians and has not come clean on fiscal data, because the evidence adduced from the current debt stock has exposed governments propaganda on spending so much on infrastructure. The evidence shows that notwithstanding the massive increase in the debt stock, capital expenditure as percentage of GDP has actually been on the decline from 9.1 per cent of GDP in 2008 to 4.1 per cent by 2015. Capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP averaged 11 per cent for 2001to 2008 without oil while that for 2009-t 2015 has averaged 5.7 per cent with oil, Dr Osei said. He touched the energy crisis, saying the problem had lingered for too long and was even getting worse perpetrated by generation shortfalls, corrupt procurement inefficiencies and unsustainable debts. It is now clear that President Mahama has failed to end dumsor, blamed it on Nigeria, and publicly stopped ECG from publishing a dumsor timetable to allow for planning by industry and businesses contrary to law. 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 Following the emergence of audio evidence of the MP for Nkwanta North, John Bless Oti, verbally attacking the Chief Justice, the President of IMANI, Frankiln Cudjoe has likened the MPs comments to the infamous Hate Radio which ushered in the Rwandan genocide. Listening that man [Oti Bless] on radio was worse than what was said in Rwanda, Mr. Cudjoe said on Citi FMs News Analysis programme, The Big Issue. Mr. Oti, who is the Deputy Minister designate for Local Government, can be heard verbally attacking the Supreme Court on the same Montie FM Pampaso programme, that saw the host of the show and two panelists imprisoned for contempt. Mr. Oti is on record accusing the Chief Justice of conniving with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in an attempt to reverse the election results in 2008 and in 2012 among other allegations. I am surprised the Chief Justice isnt suing him by now, the IMANI President said in response to this development. The unsavoury comments, the calumny, the vain glorification of treachery that was meted out to the Chief Justice I am shocked. Go to their houses and maim them. Look for them anywhere they are. They are cockroaches fish them out. Mr. Cudjoe noted as some genocidal propaganda that marked the airwaves of Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC) in Rwanda adding, these were worse comments than what happened in Rwanda. Free speech gone to madness Mr. Cudjoe also described as nonsensical the attempts to defend the Montie three with claims their right to free speech was being attacked. The three; Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn, together with the host of the Pampaso political show, Maase Salifu, a.k.a Mugabe, threatened to eliminate justices of the Supreme Court over their handling of the lawsuit on the credibility of the countrys voters register. Their incarceration has been met with calls for their release with a petition being started to get President Mahama to pardon the three. Other have called their four month sentence an attack on free speech. But Mr. Cudjoe retorted that, to actually threaten the life of a fellow human being is one explanation of free speech gone to madness. I dont think anybody who talks about free speech in this instance is actually normal. He further indicated that convicted persons comments on the show ostensibly fell short of saying go and kill them [the Justices], go and rape them. Source: Citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has apologised for the horrific mistreatment of the Northern Territorys juvenile detainees at Don Dale youth detention centre, which was revealed by Four Corners earlier this week. Speaking at the Garma Festival, taking place in Arnhem Land and marking forty years of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, Scullion said Im sorry I wasnt aware of the full circumstances that were exposed this week. I must be better informed about such matters, particularly when the vast majority of youths held in detention in the NT are indigenous There can never be any excuse for authorities entrusted with the welfare of children held in custody meting out brutality to these same children. Notably, when Four Corners: Australias Shame was broadcast, Scullion was out at dinner; it was only when the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull himself called in a fairly agitated state, asking if the minister was watching ABC programme. Of course, the fact it took an external media investigation to bring this issue to the ministers attention is also worth considering. Earlier, Scullion said the Northern Territory Commissioners review of the Don Dale hadnt adequately piqued his interest, hence his apparent obliviousness. Regarding the impending royal commission into the centre which Scullion is probably all too aware of the minister today said its important the failures of the Don Dale youth detention centre are identified, as well as the causes of these failures, to provide lessons for all correctional institutions in Australia. Scullions speech coincided with nationwide protests against the mistreatment of juvenile detainees, and abuses perpetuated against indigenous youth in particular. Hundreds of activists took to the streets in in Australias capital cities to stand against the mistreatment. S H A M E #handsoffaboriginalkids A photo posted by documenting brown queerness (@fake_meat) on Jul 29, 2016 at 9:54pm PDT A photo posted by Luke Sweet (@lukesweet) on Jul 30, 2016 at 12:10am PDT A photo posted by ??? Simone Smith ??? (@_craftybird) on Jul 29, 2016 at 11:09pm PDT The royal commission is expected to kick off in September. Source: news.com.au / ABC / The Australian. Photo: Gaye Demanuele / Twitter. Beloved ABC series Playschool, currently celebrating its 50th year on the air, recently aired a segment in which a two sisters introduce their dad and dad, as part of its My Family Your Family series. The segment which shows the four swimming in a pool and doing yoga is cute and heartwarming and shows that families come in many different varieties, so of course, the Australian Christian Lobby are bloody furious. Per reports in the Star Observer, the ACLs Wendy Francis went full Helen Lovejoy when she saw the segment, concerned about the effect that a family with two loving gay dads might have on impressionable youngsters. In a statement, the ACL accused the ABC of exposing children to controversial political and social agendas, and added: Parents and grandparents should not be forced to explain to little children how it is that two men come to have a baby. As a grandmother I find it disappointing that the ABC is seeking to include rainbow politics for toddlers when millions of their parents do not agree with redefining marriage in law. The ABC should also not assume that producing children through harvested eggs and a rented or donated womans womb to meet the desires of two men is a public good. As ACL warned in February this year, Play School is not the place for the ABC to run agendas particularly as this is a taxpayer-funded program that should refrain from pushing confusing adult messaging to our children. Parents (sic) shouldnt be forced to have adult conversations about sexuality and bioethics with their kids at such a young age and it certainly should not be the government broadcaster raising the subject with them. Scott Williams of Rainbow Families said that it was disappointing, but not altogether surprising that the ACL would take Playschools gesture as some kind of political attack. He added: Yesterdays episode once again showcased the wonderful diversity of Australian society, [featuring] a normal Australian family which just happens to have two dads. Last year, the Australian documentary Gayby Baby, about the children of same-sex parents, faced similar attacks, with the usual suspects accusing schools of promoting a gay lifestyle by screening it, and News Corp running a front-page attack. At the time, Penny Wong defended the film from criticism, and noted the pressure that many LGBTI children themselves face in schools, saying: A recent Australian survey of LGBTI young people showed that 64% of young people had been verbally abused, 18% had been physically abused and 16% had attempted suicide. Behind these statistics are stories of deep personal hurt. The young people and the teachers who work to reduce harm in our schools deserve support, not condemnation. Source: Star Observer. Photo: ABC iView. To be honest, were pretty torn on this one, as were excited-as-hell for Suicide Squad to finally come out, but wed also be very happy if the long and winding publicity trail for the upcoming film never ended. This week alone, weve had co-stars Cara Delevingne and Margot Robbie giving a risque interview to the UKs Love Magazine, talking about all the unusual places theyve each done sex, including on a non-moving jet ski. Weve also had an appearance from Robbie on The Project, in which she addressed the blowback from her uber-creepy Vanity Fair profile, and thanked the nation of Australia for having her back. The latest bit of Suicide Squad related hijinks comes from Delevingne, who appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden this week, and proceeded to utterly smash the host and her fellow guest Dave Franco in a rap battle. Delevingnes competitors taunted her about her acting ability, her eyebrows and her membership of the many-limbed beast that is the Taylor Swift girl squad. She delivered the eventual coup de grace, telling the pair: Youre both shorter than me and I think youll find, Ive hooked up with hotter girls than both of you combined. Savage. Suicide Squad is out Thursday August 4 in Australia. Source: YouTube. Photo: John Sciulli / Getty. Weve come a long bloody way from when Americas pop juggernauts collaborated with soft drink brands. Kanye Wests Wolves is the second in a series of so-ballsy-he-might-just-pull-it-off music videos for The Life Of Pablo, and it features exactly none of the nudity on display in the clip for Famous. In fact, the entire cast, including Vic Mensa and Strayas own Sia, are decked out in glittering Balmain digs. Its not exactly a surprise the dude would elect to kit his posse in couture, considering his bonkers passion for high fashion. What is kinda surprising is the vulnerability on display. Stylistic decision or no, the clip captures Ye and Kim Kardashian West shedding some shimmering tears; we find the man himself getting pushed the hell around; and then, there are the near-paranoid lyrics themselves. Dare we say the stark, if dazzling, outfits serve to simultaneously attract attention while distracting the audience from the real, fragile figures on display a similar conceit enacted by the wax analogues in Famous. Or, its just a music video from a bloke with the bank balance to match his ostentatious vision. Flip of a coin at this point. Watch: Source and photo: Kanye West / Vevo / YouTube. Director of U.S. Office of Indian Education visits East Jordan schools Julian Guerrero Jr. visited the district to discuss their Title VI policies and see their Native American education opportunities. SPRINGFIELD, N.J. Colt Knost loves a good practical joke, but he wasnt laughing when PGA of America rules officials gave him an incorrect pin sheet before Fridays second round at Baltusrol, leading to an early bogey and a post-round apology from tournament officials. Playing in the first group off the 10th tee, Knost and playing partners Jim Summerhays and Yuta Ikeda were stunned to realize the hole was nowhere near where they expected it to be on the 440-yard par 4. Playing in steady rain, Knost was playing for a left hole location (20 paces from front, four from left edge) only to find the hole was actually cut on the right side (19 paces from the front, five from right edge). Knost did not notice the difference before hitting his approach shot from 211 yards, which he left short right -- a good miss for a left pin but a tough spot for the actual location. People are going to say we should be able to tell what side of the green [the flag] was on, but I was 210 yards out and it was raining rather hard, Knost told Golf Digest. We just expected the pin to be right. It sucks. Knost finished with a 3-over 73, leaving him at 2-over for the tournament. When he walked off the course, he was one stroke off the projected cut line. The cut line moved to 2 over later in the afternoon. Ikeda also bogeyed the hole, potentially a costly stroke given that hes in contention after shooting a second-round 67 to leave himself at 3 under going into the weekend. Summerhays, one of the 20 club pros in the field, parred the hole and shot 73 to finish his tournament at 9 over. Knost voiced his frustrations on Twitter. According to Lance Gokongwei, CEO of Cebu Pacific, the A330 has established itself as the aircraft of choice for low-cost carriers. "The A330 has proven to be the right choice for our long haul low fare product," said Gokongwei. "The newly ordered aircraft will enable us to add more long haul routes, including the launch of our first flights to the US." Although Cebu Pacific has not revealed which routes the new aircraft will be deployed on, there is strong possibility that the aircraft will be utilised on a new non-stop route from Manila to Honolulu, Hawaii, and a route to Melbourne, Australia, after the success Cebu Pacific experienced in the Sydney market. Cebu Pacific originally launched service to Sydney, Australia in September 2014. Although it took time for the new route to mature, the carrier carried a leading 138,793 passengers between Manila and Sydney in 2015, earning itself a dominant 41 percent share of the market. The carrier continues to fly four to five weekly flights between the two cities. According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation , Cebu Pacific previously planned to launch flights between Melbourne and Manila by the end of 2015. However, delays were caused by the failure to secure a gate in Manila for the new route. The latest indications suggest that Melbourne and Honolulu remain possible destinations for 2016. The addition of the two new wide-body aircraft make this an even strong possibility. Although Cebu Pacific could redeploy one of its existing A330 aircraft to operate Melbourne flights, the carrier wants to continue utilising the aircraft on domestic trunk routes in order to maintain market share. With the acquisition of the new aircraft now complete, the launch of Melbourne flights hinges on the carrier's ability to secure the necessary gates and slots. Meanwhile, Airbus expressed its gratitude for the order, re-affirming the efficiency of the Airbus A330 aircraft, which makes it an ideal fit for long-haul low-cost operations. "This order from Cebu Pacific is another endorsement of the unrivalled efficiency of the A330 for profitable long haul low cost services," said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operation Officer, Customers. "Combining low operating costs, proven reliability and a great passenger experience, the A330 is the clear preferred choice of airlines in this competitive market segment." The A330 aircraft remains one of the most popular wide-body aircraft ever built having won more than 1,600 orders. Currently, there are more than 1,300 aircraft of its type flying around the world with approximately 120 different airlines. If Alice Paul, the New Jersey suffragist who led the fight to get women the vote, had witnessed Hillary Clinton's becoming the first female presidential candidate of a major party, she likely would have celebrated briefly and then gone back to work. That's according to the women who have studied Paul and run the Alice Paul Institute in Mount Laurel. "She would say, 'Now we need to keep working,' " Terri O'Connell, a spokeswoman for the organization, said Friday, a day after watching history being made with fellow feminists and activists in Center City. "We have to be inspired by that." O'Connell was one of a few dozen guests who attended a viewing party Thursday evening at the New Century Trust house at 13th and Locust Streets. The party was jointly hosted by the trust, which works toward the education and empowerment of girls and women, and the Alice Paul Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about Paul's fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and get women the right to vote. Women and girls at the gathering spoke of the special moment in history but also of the work that remains to be done. "We're here because it's history. It's 'herstory,' " Kassia Bukosky, 46, of Trenton, said with cheerful emphasis on the her. Bukosky showed up to the viewing party Thursday night in a little black dress and a purple, white, and gold sash that read "Votes for Women." Her mother, two daughters, and three friends had similar sashes. The colors represented the suffrage movement, as advertised in the invitation. Many of the guests wore purple. "We still have a way to go, baby," Bukosky said of the significance of Clinton's nomination. Still, she soaked up the moment, smiling as Clinton spoke and cheering along with the crowd. Barbara Irvine of Cinnaminson fought back tears at times Thursday. "It's a relief that we may finally be getting a level of recognition" with her possibly being in the White House as president and not just first lady, she said. "When we think of the predominance of white males in the presidency and Congress . . . our laws have been made by these people." Irvine, who retired in 2007 as the executive director of the New Jersey Historic Trust, is a proponent of ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment to solidify a ban on sex discrimination. She and several of the women at the party wore "ERA yes" pins. The group of a few dozen clapped, cried, and laughed throughout Clinton's speech, all while sipping wine and snacking at the long table of cheeses, sandwiches, and chocolate-covered strawberries. Cara Petonic, a board member of New Century Trust, stood in the back, looking intently at the large screen showing Clinton's speech. When Petonic, 31, was asked during her fifth-grade career day what she wanted to be when she grew up, she had a different answer from those of her future doctor and firefighter classmates. "I got up and said, 'I want to be the first female president,' " she recalled. Her teacher and other adults in her small town, Scottdale, southeast of Pittsburgh, said: "Well, that's different." Petonic later went on Bryn Mawr College, where her feminist roots blossomed, she said. She has since worked with groups advocating for women's rights. A Comcast businesswoman, Petonic said she couldn't be happier to see Clinton clinch the nomination. "If anyone is going to take 'first female president' away from me, I'll let it be Hillary," she said, flashing a wide smile. But running for office is still on her bucket list. cvargas@phillynews.com 215-854-5520 @InqCVargas So, only two more days of shooting and I have to give this bike back and go home? - Leigh Donovan We were somewhere deep in the Garbanzo Zone, high in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, when the stoke began to take hold. Leigh Donovan pushes her Hail Advanced 0 through the bushes. Leonie Picton follows with the Hail 1, ducking under a branch.Oh my God, Leonie starts with her Aussie twang, I totally forgot these brakes havent been broken in! I couldnt scrub my speed at all going into that drop... I cant believe I pulled that off. This bike is so stable! I feel like Ive been riding it for months. Me too! It was awesome! Leighs voice was already beginning to fade from the yelling and excitement on day one of the Hail video shoot.A blanket of clouds comes crawling over the snow streaked hills in the distance. It doesnt feel like the beginning of July, but the Canadian Coast Mountain Range does not surrender to the monthly temperature averages.Leigh and Leonies attire does not match the weather, but they dont complain. Instead, the two girls session the hell out of a rock slab. Their movements become more precise, and the bikes roll faster over the backside of the rock. Guffaws of pure joy ricochet back up.Rolling, comes from the camera crew, somewhere deep within the trees below. Dropping! Leigh jumps on her bike and goes from zero to blazing in a moment of seconds. Leonie is half a beat behind, playfully taking the line that Leigh passes by. Through the fading dust and thicket of trees the production crew watches Leigh and Leonie scream through a tight turn before disappearing down the trail.Their job is not easy. It may be tempting to glamorise the task of nailing yoked trails in Whistler on a sick new bike to make a video, but after ten-hour days on the mountain, these girls are exhausted, hungry and cold. Yet, their enthusiasm never wavers. They crawl back through the woods for another round.The crew at the top, layered in jackets and scarves, rush in from the sidelines and open their packs to a galaxy of snacks: trail mix, watersparkling and flat, apples, mango slices, crackers and almonds, you name it.The late summer sun is setting, and the team congregates. And, thats a wrap. Moving on!Bags are dropped to the ground and the heavy cameras are carefully laid on their cradles. Slapping sounds from high fives mix with the labored breathing from the scramble of the day. Moments pass, then Leigh and Leonie jump back on the bikes to rip their way to the bottom, while the crew grabs their gear and hikes back up to the chairlift for a final ride down.Leigh turned to the group and winced at the sun setting behind Whistler Mountain. So, only two more days of shooting and I have to give this bike back and go home? Someone in the Liv crowd apologetically shrugs, but offers a promise of a special delivery in the fall for the Ms. Leigh D. Thank God! Leigh shouts as she wheelies off toward the hotel with a big, loud belly laugh.The Hail has been a long time coming. After being in the bike industry for around thirty years, Leigh is familiar with research and development. Yet, Hail was differentthis bike was huge, and she wanted it to be perfect. She had ridden prototypes, looked at countless mock ups, yet now it was here. Now she was riding it for the first time. Up until this moment, Hail had been a dream. What if riding it snapped the dream into a bitter harsh reality? Yet, when Leigh had jumped off the bike from the first run down the mountain the day before, her relief was palpable and her open-mouth grin simply could not be wiped from her face.Learn more about the New 2017 Liv Hail: HERE Learn more about Leigh Donovan: HERE In the coming months we will discuss other intriguing activities and how Dawn will make measurements never even considered before. But for now, let's look at how this extension came about. As readers of the Dawn Journals know (and as you will be reminded below), there has been very good reason in recent years to believe the spacecraft would not operate beyond the end of its prime mission. However, the veteran explorer is in very good health. It is one of Earth's most experienced and capable ambassadors to the cosmos, we want to squeeze as much out of this mission as we can. Ever resourceful, the Dawn team recognized in March 2016 that the probe had the capability to do yet more and decided to give NASA Headquarters a unique choice: remain at Ceres (as always expected) or go elsewhere. It is worth pondering how extraordinary this is. Most spacecraft can only make minor adjustments to their trajectories, so at the end of their prime missions, they generally go wherever they were already headed. If a spacecraft is in orbit around some planetary body, it remains in orbit. If a spacecraft is not in orbit, having previously flown past one or more bodies that orbit the sun, its course is largely determined by the targeting for the last encounter. A planet's gravity may have redirected it, but otherwise its propulsion system has to do the work, and that usually can produce only a tiny change in direction. If a spacecraft is not already in orbit around a planetary body, it won't be able to enter orbit. Dawn is different. With its uniquely capable ion propulsion system, Dawn is the only spacecraft ever to travel to a distant destination, orbit it, later break out of orbit, then travel to another faraway destination, and orbit it. And even while in orbit around Vesta and Ceres, Dawn maneuvered extensively, optimizing its orbits for its scientific investigations. And yet this remarkable ship can do still more. It has the capability to leave its second destination and continue its travels. Dawn's brilliant and creative navigators analyzed possible missions to more than 68,000 known objects. That alone is a nice illustration of the powerful potential. The project team very quickly narrowed the list to the most interesting body Dawn could reach after leaving Ceres, a large asteroid named Adeona. That mission offered the best alternative to further studies of the dwarf planet. PALATINE - Governor Bruce Rauner's decision to join Illinois Democrats in both legislative chambers by signing into law SB 1564 sparked a response from State Rep. Tom Morrison of Palatine. Morrison said Rauner's message in supporting the bill is that religious beliefs and free speech rights don't matter - a direct attack on First Amendment rights. The new law that will go into effect in January 2017 forces Christian medical personnel and pregnancy centers to go against their religiously-held beliefs and counsel for procedures they find morally repugnant: By adopting these new mandates, Governor Rauner and Democrat legislators are forcing medical professionals, including non-profit, privately funded crisis pregnancy centers, to participate in procedures for which they have strong ethical and moral objections. I spoke vociferously against this bill during the House debate and with the Governor and his staff directly. I am greatly disappointed in his decision today. The message delivered to Illinois citizens is that their religious beliefs and free speech rights do not matter. Illinois is less free and more hostile to people of faith as a result of this likely unconstitutional law. Under this law, medical personnel and facilities will have to follow an objection protocol that includes providing a patient with information about the risks and benefits of all legal procedures, regardless of religious or moral objection, as well as information about where the patient can access objected-to procedures. Pro-life physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel do not, nor should they ever, have to check their faith at the door when they care for their patients. The benevolent, life-affirming employees and volunteers at Illinois crisis pregnancy centers deserve our admiration and respect, not attacks by an over-reaching state government that violates their religious liberty and free speech rights. As plaintiffs line up to fight back in court, I proudly and wholeheartedly support their efforts to overturn this despicable law. Thankfully, their chances of success are high, as Illinois pharmacists successfully challenged the states attempt to limit their rights of conscience back in 2005. We should do everything we can to help uphold our citizens civil liberties once again. More on Rauner's actions HERE and HERE. Some Philadelphia police officers say they were barred from patrolling in uniform on the floor of the convention while it was in session spurring claims that Democrats are anti-law enforcement. Rudy Giuliani on Thursday first raised the issue of uniformed officers not being allowed to mingle with delegates on the floor. Philadelphia police officers are not in the convention hall. Theyre not allowed in uniform, said Giuliani, a Donald Trump adviser who was monitoring the Democratic convention. The New York Post interviewed three police officers who confirmed they were ordered to steer clear of the convention floor during the proceedings while wearing their uniforms. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The Democratic primary campaign between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders certainly had its heated moments over the course of the past year. Overall, though, it was largely a civil, issues-oriented debate between two candidates who share many of the same goals. Around the edges, there were some disagreements, but Clinton and Sanders never doubted that either of them would be an infinitely better president than Donald Trump. Ignoring all of that, Trump posted a video on social media today looping together a few out-of-context Bernie Sanders quotes about Hillary Clinton. Video: What Bernie Sanders really thinks of Crooked Hillary Clinton. pic.twitter.com/VgMaAsZBep Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016 Is this really the direction in which Trump wants to take his campaign? Because in the debate about which candidate has received the most damning and irreversible attacks from his or her opponents, there is no contest here. Since he began his campaign, Donald Trump has received criticism from Republican leaders that they wouldnt even lay upon their Democratic opponents in a typical election year, much less their own nominee. The Clinton campaign has done a masterful job stringing these unprecedented intraparty attacks in this video: A race-bating, xenophobic, religious bigot. A con artist. A phony. A know-nothing. Vulgar. Utterly amoral. Unfit to be commander-in-chief. These are words, directed at Trump, that have come out of the mouths of top figures in the GOP. And unlike the heat-of-the-moment Sanders criticism of Clinton, these are attacks that many Republicans still stand by today. Its why so many people steered clear of the hatefest in Cleveland. Its why GOP runner-up Ted Cruz didnt just refuse to endorse Trump at his own convention, but he gave permission to his own supporters to abandon their own nominee. This is not a fight that Donald Trump should be waging. Because if he wants each candidate to be judged based on what their primary opponents have said about them (and still say about him), then all Democrats have to do is roll the tape. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Gasp! How dare he say such a thing?! Well, I said it. And Ill repeat it every single day from now until Nov. 8, hoping that it sinks in for those who constitute the small but important faction of Bernie holdouts. If youre planning on casting your ballot for Jill Stein this fall to send a message, you should know that youre only sending one message that you want Donald Trump in the White House. I know, I know. Three paragraphs in and youre about to close out of this article and cleanse yourself by donating a few bucks to the Stein campaign. Perhaps youll shoot some angry tweets my way while youre at it. But we have to be realistic and we have to be adults especially when it comes to choosing the next President of the United States. Particularly when one of those choices is Donald Trump. Take a look at the current RealClearPolitics average of national polling between the four presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. Right now, Trump leads by roughly 1 percentage point. Heres exactly where the numbers stand as of this writing: Trump (40.0%), Clinton (38.8%), Johnson (7.3%) and Stein (3.0%). There is a ridiculous notion among Stein supporters that there are enough responsible voters out there to ensure that Trump doesnt set foot in the White House come 2017, thus giving them permission to vote for a third-party candidate. But the polling is clear. This race is not a lock for the Democratic nominee, and it is absurd that some disgruntled liberals are perpetuating that myth to excuse their irresponsible de facto vote for Donald Trump. Didnt we see this nightmare play out 16 years ago when Green Party votes gave us the blessing of a George W. Bush presidency? That year, Al Gore lost to Bush in the state of New Hampshire by 7,211 votes. Close, but no cigar. Consider, though, that Ralph Nader (Green Party candidate) pulled in over 20,000 votes in the state. That didnt just tip the scales in favor of Bush; it essentially handed him the presidency on a silver platter. It was even closer in Florida, as we all know, with Bush winning there by a margin of 537 votes. Those who wanted to send a message gave Nader 100,000 votes. If Gore was to carry either of those states, he would have been elected president. Instead, frustrated liberals decided to stand up to the Democratic Party because they werent all that thrilled with their nominee. That act, as I said before, gave us the two-term Bush disaster eight years that did nothing to advance the progressive causes that Green Party supporters claim to care about. Now, all these years later, we find ourselves in a similar scenario. Hillary Clinton, a candidate that angry Sanders/Stein supporters agree with on roughly 80 to 90 percent of issues, is the best chance we have of keeping Donald Trump out of the White House, building on the progress of the past eight years, and enacting a progressive agenda going forward. An agenda, Ill add, that Bernie Sanders himself helped craft. Yes, we all must work toward the long-term goal of making the democratic process fairer, more open to outside voices, and less influenced by money but we shouldnt be doing something in the short term that is certain to cripple those efforts. If we spend one moment thinking rationally, we should be able to understand this. Donald Trump is an immediate threat to this country, and we must defeat him before anything else. Casting your ballot for Jill Stein will hurt not help the work of achieving progressive goals by making it more likely that a dangerous demagogue wins the White House in November. Like most responsible adults, Im not willing to let that happen. Neither should you. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* There is a tendency among Americans to believe the Founding Fathers were champions of democracy, and although they did hate a monarchy, they were not completely enamored with the idea of allowing every citizen to vote, or having a voice in choosing all of their representatives. However, they were savvy enough to comprehend that times, attitudes, and social norms would change and thus provided a Constitution that could change according to the will of the people over time; it is the only reason women, people of color, and the poor are allowed to participate in this nations representative democracy. Republicans havent been nearly as prone to accept change over anything, but particularly the idea that it is not 1789 any longer and that all Americans have a right to vote. Since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, Republicans have been on a tear to reinstate vote restrictions targeting the poor, people of color, students and the elderly primarily because they tend to vote for Democratic candidates. Always willing to lend a helping hand to obstruct democracy, conservatives on the Supreme Court ruled that there is no such thing as a racial element affecting the voting rights laws enacted in Republican Southern states. Subsequently, the Voting Rights Act had to be neutered so Republicans could revert to near-Jim Crow voter restrictions. For the third time in a week, a Federal Court issued a ruling striking down one of the harshest voter restriction laws in the nation. Naturally, North Carolina Republicans are absolutely furious. On Friday, the Fourth District Court of Appeals decisively struck down North Carolinas voter identification law, and like last weeks two Federal Court rulings affecting Wisconsin and Texas voter restrictions, the Court said North Carolinas provisions deliberately target African Americans with almost surgical precision in an effort to depress Black turnout at the polls. It was a sweeping decision that upended North Carolinas voting practices barely three months prior to an all-important presidential election. Sweeping is an understatement and voting rights advocates should be as ecstatic as anti-democracy Republicans are livid their voter suppression law was rejected due to racial discrimination. The Appellate Court tossed the ALEC requirements, including that voters submit a Republican-approved and ALEC-sanctioned photo identification in order to cast a ballot. The Court also summarily reinstated a voters ability to register on Election Day, to register prior to reaching the mandatory 18 year-old voting age, and to cast early ballots; all provisions ALEC-Republicans had completely or almost entirely eliminated. Just to make a point that all North Carolina voters ballots would be counted, the Court also restored a provision ensuring that people who were tricked by cheating Republicans into voting at the wrong polling station would still have their ballots counted as valid. This ruling was an abrupt reversal of a previous District Court decision that Republicans claimed ended the legal debate, once and for all time, about the legitimacy of their ALEC-written voter suppression law. Although the Appeals Court panel acknowledged that the district court judge in Winston-Salem was thorough, the Circuit Courts ruling informed the Appellate Judges opinion on North Carolinas racially discriminatory voting laws. Laws, by the way, that were rammed through the Republican legislature and signed in 2013 immediately after the conservative Supreme Court all but reinstated Jim Crow by dismantling the Voting Rights Act to aid racist Republicans suppress minority votes. The decision read, in part: We cannot ignore the record evidence that, because of race, the legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the [voting] franchise in modern North Carolina history. In holding that the legislature did not enact the challenged provisions with discriminatory intent, the [district] court seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees. This failure of perspective led the court to ignore critical facts bearing on legislative intent, including the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina. (author bold) Although North Carolinas bigoted and racist governor, Pat McCrory, didnt offer an immediate comment, the racists leading the Republican General Assembly responded like petulant brats caught stealing and duly reprimanded. Besides saying they would appeal to reinstate their racist voter suppression laws, Republicans cried foul and cited that nasty liberal bias against racial discrimination. In a joint statement issued by Senator Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, the Republicans typically lashed out at the Circuit Court for attempting to help Hillary Clinton and gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper steal the election because all North Carolina citizens are able to vote. The anti-democracy Republicans said: Since todays decision by three partisan Democrats ignores legal precedent, ignores the fact that other federal courts have used North Carolinas law as a model and ignores the fact that a majority of other states have similar protections in place, we can only wonder if the intent is to reopen the door for voter fraud, potentially allowing fellow Democrat politicians like Hillary Clinton and Roy Cooper to steal the election. We will obviously be appealing this politically motivated decision to the Supreme Court. Now, setting aside that last week two separate Federal Courts rejected other states similar protections, and that the ALEC-written vote suppression law is politically motivated to allow Republicans to steal the election, there is the filthy dirty lie that the Appellate Justices were attempting to open the door for voter fraud. Seriously? Only Republicans would openly accuse Federal Circuit Court Judges of political bias and aiding and abetting voter fraud. As an aside, a monumentally comprehensive investigation and study of 14 years worth of elections by Loyola University revealed there have been exactly 31 instances of potential voter fraud between 2000 and 2014. That is 31 potential frauds out of over 1 billion ballots that were cast in that [14-year] period in every local community, county, regional, state and federal election nation-wide. There is no open door for voter fraud because there is no voter fraud. But there is an active Republican crusade to steal elections by restricting voting rights of all but Republican voters. The response from advocates for democracy weighed in and rightly praised the ruling for regulating the Republican attempt to undermine African-American voter participation. Many of the voting rights advocates had harsh words for the Republicans rabid to enact voter suppression laws. For example, the president of the N.C. branch of the N.A.A.C.P., Reverend William Barber II said, We see today as a moral and constitutional critique of this extremist legislature and our extremist governor. A political majority doesnt give you the power to run roughshod over the Constitution. A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union called the ruling a stinging rebuke of the states attempt to undermine African-American voter participation. And Attorney General Loretta Lynch praised the decision and said North Carolinas ALEC-written law: Sent a message that contradicted some of the most basic principles of our democracy. The ability of Americans, the ability of all of us to have voice in the direction of their country, to have a fair and free opportunity to help write the story of this nation, is fundamental to who we are, to who we aspire be as citizens and as Americans. And going forward, the Department of Justice will continue our work to protect this sacred right. This third denunciation of Republican-controlled states voter-suppression laws within a week should send Republicans a powerful signal that this is not 1789, and the only eligible voters in America are not landowning white males. Although this latest ruling, like those in Wisconsin and Texas, is a welcomed affirmation that there are still a few Americans who believe voting is a basic right, especially going into a general election, no American should think for a second that Republicans will stop trying to steal elections by stealing minority Americans right to vote. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print There have been many explanations offered for Donald Trumps refusal to release is tax returns, but Seth Meyers has one that is less ominous than illicit ties with Russia and more pathetic instead: Trump is broke. According to Meyers, and here he addressed the Republican candidate directly, Why I think Trump's not releasing his tax returns (he's broke) https://t.co/IfM7mTPGVp Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) July 29, 2016 Trump, I think youre not releasing your taxes because you dont have any money. I think youre broke. I dont even think you have an accountant. I think you use TurboTax. Youre not running for president because you want the power or you want to make America great, I think you need the $400,000 a year salary. Trump benefited from a free ride courtesy of the mainstream media, which saw Trump as a ratings magnet. Fox News reported in late 2015 that, There is a general perception that he has all the money he needs, however, hes spending less he hasnt had to open his wallet because of all the attention hes received, said Anthony Corrado, professor and campaign finance expert at Colby College in Maine. His standing in the polls has allowed him to essentially ride this wave of support. However, it turned out that free media coverage wasnt enough. We have seen many indications throughout the campaign that this may be true. For example, Colin Campbell observed at Business Insider in May that, Trump frequently brags on the campaign trail that he is self-funding his operation. But after putting in $1.8 million of his own money to jump-start his bid, he gave just over $100,000 to his campaign in the past three months. The bulk of his recent spending came from donations, most of which were relatively small. Republicans were stunned in May to learn Trumps campaign was broke. How can this be? The guy is rich! Just ask him. Still, by mid-June Trump was begging donors for money, and we saw him turn to a telethon pretty far from financing his own campaign. Trump highlighted his money woes in mid-July when he whined about Hillary Clinton having money to pay for ads, the implication being that he did not. Then there is the well known fact that he doesnt pay his debts to contractors, his repeated bankruptcies, and the revelation that the major American banks wont work with him anymore. There is nothing far out in Meyers joke that Trump is broke. His entire career has been a shell-game and his campaign has offered more of the same. Trump is a deadbeat, trying to pull one over on the American people after having so often doing the same to banks and others he has done business with. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump has insulted veterans by comparing his business success to those who have sacrificed their lives in battle for their country. Video: Trump responded Army father Khizr Khan, who lost his son in combat, saying that he had sacrificed nothing for his country by equating his making money to deaths of fallen soldiers. In an interview with ABCs George Stephanopoulos, Trump said, Who wrote that? Did Hillarys script writers write it? I think Ive made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard.I think Ive made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. Ive created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. Ive had tremendous success. I think Ive done a lot. Trump claimed that he helped get the Vietnam War Memorial built and that he has raised millions of dollars for vets. None of the things that Trump mentioned were sacrifices. Giving veterans groups money that he had promised only after the media pressured him into coughing up the dough is not sacrifice. Making money in business is the opposite of sacrifice. It appears that Donald Trump has never sacrificed for anything in his entire life. Being born rich and making more money as an adult is not sacrifice. Trump never served in the Vietnam war thanks to repeated deferments. Trump has never sacrificed for his country in the same way as those who have served their country. For Trump to try to equate his life of luxury with those who have been wounded or died protecting our freedom is an insult to every single service person and their families. Trumps comments reflect the beliefs of his party. For years, Republicans have fought against expanding care and programs for veterans. The Republican Party no longer believes in taking action to live up to the nations promise to our vets. Donald Trump is a disgrace, and his sacrifice is a joke compared to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country. w Q: I recently put an 18-inch scratch on the rear passenger side door of my 2015 Subaru Outback. It is a fairly narrow scratch, but down to the metal in a few spots. Estimates from body shops ranged from $1,300 to $1,600 and would include removing both doors and the side quarter panel and repainting the whole passenger side of the car. They said if they just did the one door, it would likely be noticeable. Another shop quoted $600 for just the door but did not recommend it. I haven't decided yet whether to file an insurance claim. Can their paint job be as good and as long-lasting as the original paint? My inclination is to buy some touch-up paint and cover the scratch to prevent rust. I plan to keep the car so am not immediately concerned with resale value. A: I'm not sure why the entire side of the vehicle would need to be repainted. Since the scratch is only on the rear door, I would think just the door could be repainted. Yes, blending new paint and clearcoat on a panel is difficult to do without visible evidence of the repair. But an accurate color repaint of the entire door should be very difficult to notice. I tend to agree with the idea of not repainting an undamaged area of factory paint unless absolutely necessary. The quality, finish and durability of the original paint is tough to duplicate. I believe there are four major factors in your decision cost, appearance, durability and corrosion protection. And resale value, which you're not concerned with at this point. Here's my suggestion pick up factory touch-up paint, rust converter primer, small paint brush, preparatory solvent for cleaning, etc. If you do need to do any sanding, try using a very small piece of 600 sandpaper under the eraser tip of a pencil. Take your time and try to "wick" the paint so that it fills rather than covers the scratch. The good news is that if you don't like the result, wipe it off with the solvent and try again. Remember, you can always have it professionally repainted in the future. As long as you've sealed the scratch to prevent rust and you're satisfied with how it looks, job well done. Regarding claiming the full repair on your collision coverage, carefully compare your deductible and potential increase in insurance rates if you claim the repair. ADVERTISEMENT Q: I have a 1987 Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup with 5.8-liter engine. The emissions light recently came on. In my reading, the light is not diagnostic like the check engine light but merely a time clock. I have been unable to learn where this time module is located. I understand that one can reset the time clock by inserting a screwdriver in the reset hole (or there could be a button). I have heard that you can return to a dealer and they charge for simply resetting this clock. Can you tell me specifically where the time module is located for my truck? A: Amazing how "new" technology becomes old so quickly. Your on-board diagnostic engine management system was state of the art 30 years ago. Today, that's like comparing an early F-80 jet to the newest F-35 they are both fighters but that's about all they have in common. The emissions light on your 1987 truck is set to illuminate at 60,000-mile intervals (not time) as a reminder to replace the exhaust gas recirculation valve and solenoid. The module is located under the dash to the left of the steering column and can be reset, as you described, by inserting a small Phillips head screwdriver through the small hole near the reset button sticker. Press and hold the button down and turn the ignition to the "run" position. After five seconds, remove the screwdriver. The lamp should go out within another five seconds, then switch off the ignition. We see that you have javascript disabled. Please enable javascript and refresh the page to continue reading local news. If you feel you have received this message in error, please contact the customer support team at 1-833-248-7801. MADISON, Wis. A 14-year-old Wisconsin girl tried to kill her brother's girlfriend, slitting her throat and telling her during the attack that she was a psychopath looking for her first kill, according to investigators. Kali Jade Bookey, of New Richmond, a city of 8,400 people about 35 miles east of Minneapolis, was charged as an adult Thursday with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. She was being held without bail Friday in juvenile custody pending a preliminary hearing Aug. 8. Her attorney, Barbara Miller, didn't immediately respond to an email or a voicemail seeking comment. According to a criminal complaint, which the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram first reported, Bookey called the St. Croix County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday morning to report that two men in a green pickup truck had tried to abduct her while she was riding her bike. She told the men that her brother's girlfriend was home alone and they should take her instead. Deputies responded to the girlfriend's trailer and found her in a bedroom bleeding profusely. The 15-year-old girl was taken by ambulance to a hospital. There, she told investigators that Bookey had attacked her. She said she was sleeping in her bedroom when Bookey, dressed in black, appeared in her room and put her hands over her mouth. A struggle ensued and Bookey punched her in the face multiple times and broke two bowls over her head. Bookey used one of the bowl shards to cut her and slit her throat, she said. ADVERTISEMENT The victim said Bookey asked her if she wanted to die or bleed out, so she opted to bleed out, the complaint states. Bookey told the victim she had been biking by her house and noting the times when she was alone, and she described herself as a crazy psychopath looking for her first kill, saying she probably would kill again. Bookey then told her to "have a nice afterlife" and left the trailer. According to investigators, Bookey initially stuck to her story about being abducted when investigators questioned her. She later said she hated the girl because the girl made her brother happier than she could. She said she knew the girlfriend's mother left her alone three days in a row, the complaint states. Bookey said she left her house around 4 a.m. on her bike and rode 11 miles to the girlfriend's trailer, investigators stated. She wanted to scare her so she and her mother would move away and her brother would "come back to the family." Bookey confirmed many of the details of the attack that investigators had learned from the girlfriend. Authorities said Bookey told them she didn't want the victim to die, but that she wanted her to pass out from blood loss so she could leave. Bookey said she had been thinking about attacking the girlfriend for about a week and a half and planned out how she would do it during other bike rides. Bookey's mother, Dawn Bookey, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that her family had no idea that her daughter was apparently plotting to attack the girlfriend. "We had no clue," the mother said. "There were no signs. We're all very, very sad." She declined to comment further. A Rochester man appeared in court for the first time Wednesday for six separate drug possession and sale charges that included cocaine, marijuana and Xanax. Morgan Xavier Malibago, 20, made his first appearance in Olmsted County District Court on Wednesday. He's charged with six felony drug charges and a seventh charge, possession of a firearm while being a user of a controlled substance, a gross misdemeanor. Malibago was arrested after officers with the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement Team executed a search warrant for a house on the 3400 block of Chalet View Lane Northwest on July 25. Malibago was in an upstairs bedroom at the house, and allegedly told officers he uses and sells cocaine, marijuana and also sells the prescription medication Xanax, according to the criminal complaint. Malibago allegedly showed officers to his backpack, where the drugs were located, according to the complaint, and officers found 319 grams of marijuana. He allegedly took officers to a safe where he had 34 grams of cocaine and 865 Xanax pills, according to the complaint. ADVERTISEMENT He also led officers to 22 baby bottles filled with red liquid, according to the complaint, which officers identified as prescription promethazine syrup, according to the complaint. He also revealed his 9mm pistol to officers, along with three ammunition magazines, also stored in the closet, according to the complaint. Officers located more than $1,000 cash and two drug sale ledgers. Judge Christina Stevens ordered "subject to bail or conditions of release" that Malibago continue to be detained pending further proceedings. Both first-degree sale and possession felony charges each hold a maximum sentence of 30 years, a $1,000,000 fine, or both. The four fifth-degree felony drug charges two sale, and two possession charges each hold a maximum sentence of five years, a $10,000 fine, or both. Malibago's charge for possession of a firearm by a user of a controlled substance, a gross misdemeanor, holds a maximum sentence of one year, a $3,000 fine, or both. A jury found a Rochester woman guilty of one count of malicious punishment of a child on Wednesday after authorities say she choked a boy until he couldn't breathe. Cassie Ann Garza, 37, was convicted of one count of malicious punishment of a child and acquitted of another charge for domestic assault by strangulation in the Olmsted County District Court. Garza was released on her recognizance on July 21 and her sentencing is set for Oct. 30. The conviction, a gross misdemeanor, holds a maximum prison sentence of one year or a fine up to $3,000, or both. The investigation began Jan. 26, when Olmsted County Community Services received a report of child abuse. According to the criminal complaint, the boy had "a bunch of broken blood vessels under his neck, like a big hickey," as well as across his entire neck and under both eyes. His left ear was also bruised. He allegedly told a staff member at school that Garza had "choked him and wouldn't stop," but had told him not to tell anyone because she could get in trouble. ADVERTISEMENT When an investigator met with the boy the next day, he initially told her he had a "rash" on his neck from playing around with his brother, and the marks on his eyes were a result of him rubbing them. The investigator asked the boy about what he told school staff, court documents say; he told her he didn't want Garza to go to jail, and "she didn't mean to do it." He went on to say the injuries happened Jan. 25, when he and Garza argued about a pair of shoes. Garza demanded the boy's phone, but he refused, prompting her to warn him that if he didn't listen, she was going to "put him down," the complaint says. The victim admitted he made an obscene gesture at Garza and called her "stupid." That's when Garza allegedly came up behind the boy, grabbed him around the neck with both arms and squeezed. It was difficult for him to talk and breathe, the reports say. Garza eventually pushed him to the ground, took his glasses off and put her knee into the left side of his face, the complaint says, then pulled his hair and "twisted it hard." The boy reportedly told authorities that Garza had hurt him before, punching him in the face, smacking his head into the wall, grabbing him by the face and choking him. Garza told police the red marks on the boy were from a rash, adding that he lies if he doesn't get his way. According to medical records, the boy had evidence of broken capillaries on the neck and inside both eyes, which the doctor concluded was caused from a choking episode, not a rash or hives. FALCON HEIGHTS Three weeks after the death of Philando Castile, some residents of Falcon Heights continue to press community leaders to end the city's contract with the St. Anthony Police Department. St. Anthony Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot and killed Castile, a 32-year-old black man, on July 6 during a traffic stop on Larpenteur Avenue. During a City Council listening session Wednesday, dozens of people called for major changes in how their city is policed. The emotion was evident in their voices as they recalled the killing of Castile that put this suburb in headlines around the world. Kay Andrews, who's white, wants to see immediate change in the policing of Falcon Heights. For Andrews, it's personal. She described how officers once stopped her African-American grandson in front of their house as he returned from work. "One of the cops pulled up and said 'Who are you? What are you doing here?' He said, 'I live here, I'm going home to bed.' And they said 'Do you have ID to prove that?'" ADVERTISEMENT Andrews said the officers put her grandson in the back of their squad car while they checked his records. She fears for his safety. "I can't speak for them. I'm not black. But I know their pain," she said. "Any of them could have been the victim of this kind of a killing." Resident Tom Brace, a former state fire marshal who's worked alongside many public safety officials, said that at the very least Falcon Heights should take a close look at its contract with St. Anthony and think hard about the kind of policing it wants. "Get that contract out, have the city's attorney review it," he said. "And let's ask some basic questions. Do we have any ability to change it? What are the provisions to change that contract?" Many African-Americans at the meeting talked about getting pulled over frequently on Larpenteur Avenue the main route through Falcon Heights where officers stopped Castile. John Thompson, who works for St. Paul Public Schools and knew Castile, said Larpenteur is known as a hot spot for racial profiling. "I never travel that stretch of Larpenteur. And you can ask 100 black men, and they'll tell you we never travel that route simply because we know we're going to be harassed by the police," he said. "We know we're going to have to get out of our car. We know we're going to have to lay down on the ground. We know we're going to be treated differently than any other traffic stop." Thompson remembered Castile as a warm and generous young man who was passionate about the children he served as a cafeteria supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori. ADVERTISEMENT That was a sentiment echoed by Valerie Castile, Philando's mother. Bringing the meeting to a close, she urged the council to act quickly and decisively. "I just want to let you know that I hope you do the right thing. Someone has to step up and hold people accountable for their behavior," she said. Others said change is not coming fast enough in Falcon Heights. After the meeting Mayor Peter Lindstrom said he understands residents' frustration. "People are passionate. People are interested. People have great ideas, and we're all ears right now," he said. "But that needs to translate into action sooner rather than later." While no changes to the police contract are imminent, Lindstrom said he doesn't need to wait for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to complete its investigation of the shooting before acting. But at the same time he said overhauling the police contract requires careful deliberation and more input from residents. Lindstrom said he expects to hold more public meetings on the topic soon. MINNEAPOLIS A push to give workers in Minneapolis one of the highest minimum wages in the country has run into a major obstacle. The city is considering a petition that would ask voters whether to approve a $15 minimum wage. But City Attorney Susan Segal has recommended the City Council reject putting the issue on the November ballot. Segal says the proposal is an ordinance disguised as a charter amendment. Supporters gathered more than 8,400 signatures to get the issue considered, and say they're ready to take legal action if the council decides next month to block the issue from the ballot. A handful of cities, including Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco have passed ordinances to raise the minimum wage to $15 during the next few years. A new representative of Rochester's Ward 6 will join the Rochester City Council next year as voters have a choice between two first-time candidates. Annalissa Johnson and Patrick "P.J." Day won an August primary and will compete in November for the council seat. Current Ward 6 council member Sandra Means did not seek a new term. Johnson moved back to Rochester seven years ago to found her business, Good Dog Camp. She has come out as a strong advocate of neighborhood involvement in city issues. "I think that neighborhoods should stand up and speak up," Johnson said. "As a representative of the city, our job is to represent neighborhoods and the people of neighborhoods. If you can have a strong neighborhood, you'll have a strong community, in my opinion." Day, owner and appraiser at Day Appraisal Co., grew up in Rochester and has been a Ward 6 resident for the past 25 years. He ran for the city council seat 14 years ago in a special election and lost to Means. ADVERTISEMENT Day also considers himself a neighborhood proponent. "I am for neighborhoods; I think that's part of what we have to do listen to the whole neighborhood and see what everyone wants," Day said. "I know that's a big part of our job. I think sometimes that gets out of proportion a little." Johnson and Day in candidate forum appearances have found common ground in discussing public safety. The candidates have differed in their approaches to transportation and infrastructure. Johnson has said she supports bicycle infrastructure and complete streets. Day has said he supports development of bicycle trails separate from roads and complete streets that are safe and usable for all forms, including cars. "If we're going to do complete streets, let's do real complete streets that are good for everybody cars, buses, pedestrians, everybody," he said. Johnson has spent more time recently discussing affordable housing and workforce attraction and retention, issues that go hand-in-hand with Destination Medical Center development. For the only two city council candidates in the election to have competed in a primary, the race already has been a long one for Johnson and Day. Each has dedicated time to deepening their understanding of local issues and refining their platforms. ADVERTISEMENT "It's been a learning experience, and I'd say I've come a long way in the last three months," Johnson said. Profile: Patrick Day Rochester City Council Ward 6 Profile: Annalissa Johnson Rochester City Council Ward 6 MINNEAPOLIS A museum in Minneapolis is re-creating the traditional hut used by nomadic Somali people, in hope of teaching young Somali-Americans and others about a way of life in danger of disappearing. Somali huts are made of bendable, strong branches from trees such as Dhumay or Acacia. Men collect the wood; women assemble the hut. Amina Shire, who gave her age as past 70, explained that building a hut begins with boiled Acacia water, which looks like a pot of thick red herbs, to reinforce and disinfect tree branches. Shire was a nomadic farmer herself. She saw huts being made when she was only 5 years old and began making them herself as a teenager. "It's my culture, and my tradition," she said through an interpreter. "We build the hut, we go in, we take a nap ... we make it beautiful, we sleep in it." Few Somali youth today understand how their elders lived before the construction of modern buildings and homes, she said. ADVERTISEMENT Her interpreter, Amine Muse, who is also the education coordinator for the Somali Museum of Minnesota, explained that once the hut's skeleton is made, the women work on the inside, weaving traditional mats. "You put that on top," she said. "From the outside it looks just like grass, but inside you can see the patterns and colors." As rain started to fall, another elder Somali woman, Hawa Aden, explained how to put the branches together, stretching rope and wet leather around every part of the wood. It's not an easy task, and bending the wood requires real strength. Osman Mohamed Ali, president of the museum, said this is how his people used to live. "We don't want this kind of culture to get eliminated or die," he said. The Somali Museum of Minnesota is still trying to find a permanent home. Founded just three years ago, the museum has a collection of about 700 artifacts, housed on the lower level of Plaza Verde off Lake Street in Minneapolis. "You can take Somali traditional dance, you can learn weaving," Ali said. "The first class, all white people. ... Last class, they were half and half." In other words, knowledge of Somali culture is for both Somali-Americans and those wishing to know more about their neighbors. ST. PAUL A Minnesota prosecutor said Friday that he won't step aside but will add a special prosecutor to his team as he decides whether to charge a police officer in the fatal shooting of a black motorist, whose case gained national attention after the shooting's gruesome aftermath was broadcast live online. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said he was elected to uphold the law and intends to fulfill his duty when investigating the July 6 death of Philando Castile. But he said he will incorporate a special prosecutor into his team to enhance trust in the results. Choi named former U.S. Department of Justice attorney Don Lewis, who is black, to that role. The former law school dean also helped investigate allegations of excessive force in the arrest of a black community activist in 2014 in Minneapolis. In that case, Lewis said the officers were justified. "This independent perspective can only enhance the integrity and legitimacy of our decision in this case," Choi said. "This is ultimately what justice requires." The Castile family's attorney, Glenda Hatchett, had asked for a special prosecutor but said the family was pleased with Choi's decision, calling it a "good step in the right direction." She said she listened to the prosecutor's reasoning and understood his decision. ADVERTISEMENT "At the end of the day, what we're seeking is that justice be done," Hatchett said. Lewis said he was proud to join the case. He said he agreed those empowered to make prosecuting decisions must be accountable to the public, and he's committed to ensuring the process is fact-based, even-handed and transparent. "My hope, whatever the outcome, is that my work in John's office will earn the trust and confidence ... of those, who today, expect the least and fear the worst from our criminal justice system," he said. Castile, 32, was fatally shot during a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul. Video showing Castile slumped over in the driver's seat, his shirt soaked with blood, was streamed live on Facebook by his girlfriend, who said Castile was reaching for his wallet when he was shot by St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez. An attorney for Yanez, who is Latino, has said the officer was reacting to the presence of a gun and not Castile's race. The attorney also has said one reason Yanez pulled Castile over was because he thought Castile looked like a "possible match" for an armed robbery suspect. The shooting is being investigated by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Choi said he hasn't been given the results of the investigation, and he had no details Friday on timing. But he noted it took 13 weeks for the bureau to investigate another high-profile shooting involving police. Choi also said he hasn't decided whether he'll send the case to the grand jury or if his office will make the charging decision. He said Lewis would play an integral role in making that decision. Activists have urged Choi to avoid a grand jury, arguing the panels rarely charge officers and the process is hidden from public view. ADVERTISEMENT Protesters have demonstrated repeatedly since Castile's death, often outside the official governor's residence in St. Paul. Nearly 70 protesters were arrested this week as police attempted to clear the street in front of the residence. Lewis, a St. Paul native, is a former law school dean at St. Paul's Hamline University. He has spent much of his career in private practice at a law firm he co-founded that focuses on defending corporate clients. He also has worked in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and for the U.S. Attorney's Office. Lewis was hired by the city of Minneapolis last year to investigate allegations of excessive force in an activist's 2014 arrest. Lewis ultimately wrote that officers were justified in the way they handled the arrest. He also recently served as general counsel to an independent task force that was reviewing policies of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis related to clergy sexual abuse of minors. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota also had called for a special prosecutor to take over Castile's case. Teresa Nelson, the group's legal director, said Friday that it appears Lewis won't have any independent authority. She said the ACLU will continue to ask that a truly independent special prosecutor be appointed. 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 on Wednesday 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. at the Art Center, 40 Civic Center Drive SE. P-B Dialogue meetings typically are 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 first was 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. While upcoming vacations and family barbecues might be on the minds of most Minnesotans, the Aug. 9 primary election is fast approaching. During that election, voters have a chance to winnow down the number of candidates battling for federal, state and local offices in November. Historically, it's been tough to get voters to the polls in the midst of the dog days of summer. In general, about one in 10 registered voters casts a ballot in the August primary. Still, candidates are hoping to break through the summer fun and catch voters' attention. Here are the primary elections in southeast Minnesota that are most worth watching. 2nd District Republican primary The battle for the 2nd Congressional seat is one of only 20 competitive U.S. House seats in the nation. ADVERTISEMENT Last fall, 2nd District Republican Rep. John Kline announced he would not seek re-election to the seat. That created a rarity in national politics an open seat in a swing district, said St. Olaf political science professor Dan Hofrenning. "Not only is it an open seat, but it's an open seat in a district where the partisan as reflected in other races is pretty close," Hofrenning said. The district stretches from the southern Twin Cities suburbs to Goodhue and Wabasha counties. Voters in the 2nd District narrowly voted in favor of President Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney in 2012. They also favored DFL Sen. Al Franken over GOP Senate candidate Mike McFadden in 2014. The big question voters will answer on Aug. 9 is which of four Republicans will win the chance to take on Eagan Democrat Angie Craig in November. Conservative radio host Jason Lewis is viewed as the front-runner heading into the primary, after having won the party's endorsement. But Burnsville CEO Darlene Miller, who has the backing of Kline, is hoping to pull off an upset. Also vying for the seat is former Red Wing state Sen. John Howe and Matt Erickson, who founded Minnesotans for Trump. One thing is for sure the Republican that wins on primary election day can expect a tough general election fight against Craig, Hofrenning said. That's because Craig doesn't have a Democratic primary challenge and has been able to focus her time on fundraising. But the Republican winner is likely to get plenty of help from the national GOP groups eager to keep the seat red. National Democratic groups also are likely to flood the district with dollars. "It's not easy to gain additional seats in the House," Hofrenning said. "Republicans want to hold their advantage, and Democrats would love to get the House back or get it closer to parity." Rochester City Council Ward 6 Four Rochester City Council seats are up for election this year but only one has a primary, Ward 6. It also is the only race where the incumbent will not seek re-election council member Sandra Means is stepping down after 14 years of service. ADVERTISEMENT Vying for the Ward 6 seat are three relative newcomers to Rochester politics: Nick Carter, Patrick Day and Annalissa Johnson. Carter and Johnson are running for a city council seat for the first time, and Day ran against Means in a special election 14 years ago. Rochester's promise of growth and development in the Destination Medical Center era has given these Ward 6 candidates plenty of material to consider as they compete for the two spots on the November ballot. Long-range planning and the DMC vision has become an integral part of the city council's work, and Carter, Day and Johnson have quickly taken stances on transit development and other infrastructure challenges. The city's downtown resources also are at critical junctures the council soon will decide the fate of the Chateau Theatre, the Armory building and a proposed expansion of the Rochester Public Library. In Ward 6, the candidates also will have to consider affordable housing development and the potential for mixed-income building projects. Johnson also is the only woman running for a council seat, a council that is all men with Means' upcoming absence. Johnson and Day, speaking at a recent forum, agreed the city's boards and committees do not reflect the city's diversity. Lake City Council election What's striking about this race is the sheer number of candidates battling for a spot on the board. A dozen people are running for three city council slots. Primary voters will whittle that massive pool of candidates in half, down to six. The candidates running are Ryan Anderson, Tom Dwelle, Mark Fayette, Phil Gartner, Russell Malcomson, Cindy McGrath, John Mead, Andru Peters, James Rainwater, Mary Jane Rasmussen, Mark Spence and Mary Lou Waltman. ADVERTISEMENT While priorities among the candidates vary, one issue getting plenty of attention from would-be council members is what should be done with U.S. Highway 61 after it undergoes reconstruction. Some want to make the road three lanes with a middle turn lane, making it more driver friendly for visitors. Others argue it should be four lanes to ensure traffic can move quickly through town. Another big issue is how best to connect the downtown with the waterfront and what investments should be made. Rochester School Board Seat 3 The primary election for the school board seat will go on, even though one of the candidates has announced he's dropping out. Last week, John League announced by email prior to a debate that he would no longer be seeking the seat because "it's simply not the right time," noting he will "evaluate (how) the school board evolves in the coming years before making any future plans." But it is too late to take League's name off the ballot, so the primary will go ahead as planned. The two candidates still campaigning for the seat are Bobbie Gallas and Deborah Seelinger. During a recent debate, the two remaining candidates were set apart by their views on the district's budget and the strength of the communication and transparency between Rochester Public Schools and the community. While Gallas feels these can be improved upon, Seelinger feels the district's in good standing. A schedule of Post-Bulletin primary election previews: Today: 1st District GOP, 2nd District GOP, Rochester School Board position 3, Rochester City Council Ward 6 Monday : Wabasha City Council Ward 1, Wabasha City Council Ward 3 Tuesday : Winona Mayor, Winona County Commissioner District 4 Wednesday : Red Wing Mayor, Red Wing City Council Ward 2, Red Wing City Council Wards 3 and 4, Mower County Commissioner District 1 Thursday : Lake City City Council Friday : Houston County Commissioner District 3, Houston County Commissioner District 5 Saturday : Judge - Third District Court 16, Judge - Third District Court 17 Gene Dornink Age:53 Hometown:Hayfield Occupation:Carpenter Political experience:Party volunteer and state and national delegate. Been active in grassroots politics for over 30 years. ADVERTISEMENT Endorsement:Republican-endorsed candidate Top three priorities: 1. Fix health care. 2. Tax relief for middle class and farmers. 3. Jobs: Create a better working environment for business and education opportunities. What is the single greatest challenge facing Greater Minnesota? The dominance of the metro area and one-size-fits-all mentality. Our local communities in Greater Minnesota need options that fit their communities, instead of constraining and costly mandates such as state-run MNsure. Greater Minnesota paid for it with higher premiums and higher deductibles. Another example of one size not fitting all is the buffer zone law that was passed and continues to be reworked. ADVERTISEMENT What should be done to create more jobs in the state? The private sector is where jobs are created. Government is to help make a level playing field and positive economic climate in which business owners feel confident about investing and expanding in our state. The only way to grow jobs in Minnesota, with the current business climate, is to grow from within. The business climate in Minnesota is one of the worst in the nation; very few businesses want to come to Minnesota. Minnesota has to become more competitive in the work compensation rates, less regulation and lower business tax rates in order to bring jobs here. What should the state's spending priorities be? The state is constitutionally mandated to fulfill certain spending obligations, such as infrastructure and education. After that, I believe government needs to do what all businesses and families do: prioritize the "needs" first and use any leftover funds for the "wants" later. People are frustrated with the omnibus bills that roll out of St. Paul into one big, bloated spending bill. I believe in one bill, one vote each bill should be prioritized and voted on one at a time. Otherwise, politicians can hide behind the omnibus bill instead of making the hard spending decisions. Cynthia Gail Age:58 Hometown:Albert Lea Occupation:Teacher ADVERTISEMENT Political experience:Ran for Legislature as a Green Party candidate. Endorsement:Did not get Republican endorsement Top three priorities: 1. Balance the budget and taxes. 2. Rural roads. 3. Social wellness when it comes to people suffering from drug abuse and domestic violence. What is the single greatest challenge facing Greater Minnesota? Our greatest challenge is establishing work ethics as individual dignity and responsibility. Government spending and taxation at all levels are destroying small business as well as pushing middle class into lower middle class. We, as an intelligent society, need to establish positive change. What should be done to create more jobs in the state? To create more jobs we need to restructure government rules, regulations, unreasonable corporate dialogue, realize that small businesses are not small corporate business. Small business is what it took to create America. What should the state's spending priorities be? State spending needs to reflect on the problems of medical drug abuse and street drugs. Why do these people feel they need the drugs? Why do doctors walk away from the profession? Are colleges promoting positive and productive changes? Does the end justify the means? Is college affordable? Heather Carlson / hcarlson@postbulletin.com WASHINGTON "The best darn change-maker I ever met in my entire life." So said Bill Clinton in making the case for his wife at the Democratic National Convention. Considering that Bernie Sanders ran as the author of a political revolution and Donald Trump as the man who would "kick over the table" (to quote Newt Gingrich) in Washington, "change-maker" does not exactly make the heart race. Which is the fundamental problem with the Clinton campaign. What precisely is it about? Why is she running in the first place? Like most dynastic candidates (most famously Ted Kennedy in 1979), she really doesn't know. She seeks the office because, well, it's the next -- the final -- step on the ladder. Her campaign's premise is that we're doing OK but we can do better. There are holes to patch in the nanny-state safety net. She's the one to do it. It amounts to Sanders lite. Or the short-lived Bush slogan: "Jeb can fix it." We know where that went. ADVERTISEMENT The one man who could have given the pudding a theme, who could have created a plausible Hillaryism was Bill Clinton. Rather than do that -- the way in Cleveland Gingrich shaped Trump's various barstool eruptions into a semi-coherent program of national populism -- Bill gave a long chronological account of a passionate liberal's social activism. It was an attempt, I suppose, to humanize her. Well, yes. Perhaps, after all, somewhere in there is a real person. But what a waste of Bill's talents. It wasn't exactly Clint Eastwood speaking to an empty chair, but at the end you had to ask: Is that all there is? He grandly concluded with this: "The reason you should elect her is that in the greatest country on earth we have always been about tomorrow." Is there a rhetorical device more banal? Trump's acceptance speech was roundly criticized for offering a dark, dystopian vision of America. For all of its exaggeration, however, it reflected well the view from Fishtown, the fictional white working-class town created statistically by social scientist Charles Murray in his 2012 study "Coming Apart." It chronicled the economic, social and spiritual disintegration of those left behind by globalization and economic transformation. Trump's capture of the resultant feelings of anxiety and abandonment explains why he enjoys an astonishing 39-point advantage over Clinton among whites without a college degree. His solution is to beat up on foreigners for "stealing" our jobs. But while trade is a factor in the loss of manufacturing jobs, even more important, by a large margin, is the emergence of an information economy in which education, knowledge and various kinds of literacy are the coin of the realm. For all the factory jobs lost to Third World competitors, far more are lost to robots. Hard to run against higher productivity. Easier to run against cunning foreigners. In either case, Clinton has found no counter. If she has a theme, it's about expanding opportunity, shattering ceilings. But the universe of discriminated-against minorities -- so vast 50 years ago -- is rapidly shrinking. When the burning civil rights issue of the day is bathroom choice for the transgendered, a flummoxed Fishtown understandably asks, "What about us?" Telling coal miners she was going to close their mines and kill their jobs only reinforced white working-class alienation from Clinton. As for the chaos abroad, the Democrats are in see-no-evil denial. The first night in Philadelphia, there were 61 speeches. Not one mentioned the Islamic State or even terrorism. Later references were few, far between and highly defensive. After all, what can the Democrats say? Clinton's calling card is experience. Yet as secretary of state she left a trail of policy failures from Libya to Syria, from the Russian reset to the Iraqi withdrawal to the rise of the Islamic State. ADVERTISEMENT Clinton had a strong second half of the convention as the Sanders revolt faded and as President Obama endorsed her with one of the finer speeches of his career. Yet Trump's convention bounce of up to 10 points has given him a slight lead in the polls. She badly needs one of her own. She still enjoys the Democrats' built-in Electoral College advantage. But she remains highly vulnerable to both outside events and internal revelations. Another major terror attack, another email drop -- and everything changes. In this crazy election year, there are no straight-line projections. As Clinton leaves Philadelphia, her lifelong drive for the ultimate prize is perilously close to a coin flip. Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post. Donald Trump has found an ingenious way to save the Democratic Party. Basically, he's abandoned the great patriotic themes that used to fire up the GOP and he's allowed the Democrats to seize that ground. If you visited the two conventions this year you would have come away thinking that the Democrats are the more patriotic of the two parties and the more culturally conservative. Trump has abandoned the Judeo-Christian aspirations that have always represented America's highest moral ideals: toward love, charity, humility, goodness, faith, temperance and gentleness. He left the ground open for Joe Biden to remind us that decent people don't enjoy firing other human beings. Trump has abandoned the basic modesty code that has always ennobled the American middle class: Don't brag, don't let your life be defined by gilded luxuries. He left the ground open for the Democrats to seize middle-class values with one quick passage in a Tim Kaine video about a guy who goes to the same church where he was married, who taught carpentry as a Christian missionary in Honduras, who has lived in the same house for the last 24 years. ADVERTISEMENT Trump has also abandoned the American ideal of popular self-rule. He left the ground open for Barack Obama to remind us that our founders wanted active engaged citizens, not a government run by a solipsistic and self-appointed savior who wants everything his way. Trump has abandoned the deep and pervasive optimism that has always energized the American nation. He left the ground open for Michelle Obama to embrace the underlying chorus of hope that runs through the American story: that our national history is an arc toward justice; that evil rises for a day but contains the seeds of its own destruction; that beneath the vicissitudes that darken our days, we live in an orderly cosmos governed by love. For decades the Republican Party has embraced America's open, future-oriented nationalism. But when you nominate a Silvio Berlusconi you give up a piece of that. When you nominate a blood-and-soil nationalist you're no longer speaking in the voice of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and every Republican nominee from Reagan to McCain to Romney. Democrats have often been ambivalent about that ardent nationalistic voice, but this week they were happy to accept Trump's unintentional gift. There were an unusually high number of great speeches at the Democratic convention this year: the Obamas, Biden, Booker, Clinton, the Mothers of the Movement and so on. These speakers found their eloquence in staving off this demagogue. They effectively separated Trump from America. They separated him from conservatism. They made full use of the deep nationalist chords that touch American hearts. Trump has allowed the Democrats to mask their deep problems. A Democratic administration has presided over a time of growing world chaos, growing violence and growing anger. But the Democrats seem positively organized and orderly compared to Candidate Chaos on the other side. ADVERTISEMENT The Sanders people have 90 percent of the Democratic Party's passion and 95 percent of the ideas. Most Sanders people are kind- and open-hearted, but there is a core that is corrupted by moral preening, an uncompromising absolutism and a paranoid unwillingness to play by the rules of civic life. But the extremist fringe that threatens to take over the Democratic Party seems less menacing than the lunatic fringe that has already taken over the Republican one. This week I left the arena here each night burning with indignation at Mike Pence. I almost don't blame Trump. He is a morally untethered, spiritually vacuous man who appears haunted by multiple personality disorders. It is the "sane" and "reasonable" Republicans who deserve the shame the ones who stood silently by, or worse, while Donald Trump gave away their party's sacred inheritance. The Democrats had by far the better of the conventions. But the final and shocking possibility is this: In immediate political terms it may not make a difference. The Democratic speakers hit doubles, triples and home runs. But the normal rules may no longer apply. The Democrats may have just dominated a game we are no longer playing. Both conventions featured one grieving parent after another. The fear of violent death is on everybody's mind from ISIS, cops, lone sociopaths. The essential contract of society that if you behave responsibly things will work out has been severed for many people. It could be that in this moment of fear, cynicism, anxiety and extreme pessimism, many voters may have decided that civility is a surrender to a rigged system, that optimism is the opiate of the idiots and that humility and gentleness are simply surrendering to the butchers of ISIS. If that's the case then the throes of a completely new birth are upon us and Trump is a man from the future. If that's true it's not just politics that has changed, but the country. ADVERTISEMENT David Brooks is a columnist for the New York Times. Democrats have done a remarkable thing this week in Philadelphia: They framed this election as an epic struggle not just to continue the policies of President Obama but to renew the sunlit, optimistic Americanism of Ronald Reagan. In his valedictory speech Wednesday night, Obama quoted Reagan's description of the country as a "shining city on a hill" and contrasted it with Donald Trump's nightmare vision of "a divided crime scene." Obama also used famous words from another Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, to praise Hillary Clinton as someone "who is actually in the arena, ... who strives valiantly, who errs, ... but who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement." When Clinton came onstage and the president embraced her in a bear hug, he was passing along not just his own legacy as a two-term Democratic president but that of the consequential Republican presidents who preceded him as well. It was an audacious thing to do in a venue where no one, except possibly some of the security guards, shared Reagan's conservative philosophy. But it was smart politics, and it also reflected objective reality: Trump is an alien, aberrational, dangerous force in American politics and must never be allowed to wield the awesome powers of the presidency. The back-to-back conventions in Cleveland and Philadelphia could not have been more different. The Republican gathering looked thrown-together and lacking in both star power and historical resonance, largely because so many GOP luminaries refused to have anything to do with crowning the usurper Trump; the entire Bush family stayed away, including the last two Republican presidents, as did the party's two most recent nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney. ADVERTISEMENT The assembled Republicans did come away unified in their determination to defeat Clinton. But the pessimism and anger in Cleveland were extreme, putting the GOP on record as asserting that the United States is in grave crisis, teetering on the edge of some fathomless abyss. By any objective measure, this is absurd. But many Americans are anxious about jobs and the slow-growing economy, and about terrorism, immigration and demographic change. Trump won the nomination by exacerbating these fears and presenting an all-purpose solution: himself. An all-star lineup of speakers systematically sought to reveal Trump as an ignorant windbag full of incoherent bluster. Leon Panetta, who was CIA director when U.S. operatives killed Osama bin Laden, said Trump is manifestly unqualified to be commander in chief. Vice President Joe Biden said that "no major party nominee has ever known less or been less prepared." Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who is one of the wealthiest men in the country, blasted Trump as a poor businessman -- "The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy" -- and implored voters to choose "a sane, competent person" in Clinton. Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine focused mostly on introducing himself to the nation. But he did unveil a passable Trump imitation, and he showed off the fluent Spanish that he will surely use to woo Hispanic audiences. It fell to Obama to make the larger philosophical critique not just of Trump but of Trumpism. This was no ordinary election, he said. "This is a more fundamental choice about who we are as a people. ... What we heard in Cleveland last week wasn't particularly Republican -- and it sure wasn't conservative." Instead, Obama said, Trump presented "a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems, just the fanning of resentment and blame and anger and hate." Obama said that Trump is "just offering slogans, and he's offering fear," but would lose the election because he underestimates Americans. "We are not a fragile people, we're not a frightful people," Obama said. "Our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don't look to be ruled." The president promised that "anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end." It was a Reaganesque defense of American ideals clearly designed to appeal not just to Democrats but to independents and moderate Republicans as well. ADVERTISEMENT The progressive wing of the party might not be thrilled with all the uncritical flag-waving. But the Gipper would not recognize or be welcomed in Trump's GOP. It is smart to invite his admirers to cross the aisle. After four weeks of standing-room-only meetings in a stuffy conference room, the Rochester City Council is ready to make a move. The council will hold its next committee of the whole meeting 3:30 p.m. Monday in the chambers it shares with the Olmsted County Board. Instead of taking seats at the dais, however, council members and key city staffers will surround a table as onlookers sit on the outskirts. The move makes more seats available 104 as opposed to 40 for those wanting to witness the proceedings. The number of watchers has been growing in recent weeks as the council has tackled a variety of attention-grabbing issues, including the fate of the Armory building and a proposed heritage preservation ordinance. The move is something we suggested in April, and we're glad to see it's being made, even if the council considers it a trial. We do understand the desire to have a more casual space for the informal meetings with staff, but the need for transparency must trump the meeting's mood. Often, more back-and-forth discussion occurs during the committee of the whole meetings than at regular council meetings, meaning residents who want to see what's behind key council decisions need access to the informal meetings. ADVERTISEMENT That's why we hope the council takes the move a step further and follows the suggestion of City Clerk Aaron Reeves, who noted the new digs would offer the option and live stream the meetings, meaning those who cannot attend the Monday afternoon meetings would still have timely access to information shared. Streaming the meetings would also address a concern raised by Public Works Director Richard Freese, who pointed out audience members sometimes struggle to hear the conversations in the planned new location. Making a video record of meetings will require microphones, meaning all voices at the table should be easy to hear. If other concerns or challenges arise, we encourage the council to continue on its path toward improved transparency by looking for solutions rather than slipping back to an old, comfortable practice. It won't be a typical Tuesday evening for many neighborhoods in Southeast Minnesota. The standard weeknight routines will give way to festivities in the area streets, cul de sacs and parks, as food, music and other entrainment lure people from their homes. It will also encourage those neighbors to embrace their communities. Tuesday is National Night Out, the annual celebration of community that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Rochester neighborhoods have made a name for themselves among the more than 16,000 communities throughout 50 states that attract millions each year. Last year, the city ranked third in a national competition, with 41,800 people pre-registered at 165 events. While the city is hoping to build on last year's success, targeting 50,000 people being signed up for 200 events, the night isn't about numbers. It's about community. A successful National Night Out could be an enormous block party or a small gathering in someone's back yard, as long as the result is a stronger community. ADVERTISEMENT A true judge of the night's success will be when spending a night among neighbors and engaged in community actually becomes a typical Tuesday evening. On one side, the Democratic National Convention was very much a celebration of America. On the other side, the Republican nominee for president, pressed on the obvious support he is getting from Vladimir Putin, once again praised Putin's leadership, suggested that he is OK with Russian aggression in Crimea, and urged the Russians to engage in espionage on his behalf. And no, it wasn't a joke. I know that some Republicans feel as if they've fallen through the looking glass. After all, usually they're the ones chanting "USA! USA! USA!" And haven't they spent years suggesting that Barack and Michelle Obama hate America, and may even support the nation's enemies? How did Democrats end up looking like the patriots here? But the parties aren't really experiencing a role reversal. Barack Obama's speech Wednesday was wonderful and inspiring, but when he declared that "what we heard in Cleveland last week wasn't particularly Republican," he was fibbing a bit. It was actually very Republican in substance; the only difference was that the substance was less disguised than usual. For the "fanning of resentment" that Obama decried didn't begin with Donald Trump, and most of the flag-waving never did have much to do with true patriotism. Think about it: What does it mean to love America? Surely it means loving the country we actually have. I don't know about you, but whenever I return from a trip abroad, my heart swells to see the sheer variety of my fellow citizens, so different in their appearance, their cultural heritage, their personal lives, yet all of them all of us Americans. That love of country doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be, uncritical. But the faults you find, the critiques you offer, should be about the ways in which we don't yet live up to our own ideals. If what bothers you about America is, instead, the fact that it doesn't look exactly the way it did in the past (or the way you imagine it looked in the past), then you don't love your country you care only about your tribe. ADVERTISEMENT And all too many influential figures on the right are tribalists, not patriots. We got a graphic demonstration of that reality after Michelle Obama's speech, when she spoke of the wonder of watching her daughters play on the lawn of "a house that was built by slaves." It was an uplifting and, yes, patriotic image, a celebration of a nation that is always seeking to become better, to transcend its flaws. But, all many people on the right especially the media figures who set the Republican agenda heard was a knock on white people. "They can't stop talking about slavery," complained Rush Limbaugh. The slaves had it good, insisted Bill O'Reilly: "They were well fed and had decent lodgings." Both men were, in effect, saying that whites are their tribe and must never be criticized. This same tribal urge surely underlies a lot of the right's rhetoric about national security. Why are Republicans so fixated on the notion that the president must use the phrase "Islamic terrorism," when actual experts on terrorism agree that this would actually hurt national security, by helping to alienate peaceful Muslims? The answer, I'd argue, is that the alienation isn't a side effect they're disregarding; it's actually the point it's all about drawing a line between us (white Christians) and them (everyone else), and national security has nothing to do with it. Which brings us back to the Vlad-Donald bromance. Trump's willingness to cast aside our nation's hard-earned reputation as a reliable ally is remarkable. So is the odd specificity of his support for Putin's priorities, which is in stark contrast with the vagueness of everything else he has said about policy. And he has offered only evasive nonanswers to questions about his business ties to Putin-linked oligarchs. But what strikes me most is the silence of so many leading Republicans in the face of behavior they would have denounced as treason coming from a Democrat not to mention the active support for Trump's stance among many in the base. What this tells you, I think, is that all the flag-waving and hawkish posturing had nothing to do with patriotism. It was, instead, about using alleged Democratic weakness on national security as a club with which to beat down domestic opponents, and serve the interests of the tribe. ADVERTISEMENT Now comes Trump, doing the bidding of a foreign power and inviting it to intervene in our politics and that's OK, because it also serves the tribe. So if it seems strange to you that these days Democrats are sounding patriotic while Republicans aren't, you just weren't paying attention. The people who now seem to love America always did; the people who suddenly no longer sound like patriots never were. Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a professor at Princeton University and a columnist for the New York Times. Yahoo Finance, a site which I believe is viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, is currently featuring this graphic which shows how superior Hillary Clintons economic plans are to Donald Trumps. Clintons proposals, the graph says, will lead to much more GDP growth than Trumps: The chart comes from an analysis by Moodys Analytics. CNN is currently highlighting the same report and its pro-Hillary conclusions. CNN tells us a bit more about the reports provenance: Moodys Analytics is an independent research group, but the lead author of the report on Clinton is Mark Zandi, who donated $2,700 to her campaign last year, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. CNN also tells us this about Mr. Zandis track record: Zandi was a vocal supporter of the stimulus package President Obama deployed during the financial crisis of 2009. We all know how that turned out: Later versions of the same chart traced the ongoing failure of the stimulus to perform anywhere near the level that was promised by Obamas economists and, apparently, Mr. Zandi. Perhaps Mr. Zandi still believes in the magical multiplier effect that was in vogue in the 1960s, and somehow transformed government spending into a growth vehicle exceeding all others. Most economists wised up long ago. Why, exactly, do the authors of the Moodys report think that Hillarys policies will contribute so much to GDP growth? Moodys found that several of Clintons key policies would boost the economy: Her immigration proposal would increase the number of skilled workers in the country But the vast majority of immigrants under all proposals that I have seen would be unskilled. If we admit a million immigrants, and 999,999 of them go on welfare while one gets a job, does the GDP go up? Yes, slightly. But that isnt the relevant question. The appropriate question is, does a particular immigration proposal result in increased after-tax per capita income for the average person who is already a citizen? The answer to that question is always No. Mr. Zandi also thinks that more government spending on infrastructureroads and bridgeswould help business productivity. Possibly so. Roads and bridges, which I am pretty sure Donald Trump would also be happy to build, are a legitimate government function, although the extent to which roads and bridges should be a federal function is debatable. What else? her paid family leave proposal would bring more people into the workforce. That is highly doubtful, but it certainly would reduce choice for both employees and employers. In the lifetime of a human being, Democrats are in favor of choice at only one moment. So, how much economic growth does Moodys Analytics project under Hillarys pro-government policies? The pace of GDP growth would also accelerate to an annual average of 2.7%, from the current forecast of 2.3%. But wait! As Paul noted earlier today, economic growth under Barack Obama has been, and continues to be, pathetic, currently running at a weak 1.2% annual rate. If I am not mistaken, Barack Obama will leave office as the only American president never to preside over a year in which the economy grew by 3%. Overall economic growth during his administration will be around 1 1/2% annually. That is a terrible record, but has Hillary Clinton ever criticized the Obama administrations economic policies? No. Has Hillary explained how her economic priorities will be different from Obamas? No. So why will GDP growth suddenly accelerate? There is no good reason. Mr. Zandi is simply a Democrat trying to help a fellow Democrat, just as he tried to help Barack Obama with wrong predictions about the effect of the stimulus. It is unfortunate that Moodys allows its name to be attached to such partisan hackery. Daniel Pipes recently gave an interview to Germanys Global Review. His observations are pithy as always; here are some highlights: GR: Many people say that Islam is not a religion but a reactionary, totalitarian and repressive ideology comparable to fascism and communism; and that Islam cannot be reformed. Other people say that Islamism had nothing to do with religion and Islam. What do you say about relations between Islam and Islamism? DP: Both these statements are silly. Of course, Islam is one of the major religions of the world; what is there to argue about? Islamism, a modern movement, however, shares much with fascism and communism. Islamism is a form of Islam. Denying this would be akin to saying that the Jesuits are not Christian. GR: Some experts compare Islam with Confucianism and Hinduism. They note that in the 1950s, Confucian societies were thought unable to develop economically and socially, and that Confucianism was seen as an obstacle to progress; same with Hinduism in India. Today, however, East Asia and India are economic powerhouses and many people perceive Confucianism and Hinduism as drivers of this success story. Could the same happen with Islam, that it will also reform? DP: Yes, it is possible that Muslim peoples will recover from todays predicament and go on to economic and political success. We have no way of predicting such things. And no civilization or religion stays permanently down. GR: There is a broad spectrum of Islamists. Al-Qaida, the Islamic State, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, which want to occupy territory by military means and create an ever expanding state. And then the Muslim Brotherhood, the Turkish AK Party and the Iranian Khomeinists. Which of these Islamist groups are the greatest danger for the West and which of these concepts do you think will be the most successful? DP: I worry the most about the subtle, infiltrating Islamists. When it comes to force, we can easily defeat them. But when it comes to our own institutions schools, law courts, media, parliaments we are far less prepared to defend ourselves. GR: In the Western countries many Islamophobic parties and politicians are on the rise. Do you think this will help the spread of Islamism or will these parties help the counter-jihad? Hillary Clinton said that Trump and his anti-Muslim speeches are the best recruiters for the Islamic State. True? DP: I do not recognize the term Islamophobe and do not know what it means except, in the immortal phrase of Andrew Cummins as a word created by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons. Your question reverses the sequence of events. Islamist ideology breads Islamist violence, which starts the process and in turn inspires anti-Islamic sentiments. Anti-Islamic views might also inspire more Islamist violence, but that is incidental. The real dynamic here is Islamism creating anti-Islam parties. As Norbert Hofer has shown in Austria, they are approaching 50 percent of the vote and with it, political power. GR: Besides Islamists, the West has to deal with Russia, China, and North Korea. How can it deal with all these challenges at the same time? Which counter-jihadi strategy do you find most promising? DP: The strategic environment today is far easier than during the cold war; there is no determined ideological enemy with the tools of a great power at its disposal. The key is for the West not to go to sleep. Electing such leaders as Obama and Merkel, however, means going to sleep. The best counter-jihadi strategy is one that takes ideas seriously. GR: It took the West two decades to get rid of fascism and 70 years to get rid of communism. How long do you think will it take to get rid of Islamism? Are we facing the zenith of Islamism right now or are we just halfway up the road and will it get even worse? DP: The battle against Islamism has not yet started. I cannot predict how long it will take. Its still pre-1945 in communist terms and the 1930s in fascist terms. I see Islamism as having peaked in 2012-13 and showing signs of weakness. Yaron Steinbuch reports in the New York Post: ISIS teen who killed priest passed background check for airport job. Steinbuch notes that [t]he bloodthirsty jihadist who executed a Catholic priest in France easily passed a background check to become an airport baggage handler[.] The murderer worked full time at Chambery Airport in the Savoie region, which is used by more than 250,000 passengers a year, until just three months ago[.] Can you top that? I think I can. Among the group of Minnesota men seeking to join ISIS in 2014 and 2015 were two who worked at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the course of their conspiracy. The first was Abdirizak Warsame. Warsame was the ringleader of the group seeking to depart Minnesota in order to wage jihad with ISIS. Earlier this year he pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Warsame worked on the tarmac at MSP handling baggage and deicing airplanes from December 2013 to August 2014. Warsame worked at the airport with Abdirahman Bashir (or Bashiir). After being called to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence in the case, the government showed Bashir the evidence it had against him. Thinking things over with his attorney, Bashir decided to become an informant for the government. When he agreed to become an informant, Bashir testified at trial, the first question he asked was, Can I get my job at the airport back? What job? In response to my Minnesota Data Practices Act request, the airport police have informed me that Bashir obtained his security pass (i.e.,was badged) on November 26, 2013 and was terminated on Feb 4, 2014. He didnt get around to returning his badge until April 4, 2014. Bashirs job title was deicer. He worked for Integrated Deicing Services at the airport. I believe the period of Bashirs employment at the airport is a Power Line exclusive; the media have let this aspect of the case against the Minnesota men drop. Like Warsame, Bashir didnt work for long at the airport, but he could have done a lot of damage. Its almost enough to make you think airport security is a joke. In his column Socialism for the uninformed, Thomas Sowell observed: socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster. Sowell cited the slow-motion catastrophe in Venezuela as a case in point: While throngs of young people are cheering loudly for avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, socialism has turned oil-rich Venezuela into a place where there are shortages of everything from toilet paper to beer, where electricity keeps shutting down, and where there are long lines of people hoping to get food, people complaining that they cannot feed their families. All is proceeding as Sowell foretold. This weeks news brings the latest chapter in Venezuelas descent. Andrew Pestano reports for UPI: At the end of last week, Maduro signed a decree that would give Venezuelas Ministry of Popular Power for Social Process of Work the ability to order any Venezuelan with the physical or technical capabilities to join a government effort to work in the agriculture sector for up to 120 days. If you have a problem with that, they will help you get your mind right. Pestano adds that Venezuelas farming association in June said only 25 percent of the countrys agricultural land is being used to farm. Gee, why would that be? Richard Washingtons CNBC report on the decree includes a link to the text of Resolution No. 9855. Amnesty International drew attention to the decree in a press release and accordingly generated the news stories on it. It condemned the decree as unlawful and effectively amount[ing] to forced labour. The press release serves a useful purpose, but the organization doesnt seem to have a handle on the applicable principle of right that socialism in general, or the decree specifically, violates. The Nigerian Turkish International Colleges have described the call by the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, for the closure of 17 Turkish schools in Nigeria as a spurious request. In a statement issued on the schools website Friday, the institution called on the public to ignore Mr. Cakil. But for the fact that the statement contained misleading information, we would not have dignified it with a response, the school said in the statement signed by Orhan Kertim, the Managing Director. But as law-abiding schools operating in Nigeria since 1998, we owe Nigerians a duty to expose the ulterior motives of the Turkish Ambassador in the said statement. During a courtesy visit by the vice chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Shehu Sani, on Thursday, Mr. Cakil said the schools have links with a movement his government believed was involved in the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey. According to the ambassador, investigations by the Turkish government showed that a movement led by US-based Fethullah Gulen was responsible for the failed coup attempt, which claimed over 200 lives. He said the Turkish government was dissociating itself from any school bearing the countrys name in Nigeria, adding that while the country had schools in other countries, it had none in Nigeria. We are requesting the Nigerian Government to close down the schools. In Nigeria, there are 17 schools, which belong to the Gulen Movement, one in Kano, one in Kaduna, one in Abuja, Lagos etc and they are offering scholarships. We are starting some legal procedures to take the name of Turkish out of the name of the schools. They are not the schools of the Turkish Government. They are misleading the public and allocating scholarships to the children of the high bureaucracy and after they graduate from school, they send the children to Turkey to attend their universities, Mr. Cakil said. The NTIC, however, pushed back on Mr. Cakils claims, insisting that the Nigerian Turkish International Colleges was created with a vision to provide a conducive environment for teaching and learning, as well as produce youth who become productive members of the Nigerian society. The NTIC is not a Turkish government run institution, but a privately funded institution by a group of Turkish investors, said Mr. Kertim. As a responsible organisation operating in Nigeria since 1998, we are conversant with the laws of the land and we have to the best of our ability abided by these stipulations. Mr. Kertim said the call to shut down the schools by Mr. Cakil was not only baseless but also unfounded and of poor taste. Nigeria is a sovereign country and the call by the Turkish Ambassador is not only an affront to the sovereignty of the Nigerian nation but a display of the crass ignorance. The raging feud between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and the former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, over the padding of the 2016 budget has again brought to fore the question the integrity of Nigerias budgeting process. Mr. Dogara had, during the plenary last week, announced Mr. Jibrins exit from the position of chairman triggering myriads of shocking allegations from both parties about the budget. The Speaker said Mr. Jibrin, his former ally, betrayed the trust the House reposed in him. He announced the appointment of Bala Dawakin, also from Kano as his predecessor, as the new Appropriation Committee Chairman. Since then, both parties have exposed the dirty deals that attended the budget consideration, completed on March 23. Mr. Jibrin alleges, among others, that Mr. Dogara, his deputy Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor attempted to pad the budget with about N40 billion. Previous Contentions over the budget The current furore generated by the alleged padding of the N6.06 trillion budget is yet another controversy trailing the making and approval of the budget, the first by the All Progressives Congress federal government. Perhaps, no federal budget in recent times has been dogged by this magnitude of controversy and integrity test as the 2016 budget, presented to the joint session of the National Assembly by Mr. Buhari last December 22. It began early in the year with the shocking claim by the Senate that the document was missing. Upon their resumption from Christmas/New Year break, the senators were informed in a closed-door session by their leader, Ali Ndume, that deliberations on the budget would not commence until fresh copies of the documents were obtained from the presidency, Ministries of Finance and National Planning. At the time, there were indications that the document was secretly withdrawn by the president in order to make some adjustments following the falling prices of oil in the international market. The objective, it was claimed, was to adjust the benchmark of $38 per barrel proposed for the 2016 fiscal year since the crude oil price was $30.5 per barrel. The presidency later denied withdrawing the budget. That settled. A few days later, the Senate claimed it discovered N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for an allegedly questionable subhead. Shortly after, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, while defending allocation to the ministry before the House Committee on Health, disowned the allocation submitted on its behalf by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. He said the proposal drawn up by his ministry and submitted to the budget office had been doctored and that foreign appropriations, different from what was submitted had been sneaked in. Even when the lawmakers eventually passed the budget on March 23 and transmitted to the president for assent, he declined assent and returned the document. The Presidency said the lawmakers added new projects and removed critical items proposed by the administration. For instance, there was the issue of Lagos-Calabar rail project, which was not originally in the budget. The project was introduced midway into the budget by the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi. The two arms reconciled the controversial figures and transmitted a clean copy of the budget to the president. But for about one week after that was done, the president refused to sign the document because it had no details. Mr. Buhari was said to have been concerned that signing the budget without details may give approval to an un-implementable spending plan. However, on May 6, the president finally signed the budget ending weeks of disagreement with the National Assembly. The current controversy is, however, not the first in Nigerias democracy. Since the restoration of democratic rule in the country 17 years ago, the legislature and executive have engaged in battle over padding of budgets presented by the latter. Olusegun Obasanjos 2000 Budget In 2000, former President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to sign the budget passed by the National Assembly claiming it had been padded with about N2 billion. In November 1999, the former president had submitted a proposal of N667.51 billion to be spent in the 2000 fiscal year. It was his first having assumed office about seven months earlier. In the budget, the National Assembly got an allocation of N22,714,438,837 out of which N13,229,683,837 was for recurrent and N9,484,755,000 for capital expenses. But in approving the budget, the lawmakers added extra N2 billion for themselves bringing their total allocation to N24 billion. The president identified 15 other areas which he said were contentious in the document passed by the lawmakers and therefore would not sign. In a letter dated May 3, 2000 to the then Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, and Speaker Ghali NaAbba, Mr. Obasanjo questioned the N24 billion budget of the National Assembly, imploring the lawmakers to make further explanation. He specifically questioned the N117 million inserted for the purchase of vehicles; N95 million for e-mail interconnectivity; N276 million for office equipment; N110 million for development of recreation; N883 million for the construction of boys quarters; and N30 million for the development of model primary schools. He also rejected the increment in the allocations to state electricity firm, NEPA, from N41 billion to N55 billion and the Nigeria Police Force from N3.1 billion to N5 billion. Also, Mr. Obasanjo reportedly frowned at the extra N6 billion allegedly spent by the legislature in the previous year on capital projects. However, after weeks of face-off between the two arms of government, the former president agreed to sign the budget on the condition that he would bring a supplementary bill to address the contentious issue. Mr. Obasanjo backed down after a meeting convened by the National Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party. Soon after, the truce was almost threatened as the other parties represented in the National Assembly disowned the agreement before agreeing to it. Obasanjos 2005 Budget In 2005, the then Senate President, Adolphus Wabara alongside some senators and members of the House of Representatives were fingered in the alleged offer of bribe by the Ministry of Education to pad the ministrys budget. The senators involved in the bribe-for-budget scandal were Ibrahim Azeez, (Chairman, Senate Committee on Education), John Mbata (Appropriation Committee chairman), Badamasi Maccido, Chris Adighije, Emmanuel Okpede, Shehu Matazu (Chairman, House Committee on Education), Gabriel Suswan (House Appropriation Committee chairman, who later became Benue State governor). Others involved were then Minister of Education, Fabian Osuji; Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, P.S. Abdul; five directors; VC of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Jude Njoku; Executive Secretary of National University Commission, Peter Okebukola; and others. Mr. Obasanjo, in a nationwide broadcast, said investigation revealed that Mr Osuji and others from the executive arm bribed the lawmakers with N55 million to increase budgetary allocation to the ministry. He also said that while the directors raised N35 million from votes under their control, N20 million was provided by the NUC. On March 22, the former president dismissed Mr Osuji from the cabinet while Mr Wabara subsequently resigned from his position after much pressure. Mr. Obasanjo said the other six lawmakers would be reported to ICPC for prosecution. Late Umaru YarAduas 2008 budget Late President Umaru YarAdua, who led Nigeria between 2007 and 2010, also had his share of the brushes with the legislators over budget padding. In 2008, the late president prepared a total national budget of N2,944,601,095,668. It was his first since assuming power the previous year. But while working on the budget, the legislators raised the allocation for some items. For instance, the harmonisation committee set up by the two chambers raised the figures to N34,034,890,457 for the Senate and N59,523,828,960 for the House. The committee pegged the capital expenditure at N15,617,953,761, which included N5,831,953,761 for the Senate and N9,786,000,000 for the House. The figures for the meal and refreshment were also increased. In the Senate alone a total of N120 million was allocated as non-regular allowances. The outrageous increase resulted in the president refusing to sign the budget. This angered the president who refused to sign the budget into law. As a result, the nation was almost shut down until April that year when the president eventually signed the document. That was after the feuding parties agreed that the president should send a budget amendment bill. He did. The president then forwarded a Supplementary Budget of N683,301,968,287 to the National Assembly . Goodluck Jonathans 2011 budget Perhaps, most outrageous of the conflicts was the one between the National Assembly and President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. The padding of that years budget was largely to enhance the lawmakers salaries and allowances. That year, the National Assembly increased its budget from about N120 billion to N232.74 billion while working on the N4.48 billion budget presented by the former president. Mr. Jonathan refused to sign the budget prompting series of meeting for negotiations. In the end, both parties settled for N150 billion as allocation to the lawmakers. The allocation to the legislature was to remain so for the next four years. It got N150 billion allocation each from the N4.89 trillion budgeted for the nation in the 2012, the same amount in N4.98 trillion budget of 2013; and the N4.96 trillion budget of 2014. The allocation only dropped marginally to N115 billion in 2015 in the nations budget of N4.42 trillion due to public complaints that the legislature was becoming too expensive to maintain. Strangely also, from that year the National Assembly stopped providing details of its allocations in the budgets. The Nigerian Army has moved its Special Forces Training School to Buni Yadi, a town once controlled by Boko Haram in Yobe State. Created at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency, the Special Forces is considered one Nigerian Armys most effective fighting unit. While giving reasons why the training school was moved from Niger State to Buni Yadi, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, said it was because of the strategic location of the town in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents. We know the importance of this place Buni Yadi. This is the route they (insurgents) passed through to other parts of the North East and even Plateau in the North Central, he said while addressing troops at the training school on Saturday. It is better for us to have dominated and taken over the place, the Lieutenant General said while assuring the troops of their welfare and logistics need, including required equipment to prosecute the war. Buni Yadi, the headquarters of Gujba Local Government Area, was controlled by the Boko Haram for several months before it was recaptured by the military in March 2015. It is the town where 59 schoolboys were murdered by the Boko Haram as they slept in their dormitories at a Federal Government College in 2014. The town is also the headquarters of the 27 Task Force Brigade of the Nigeria Army. Speaking on Saturday, Mr. Buratai assured that the military will restore full peace to the North East in line with the desire of President Muhammadu Buhari. He charged the troops to sustain the momentum of ongoing counter insurgency operations to flush out the insurgents. According to him, Operation Lafia Dole has entered a critical stage. You must sustain the momentum; there is no going back There is no time to waste. We want full restoration of peace in the North East. That is what the president wants, the chief of army staff said. Mr. Buratai later told journalists that he was in Buni Yadi to see how the troops undergoing the Special Forces training were faring. He explained that the exercise was to make the personnel resilient and be able to withstand challenges they might face in the course of the ongoing operations. Agents of Nigerias secret police, State Security Service, on Saturday sealed the secretariat of the House Committee on Appropriation, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. The closure marked the latest development in the ongoing political and media war between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and a lawmaker from Kano State, Abdulmumin Jibrin, over alleged manipulation of line items and figures in the 2016 Appropriation Bill. Mr. Jibrin began working to oust Mr. Dogara from office a day after the Speaker announced his removal as chairman of Appropriation Committee on allegations that he committed serial betrayal of trust. PREMIUM TIMES sources said SSS officials stormed the secretariat, which serves as offices for the 40-member appropriation committee and its staff, and immediately placed it under lock and key. The sources said the SSS also sealed Mr. Jibrins office at Room 1.05 in the New House of Representatives building. The development followed Mr. Jibrins statement on Thursday that Mr. Dogara ordered removal of workstation from the Appropriation Committee Secretariat and allegedly attempted to break into his office. Mr. Jibrin had reportedly visited the SSS Headquarters on Friday to brief the agency about the budget padding scandal rocking the House. He also called on EFCC and ICPC to commence investigation into the crisis with a view to prosecuting those involved. Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak Namdas, were unsuccessful as his phone was switched off. Speaker Dogaras spokesperson, Turaki Hassan, disconnected a phone call upon hearing it was a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry. The founder of Daar Communications, accused of corruptly receiving N2.1 billion from #Dasukigate, took his lobby to become national chairman of Nigerias main opposition party, PDP, to Ogun State. Raymond Dokpesi and his team arrived Conference Hotel, Sagamu at about 8.00 p.m. on Friday to seek the support of a former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel. At the hotel, Mr. Dokpesi sought Mr. Daniels support to secure the votes of the Ogun State delegates at the upcoming Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, convention. Speaking after Mr. Daniel treated him and his team to a dinner, Mr. Dokpesi said the visit was to ask for his hosts support in view of his influence in the Ogun PDP. The founder of Nigerias first private radio station said he and Mr. Daniel enjoyed a friendship that has existed for over 40 years. We shall rebuild the party together, he told his host. I am at home in Ogun State. We have been friends for over 40 years and I believe when the time comes I will have the best votes from Ogun State. The aspirant said he was convinced Mr. Daniel would not run against him for the position of National Chairman as being insinuated. The PDP, led by Ahmed Makarfi, has zoned the chairmanship position to Southern Nigeria, meaning both Mr. Dokpesi (Edo State) and Mr. Daniel (Ogun State) are eligible. A possible hindrance to Mr. Dokpesis ambition, however, could be his corruption trial. Corruption trial Mr. Dokpesi is currently facing a six-count charge of money laundering at the Federal High Court, Abuja. Before his prosecution, he was arrested and detained for weeks by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly receiving N2.1 billion from the office of the embattled ex-National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, prior to the 2015 general elections. The money is believed to be part of the mismanaged billion dollar funds earmarked to purchase weapons for the military, in a scandal now known as #Dasukigate. Mr. Dopkesi has denied any wrongdoing. Upon his arraignment, the politician was granted bail by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court for N200 million and two sureties. Shortly after he regained freedom, Mr. Dokpesi disclosed his intention to run for the PDP national chairmanship seat and promised to roll out strategic programmes that would restore the party to its glorious days. He said he would formally unveil his 10-point programme at the August 17 National convention in Port-Harcourt. On Friday, Mr. Dokpesis host, Mr. Daniel, said he was ready to support the revival of the party. Without making any commitment of support, Mr. Daniel wished his guest luck, saying what was paramount to him was strengthening the party. The whistle blowing lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, says he has written a petition to Nigerias anti-graft agencies to investigate his allegations against the House leadership. Mr. Jibrin, in a series of posts on his Twitter handle, said he had been granted extra security because he had become a key witness in the investigation and potential trial of the accused lawmakers. The former chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee said his offices were also protected by officials to secure documents relating to the case. On the request of my lawyers, the security agencies have promptly protected the appropriation secretariat, my office and provided maximum protection to Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin as the key witness during prosecution in the matter, Mr. Jibrin wrote in third person. The lawmaker from Kano State said a petition he wrote to authorities against Mr. Dogara, his deputy Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor, and others was dispatched yesterday. The case against them ranges from corrupt enrichment, abuse of office and public trust, living above means, massive movement of funds in budget, he said. Other lawmakers reportedly mentioned in the petition include, Herma Hembe, Zakari Mohammed, Chike Okafor, Dan Asuquo, Mohammed Bago, Haliru Jika, Jagaba Adams and Babanle Ila, who all head various committees in the House. The Speaker and the House have denied any wrongdoing and accused Mr. Jibrin of being bitter because he was removed from his position. On Saturday, Mr. Jibrin said he had confidence in the fact that appropriate agencies would soon arrest Mr. Dogara and others he mentioned in his allegations, adding that the Speaker should stop blaming extra forces for his woes. This is a defining moment in the struggle to cleanse the House, first time a member will drag 12 of his colleagues to the anti-graft agencies, he said. This has opened a rare opportunity for the anti-corruption agencies to decisively use this as a case study to send a powerful signal. Speaker Dogara has resorted to blame of so-called external forces, are those forces responsible for moving FG projects to his farm? I am confident that the EFCC and ICPC will effect the arrest of Speaker Dogara and the 11 others to commence prosecution in earnest. I will share with you the contents of my petition to the EFCC and ICPC in due course and shall return with more shocking revelations. Mr. Dogaras spokesman, Turaki Hassan, rejected PREMIUM TIMES calls seeking his reaction to the petition and the closure of the Appropriation Committee office in the House of Representatives. Thirteen inmates escaped in a fresh jailbreak recorded at Koton Karfe prison in Kogi in the early hours of Saturday. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, gathered from a reliable source that the incident happened at about 7a.m. when the inmates forcefully brought down the wall of the prison. The all male prison facility which was inaugurated in 2014 has the capacity to accommodate 180 inmates. However, it was accommodating about 263 inmates as at the time of the jailbreak, Saturday. One of the escaped inmates was re-arrested almost immediately by security agents, NAN reports. This was the third jailbreak recorded in Koton Karfe as the old prison facility witnessed similar jailbreaks in 2010 and 2013. In previous jailbreaks, 132 inmates escaped from the prison and majority were awaiting trials. It was gathered that ComptrollerGeneral of the Nigeria Prison Service immediately sent a representative to Koton Karfe to assess the situation. The Kogi State Controller of Prison, Musa Maza, who would have shed more light on the incident, did not pick several calls made to his mobile telephone line. Saturdays jailbreak occurs about a month after two prisoners escaped in a jailbreak from a maximum security prison in Kuje, Niger State. (NAN) Troops on blocking position in Pulka yesterday Friday July 29, ambushed and killed two fleeing Boko Haram terrorists. It is equally believed one of the terrorists escaped with gunshot wounds. The troops also recovered 1 AK-47 rifle with registration number S 77411, a General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with registration number FN 131908, one Motorcycle, 1 Bicycle and 5 Fabrique Nationale (FN) rifle magazines. Other items recovered from the terrorists include 1 AK-47 rifle magazine loaded with 28 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition, 67 rounds of 7.62mm linked (NATO) ammunition and Tecno brand of mobile telephone handset with NEXTTEL SIM card, as well as sacks of foodstuffs. The troops have continued their routine operations maintaining vigilance to prevent escaping Boko Haram terrorists out of Sambisa forest through that axis. The Central Naval Command, CNC, Yenagoa on Saturday announced the seizure of a vessel laden with 600,000 litres of suspected illegally refined automotive gas oil also known as diesel. A statement issued by Lieutenant Commander Edward Yeibo on behalf of Flag Officer Commanding, CNC, Rear Admiral Mohammed Garba, said two of the four suspected oil thieves were arrested while loading the barge with diesel. The statement made available in Yenagoa reiterated Navys Zero Tolerance of crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, illegal oil bunkering and other sundry crimes in the Niger Delta Region. According to Mr. Yeibo, the operation which yielded the feat, is in line with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas strategic directive to the Navy. The Commander Nigerian Navy Ship SOROH, Commodore Habib Usman said a barge and 5 wooden boats laden with about 600,000 metric tons suspected to be illegally refined Automated Gas Oil and 2 suspects were arrested. The suspects were arrested by the Nigerian Navy Ship SOROH around Beama community in Nembe Local Government Area in the waterways within Bayelsa. The wooden boats were suspected to be used to convey the illegally refined Automated Gas Oil from the refining points to the barge for loading. As of the time of the arrest one of the boats had finished trans-loading its product into the barge. Consequently, the personnel of Forward Operating Base FORMOSO with gunboats and tug boat towed the barge to its jetty for further investigation. However, the wooden boats were destroyed, also the two suspects are in custody for preliminary investigation and prosecution, the statement read in part. The statement also quoted Mr. Garba as assuring that the Navy will make the sea lane of communication accessible for all legitimate users and frustrate maritime criminalities in its area of responsibility. Mr. Garba, according to the statement, reiterated that there will be no hiding place for crude oil thieves as the Navy will continue to sustain patrols in the maritime environment. The inaugural flight of the 2016 Hajj exercise in Nigeria will take off on August 8 from the Sultan Abubakar Airport in Sokoto state. This was revealed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, on Saturday in Abuja at a one day meeting of all bodies involved in the Hajj exercise at the National Mosque Abuja. The Sultan, who was represented by the Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar, said the first flight will convey pilgrims from Zamfara state. The Etsu Nupe called on all intending pilgrims to pray for peaceful coexistence and advised them to take seriously the recent ban placed on kola nut by the Saudi Arabian authorities. Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission, NAHCON, Abdullahi Mukhtar, said the commission has concluded arrangements to put in place a blood bank for Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of pilgrims lost their lives at a stampede in Mina last year, but Mr. Mukhtar said the Saudi authorities has assured that adequate measures have been taken to avoid a recurrence of the ugly incident. The NAHCON boss also said the Saudi authorities have banned the distribution of all enlightenment materials to pilgrims in the Kingdom. He therefore, announced that all enlightenment materials should only be given to Nigerian pilgrims before they depart from the shores of the nation. Despite the police announcing it had commenced investigations into the #SaveMayowa fundraising campaign, controversy has continued to trail the initiative which was aimed at raising overseas medical fees for Mayowa Ahmed, a cancer patient receiving treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. On Thursday, police officers broke up a heated exchange outside the hospital between the patients relatives and some social media campaigners who helped raise funds running into millions of naira for Ms. Ahmeds treatment. The Command wishes to inform all the good spirited people who had donated generously to this course that it will ensure it does not return as a hoax and every outcome of the investigation shall be made open, Dolapo Badmus, the Lagos police spokesperson, said while announcing a full scale investigation and a freezing of the campaigns bank account. Ms. Ahmed, 31, had a history and clinical features of an intra-abdominal mass, according to LUTH, where she was a patient. She was brought to the hospitals private wing on Monday, but barely 24 hours later, her family insisted on flying her outside the country, stalling all the planned investigations meant to arrive at a definite diagnosis, the hospital said. The family and the patient brought along some results of laboratory investigations ordered and done outside LUTH. Three different Specialists were invited to review Mayowa. The Gynaecologist, Oncologist and Haematologist all arrived at a tentative diagnosis of an abdominal malignancy. They planned to conduct a series of fresh tests to confirm the definitive diagnosis, since the earlier tests were neither requested nor authorised by any doctor from LUTH. A scam? Ms. Ahmeds condition prompted an online campaign supported by Nollywood actress, Toyin Aimakhu, with the hashtag #SaveMayowa aimed at raising money for her treatment abroad. The hashtag gained popularity on social media during the week, and by Wednesday, over N30 million had been raised, according to sources close to the patients family. But trouble began on Thursday when the social media campaigners alleged that the initiative had been a scam because the patients family had known she was beyond help. Angry campaigners and donors stormed the hospital to confront Ms. Ahmeds relatives and it took police intervention to calm frayed nerves. The patients name, Mayowa, trended on Twitter throughout Thursday with over 11,000 mentions. According to Aramide Kasunmu, one of those who led the social media campaign, the family had said they had contacted Emory Hospital in US and needed $100,000 for overseas treatment. I went on social media and Kate Henshaw was asking questions, Ms. Kasunmu, founder of Lifestake Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation, said in a video she posted on Facebook. She was saying ok wheres the visa? Wheres the ticket? Wheres this wheres that? And Im like okay, thats true, I havent even seen those things. So I went back to the Emory Hospitals list to see exactly what it is that they wrote there. And I realised that what they said was a $100,000 deposit, and it will cost between 3,000 to 30,000 to get her treated. And she needs 10 to 50 sessions. So technically, Mayowa needs over 150 million to be treated if she has to be treated in Atlanta. But then when the doctor (at LUTH) said that she cannot fly, in his words she cant even fly to Abuja let alone America, 13 hours. I said okay something isnt adding up. And then on Monday, Toyin Aimakhu had gone up, it had gone viral and everything. And because I had posted it, I went on Facebook and I told my friends to not get me involved in anything that belongs to Mayowa, basically like a disclaimer. Ms. Kasunmu said she received a phone call from LUTH on Wednesday informing her that Ms. Ahmed was leaving the hospital. And I said how come? They said the family said they want to take her abroad. That she was flying yesterday (Wednesday) night, 6pm. Meanwhile theyd told Toyin Aimakhu that they were taking her to Reddington. My concern is, I need to be sure that these people are actually getting Mayowa treated, that they are not just trying to take advantage of her situation, which is my fight. Because you got me involved, people are asking questions and I cannot answer. I sent Mayowa messages she wasnt responding. I called her phones nobody was saying anything to me. On Thursday morning, Ms. Kasunmu said she asked a colleague to go to Ms. Ahmeds home. She got to the house and said there was nobody at home, Ms. Kasunmu continued. She called the brother and they said they were at LUTH, she got to LUTH they did not let her see Mayowa, so she waited. I told her that she must wait, they said their brother came that they were bringing an air ambulance. We all know air ambulances are not cheap. I said ok that she must wait for that air ambulance, she must see the air ambulance take Mayowa and she must video it so that I can at least say you guys are asking me questions, see Mayowa she has travelled. That was my intention. Then she said her brother wasnt talking to her, that the brother said they have given a statement and nobody should get involved in their case. I was like, we raised money from the public, we had stood in front for you guys, how can you guys say that we should no longer get involved? That was when the alarm bells went off. Ms. Kasunmu said the campaign raised N85 million, and not N30 million as claimed by Ms. Ahmeds family. They said they have a visa when they didnt have a visa. They solicited funds that they were going to America, now they are saying they are going to Dubai. A lot of things were not adding up and they were not being straightforward. Ms. Aimakhu corroborated most of what Ms. Kasunmu said, adding that things got dramatic on Thursday after the patients family insisted she leave the hospital despite her efforts in helping raise funds for treatment. Theres nobody I didnt call, Ms. Aimakhu told YNaija on Thursday, of her efforts at fundraising. (I) called E-Money, called Okorochas so, called AY, called everybody. Only for me to get here, after theyve gotten the money. Something just came to my mind there is something, how can you help people raise money and you are saying. no, theres more to this. And yesterday, a lot of people called me, that they privatised their account. I had to call them that they should not put the account on private. They said I did not help her (Ms. Ahmed) to raise money, that I only came to visit her. But a person close to Ms. Ahmeds family, Kunle Oduah, accused Ms Kasunmu and Ms. Aimakhu of trying to hijack the campaign. Tomorrow they will come and claim they are standing for womens rights, Mr. Oduah wrote on Facebook, while posting photos of himself and Ibrahim Ahmed, Ms. Ahmeds brother. The fact behind the girls ordeal was that the lady called Aramide Kasunmu of Lifestake foundation approached the family that she is floating an NGO, asked them to open the account on her foundation account and the family refused bluntly. She was the one that called Toyin Aimaku to appear at the hospital as a celebrity to boost the donation, with promise of giving her some incentives. That was why they were accusing the family of not letting them to know how the money would be used. Mr. Oduah said people had kept donating to the #SaveMayowa campaign despite the family already meeting the target. Thats humanity, he said. Those who did it sowed a seed of faith on her strength to pull through. Why try to ruin that? And most of this is caused by illiteracy. The Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Leo Ogor, on Saturday opposed the involvement of the State Security Service, SSS, in the budget padding crisis in the parliament. Mr. Ogor said the police and the two anti-graft agencies, EFCC and ICPC, were more appropriate to investigate the scandal. Mr. Ogors contention followed the announcement by a former chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, that he had petitioned security agencies on his allegations that the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and other lawmakers padded the 2016 budget. Mr. Jibrin said following his petition, the secretariat of the House Appropriation Committee was shut by agents of the SSS. He began working to oust Mr. Dogara from office a day after the Speaker announced his removal as chairman of Appropriation Committee on allegations that he committed serial betrayal of trust. Mr. Jibrin said he had confidence in the fact that his petition would prompt appropriate agencies to arrest Mr. Dogara and others he mentioned in his allegations, including Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Mr. Ogor. But Mr. Ogor, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday, said Mr. Jibrin was wrong to involve the SSS, but added that he would work to clear his name. The right authority to investigate this matter is the Nigeria Police and not the State Security Service, Mr. Ogor said. But because my name is involved, I would go to any extent to clear my name. The internal security of the nation is the function of the SSS. This is clearly the work of the Nigeria Police. EFCC can also investigate the matter. Mr. Ogor also refuted Mr. Jibrins allegation that he was living above his means, saying it is very insulting for anybody to tell me Im living above my means because I live in Apo Legislative Quarters for 14 years. Is it because Im not living in Maitama or Asokoro? Mr. Ogor said. Mr. Ogor urged the public to dismiss Mr. Jibrins allegation that he colluded with Mr. Dogara and others to manipulate line items in the budget in order to fraudulently award public funds to themselves. He said Nigerians should ask Mr. Jibrin why he presided over a mutilated budget as the chair of Appropriation Committee. The president said I wont sign until I see the details.' he said. So, the question youre supposed to ask yourself is, why did the president refuse to sign the budget? Because the budget was mutilated. When the president returned the budget back the budget was now referred to the National Assembly. The National Assembly set up an ad hoc committee to now restore the budget from that mutilated nature. Mr. Ogor said he had no influence over budget decisions in the House. Do I have access to appropriation? For Christ sake, let all of us grow up, Mr. Ogor said. Somebody is busy lying there and everybody has accepted. Following persistent drop in federal allocation to states in Nigeria, the Plateau State government said it has resorted to sourcing its revenue internally to develop the state. As a result, the government on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private firm, Solbec Ltd, with the aim of resuscitating the moribund state-owned Panyam fish farm. The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lynda Barau, said the new arrangement will be based on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) between the state government and the firm. According to Mrs. Barau, Panyam fish farm, established before Nigerias independence in 1960, is reputed to be Nigerias largest fish farm covering a land mass of 309 hectares, with the capacity to produce about 4.9 tonnes of fish and over 10 million fingerlings annually. She said the farm will be treated with the topmost priority it deserves as a potentially great revenue earner for the state, especially in the face of dwindling oil revenue from the Federation Account. According to the commissioner, governments effort is in line with its resolve to give the agricultural sector a boost, to increase in internally revenue generation. She said of the 1,000 abandoned mining ponds in the state, 24 have been certified fit for fish production. If all these potentials are fully harnessed, the state could produce 4.9 tonnes of fish per annum, she said. Plateau state has about 20 dams and reservoirs with an estimated water surface area of 673 hectares. Abdulkareem Abdulrahman, a medical doctor in Kwara State, has been declared missing. He was declared missing by the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Kwara Chapter. Victor Iroha, the Secretary of NMA in the state, announced this in a statement given to the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Saturday. Mr. Iroha said Mr. Abdulraheem, a medical officer with Hospital Management Bureau, was posted to General Hospital in Omu- Aran. He said Mr. Abdulraheem had not been found since 6 a.m. of Sunday July 24, 2016. Abdulraheem drove out of his residence opposite Federal Road Safety Commission Office, GRA in his Navy blue Toyota Corolla car with registration number BWR 532 RP and had not been seen since then. His phone has also been unreachable and there has been no trace of either him or his car, he added in the statement. Mr. Iroha also stated that all search efforts had so far yielded no results. He said the matter had been reported to the police and other security agencies. The NMA appealed to people with useful information to contact the nearest police station or his brother Ridwan on 08110709470 or NMA Kwara spokesperson on 08034086152. (NAN) Two months after the ceremonial kick-off of the Ogoni clean-up, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of a governing council and board of trustees to oversee the take-off of the actual clean up. The setting up of the governing council and board of trustees is a key element of the governance structure required for the clean-up of Ogoniland, a statement by the Ministry of Environment stated. The clean-up of the heavily polluted Ogoni land was recommended by the United Nation Environmental Programme, UNEP, in its report in 2011. According to the UNEP, the clean-up will take 30 years to complete and cost the government and other stakeholders $1 billion. According to Aisha Mohammed, Nigerias Minister of Environment, President Buhari approved the inauguration of a 13-member governing council and a 10-member board of trustees. She added that the constitution of the governing council and board of trustees will ensure that the process of the clean-up in transparent, accountable and sustainable. We ask for patience as we lay solid foundations for the clean-up. The context is complex and stakeholders are diverse. All must be taken along. His excellency, President Buhari remains steadfast in his conviction to see Ogoniland and other parts of the Niger Delta cleaned up. My team at the federal Ministry of Environment is actively working collaboratively with Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta, NDDC and key stakeholders to see that the promise of His Excellency is kept and we stay clean after the clean up, she said in a statement. The minister also called on communities in the Niger Delta, especially in Ogoni, to join hands with the government and other stakeholders involved in the clean-up. Traditional ruler of Iba town in Lagos state, Yushau Oseni, is still in the captivity of his abductors, his son, Saheed Oseni, said on Saturday. The 74-year-old monarch was abducted in his Palace in Iba on July 16 at about 8 p.m. Mr. Oseni, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos following the rumours that his father had been released, said that the monarch was still with the kidnappers. He, however, pleaded with the kidnappers to release the traditional ruler. Contrary to rumours making the rounds that the monarch had been released by the kidnappers, he has not been released. Rather efforts are ongoing to ensure he reunites with his family members and Iba community safe and alive. The Lagos State Government (LASG) is also working to ensure his release and everyone in the palace is not relenting in their efforts, he said. Mr. Oseni who hoped the rumour could become a reality, appealed to every Nigerian to also join the family and the community in prayers for the safe return of the monarch. Meanwhile, Dolapo Badmos, Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, said the command was working round the clock to ensure the monarch is rescued from those that kidnapped him. With all we have on ground, we are optimistic he will regain his freedom in a short while, she said. (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. The completion of phase II factory marked a new start for GAC Motor's independent research & development as comprehensive production system integration and use of intelligent technologies are enabling the company to achieve the annual production capacity of 650,000 vehicles. GAC Motor also applies green and sustainable technologies in vehicle production, using environmental-friendly materials to eliminate harmful substances and dusts in the factory emissions to reduce atmospheric pollutions. The phase II factory was constructed in 15 months following the principle of simple, slim and compact. It's expected to reach a daily production capacity of 740 vehicles by the end of August and is estimated to produce 150,000 vehicles every year. Also, GAC Motor's unremitting efforts on research & development has lowered the production cost in the new factory significantly. "On the premise of same production scale and manufacturing equipment, GAC Motor's cost of investment is only half of other joint venture brands and 30 percent less than other independent brands," said the spokesman of GAC Motor. Now, GAC Motor's manufacture scale is further expanded as the phase II factory becomes fully operational. In addition to producing the independently developed flagship car models like GS4, GA8 GS5 Super and more, the research & development team of GAC Motor also designed a new, innovative 90-meter-long engines assembly line with production speed of 52 seconds per engine. The assembly line can also produce more than 200 models of engines, bringing the annual production to 700,000 engines. "When the new factory is fully operational, GAC Motor will be able to produce best quality vehicles with highest production efficiency in both time and cost, achieving a healthy and sustainable development of the overall industrial chain linking factory, suppliers, dealers and consumers," the spokesman said. Latest statistics from China Passenger Car Association showed that GAC Motor has sold a total of 159,000 cars in the first half year of 2016, achieving a 170% growth. In June, the company sold 26,100 vehicles of one month, a 143.6 percent year-on-year growth and highest among all Chinese automobile brands. The spokesman explained GAC Motor's four fundamental principles in expanding the scope of the production and market, putting emphasis on product quality, resources utilization through advanced production mode, sustainable and eco-friendly development as well as sharing the successful results of the production reform with the industry. The company's future plan is set to achieve an annual production capacity of one million vehicles by 2020 upon establishing the global research and development network supported by GAC Automotive Engineering Institute, a global supply chain, cluster marketing and service model as well as founding the vehicle and powertrain platform, building the company's core competitiveness strength in the international market. About GAC Motor GAC Motor is a subsidiary company of GAC Group that commits to developing and manufacturing world-class quality vehicles, engines, components and auto accessories. GAC Motor ranks top eight among all brands in J.D. Power Asia Pacific's 2015 China Initial Quality Study, the highest of all Chinese brands for the third consecutive year. CONTACT: Zhujun Wang +86-20-3920-6308 sukie_gacmotor@126.com Qi Li liqi@gacmotor.com SOURCE GAC Motor CARROLLTON, Texas, July 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In April of 2016, Blue Jay announced a new social initiative called Give a Day, the Blue Jay Way. The initiative calls for each employee to donate at least 8 hours a month to a social cause or community service of their choosing. This initiative was embraced by Blue Jay employees, and they have made the most of their opportunities to make impactful, important contributions to communities across the U.S. Each employee has taken a different approach to volunteering. Some employees have banded together as a group to serve meals, provide support for veterans, (re)build houses, join in fundraisers for causes, donate blood, or rebuild shelters. Other employees have partnered up with local non-profits, libraries, churches, or animal shelters by volunteering their time and services to many different projects. A mere three months later, the Give a Day campaign is contributing over 1,500 hours a month of community service to local Blue Jay communities. The number of hours volunteered is growing each month as Blue Jay team members are dedicated to serving more than 8 hours a month, whenever their schedules allow. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354282LOGO SOURCE Blue Jay Wireless WASHINGTON, July 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- North Carolina native J. David Cox Sr., who leads the nation's largest federal employee union, today hailed a federal appeals court ruling overturning the state's restrictive voting laws. "Thousands of North Carolina residents have been purposefully excluded from the democratic process through the discriminatory voting laws enacted by state lawmakers," said Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 670,000 federal and D.C. government employees. Federal labor leader and North Carolina native J. David Cox Sr. today hailed a federal appeals court ruling overturning the state's restrictive voting laws. Cox leads the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation's largest federal employee union. "Thanks to this ruling, thousands of disenfranchised citizens in North Carolina will be able to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election. But we cannot stop fighting until these discriminatory laws have been overturned in every other state where residents are being denied the right to vote." The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia. For the latest AFGE news and information, visit the AFGE Media Center. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394354 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131120/MM21150LOGO SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees Related Links http://www.afge.org PHOENIX, July 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hastings & Hastings, Arizona's Premier Discount Accident Lawyers, have championed the rights of accident victims in the Grand Canyon State for over 36 years. Through almost four decades of service, Hastings & Hastings has worked hard to secure tens of millions of dollars of financial compensation for its loyal clients. As a client-focused law firm dedicated to saving clients money with the legendary Discount Accident Fee, Hastings & Hastings is always seeking ways to serve better the hardworking people of Arizona. To that end, Hastings & Hastings has debuted an incredibly redesigned website which combines style, functionality, ease of use, together with vital legal information for a resource that is sure to be essential to accident victims for years to come. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394325LOGO "When we start thinking about doing something as major as redesigning our website, we do so with careful consideration and thought. Many of our clients first reach out to us online through our website. Others rely on our website as a source of important legal information. As we planned our website redesign, it was important to us that we would be able to deliver the same quality of service we always have but with a more modern, easy to use interface. I think we have accomplished just that and more. The early word from clients is that they love it. They can use the site to learn about Hastings & Hastings, or personal injury law in general. Best of all, they are very happy with how easy it is to schedule a free legal consultation. Explore the site for yourself at hastingsandhastings.com to see all it has to offer," said David Hastings, the founder of Hastings & Hastings. The new Hastings & Hastings website features a modern scrolling front page with all the information potential clients may need about the prestigious law firm. Visitors can learn about Hastings & Hastings' legendary Discount Accident Fee, the millions of dollars they have saved their clients in just the last several years alone, and get to know Hastings & Hastings' experienced team of attorneys. For a law firm that has always been forward looking and innovative, the success of their recent website redesign comes as no surprise. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Hastings & Hastings Related Links http://www.hastingsandhastings.com MELBOURNE, Australia, July 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Legally accessing almost any song you want to hear has never been easier or more inexpensive. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160728/393752 BBC: Audio streaming has taken over video in the US In July 2016, the BBC announced that audio streaming has overtaken video for the first time in the US, thanks to several high-profile album releases by the likes of Drake, Beyonce and Rihanna. In the first half of 2016, online streaming services delivered some 114 billion audio streams, compared with 95 billion video streams. The streaming market has increased by 58% year-on-year. With the advent of smartphones and the rising popularity of music streaming apps, like Apple Music, Spotify, Rdio, and most recently YouTubeRed, we've now been granted access to a world of music that is literally at our fingertips, completely legally, and at a low monthly fee, or even free with running costs supported by advertising. As of mid-2016, there are more than 20 popular music streaming apps available. According to Spotify, (one of the most popular apps) they boast a base of over 75 million users, while Pandora lists over 250 million registered users, with 79.4 million active users as of 2015 last year. Legally purchasing music has also never been easier. iTunes, Amazon Music and Google Play require just a click to download and permanently keep songs from your favorite artists. Rather not purchase an entire album? Simple; buy a single track for a fraction of the cost. These promising statistics and encouraging developments would suggest that people are flocking to such streaming services and moving away from pirating music through torrents and peer-to-peer networks. The signs are that the days of music piracy are coming to an end, right? It appears not to be the case. Despite low costs, abundant options and enhanced accessibility to music, the indications are that file sharing may still be on the rise, suggesting that music piracy is also still on an upward spiral. A data report, published by CiscoVisual Networking, shows that an average of 858 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1 million gigabytes) of files were shared, per month, in 2015. This figure increased to 932 petabytes in 2016, and is forecast to increase to 1,019 petabytes in 2017. Content protection company MUSO recently revealed 2016 data showing that during 2015, music piracy, in the form of direct downloads, grew by a staggering 31%. Culture and lifestyle hub Provenance Magazine has taken a closer, more personal, look at the problem by conducting a study of 100 US-based participants, analysing their music-downloading habits with online music use and piracy. The magazine's findings uncovered the following data on the topic: Out of the 100 participants, nearly 78% are currently using an online-streaming app. 32% admit to pirating music at least once a month. 10.7% have kicked the habit of pirating music, opting for streaming apps or purchases. 8.7% admitted they still pirate music, simply out of habit. 11.65% of participants justified their habits, saying they pirate music, but claim to support the artists in other ways, for example, paying to see them in concert. Promisingly, numerous subjects admitted previously pirating music because it was the easiest way. However, there are now easier options, and they're willing to pay a reasonable price for the streaming app they use. 65% of subjects also believe that music streaming will become more popular than online music piracy in the next five years. Andy Lee, Provenance Magazine's editor-in-chief, also has an optimistic outlook on the issue, suggesting that trends will shift with time. "When we look at the big picture of the Internet, online music streaming is still a relatively new player in the mainstream spotlight. There are heaps of great services out there, all continually evolving their technologies and offering faster, cheaper, and more full-featured service than their competition. It's an easy, low-cost and convenient trend that's catching on, and will only gain momentum over the next few years," he says. Lee also shared another interesting perspective on music piracy. "Once people see their favorite acts or artists from an intimate perspective, either at a concert in real-life or telling their story in an interview, people quite often feel more of a personal connection with the performers and become more reluctant to pirate their work, viewing the artist as a person as opposed to mere digital entity." Provenance Magazine is doing its part to help. Tailor-made for adventurous young millennials, the newly-minted online culture and lifestyle hub was founded as a haven of genuine, relatable stories of art and culture, food and travel from across the world. In the two months since its launch, the magazine has already attracted thousands of readers and followers from across the world. Their most recent interviewees include blues legend, Jamie N Commons, whose work has been used to promote Game of Thrones and the BBC's broadcast of the 2016 Olympics, alongside top culture, food and travel personalities from the US, Canada, Australia and Malaysia. Related Links Provenance Magazine @ProvenanceMag This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Provenance Magazine Related Links http://provenancemag.com/ MARION, Ill., July 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With ever-changing technology, the TCT Network strives to make watching Network programs easy and convenient. Viewers can tune in across various cable and satellite providers, live stream and watch TCT On Demand at www.tct.tv and on Apple iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Kindle Fire, Apple TV, and our newest apps available on Android TV and Amazon Fire TV devices. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160729/394313LOGO Founder and TCT Network President, Garth Coonce says, "We want to make it as easy as possible for people of all ages and nations to watch quality inspirational and faith-based programs. Our vision has always been to share the gospel with the world, and we believe there's no better way to reach people on-the-go than with our free and easy-to-download app available on multiple platforms." Founded in 1977, the TCT Network has a heart for taking the Word of Jesus to the world. Founders Garth and Tina Coonce have ensured this ever-growing Network streams programs that will touch the lives of every member in a household. With three Network channels (TCT, TCT HD, and TCT Kids), TCT uses every means available to reach people of all generations, cultures, and denominations. Android TV and Amazon Fire TV APP Features: Award-Winning, Inspirational Programming LIVE Broadcasts and Access to ALL of the TCT Network's LIVE streams, 24/7 Top Praise and Worship Music Programs The Most Requested Ministry Programs LIVE Stream well-known ministries such as Joyce Meyer , Dr. Charles Stanley , Fred Price , Kenneth & Gloria Copeland , Joseph Prince , James Robison , Andrew Wommack , CBN's daily news show, Newswatch, and many others. About TCT Network: The TCT Network was founded in 1977 by Drs. Garth and Tina Coonce. What started as a small station broadcasting the gospel has evolved into a world-wide Network airing three channels (TCT, TCT HD, TCT Kids) and reaching over 60 million homes through satellite, multi-system cable services, on-air broadcast, mobile apps, and the internet. TCT programming can be watched On Demand and live streamed 24/7 on the TCT Network app and at www.tct.tv. DirecTV Channel 377, ROKU, Apple iTV, Smart TV Samsung, Amazon Fire TV, Kindle Fire TV, Android TV, GloryStar IPTV, and Truili. Media Department TCT Network (618) 997-4700 x1162 [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE TCT Television Network Related Links http://www.tct.tv If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here New Delhi, July 25 : Experimenting with colours, silhouettes, styles and presentation turned out to be the highlights at the recently concluded FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India) India Couture Week 2016, where 11 designers showcased high-end ensembles amidst dramatic settings. While several names in the Indian design fraternity will continue to argue that couture in the country is majorly about bridal wear, the audience at the five-day gala got to see creations which were beyond wedding lehengas and sherwanis. "Each designer had their own specialty that they showed on the ramp, so the ICW wasn't only pure simple bridal... It was experimental couture, there were gowns for the red carpet and cuts were different... There was everything for everyone. The designers experimented with colours too," Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI, which had organised the event, told IANS. In terms of colours, one could see the dominance of pastel shades over the routine red, pink and orange which are thought be quintessential colours for the couture-lover in the country. Many designers have time and again said that since the wedding market in India cannot be ignored as that is one occasion when people are ready to splurge, couture has turned out to be more about bridal in the country. Having said that, the designer line-up -- Manish Malhotra, Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal, Anita Dongre, Varun Bahl, Gaurav Gupta, Rahul Mishra, Reynu Taandon, Rimple and Harpreet Narula and Anamika Khanna -- unleashed a melange of designs in the couture segment. There were jackets of varying lengths for men and women, Bardot blouses with embellished and embroidered skirts and lehengas, and largely a mix of Indian and western silhouettes, the shows were a treat for fashionistas. While Dongre showcased blouses with different cuts which could be worn otherwise with a simple pair of jeans or a plain skirt and not necessarily with a sari or a lehenga, Bahl draped models in floral creations which again could be mix matched. The menswear line by most designers had layers. Different jackets, including floral ones, shawls, stoles and kurtas breathed fresh air into the styles that men with a taste for style could carry off easily. Although Swarovski's elements brought a bling to several creations, the collections in dabka and gota patti looked like they are here to stay -- lending an old world charm to the modern-cut garments. Talking about the business at the couture week, Sethi said: "Everyday when their show finished, the next day itself the business started. People have decided what they want to buy for which occasion. I have got calls from the designers confirming to me that they have started writing orders from this event. "The extent of the orders will be seen in the next 15-20 days. But what is important is that they are flooded with confirmed orders." Given how popular Bollywood stars are at events such as this, they couldn't have been given a miss. From Fawad Khan, Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut to Yami Gautam, Divya Khosla Kumar and Saiyami Kher, they were all seen sashaying down the ramp in fineries, while celebrities like Bhumi Pednekar, Randeep Hooda and Pernia Qureshi had come to support the designers from the stands. Amidst all of this, the couture week also drew some flak from some designers. "We are seeing too much mediocrity and too much sub-standard (work) and a total lack of originality. One style becomes popular and suddenly, everyone is just doing a little variation of that and that's it - that is not what it is meant to be," JJ Valaya, one of India's most popular couturiers, had posted on his Facebook account. Last week, right after the first show at India Couture Week, Bal expressed his disappointment on "schmoozing" and the "wannabes" at the show, while Rina Dhaka pitched in about what "poor Deepika and Sonam" were made to wear. Asked about how the FDCI ICW 2016 week went in totality, Sethi shared that he is more than happy with results. "What is important is to see that the designers do substantial business, they show their creativity in best possible way. What was really satisfying was it was houseful on all days. And an unending list of request for people to come and watch these shows," Sethi said. "FDCI is a not for profit organistaion, we don't charge people to come and see the creativity of the assignment. But unfortunately with a limited platform of 500 to 600 people, we could not accommodate more but it was for everybody to watch this on the live web cast and through different mediums," he added. (Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians.in) New Delhi, July 26 : Actress Jacqueline Fernandez says donning a judge's hat for dance reality show "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9" is a "big responsibility" for her. The Sri Lankan beauty will be joined on the judges' panel by filmmaker Karan Johar and ace choreographer Ganesh Hegde. Talking about it, she said here: "It's a very new and different experience for me. I have amazing co-judges with me and we're having a lot of fun. It's quite a big responsibility judging these contestants who are big celebrities." The Colors show, which will go on air on July 30, will feature actors Sidhanth Gupta, Shantanu Maheswari, Surveen Chawla, Karishma Tanna, Helly Shah and Shakti Arora among others as contestants. Jacqueline was in the capital for a press conference of her forthcoming film "Dishoom" here on Monday. The "Kick" actress was joined at the event by her co-stars Varun Dhawan and John Abraham. Talking about her role in "Dishoom", Jacqueline said: "It's actually a tomboy character. It was a lot of fun because I actually got to do what the boys were doing -- the action and all the running around. I was really excited to play this character of Ishita." Directed by Rohit Dhawan, "Dishoom" is slated to release on Friday. New Delhi, July 26 : 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. Mumbai, July 27 : Actor Arshad Warsi has shot down rumours of leaving the promotions of forthcoming film "The Legend Of Michael Mishra" in the lurch. He says he is "not the kind of actor who backs out of his commitment". There were reports that now that the Aditi Rao Hydari, Arshad and Boman Irani-starrer film is ready to release two years after being completed, the cast is "in no mood to promote it". But the stars have a different story to narrate. "I am not the kind of actor who backs out of his commitment. 'Michael Mishra...' is my film... Why would I refrain from promoting it? I have had to request the producer of 'Bhaiyyaji Superhit' to push my dates so that I could promote 'Michael Mishra'," Arshad said in a statement to clear the air around the "baseless information". Despite having prior commitments, the actors are promoting the film, which is releasing on August 5. Manish Jha, who has directed the film, also shared that the "promotions of the film have just kicked in and I am in constant touch with my cast and crew". He said: "They all are extremely excited about the project and you will see them promoting the film at various promotional events. The rumours doing the rounds in the media about their unavailability for the film is utterly baseless and will be proved wrong in the coming days." "The Legend of Michael Mishra" is a complete Patna-Bihar romance-comedy. Arshad plays a Patna-based gangster Michael who falls in love with Varsha (Aditi). Varsha wants Michael to change his lifestyle and thus, he decides to live a clean life which is not easy as his past keeps haunting him. New Delhi, July 28 : When filmmaker Joshy Joseph met his 'Mahasweta Didi' at the Intensive Care Unit of a Kolkata hospital a few days back, the eminent writer's eyes conveyed life, not death. "Didi was conscious and we spoke through eyes. Her eyes were all about life. And I want to keep that memory of her glance forever," Joseph, who has made three movies on Mahasweta Devi, told IANS. As the country mourns the passing away of Mahasweta Devi, one of the literary stalwarts of her generation, it's a personal loss for Joseph, who shares a 12-year long relationship with "Didi". Joseph, a four-time National Award winner spoke to IANS over phone from Kolkata on Thursday. Of his three movies, the last one, "Serendipity Cinema" ran into controversy as the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) blocked its release for mis-pronouncing Mahasweta Devi's name in his Malayalam accent. "Didi ridiculed the CBFC in a statement from hospital. That was her last public statement," says the film maker. The bond between the duo goes back to 2005, when his earlier film "One Day from a Hangman's Life" was stopped from screening at Kolkata by then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The film was about a day in the life of Nata Mullick, the hangman who executed rape-and-murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee. "When most of the Left intellectuals kept silent, it was Mahasweta Devi who came out in my support," remembers Joseph. After watching the DVD of the movie, the author asked him to meet her. "As I entered her flat, she kissed my forehead; and it was the beginning of a long association," said the filmmaker. From then on, Joseph travelled with the author and took part in many struggles, including Nandigram. The Magsaysay Award winner, known for her fight for the tribals and marginalised community, kept the struggle throughout her life. "During Nandigram, we lived in a small house, which was converted into a primary health centre by some doctors who used to treat the injured," he said. The first movie "Journeying with Mahasweta Devi", which was shot extensively during their trips, captures many candid moments from the Jnanpith awardee's life and struggle. "Once, when we were coming back from Nandigram, suddenly she said I cannot say that I discovered you. It's like one rascal discovering another," said the film-maker. Recalling her activism, Joseph says that whether it was Nandigram, Odisha or Manipur, Mahasweta Devi was an active presence from the front. "When Irom Sharmila entered in the 10th year of her fast in Manipur, we went to meet her. But the government never allowed her to meet Sharmila. Later they spoke over phone," he said. Joseph, who hails from Kerala, says the Padma Vibhushan awardee had a special connection with Kerala. "Didi had visited Kerala many times and was actively involved in many issues," he said, adding that the author's itinerary was always packed with activities. "Didi was one of the rare writers whose image grows bigger and better as one goes closer," he summed up. (Preetha Nair can be reached at preetha.n@ians.in) Philadelphia (Us), July 29 : "Made in India" versus "Make in America" has emerged an election issue in the US. Democratic Party's presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday night criticized her Republican rival Donald Trump for making in India the picture frames he sells under his brand. In her speech accepting the party nomination on Thursday night here, one of her many criticisms of Trump was that while he has said he would bring back jobs to the US through a policy of Make in America, his own products were made abroad. One of the products she cited were Trump picture frames made in India. Her campaign has identified them as the "Donald Trump Park Avenue Collection" - four inches by six inches (about 10 cm X 15 cm) picture frames. They are supplied by IMAX Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma state, which says on its website that it sources products from India and China. Another South Asian element in her speech was a tribute to Army Captain Humayun Khan, a 27-year-old Pakistani-American army man killed in 2004 in Iraq trying to save his soldiers from a car bomb. Clinton cited Khan to hit out against Trump's threats to temporarily suspend Muslim immigration while determining how to vet them. Earlier in the closing programme, Humayun Khan's father, Khizr Khan, was one of the speakers. "You are asking Americans to trust you with their future," he challenged Trump. "Let me ask you, if you have read the US Constitution?" He said that his son would never have been able to serve the US had Trump been the President. "We will become stronger when Clinton becomes President." (Arul Louis can be reached at the Philadelphia Democratic Party Convention at arul.l@ians.in) Los Angeles, July 29 : Late pop icon Prince -- who was found dead from an overdose in April at the age of 57 -- will be honoured at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on October 13, his siblings have announced. Prince's family said they "have been moved by the tremendous love and support of Prince's friends and fans around the world" and are "excited" at the prospect of the official tribute show, reports mirror.co.uk. They said in a statement: "We are excited for the opportunity to bring everyone together for the official family celebration of Prince's life, music and legacy, and there is no better place to do it than his hometown of Minneapolis. "We are honoured by the artists who will pay tribute and grateful to those that have worked so hard to make this celebration possible," the statement added. Tickets for the show will go on sale next month, and performers will be announced on a rolling basis. Islamabad, July 29 : Police in Pakistan have been told to act against the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa Pakistan (JuD), linked to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, for fundraising, it was reported on Friday. The Punjab Home Department on Wednesday issued the directive to the police after becoming aware that the JuD was engaged in illegal fundraising via its charity collection wing Falah-e-Insayat Foundation (FeF). The JuD, headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, is accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai terror attack that killed 166 people. It is also on the UN watch list, Dawn online reported. The Home Department has demanded details of the fundraising by the JuD and other proscribed groups as fundraising is against the Pakistan law. According to the directive, JuD is making efforts to collect funds through different kinds of charity. It said its members were more active during Ramadan and distributed pamphlets, put up posters at various locations inviting people to donate charity money, Dawn online said. A senior police official said the step should have been taken earlier and that the Punjab government had been reluctant to act against religious parties without concrete reason. The JuD's Falah-e-Insayat Foundation (FeF) has been blacklisted by the US State Department, which has described it as an "alias" of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is already on its list of "foreign terrorist organisations". Lucknow, July 29 : A sessions court in Jaunpur on Friday held a Bangladeshi national guilty in the Shramjeevi Express train blast case. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on Saturday. Twelve persons were killed in an explosion that rocked the Shramjeevi Express on July 28, 2005, evening. Sixty other persons were injured. The judge said based on evidence, Bangladeshi national Mohammad Aalamgeer has been found guilty. The court, however, deferred the case of another accused, Ubaid-Ur-Rehman, for August 2. Washington, July 30 : Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign along with other Democratic Party organisations has been hacked as part of a larger cyber attack, law enforcement officials said on Friday night. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Justice Department has launched a probe against the latest hack that follows two data breaches involving the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DNCC), CNN reported. "An analytics data programme maintained by the DNC, and used by our campaign and a number of other entities, was accessed as part of the DNC hack," said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill. "Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised," CNN quoted Merrill as saying The intrusion was discovered by private investigators hired by the campaign, according to the law enforcement officials. The private investigators believed that it was similar to the DNC hack, but federal investigators were still working to determine the scope and nature of the intrusion, the officials said. The Justice Department's national security division, which was already investigating the DNC intrusion, is handling the probe because of the believed similarities, CNN reported citing the officials as saying. The DCCC, which is the political arm for House Democrats, confirmed on Friday it had been the subject of a cyberhack, raising the possibility that alleged Russian hackers might have breached a much broader swath of Democratic records than originally thought. The revelation comes just days after the leak of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails -- US officials allege Russian hackers -- prompted major turmoil within the party, causing the abrupt resignation of its chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, reports CNN. The FBI's chief of cyber investigations James Trainor told CNN in an interview recently that hackers have targeted political party entities and think tanks in Washington. The official said there is a long list of intrusions that the FBI and other agencies were also investigating. Hacking has become a major flashpoint in the presidential race. Revelations about targeting the Clinton campaign come as the two nominees -- Republican party's Donald Trump) are set to begin receiving national security briefings, CNN noted. Trump earlier in the week drew criticism for appearing to suggest that Russia should use espionage to find Hillary Clinton's deleted emails. The Republican nominee later tried to walk back the comments by saying that he was only being sarcastic. Beijing, July 30 : The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has protested against anti-dumping measures for steel products announced by the European Union (EU), saying the response is "unjustifiable". The step "lacked justifiable grounds", claimed the ministry in a statement on Friday, arguing it was based on higher profit targets for European producers amid a global crisis in the iron and steel sector, EFE news reported. According to China, steel bars imported by the EU did not affect the latter's market, as most of them were sold to Britain and Ireland to meet the high local demand for infrastructure during a period of recovery. Beijing also rued that the EU decision comes too soon after G20 trade ministers reached "a consensus to avoid protectionism". In the scenario, the ministry urged the EU to "keep its promises made on international occasions and refrain from sending the wrong signals to the outside world". On Friday, the European Commission imposed anti-dumping duties ranging from 18.4 to 22.5 per cent on Chinese rebars used to reinforce concrete in construction. The anti-dumping probe on Chinese-made steel products began on April 30, 2015, following a complaint by the EU industry and leading to preliminary sanctions that are now declared definitive and will stay in place for five years. La Paz, July 30 : Bolivian President Evo Morales accused the US of continuing to plot against his government via embassy personnel. Bolivia expelled Philip Goldberg, the US ambassador to La Paz, eight years ago, saying the envoy conspired to strengthen Bolivia's right-wing political opposition against Morales' progressive left-leaning government, Xinhua news agency reported. "Despite the expulsion...the US government doesn't stop in its zeal to conspire against our democratic and cultural revolution," Morales posted on Twitter on Friday. The remark comes after Interior Minister Carlos Romero met with US Charge d'Affaires Peter Brennan, who acknowledged having met with opponents to the government. According to the Bolivian News Agency (ABI), Romero told Brennan that the meetings with opposition leaders "antagonised" the bilateral relationship and were considered interferring in domestic affairs. New Delhi : As Textiles Minister Smriti Irani settles in to her new job overseeing an industry that is India's largest source of formal jobs, the government's hope that it will continue to be an employment engine is under growing threat, as job-growth plateaus and exports wilt against Vietnamese and Bangladeshi competition. The textile and apparels industry employs 105 million people directly and indirectly and is thought to have the potential to create 50 million more jobs by 2025, holding the key to growing unrest over India's inability to create the million jobs it needs every month. But a rising skills gap, falling exports, low productivity, rising debt and low foreign investment is jeopardising the target set for the textile and apparels sector: additional $30 billion in exports and 10 million additional jobs over the next three years. Instead, textiles and apparels employment fell 0.11 per cent in April-June 2015, rose 0.18 per ceng in July-September 2015 and 0.23 per cent in October-December 2015, according to Labour Bureau estimates; and exports of cotton commodities, which account for 24 per cent of textile & apparel exports, declined 34 per cent in the last three years, according to data from United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade). While exports of some commodities, such as knitted/crocheted and non-knitted/crocheted apparel and clothing, grew 12 per cent and seven per cent, textile & apparel exports from India declined more than seven per cent between 2013-14 and 2015-16. Why the textile industry is key to India's job aspirations The textiles sector has been instrumental in creating mass employment, particularly for women, and has lifted millions out of poverty as they moved out of farm jobs in many countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mauritius, Cambodia and Pakistan. Textiles were the largest creator of Indian formal sector jobs, with 499,000 added over the last three years, IndiaSpend reported in July 2016. There is strong international evidence that exports help create additional jobs and push up wage and income growth. With fears that India is experiencing jobless growth and skepticism abounding, the country's ability to cash in on its "demographic bonus", the world's largest working-age population -- 869 million by 2020 -- is in doubt, IndiaSpend reported in May 2016. But in the 15 years between 1997 and 2012, employment in the organised sector shrank, wrote Mint columnist Manas Chakravarty, who called this "the biggest failure of economic liberalisation". Over 22 years of unprecedented economic growth (1991 to 2013), less than half the Indians who sought jobs, 140 million of 300 million, got them, according to a United Nations Development Programme report. India will need to generate 280 million jobs between now and 2050, the year when the working-age population (15 to 64) will peak, the report said. The rate of employment in the sector, as we said, is dropping. A driving reason is that cotton, which commands the highest share (24 per cent) of textiles and apparels exports, witnessed a 11 per cent decline in production over the last two financial years. Crop damages in Punjab and Haryana and low rainfall in Gujarat and Maharashtra may be the reason for the lowest annual cotton output in five years, according to a report in the Business Standard. This will potentially increase prices, making Indian textile products uncompetitive, at a time when India's exports are facing competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam and China. While India still exports more than Vietnam and Bangladesh in absolute terms, over the last three Vietnam's exports grew 34.92 per cent and Bangladesh's 13.52 per cent, as India's exports declined seven per cent. From a 43 per cent and 87 per cent lead over Bangladesh and Vietnam in textile and apparel exports in 2013-14, India's lead has now declined to 16 per cent and 28 per cent in 2015-16. Vietnam is a part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade bloc, and so enjoys preferential access tothe US, the world's largest importing country with 19 per cent share of global textile and clothing imports. India is not a member of the TPP, meaning it does not get preferential or duty-free access to important markets. Lots of schemes, but productivity and skills falter There is much for Irani to do, such as evaluate, bolster or scrap multiple government schemes that do not appear to have boosted low productivity and skills evident in India's textile industry. Some of these programmes include the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme and Integrated Skill Development Scheme. One of the major problems with the sector -- as in most sectors in India -- is the dominance of informal establishments where worker productivity is about 15 times lower than formal establishments. The lack of skills in the textiles sector pervades levels like workers (operators, weavers, tailors et al), supervisors, managers, quality control representatives, merchandisers and designers/developers, according to a National Skill Development Corporation report. Foreign direct investment (FDI), a driver of productivity, modernisation and skill development, in textiles more than doubled in 2013-14 over the preceding year, but investment growth stagnated in 2014-15. That year, no more than 0.64 per cent of FDI into India went to textiles. (30.07.2016 - In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Abhirup Bhunia is a development consultant. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be reached at respond@indiaspend.org) United Nations, July 30 : The world body has suffered "substantial damage" because of corruption, a federal judge has said, jailing a woman for 20 months for bribing a former president of the General Assembly. John Ashe, who led the Assembly during its 68th session from 2013 to 2014, received $800,000 in bribes from Shiwei Sheri Yan, the former chief executive officer of the Global Sustainability Foundation, according to court documents. Ashe, who had been the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda died last month while exercising with barbells at his New York suburb home. He was to have been tried on corruption charges. Yan had earlier admitted in court that she committed the offences. New York federal Judge Vernon S. Broderick said: "There is substantial damage done to the UN, and the image of the UN itself." "Those bent on perverting decision-making," he warned, "simply will not be tolerated." Ashe was not a part of the UN secretariat or its administration, but one of the diplomats sent by the 193 member countries of the UN to represent them. He was elected to a one-year term to preside over the Assembly and was answerable to the member countries that elected him and not to the UN secretariat. The office of the Assembly president operates with limited resources, which sometimes makes it rely on outside help that could have a risk of conflict of interest, to avoid which a trust fund has been set up. India was the first to contribute to the fund when it gave $250,000 last month. According to the case developed by New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, Yan set up the foundation to funnel monthly payments of $20,000 to Ashe, who was made its honorary chairman. Ashe appointed her his adviser when he became the president of the Assembly. In addition he was also given two lump sum payments of $100,000 each and one of$300,000, some of which he shared with an unnamed Antiguan official, the prosecution said. In return for the payments, Ashe set up contacts between Antiguan officials and a Chinese media company and a Chinese security company, which the prosecution did not name. Antingua signed a memorandum of understanding with the security company. "Yan bribed the President of the UN General Assembly with hundreds of thousands of dollars to further private business interests," Bharara said. "For her role in corrupting the United Nations, Yan will serve time in a federal prison." Ashe's wife Anilla Cherian is of Indian descent. Yan was part of a web of UN diplomats and business people allegedly involved in corrupt dealings. In some cases, they used front organisations like the Global Sustainability Foundation, according to prosecutors. The others entangled in cases making their way through courts are Yan's partner Heidi Piao, former Dominican Republic Deputy Permanent Representative Francis Lorenzo, Macau billionaire real estate developer Ng Lap Seng and his aide Jeff C. Yin. Piao and Lorenzo have admitted to bribery and money laundering charges. Ng and Yin are to be tried next year. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) Panaji, July 30 : The Goa government on Saturday suspended public bus services to Karnataka for two more days in view of the violent agitation in the neighbouring state following the Mhadei inter-state water dispute tribunal's verdict. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar also appealed to 'big brother' Karnataka to stop violence in the state and accept the tribunal's interim decision to stop the diversion of the Mhadei river to the Malaprabha river basin. "We had suspended transport of our vehicles to Karnataka not out of fear, but as a precautionary measure. We have now suspended it by two more days... We are a small brother, there's only so many times I can request a big brother. The big brother should understand the sentiment of the smaller brother," Parsekar said, while also making an appeal to check violence across the border. "Two states are not enemies. In the age of globalisation, even two countries cannot be inimical to each other. It is not right... Karnataka and Goa are two states in the same country. We are a small state, they are a big state. We are like their smaller brother. The provisions of law should be binding on us," Parsekar said, adding that Karnataka had the constitutional right to appeal against the tribunal's verdict if the state wishes to. Goa and Karnataka are currently locked in a dispute over the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mhadei river before a central tribunal. Mhadei also known as the Mandovi river, is known as a lifeline in the northern parts of the state. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa. While the river traverses 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km in length in Goa. Karnataka plans to construct seven dams on the river, aimed at diverting the waters into its water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka. Both the Goa government and civil society groups in Goa have said that diverting the waters of the river would badly hurt the northern areas of the state which are dependent on the river for fishing, irrigation and potable water supply. Parsekar however said there was no political motive behind the Mhadei water tussle. "It is natural that a state should look after its own people. This is not a BJP versus Congress thing. Mhadei starts in Karnataka, traverses through Maharashtra and most of it flows through Goa. It is the future and life-giver of Goa. We cannot compromise on that, but that we have never flexed our muscle. We have followed processes of law," Parsekar said. New Delhi, July 30 : A court here on Saturday held Mahmood Farooqui, who is best known as co-director of the 2010 Hindi film "Peepli Live", guilty of raping an American woman. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain convicted Farooqui under rape charges and fixed August 2 for hearing arguments on quantum of sentence. Delhi Police have accused Farooqui of raping a 35-year-old American woman from Columbia University who was in India for research on her doctoral thesis. Farooqui has denied the allegations, saying he was falsely implicated. Kabul, July 30 : At least 36 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Saturday by the Afghan security forces during a military operation in eastern Afghanistan. The militants were killed in the ongoing 'Qahr Silab' operations being conducted in Achin district, Khaama Press reported. According to Khaama, the military operation took place in eastern Nangarhar province where militants from the Taliban radical group and IS are currently operating. The IS is outlawed in many countries and operates primarily in Syria and Iraq but is known to have expanded its activities to Afghanistan, challenging government forces, along with other militant groups, including Taliban. Hyderabad, July 30 : With the Centre ruling out special status for Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is gearing up to mount pressure on the BJP-led NDA government. The TDP, a partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, will evolve its strategy at a crucial meeting on Sunday. TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has called a meeting of party MPs and senior leaders in Vijayawada. The meeting will discuss future course of action to bring pressure on the central government. The TDP will decide the strategy to be adopted during the ongoing Parliament session. The TDP is unhappy over the Centre not fulfilling the commitments made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and ensuring desired support to the state in the aftermath of bifurcation. Meanwhile, two MPs from TDP on Saturday said they were ready to resign. Murali Mohan and K. Nani, both members of Lok Sabha, said they were ready to make any sacrifice to help the state achieve special status. Murali Mohan, an actor-turned-politician who represents Rajahmundry constituency, said if an agitation can help in achieving the goal, he would be in the forefront of it. Nani, Lok Sabha member from Vijayawada, said the state's interests were more important for TDP than the two cabinet berths it has at the Centre. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had said in Rajya Sabha on Friday that special status would not be granted to Andhra Pradesh but the Centre would "handhold" the state until it became economically stable. Chandrababu Naidu expressed his disappointment over the stand taken by the Centre, saying injustice had been done to Andhra. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been indifferent over the issue and had done nothing except blaming the Congress party for the state's bifurcation. Kabul, July 30 : At least 25 insurgents were killed on Saturday in drone attacks on Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan's Nimroz province, a source said. According to the statement released by Afghan military, group commander Hafiz Ghulam was among those killed in the air strikes conducted in Charborjak district, Xinhua news agency reported. Taliban militants active in parts of Nimroz and neighbouring Farah as well as Herat provinces have not commented yet. Imphal, July 30 : Two foreign nationals, possibly from the Middle East, were among three undertrial prisoners killed early on Saturday in violence inside the Sajiwa Central Jail in Imphal East district of Manipur, highly placed sources said. The Union Home Ministry has sought a report about the incident from the Manipur government. The incident occurred at about 1 a.m. on Saturday. Sources said two foreign nationals, identified as Sushak Ahmed and Abdul Salam, in their mid 40s, allegedly killed a local man, Thangmilien Zou of Churachandpur district of Manipur, shortly after midnight. Zou's skull was smashed apparently with both blunt and sharp weapons, they said. It is yet to be established how the killers managed to smuggle the weapons into the prison. On learning that Zou had been killed, other inmates beat the two foreigners to death, sources said. Though the mayhem continued for more than an hour, there was no intervention from the prison staff and security personnel, they said. The two foreign nationals had been arrested by police at Moreh, the border town, for entering Manipur without valid travel documents in 2013. They have been in judicial custody facing trial. Zou had been arrested in 2010 in connection with a murder case. The bodies were taken to J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences hospital for post mortem. The body of Zou will be handed over to his family members. The police station at Heingang has registered a case. Though there had been group clashes among inmates and even a revolt against prison authorities in the past, in which several persons including the IGP (Prisons) were injured, this is for the first that inmates have been killed. Manipur Home Minister Gaikhangam refused to comment on Saturday's incident. Security measures have been beefed up in the central jail to ensure that there is no further violence. New Delhi, July 30 : A court here on Saturday held Mahmood Farooqui, the co-director of the 2010 Hindi film "Peepli Live", guilty of raping an American woman. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain convicted Farooqui for rape and fixed August 2 for hearing arguments on quantum of sentence. Farooqui, who is out on bail, was present in the courtroom with his wife, film director and screenwriter Anusha Rizvi, and his friends when the judgment was pronounced. The court also ordered Farooqui be taken into custody. Farooqui was accused of raping a 35-year-old woman from Columbia University who was in India for research on her doctoral thesis. The woman who moved to Delhi in June 2014 was looking for contacts for her work in Gorakhpur and through one of her common friends, she came in contact with Farooqui. The incident dates back to March 28, 2015 when Farooqui invited her for dinner at his house. According to the polish chargesheet, the woman, who reached his house at 9 p.m., found Farooqui was very intoxicated, and he asked her to go in the other room which was his office. After 20 minutes, she left the office room to smoke on the porch when he told her to come in and sit down, it said. After talking with her for a while, he suddenly kissed her and forced himself on her, the prosecution said, adding that the woman was scared after the incident. During the trial, the American researcher stood by her complaint and alleged that Farooqui had raped her, while he denied the allegations, and claimed he was falsely implicated. Mumbai, July 30 : Expectations of political consensus on a major economic legislation, combined with above average monsoon rains and continued influx of foreign funds are expected to support the Indian rupee in the upcoming week. "Strong FII (Foreign Institutional Investor) inflows, robust momentum in domestic equity markets, strong domestic macro theme supported by good monsoon and GST (Goods and Services Tax Bill) are factors supporting the rupee," Anindya Banerjee, Associate Vice President for Currency Derivatives with Kotak Securities, told IANS. "However, we need to be vigilant about RBI's (Reserve Bank of India) intervention. But a sharp rally in Chinese currency and other Asian/EM (emerging market) currencies may make RBI less aggressive about its intervention effort." The Indian rupee is predicted to range between 66-66.80 in the very near-term. "Traders may keep an eye on the 66.60/80 region on spot in USD/INR, if that fails to hold on a sustained basis, then risk of 66.00/66.20 would be there," Banerjee cited. "JPY (Japanese Yen) may continue to find strong traction against rupee with euro staying ranged against rupee." According to Bansi Madhavani, analyst at India Ratings and Research, the US Fed's move to leave rates unchanged is expected to keep the Indian currency market buoyant in the near term, as high yielding Indian assets retain their attractiveness. "Accommodative global central banks and ensuing surge in risk preference will augur well for the Indian currency in the near term," Madhavani said. "Barring the US Fed, most major central banks have exhibited their preference to stay on the easing course -- thus ensuring the rupee stays anchored." Madhavani added that in the near term, the rupee is likely to trade with an overall stable bias as investors focus on the ongoing monsoon session of parliament to discern signs of the meaningful progress on key reforms along with the corporate earnings season. Recently, increased chances of the GST Bill getting passed during parliament's ongoing monsoon session has enhanced investors' risk-taking appetite in the currency and equity markets. Investors are hopeful about the bill's passage after the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved key changes in the proposed legislation. Government sources reported that the proposal for one per cent additional tax on inter-state sale had been dropped from the constitutional amendment bill. The positive outcome of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's meeting with his counterparts from the states on the issue on Tuesday also raised hopes on the bill's passage. The pan-India tax reform has been passed by the Lok Sabha but is stuck in the Rajya Sabha, where the government lacks a majority. On a weekly basis, the currency strengthened to 67.02 against a US dollar from its previous close of 67.08 to a greenback on July 22. As per provisional figures from the stock exchanges, the FIIs purchased stocks worth Rs 3,719.63 crore during the week under review. The National Securities Depository (NSDL) figures showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers of equities worth Rs 4,454.35 crore, or $663.05 million from July 25-29. The healthy foreign funds inflow not just supported the rupee, but also aided in the upward trajectory of the key Indian equity indices. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE closed the week's trade with gains of 248.62 points or 0.89 per cent to 28,051.86 points. Similarly, the 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surged. It rose to 8,638.50 points -- up 97.30 points or 1.14 per cent. (Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in) Srinagar, July 30 : A city court on Saturday directed police to issue a non-bailable warrant against the Srinagar police chief after he defied its orders to register a case against a senior police officer for allegedly shooting a man from point-blank range during a protest earlier this month. The court had earlier ordered Srinagar's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amit Kumar to register a case against Deputy Superintendent of Police Yasir Qadri, who allegedly shot dead a Srinagar youth on July 10. But the police didn't file an FIR and probe the death of Shabir Ahmad Mir in Srinagar's Tengpora area. Instead a case was registered against Mir under charges of armed rioting and attempt to murder. Mir's family alleged that Qadri shot him dead in the lawns of their house in Srinagar. According to police, Mir was a notorious stone thrower. The court had on July 18 and again on July 28 directed Amit Kumar to file the FIR and appear personally if the case was not registered. On Saturday, as the case came up for the hearing before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Masarat Shaheen, the police sought Amit Kumar's exemption from personal appearance and did not submit a copy of the FIR. An infuriated judge directed the Chief Prosecuting Officer to forward the non-bailable warrant to DIG Central Kashmir and file a compliance report before the court on Monday. "The SSP Srinagar is further directed to show cause as to why contempt proceedings shall not be initiated against him for not obeying the court directions, whereby he was directed to lodge FIR and file a copy of the FIR within 24 hours,'' the judge said in his order. "I have also perused the case diaries of the FIR 89/2016, which reveals that the deceased has been cited as accused, who was leading the procession on which the police party has used force." The order said that the affidavit filed by the deceased's family "reveals that a police officer has exceeded his powers in the house of the applicant and shot his son dead, thereby committing a cognizable offence like murder". The case comes as the valley remains on boil following violent protests after Hizbul Mujahideen's Burhan Wani was gunned down on July 8. Clashes between security forces and protesters have claimed 50 lives in the past three weeks of unrest. New Delhi, July 30 : The Congress on Saturday alleged that three affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were involved in trafficking of 31 tribal girls from Assam under the garb of better education, and said that they would also raise the issue in Parliament. The three affiliates of the RSS as named by the Congress are 'Rashtra Sevika Samiti', 'Vidya Bharti' and 'Sewa Bharti'. Congress also attacked the government by asking if "this was the fulfilment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' scheme." It also demanded that the Centre must intervene and ensure that the tribal girls were re-united with their families soon. "A detailed investigation and documentary evidence establishes as to how the Sangh Parivar flouted Indian and international laws on child rights to traffic 31 young tribal girls from Assam to Punjab and Gujarat to indoctrinate them," Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi told mediapersons. "Orders to return these children to Assam, including those from the Assam State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, the Child Welfare Committee, Kokrajhar, the State Child Protection Society and Childline, Delhi and Patiala were violated with impunity by Sangh Parivar-run institutions with active connivance of BJP-ruled governments of Gujarat and Punjab," she added. Chaturvedi further said that out of the 31 girls, 20 of them are in children's home in Rashtriya Shikshan Seva Pratishthan, Halvad, Gujarat and 11 of them are in Punjab. According to the Congress, on June 9 of 2015, 31 tribal girls, between the age of three and 11, from five border districts of Assam -- Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Dhubri, Chirang, and Bongaigaon -- were taken to Delhi on the Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express. "Assam State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights wrote to the Punjab and Gujarat governments to ensure that the trafficked children are brought back to Assam. But a year later, 31 girls are still not back in Assam. Their hapless parents are desperate," said Chaturvedi. She also said it was a violation of a Supreme Court ruling. "In the year 2010, Supreme Court expressly directed the states of Manipur and Assam to ensure that no child below the age of 12 years or those at primary school level are sent outside for pursuing education to other states," she added. According to the Congress, it was also a violation of Article 9 of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Juvenile Justice Act, 2000. "When viewed in light of complete inaction either by the BJP-ruled governments of Gujarat and Punjab or by the NDA government at the Centre, it clearly points towards abdication of the founding duty of protecting the children," said Chaturvedi. "Is this BJP's and RSS' idea of inculcating education and protecting children," she asked. Chandigarh, July 30 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Saturday that various government departments in Gurgaon have been asked to take steps to deal with rain-induced traffic snarls and responsibility will be fixed for lapses in construction work that had reduced the carrying capacity of drains. Talking to media persons here, the Chief Minister said that water carrying capacity of the Badshahpur drain in Gurgaon had reduced over the years. "There has been some deficiency in construction works. We will see who were responsible and how to remove the shortcomings," Khattar said. He said various departments in Gurgaon have been asked to be prepared to deal with waterlogging caused by heavy monsoon rains. "If such a situation arises, there should be preparedness," he said. The Khattar government has faced criticism from opposition parties, including Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, for massive traffic jams in Gurgaon induced by monsoon rains. The rain and water-logging led to the worst-ever traffic jams in the Millennium City from Thursday evening to Friday evening. Thousands of motorists were stuck for many hours on a stretch of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway (NH8) between Rajiv Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk, going towards Jaipur. On Friday, there was over four feet of water at Hero Honda chowk on NH 8 due to breaching of Badshahpur drain. Kabul, July 30 : A 60-year-old cleric has been arrested for allegedly marrying a six-year-old girl in Afghanistan's Ghor province, police said. The cleric, Mohammad Karim, has claimed that the girl was offered to him as a gift by her father while he was teaching her, Tolo news reported on Friday. The girl's family claims the cleric abducted her. Police said the victim was kidnapped by the cleric from Herat a month ago. Karim, who is now in police custody, told police they married on the first night of Eid ul-Fitr. "We formally got engaged, her family told me to take her anywhere you want," Karim said. Police officials have said the girl's family accused the cleric of abducting their child a month ago from Obah in Herat. "The family of the girl rejected the claims that they married; the family said that the girl had been lost, the victim's father and mother are now on their way to Ghor and we hope that they arrive soon so that the police can get to the bottom of the issue," a police official said. Ghor women's affairs department has condemned the incident. The victim is being cared for at a safe house and children and women rights groups have pledged to seek justice for the victim, Tolo news reported. "For now, the department of women's affairs cannot issue a verdict on the case, we are determined to make the case clear," said Masooma Anwari, Head of Ghor Women's Affairs Department. The reports come amid a rise in violence against women and girls. Reports indicate that in the past 15 years, 95 per cent of all criminals involved in such acts in the country were not prosecuted. Ahmedabad, July 30 : Prominent Muslim body Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind has declared support for a massive public rally being organized in Ahmedabad on Sunday by around 30 different Dalit groups of Gujarat to protest against atrocities on the community, especially the July 11 flogging of four youth by cow vigilantes. "We have announced our whole-hearted backing to the rally tomorrow and many of our members and community are likely to attend it," Nasir Ansari, general secretary of the Gujarat unit of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, told IANS on Friday evening. Ansari did not speak of the numbers, but according to sources more than a thousand Muslims are expected to be present. "We have been victims of political conspiracy in the past. Religion and caste have been abused. Political parties have only attained power by using our emotions," vice-president of Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind Mohammed Hanif said. Forging a joint front to fight atrocities against the Dalits after the July 11 public flogging of some Dalit youth, as many as 30 different Dalit groups from across Gujarat have for the first time come together under the banner of 'Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti' (Una Dalit Fight against Atrocities Committee) and are holding a big public rally in Ahmedabad on Sunday to launch an agitation. The convener of the joint front Jignesh Mevani says at least 10,000 people from across Gujarat are likely to be present at the rally. Mevani told IANS, "You might feel the number of people is much less, but this should be understood from the point of view that it is for the first time there has been such a Dalit uprising in Gujarat, and that too without support of any political party." Even the support from the Muslims has been on their own volition. "They came and expressed their solidarity," he said. Mevani added that Dalits and Muslims are "travelling in the same boat" in Gujarat. Earlier, the state government was refusing permission for the rally proposed in front of the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, but amid pressure, approved it on Saturday evening with a change of the venue. "The venue has now been moved in Sabarmati area, and we have agreed since our focus is not publicity but to speak about our problems. This is a rare opportunity for us to be able to represent our case before the people of Gujarat," Mevani said. The Dalits have decided to stop collecting dead animals for skinning from Sunday and also stop doing sanitation work. The organisations announced that they would not collect dead animals anywhere in Gujarat and also launch a 'Jhadu down' (broom down) agitation, with persons involved with sanitation stopping work across all local government bodies. In fact, they have already stopped it in Surendranagar and in some villages of Mehsana district. Among the key demands of the newly-formed joint action group, expected to be raised on Sunday, would be to invoke the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, against those responsible as well as the "conspirators of the Una torture". They also demand that any person convicted of terrorizing Dalits anywhere in the country be sent outside their respective district limits, appoint sanitation workers in Gujarat as permanent government employees and extend the benefits of Pay Commission to them, set up colonies for Dalits who have been forced to migrate from villages due to discrimination on caste basis in rural Gujarat and relocate them to posh localities of the cities. (Darshan Desai can be reached at darshan207@gmail.com) Panaji, July 30 : Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday referred to Goa as a "strange place" which is becoming "famous" for people protesting for just about anything. "I think Goa is becoming famous for protesting against anything. You get a factory, they protest. You don't get a factory, they protest, because there is no job. You start tourism, they protest, saying with with tourism comes lot of unnecessary vices," he said at a function organised to inaugurate a new chapter of the Indian Institute of Technology in the state. Parrikar, a former Goa Chief Minister, also questioned the merit of civil society protests against setting up of premier educational institutions like the IIT. "You start a factory, there is a protest I can understand because of pollution, but then you start an educational institute also there is a protest. It's a very strange place," Parrikar said. He hinted that the protests in Goa could be fomented for political end. "We do have some streaks which are recognised by some people in Delhi and they think that because of that, Goa can be won in the next elections. But I can assure you that, that percentage is very small and most of the Goans will love to have IIT start in its own campus as early as possible," Parrikar said in a dig at Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party which is trying to gain a foothold in the state. Panama City now has its own world class Master Chef Master Chef Paul Albrecht, The Godfather of Atlantas cuisine, (the name given to him by Zagat Magazine), has come to Panama City and the Holiday Inn to redefine what dining is in Panama City; but thats not where his journey as a Chef started. Chef Pauls Family has been in the business of making great food for over 200 years, his grandfather was chef to the Austrian Hungarian Monarchy in the 19th century. Before being named one of this countries youngest Master Chefs, Chef Paul trained at some of the finest hotels and resorts in Switzerland. Since being in the U.S. he has hosted president George H. W. Bush and been featured on numerous shows such as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, CNN, and others. Chef Paul, has always enjoyed the beach and the coastal areas of Florida. He met the Hilton Family, (Owners of the Holiday Inn Panama City) and Cody Khan, in the late 80s early 90s when he opened a restaurant in Carillon Beach for a brief period of time, developing a lifelong friendship with them that is still strong today. When Cody called to ask Chef for his advice on how to re-invigorate the restaurant and bar in the Holiday Inn Panama City as part of the 5-million-dollar renovation project that was being done, he saw an opportunity to come back to an area that he loved dearly and take a step back from the day to day choirs of owning and operating restaurants and to still be able to do what he loves best, which is making great food and creating amazing dining experiences. Now, Chef Paul is preparing to roll out new menus at the all new Bellini Cafe and Cocktail Lounge inside the Holiday Inn Panama City, starting with his own take on a Sunday Brunch Buffett. Starting July 31st, Brunch will be served every Sunday from 11:30AM to 2:30PM and will feature a host of Italian inspired, American breakfast favorites, including things such as, Gourmet French toast, eggs benedict, made to order omelets and much, much more. Team Klabanoff - Bernice and Michael Klabanoff Team Klabanoff's expansive knowledge of the region has been a great asset to their customers...commented Elizabeth Lewis Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty is excited to welcome back Bernice and Michael Klabanoff to its Boynton Beach / Wellington office! After some time away, Bernice and Michael who collectively are known in the Valencia Shores area as Team Klabanoff, are back onboard. They are ready to bring buyers and sellers in Valencia Shores and the surrounding area together to make their clients real estate dreams come true! Nothing could be better than selling Valencia Shores, Bernice says. Its a community we love living in! For years, both Bernice and Michael have successfully worked in the real estate industry covering this region of South Florida. The two are avid world travelers but have found their love of real estate centers in the heart of Valencia Shores. Together, Bernice and Michael have consistently brought fresh ideas and a wealth of experience to the community of Valencia Shores, the Palm Beach County real estate industry, and to the Boynton Beach / Wellington Office of BHHS Florida Realty. Anyone who has had the pleasure to work with Bernice and Michael will attest to their professionalism and industry knowledge. They are excited to get back into the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty eLead and corporate referral group where they have had much success and will be hitting the ground running! Selling the Valencia Shores lifestyle is easy, commented Michael, because it is the lifestyle we love living! Team Klabanoff will be working directly with the BHHS Florida Realty Boynton Beach office, which is headed by Elizabeth Lewis, Managing Broker, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty. Team Klabanoffs expansive knowledge of the region has been a great asset to their customers and has made them a leader in the marketplace, commented Elizabeth. Were happy to have them back and look forward to working closely with them once again! Valencia Shores is a better community for having them and so are we! Team Klabanoff can be reached at the BHHS Florida Realty Boynton Beach Office, 6659 W. Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL, by calling them directly at the office (561) 742-4700 or mobile (561) 906-1698. About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty serves 19 counties throughout Florida and more than 1,800 sales professionals. The full-service brokerage, founded in 1999, is a wholly owned subsidiary of WCI Communities, Inc. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty is ranked fifth in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network and is the overall No. 1 fundraiser for The Sunshine Kids Foundation, having generated more than $3.1 million. McKee Foods proudly announces its support of improvements to the Hiwassee River Blueway in Tennessee with a grant provided through OH! the Outdoor Happiness movement. This grant will be used for amenities that include signage, picnic tables and benches. Construction is expected to begin soon. The Hiwassee River Blueway spans four counties and is more than 60 miles long. It is home to some of the best trout fishing in the eastern United States, as well as excellent white-water kayaking and rafting. It also features the beautiful Cherokee National Forest and picturesque views of farmland and historic areas. At least 20 river access points ensure you can find your outdoor happiness all along the Hiwassee River Blueway. Ive spent many hours standing in the Hiawassee fishing for trout, said Mike McKee, President and CEO of McKee Foods, so it gives me a great appreciation for this resource. Weve made 19 grants in 19 states since we launched OH! the Outdoor Happiness movement. Im proud that our first grant in my home state of Tennessee is also the first grant to go to the Blueway. People interested in learning more about the movement can visit OutdoorHappinessMovement.com to hear about upcoming projects across the U.S. Visitors to the site can also make a pledge to go outside, have fun and find what makes them happy. About OH! the Outdoor Happiness movement: McKee Foods is committed to helping communities across the country enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle by partnering with organizations that make public greenways, trails and parks available. We believe that these green spaces provide opportunities for outdoor activity that ultimately lead to a fun and active lifestyle. McKee Foods, owned and operated by the McKee family, has committed to donate more than $1 million over the next five years in an initiative called OH! the Outdoor Happiness movement. OH! the Outdoor Happiness movement represents a long-standing tradition in the McKee family in that since 2009, it has given more than $2.8 million to support the creation and preservation of parks, greenways and other outdoor spaces. For more information, or to join McKee Foods in its mission to get the country outside, please visit OutdoorHappinessMovement.com. About McKee Foods: McKee Foods, a family bakery with annual sales of about $1.4 billion, is a privately held company based in Collegedale, Tenn. The McKee Foods story began during the height of the Great Depression when founder O.D. McKee began selling 5-cent snack cakes from the back of his car. Soon after, he and his wife, Ruth, bought a small bakery on Main Street in Chattanooga, Tenn., using the family car as collateral. Today, the company employs more than 5,750 people in Collegedale; Gentry, Ark.; Stuarts Draft, Va.; and Kingman, Ariz. It creates and produces Little Debbie baked goods, Drakes Cakes, Sunbelt Bakery snacks and cereals, Heartland brands and Fieldstone Bakery food products. Visit mckeefoods.com for more information. Dr. Sheila Tlou There is truly no better way for nurse educators to recharge than to participate in the Summit. This yearly must-attend event embodies the NLNs mission to promote excellence in nursing education NLN President Dr. Anne Bavier Registration for NLN Education Summit 2016 is in full swing. Join faculty, deans and administrators, students, and other health care professionals in Orlando, September 21-23. Meet and learn from colleagues and experts in nursing education as you participate in the exchange of information and ideas. The gathering is also an occasion to celebrate professional achievement, an opportunity for formal and informal networking and mentoring; and just plain fun. President of the NLN Anne R. Bavier, PhD, RN, FAAN, reiterated her advice to register now: There is truly no better way for nurse educators to recharge than to participate in the Summit. This yearly must-attend event embodies the NLNs mission to promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of our nation and the global community. I look forward to welcoming colleagues to Orlando. Beyond Boundaries, said NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, "is about creating access to outstanding, culturally sensitive health care to underserved patient populations worldwide, beginning with improved educational opportunities for all by increasing diversity among nursing students and nurse faculty. The exploration of global perspectives will begin with Wednesday evenings keynote speaker: Dr. Shelia Tlou. The director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa and former member of parliament and minister of health for Botswana, Dr. Tlou provides leadership in the response to HIV-AIDS and ensures technical support to UN teams in 21 countries across the region. Dr. Tlou is the United Nations Eminent Person for Women, Girls, and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. Another yearly Summit highlight, the Debra L. Spunt Lecture, funded by Laerdal Medical, will take place on Friday morning, delivered by Janice C. Palaganas, PhD, RN. Dr. Palaganas is director of educational innovation and program development at the Center for Medical Simulation at Harvard. She also lectures on simulation and interprofessional dynamics at Harvard Medical School. Knowing Bounds to Know No Bounds: Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education will address the topic of crossing boundaries from her unique perspective. Abstracts are available on the Summit app and on its dedicated microsite for participants to select which concurrent sessions to attend, based on individual needs and interests. Some of the most popular sessions, e.g., How to Teach so It Sticks, How to Deliver Constructive Feedback Effectively, Developing Test Questions, are filling fast. First-time attendees are urged to take advantage of Navigating the Summit, a welcoming orientation session on Wednesday afternoon. New this year, the NLN Honors Convocation on Friday afternoon celebrates the NLN Centers of Excellence, the winners of the prestigious NLN Awards, and induction of the 2016 Class of Fellows into the NLN Academy of Nursing Education. The Summit closes with the festive (and fun) Presidents Reception immediately following at 6:15. >>Complete information and registration ### Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its more than 40,000 individual and more than 1,200 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations. Sunny Isles Beach Government Center Sunny Isles Beach Fall Cultural Event Trips go on sale for residents on Monday, August 8, 2016. Sign up early and get a choice of great musicals, festivals, sporting events and shopping. Start off on Sunday, September 11 with a day exploring next years car models at the Miami International Auto Show in Miami Beach. View the special collection on display of convertibles through the years. Next, step up to the plate for Seniors Night (55 and older) at Marlins Park on September 22. Great seats are waiting for you in the Baseline Reserved Section. October begins with a trip on Sunday, October 9, to see the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning modern opera, RENT performed at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Then on Sunday, October 16 travel back to the musical era of the 1930s and 1940s with Swing! Swing! Swing! at the Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs. November brings cooler evenings and the return of our snowbird friends. On Sunday, November 13 jump on the bus at 9:00 am and spend the day at TY Park in Hollywood for Camelot Days Medieval Festival. If shopping is more your style, two days later on November 15, get back on the bus and ride up to Sunrise for a day of exploring Sawgrass Mills Mall. To sign up for trips, visit the reception desks of Pelican Community Park (18115 North Bay Road) or the Government Center at 18070 Collins Avenue. For information about Sunny Isles Beach cultural trips, tune to SIBTV on Atlantic Broadband Channel 77 (107-5) or ATT&T U-verse Channel 99. Details can also be found on sibfl.net, or by following the City on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook (@CityofSIB). Or sign up for email reminders, eSIBi alerts, from the City in the Notify Me section of the home page of sibfl.net. For questions, please contact Cultural and Community Services at 305.792.1706. The Mile-Hi Jeep Club is a conglomerate of local Jeep clubs and this year marks their 50th anniversary so it will be a huge, hallmark occasion. People come from as far away as Illinois and California to wheel trails from easy to extreme. Global leader in off-road performance product sales and installation,4 Wheel Parts, will be among the sponsors and vendors supporting the All-4-Fun Jeep event in Empire, Colorado July 30-August 6. This is the 50th anniversary of the annual event presented by the Mile-Hi Jeep Club featuring scenic trail rides, family activities for Jeepers and a raffle with aftermarket merchandise for off-roaders. Jeep enthusiasts of all levels will wheel, camp and peruse products from vendors throughout the weeklong gathering at Colorados Douglas Mountain. The Mile-Hi Jeep Club is a conglomerate of local Jeep clubs and this year marks their 50th anniversary so it will be a huge, hallmark occasion, says Jeremy Huskey, manager of the Denver 4 Wheel Parts store. People come from as far away as Illinois and California to wheel trails from easy to extreme and bond with others who love Jeeps and the off-roading lifestyle. Local Colorado 4 Wheel Parts stores in Denver and Westminster will have representatives from both locations attending All-4-Fun. 4 Wheel Parts is sponsoring the raffle with a donation of $1,000 in gift cards and aftermarket merchandise and will also be onsite for the vendor show on Wednesday, August 3. Additionally, Transamerican Manufacturing Group brand Poison Spyder will also be making the trek from California to attend the event. Poison Spyder is sponsoring the welcome event on Sunday night and were proud to celebrate All-4-Funs 50th anniversary with the off-roading community, says Dusty Sharp, Poison Spyder marketing manager. Well be out on the trails all week and will have an information booth at the vendor show where we look forward to talking to attendees about our products and Jeeps in general. The site of All-4-Fun changes from year to year and past locations include Silverton, Salida and Leadville, Colorado. Spectacular scenery with photogenic peaks and winding waterways await attendees in historic Empire, a former silver mining settlement. 4 Wheel Parts held its annual Truck & Jeep Fest in Denver, Colorado earlier this month and the Mile-Hi-Jeep Club made an appearance at the fest. The Mile-Hi Jeep Club donates proceeds from their annual All-4-Fun event to a variety of land use-related causes and the local Children's Hospital Burn Center will benefit from collected proceeds. Donations make it possible for burn victims and their families to spend a week at the Children's Hospital Burn Camp and the club has sent over 200 families to the camp. About 4 Wheel Parts 4 Wheel Parts is the global leader in truck, Jeep, SUV and off-road performance products. With 75 locations across the U.S. and Canada and growing, 4 Wheel Parts Service Centers install all the products they sell. Maintaining the nations largest inventory of off-road all-terrain tires, wheels, suspension products and Jeep accessories, 4 Wheel Parts serves customers across the country and around the globe. Life is Better Off-Road. Visit them at 4wheelparts.com or call toll-free 877-474-4821. I have a large extended family, and only three of its members have read all 19 of my books. The others claim to be too busy or not into reading, but they demand free copies of my books anyway. Growing up in rural Alabama in the late 50s, I loved the written word. I read everything from the Bible to the ads in the Sears and Roebuck catalogues. Such creative nourishment inspired me to make up my own stories. I told everybody I wanted to be a writer, and everybody told me I was crazy. I was advised to forget about writing because it was a hobby, not a real jobespecially for a black girl. My playmates loved my stories. By the time I was 12, my head was so big, I wrote my own version of Genesis in which Satan didnt exist. There was no sin and the world was one big, happy paradise. I sent my masterpiece to Readers Digest in late September and told the editor to send the payment ASAP so Id have time to purchase a cool Halloween costume. A week later, I received my first rejection. Over the next three decades, more than 2,000 would follow. Despite the Readers Digest snub (I had convinced myself that the editors rejected my piece because they were racist and jealous) and the naysayers, I wrote more stories. I moved with my family to a small city in Ohio, where we lived in a large shabby house with numerous relatives. I shared a bedroom with five people. I hid in a deserted boxcar on the train tracks behind our house so I could write in peace. In high school, I was confident that I could write stories just as juicy as the ones I read in the magazines True Confessions and True Story. I was 15 when I submitted I Married a Hairy Old Beastand received a check for $200! I sent more stories with titles such as I Married My Rapist and My Husband and His Mistress Tried to Kill Me with Voodoo, and more payments followed. My grandfather didnt think I was using my God-given talent wisely. Gal, he said, you grew up in the church, so you need to write stories with a Christian theme. To appease him, I wrote A Homosexual Preacher Stole My Husband. After high school, my dream was to write novels for a living, but the dream became a nightmare when I stumbled into a marriage with an older man I hardly knew, tempted by the idea of sharing a house with only one person for the first time. I left Ohio with my two toddlers and moved to the Bay Area, still determined to write for a living. Then in 1984, a director read one of my plays. I shared this information with my older sister, whose only comment was, If that director is cute and single, give him my phone number. The following year I published my first novel, The Upper Room. The AP brought me to New York for an interview. I received favorable reviews in PW, the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, and other major publications. Despite my accomplishments, my family still insisted that writing was not a real job. When I sent a copy of my novel to my older sister, she looked at the photograph on the book jacket and asked, Didnt you get that blouse in Hawaii? In September 2006, my sixth novel, God Dont Play, landed on the New York Times bestseller list. When I told my uncle James, all he did was blink. I never mentioned it to the rest of my folks. On June 1, 2016, my 19th novel, Every Womans Dream, was released, and on the same day a cousin told me I should still get a real job. I recently eavesdropped on a conversation between Aunt Lucille and Cousin Florence. (Names have been changed to protect the privacy of certain individuals, and because they are itching to sue me if I ever reveal their true identities.) They were praising the accomplishments of June, my younger sister. June Bug is doing so well! She got off them drugs, aint been arrested this year, and she just got a job managing a drug store! Aunt Lucille squealed. After a sigh, Cousin Florence brought up my name: What is poor Mary up to? Still crazy! Aunt Lucille replied. She dont do nothing but write books. Every Womans Dream, the first book in Mary Monroes new series, Lonely Heart, Deadly Heart, was published by Dafina in May. Readers Respond Recently we ran an article titled Authors Respond to Disinvites from Schools (publishersweekly.com/disinvites), detailing the situations of two authors whose appearances at elementary schools were canceled by school administrators due to the books subject matter: heroin addiction in one case and gender transition in another. Our readers filled pages with passionate comments about this article; here are a few of them: While it may be true that a particular child or family for whatever reason may not be comfortable with an honest depiction of the effects of addiction, it shouldnt stop others from access to a wonderful book like Kates. This school made a fear-based decision. Hillary Homzie After reading this article and reviewing the comments, I think the school made the right decision. The school has to protect itself from parents that will blame school employees and start trouble.Frances Laskowski Good schools find a way to make these books available and for parents who object to books that deal with reality to choose to opt out. This is why good public libraries are important. If you dont want your child to read the book, dont check it out. Kaye Grabbe From the Newsletters Tip Sheet PWs editors pick the big fall childrens and adult books. Childrens Bookshelf How a Twitter conversation between two YA authors turned into a six-figure book sold at auction. Religion Bookline Remembering Tim LaHaye, creator of the Left Behind series, who died last week at age 90. BookLife Report The rise of indie crime novels. Global Rights Report The French bestsellers getting picked up across Europe. Must-Reads Sign up for our newest newsletter to get the weeks publishing highlights emailed to you every Sunday morning. Blogs Shelftalker Sneak peeks and other clever reveals to help booksellers drive interest (and sales). Podcasts Week Ahead PW senior writer Andrew Albanese discusses the latest AAP sales figures, and why the recent drop in e-book sales should be especially concerning. More to Come The More to Come crew recaps this years San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop culture convention in North America. PW Radio Bill Streever discusses his new book, And Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind: A Natural History of Moving Air (Little, Brown). Jerusalem by Alan Moore (Liveright) was the most-read review on PWs website last week. As real estate prices soar in traditional artistic and cultural hubs such as Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, writers are looking toward smaller cities with cheaper rent. In Detroit, literary nonprofit Write a House is encouraging that trend. Cofounded by Sarah Cox and Toby Barlow in 2012, Write a House provides paid vocational training to unemployed Detroit natives by working with them to renovate empty, dilapidated homes in Detroits Banglatown neighborhood. Once repaired, the homes are awarded to writers who submit applications and are selected by a panel of judges made up of accomplished poets and writers of fiction and nonfiction, including Billy Collins, John Freeman, and Major Jackson. Its like a writer-in-residence program, the organizations site proclaims, only in this case were actually giving the writer the residence, forever. The idea came to Cox and Barlow while they were talking about Coxs background running a real estate blog in Detroit and Barlows mothers experience operating the Blue Mountain Center, a writers residency in New York state. The duo decided that to really improve the city, it made more sense to have their organizationwhich is funded predominantly by local grants and individual donorsaward homes on an ongoing basis rather than hosting writers temporarily. During the first two years in residence, each writer signs a lease for the house but pays no rent. After two years, if the writer wishes to remain in Detroit, Write a House signs the deed over. The writer is only responsible for homeowners insurance and property taxes. It creates a better sense of permanence in the neighborhood, Cox said. The writers are all in one neighborhood together. Its been great. Now that the vacancy rate is down in Banglatown, Cox said the organization has begun to look into other areas for future projects. So far, Write a House has awarded homes to four writers: Liana Aghajanian, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Casey Rocheteau, and Detroit native Nandi Comer. Three houses have been fully renovated, and the fourth has been purchased. Were constantly refurbishing houses as soon as we can get our hands on them, Cox said. Three of the four winnersall but Comerhave moved into their homes, and the response has been glowing. The zip code is, I think, the most diverse zip code in the state of Michigan, Aghajanian said. I was a freelance journalist; I was traveling, and I never really had a community. Being here has given me the time to sink myself into the stuff that was in the back of my head for a really long time. Moorea graphic journalist and author of Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking (Microcosm)said she really lucked out. Im in love with my neighborhood so thoroughly that everything else becomes easy, she said. And my house is adorable. Its drop-dead gorgeous! My bathroom is so cool that when I look in the catalogues for what other peoples fancy bathrooms look like, I get sad that they cant have bathrooms that look as cool as mine. Moores house was abandoned for a decade, so shes spent a good amount of time in her yard, cutting down dead trees, removing stumps, and digging up refuse, including entire panes of glass, housings of previous floors, and bullets. But when shes not working on her home, shes out in the community, connecting with others over her craft. She and her neighbors are planning a collaborative comics project. Were just going to hang out in the library making comics together, she said. And thats literature. Though Cox doesnt believe the writers have a personal responsibility to transform Detroit, she does think theyve been able to raise the profile of Detroit in terms of the literary arts. As for the future of Write a House, Cox suggested that it would remain firmly in Motor City. Detroit is her and Barlows hometown, so for them, a huge part of the motivation behind the program is their civic pride. Other cities have asked, she said. I have no serious plans to branch out in another city. Aghajanian, for her part, thinks the focus on Detroit is sensible. I know that when I mentioned it to some people, theyve said, Thats so great! Why cant this happen elsewhere? she said. At the same time, I dont think theres any city that could benefit more from this than Detroitin the U.S., anyway. Few new Spanish-language authors are being published by major houses in the U.S., but Maria Paulina Camejo signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins Espanol in April. Camejo is only 24 and graduated with honors in Spanish literature from the University of Miami in 2014. She was born in Venezuela and immigrated to the U.S. after her father was imprisoned during the Chavez regime. The books acquired by HC Espanol were originally self-published by Camejo starting in 2014. Her first novel, Beatriz decidio no casarse (Beatriz decided not to wed), is set in Caracas, Madrid, and Paris. Its about a successful female writer in her 40s who gives up on love in order to pursue her career, according to Edward Benitez, senior acquisition editor for HC Espanol, who acquired the books. Her second novel, Los complicados amores de las hermanas Valverde (The complicated lovers of the Valverde sisters), was self-published in 2015. Benitez says that the romance novel is the story of three smart and beautiful sisters. Each, to her surprise, falls in love with a man who isnt her type, forcing her to come to terms with what she seeks and what she finds. HC Espanol will release the novels simultaneously in March 2017. Benitez heard about the books from Camejos agent, Aleyso Bridger, and says he was impressed by their energy. Camejo is a young, supremely talented novelist who has written two beautifully crafted novels that are smart and sophisticated, Benitez says. We are very proud to be publishing her and bringing her works to a wide audience of Spanish-language readers. Fiction Aquiles o el guerrillero y el asesino (Achilles: Or, the Warrior and the Murderer) Carlos Fuentes Alfaguara ISBN 978-6073-14561-9 This novel chronicles the extraordinary story of Carlos Pizarro, a tragic hero. Robust, unbeatable, and full of virtue, Pizarro went from militant communism to becoming a candidate for president of Colombia. El beso del canguro (The Kangaroos Kiss) Eugenia Rico Suma ISBN 978-8483-65444-6 Rico delivers a funny and philosophical novel, raw and sensual but full of poetry, that pays homage to Lazarillo de Tormes and is also an homage to literature. La chica que lo tenia todo (Luckiest Girl Alive) Jessica Knoll Roca ISBN 978-8416-49826-0 Knolls novel explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to have a successful career and a family and introduces a heroine who has been protecting a shocking secret. Divorcio en el aire (Divorce Is in the Air) Gonzalo Torne Vintage Espanol ISBN 978-1-101-97401-8 A darkly funny, acerbic novel about loveand the end of loveand how hard it can be to let go. Eres Hermosa (Beautiful You) Chuck Palahniuk Literatura Random House ISBN 978-8439-73119-1 In this shameless social satire, Palahniuk imagines a world in which a billion husbands are about to be replaced by a new line of sex toys for women. Esa puta tan distinguida (That Distinguished Whore) Juan Marse Lumen ISBN 978-8426-40279-0 In Marses novel about memory and forgetting, a prostitute is murdered but the murderer doesnt remember the motive. Un jardin entre vinedos (A Garden Between Vineyards) Carmen Santos Grijalbo ISBN 978-8425-35387-1 A thrilling story of love, betrayal, and family secrets among the Paris salons of the roaring 20s and the austere Aragon countryside. Madre in Spain (Mother in Spain) Senorita Puri Plaza & Janes ISBN 978-8401-01701-8 This novel spins humor into the daily challenges of being a parent. Marta y Rufus (Marta and Rufus) Marta Torne Suma ISBN 978-8483-65890-1 Actress and presenter Torne composes a fascinating first novel, with a surprising narrative voice and a story full of tenderness, love, and humor. Material sensible (Trigger Warning) Neil Gaiman Salamandra ISBN 978-8498-38736-0 Gaiman presents a collection of 25 stories and poems, a literary tasting menu that includes ghost stories, speculative fiction, fairy tales, and wicked fables. Nonfiction 8 pasos para una espalda sin dolor (8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back) Esther Gokhale Pendo ISBN 978-0-9793036-1-6 With a fresh approach to a common problem, this self-help guide to overcoming back pain advocates adopting the natural, healthy posture of athletes, young children, and people from the world over. Las 12 promesas del alma (The 12 Promises from the Heart) Sharon Koenig HarperCollins Espanol ISBN 978-0-7180-7951-2 This book suggests that readers can receive spiritual healing by keeping 12 promises to God. Los caudillos del crimenDe la guerra fria a las narcoguerras (Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America) Ioan Grillo Grijalbo ISBN 978-6073-14312-7 Moving between ghettos controlled by militias and the offices of public policy makers, Grillo offers a troubling new vision of out-of-control wars that dominate Latin America and claim more lives every day. El cerebro de tu bebe (Brain Rules for Baby) John J. Medina Diana ISBN 978-6070-73293-5 Medina shares what the latest science says about how to raise smart and happy children. Cocina con Garrote (Cook with Flair) Martin Berasategui Grijalbo ISBN 978-8416-44928-6 Chef Marin Berasategui presents 150 recipes focused on nature, tradition, and seasonal fresh ingredients. Hijo de terrorista (Terrorists Son: A Story of Choice) Zak Ebrahim Urano ISBN 978-8492-92151-5 A memoir by the son of one of the men who planned the 1993 WTC bombing. La historia de la psiquiatria (Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry) Jeffrey Lieberman Ediciones B ISBN 978-8466-65831-7 Lieberman follows psychiatry from its birth as a pseudoscience to its maturity as a medical profession. This book aims to dispel the stigma of mental illnesses. La mujer de mis suenos (The Woman of My Dreams) Luz Maria Doria Aguilar ISBN 978-1-941999-86-8 In 30-plus years in Hispanic media in the U.S., Maria has been a witness to the breakout of many stars, and she describes how they achieved success. Los narcos gringos (The Gringo Drug Lords) Jesus Esquivel Grijalbo ISBN 978-6073-14444-5 Esquivel examines drug trafficking in the U.S. by immersing himself in judicial records and interviewing key informants. Reposteria con Anna (Back to Baking) Anna Olson Lectura Colaborativa ISBN 978-9874-57874-7 This latest book from bestselling author and celebrity chef Olson features entire chapters on dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, and low-fat/low-sugar baking. La solucion autoinmune (The Autoimmune Solution) Amy Myers Edaf ISBN 978-8441-43602-2 Myers offers her approach to preventing allergies, asthma, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and more. Superfood Supersmoothies (Spanish edition) (Superfood Smoothies) Julie Morris Sirio ISBN 978-8416-57934-1 This book from Morris, author of Superfood Kitchen, features 100 nutrient-rich recipes and innovative culinary methods for making smoothies. La tienda de magia (Into the Magic Shop) James Doty Urano ISBN 978-8479-53945-0 Doty grew up poor, with an alcoholic father and a paralyzed mother; today, hes the director of the Compassion Center at Stanford University. Part memoir and part guide, this book aims to help readers change their lives. La vida es una pinata (Life Is a Pinata) Ismael Cala HarperCollins Espanol ISBN 978-0-7180-8763-0 Cala analyzes the principles of giving and sharing, and reflects on the idea that life is full of unpredictable situations. Vida secreta de los arboles (The Hidden Life of Trees) Peter Wohlleben Obelisco ISBN 978-8491-11083-5 Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the science behind them. Yo se por que canta el pajaro enjaulado (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) Maya Angelou Libros del Asteroide ISBN 978-8416-21366-5 A 1969 autobiography about the authors early years, as she transforms herself from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to prejudice. Childrens/YA Canticos: Little Elephants/Elefantitos (bilingual) Susie Jaramillo Little Pickle/Encantos ISBN 978-0-9969959-1-7 This book is based on a traditional Spanish counting song/nursery rhyme, used to help put children to sleep. Presented in a bilingual format complete with flaps. En la ciudad (In the City) Roger Priddy Titiris ISBN 978-8492-63671-6 This illustrated board book provides an introduction to city life for toddlers who are just beginning to discover the world around them. Eso no es normal! (Thats Not Normal) Mar Pavon, illus. by Laure Du Fay NubeOcho ISBN 978-84-944137-8-0 This read-aloud is a funny story about differences, diversity, friendship, and acceptance. No me invitaron al cumpleanos (I Wasnt Invited to the Birthday) Susanna Isern, illus. by Adolfo Serra NubeOcho ISBN 978-84-944446-3-0 This story about imagination and friendship helps cure the not-invited-to-the-party blues. This time last year, when PW looked at the hobbies and crafts space, editors were reluctant to predict what direction the adult coloring book craze could possibly takebeyond continuing unabated. Recent sales bear out their optimism: since January 1, according to Nielsen BookScan, more than a dozen adult-crossover coloring books have logged unit sales in the six figures, among them titles by Johanna Basford and Millie Marotta, as well as Harry Potterbranded books. The interest in coloring books with straightforward appeali.e., those with dreamy, intricate illustrationscontinues across various publishers. Penguin is banking on a winning formula with Basfords forthcoming Magical Jungle (Aug.) and Johannas Christmas (Dec.), and, similarly, Lark Crafts will publish Marottas Curious Creatures in October. Chronicle has just published Steve McDonalds Fantastic Collections, a follow-up to 2015s Fantastic Cities, which, according to BookScan, has sold more than 99,000 copies since its release. St. Martins Griffin will publish Romantic Country: The Second Tale by Japanese artist Eriy, in December; the first Romantic Country title has sold more than 22,000 print units since its May release, per BookScan. Running Press, in May 2017, is offering Draw & Dream by Victoire Bourois and Annie Lim. Tribal Wisdom Yet editors have found wiggle room within the niche. The coloring book market is segmenting, says Amy Pierpont, editor-in-chief at Grand Central Life & Styles romance imprint Forever. Its all about finding your tribe within the coloring book audience. Do romance fans color? Yes, they do. Ballantine learned this with The World of Debbie Macomber, which features scenes to color from the bestselling romance authors novels and has sold 50,000 print units to date. Now, Forever is releasing its first coloring book, Love Between the Lines by Christina Collie (Nov.), which features illustrations inspired by authors including Abbi Glines, Colleen Hoover, S.C. Stephens, and Anna Todd. Those with other interests can claim coloring books of their own. Storey, already a strong presence in the crafting market, appeals to quilters with its forthcoming spin on the coloring book trend, The Quilt Design Coloring Workbook by Thomas Knauer (Aug.). In November, Rodale is releasing A Cozy Coloring Cookbook, with illustrations and recipes based on author Adrianna Adarmes A Cozy Kitchen blog. Adarme, who has 158,000 Instagram followers, worked with illustrator Amber Day when developing recipes in order to incorporate more color and other details. For example, smores are made with (green) matcha marshmallows, and sprinkles and other toppings enhance her chocolate waffle tacos. Cornell Lab Publishing Group is tapping into another pastimebirdingwith its first coloring titles, both publishing in September. Birds of Paradise by Edwin Scholes, Tim Laman, and Andrew Leach, produced in collaboration with a National Geographic expedition to New Guinea, documents 39 rare species, while the offerings in Americas Favorite Birds by Miyoko Chu and Brenda Lyons were crowd-sourced from 250,000 birders in four days. Brian Sockin, the groups publisher, says of these heavily researched, scientifically accurate titles, We cant be everything to everyone, but for 50 million birders in the U.S., these are going to be the definitive coloring books. In another example of a publisher joining the trend by playing to its strengths, Rough Guides sourced images from its 200-plus travel guide destinationsexamples include the Great Wall of China and Abu Dhabis Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosqueto produce its first coloring book, Septembers Color the World. Out of the Binding As some coloring book publishers are experimenting thematically, others are delving into formats beyond the simple coloring page. The projects in Color Me Masks by Aimee Zumis (Barrons, Aug.), for example, press out of the book so colorists can masquerade as butterflies, fairies, animals, and more; elastic headbands are included. Other formats include posters and stationery. In September, craft publisher C&T is releasing Off the Beaten Path Coloring Postcard Book by Samarra Khaja and The Art of Laurel Burch Coloring Postcard Book by Laurel Burch, each with 20 postcards to color. October brings C&Ts Awesome Town Coloring Poster Book by Melissa Averinos and Bohemian Adventures Coloring Poster Book by Valori Wells; each features eight removable pages that fold out to 19 x 30 and are meant to be used for group projects. Color-Your-Own Greeting Cards by Caitlin Keegan, due from Storey in August, includes 20 color-and-fold greeting cards with envelopes. Running Press enters the poster realm in May 2017 with two Posters to Color titles aimed at kids: Rainforest and Safari, ages 69. Of course, aimed at kids is subjective, especially when it comes to coloring books. In October, Scholastic is releasing Harry Potter Magical Places & Characters Postcard Coloring Book (ages 8 and up, at least officially); Harry Potter Magical Places & Characters Poster Coloring Book follows in Jan. 2017. Candlewick, another childrens publisher whose crafty titles have adult appeal, will publish two iterations of The Coloring Book of Cards and Envelopes by Rebecca Jones: Christmas (Oct.), and A Year of Celebrations (Jan. 2017), both with its Nosy Crow imprint. In looking ahead to 2017 coloring trends, weve noticed something else thats new. Where once mindfulness and relaxation were the reigning buzzwords used to describe colorings appeal, now editors are likely to mention social media. People want to share virtually what theyve created, says Forevers Pierpont, echoing the remarks of several editors in the craft arena, including those at Atria, Grand Central, Ulysses, and Workman. If theyre right, 2017 may well prove to be the year of the Instagrammed craft project. Lela Nargi is the author of several books about knitting, as well as articles for Twist Collective, Interweave Knits, and Knitscene. Return to the main feature. In 2011, armed with a 3-D printer and the catchy name Fab Lab, Fayetteville (N.Y.) Free Library became the first public library in the U.S. to set up a makerspace. Other libraries followed suit, with laser cutters, embossers, scanners, digital cameras, button makers, and sewing machines available to patrons, whether they are small-business owners interested in producing marketing materials, or school groups seeking enriching, and inexpensive, craft projects. The main branch of the Cincinnati public library opened a makerspace in January 2015 using funds from its foundation. Were always looking for ways to provide services to our incredibly diverse population, says Ella Mumford, team leader of the project. The makerspace, she says, has been really successful at bringing people in. The program is not without its snagsand, in an ironic twist for an institution in the business of sharing books, a chief frustration has been setting up relevant book displays for the makerspace. Compiling titles requires navigating a Dewey system that places crafting titles anywhere from 006.74 to 794, she says, covering such diverse subjects as electronics, general crafting, and business making. Similarly, Emily Faulkner, director of cultural and civic engagement at the Chicago Public Library, which opened its Maker Lab in 2013, feels publishers are missing an opportunity to highlight books useful to library makerspaces. Even a tab on [a publishers] website that shows what DIY and technology-focused titles exist would be helpful, she says. Mumford would also like to see more series that cover basics. Most people who come in are not interested in the why, she says. They just want to know the how. She cites a childrens series, 21st Century Skills Innovation Library, as well as Maker Medias Make series for adults, as ideal examples. The first, put out by educational publisher Cherry Lake, in North Mankato, Minn., introduces 3-D modeling and game design, which are popular with middle schoolers. They do a great job of explaining basic concepts and projects, and have a glossary at the back, she says. They dont get too involved right away. Maker Media, originators of Maker Faire in 2006, offers guidance in topics including rockets and Arduino (an open-source electronics platform), for all ages. Finding adult books that explain basics concepts can sometimes be hard to do, she says. Most books assume the reader is not only interested but also knowledgeable on the topic, which sometimes is not the case. Finally, Mumford says she and her fellow librarians could use more published guides on how to establish makerspaces. Being able to see the options available, she says, would help those new to the scene figure out what tools and materials will work best for their needs. Return to the main feature. DANVILLE, Ill. (AP) A documentary about Ghaliyah "Gigi" Cunningham showcases the teen's love of modeling, her inspiration to others and her enthusiasm for life. "Being Me: Gigi" is a 28-minute documentary filmed by a New Zealand crew with AttitudeLive, an online collection of documentaries telling stories of people living with disability. The film can be seen on the organization's website. The film shows how 18-year-old Gigi isn't letting Down Syndrome keep her from her dream of becoming a model. A crew spent a week in Danville in December. Gigi shines as the cameras follow her around Danville: at home with her parents and brother; in class at Danville High School (she'll be a junior this fall); in a dance class at the Danville Family YMCA; posing in front of the Fischer Theatre; lip synching in her bedroom; on a date at Garfield's restaurant; and striking poses for a photo shoot in Indianapolis. Gigi talks about her dreams of getting a driver's license, going to college, working as a model in New York City or Los Angeles, and buying a house. Her mother, Erica Butler, was nervous because she couldn't preview the documentary. However, she and Gigi are thrilled with the finished product. "It was beautiful. We loved it," Butler said. Gigi was so excited that she watches it every day, she said. The New Zealand organization saw photos of Gigi, taken by Brandy Williams' MajesticTime Photography in Danville, which went viral last year, and that set in motion the documentary. Williams' photos are featured in the film. "It's pretty amazing they took the time to come from New Zealand," Butler said. To the family's surprise, AttitudeLive arranged a meeting with the Helen Wells Agency in Indianapolis. Butler thought it would be a good experience for her daughter. As it turned out, the agency loved her so much that she was signed up the first teen with a disability to be signed with the company, Butler said. Gigi also has become the first student with a disability to join the DHS pompette team, Butler said, and she's attending practice this summer. That was a big step, as she had to compete for the spot and learn the choreography. Gigi also is attending a Down Syndrome camp at Elmhurst College this summer. "I manage to keep her active," Butler said. In fact, she said about Gigi, "She's just a burst of energy. She's very sassy." Butler said her goal is to not limit Gigi. "You never set limits on a kid," she said in the documentary, "because you never know if they'll exceed (those limits). So far, she has just soared." Gigi tends to be shy, but when the camera is on her, she blossoms into a different person. The documentary shows her striking model poses in her room, and also strutting along the catwalk at the Global Down Syndrome fashion show last year. "She really likes the camera," Erica said. Other scenes show her interacting with stepfather, Mike Taylor, and brother, Mekhi Taylor, 11, and cooking (one of her favorite hobbies) with her family. While the documentary, which can be seen internationally, was thrilling, Gigi has some more excitement on the horizon. She has recorded a public service announcement with Changing the Face of Beauty, which encourages the integration of individuals with disabilities into general advertising and the media. Katie Driscoll, founder and president of Changing the Face of Beauty, based in Chicago, said the 15-minute PSA features a mother, young teen (Gigi) and young boy, who discuss how they feel when they're not represented in the media and why they think it's important. The PSA will be sent to high schools and colleges across the country, upon request, and will include a curriculum to help students see the importance of including the disabled. "This is our way to bring this to the forefront," Driscoll said. Young people in schools need to see how powerful imagery is, she said. Hopefully, schools will air the PSA when it's launched late next month, she said. Gigi also is awaiting word on whether she'll be accepted to LA Fashion Week in October. In the recent past, she went to Washington, D.C., as an ambassador with the National Down Syndrome Society, and met with lawmakers involving the condition. Down Syndrome is a genetic condition that causes intellectual disability, developmental delays, and often health defects, such as heart problems, obesity and hearing loss. A Davenport man has pleaded not guilty to assault charges alleging he groped several female joggers, including one who was an undercover police officer. A written arraignment signed this week by John Peter Benavidez, 34, demanded a speedy trial in Scott County District Court on charges of drug possession, interference with official acts and four counts of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. Mr. Benavidez is accused in connection with three assaults reported in April and May along Devil's Glen Road in Bettendorf. In all three cases, police said, a man grabbed at women who were walking or jogging past him and then fled on foot. The first incident was reported at 6 a.m. April 27 near Devils Glen Road and Tanglefoot Lane. The second was at 6 a.m. April 29 in the 3300 block of Devils Glen Road. The third incident occurred anout 5:55 a.m. May 24 on Devils Glen Road near Winston Drive. Police said the alleged victims in all three instances gave the same general description of a suspect, who was later identified as Mr. Benavidez. He was arrested June 16 after allegedly grabbing the buttocks of a female Davenport police officer about 6:30 a.m. in the 2300 block of West 3rd Street, Davenport. Authorities said the officer posed as a jogger as part of a joint investigation by Bettendorf and Davenport police into similar complaints. Charges said Mr. Benavidez attempted to run away, despite commands to stop, and that one of the officers received a cut to his hand while taking Mr. Benavidez into custody. A plastic bag of used marijuana "blunt" cigarettes was found in Mr. Benavidez's pants pocket, charges said. Mr. Benavidez was held Friday in the Scott County Jail on a $24,000 bond, records showed. He is scheduled for an Aug. 19 pretrial conference. NEW YORK (AP) There were dire warnings for the Boy Scouts of America a year ago when the group's leaders, under intense pressure, voted to end a long-standing blanket ban on participation by openly gay adults. Several of the biggest sponsors of Scout units, including the Roman Catholic, Mormon and Southern Baptist churches, were openly dismayed, raising the prospect of mass defections. Remarkably, nearly 12 months after the BSA National Executive Board's decision, the Boy Scouts seem more robust than they have in many years. Youth membership is on the verge of stabilizing after a prolonged decline, corporations which halted donations because of the ban have resumed their support and the vast majority of units affiliated with conservative religious denominations have remained in the fold still free to exclude gay adults if that's in accordance with their religious doctrine. Catholic Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, S.C., whose duties include liaising with the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, says he knows of no instances where a Catholic unit there are more than 7,500 has taken on an openly gay adult leader since the policy change. Gay sex and same-sex marriage are considered violations of church teaching. The Boy Scouts' national leadership "has been wonderfully supportive," Guglielmone said. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., were unhappy with the BSA's easing of the ban on gay adults, but did not call on individual churches to disaffiliate with troops they sponsored. A year later, the number of Southern Baptist churches that did cut ties with Scouting is "in the double digits," far outnumbered by those who continued their sponsorships, according to Ted S. Spangenberg Jr., president of the executive board of the Association of Baptists for Scouting. "A few of the churches that left are starting to trickle back as the knee-jerk reaction is over," Spangenberg said. "We kind of like the way it looks if you're faith-based, it's within your right to select the adult leaders who are going to uphold the tenets of your faith." Spangenberg spoke by phone from a Boy Scout camp in Defuniak Springs, Fla., where he was serving as chaplain and all-terrain vehicle instructor. Another leader pleased with the developments is Richard Mason, president of the BSA's Greater New York Councils, which serves nearly 50,000 youths in the New York City area. In April 2015, the NY Councils played a key role in the BSA policy change, defying the ban by announcing the hiring of an 18-year-old gay Eagle Scout to work at one of its summer camps. Soon afterward, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office opened an inquiry into the BSA's membership policies and influence over local councils' hiring decisions. Mason said the aftermath of the policy change has been overwhelmingly positive in New York. Some corporations and liberal religious groups that cut ties with the Scouts because of the ban have restored them, he said, while the Catholic archdiocese initially wary of the change has remained fully active with scouting. The changes in BSA policy toward gay youths and adult leaders were "handled as professionally as I have seen any contentious issue handled during my career," said Mason, a lawyer experienced with complex bankruptcy proceedings. Until last year, the Boy Scouts had explicitly adhered to a ban on gay adults for more than three decades, even taking a case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, when it won a 5-4 decision upholding its right to have exclusionary membership policies. That ruling fueled protests against the BSA by gay-rights supporters. Some local governments barred the Scouts from using public schools or other municipal property. The 2012 ouster of a lesbian serving as a Cub Scout den mother in Ohio sparked a national petition campaign assailing the ban. After vigorous internal debate, the BSA leadership decided in 2013 to allow participation by openly gay youth. However, the organization faced continued pressure to ease its ban on gay adults serving as paid staff or volunteers. Some major Scout councils made clear they would defy the ban, and BSA headquarters became increasingly worried that it could face lawsuits from states that prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. At the urging of Robert Gates, the former defense secretary who was BSA president at the time, the Scouts' National Executive Board voted on July 27, 2015, to end the blanket ban on gay adult leaders while allowing church-sponsored units to maintain the exclusion for religious reasons. About 73 percent of all Scout units are sponsored by churches, some of them open to participation by gay adults. The plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, James Dale, had been expelled from his position as an assistant Scoutmaster in New Jersey because he was gay. The New Jersey Supreme Court said his firing violated the state's nondiscrimination law, but the Boy Scouts prevailed in their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dale, now 45, is pleased that the BSA eased the ban but disapproves of the provision allowing church-sponsored troops to continue excluding gays. "With the Boy Scouts, I want to be optimistic," Dale said. "What they've done is more than a half measure, but it's not where it needs to be." Like several other major youth organizations, the Boy Scouts have experienced a membership decline in recent decades. Current youth participation, according to the BSA, is about 2.35 million, down from 2.6 million in 2013 and more than 4 million in peak years of the past. However, Gates, in a speech in May before stepping down as BSA president, said there were encouraging trends, with the overall rate of decline slowing and an increase in the number of boys joining Cub Scouts. "We are on the threshold of a significant historical event a return to positive national growth for the first time in decades," Gates said. There are no official statistics on how many gay adults have been accepted as BSA leaders. "We do not inquire about the sexual orientation of our youth members, adult volunteers or employees," said Boy Scouts national spokeswoman Effie Delimarkos. Since the policy change, there have been few news reports of gay adults being rebuffed after trying to become BSA volunteers. One of the few such cases to receive coverage involved Greg Bourke of Louisville, Ky. Bourke had served as an assistant scoutmaster for a troop sponsored by a Catholic church but resigned under pressure in 2012 because of the ban. After it was lifted, he applied for reinstatement, but was rejected at a face-to-face meeting with Archbishop Joseph Kurtz. Bourke and his husband, Michael DeLeon, were plaintiffs in the case that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down state bans on same-sex marriage. The Louisville archdiocese indicated it was Bourke's marital status, as well as his activism, that led to the rebuff of his application. "Boy Scout troops are ministries of the parishes in which they reside," the archdiocese said. "All pastoral leaders in these ministries should be able to provide a credible and integrated witness in their lives to the teachings of the Catholic Church, including its teachings on marriage." Though the policy change did not trigger the massive defections that some critics predicted, there were some emphatic departures. The Catholic bishop of Bismarck, N.D., David Kagan, announced within a week of the BSA decision that his diocese would end its affiliation. In addition, about 20 individual Catholic parishes around the country dropped their sponsorship of Scout troops, according to Guglielmone. He said the number of youths participating in Catholic units had dropped slightly over the past year, but predicted the numbers would rise as more Catholics saw that the Scouts' policy change had not caused disruptions. In Appleton, Wis., Faith Lutheran Church severed its ties with Boy Scout and Cub Scout units it had sponsored for 60 years. Pastor Dan Thews said he could not accept the idea of gay adults having influence over boys in the unit. However, Delimarkos said new sponsors will assume oversight of both units. In several cases elsewhere, she said, organizations such as the United Methodist Church and the American Legion took over units which lost their sponsors. "We are very encouraged by what looks like a minimal negative effect the policy change has had," Delimarkos said in an email. In Utah, where most troops are sponsored by Mormon churches, the change appears to have had modest impact. The Mormon Church sponsors more Scout units that any other organization in the U.S. and has used Scouting programs as a rite of passage for boys. Initially, the church said it was "deeply troubled" by the policy change but later committed to sticking with the Boy Scouts. That period of indecision may have contributed to a drop in fundraising for the largest Boy Scout council in the country, the Utah National Parks Council, which had to lay off several staff members. The council president, Stan Lockhart, said there has been little conversation about the policy change among parents and troops in the council, which has more than 83,000 youth participating. The change opened the door for Scott K. Fausett to return to the organization he loved. He grew up in Boy Scouts as a Mormon and was a troop leader until he came out as gay in 2008 and had to leave. He's now the leader of an all-inclusive troop sponsored by the Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City. "We don't care about somebody's religious beliefs, their ability, their disability, their sexuality," said Fausett, 46. "All we care about is that they live the Scout principles." A Utah LGBT-rights group, Restore Our Humanity, has filed an application to organize a new Boy Scout troop with a "fully inclusive policy." One of the groups that campaigned against the BSA's bans on gay youths and adults Scouts for Equality is trying to build a national network of Scout units that publicly identify as welcoming gays. Zach Wahls, a co-founder of Scouts for Equality, said this program is now active in 31 states, with participation by more than 4,800 youths and 2,300 adults. "We still have a ways to go," said Wahls, 24, an Eagle Scout who was raised by lesbian mothers in Iowa. One issue likely to confront the BSA in the future, Wahls said, is how to handle efforts by transgender boys to join Scout units. A Girl Scout troop in Colorado accepted a transgender girl in 2011, but for now the Boy Scouts are not ready to follow suit. Delimarkos said transgender youths would be welcome in coed programs, such as Venturing, but not in boys-only Cub Scout and Boy Scout units. Sunday, July 31 --St. Paul Lutheran Church, 2136 Brady St., Davenport: 9:20 and 11 a.m.: Chicago Jazz Mass; free; featuring 30-year veteran Church Jazz ensemble of Chicago; repertoire includes a Jazz Passion, Mass, Psalms, hymn, vespers service, and "Bending Towards the Light," jazz nativity. ann@stpaulqc.org or call 563-326- 3547. Monday, August 1 --Lifetree Cafe: 6 p.m., Coffee Hound, 3537 Archer Drive, East Moline: "Hope for Gangs-Surprising Stories from the Bloods and the Crips." Wednesday, Aug. 3 --Moline Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 3521 53rd Street: 8:30 a.m. to noon; community clothing and household goods giveaway. Saturday, Aug. 6 --Church of Peace and Heart of Hope Ministries: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.; Community Block Part, corner of 12th Street and 12th Avenue, Rock Island; kids games; bingo for adults; DJ music; prayer station available; poetry readings by Rock Island Christian Friendliness Youth Hope director Chris Britton, and his poetry team. Saturday, Aug. 6-Sunday, Aug.7 --Higher Heights Missionary Baptist Church: 6 p.m. Saturday, Gospel Music Concert, as part of the Rev. Jimmy Reed and his wife, Gail Reed's, annual appreciation dayweekend; at Greater Antioch Baptist Church, 929 14th St., Rock Island; with special guests The New Spirit, from Houston, Mississippi; 4 p.m., Sunday, at Temple Baptist Church, 3526 N. Brady St., Davenport; with theRev. Louis Malone and congregation of St. Luke Baptist Church, in Rockford; theme will be "honoring the pastor: God's Gift to the Church," based on 1 Corinthians 9:13a-14. Sunday, Aug. 7 --First Lutheran Church, 1600 20 St., Rock Island: noon-2 p.m.; annual ice cream social; in church's Fellowship Hall; sandwiches, chips, lemonade, coffee, pie, cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream and toppings; for donations to benefit church ministries. Monday, Aug. 8-Friday, Aug. 12 --Bettendorf First Assembly, 1811 18th St., Bettendorf: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday; vacation Bible school; kindergarten through 5th grade; family picnic, 6:30 p.m., Friday, at Veterans Memorial Park. Miscellaneous --Churches United of the Quad City Area recently received a $20,000 grant from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation , in support of social services including hunger and shelter ministries.. Benet House Retreat Center, St. Mary Monastery, 2200 88th Ave. W,, Rock Island, will hold the following August events and activities: --9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesdays; "11 Step Prayer and Meditation -- for 12 Step practitioners at any stage of recovery." --9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 18; "Break-A- Way: Day of Prayer and Quiet." --9 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 19; "Voices Serving the Holy in All." --2-4 p.m, Saturday, Aug. 20; "Community Sing." LOGO Lounge by Lori Goldstein French Terry Top with V-neck and Pocket is rated 4.1 out of 5 by 63 . Rated 5 out of 5 by NY Chick from The No sweatshirt shirt! I purchased French terry in another grey round neck top and really liked. This one is the same but with a V neck and slits. I also have Loris grey track pants and love hem. This is my weekend shopping outfit. I am 5'6 160, hourglass shape with broad shoulders and I like how the Small fits in bust. Rated 1 out of 5 by chelebelle from Not Typical Sizing... Too Snug I wear a small in this line, but this top was a bit too snug for comfort across bust and upper arm/shoulder. Returning... and not getting larger aize. The girl-cut at waits was just right for my size. I worry that sizing up would be too sloppy looking on me. Excellwnt fabric quality however. Rated 2 out of 5 by 1justmarried from Such a Shame.... I love this shirt, it's very comfortable, BUT, I received it with no hem. The bottom of the shirt is just raw edge material. This shirt is like a lightweight sweatshirt, beautiful color, and comfy as jammies, so that is what I will use it for, sad face here. Rated 3 out of 5 by Central Fl Shopper from Not Having Luck With Logo I think Logo colors are beautiful but I have not had much success with the brand. This top is made with wonderful soft material and the two colors that I purchased were soft and muted shades that I loved. However, the top runs small through the shoulders and my regular size was too snug for me. Sadly, I had to return. My experience is that this brand's sizing is inconsistent. Rated 5 out of 5 by Oh m I spoiled from cozy & comfortable Bought this in the pink nectar; it's cozy and comfortable. Wear it with a scarf and jeans to class or with Logo lounge pants around the house. Great for Ohio's cold, miserable winters. Rated 1 out of 5 by Ruzik from Way overpriced All her clothing is way overpriced what is she think her stuff is better then other designers !! Rated 4 out of 5 by Anonymous from Great Top I wore this top for the first time yesterday. It was soooooo comfortable and cozy. Had it on again today. There is one thing that I think Lori could improve upon even though the cost MIGHT be increased: Have a small hem at the bottom. The overcasting tends to look unfinished. It is only for this reason that I did not rate it excellent. 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! GR signed a 39.6m deal with Stadler in April to acquire four four-car sets, which were originally destined for Russian airport express operator Aeroexpress. All four of the 160km/h 1520m-gauge trains are due to be delivered by September. Each 101.7m-long set will accommodate around 530 passengers and the trains are equipped with wheelchair lifts and accessible toilets. Stadler has already delivered five of the trains originally built for Aeroexpress to Azerbaijan Railways (ADY). Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK JD Power has issued its 2016 TV Satisfaction Report, with Sony edging out Samsung in the smaller-screen segment. Sony bumped Samsung from its 2015 position as the highest ranking brand in the less-than-50-inch TV segment, with a score of 843 out of 1,000. Samsung retained its title though as the highest-ranked manufacturer in the 50-inch or larger TV segment, with a score of 859.Overall, the larger displays are winning: consumers with TVs 50 inches or larger were more satisfied than those with smaller TVs (845 points v 812).Interestingly, smart TVs make up 80% of TVs 50 inches or larger, and 59% of the smaller TVs. About a quarter (27%) of those who purchased a TV 50 inches or larger chose one with a curved screen (just 17% of smaller-screen buyers did), while 52% of larger TVs purchased were 4K UltraHD compatible (just 25% for smaller models).To that latter data point, its interesting to consider this in the context of the Consumer Technology Associations (CTA) semi-annual forecast It postulates that for the 4K/Ultra HD TV ecosystem, 2016 will be a flagship year, driven in part by the market introduction of next-generation technologies like HDR. CTA expects shipments of 4K/Ultra HD displays will reach 15 million units (a 105% increase), and revenue will exceed $12.9 billion (a 69% increase). CTA adds that new to the market in 2016, 4K/Ultra HD Blu-ray players will further build the ecosystem with 700,000 units sold and $63 million in revenue.Price of course was top decision factor in buying a TV for JD Power respondents; 67% of those with a TV smaller than 50 inches cited price as the primary reason for the selection, while it was important for 55% of those who purchased a larger TV.The shopping process is changing as well, the survey showed; less than a quarter (22%) said the in-store display was a primary source of information during the shopping process down from about half last year.In terms of what causes dissatisfaction, the biggest TV problems cited by consumers include glare and/or reflection (25%); difficulty connecting to Wi-Fi (18%); remote controls that dont work properly (13%); and sound thats distorted, low or missing (13%).The annual report measures satisfaction with TVs among customers who bought one in the past 12 months. Property details: You Are Bidding On The Down Payment Only for 20 Acres in Montana! Incredible Views. Meadow. Seclusion. Great Cabin Site or Year Round. Surveyed.Parcel: This auction is for legal description: Lot 15 of Certificate of Survey No. 1023 in Pryor Mountain Estates. This is a 20.104 ACRE parcel of land in Carbon County, Montana. This land is about 45 miles south of Billings, MT or 23 miles northeast of Lovell, WY. This property is very beautiful. The land consists of a lower flat area and then runs up a... Price: $ 207 Seller State of Residence: Arizona Property Address: off Big Horn Canyon Road Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Residential Location: 852**, Tempe, Arizona You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Residential 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: Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE "Invest in Land, they are not making it any more!" --Mark TwainIt is widely believed that the most valuable investment on Earth is Earth. For your consideration, here we offer this huge 77+/- acre parcel of land in Grand Isle Maine, which is a cozy little town bordering Canada across from the mighty Saint John River. This beautiful and serene area is replete with wild life, including: Moose, black bear, deer, and a variety of birds. So if you are into o... Price: $ 9,800 Seller State of Residence: California Property Address: Gendreau Rd. State/Province: Maine City: Grand Isle Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Mixed Zip/Postal Code: 04746 Location: 935**, Lancaster, California You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 04746 Porterville, CA (93257) Today Sunny skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 77F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable. SHARE By The Associated Press BERLIN (AP) Daimler's mytaxi and British rival Hailo are merging to form Europe's biggest app-based cab ordering service. Mytaxi operates in Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Hailo is active in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. The two companies said Tuesday that the merger will involve a share swap. The new app, which will operate under the name mytaxi, will give users access to about 100,000 cabs in 53 cities across nine European countries. German automaker Daimler has invested about 500 million ($550 million) in mytaxi over the past years and is expected to pump more money into the business in a bid to fend off competition from the likes of Uber. Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Edwin Lara of Oregon waits in Siskiyou County Superior Court in Yreka on Friday for his arraignment on attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges in connection to a crime spree last week that started with the death of a woman in Oregon. SHARE Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Edwin Lara of Oregon is led into a courtroom in the Siskiyou County Superior Court in Yreka on Friday for his arraignment on attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges in connection to a crime spree last week that started with the death of a woman in Oregon. Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Murder suspect Edwin Lara is also accused of shooting a man at the Super 8 motel in Yreka. By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight A murder suspect who sparked a manhunt in southern Oregon until he was caught in Corning has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he shot a man at a Yreka motel, carjacked and kidnapped a family and forced a Salem, Oregon, woman along for the ride. Edwin Enoc Lara, of Redmond, Oregon, stared straight down, occasionally flicking his eyes in a sideways glance, throughout his arraignment in the Siskiyou County Superior Court on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, elder abuse, making criminal threats and carjacking Friday afternoon. "I believe there are no less than nine strikes involved," said Joseph Allison, assistant district attorney for Siskiyou County, in asking Judge William Davis to refuse any bail, to which Davis agreed. Lara was appointed Public Defender John Nosco, who declined to comment after the hearing. Davis also agreed to postpone discussions on extraditing Lara to Bend, Oregon, where he's suspected in the death of Kaylee Sawyer, until a hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 16. "We need not address that today. Let's get counsel in place," he said. Lara's two-state crime spree began when he allegedly killed Sawyer, 23, of Bend. The Bend Bulletin has reported Lara told his wife, a Bend police officer, that while working security for Central Community College he hit Sawyer in his patrol vehicle. He told his wife he panicked and hid the body, the newspaper reported. He then allegedly fled with his pistol, the paper reported. At some point he also forced Aundrea Maes, of Salem, Oregon, to accompany him, Allison said. He declined to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. "We're not aware of anything that happened outside of this jurisdiction," he said. Lara, with Maes alongside, wound his way to the Super 8 motel in Yreka, where he forced Maes into a room and then shot a man, identified in the complaint as Jack Norman Levy, in the abdomen. Levy was taken to an Oregon hospital with serious injuries, Allison said. Lara and Levy didn't appear to know each other, Allison said. He didn't know what type of gun was used in the shooting. Lara had been looking to swipe a new get-away vehicle, Allison said. He obtained one when he carjacked a family in Yreka, taking three people, ages 17, 18 and 76, with him and Maes, Allison said. He later let go the family members, but not Maes, before heading south, Allison said. She was later found safe with him in his white Honda Accord after a California Highway Patrol officer spotted him speeding and tried to pull him over, officers said. After a 10-mile chase down Interstate 5, he surrendered in Corning, CHP has said. The shooting victim, Levy, is in stable condition in a hospital in Oregon. When Lara will be transferred to Oregon to face murder charges isn't clear yet Allison said the Siskiyou County District Attorney is in talks with his Oregon counterpart about extradition. Several factors can affect which case moves to trial first, Allison said. Lara could face life in prison if convicted of the charges in California. s SHARE By Ryan Sabalow The chief executive officer of Shasta Regional Medical Center has stepped down, less than three months after the Redding hospital was taken over by new owners. Saying he wanted to pursue other career options, CEO Philip G. Dionne left the hospital on Friday, said Radha Savitala, assistant general counsel for SRMC's parent company, Prime Healthcare Services Inc. Savitala said the Victorville company's CEO Lex Reddy will take over on an interim basis until a permanent replacement for Dionne can be found. Dionne's cell phone was disconnected today. He could not be reached for comment. But he gave no indication Friday that his departure was imminent. In a noon e-mail discussing a Friday Record Searchlight story about a lawsuit filed against the hospital, Dionne wrote: "If at any time you have questions in this or other regards please do not hesitate to contact me." Prime took over the hospital on Nov. 1, four weeks after SRMC's then-parent Charlotte, N.C.-based Hospital Partners of America (HPA), filed for bankruptcy. The new owners immediately laid off 150 workers and forced all others at the hospital to reapply for their jobs. During the transition between the owners, Dionne said it was unclear whether he and other senior managers would be able to keep their jobs, but he struck an optimistic chord. "We believe in the institution," Dionne said in a Oct. 28 interview. "We believe it has the opportunity to be very successful in the future. We want to continue to be part of that." Dionne became CEO at the hospital in July 2007 after CEO Tom Salerno was promoted within Shasta Regional's now defunct parent company. Before taking the job at Shasta Regional, Dionne said he was hired as interim chief administrative officer at Empire Health Services in Spokane, Wash., where he helped the nonprofit hospital system prepare to sell two of its hospitals to a for-profit company. Dionne resigned July 6, barely two months after taking over day-to-day operations at the two hospitals, according to the Spokane Spokesman Review newspaper. Dionne said before his stint in Washington, he worked for a management consulting firm based in Long Island. Previously, Dionne managed a hospital in Chicago. SHARE Shasta County Sheriff's deputies this morning found over 36,000 marijuana plants and 65 pounds of processed pot in Bella Vista, officials said. The 7 a.m. raid off Gordon Drive did not yield any arrests, though, because no one was found at the site, agents with the sheriff's Marijuana Investigation Team said. In addition to the drugs themselves, deputies said they found a 2010 Toyota Tundra full of 50 plastic containers with marijuana seedlings inside, as well as plenty of garbage that poses a threat to local wildlife and the surrounding habitat. The truck was seized for the investigation. Agents also found that the grow was watered with an underground well and generator, and four to six gallons a day per plant would have been needed. Code enforcement officers are investigating the building and code violations documented at the site, agents said. Sean Longoria/Record Searchlight The Ponderosa Inn on Pine Street in downtown Redding has been the site of hundreds of police calls over the past four years. SHARE By Sean Longoria of the Redding Record Searchlight As prosecutors weigh whether to file a case against downtown Redding's Ponderosa Inn, the motel's owner said he's doing everything he can to keep the business crime free. "Our efforts are nothing less than 100 percent," Sam Sekhon said, adding his motel is the victim of bad luck and a bad location. Among the measures taken by the inn include sending a list of guests twice daily to Redding police, advising customers they can only host up to two guests per day for 30 minutes each and maintaining open access for police to question and arrest anyone caught loitering in the inn's parking lot, Sekhon said. "I am making every effort necessary and that I can afford to keep this business running and keep these people out," Sekhon said a day after police announced a slew of arrests at the motel. The motel sits near South City Park, a frequent stop for police responding to crime reports. Sekhon pointed to nearby Lulu's restaurant and Safeway, which both experience similar crime issues as the Ponderosa, Sekhon said. The grocery store last year switched from being open 24 hours to opening at 6 a.m. and closing at midnight. A manager and owner at Lulu's declined to comment on the matter. Walt Bullington, a sergeant with the Redding Police Neighborhood Police Unit, acknowledged the Ponderosa's location is a thoroughfare for those wishing to move through downtown. "A lot of people tend to walk through that way, taking a shortcut, which the owner of the Ponderosa doesn't appreciate but there's not much he can do," Bullington said. Police do receive the twice-daily faxes from the Ponderosa, which likely helped with the recent round of arrests at the motel but "the Ponderosa maybe needs to a better job at policing who they rent to," Bullington said. Sekhon said he has no means of doing background checks on each guest. About 30 of the Ponderosa's 70 rooms are filled each day and business hasn't picked up since the Redding Inn closed two months ago, he said. "If I was inviting trouble over, I'm sure I could fill up every day," Sekhon said. Hiring a security guard isn't something Sekhon said he can afford right now. Even if he could, he worries those who would cause trouble would simply wait for a guard to finish patrolling to return to the area. "What do I do to keep these people out?" he said. Police said Thursday they're continuing to respond to citizen complaints at the Ponderosa. Since July 20, they arrested a half-dozen people for crimes including drug sales, resisting arrests, parole violations and outstanding warrants. Redding police in the past four years received nearly 800 calls for service at the Ponderosa, second only to more than 1,200 calls to the now-shuttered Redding Inn. The Redding Inn closed after it settled a lawsuit with the county requiring the motel to have security guards, surveillance cameras, a do-not-rent list and other requirements. Senior Deputy District Attorney Lucky Jesrani said his office hasn't shared a do-not-rent list with the Ponderosa. The Ponderosa should keep its own do-not-rent list, Bullington said. The three Motel 6 branches in Redding have done so and complaints have decreased at those motels, he said. Jesrani said his office hasn't decided whether to pursue charges against the motel. "We will be taking all factors into consideration," he said. SHARE Forget politics. Love her or hate her, Hillary Clinton's acceptance of a major party nomination to be president of the United States is a cultural milestone, a major moment for America. Yes, other female politicians have shared stages similar to the one Clinton took Thursday. Geraldine Ferraro, then a New York congresswoman, was the Democrats' first female vice presidential nominee in 1984. Then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was the Republicans' first in 2008. Yet no one has stepped into a spotlight like this. It was not for lack of trying. As the nation braces itself for what will be a brutal election between two candidates with hope and high unfavorability ratings, let's not forget the women who paved the way, from Gracie Allen to Margaret Chase Smith to Shirley Chisholm to Elizabeth Dole. Just think how far America has come since 1940 when comedian Gracie Allen ran for president on the "Surprise Party" ticket as a radio publicity stunt a joke and got between a few hundred and 42,000 votes (hers was a write-in campaign so there aren't exact figures) to Franklin Roosevelt's 27 million and Wendell Wilkie's 22 million. Her campaign song honestly (and hilariously) said: "Even big politicians don't know what to do. Gracie doesn't know either, but neither do you." Twenty-four years later, Maine Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith announced her entry into the 1964 presidential campaign despite ridiculous criticism that she didn't have the "physical stamina to run" and her own concern that as a candidate she would miss Senate votes, thus ending her roll call record string of 1,590. "I have few illusions and no money, but I'm staying for the finish," Smith said. "When people keep telling you, you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try." Smith went on to become the first woman to be considered for a presidential nomination by a major political party and won 27 delegates to Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater's 883 at the Republican National Convention. By comparison, then-Michigan Gov. George Romney, whose son Mitt would grow up to become the 2012 Republican nominee, received just 41 delegates that year. In 1972, New York congresswoman Shirley Chisholm became the first black major-party candidate to seek the presidency and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's nomination. On the day that South Dakota Sen. George McGovern won the California primary, Chisholm won the nonbinding primary in New Jersey. She wound up with 152 delegates. In her 1973 book "The Good Fight," Chisholm wrote, "I ran because somebody has to do it first. In this country, everybody is supposed to be able to run for president, but that has never really been true." In 1982, Chisholm told The Associated Press, "I've always met more discrimination being a woman than being black." Then came the 1990s and Bill Clinton's election. In 1995, one generation ago, a Florida Walmart pulled off its shelves T-shirts that said, "Someday a woman will be PRESIDENT!" Four years later, Elizabeth Dole, a former transportation and labor secretary, raised more than $5 million while considering a bid for the 2000 Republican nomination. Dole's supporters called her the most serious and credible woman ever to seek the White House, but she dropped out in October 1999, having raised less than one-tenth what George W. Bush raised. "I have been all but overwhelmed by women of all ages who've invested me with their hopes and their dreams," she said at her final campaign news conference. Now Hillary Clinton is a nominee. Women have much to fight for still, and Donald Trump may win in November, but now our daughters can say they want to grow up to be president, and it's no joke. The San Diego Union-Tribune SHARE I'm a strong Bernie Sanders supporter. As a Redding resident living overseas in China, I started Beijing for Bernie more than a year ago when, at just 2 percent in the polls, his candidacy was only idealistic wishful thinking. Because he's a man of principle. Because he represents integrity and independence from a money-driven corrupt two-party system. I knocked on doors for him in New Hampshire because I believe he was the best hope for real change in the country. But he lost. And I have to get over it. We'll live to fight another day. And hopefully another principled courageous independent voice will rise in 2020. (Hear that, Elizabeth? Michael B.?) In the meantime, we must swallow our pride and stop Donald Trump from becoming president. My Trump supporting friends say the system is too corrupt. On this, we agree. They say Trump might fix the system. "Might" isn't good enough. Trump is too much of an insane wild card to take that risk. The potential downside of a Trump presidency is just too scary. He is not the solution. All indicators are that he is an ignorant, racist sociopath. He lacks the dignity, maturity and common sense to be the leader of the free world. As numerous Republican leaders have said, our country, and indeed the world, would be in peril with Trump's unhinged finger on the button. I would not hire Trump to be my apprentice. I certainly won't vote for him for president of the United States of America. I've been a registered independent almost all of my life. I like the Greens. There's a lot to like about the Libertarians. I've voted for them and other independents and third parties more often than I've voted Democrat. I never voted for Bill Clinton because he represents too much of what is wrong with our political system. His saying whatever it takes to get votesthat calculated pandering. The huge donors buying elections. It's disgusting. And it's not democratic. On my only other trip to campaign in New Hampshire, I stuffed envelopes and waved signs for Paul Tsongas against Bill the Pander Bear. Don't let anyone tell you voting for a third party is a wasted vote. Malarkey. True, they won't win. (Yet.) But when they have strong showings they drive agendas. More of us should vote for third parties. Help break the corrupt stranglehold that the two parties have on our political system. The Greens and Libertarians tug at my heart this year. But Hillary Clinton is just plain smarter and more experienced than either Jill Stein or Gary Johnson. Her moderate balance of idealism and pragmatism is better than theirs. She'd do a better job. At the end of the day, Hillary is our best choice. (Swallowing hard.) I'm with her. Chris Verrill lives Redding and China. With future prospects being difficult to predict, hiring for a short period is proving to be cost-effective Around this time last year, a Mumbai-based start-up had raised a big Series-A round. The founder was excited thinking he had made it. He went out and hired people from his alma mater - Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). A few months later, when investors lowered their interest in companies where exits looked difficult, the founder had to cut costs. He fired all four of his treasured IIT alumni. One of those retrenched was the companys finance manager. It didnt end well. The former employees got on internet message boards and slammed the company and its business plan. The founder was forced to reach out and hire a CFO on a short-term contract. It was all he could afford to keep his dream alive. This is not a one-off. Start-ups are increasingly looking at hiring temporary or contractual staff for even key positions. With future prospects being difficult to predict, hiring for a short period is proving to be cost-effective. It relieves the company the hassle of retrenchment when funds begin to run out. Most start-ups get non-core functions outsourced. D Prasanth Nair, managing partner and country head, InHelm, said he has short-term as well as part-time contracts with a few start-ups where he oversees HR practices. For some early stage start-ups, you dont need a full-time HR head. Instead, they get people with plenty of experience to come and mentor them. It is economical and practical, he said. He explained that even non-core functions such as marketing could be given to part-timers. If a start-up wants to launch an ad campaign, all they have to do is get someone for six months who will plan and oversee it. After which, the start-up has no need for an expensive human resource. Angel investors said these are common practices in the US but in India there are still few takers for these. In India, CEOs and founders dont look at professionalism but loyalty. They always wonder if they are our men, said Nair. Getting temporary staff has mostly been associated with warning bells and used for low-level positions. But start-ups are increasingly chasing models which show cash-positive results rather than topline. We may require a larger marketing team when we are in the early stages. Once the business scales up, it is sufficient to have a smaller team. Such hires are also able to gain experience from multiple start-ups and need not even put in fixed number of hours, he added. Recently, there have been some cases of start-ups handing over offer letters and later withdrawing them. Rituparna Chakraborty, president, Indian Staffing Federation, said rather than hiring people and firing them after six months, it is better to hire with transparency that people will only be associated for a particular duration. Especially for start-ups, which do not know what the future outcome of their idea would be, it makes sense to hire people on temporary roles, she added. It is not all that bad to be on a short-term contract. Sunil Goel, director, GlobalHunt, said temporary staff gets 10-15 per cent higher compensation than the regular ones. E-commerce in India has the potential to create 12 million new jobs by 2025, a report by HSBC Global Research stated. It added e-commerce is expected to create around 70 per cent jobs in logistics, warehousing and delivery. The other 30 per cent will be in customer care, IT and top management. Start-up troubles: The era of pink slips 2015 September: TinyOwl cut nearly 100 jobs in its Mumbai and Pune offices October: Food ordering platform Zomato lets about 300 people go November: LocalOye announces 60 layoffs, mainly from its servicing unit December: Online food ordering service Foodpandas India unit to dismiss about 300 people December: Online house rental start-up Grabhouse announces 100 layoffs 2016 May: Flipkart delays joining of 40-45 students across 10 Indian Institutes of Technology to Dec 2016 June: Grocery delivery platform Grofers withdraws 67 campus job offers July: Flipkart to let 700-1,000 people go as part of its drive to cut costs, according to reports Photograph: Reuters 'There is a problem with the rise of a popular view that sees Kashmir through the prism of the larger, chronic Hindu-Muslim tensions.' 'By redefining the Kashmir problem simplistically in Hindu-Muslim terms we could end up keeping Kashmir, but losing most Kashmiris,' says Shekhar Gupta. Let's get some of the least contestable facts out of the way. First, the current phase of troubles started with the security forces killing Burhan Wani, which was an inevitability. From the day he picked up arms against the State and began preening on social media, he was a dead (if very young) man walking. That he survived so long is a marvel of his luck, and also skills. Usually, you won't survive more than a year after making it to the armed forces' 'A' list of wanted men. Do I have sympathy for him? I'd grieve for any dead countryman, but I'd sympathise with him only to the extent that he was allowed, probably even encouraged, to take such a disastrous path by friends and family. Even the manner of his killing is irrelevant. Once you take to arms and start killing, to complain about being killed extra-judicially would be chutzpah. Sad, therefore, that a fellow Indian had to die this way, but it was a death he chose. It's sadder that he took dozens more, civilians and in uniform, with him. The next incontestable fact for me, and a very vast majority of fellow Indians, including, I dare say, on Jawaharlal Nehru Campus campus, is that Kashmir, or more specifically the parts that are today in India shall (and must) remain an inalienable and inseparable part of the Republic. Similarly, what is with Pakistan will remain theirs, never mind the unanimous Parliament resolutions to recover all of Pakistan- and China-occupied Kashmir. Three nuclear-armed neighbours can't be snatching territory from each other through war. Kashmir and Kashmiris are caught in a deadly blood feud among the three of them. None will blink. Even if a dozen new wars are fought and India and Pakistan vaporise each other with their crude nukes, one side won't lose 'its' Kashmir to the other. Pakistani talk of 'Azad Kashmir,' plebiscite and backing of azaadi is the greatest fraud played on the Kashmiris. Even the United Nations Security Council resolutions only offered a choice of India or Pakistan. There is no azaadi, no Scotland, no Quebec, not even a Brexit. In any case, it was Pakistan, not India, that buried the UN resolutions, not with the Simla Agreement but seven years earlier in 1965 when it tried to take Kashmir militarily and failed completely. We Indians, therefore, have to never worry about losing our Kashmir. The army and our national resolve is steely enough to protect this part of our territory. 'Our' Kashmiris are a different matter. Armies can protect territories and citizens. They can't change angry people's minds. They can get compliance and reasonably good behaviour. I know this will be contested by my many honourable soldier friends at once, but armies cannot win hearts and minds among a humiliated population. You want to thwart the enemy, use the army. You want to win back an estranged brother, bare a great big heart. Remember the dramatic change Atal Bihari Vajpayee brought about with just that one line, invoking 'insaniyat' (humanity) in place of just the Constitution. It brought us a six-year period of great calm as Manmohan Singh built on it. We had presumed that's exactly where Narendra Modi was headed as his Bharatiya Janata Party joined the most unlikely of all coalitions in our history, with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's Peoples Democratic Party. Then the initiative lost its way. One reason things fell apart is that BJP didn't evangelise the idea adequately to its ranks, and more importantly its intellectual/ideological agenda-setters. This coalition was expected to be statesmanly peace-seeking rather than a hypocritical pursuit of power because two ideologically adversarial forces with a nationalist core came together to reunite what an election had divided, ushering in the equivalent of the two-nation theory. While Prime Minister Modi has taken a big risk with the alliance, the contradiction between his party ranks' ideology and his big-picture politics has set him back. You can see it every evening as the BJP's prime-time warriors descend on television studios, justifying security forces' actions, without a word of sympathy, even stupid old pity, for the Kashmiris who obviously get what 'they asked for.' Or even faking an expression of confidence in their ally. It's a bizarre way to help your own coalition partner and a most morbid way of declaring open season on a section of 'our own people.' The repeated emphasis on our own people is deliberate. At some point all of our ultra-nationalist, 'Kashmir hamara hai, saare ka saara hai' chest-thumpers need to ask themselves if the passion Kashmir evokes in their hearts is about its land, a blood feud with Pakistan, or also its people? Is it only about its kind and its 'loyal' (Hindu and Buddhist) sections and the Muslims can go to Pakistan if they so wish? If this is your view, you are fully echoing what the Pakistanis say non-stop: That Kashmir is a part of the unfinished agenda of Partition. They want the land and some people (Muslims), we also want the land and the rest of the people. The British taught us divide and rule. We are practising divide and lose. Almost 97 per cent of our Muslims live in the mainland. They have never made common cause with Kashmiris, who they see as a really pampered enfant terrible. Even ideologues of the new Sunni right, notably Zakir Naik, have been extremely cautious on Kashmir. This has helped the government keep the issue confined to the Valley. The army is a truly secular institution and even if there are excesses, you won't hear a soldier, senior or junior, say anything communally loaded or offensive. It is the one institution the insecure minorities, particularly the Muslims, trust with their lives during riots. There is a problem now with the rise of a popular view that sees Kashmir through the prism of the larger, chronic Hindu-Muslim tensions. Look at it this way. What will happen if India were to tell all its Muslims, the borders are open, those who prefer Pakistan can go. None would leave from the mainland, I suspect, although a lot of Muslims may come in seeking better lives from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Because economics, and political stability are greater determinants of where you want to be, provided you have the basic Constitutional and religious freedoms. What will happen across our borders in Kashmir is an intriguing question. I would wager an overwhelmingly large majority would stay put here, barring a few tempted by romanticism of azaadi or enticed by Inter Services Intelligence's jihadists. We need to, therefore, ask a more loaded question: Is this what the rising new force of Hindu ultra-nationalists want: Would we rather that 'our Kashmiris' stay here with 'their' land, or carry on to Pakistan leaving 'our' land behind? My intention was not to seek an honest answer to this, but to flag the perils of redefining the Kashmir problem simplistically in Hindu-Muslim terms, where we could end up keeping Kashmir but losing most Kashmiris. A Bangladeshi-Canadian was on Saturday identified as the mastermind of Bangladesh's worst terror attack at a cafe in Dhaka's high-security diplomatic zone that killed 22 people mostly foreigners, police said following new information from a raid on a militant hideout. An overnight security raid at Kalyanpur area in Dhaka four days ago provided police the clue to identify Tamim Chowdhury as the architect of the recent Islamist assaults, a police officer familiar with the investigations told PTI on anonymity. "We found Tamim Chowdhury to be the mastermind of the two (back-to-back terrorist) attacks... a manhunt was launched to track him down as we think, he now lives in Bangladesh since his return (from Canada) three years ago," he said. The officer added that evidence gathered from the scene of the July 26 raid at Kalyanpur, in which nine militants were killed, led police to identify Chowdhury, believed to be in his mid 30s, as the mastermind of the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan restaurant and the assault on an Eid congregation at northern Sholakia six days later. A Bangladeshi newspaper earlier reported that Chowdhury appeared as the leader and main financer of a reorganised Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Bangladesh earlier attributed the two attacks to the clandestine outfit. The report suggested that Chowdhury was working as the link between the reorganised JMB and the Islamic State, which claimed the responsibility for the July 1 attack when the terrorists killed 22 people, among them 17 foreigners including an Indian and two police officers. The attack on the Eid prayers left two policemen and a woman dead while the officials said a total of seven terrorists were gunned down immediately after the assaults. Police's counter-terrorism unit's chief Monirul Islam had said investigators got names of several suspected masterminds behind the two "interlinked attacks" but efforts were underway to confirm their true identities. Bangladesh earlier said they found no proof of Islamic State link to the country's terrorist attacks. Image: Security personnel keep watch, after gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan restaurant and took hostages, in the Gulshan area of Dhaka, Bangladesh July 2, 2016. Photogrpah: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters Indian-Americans are "sleeping giants" and can make a "significant difference" in helping first ever woman United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton break the ultimate glass ceiling, according to her Indian-origin supporters. "Indian-Americans are the sleeping giants. In this campaign, they need to harness and galvanize the resources especially in the battle ground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia," said Indian-American Frank Islam, a major fund raiser for the Clinton campaign. "I personally believe and Hillary believes that they can make significant difference, if the people go out and vote," said Islam who was present at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia where Clinton was nominated. He said if the Indian-Americans would go out and vote in these battle ground states they can play an "important role" and tip the ballots. Islam, who was part of the delegation to travel to India with US President Barack Obama in January last year, exuded confidence that Clinton as president would take India-US relationship to the next height. "She would be indispensable partner for India. She would advocate and embrace what President Obama has done so far," he said. "I was so happy to be there at the historic moment when Hillary became our nominee. She has potential to lead the nation. What is important as an Indian American is that Hillary is focused on building bridges. She will go beyond all differences and unite people," said Palaniappan Andiappan, who was a member of the Credentials Committee. Andiappan attended the Democratic National Convention, saying it was a "very energizing and electrifying experience." "Hillary Clinton's nomination sends a powerful message that the America's major party is ready to give command of the most powerful nation to a woman. Her message of unity and holding each other resonates with majority of Americans," said Rajwant Singh, a Sikh community leader. Noting that Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate provides assurance to minorities especially the religious ones, Singh said Sikhs are pleased with nomination as she has been a long time friend of the community. "She has stood by the Sikhs during the challenging times in the aftermath of 9/11. She has spoken emphatically that nobody should be made target of hate and this is exactly the kind of leadership is required to lead this nation," he said. "We are equally thrilled with the nomination of Tim Kaine who is an ardent supporter of Sikhs to be admitted in the US armed forces without any restrictions," Rajwant said. "I have known Tim Kaine for 10 years. His experience at every level - Local (City Councilman and Mayor), State (Lieutenant Governor and Governor), and Federal (US Senator) would absolutely make him a wonderful Vice President," said Anjan Chimaladinne, a delegate for Clinton from Virginia. New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra said US President Barack Obama in his speech at the convention "recaptured America's election away from Trump's terms of fear and hate and back to the audacity of hope for all of the people." Daniel F Feldman, a foreign policy adviser of the Clinton Campaign, also feels that if Clinton elected in the November general elections, she would continue to strengthen the Obama administration's policy on India and work towards economic integration of the region. "I have seen very little he (Trump) has said on South Asia. It is a great concern that he has not sketched out his policies on a range of these issues. We do not know where he is and when he has given some policies, he has gone back and forth many times," said Feldman on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention that ended on Friday. "We have no idea who his (Trump's) key advisers (on South Asia) are," said Feldman, who previously served as the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and is currently associated with the international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld. South Asia, in the particular Af-Pak region, remains a conflict driven one and one that remain very dangerous, he said. "Therefore we will continue to have national security interest to stay engaged and continue to try to advise on a more sustainable and more prosperous future, the one that is ultimately owned by the sovereign nations of the region," Feldman said. Clinton has deep experience travelling to the region spending significant amount of time in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, he noted. "I know that she would remain committed to the region and she continues to embrace the Obama Administration to the region, and also as she begins to access the information once she receives the other analysis as president, she would continue to determine what is the most pragmatic way forward to keep all of us more secure and stable," Feldman said. Clinton, he stressed, has a very strong record on ties with India not only as the secretary of state, but also as the Senator from New York when she formed Senate India Caucus, and was its founding Co-Chair. "During her (term as secretary of state) India bilateral relationship grew quite a bit, strategic dialogue was launched, where she went frequently and worked on common issues and engaged multilaterally and regionally," Feldman said. "She recognises the broad opportunity of continuing the broader relationship with India and also to continue to develop relationship throughout the region," he said. "This (South and Central Asia) remains one of the least connected, least integrated region of the world. Future is in a continued integration. And that should be done through the key partners, through sovereign nations. She would continue to support that integration. How and in what way is too premature," he said. Responding to a question on Indo-Pak relationship in the context of the ongoing tension between the two nations over Kashmir, Feldman, speaking in his personal capacity, said, "This is something India and Pakistan must workout together". "More channels of communications, whether that is through diplomatic channels, economic channels, through military channel, intelligence channels...the more channels of communication, the better and more stable the region," he said. Feldman said he "looks to the leadership of both India and Pakistan in making sure that they address these issues themselves." Image: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton gives two thumbs up during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. Photograph: Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters Normal life was on Saturday hit in Karnataka following a bandh called by pro-Kannada and farmers' organisations, protesting the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal's interim order rejecting the state's petition seeking 7.56 tmcft for drinking water projects. Transport services have been hit with several transport workers unions, autorickshaws and cab unions extending support to the call. While film theatres, hotels, restaurants and malls, have been shut in support of the bandh, some schools and colleges have declared holiday on Saturday. Tension gripped Yamanur village in Hubballi-Dharwad district as police made a lathicharge to disperse protesting farmers. Police said to prevent untoward incidents, four companies each of Border Security Force, Rapid Action Force and an adequate number of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) personnel have been deployed in the 'Mumbai-Karnataka' region. Four senior police officers have been camping in Hubballi-Dharwad to monitor the situation. In Bengaluru, protestors are assembling at Town Hall to launch a massive protest march from Town Hall Circle to Freedom Park via Hudson Circle, KG Road and Palace Road. The Kannada film industry is also extending support for the bandh even as Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) President Sa Ra Govindu urged the film fraternity to participate in the protest march to be taken in the day later. "I appeal to all film producers, artistes, directors, distributors, exhibitors, technicians and other film staff to participate in it. The Kannada film industry has been at the forefront of several agitations and will do it even now," he told reporters. Govindu urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and work for an out-of-court settlement by convening a meeting between chief ministers of the states at loggerheads. In September last, Karnataka film artistes had participated in protests in support of the project. Karnataka, which has locked horns with neighbouring Goa on the larger issue of sharing Mahadayi River water between both the states, had petitioned the tribunal seeking the release of 7.56 tmcft for Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. The tribunal, which gave its interim order on Wednesday after hearing arguments from both Karnataka and Goa, had rejected the state's plea citing various grounds including ecological damage that the project may cause. The Kalasa-Banduri Nala (diversion) project, which will utilise 7.56 tmcft of water from the inter-state Mahadayi River, is being undertaken by Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag. Earlier, Kannada Chaluvali Leader Vatal Nagaraj had said, "It is the question of survival of Kannadigas and this kind of injustice cannot be tolerated. We appeal to the people not to resort to any violence and protest in a peaceful manner." Several political parties, too, have expressed their support for the cause and for the statewide bandh. Image: BSF battalion keeps guard in Hubli during the state-wide bandh. Photograph: PTI Photo Jai, the tiger, had been a firm favourite with tourists and conservationists alike. Around 400 villages have been searched in over 100 days for the country's most famous tiger, Jai, after it went missing from the Umred Karhandla wildlife sanctuary near Nagpur in Vidarbha region. "We have scoured over 400 villages and all possible forest land, where we think Jai could be, since his last known whereabouts on April 18," wildlife warden Rohit Karu said. Asked if Jai could have fallen prey to poachers, Karu said that possibility was remote. "He came to the sanctuary after traversing large tracts of land. He could be anywhere," Karu said. Another forest official, however, did not rule out the poaching angle. "A tiger, that too as majestic one as Jai, is worth over Rs one crore in international market, when one considers trade in its skin and other body parts," he said. Named after Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan's character in the hit 1975 film "Sholay", Jai was in limelight three years ago after embarking on an epic hike through villages, rivers and perilously dangerous highways in successful pursuit of a mate. Jai has been a firm favourite with tourists and conservationists alike. Wildlife officials have launched a search operation for the seven-year-old, 250 kg big cat. So far, there is no substantial clue about the whereabouts of the tiger, whose electronic collar stopped transmitting his location in April. The state government has offered a reward of Rs 50,000 for information on Jai's location. Some people residing close to the Umred Karhandla sanctuary have also performed a 'pooja' for his safety. Representative Image: Reuters A Delhi court on Saturday convicted 'Peepli Live' co-director Mahmood Farooqui of raping a 30-year-old United States researcher last year. Farooqui, who was out on bail, was taken into custody immediately after the pronouncement of the judgement. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain held Farooqui guilty of offence under section 376 (punishment of rape) of the IPC. The court fixed the matter for hearing arguments on sentence on August 2. The offence of rape entails a minimum of seven years rigorous jail and a maximum of imprisonment for life. The woman, in her complaint, had alleged that Farooqui was drunk when he raped her at his house where she had gone to get his help for her research work last year. The police had on June 19, 2015, lodged the FIR against Farooqui on the woman's complaint after which he was arrested. The police had on July 29 last year filed a charge sheet against Farooqui alleging that he had raped the research scholar from Colombia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in south Delhi on March 28 last year. The court had on September 9, 2015, started the trial in the case after framing rape charge against Farooqui. French authorities filed terror charges on Friday against two suspected members of the same Islamic State cell that massacred 130 people in Paris last November, a judicial source said. The 29-year-old Algerian Adel Haddadi and the 35-year-old Pakistani Mohamad Usman were charged with "criminal conspiracy with terrorists", the source said of the men turned over earlier Friday by Austrian authorities. Investigators believe they travelled to the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat full of refugees as two men who took part in the November 13 attacks. Those two, thought to be Iraqis, blew themselves up outside the Stade de France stadium, one of a series of brazen assaults by around 10 people around the French capital. But Haddadi and Usman were held up, detained by Greek authorities for 25 days because they had fake Syrian passports. Once let go, they followed the main migrant trail and made it to Salzburg in western Austria at the end of November -- after the Paris attacks. Austrian police commandos then arrested them in December at a migrant centre a few hours after French authorities informed them the men could be in the country. After his arrest, Haddadi told investigators that he wanted to go to France to "carry out a mission," according to a statement seen by AFP. A source close to the investigation said that Haddadi "was meant to take part in the Paris killings with his travelling companions." After France filed a European arrest warrant, a court in Salzburg approved at the beginning of July the transfer of the two men to France. Prosecutors said on Friday that both have now "left the country". Usman is reportedly thought to be a bomb maker for Pakistani extremist organisations including Lashkar-e-Taiba. Usman unsuccessfully appealed against his transfer from Austria, saying he would not get a fair trial in France and that he feared for his safety. Salzburg prosecutors added Friday that two more men, a Moroccan and an Algerian arrested eight days after the others, remained in custody. In December prosecutors had said that the men, aged 25 and 40 at the time, were being held "because of indications of close contact" with the two now transferred to France. 'The world will miss Mahasweta Devi and I will miss my second mother.' Nipa Roy, Mahasweta Devi's niece, remembers the writer who passed into the ages on Thursday, July 28. The great writer Mahasweta Devi was my dearest Khokoma (a deviation from jethima, meaning aunt). Writer Asit Gupta, her second husband, was my uncle. I would often see my mother copying Khokoma's writing before sending them off to the printer. Poets and writers frequented our house, thanks to the writer couple and discussion on contemporary literature was a regular event. Though I could hardly understand what the august gathering talked about, I always managed to take the centre stage. Premendadu (Premendra Mitra, the legendary writer) was my hot favourite. He always had a bag full of tales to share. One day, he gifted me a book -- Kumir Saheb -- and asked, "Kumir saheber songe tomar bhab hobe ki? (Will you and kumir sahib (the central character of the book), be friends?)" Such golden memories have remained etched in my mind. Years rolled by. I was growing up in years and Khokoma was getting busier. The distance between us was widening. But Khokoma somehow managed to squeeze out some time for both of us. We changed houses, but I never stopped visiting her modest shelter at Bullygunge Station Road. By this time, she got deeply involved in her work for the tribals. Prior to my marriage, she came to meet me and my fiancee from Dubai at the airport. "Biyete giye danrate parbo na, tai ekhane elam (I can't be there for your marriage, hence came here to meet you)," she said. Life moved rather fast thereafter. I shifted base to Dubai, became a motherm but never forgot Khokoma. During my visit to Kolkata, I took my son to her place. She doted on him. Her face would light up every time she saw him. She would talk to me at length about her sisters. The death of one of her sisters had shattered her. Strangely, towards the end of her life, some new 'faces' surrounded Khokoma all the time. They would not allow me to visit her at her residence in south Kolkata. On one occasion, we had to gatecrash. Khokoma was all smiles on seeing me. She held my hand in a tight grip and told all those who were in her room, "She is Futu, my child." "Without her, my life would have been like a desert." "When will you come again, dear? When will I see you, next?" she asked. I kept mum. I did not have an answer. That was my last conversation with her. I knew she had been ailing but thought being such a strong person, she would defy death this time too. Life has got too complicated these days. It needs people like her with golden hearts. I lost my mother some years ago. With Khokoma's death, I lost my mother once again. Rest in peace, Khokoma. The world will miss Mahasweta Devi and I will miss my second mother. Nipa Roy is a costume jewellery designer who lives in Dubai. Mayor Costin provides council district update & talks about other city projects A town hall was held at Martinsville City Hall Thursday evening where residents were encouraged to attend and discuss their concerns or questions with Martinsville Mayor Kenny Costin. Abilene's Broadwind Energy manufacturing facility will increase its capacity by 30 percent, according to the news release from the company on Friday. The Cicero, Illinois-based company, said its board of directors has approved the $4 million expansion of its Abilene wind energy tower facility. 'The expansion plan will increase tower production capacity in this plant to approximately 200 towers annually,' according to the news release. 'The Company expects the expansion project to be complete in mid-2017.' Broadwind President and CEO Stephanie Kushner said, 'The strong demand for wind energy in the Texas region supports this expansion of our Abilene facility. We are moving forward aggressively to bring this additional 30 percent capacity on line which should support incremental annual revenues of approximately $15-20 million, while adding some important operating flexibility.' BUFFALO BILL'S WILD WEST VISITS BUFFALO GAP John Wayne will visit Buffalo Gap on Oct. 1 as part of the sixth annual Comanche Moon Social benefiting the Buffalo Gap Historic Village. Jeff Norman guides audiences down the untamed frontier trail that was Buffalo Bill Cody's life in a costumed one-man play, informative and entertaining. The event is held around the campfire by the light of the moon on a starlit fall evening beneath the giant oaks at the Perini Ranch Steakhouse. Ticket prices range from $100 to $125 per person. Casual ranch attire or period dress is encouraged. For more information, visit www.buffalogap.com. MOVIE ON THE HILL The ACU community offers another Movie on the Hill event on Thursday. Come to the front lawn of the Biblical Studies Building to watch a Disney favorite, 'The Jungle Book.' Come early to enjoy cuisine from local food trucks (1881, Wholly Cow, Papa Murphy's, Kona Ice and Crabb Shack), live music by Andrew Holmes, and time with friends and family. Festivities kick off at 6:30 p.m., followed by the movie at 8:45. ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY Come to the Abilene Zoo on Aug. 6 to learn about the endangered species in the zoo's collection and efforts to help these animals survive. Special activities are planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free with admission. COVER-TO-COVER BOOK CLUB The Abilene Public Library's Cover-to-Cover Book Club gathers monthly on the third Thursday to discuss popular fiction and nonfiction. Members select a fiction or nonfiction title each month by consensus, then read and discuss during the meeting. August's session is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 18 in the auditorium at the APL, 202 Cedar St., when members will share thoughts on Jay Allison's This I Believe. Interested attendees may checkout a copy from the library, read it, and then come ready to discuss the title with other avid readers in the community. For more information on the book club, contact Ann Mount at 325-676-6025. QUEEN BEES AND WANNABES The Alliance for Women & Children brings Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes, to town on Sept. 15 as this year's keynote speaker for its 4th annual Fall Luncheon event at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. 6th St. More details will be forthcoming but sponsorship opportunities are available now. Call the Alliance at 325-677-5321 if you have any questions. Proceeds from the Fall Luncheon benefit the programs of the Alliance for Women & Children including Alliance After School Care, A-Teens, and Women's Health Awareness. Mail information to Jan Woodward in care of 'Around Town,' Abilene Reporter-News, P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX 79604. Email address is jan.woodward@reporternews.com or fax information to 325-670-5242. Deadline for submission is noon seven working days before publication. It wasn't surprising to Robert Monk that a former student in his religion classes at McMurry University had just been elected a bishop in the United Methodist Church. The surprising part was that the former student, Jimmy Nunn, was elected from the Northwest Texas Conference of the UMC. The last time that happened was at least 50 years ago, according to conference records. But Nunn, a 1979 graduate of United Methodist-affiliated McMurry, was just too good a student and leader to be overlooked even if he was from the Northwest Texas Conference. 'It speaks well for Jimmy,' Monk said. 'He has been consistently successful in whatever he's done.' Nunn's resume includes pastorates in Clyde and Jayton in the Abilene area and several positions in the Lubbock area. He moved from pulpit ministry to full-time administration in 2010 and was elected a bishop on July 15. 'I'm not sure it's soaked in yet,' Nunn said in a telephone interview from his Lubbock office as he prepares to assume the role of bishop on Sept. 1. Nunn's election came during the United Methodist Church's South Central Jurisdictional Conference in Wichita, Kansas. The South Central Jurisdiction includes Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. After Nunn, 59, was elected as a bishop, he had to wait to learn where he would be assigned. He found out about 11:30 p.m. July 15 that he would be bishop of the Oklahoma Area of the UMC, which includes the Oklahoma Conference and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. The Oklahoma Conference encompasses the entire state. The missionary conference has churches in eastern Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. It's a huge job, but Nunn is ready for it. He didn't know where in the seven-state jurisdiction he might be assigned. 'When they said Oklahoma, I was thrilled,' Nunn said. He is pleased that his new position will include the Indian Missionary Conference. Working with people from other cultures will not be new to him. He has been to the Democratic Republic of the Congo three times in the last year and a half, working on strategic plans with a college there. He also led efforts during his tenure in the Northwest Texas Conference office to recruit diverse clergy and to reach out to Hispanics and Latinos. He even cited his involvement with McMurry's Tipi Village when he was a student as preparation for working with people of diverse cultures. McMurry founder, James W. Hunt, grew up in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, and stressed his admiration of Indians while at McMurry. Tipi Village is a staple of homecoming activities each year. McMurry students erect the tipis and then teach the culture of various tribes to hundreds of schoolchildren who visit the village annually. 'McMurry has certainly been a leader there,' Nunn said. Nunn also met and married Mary Bohannon when both were McMurry students. They married in their senior year. They are the parents of two grown children. In a news release from the Oklahoma Conference, Nunn credited his call to ministry to several events, including getting lost on a Boy Scout camping trip in the mountains of New Mexico. He got lost and bargained with God. 'God, get me out of this,' he prayed,' and I'll even be a preacher.' A fisherman found him and returned him to the safety of the Boy Scout camp. Although Nunn is no stranger to traveling long distances as an employee of the Northwest Texas Conference of the UMC, his new job will entail traveling an entire state, with forays into Texas and Kansas. But the travel will come later. He has a more important job to start with. 'My first thing is to listen to people,' he said. Oklahoma City is the state capital, so Nunn will make a point of meeting state officials as well as church officials and laity. Once he starts meeting 'church people,' his job will get bigger. The Oklahoma Area includes 595 churches, with an average Sunday attendance of 56,000. Nunn will have eight district superintendents in the Oklahoma Conference and three in the Indian Missionary Conference to work with. He will have a large staff in his Oklahoma City office, consisting of about 40 people. The missionary conference has another four or five on staff. Nunn's new job also will require long-distance travel, including international cities, to meetings of the larger United Methodist Church. After Nunn gets to know everyone, he will begin working on the daily concerns of his office. His official job description calls for him to 'guard the faith, order, liturgy, doctrine, and discipline of the church.' 'That's kind of the formal marching orders,' he said. A goal of Nunn is to 'equip the church in its disciple-making ministry.' He will set goals, assess the current reality, look at opportunities and obstacles, and then chart a way forward. He knows he won't be alone in charting that course. In the news release from the Oklahoma Conference, Nunn noted that the conference already is in good shape, and in good hands, making the transition to a new bishop easier. 'The conference is really strong,' he said in the news release. 'There are so many good leaders there.' JAMES G. JIMMY NUNN Position: Newly elected bishop of the Oklahoma Area of the United Methodist Church, which includes the Oklahoma Conference and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. The Oklahoma Conference encompasses the entire state. The missionary conference has churches in eastern Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas Age: 59 Family: Wife, Mary Nunn; two grown children Education: Abernathy High School, 1975; bachelor of arts in English, with a minor in philosophy and religion, McMurry University, 1979; master of divinity, Asbury Theological Seminary, 1981, and doctor of ministry, Asbury, 1996 Previous positions: Director of mission and administration, Northwest Texas Conference of the UMC, 2011-present; director of church development, NWT Conference, 2010-2011; pastor and district superintendent, Lubbock, 1986-2009; pastor Clyde UMC, 1986; pastor, Earth UMC, 1982-1986; pastor Jayton UMC, 1981-82 Experience and leadership: Conference Board of Ministry, Lubbock District Superintendent, Conference Leadership Team, Texas Methodist Foundation; delegate to UMC General Conference, 2008, 2012, and 2016; several General Conference Committees of the UMC JAMES G. JIMMY NUNN Position: Newly elected bishop of the Oklahoma Area of the United Methodist Church, which includes the Oklahoma Conference and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. The Oklahoma Conference encompasses the entire state. The missionary conference has churches in eastern Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas Age: 59 Family: Wife, Mary Nunn; two grown children Education: Abernathy High School, 1975; bachelor of arts in English, with a minor in philosophy and religion, McMurry University, 1979; master of divinity, Asbury Theological Seminary, 1981, and doctor of ministry, Asbury, 1996 Previous positions: Director of mission and administration, Northwest Texas Conference of the UMC, 2011-present; director of church development, NWT Conference, 2010-2011; pastor and district superintendent, Lubbock, 1986-2009; pastor Clyde UMC, 1986; pastor, Earth UMC, 1982-1986; pastor Jayton UMC, 1981-82Experience and leadership: Conference Board of Ministry, Lubbock District Superintendent, Conference Leadership Team, Texas Methodist Foundation; delegate to UMC General Conference, 2008, 2012, and 2016; several General Conference Committees of the UMC One of Kathryn Cude's memories from the Texas 4-H Congress was the actions of the press corps. 'They tried to stir stuff up and keep it funny. I liked that a lot,' she said. 'I had a few interviews. They tried to put a spin on things; I guess they were just being the press, trying to keep it interesting.' Cude, of Munday, served as lieutenant governor for the recent Congress, which mimics the procedures used by the Texas Legislature. Members are selected to fill the roles of senators, members of the Legislature, lobbyists and press corps. County and state advisers assign positions and select 4-H members to fill key roles. A first-time attendee to the once every two years event usually are senators or legislators; returnees fill leadership roles. Cude was unable to attend after her sophomore year, but apparently gained enough regard to secure the position of lieutenant governor and president of the senate. Parliamentary procedure was scary for Cude, but she had an adviser to help her keep things running correctly. 'That's one thing about 4-H, they try to create leaders,' Nancy Cude, Kathryn's mom, said. 'They give them the tools. They told her what her position was and it was up to her to use those tools to figure out what to do. They will guide them, help them anytime they ask for it, but they like to give them the opportunity to do it themselves.' The tools included arriving a couple of days early and learning all the procedures. When everyone else arrived, each district had a 2-hour session to teach their members what their duties were going to be. The lobbyists also kept things interesting, Cude said. They were prominent at both the governor's and lobbyists' receptions. 'They were really trying to get a few bills passed and they went to any measure to get it done. A few of the lobbyists were against some of the things (the governor) wanted. It got interesting with that.' The competing interests didn't spoil the week for the attendees, Cude said. 'We're in 4-H. We were all great friends at the end of the day.' Cude has graduated from Munday High School, so the Congress was one of her final 4-H events as a youth. She wishes she had had an opportunity to attend twice. 'I wish I had been able to learn the ropes there, then go into the position I was in. I think it would have helped a little.' Her final thoughts on her life with 4-H? '4-H has been a very large part of my life. I'm very thankful for all the leadership and every position they've allowed me to be in.' UPCOMING EVENTS 'Poised, Polished and Pretty,' 9 a.m. to noon Monday-Wednesday, The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St., Abilene. For girls entering fourth through sixth grades. $70 ($50 for Museum members). 325-673-4587. Junior ballet classes (ages 9-12), 10:30 to noon, Monday-Thursday and Aug. 8-11, Abilene Ballet Theater, 1265 N. 2nd St., Abilene. $160. 325-675-0303. 'Arte en Espanol,' 9-11:30 a.m. Monday-Thursday, National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, 102 Cedar St., Abilene. $120. Call to preregister, 325-673-4586. Senior ballet classes (age 12 and older), Monday-Wednesday through Aug. 17, Abilene Ballet Theater, 1265 N. 2nd St., Abilene. $180 or $20 per class. 325-675-0303. 'Cinderella's Enchanting Dance Camp' (ballet) for ages 3-4, 10:30 to noon Aug. 8-12, Abilene Ballet Theater, 1265 N. 2nd St., Abilene. $100. 325-675-0303. 'Broadway Babies' jazz camp (for ages 9-12), 1-2:30 p.m. Aug. 8-12, Abilene Ballet Theater, 1265 N. 2nd St., Abilene. $100. 325-675-0303. Tot Spot, for children ages 3-5 (and an adult), 9:30 or 11 a.m. first Thursday and Friday of each month, The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. (Check at www.thegracemuseum.org under 'Upcoming events' for holiday scheduling.) Free for museum members, $5 for nonmembers. Reservations required; 325-673-4587 or online. National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, 102 Cedar St., Abilene (325-673-4586), offers art activities each Saturday from 1-4 p.m. at no charge. Contact Carl Kieke at 325-673-3552; kiekec@suddenlink.net; or mail to Carl Kieke, 1417 N. 7th St. No. 2, Abilene TX 79601-4948. Deadline is Tuesday for publication the following Monday. (Via GoSanAngelo.com) SAN ANGELO - A juvenile suspected of taking part in a March 26 shooting that left two teens dead will be tried as an adult. Nicholas Abel Rodriguez, 17, was released from the Tom Green County Juvenile Detention Center and booked into the Tom Green County Jail at 11:38 a.m. Thursday on a charge of capital murder of multiple persons. An affidavit listed his bail amount as $500,000. Six other people were arrested and charged with murder within a week in the shooting death of Zane Lopez, 16, and Juan Guerrero, 17, in the 1100 block of East 22nd Street. The arrests of Eric Ramos and Giliberto Salvador Reyes, both 18; Fred Angel Garcia, 17; and four male juveniles were made after an investigation by the San Angelo Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division. Rodriguez is one of the four juveniles and was 16 when the shootings happened. Ramos, Reyes and Garcia were indicted June 24 by a 340th District Court grand jury on charges of capital murder of multiple persons and are being held at the county jail in lieu of $500,000 bail each. The juveniles were taken to the Juvenile Detention Center. The Juvenile Court has full authority to transfer jurisdiction for cases within the juvenile system to adult court if the case meets the criteria listed in the Texas Family Code judicial proceedings. For example, a juvenile may be transferred to the district court for criminal proceedings if the alleged offense was a felony committed at age 14 or older, among other terms listed. The 51st District Attorney's Office filed a petition to have jurisdiction over Rodriguez's case transferred from juvenile court to adult court. District Attorney Allison Palmer said prosecutors typically file for jurisdiction to be transferred because the juvenile court system may not be equipped to deal with the offender or the magnitude of the alleged crime, adding that the adult court system is more equipped to deal with certain cases. Capital murder is punishable by death or life in prison without parole. Murder is a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Anyone younger than 18 convicted of capital murder is not eligible for the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibly of parole. If convicted of capital murder, Rodriguez could receive a punishment of life in prison and be required to serve 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. The arrest warrant affidavit for Rodriguez said police were dispatched to the 1100 block of East 22nd Street at 9:46 p.m. March 26 in response to a report of a shooting. Officers found two teens lying on the ground in the backyard, both apparently suffering from gunshot wounds to the head. Guerrero 'had what appeared to be a single gunshot wound near his right eye,' the affidavit stated. He was pronounced dead at the scene. One of the officers attending recognized Guerrero from working at Lake View High School. Lopez was in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Shannon Medical Center before dying of his injuries five days after the shooting, according to police. Joe Lopez, the father of Zane Lopez, told authorities that he and his son were inside the residence when Zane Lopez went out the back door, according to the affidavit. Joe Lopez said a short time later, he heard what sounded like firecrackers and went outside to find Zane Lopez and Guerrero lying on the ground in the backyard. On March 31, Rodriguez told investigators during an interview that he knew Zane Lopez had made threats against a gang, the affidavit stated. Rodriguez told the detective that Reyes had given 'the green light' to shoot Lopez and that a 'green light' means 'permission had been given to kill the targeted subject,' stated the affidavit. Information in the arrest-warrant affidavits for the three indicted also suggests that Reyes gave a juvenile the go-ahead to shoot one of the teens. Rodriguez told authorities he got a .22 pistol from an unidentified person and went with Garcia, another person and Ramos, who was driving, to Zane Lopez's home, according to the affidavit. Rodriguez told detectives that they drove to Zane Lopez's house and that he shot the .22 pistol one time up into the air. According to court documents, Ramos told police that he was aware of the plan to shoot at Zane Lopez's residence and that he drove the vehicle into the alley behind the residence. Ramos said Reyes got out of the car, heard gunshots and drove away from the scene after the shooting, with all the passengers, according to court documents. Police found spent .40 and .45 shell casings in the alley behind the residence. Reyes told detectives during an April 1 interview that he knew guns had been used in the deaths of Guerrero and Lopez, and that he had taken possession of those guns and concealed them from police, according to his arrest affidavit. The two boys killed in the shooting withdrew from the San Angelo school district last school year, one in the fall and the other in spring. Garcia was enrolled at Central High School, according to SAISD officials. Is fake burping in gym class enough to get a seventh-grader arrested? Yes, according to a federal appeals court, which granted immunity to school officials sued by the kid's family after the 13-year-old was hauled off to juvenile detention in handcuffs. The officer's action was based on a New Mexico misdemeanor law that makes disrupting school activities a crime. In a 94-page opinion, the court backed the arrest, saying the law didn't forbid arresting someone for burping. One judge on the panel wrote a pungent, four-page dissent explaining why that reasoning is wrong. But determining the correct outcome here is a little tricky. The arrest was clearly absurd. Yet it isn't clear that the remedy for every stupid arrest is a federal lawsuit. The incident behind the case took place in May 2011. It began when a student at the Cleveland Middle School in Albuquerque known in court documents as F.M. interrupted physical education class by fake burping repeatedly. (You can't make this stuff up.) The teacher sent F.M. into the hall, but he continued to interrupt by poking his head back into the classroom and burping some more. In more innocent times, this might have merited a trip to the principal's office. Instead, the teacher called the school resource officer,'Arthur Acosta, an officer in the Albuquerque police department assigned to the school. F.M. denied the burping some things never change but Acosta brought him to the school's office and made him sit in a chair while he went to get his computer from his car. When Acosta returned, he told F.M. that he was placing him under arrest for committing the misdemeanor of violating New Mexico's school disruption law, which says: 'No person shall willfully interfere with the educational process of any public or private school by committing or threatening to commit or inciting others to commit any act which would disrupt, impair, interfere with or obstruct the lawful mission, processes, procedures or functions of a public or private school.' The officer told the school principal, who suspended F.M. for the day and called F.M.'s mother, though without reaching her. The officer then brought F.M. to his police cruiser, patted him down, handcuffed him and took him to the juvenile detention facility. F.M. was released later that afternoon into his mother's custody. If you're steaming at this point in the story, you're not alone. F.M.'s mother sued the principal, an assistant principal and the police officer. The basis for her claim was false arrest in violation of F.M.'s constitutional rights pursuant to the civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. section 1983. A section 1983 suit in vindication of constitutional rights is a special legal beast. To proceed against a public official, a plaintiff needs to show that the official acted in violation of clearly established law. Almost all officials sued under section 1983 assert what is called 'qualified immunity.' That means if their actions were in line with what any reasonable official would have believed lawful, the suit ends. The defense raised by the police officer and principals was simple. The New Mexico law under which F.M. was arrested makes it a crime to disrupt school procedures. F.M.'s burping disrupted class to the point where teaching and learning could no longer occur. It was therefore reasonable to arrest him pursuant to the law. The handcuffs and juvenile detention were simply standard procedures that followed arrest. A federal-district court found in favor of the school officials and police officer. The mother's appeal focused on the police officer alone. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit again held for the officer. It said that the arrest of the student counted as 'arguable probable cause.' In particular, the three-judge panel held 2-1 that it wasn't clearly established under the state law that you couldn't arrest a child for burping in class. Here things got a little technical. The panel said there was no case on file explicitly interpreting the law to exclude such petty interruptions. In his stinging dissent, Judge Neil Gorsuch pointed out that there was a precedent dating back to 1974, State v. Silva, holding that trivial interference doesn't count as a crime, and that there must be 'a more substantial, more physical invasion' of school operations as well as proof that the student more 'substantially interfered' with the 'actual functioning' of the school. The panel replied formalistically that the Silva case was interpreting a different statute, one that governs colleges rather than schools. On the whole, I think Gorsuch got the better of the legal argument. But the panel's narrow judgment had some logic behind it, too: the desire not to make a school dispute into a federal case. Noah Feldman, a Bloomberg View columnist, is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard. Scott Goodnough, Abilene Preserving our Constitution never has been more important. When people allow fear to cloud their judgment, they are willing to sacrifice their freedoms for a little bit of security. In the past weeks, Germany has experienced four terror attacks, people have been mowed down by a large truck in Nice, France, police have been attacked in Dallas and Baton Rouge, nightclubs in Florida have been attacked and 19 people stabbed to death in Japan. All these acts of violence tempt one to allow the government to freedom to impinge on our freedoms in the name of security. Are we willing to give up our constitutional freedoms? The government already has violated privacy of private citizens, a presidential candidate has suggested stripping away due process by killing family members of terrorists, and some have suggested curtailing the rights of citizens to protect themselves. Some may be willing to give up their freedom of religion because they are not Muslim or freedom of privacy because they don't have anything to hide or freedom to own/carry a firearm because they don't believe in private ownership of firearms. Make no mistake we are at war, but we must not live in fear and give up our freedoms. If you want two examples of curtailment of freedoms look no further than France. France has been in a state of emergency for nearly a year with expanded government powers of search and seizure and detention; these actions did not prevent the terror attack in Nice. An Afghan official says the Taliban has seized control of a strategic district in the poppy-growing province of Helmand, although the governor's office said there was ongoing fighting between militants and Afghan forces. Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy director of the provincial council, told the Associated Press that the Kanashin district had "fallen into Taliban hands." Akhonzada said the Taliban's seizure of the district, which borders Pakistan, means the militants "control of 60 percent of Helmand." Much of the Marjah, Sangin, Garmser, and Dishu districts had already fallen to the Taliban. Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said on July 30 that the clashes were continue between Afghan troops and Taliban militants in parts of the district. Zwak said 20 militants and one Afghan policemen were killed after dozens of Taliban fighters launched an attack on July 29 in the Kanashin district. Based on reporting by AP and Tolo News The remaining opposition gunmen holed up in a police station in Yerevan have laid down their arms, ending a two-week standoff with the Armenian authorities, which has left two police officers dead. "With their consistent and coordinated actions, special units of Armenian law enforcement bodies have forced members of the armed group to surrender to the authorities," Armenia's National Security Service said in a statement on July 31. The statement said that 20 gunmen had been arrested, classifying them as "terrorists." The National Security Service announced the "complete liberation" of the police compound more than an hour after the leader of the gunmen, Varuzhan Avetisian, said they had decided to give themselves up. He said continued armed resistance would be meaningless, as security forces had been methodically shooting and wounding members of his group linked to a radical opposition movement, Founding Parliament. Avetisian said his comrades chose to avoid further bloodshed and become "prisoners of war" instead. He sought to put a brave face on the surrender, saying that he and his comrades had succeeded in dramatically increasing antigovernment sentiment in Armenia. The group reportedly had 30 or so members when it stormed and seized the police compound on July 17, demanding that President Serzh Sarkisian free Founding Parliaments jailed leader, Zhirayr Sefilian, and step down. They had also briefly held nine officers hostage. Commentators said the standoff had dragged on in part because the government wanted to avoid stoking further social unrest. Several thousand people have joined nightly rallies to support the gunmen, occasionally clashing with police. In the evening on July 30, demonstrators marched down Baghramian Avenue toward the main government buildings and presidential residence, but were stopped by riot police, who strung coils of barbed wire across the road. The demonstrators blocked traffic for about two hours, but dispersed peacefully early on July 31 and no violence was reported. And despite news of the gunmen's surrender, several hundred supporters gathered in a central square in Yerevan on the evening of July 31. The armed men included veterans of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with neighboring Azerbaijan, and were seen as national heroes by their supporters, who want the government to pursue a harder line on the issue. Policeman Killed Earlier, the gunmen denied killing a police officer who was shot dead by sniper fire on July 30. Avetisian said on July 31 that police were wrong in accusing them of shooting the officer. An ultimatum deadline from the authorities, who threatened to launch a full-scale assault against the gunmen, expired on July 30. Police spokesman Ashot Aharonian said the 30-year-old policeman, Yuri Tepanosian, was killed by sniper fire as he sat in a police car parked "350-400 meters" from the compound. The incident occurred just a few hours before the deadline was set to expire for the gunmen to leave the premises or face a full-scale assault. An RFE/RL correspondent heard several gunshots on a blocked street leading to the seized compound at around 6 p.m. local time on July 30, about an hour after the ultimatum issued by authorities had expired. Late on July 30, thousands of supporters of the gunmen gathered in central Yerevan in a protest calling on the authorities not to use force to end the occupation. Protester Albert Bagdassian told RFE/RL that their goal was "to support the group against which the security services have decided to launch an assault, to march on the street, to paralyze traffic and to show that we are not afraid." Late on July 29, hundreds of supporters tried to march to the police compound, but were blocked by riot police. Authorities said earlier on July 30 that 75 were injured in the clashes and more than 20 detained. WATCH: Dozens Injured, Several Hospitalized After Yerevan Clashes Three RFE/RL correspondents were among members of the media beaten with sticks and metal bars by men who appeared to be plainclothes police officers. RFE/RL President Thomas Kent expressed "outrage" over the attack on journalists doing their job. Authorities on July 30 promised to investigate. Police said 165 people were rounded up during the July 29 demonstration and all but 26 were released. With reporting by RFE/RL's Suren Musayelyan, AP, AFP, and dpa Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has been hacked as part of a larger cyber attack against U.S. Democratic Party institutions, U.S. media reported on July 29. The latest hack follows two data breaches involving the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. U.S. intelligence officials and private experts believe that the cyber attacks were committed by agents working for the Russian government. The attackers left traces that identify them as Russian and have used tools only available to governments. Some fear that Russia may be trying to influence the presidential election -- a possibility that U.S. President Barack Obama raised this week. The Russian government has strongly denied the charges, describing them as "poisonous" and a symptom of "anti-Russian paranoia" that often engulfs U.S. presidential campaigns. The Clinton campaign said an analytics data program had been accessed by hackers, but there was no evidence that its internal systems, including e-mail, were compromised. The FBI said it was investigating the allegations and the extent of any hacking. Hacked e-mails from the Democratic National Committee were leaked last week in an embarassment for the party right before its widely watched presidential nominating convention. Based on reporting by BBC, Reuters, and AP Suspected militants have killed two members of a religious minority group along the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Local officials told RFE/RL that the two slain men were members of the Kalasha community, a pagan tribe living in the secluded Chitral Valley in northwest Pakistan. Officials said the suspected militants killed the two shepherds and took around 500 goats with them. Wazir Zada, a member of the Kalasha community, said the attackers crossed the border from the Afghan province of Nuristan, where they returned after the attack. Attacks against Pakistan's ethnic and religious minorities are on the rise, according to local human rights groups. The Kalasha, which number just several thousand, speak their own language and celebrate festivals through music, dance, and alcohol, making them targets for militant Islamic extremists. Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun a visit to the small Balkan state of Slovenia amid tensions between Moscow and the West over the Kremlins role in Ukraine. Slovenia, an EU and NATO member, has maintained friendly relations with Moscow even as it joined EU sanctions against Russia for its support of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Slovenia has described Putin's one-day visit as strictly informal, but said his talks with officials would also focus on economic and bilateral issues. But EU diplomats told Reuters that they fear Russia is lobbying friendly European states, including Slovenia, to erode the bloc's unity on sanctions against Moscow. "Russia is constantly trying to find a way around the sanctions, targeting countries it thinks are softer. They are trying to kill the sanctions with a soft approach," one of the diplomats said. The diplomats said Italy, Greece, Hungary, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria were among Russia's main targets. Putin on July 30 attended the centenary commemoration of a chapel in the Julian Alps that was erected in honor of over 100 Russian and other World War I prisoners of war who died in an avalanche while building a mountain road for the Austrian army in 1915. At the small, Orthodox-style wooden church, Putin said Russia was ready to help strengthen security in Europe and the world. "So that we not only remember the horrors of war, but together work on strengthening mutual understanding, trust and security in Europe and the world," he said as hundreds looked on, including Slovenian President Borut Pahor. Earlier, Pahor had told Russia's TASS news agency that Putin's visit was a chance to pay respect to the traditional friendship of Slovenia and Russia, despite some differences in the two countries' relations over their positions on certain pressing issues, The tight security for Putin's visit included closing the country's main highway to Austria, which caused huge traffic backups. Putin's trip has angered Ukrainians living in Slovenia, who protested on July 30 in front of the Russian embassy in the capital, Ljubljana. Dozens of protesters held banners reading "Putin is a Terrorist" and chanted "Long live Ukraine!" Before Putins arrival, Ukraine's ambassador to Slovenia, Mykhailo Brodovych, said the Russian presidents visit was "negative." "These commemorative events are just a pretext for Putin to demonstrate that he is normally accepted in the country that is a member of the EU and NATO," Brodovych wrote on his webpage. While in Slovenia, Putin was also due to unveil a memorial to Russian soldiers who died during World War II at the main cemetery in Ljubljana. The Russian president is expected to meet with top Slovenian officials during his visit. Slovenia, a country of 2 million people, became independent from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. It joined NATO and the EU in 2004. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Interfax WASHINGTON - Three RFE/RL Armenian Service journalists were attacked by a large group of plainclothes men late on July 29, while they were covering clashes between riot police and protesters marching in support of armed gunmen who have occupied a police compound in Yerevan for the past two weeks. RFE/RL President Thomas Kent strongly condemned the attack. "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is outraged by this attack on journalists carrying out their professional duty," Kent said. "We expect the Armenian authorities to bring the attackers to justice and protect journalists carrying out their legitimate work." The men who attacked the three journalists -- Karlen Aslanian, Hovannes Movsisian, and Garik Harutiunian -- were armed with sticks and metal bars, and were clearly aware that they are assaulting reporters. Movsisian told RFE/RL by phone as he ran for safety that one of the men asked, Are you filming? before punching Movsisian, smashing his camera and tearing off his ID badge. I told them that I stopped filming but they kept hitting me. Movsisian was hospitalized as a result of tear gas inhalation and pain from being hit by fragments of tear gas grenades. The two other RFE/RL reporters also suffered minor injuries in the attack, before they were able to escape to safety by running along another street in Yerevans Sari Tagh neighborhood. Armenian police spokesman Ashot Aharonian promised in a Facebook post that the police will immediately investigate violent attacks on journalists from RFE/RL and other media outlets covering the protests. The Armenian Human Rights Ombudsmans office also announced that it would investigate reports that those who attacked the journalists were policemen dressed in plain clothes. 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." The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says members of its monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine have been threatened at gunpoint near a village in the Donetsk region. The OSCE said a Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) was stopped by two armed separatists near the separatist-controlled village of Lukove in the afternoon on July 29. This occurred, the OSCE said, while the SMM was following what it said were fresh tracks, likely left by an infantry fighting vehicle. The separatists blocked the road with their camouflaged-style jeep and pointed their guns at the monitors and ordered them to leave the area, according to the OSCE. As the group of monitors was leaving the area, another separatist jeep appeared, traveling at top speed. It almost hit the lead vehicle in the SMM convoy before coming to a stop in front of the patrol, blocking its path. The OSCE said one separatist made a "cut throat" sign to the monitors and took photographs of both SMM vehicles and the drivers. The OSCE monitors were led to a separatist checkpoint in Prymorske, some five kilometers south of Lukove. There, according to the OSCE, nine armed separatists surrounded the first SMM vehicle, swearing and making threatening gestures. One of the monitor's vehicles was dented after a separatist hit it several times with his rifle butt. The monitors were eventually released and returned safely to their base in Mariupol. Among those condemning the separatists' actions was Liselotte Plesner, an OSCE ambassador from Denmark. The OSCE, which includes nations from North America to Europe to Central Asia, is tasked with monitoring the shaky cease-fire in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces still engage in regular clashes. The organization's daily reports on cease-fire violations are of great importance to Western leaders, many of whom say they will not consider lifting sanctions against Russia until the Minsk peace deal that Kyiv and Moscow agreed to is fully implemented. Russia has long distrusted the OSCE, accusing it of bias. The organization's special monitoring mission includes observers from more than 45 countries, including Russia, as well as 305 Ukrainian staff. Ukraine has condemned the visit of a group of French lawmakers to Russia-annexed Crimea. The 11-member delegation is on a three-day visit to Ukraine's occupied and illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula from July 29 to July 31. In a statement released on July 30, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said the French delegation has "defiantly violated the Ukrainian legislation as well as international law, having neglected the official position of their own state that remains committed to defending Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity." The statement added that Kyiv sees the visit as a "manifestation of deliberate support to the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine." The French delegation is in Crimea to hold talks with local leaders, residents, and officials from Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Western countries have imposed tough economic sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Based on reporting by Ukraine Today and Interfax By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Five cases of money laundering amounting to Rs 12,356.6 crore involving accounts in four banks, including Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank, have been registered since January 2014. In all the cases, money was remitted outside India by various individuals and organisations through their bank accounts, contrary to the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Giving details in the Lok Sabha today, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said investigations have "prima facie revealed involvement of bank officials in some of the cases". He, however, did not elaborate. As per data provided by him, one case under PMLA relating to remittance of Rs 304.35 crore (IndusInd Bank) was registered in 2016 (till June). In the last calender year, two such cases were registered -- Rs 6,000 crore (Bank of Baroda) and Rs 600 crore (Oriental Bank of Commerce). 2014 saw two cases -- Rs 5,395.75 crore (ICICI Bank) and Rs 56.51 crore (Oriental Bank of Commerce). To another question, the minister said SBI reported as many as 151 cases of fraud (Rs 1 lakh and above) in the first quarter of the fiscal. The amount involved was Rs 601.05 crore. Bank of Baroda reported 74 cases (Rs 107.51 crore), Bank of India 48 cases (Rs 268.22 crore) and Syndicate Bank 47 cases (Rs 117.89 crore) during the period. advertisement Other public sector banks, too, reported such frauds. PTI NKD CS ARD --- ENDS --- Richmond police have arrested a Chesterfield County man and are seeking four other men in a shooting July 16 on West Broad Street near the Virginia Commonwealth University bookstore. D-Vonn A. Reaux, 20, of the 3700 block of Luckylee Crescent, turned himself in Tuesday, police said Friday. He is charged with attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. About 2:40 a.m. on July 16, officers responded to a call of a person shot in the 1100 block of West Broad Street. A man who had been shot was lying in the street. His injuries were not life-threatening. Richmond and VCU police identified three suspects. They are still trying to identify two others. Two Chesterfield men, Kiante M. Smith, 20, and Montrell Graves, 22, are wanted on charges of attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, police said. Both should be considered dangerous. Two other wanted men were captured on video prior to the shooting and running from the shooting scene. Both are black men with facial hair. The first wore a black T-shirt with a design on the front and dark shorts. The second wore jeans and a Baltimore Ravens shirt with Lewis and the number 52 on the back, according to police. Three people were shot in the 5400 block of Midlothian Turnpike at around 3 a.m., Richmond Police said on Saturday. Police said the victims two males and one female were taken to Chippenham Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police have no information on a possible suspect at this time. In a shocking incident, a 60-year-old cleric was arrested in Afghanistan for marrying a six-year-old girl. The cleric justified the wedding by calling it as a religious offering by the girl's parents. By India Today Web Desk: A cleric who is about 60-years-old was arrested by the police of Ghor Province of Afghanistan after he married a six-year-old girl. The incident is another example of the spate of child marriages in the war-torn country. Mohammad Karim told the police that parents of the girl had given her as a religious offering. However, the girl's parents claimed that she was kidnapped from the western part of Herat on the border of Iran. advertisement Karim also told the police that he married the girl before a crowd of about 50 people from the community, a claim which the girl's parents said to be false. VICTIM, FAMILY IN SHOCK According to an official from the Women Affairs Department in Ghor, the girl does not speak but repeatedly said that she was afraid of the cleric. The girl is currently in the custody of the women's shelter in Ghor. The local governor's office said that the girl's parents are on their way to retrieve her from the shelter home. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the governor's office has confirmed the arrest of the cleric. The police said that investigation in the matter is underway. ATROCITIES AGAINST GIRL CHILD ON THE RISE Earlier this month, a 14-year-old pregnant girl was burned to death in Ghor. The family of the victim told that she was tortured and set ablaze by her husband's family. The recent incidents of atrocities against girl children underscore a deeper social problem in Afghanistan. According to the Afghan civil code the legal marriage for women is 16 years and men is 18 years. Sources said that daughter's are usually considered to be an economic burden who must be married off to reduce financial strain. Also read: Tortured Afghan teen to visit India for medical treatment --- ENDS --- Three people were rushed to the hospital after a a truck ran off the road along Interstate 95 north in Hanover County, Virginia State Police said Saturday. Police the single-vehicle crash happened around 8:20 a.m. near the Lewistown Road exit. A moving truck ran off the right side of the highway and struck several trees. Three occupants of the truck were taken to VCU Medical Center. The driver sustained minor injuries. Two passengers were in serious condition this afternoon. Police said the driver was charged with failure to obey a highway marking. I know what it means to be directly affected by climate change. When I moved from Hampton to Newport News in 1999, I was told I was not living in a flood zone. Fast forward to 2015 and my home was suddenly at risk for flooding due to sea-level rise and climate change. I got a letter in the mail telling me I had to purchase flood insurance at a minimum cost of $400 a year thats a lot on a retired persons income. I moved to get away from rising water and flooding and ended up in a city one with high levels of air pollution that now is also vulnerable to flooding. Yikes! I thought about retiring to Norfolk not too long ago maybe I would sell my house and move into an apartment. But then I realized that I could not do that because if a hurricane like Joaquin or Katrina or Sandy hit Virginia, Id be trapped with thousands of other people below sea level. Id have to battle the tunnels and bridges and I would be putting my life at risk. As a lifelong resident of the South Hampton Roads area, I find that pretty alarming, and I am not alone. Back in April 2016, Virginia Organizing was part of a coalition of groups that care about environmental justice (including Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Virginia Student Environmental Coalition, and Interfaith Power and Light) that released a report criticizing Gov. Terry McAuliffe on his poor climate record. We acknowledged that the governor is taking a few small steps on fighting sea level rise and flooding impacts. We also found that his reckless support for fossil fuel dependency, fracked-gas pipelines, and dumping coal ash would hurt people like me at Virginias shores, people in the mountains trying to maintain their land and water quality, and all people in between as the climate erodes. Support for fossil fuels is inexcusable from a governor who pledged support for the environment when he ran for office. In fact, we know from a report from the Sierra Club that pollution from just two of the pipelines proposed in Virginia the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines would have almost twice the total climate-changing emissions from existing power plants and other stationary sources in Virginia. That the governor would continue to support this kind of pollution, and the companies that erroneously claim this energy is clean, is appalling. I marched to the governors mansion on July 23 to take a stand for climate justice and against big polluters. As I looked out into the crowd of more than 600 grassroots people who came to Browns Island to march for environmental justice on an unusually scorching hot day, I was struck by the commitment of people from all walks of life coming together to support renewable energy and oppose the continued destruction of Virginias natural resources. We are not big contributors to political campaigns and we are not environmental insider groups. We are directly affected people who want our elected officials to do better by all of us, not big businesses and big donors. We dont care that certain environmental groups gave money to politicians they dont speak for us; we speak for ourselves. We dont want pipelines running through our land and contaminating our water to deliver fossil fuels that will destroy our environment. We do want the choice to put solar panels and wind turbines on our property. We should scrutinize the words of corporations that are out to make money and listen to the people who are directly affected by pipelines tearing through their land, compromising their water and contributing to declining air quality. We want to be as successful as 2016 Germany, using renewables as the primary source of energy, where electric prices dipped so low in May that companies were actually paying consumers to use electricity the price was minus 57 U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour for several 15-minute periods on May 15, 2016, according to Bloomberg. People are not struggling in Germany to pay for electricity; they are trying to figure out where to store all the excess they generate from renewables, which is not a bad problem to have and one easily resolved in Virginia. According to reports in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, compared to other states, Virginias use of solar is abysmal. But we do have an opportunity to do better now, before things get worse. And we can create clean energy jobs in the process! Some of the changes that accompany suburban expansion are hard to miss. Great swaths of woodland and farmland get subdivided, and where, say, corn once grew, perhaps 100 houses stand. Developments also can bring changes that are less obvious. Beginning near the present-day Westhampton Heights neighborhood in Richmonds West End, a creek called Jordans Branch formerly meandered downhill through land that would eventually become a dense mix of residential and commercial development. The southwestern end of the Westhampton Heights neighborhood, which is roughly bounded by Three Chopt Road and Patterson and Pepper avenues, stands on high ground that tilts north and east. So while the James River lies fairly close as the crow flies, much of the rain and snow that falls on the Westhampton Heights neighborhood eventually reaches the Chickahominy River. (The creek itself empties into Upper Youngs Pond in Bryan Park.) In the course of the last century, Jordans Branch played a role in the neighborhoods that sprang up around it. Residents in Westwood, a community established by freed slaves in the 1870s near the present-day intersection of Patterson Avenue and Willow Lawn Drive, used to perform baptisms in its waters, for example. And, midcentury, kids in Westhampton Heights used vines to swing across it. The streambed was fairly deep in places, and several of the houses in the 6700 block of Hanover Avenue had wooden bridges that led across it to the alley. The local kids preferred the vines, though.The bridges were for old folks, said Harold Wilkinson, whose parents bought a newly built house on Hanover Avenue in 1953. (He moved back to the neighborhood 14 years ago.) Some of the houses in Westhampton Heights date back to the early 1920s, but theyre outliers. The majority of the houses in the neighborhood technically, a collection of subdivisions that takes its widely used name from the largest one were built in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, as the rise of the baby boomer generation sparked a postwar construction boom in the West End. The neighborhood was full of kids in the 1950s, Wilkinson said. Among the neighborhoods subdivisions are College View, Hampton Park, Westhampton Heights and Westhampton Heights Annex. Architectural styles in the neighborhood range from Craftsman and American Foursquare among the oldest houses to Cape, Ranch and Split Level among the midcentury construction. The Craftsman style dominates recent infill construction in the neighborhood. Square footage ranges from 900 to 2,000 square feet, said Eliza Conrad, a Westhampton Heights homeowner and a real estate agent with Long & Foster. Over time, as construction extended deeper into the wooded areas of the Westhampton Heights neighborhood, the city tamed Jordans Branch. Today, concrete pipes contain most of the creek underground from Westhampton Heights to the 5200 block of West Broad Street. Its circuitous course can still be traced along street maps, though. Willow Lawn Drive follows the creeks original bed, for example. And the stream likewise influenced the unusual pattern of Kingsbury Road in the Glenburnie neighborhood. Recently, developers have begun referring to the St. Christopher's areas section of Jordans Branch as Tiber Creek, a name once used by some area residents, and the name has been attached to The Tiber, a luxury condo development at Libbie and Guthrie avenues. In fact, given the creeks impact on Westhampton Heights, Wilkinson suggested calling the neighborhood Upper Jordans Branch. But he acknowledged that its hard to market a neighborhood based on a stream thats no longer visible. The area isnt as untamed as it was in its early days of development, when Wilkinson and his friends swung across Jordans Branch on vines. The suburbs have swept past it and continued across Henrico County and are now edging into Goochland County. Its much more urbanized today, and were seeing the filling in of the last remaining open spaces, Wilkinson said. Developers are having to become more creative to find spots for new homes in the area. But Westhampton Heights is still attracting homebuyers, and homes there tend to sell quickly, often within 30 days, Conrad said. The neighborhoods location accounts for a lot of the sales. The Village Shopping Center and the shops and restaurants at Libbie and Grove avenues are within walking distance, as is the University of Richmond. And the price is right. Most houses sell in the $180,000 to $250,000 range, with new-construction houses topping $300,000, Conrad said. She added: Its a great neighborhood for young families and first-time homebuyers. Just dont expect to swing on a vine across a creek in your backyard. _______________ By Pramod Madhav: AIADMK - DMK scuffle turned ugly today afternoon when the AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa allegedly slapped the DMK MP Tiruchi Sive at Delhi's IGI airport. Both the Rajya Sabha MPs were checking in for a Jet airways flight to Chennai, when they realised that the other was also traveling in the same flight. The incident took place today afternoon around 2 pm at the T3 terminal of Delhi's IGI airport. HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED Tiruchi Siva, the Rajya Sabha MP from DMK, said that as he was returning from the Delhi airport canceling his tickets, he was shocked by Sasikala Pushpa's attack on him. He said that Sasikala slapped him once. However, the AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa said that she overcame with emotions as Siva criticized the Tamil Nadu government and Jayalalithaa and that's why she slapped him four times. According to sources, the AIADMK MP Sasikala, on learning that Siva was also traveling in the same flight, rushed to him and holding him by his neck, slapped him. The scuffle got so ugly that CISF personnel had to intervene and separate them. The passengers were in utter shock to see two reputed MPs behaving in this manner. Reportedly, the DMK MP exited the airport without making any complaints, while the AIADMK MP too did not board the flight and went back. advertisement WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/chennai-igi-airport-aiadmk-dmk/1/728075.html --- ENDS --- A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. PHILADELPHIA Susan Swecker remembers when, as an eighth-grader, she came home one day from school in Highland County to see her mother visibly upset. Nancy Swecker, who had previously worked as a bank teller but left her job to raise Susan and her sister, Elly, had wanted to return to work and saw that her former employer had an opening. She had applied for her job again, and they told her that she could not return, Swecker said. I said, Why not? Youre qualified, recounted Swecker, now 61. She said, Well, they told me they were going to hire a man. There was nothing she could do about it, Swecker, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said Thursday hours before former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made history by accepting the Democratic Partys nomination as the first female presidential candidate of a major political party in U.S. history. I was so darn mad and furious, but back then there was no recourse. I think thats one of the reasons I became so interested in politics and working for change. An emotional Swecker told the story Thursday during a breakfast meeting of the Virginia delegation. She hadnt planned on doing so, but something about Hillary Clintons moment compelled her to think about her mother, who died in 1998. I just know that Nancy Swecker is looking down on this moment, saying, You go, girl, Swecker told the audience, holding back tears. Her story was just one of many that emerged from the Virginia delegation on the last day of the convention a convention that until Thursday, with the exception of first lady Michelle Obamas address Monday, had featured male office holders in leading roles, including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine. Women in the delegation interviewed Thursday said Clintons achievement from her time as first lady, to U.S. senator, secretary of state and presidential nominee validates the capabilities of women in any role, and both inspired them and made them grateful for the struggles previous generations of women in their own families overcame to give them an opportunity to succeed. Fairfax delegate Patricia Browns mother Mildred also worked as a bank teller, when it was one of the few jobs women were allowed to do in the financial industry. Only the men were allowed to open the vault of the bank, recalled Brown, 64, the chairwoman of the 10th District Democratic Congressional Committee. On Tuesday, when Clinton was formally nominated, Brown also found herself unexpectedly overcome with emotion. Tears just started flowing down, she said, as she reflected on the moment and her mother. This is really, really, breaking the glass ceiling for women and girls, she said of Clintons nomination. Its monumental. The significance of the moment was not lost on delegate Altima Omara, 35 the first African-American president of the Young Democrats of America and only the fifth woman to hold the post in the 80-plus-year history of the organization. Clintons success brought to mind Omaras mother, an immigrant from Africa who came to the U.S. in 1976 and became a nurse, and Omaras grandmother, who prevailed upon her grandfather to let his daughter be educated. As a 12-year-old girl, the former Chesterfield County resident remembers seeing Clinton as first lady try to expand the role, pushing for health care reform and weighing in on policy, even as she was being attacked for her hairstyle. She put herself out there, said Omara, who works for a womens health nonprofit in Arlington County. She said she was impressed that Clinton chose to run when she could have easily stepped away. She could just be a grandmother, enjoy life and travel the world, she said. For Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, Clintons history not only makes her think about the past, but about the effect her role will have on future generations, including the lives of her two young children Jack, 5, and Samantha, 15 months. McClellan, 43, and husband David Mills have been in Philadelphia with their children all week. My daughter and my son are going to grow up knowing a black president and a woman president, said McClellan, who is African-American. Clintons moment also made McClellan think of her mother, the first of 14 children in her family to graduate high school, who worked in food service to pay for school and went on to do doctorate work in counseling while raising three girls. She did that so my sisters and I could do whatever we wanted, McClellan said. McClellan, a lawyer for Verizon, said Hillary Clintons achievement puts to rest the question that a woman in America can do whatever she wants. Still, she says there are times when people think she is a guest, rather than the invited attendee, at events. For Swecker, America has more progress to make on gender equality, even as Democrats nominated a woman to be the president of the United States. We cant take anything for granted, she said. There are still hurdles, but theres hope. ABINGDON Fiery red skin and great leathery wings spread wide as a huge dragon peers up, seemingly from another world, in a doorway ripped open in the sidewalk below. This is the scene that came into focus Friday as four artists worked in the heat and wind to put finishing touches on the 3-D street art object. It will be one of the highlights of this years Virginia Highlands Festival, which started Friday and runs through Aug. 7 in Abingdon. Aline Backes, chairman of the youth area, and artists Katherine Thrower and Marie and Brian Bridgeforth are the minds behind the project. Backes, an artist who travels around the region often doing portraits and face-painting, said the idea came from images of other chalk art pieces that have entertained people around the world. The group wanted to find a way to make the idea work for the festival and be original and long-lasting, so they decided to paint on a piece of linoleum. We werent sure where to do it, so we came up with this linoleum idea, Backes said, adding that they primed the back of the 12 foot by 20 foot, 100-pound piece to ensure it would take the paint well. Working with the linoleum has been an interesting experience, according to Brian Bridgeforth. Every surface is different in the way the brushes react to it and the way the paint reacts to it, so theres always a little bit of science, he said. The idea to create a dragon came from the beasts popularity and consistent relevance within pop culture, according to Marie Bridgeforth. Dragons are so popular in culture. No matter what time period it is people love dragons ... so you cant go wrong with that subject, she said, adding that they made an effort to make their particular dragon look friendly and not excessively scary. Named Bessy by her creators, the dragon will be on display at the youth tent across from Barter Theatre for most of the rest of the festival But it may surprise festival-goers by appearing elsewhere at times. Because its moveable, we can put it anywhere in the festival for people to enjoy, said Backes. Thrower, who owns a studio in Johnson City, Tennessee, said she was certain the piece will be a big hit for the remainder of the festival. I expect a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. Some people will be in awe and Im positive people will want to take photos and interact, Thrower said. The idea of the 3-D street art has been well known since its announcement, but until Friday no one knew exactly what the subject of the art would be. Everybodys excited. Its been a secret until today, Backes said. Those who have already seen the project have been impressed, said Elizabeth Hall, a festival attendee who was initially surprised by the size of the piece. I thought it was huge and very well done, very detailed. Its neat how you can make something that detailed on such a large scale. I think they [kids] are going to love it, she said. Its been a labor of love, said Backes, who would also love to bring the street art concept back to the festival. BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. Lakeem Scott was void of visual emotion Friday when his attorney entered a plea of not guilty during his first court appearance since being accused of a deadly shooting ramage on the Volunteer Parkway in Bristol. Scott has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted first-degree murder and seven counts of employing a firearm in the commission of a felony in the July 7 shootings, which killed one woman and injured three other people. Police believe that Scott walked from his Bristol, Tennessee, apartment around 2 a.m. and fired randomly at passing motorists one was hit and died later while another was injured by flying glass then shot a motel clerk and a police officer, who sustained only a superficial wound, before being shot by police. Scott, who was hospitalized for 2 1/2 weeks, is believed to have acted alone and may have been troubled by recent issues across the country between African-Americans and police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. The 37-year-old Army veteran was brought into the courtroom for the arraignment in a wheelchair flanked by five Sullivan County, Tennessee Sheriffs deputies. Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus said he wasnt surprised that Scott pleaded not guilty. Its standard, he said. The arraignment is to put the defendant on notice to what hes being charged with. Its routine for a defense attorney to have the person plead not guilty because they have just been appointed to the case. Staubus added that he has not decided whether he will seek the death penalty in the case. There are a lot of factors in every murder case. I have to review case law and talk to the victims family before the decision is made to seek the death penalty, life without parole or a life sentence there are a lot of factors I have to take into account before I make that decision, he said. Staubus plans to talk to the family of Jennifer Rooney, the 44-year-old mother of two and newspaper carrier who was killed in the shootings. David Rooney, her widower, was in court on Friday. He quietly looked at Scott for the duration of the arraignment hearing. Scott, who said he lacks assets and lives on a veterans pension and Social Security disability, was appointed a public defender, Andrew Gibbons, by Criminal Court Judge James Goodwin. Staubus said Gibbons was in court Friday, but a specific attorney will be designated at a later date. Scott is being held on a $5 million bond in the county jail. His next court date is set for Sept. 16. By PTI: Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) The prosecution today sought maximum punishment of life imprisonment for the 12 convicts including Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and 26/11 Mumbai attack plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, in the 2006 Aurangabad Arms Haul case till August 2. The special MCOCA court here reserved its order on quantum of sentence till August 2. Special prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade said the entire world was now fighting the terror menace and the convicts were preparing to carry out acts of terrorism. advertisement Rebutting the defences argument that the convicts were merely footsoldiers and not the masterminds, Bagade said they were participating in the crime of their own will and not under somebodys pressure or under duress. "The convicts were part of the conspiracy too," Bagade said. He also pointed out that Yakub Memon, convicted in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, was not the mastermind of the conspiracy, yet the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. The background of the accused, family or other facts should not be given consideration while convicting, he argued. "The main accused are still absconding and if lesser sentence is awarded to the convicts, they (the convicts) may be harmful to the society," Bagade argued. Some of the convicts were accused in other terror cases too, he pointed out. The arms and ammunition seized by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had come from Pakistan and were to be used in India, the prosecutor said. On May 8, 2006, an ATS team chased two cars on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and seized 30 kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets, arresting three persons. Jundal, who was driving one of the cars, escaped. He later fled the country, and was deported to India from Saudi Arabia in 2012. On July 28, the special court for Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act cases convicted 12 persons including Jundal and acquitted eight others. PTI VI KRK RT PTP --- ENDS --- Elizabeth Walker recounted in a public courtroom Friday her life with and her enduring love for a man deeply respected by the Dinwiddie County community he served for more than 30 years, a man she described as having the strength and courage of a lion but the soft demeanor of a teddy bear. He was like a lion but he rarely roared, said Walker, drawing appreciative laughter during an otherwise somber sentencing hearing for her husbands killer, Russell Brown III, whom a jury on Thursday convicted of capital murder. He was a teddy bear. He always wanted to be in law enforcement, Walker recalled in more somber testimony about Virginia State Trooper Junius Walker, her husband of 33 years. I wasnt ever worried about him because he was so big. With Browns life now on the line, a hearing commenced Friday and will continue early next week to help jurors decide whether they should recommend he be put to death, or serve the rest of his life behind bars. Dinwiddie Commonwealths Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill and Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Nelson Fisher called four witnesses Friday three of the slain troopers family members and one of his closet colleagues to testify about the man they knew and how his March 7, 2013, murder has affected their lives. Browns defense team is expected to call about two dozen witnesses beginning Monday the beginning of the fourth week of the trial to inform jurors about Browns challenging upbringing and family history of mental illness and dysfunction that they say ultimately led to his deadly encounter with Walker off Interstate 85. Saying his life story needs to be told, the defense plans to essentially reconstruct for jurors Browns entire life, beginning when his chronically schizophrenic father met his bipolar mother neither of whom were capable of caring for Brown. He was born with a predisposition toward some of the most severe mental illness that exists, assistant capital defender Shameka Hall told jurors. The deck was already stacked against him at birth, added Hall, urging jurors to sentence Brown to life in prison without parole, instead of another death. But in convicting Brown of capital murder, the six-man, six-woman jury already has rejected defense evidence that Brown was psychotic and legally insane when he killed Walker a position supported by two forensic psychologists so it was unclear how receptive the jury may be to additional testimony about his and his familys troubled background. Brown pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury will have to weigh Browns background with testimony from surviving family members and friends of his victim, four of whom recounted tearfully Friday how they learned of the troopers death, the important role he played in their lives and how they are coping or not coping with the loss. Elizabeth Walker sketched for jurors how she met her husband while working as a secretary at a local state police office, where they became friends and eventually something more. They married in 1980 while living in California, where the first of their two daughters was born, but came back to Virginia two years later. Walker eventually rejoined the state police. I was so proud of him, she testified. He touched so many lives. Thats what he wanted to do. And he was damn good at it. On March 7, 2013, the day her husband was killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 85 south of Richmond, Walker learned from her oldest daughter that something terrible had happened, but her daughter didnt want to share the specifics over the phone. Instead of traveling to her daughters home, Walker drove straight from Chippenham Hospital, where she worked, to Virginia State Police headquarters to find out. Her fears were confirmed. It was the worst day of my life, she said. Her simmering loss and grief was pointedly illustrated when at one point in her testimony, she turned and looked directly at Brown, just a few feet away, saying, You know, Mr. Brown, you can never take away our memories. My confidant is gone, my mentor, my lover is gone, Walker added as she wept. And I ache for the man every single day. Walkers youngest daughter, Vera Walker-Jordan, testified that her father was everything we could want in a role model and played the biggest role in shaping her life. Among her biggest regrets is that her two children now 3 and 4 will never get to know their grandfather. Everything they know about him Ive had to tell them, she said. He was shot and killed at the side of the road with nobody who loved him, she testified. And that hurts. The way he was killed left him with no chance to have any dignity. He deserved so much more. Daughter Clarissa Walker-Owen testified she is angry that her 4-year-old daughter was robbed of the chance to know her grandfather. Its been three years, four months and 22 days since he was killed, Walker-Owen said, adding, We got a big hole where he used to be. I know my dad is in heaven because he was a good and righteous man. Walkers death also took a heavy toll on some of his closest colleagues. Trooper C.E. Christopher, who knew Walker for 27 years, said that when he heard radio traffic on that fateful day about a troopers car in the woods, never, ever once did I think it would be him. I just knew it wouldnt be J.A. But he soon discovered it was. It will never be the same for me never in my career, Christopher said. I miss by buddy, my rock, my older brother. At the outset of Fridays hearing, defense attorney Jacqueline Reiner asked Circuit Judge Paul Cella to set aside the jurys verdict and declare a mistrial, on the grounds it was contrary to the law and the evidence. She cited the uncontradicted and uncontested medical opinions of two forensic psychologists who evaluated Brown and concluded he was psychotic and insane at the time of the offense. Reiner also wanted the judge to take the highly unusual step of polling each of the jurors to see whether their verdict was influenced by a federal judges decision on Wednesday to release John Hinckley Jr. who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 from a psychiatric hospital where he has been imprisoned for several decades. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in June 1982 in a decision that shocked the public. Reiner indicated that jurors in Browns case may have decided against a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity because of what they might have heard or read about Hinckleys release. Reiner also asked the judge to poll jurors about their understanding of the response they received after submitting a question to the court during their deliberations. About an hour before they returned their verdict, the jurors asked what would come next after they reached a decision. The judge, after consulting with both sides, sent them a reply that their work would be done if they found Brown not guilty by reason of insanity, but should they find him guilty, they would return for the sentencing phase of the trial. Reiner argued that jurors may have mistakenly believed that Brown would have walked free if they returned a not guilty verdict, when in fact he would continue to be held indefinitely at Central State Hospital. The judge denied all three of Reiners motions. Cella said that the jury was under no legal obligation to accept the psychologists opinions, that Hinckleys release was not relevant to Browns case, and that the courts response to the jurys question was carefully formulated and correct under the law. When the militants tries to infiltrate on the night of July 29 into the the Valley, two army soldiers and two militants were killed. By Naseer Ganai: Two armymen and two militants were killed near the Line of Control in Nowgam sector, around 120 km north of Srinagar, when the militants allegedly tried to infiltrate into the Valley. The Army said troops intercepted militants, who were attempting to infiltrate on the night of July 29. The Army said during the gunfight, two militants were killed while two soldiers, identified as 29-year-old sepoy Babaloo Singh of Mathura UP and 30-year-old sepoy Vishal Choudhary of Bulnadshahar UP, were killed and two others were wounded. advertisement Two AK-47 rifles, one UBGL and other warlike equipment were recovered from the possession of militants. THE CAPTURE OF BAHADUR ALI On Wednesday, Army claimed that it had killed four Pakistani militants and arrested another one, Bahadur Ali, in a gunfight close to the LoC in the same sector. The Pakistani militant, after initial interrogation, was handed over to the National Investigative Agency (NIA). The Pakistani militant is presently being questioned by the NIA in New Delhi. He is the fourth Pakistani militant arrested this year by the police and security agencies. On June 21, Jammu and Kashmir police arrested Pakistani militant in frontier Kupwara district of Kashmir Valley when he was buying food items for himself. Another Kasab? Arrested terrorist Bahadur Ali confesses he is from Pakistan Lashkar terrorist: 'Chacha' Hafiz Saeed is supreme leader, LeT trained us to target Indian Army, police INFILTRATORS HAVE INCREASED As the encounters between the security forces and militants increased in the Valley along the LoC and areas close to it, security officials say unlike previous years, the number of infiltration attempts have shot up this year. A senior police official said 50 militants have infiltrated this year since March. This, he said, has increased the number of militants in north Kashmir to around 70. Lat year, 35 militants had infiltrated in 12 months. The officer said since 2011, the militants would infiltrate less in the number and the strong anti-insurgency grid would keep the infiltrated militants in check on the LoC and in the hinterland. Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh has expressed grief and sorrow over the killing of the two soldiers. Singh wished early recovery of those soldiers, who got injured in the same encounter. Also Read: Pakistani infiltrators strategize to attack security personnel in Kashmir Intelligence report says terrorists might take advantage of unrest in Valley --- ENDS --- 2020 Mahindra KUV100 BS6 CNG is expected to make the same output as its BS4 counterpart The Mahindra KUV100 made its debut back in 2016. While the initial response to the micro-SUV was good, sales started to fall flat within a few months. Later, Mahindra tried to infuse some new life in the product by bringing in a facelift, which too didnt click well. At the moment, the Mahindra KUV100 is offered with four powertrain options. This includes petrol, CNG, diesel and electric as well. The electric version, known as the eKUV100 or KUV100 electric was recently launched at Auto Expo 2020. Now, automotive enthusiast Athavan has spotted a test mule of a BS6-compliant Mahindra KUV100 with a CNG sticker. The test mule seems to be based on a lower-end variant of the regular KUV100. It featured steel rims and non-body coloured door handles. Mahindra is expected to continue with the same mFalcon 1.2 litre petrol motor on the BS6-compliant KUV100 CNG variant. The engine currently dishes out 82bhp and 115Nm of peak torque. It comes mated to a 5-speed MT which sends power to the front wheels. The ARAI-claimed fuel efficiency of the current combination is 18.15 km/kg. We dont expect a major change in any of these figures post the BS6 update. With the KUV100, Mahindra had tried to start a new segment of micro-SUVs in the country. However, the plan didnt work out exactly in Mahindras favour. While there are more offerings in the segment, like the S-Presso and Ignis, the overall segment hasnt churned out numbers as per initial estimates. Still, there are other OEMs which are planning to launch their offerings in the segment. These include the HBX from Tata Motors and a new product from Datsun. Talking about Mahindra, the Mumbai-based OEM has been losing market share consistently. Its sales dropped to around 11K units in Feb 20. It also slipped from being the third-largest OEM to being the fifth in the list, behind Kia and Tata Motors. The new generation products from Mahindra were expected to bring in the much-required push to revive sales. However, the delay in their launch might mean more troubled times for Mahindra. The OEM was earlier scheduled to launch the next-generation variants of the Scorpio, Thar and XUV500 this year. Due to certain internal developments, only the next-gen Thar will be brought to the market this year. The next-gen Scorpio and XUV500 will be brought in only in 2021. In the interim, the OEM is updating its existing line-up to make it BS6-compliant. Mahindra XUV300 petrol 1.2 liter BS6 engine in India is rated at 109 hp / 200 Nm The Tivoli has been one of the best selling product of Mahindra-owned SsangYong Motor Company. In fact, the Tivoli has helped Mahindra to come up with the XUV300 too, which is largely based upon the South Korean compact SUV. As the Tivoli was getting older, SsangYong has decided to bring in a much-required mid-life update. As is the case with most facelifts, the updated Tivoli now looks sharper and more modern compared to the variant which was already on sale. For the design update, SsangYongs designers have taken a fair bit of inspiration from Tivolis larger sibling, the Korando. Overall, the compact SUV looks updated, both on the outside and inside too. Changes arent restricted to just cosmetic enhancements. SsangYong has tried to include some additional features on the UV too. These include a 10.25 inch all-digital instrument cluster and an updated 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system. However, the major highlight of the 2020 Tivoli is the all new Mahindra sourced 1.2 litre turbo petrol motor. Yup, you read that right. SsangYong has employed a new engine from Mahindras mStallion range for its latest offering. This motor is available in two of the entry-level trims on the Tivoli and comes solely with a 6-speed Manual Transmission setup. The new engine is a 1.2 litre direct injection unit which can churn out 126hp and 230Nm of max torque. Mahindra had unveiled this motor at the 2020 Auto Expo and will be introducing it in XUV300s upcoming Sportz variant. Ssangyong says that the engine will help Tivoli to do a 0-100 kmph in 10.6 seconds, which is arguably quick for a budget-compact SUV. This same engine is also expected to be introduced in Ford EcoSport, at least for India, as a replacement for the 1 litre EcoBoost engine as part of Mahindra-Ford JV. In global markets, Tivoli competes with the likes of Nissan Juke, Seat Arona, Dacia Duster, Hyundai Kona, Vauxhall Mokka and MG ZS. Back at home, its Indian derivative, the XUV300 faces major competition from Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon and Ford EcoSport. SsangYong had first launched the Tivoli back in 2015 and it is often credited for turning around the balance sheet for SsangYong. It was the first product from SsangYongs stable, after Mahindra had acquired a majority stake in the South Korean auto firm. The SUV had achieved quick success and received good response from both Asian and European customers. Over the years, SsangYong has continued to invest in the brand and has introduced regular updates and even additional variants like the Tivoli Air. Rajnath Singh along with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Assam. By India Today Web Desk: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Assam. Singh, who reached the state earlier during the day to review the flood situation, today took an aerial survey of the areas along with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. "Home Minister accompanied by CM Assam Sarbananda Sonwal and Jitendra Singh (DONER minister) conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas (in Assam)," Home Minister's office (HMO) tweeted. HM accompanied by CM Assam Shri @sarbanandsonwal and Dr. Jitendra Singh conducting aerial survey of flood hit areas pic.twitter.com/E7YNVfCzSD; HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 advertisement The home minister is also scheduled to visit the Bhagatgaon camp set up for the flood victims in Morigaon district and meet state government officials before returning to Delhi later during the day. He will also hold a high-level meeting with Sonowal and other ministers and government officials concerned. The Home Minister Shri @rajnathsingh will also meet the people affected by the Assam floods at Bhatgaon camp in Morigaon district; HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 HM meeting the family members of those affected by the floods at Bhagatgaon relief camp in Assam pic.twitter.com/h1xRimmsNC; HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 30, 2016 Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu yesterday said the railways will provide free wagons to the state government to transport essential commodities to the flood-affected districts of the state. Talking to Sonowal on phone, Prabhu said the state government could make use of the abandoned railway tracks as 'platforms' for sheltering those displaced by the deluge. On Thursday, the chief minister visited, river island Majuli, to overlook relief and rescue operations. He took serious note of the unauthorised absence and negligence of officials, which led to breach of the Brahmaputra dyke and the resultant misery to the people and loss of property. On his directive, the Water Resources Department suspended four officials on the charge of gross negligence of duty during the current floods in Majuli. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), over 17 lakh people have been affected by floods in 21 districts. Over one lakh people have been forced to abandon their houses and take refuge in relief camps. Flood waters have inundated 3,374 Assam villages as well as crops standing on 2,13,251 hectares of land, an ASDMA official said. Over 20 people died in the floods across the state. With inputs from IANS --- ENDS --- 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 ... Sixteen people were reportedly killed after a hot air balloon crashed near central Texas city of Lockhart today. By Reuters: At least 16 people were feared dead after a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed in a pasture near the central Texas city of Lockhart on Saturday morning, according to federal and local authorities. "It does not appear at this time that there were any survivors of the crash," Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel Law said in a statement, according to his office. advertisement Emergency responders in Texas said the fire hit the basket portion of the hot air balloon. The accident is likely to be one of the deadliest hot air balloon crashes on record. It comes about three years after 19 people, mostly Asian and European tourists, were killed in a hot air balloon crash in Luxor, Egypt. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the Lockhart crash, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Austin. It did not offer any information on fatalities but said at least 16 people were on board the balloon. The Caldwell County sheriff's office said it was working to determine the identities of those aboard. More than a dozen police vehicles could be seen on pasture land at the site of the crash, in live video provided by Austin TV station KVUE. The FAA said the crash took place at about 7:40 a.m. (1240 GMT) and that the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified. Texas Governor Greg Abbott offered his condolences to those killed in the crash. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community," he said in a statement. Lockhart is a town of about 13,000 people near state parks and home to a variety of barbecue restaurants considered to be among the best in the state. The crash in Egypt occurred after a mid-air gas explosion. A year before that incident, a hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board in the country's worst air accident in more than three decades. --- ENDS --- By SA Commercial Prop News Delta Property Fund Directors: Bruce Zungu, Ipeleng Mkhari, Sandile Nomvete, Brownyn Corbett, Jabu Mriga and JB Magwaza. Delta Property Fund successfully listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Main Board on Friday 2nd November, under the Real Estate Holdings and Development sub-sector. The first trade opened at R8.31 per linked unit by mid-Friday morning. The black-managed and substantially black-owned group, which listed 119.5-million linked units at R8.20, aimed to increase its portfolio to R7-billion by 2017. Speaking after the listing, CEO Sandile Nomvete said the company needed to grow its liquidity and size and the only way to do that was through an aggressive growth path. Indicative of the quality of Deltas portfolio is the high level of pre-commitments received from key institutions such as Coronation Asset Management, Stanlib Asset Management, the Public Investment Corporation, Momentum Asset Management and Grindrod Asset Management. "The response from the institutional market was humbling. Our growth potential is underscored by the fact that the placement was significantly oversubscribed. We deliberately included private client brokers in the placement to stimulate (the) tradability and liquidity of the counter," Mr Nomvete said. The group said it offers access to a unique portfolio of government and South African Revenue Services (SARS)-tenanted buildings, providing secure income streams, large single tenant occupancy and subsequent low vacancies. Proceeds of the capital raising will be used to reduce the Funds overall gearing levels and fund a portion of the portfolio. Brad Maxwell, executive head of Investment Banking at Nedbank Capital, says they are proud to have partnered with Delta Property Fund by acting as the book runner and corporate advisor to their successful listing on the JSE. This is a landmark listing for both Nedbank and the South African economy as it is one of the largest capital raisings on listing, in the property sector over the last decade. We look forward to collaborating further with Delta and seeing their business grow from strength to strength. Nedbank Corporate Property Finance managing executive, Frank Berkeley says the listing speaks to the expertise and level of collaboration that exists within the bank to the benefit of the client. Nedbank Corporate Property Finance has provided a substantial percentage of the funding for the listing, which has been positively received by investors seeking a blue-chip investment in the JSEs property sector, says Berkeley. Nicky Newton-King, JSE CEO, said The JSE is pleased to welcome Delta Property Fund to the Main Board. The growth of the number of companies in the real estate holdings and development sector has been impressive. This is the fifth company to list in the sector this year and last year there were six property-related listings. Deltas portfolio has been independently valued at R2.1 billion, currently comprised 20 mostly government-leased AAA- to B-grade office buildings with a total gross lettable area of 203 261 m2 and an occupancy rate of 95.2% across South Africa. The company hopes to shift its current portfolio component of 8% retail and 92% office, to a mix of between 10% and 15% retail and 85% and 90% government-leased offices over the short term. In the medium to long term, Delta aimed to hold a 60% government-tenanted office space and a 40% retail ratio. The company would release its first year-end financial results under the JSE in February. Soccer star AD Franch makes Salina proud Salina soccer star AD Franch didn't set out to be a goalkeeper. Now she's one of the best ever at her position. The business community continues to rally support for the work of Samoa Victim Support Group (S.V.S.G) whether it be financial, in kind or volunteer services. During the S.V.S.G Radiothon fundraiser in June, the whole of the community pledged financially to assist in keeping S.V.S.Gs doors open to receive our people in need. The government, the churches, the diplomatic corps., the villages, the schools and individuals. The support has been tremendous.However, the business community has gone the extra mile and pledged in kind donations to assist with the daily needs of the children at the shelter. The ANZ Bank (Samoa) Limited coordinated the donation of $2,800 worth of food and items for the shelters from the Business Lunch Group, with an additional $1,800 worth of supplies expected (pictured right). Thank you Mathew Fisher and staff for your continuous support. Then we have Leki and Rhonda MacDonald of the MacDonald Motor Distributors donating a fridge for the House of Hope and John Bellinger of the Samoa Superior Products Limited donating a 3,600 liter water tank with fittings. Thank you also to the Apia Traders for the donation of electric kettles for the Campus. We have been amazed by the continuous show of support from the business community towards the work of Samoa Victim Support Group. We are humbled with thanksgiving for we have been blessed. Thank you on behalf of the children at the Campus of Hope said Georgina Lui, Chair of the S.V.S.G Board. By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu today said her country it will continue to support Indias bid to the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other non-proliferation regimes as it has "credentials". Sidhu said her country was in the forefront in supporting Indias application to the 48-nation elite club. "We are both committed to a non-proliferation world. Australia wants to see India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other non-proliferating regimes mainly because India has the potential and we trusted Indias credentials. advertisement "Australia had been in forefront of supporting Indias application at the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We will continue to support India," Sidhu said. She was speaking at interaction at the Foreign Correspondents Club. India and Australia has a civil nuclear cooperation agreement in place. India intends to import Australian uranium to quench its energy requirement. "We did complete our civil nuclear cooperation agreement recently and we are hopeful that activity will take place on that front too," she said, adding that the matter lies between the commercial entities and India. Commenting on the verdict by an international court on the South China Sea, Sidhu said "restrain" really matters in the dispute. Nothing that Australia has strong economic interests in South China Sea, Sidhu said around 60 per cent of its countrys trade passes through the region. "We dont take sides of competiting territorial claims. We have strong interest in regional peace and stability and respect for maritime and international law. "The ruling clarified the maritime rights in the South China Sea and we call for the parties to abide by it," Sidhu said. PTI PR TDS RG --- ENDS --- PHILADELPHIA (AP) Fresh off a spirited convention, Hillary Clinton told prospective voters Friday they face a "stark choice" in November and pressed ahead with the scalding rhetoric against her Republican rival that marked many of the speeches in Philadelphia. Another distraction arose, however, as her aides acknowledged that a hacking attack that exposed Democratic Party emails also reached into a computer system used by her own campaign. Rallying in Colorado, Donald Trump denounced Clinton's convention speech as "full of lies" and said he's starting to agree with those calling for Clinton to be locked up. Not long after, the intrusion into a system used by the Clinton campaign came to light, first reported by Reuters. The FBI said it was working to determine the "accuracy, nature and scope" of the cyberattacks. Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said the newly disclosed breach affected a Democratic National Committee voter analysis program used by the campaign and other organizations. The hackers had access to the program for about five days. Merrill said outside experts found no evidence that the campaign's "internal systems have been compromised" but gave no detail on the program or nature of the attacks. President Barack Obama and cybersecurity experts have said Russia was almost certainly responsible for the DNC hack, and the House Democratic campaign committee reported Friday that its information had been accessed. The developments followed the leaking of DNC emails earlier in the week that pointed to a pro-Clinton bias by party officials during her primary contest against Bernie Sanders. In the furor, party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz resigned just as Democrats were launching their convention. Clinton is in the midst of a post-convention campaign bus tour through the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. She told supporters in a West Philadelphia arena the coming election is the most important one in her lifetime. "It's not so much that I'm on the ticket, it's because of the stark choice that's posed to Americans in this election," she said. In Colorado Springs, Trump at times seemed to brush off the fierce convention-week Democratic criticism, which went so far as to question his sanity. Sounding more like a pundit than the subject of all the vitriol, he pronounced her speech "so average" and "full of cliches." But he grew harsher as his event went on. "Remember this," he said, "Trump is going to be no more Mr. Nice Guy." And for the first time he encouraged his crowd's anti-Clinton chants of "lock her up." "I've been saying let's just beat her on Nov. 8," he said, "but you know what? I'm starting to agree with you." Polls find that most Americans question Clinton's honesty. But in her convention speech and her first events afterward, her priority was to go after Trump, not ask for trust. Joined on the bus tour by her husband, Bill Clinton, running mate Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, Clinton stopped at a toy and plastics manufacturer in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, where she and Kaine cast Trump as a con artist out for his own gain. "We don't resent success in America but we do resent people who take advantage of others in order to line their own pockets," said Clinton, addressing local officials and employees on the factory floor. Trump is also focusing on Ohio and Pennsylvania, as states where he might make headway with blue-collar white men. That group of voters has eluded Clinton and was perhaps a hard sell after a Democratic convention that heavily celebrated racial and gender diversity. Clinton is playing up economic opportunity, diversity and national security. Democrats hammered home those themes this week with an array of politicians, celebrities, gun-violence victims, law enforcement officers and activists of all races and sexual orientation. Their goal is to turn out the coalition of minority, female and young voters that twice elected Barack Obama while offsetting expected losses among the white men drawn to Trump's message. Democrats contrasted their optimistic message with the more troubled vision of the state of the nation presented by Trump and others at the GOP convention a week earlier. Kaine told CNN he found the Republican gathering "dark and depressing.' The convention provided hours of glowing tributes to Clinton, including deeply personal testimonials from her husband, daughter Chelsea Clinton and Obama. And Clinton offered an open hand to backers of Sanders, saying, "I've heard you. Your cause is our cause." But Trump said Friday that Sanders "sold his soul to the devil" when he unlike some of his loudly protesting supporters threw his support behind Clinton. This is a true story. Yesterday morning the writer received a phone call from a member of the local media his name will not be revealed here for obvious reasons asking for a comment on the claim by a matai of Afega village disputing the validity of his Gatoaitele title. The matai in question is the village pulenuu (mayor) Fata Saifoloi who, with others from the same village, had apparently gone on TV where they attacked the Lands and Titles Court for allowing the title to be registered without their consent. They insisted the writer and his family had no right to the title in question, among a number of platitudes including some homemade fabrications, and even outright fibs. That was yesterday. About two months ago, on 28 June, a letter to the editor arrived. Titled Samoa, the Samoa Observer and the truth, and signed by Mebahel Raguel, it arrived in the middle of the unfortunate incident that happened and obviously it was inspired by it. It was a sad time for everyone here at the Samoa Observer, and especially the writer who was being called all sorts of despicable names by certain members of the public who looked as if they had been living in boredom for such a long time, so that they were now in an rage as if they were aiming to tear him apart. Those were sad times for us here anyway. To think that we were living in a country the world had been led to believe was peaceful, loving Samoa and yet right now, the anger was so pervasively relentless it was suffocating, so that there was really nothing else to do but sit down and cry. In his letter though, Mebahel Raguel, was straight to the point. He wrote: There has been a lot of criticism against the Samoa Observer over their reporting of the death of a transgender who was found dead and hanging from the rafters of a church hall an alleged suicide or possible homicide? He went on: Some went as far as calling on the public to boycott the Samoa Observer for making a mistake. Even PM Tuilaepa joined the masses to take a swipe at the Samoa Observer it was an opportunity to get back at them for their persistence in reporting government corruption. He also wrote: Well, I saw no mistake in the Samoa Observer article that reported the alleged suicide. The majority were using words such as ethics and morals in their critique I dont think most of you people understand what those words mean. What is so unethical about the Samoa Observer reporting the Truth and having the photo included to back up the story? We have no idea. Now lets make one point clear here. The only reason Mebahel Raguels letter is used here is that it touches on the name Gatoaitele, when it asks: How many times did Samoa Observer Editors Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa and Mataafa Keni Lesa, publish stories about poverty, suicide and government corruption? And how many times did P.M. Tuilaepa and the people deny the existence of these social problems in our society? Hundreds of times. He went on: We, the people of Samoa are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. Every time something like this or a mistake happens we abuse our culture and religious beliefs, to cover up the Truth and yet only the Truth will set us free. Samoa with its tiny population is ranked one of the highest in the world when it comes to suicide per capita and either first or second in the South Pacific region and the numbers are still rising. But its funny how people quickly attacked Samoa Observer over a picture published on its front page but completely miss the issue altogether the increasing suicide rate here in Samoa. And then down below he made that one request that would just not go away, when he asked: I want Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa to tell me why he apologized for telling the Truth. And then he added: He did not need to apologize as these so called offended fools seem to be more offended with the raw Truth than the photo because of their guilty consciences. That was his opinion anyway. But apologized the writer, Gatoaitele, did. He apologized to the whole country, here in Samoa and on Radio Samoa, in New Zealand. In fact, he apologized to whoever was willing to listen, including the whole world. In the end, he found that he no longer had the strength nor the inclination to try and apologize for anything. Especially since he knew we had done nothing wrong for which an apology was warranted, and yet deep down he also knew that an apology was indeed inevitable. Anyway, that was when the Letter to the Editor from Samoas Man of Letters, Tofaeono Misatauveve Joseph Hollywood, that arrived on 14 July 2016 took over. Headed Respect our monarchies, culture, it was about differences of opinions between Le Tagaloa Pita and his village of Sili on the topic of Monotaga, or contribution to ones village upkeep. Writes Tofaeono: No palagi would understand what Le Tagaloa Pita and Sili village are saying. Only the people of Samoa hold their culture so, so dear to their hearts. He goes on to say: Of course Malietoa Tanumafili did not have to have a monotaga. Of course Tuiatua does not have to have a monotaga. Of course Tonumaipea, Gatoaitele, Vaetamasoalii and Le Tagaloa, do not have to have monotaga. These are Samoas paramount chiefs. They do not have to contribute to a monotaga because they give more than monotaga every time they come to their village. He writes: Respect (them). Please do not allow the palagi democracy to also destroy our culture. And so, in response to Mebahel Raguels request - I want Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa to tell me why he apologized for telling the Truth the writer says: That is why. He explains that he had apologized not because he told the Truth, but because in doing so it was possible for growing anger to be defused, and in the end peace was assured and then maintained. Sure, he did not need to apologize., he said, but with mutual respect derived from the core essence of peace that is found irrefutably within the Samoan culture, it is possible that any problem big or small can be resolved amicably and peacefully. With an apology. Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless. Wilex Samoa provided a preview of its Premium Cocoa and Chocolate products at the Samoa-Japan Trade and Investment Seminar- held at the Taumeasina Resort on Friday. The upmarket koko Samoa products- will be launched under its new Brand Name Koko Loa which has been developed starting four years ago. Chocolate Factory Manager, Nicole Wilson, said the seminar was very useful. Our Japanese guests as well as the locals attending the seminar were very impressed with the quality and taste of the products as well as the new packaging, she said. The Japanese in particular love the Koko Loa Dark Origin Chocolate- and we have received orders already. Wilex Samoa participated and display its Koko Samoa products at the Japan PIC Trade Show in Tokyo in May 2012. From there, they listened to what the Japanese customers wanted and that was they wanted only the best in the world. So we started planning to come out with the best koko and Best Chocolate in the world and it will be marketed under the companys new Brand Name- Koko Loa. The packaging and product design was made after extensive market research- and the company won an funding award under the New Zealand Business Accelerator scheme administered by the Pacific Cooperation Foundation in March 2015 which funded a team of Experts in product Branding from New Zealand to come with the product and packaging design that conveyed the companys desire and vision for the products. Wilex Samoa- has been exporting bulk Nonu Juice to Japan since 2014- and so its New Koko Loa Powder and Chocolates will be shipped to its same customers in Japan- for marketing & distribution. According to Tagaloa Eddie Wilson, founder of Wilex Samoa- it has taken him 20 years to get to this stage. I am pleased to see my children now involved in a business that will benefit the people of Samoa. Papauta became a place of love for Leafaitulagi Talisau and Lafi Faamanatu yesterday where they began their new journey as husband and wife. With Leafaitulagi residing in Australia and her love Lafi living in Samoa; their love knew no distance. So we met through a good friend of mine who happened to be from the same village as Lafi, the bride told Samoa Observer. Thats pretty much how it all started; we officially met in Australia and it has been over two years so we decided to make it all official. For the couple, it was a case of destiny. I was actually living in Australia and he came over for work and so thats how I met him, the bride said. He asked me out through my good friend; he asked my friend who I was and if I was single; so we talked for four months before actually going out. His proposal was simple, he just asked me do you want to get married?. So I told him for us to go and meet his family first and if it was meant to be and if they like me then thats my answer; so we came to meet his family and they were so nice and good to me. So from there I said yes and a year and a bit of planning led us to today. But even if love has no bounds, it does have its moments. Like anybody else whos in love and wanting to be with each other all the time but you; I just thank God for our life story, the bride said. After his contract ended in Australia we still managed to use Skype as if we were seeing each other face to face; so that has kept us going and I have been back and forth. It started off good and then ups and downs but we still managed to make it work given that we lived in different countries and so here we are. But the past no longer matters as a new chapter of love begins for the new happy couple. I love him and I am excited to start this new life together, the bride said. I told him that if I didnt love him then I wouldnt marry him; hes very humble; one of the first things he said to me before I said yes was that his family doesnt have much and I had to come see where they lived for me to say yes. He requested this in case I said yes and then see where he lives and I might change my mind. Hes a family man and thats what drew me to him and I am very blessed to have him; he is one of kind. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi officially opened one of the biggest fale Samoa ever built outside of the country yesterday. P.M. Tuilaepa led a high-level delegation from Samoa to the opening of the government house known as Maota Samoa which will be used to house the Consulate General Offices that used to be located on K Road. Consul General Faolotoi Reupena Pogi told The New Zealand Herald that the project cost over NZ$10million (T$17m) He said the move to Mangere had involved several years of planning and construction, which began early last year. "It's a milestone our government has decided to build these buildings here. Most of our people are now residing in the southern part of Auckland, mainly around this area and the nearby suburbs," Faolotoi told the NZ Herald. "The office at K Rd was built in the late 70s. At that time, our community was living mostly around that area - the Grey Lynn area." The fale is based on traditional structure, designs and patterns. The large rafters - wrapped with woven sennit, made from coconut husk fibre - are typical of fale seen in Samoa. The tiles also include patterns inspired from Pacific culture and tattoos. "We brought three sennit weavers, craftsmen, from Samoa to do just the sennit. The sennit was imported from Samoa. Each craftsman has his own pattern and this is how they're able to demonstrate their skills." New Zealand companies Walker Community Architects and Haydn & Rollett are among the local companies involved in the project. Faaolotoi said a lot of research had to be carried out by the Kiwi architects to ensure their design would be authentic and do justice to the traditional fale. Faaolotoi said the total project cost was "over $10 million". He acknowledged having such a building in South Auckland paid tribute to the country's multi-cultural society. He hoped both the Samoan and New Zealand communities would be proud of having it there. "It has taken us 16 months to build and we are proud of the final outcome. "We hope our people here in Auckland will be proud of this symbolic fale which shows, more or less, that this is their identity here in Auckland." The dream of cheaper, faster and easier access to internet services in Samoa has received a massive injection with the Launch of Netvo Samoa yesterday. Located at their new headquarter at the Gold Star building Matafele, the company is guided by its simple mission statement which is to provide easy, reliable access at an affordable price supporting business development, personal communications and government services in Samoa. The expectations are high. But Netvo President and C.E.O, Stephen Sua Leota, is optimistic. I say we are affordable because if we are comparing apples to apples then we are less expensive than the competition, he said. Its not so much cheap internet, its more like you get what you pay for; people pay a lot and that is why they cry, its because their experience is still bad. Although our coverage is very small, like anything you start small and then you grow big; again Im not a multi-billion dollar corporation like the other heavyweights on the island; we are family-owned business. According to Mr. Leota, he feels that Samoa is long overdue for change in terms of internet services. People want change in terms of internet; the definition of insanity is doing something the same way over and over again and expecting different results, he said. All Im saying is take a chance and try something new. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupai commended the launch. On behalf of the Government of Samoa; the Prime Minister and Cabinet, I would like to congratulate Stephen Sua Leota, the president and C.E.O. of Netvo Samoa for his hard work in starting this company, he said. Netvo has built the most advanced 4G network in the country; this network will provide fast, affordable internet access to Samoan people. This will enable Netvo to achieve its mission to empower all Samoans to access communications, education and business opportunities through a reliable high-speed wireless internet network. This launch today signifies that Netvo Samoa is now open for business and ready to offer their internet services to the people of Samoa. This includes government services, businesses, households, families and individuals who can now enjoy fast reliable internet services. According to the Minister, NetVo will aim to serve Samoa the best and he is confident that they will do just that. Netvo began with an idea and a dream that Samoa should serve the best; the best in education, the best job opportunities and the best possible future, he said. The best way to facilitate these opportunities is through better access to internet and technology; from 2013 and now, Stephen and his team has been working hard to bring this dream into reality. Afamasaga continued on to congratulate the hard work put into the new company and gave his well wishes to the team. We commend them for their perseverance, faith and hard work to date, he said. Stephen and his young accepting team serve as an example to other young Samoans entrepreneurs here and around the world; to take up new business opportunities and also to find ways you can use your talents to make a difference for Samoa. I wish the board, management of Netvo Samoa all the best in this new venture; may God bless your company and all your future plans and initiatives. Minister Afamasaga cut the ribbon to open the company. The launch was celebrated during a gathering at Hotel Tanoa Tusitala last night. Students looked on in sheer horror as men broke down the door to reach and beat a male teacher who was only doing his job. The incident happened at the Seventh Day Adventist College at Lalovaea on Wednesday. Confirmed by the School Principal, Eteuati Koria, he declined to discuss the incident saying it has been referred to the Schools Board for a decision. I dont have any further comment to make on this issue, the Principal said. The teacher involved, whose name is withheld, also declined to comment. Telling the Sunday Samoan that he is recovering, he could only confirm that he has lodged a formal complaint with the Police. But parents who witnessed the incident are outraged. One of them who spoke to the Sunday Samoan on the condition of anonymity said such behavior should never be allowed inside a school compound. As a father, I was really sad when I saw the incident that day, he said. I mean this happened right in front of the students, teachers, principal, church and us as parents. It was appalling and shameful. Students shouldnt have to see this sort of thing. According to the parent, two brothers who attend the school, an uncle and another man carried out the beating. This all started when the teacher smacked the (young) boy in Year 9 for not doing his homework. Then he (the boy) told his older brother in Year 13 and the older brother told the uncle and another man. The concerned parent said the teacher was merely doing his job. He was teaching our children and I think sometimes our students are behaving so badly because they are not being disciplined properly. I think his is the right time for the government especially the Ministry of Education to review the law with regards to smacking at schools. It should be allowed because this is the sort of behavior we dont want. One day someone is going to get killed because they feel they have the right to retaliate on behalf of their children. Another parent, Atinae Talatua said that when the attackers couldnt open the door, they smashed it. They just pulled it down and made their way in. They started beating up the teacher. Another teacher was trying to calm things down but that didnt help. The teacher that was beaten was badly injured. Its really sad to see whats happening now. As a mother, I think this school is not safe for my children. People can walk in freely anytime, every day and do whatever they want. It was not possible to get a comment from the Chairman of the School Board and the Police yesterday. Hackers, whom US intelligence officials have concluded were Russian, gained access to the entire network of the fundraising Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton looks at a computer screen during a campaign stop (Photo:Reuters) By Reuters: The computer network used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign was hacked as part of a broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The latest attack, which was disclosed to Reuters on Friday, follows reports of two other hacks on the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, and the party's fundraising committee for candidates for the US House of Representatives. advertisement A Clinton campaign spokesman said in a statement late on Friday that an analytics data program maintained by the DNC and used by the campaign and a number of other entities "was accessed as part of the DNC hack." "Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised," said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill. The US Department of Justice national security division is investigating whether cyber attacks on Democratic political organizations threatened US security, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The involvement of the Justice Department's national security division is a sign that the Obama administration has concluded that the hacking was sponsored by a state, people with knowledge of the investigation said. UNDER INVESTIGATION Hackers, whom US intelligence officials have concluded were Russian, gained access to the entire network of the fundraising Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, said people familiar with the matter, detailing the extent of the breach to Reuters for the first time. Cyber security experts and US officials said earlier this week they had concluded, based on analysis of malware and other aspects of the DNC hack, that Russia engineered the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to influence the US presidential election. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday it was "aware of media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters." "The FBI takes seriously any allegations of intrusions, and we will continue to hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace," the agency said in an emailed statement. It was not immediately clear what Clinton campaign information could have been accessible to hackers, or how the compromised "analytics data program" was used. The hack did not involve the private email system Clinton used while she was secretary of state. RUSSIAN HACKERS The new disclosure to Reuters that hackers gained access to the full DCCC network means they would have had access to everything on the network from emails to strategy memos and opposition research prepared to support Democratic candidates in campaigns for the House. advertisement The hack of the DCCC, which is based in Washington, was reported first by Reuters on Thursday, ahead of Clinton's speech in Philadelphia accepting the Democratic party's nomination. Russian officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Several US officials said the Obama administration has avoided publicly attributing the attacks to Russia as that might undermine Secretary of State John Kerry's effort to win Russian cooperation in the war on Islamic State in Syria. The officials said the administration fears Russian President Vladimir Putin might respond to a public move by escalating cyber attacks on US targets, increasing military harassment of U.S. and allied aircraft and warships in the Baltic and Black Seas, and making more aggressive moves in Eastern Europe. Some officials question the approach, arguing that responding more forcefully to Russia would be more effective than remaining silent. The Obama administration announced in an April 2015 executive order that it could apply economic sanctions in response to cyber attacks. TRUMP ON EMAILS After emails were leaked from the DNC hack, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday invited Russia to dig up thousands of "missing" emails from Clinton's time at the State Department, prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging foreigners to spy on Americans. advertisement On Thursday, Trump said his remarks were meant as sarcasm. Earlier in the week, Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan had criticized Trump and called the hacking "a national security issue." Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said on Friday the reported breach showed cyber security is "a problem wherever Hillary Clinton goes. Hopefully this time there wasn't classified or top secret information that puts American lives at risk." In Washington, the DCCC said early on Friday it had hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. "We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network," the DCCC said. "We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation." The DCCC had no additional comment late on Friday. Officials at the DNC did not respond to requests for comment. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, told CNN on Friday she had not heard about the hack of the Clinton campaign. advertisement But she said: "It wouldn't surprise me. I think it should be pretty clear that both campaigns should be aware that there's a problem out there. Everybody should be cautious." ALSO READ: Hillary Clinton takes on rival Donald Trump, says his promises are false --- ENDS --- By Sanghmitra S Acharya: From Khairlanji to Una, Badaun to Chennai, Mirchpur to Navi Mumbai and elsewhere, the backdrops change, but not the event itself. The systematic exercise of brute power embedded in the caste-based notion of social hierarchy has been expressed in its ugliest form in recent times. The pretexts have been varied-from temple entry to love affairs or marriage to ownership of assets to performing traditional jobs! Sanghmitra S Acharya Spread across the columns of national, regional and local dailies are the live stories of dehumanising behaviour meted out to Dalits, positioned at the base of the social pyramid. They have been denied rights which others enjoy 'naturally'. If there are constitutional safeguards, legal provisions and institutional measures to ensure Dalit rights today, it's consequent to the continuous efforts of one tireless human-Dr B.R. Ambedkar. advertisement Why is it that being Dalit provokes, first, intrigue, and then, rage, among others? If one looks at the last few decades, almost all incidents of violence against Dalits suggest that they take place when Dalits have reflected any sort of parity with non-Dalits. That is when the age-old strategy of power comes into play. Dalits cannot ask for parity to worship, or in wages, they cannot own land or accrue assets, nor can their children dream of falling in love with those from non-Dalit communities. The dignity of Dalit women is the easiest target to avenge any perceived slight to non-Dalit 'honour'. Dalits face humiliation and discrimination in the spheres of education, market, work, healthcare and housing. Research by the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies on marginalised groups corroborates this negativity towards Dalits. Far too many non-Dalits nurture systematic hatred for Dalits. It lies dormant within them, exploding whenever an opportunity presents itself. There has been a lot of discussion on the series of incidents in the past year-from the lynching of Akhlaq to the killing of a boy whose cellphone ringtone was a song in praise of Ambedkar to, of course, the untimely suicide of Rohith Vemula. For 5,000 years, it has been priests in places of worship, endowed with all the rights-reading, writing and acquiring land and assets; the intermediate castes who have been in possession of all rights except priesthood; and the lower castes, in charge of menial and subservient work without any rights. We need to change this ancient system of reservation before we consider the one provided under affirmative action of the government. That has been around only for some decades and is applicable only to the public sector which is very small compared to the private sector, and for which clear guidelines are yet to be formulated. As per the Council for Leather Exports (CLE), Chennai, the leather industry generates employment for 2.5 million people. The net export of leather and leather products stood at $6.5 billion for FY 2014-15. India is the world's fifth largest exporter. The smallest peg in the industry is the traditional worker who skins the dead animals and feeds in the raw material of the industry. Why are gau-rakshaks obstructing the functioning of an industry? Of a worker who is treating the dead animal and making it useful for the nation? If they genuinely care for the animal, they should visit the commercial milching units and see the agony of the living animal when the milk extraction machines are used to milk them. What do political leaders, institutional personnel and community members think of this age-old contention which has marred the sanity of right (ethically, not politically) thinking people? Has this ever been sincerely addressed with the intention to do away with the difference between Dalits and non-Dalits? Perhaps not. Our leaders also come from a society which is not only laden with prejudices, but justifies them too. Instead of addressing the problem, it has remained an issue to provoke sentiments as and when required. The policies and schemes meant to address Dalit concerns are implemented with a sense of favour being done to them. Whereas it is actually their right, which others have usurped over generations, especially if we take into account equitable distribution of resources. On these usurped resources, others have equipped themselves, and impoverished the Dalits. You cannot reap the demographic dividend to the fullest if one-fifth of your youth remain excluded from the development process. If the state has to demonstrate its sincerity, it should help synergise political leaders, bureaucrats and other officials in implementing the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan. Diversion of funds from the sub plan should be made an offence. Dalits need to give up their irrationality and question the theory of karma, which keeps them in their subservient positions, and makes them believe it as true. The author is director, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies advertisement Also read: Dalit dilemmas: Wanted for votes, rejected by prejudices Tesla's gigafactory is suggested to be the largest building in the world by footprint, which may be able to produce enough batteries to supply 150 gigawatt hours of batteries per year to power Tesla's vehicles. By 2018, Musk hopes to build 35GWh of batteries per year, which is equivalent to 500,000 Model 3s. The success of Tesla gigafactory is a critical part of Tesla's future and the execution of Musk's quest to save the world from the effects of climate change. Tesla expects the factory to drive down the cost of lithium-ion batteries used in every Tesla vehicle, Market Watch reported. Musk says that the factory deserves more attention from creative problem solving engineers than the product it makes. He states that Tesla's gigafactory itself is the machine that builds the machine. It is said that robots will perform much of the work inside the Tesla gigafactory where the walls are secured with huge red X-shaped braces, providing a measure of seismic security. Engineers, on the other hand, will work at desks near the production line so they can keep a close eye on the machine that will make the machine. Tesla's gigafactory will be heavily automated, but machines can't do everything. It is suggested that the factory will also employ some 6,500 people when it hits full production, Wired reported. Meanwhile, Panasonic has invested a huge sum of money in building the battery production lines inside the Tesla gigafactory. It is a sort of tenant and landlord situation where Panasonic owns its production lines while the battery cells are being delivered to the front end of Tesla's production line. The Tesla gigafactory's end goal is to make Tesla's cars and energy storage products much more affordable. Musk's big ambitions don't end with the factory's grand opening on July 29. He says it is entirely possible for Tesla to build gigafactories everywhere it needs batteries, including Europe, China, and India. A Japanese volcano eruption has taken place on the southern island of Kyushu that created plumes of suffocating ash and caused a volcanic lightning storm. A flow of lava has also been spotted that came bellowing out of Japan's Mount Sakurajima's slopes while several lava bombs have been flying out from the top. The Japan Meteorological Agency has implemented a level 3 alert and asked people in the area to stay away from the Japanese volcano that is located just 50 km from a nuclear power plant in Sendai, Daily Mail Online reported. The Fukushima power plant, however, had been closed due to an accident brought about by an earthquake and tsunami from 2011 to 2015. This is the first eruption of Sakurajima since August 2013 with such magnitude according to the Kagoshima Meteorological Office, Korea Times reported. It is Japan's 47th volcano eruption this year and The Japan Meteorological Agency has raised alert levels for 34 of the watch-list of 37 active Japanese volcanoes. As demonstrated by an outburst back in February, the Japanese volcano erupts frequently throughout the year. However, the new explosion appears to be more energetic than usual. Back then, Japanese authorities expanded the pre-existing no-go zone around Sakurajima to a radius of 2 kilometers. Sakurajima's past has been far more violent than the recent eruptions. In 1914, the Japanese volcano displayed the most powerful eruption in 20th-century Japan. Along with huge pyroclastic flows traveling at supersonic speeds, massive lava flows covered the area between the volcano and Kyushu that formed a new land bridge that stands up to this day. The Japanese volcano, Sakurajima, a 16,000-year-old composite volcano, is situated within the Aira caldera, that was born in a festival of fire 22,000 years ago. The volcano measures 17 by 23 kilometers and conceals a vast magma chamber that may one day catastrophically blow its top. It was the perfect photo-op. On June 1, BJP president Amit Shah travelled to Jogiyapur, a Bind-dominated village in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi, and sat on the floor to have lunch with a group of Dalits. But while the BJP chief may have temporarily taken over the story ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, he couldn't control the narrative. A month later in Gujarat, the home state of Shah and Modi, the police allegedly did not intervene as four Dalit boys were flogged by a group of self-proclaimed "cow protectors" from the Gujarat unit of the Shiv Sena, one of the BJP's NDA allies. Then, on July 17, in Karnataka, a state ruled by the Congress, whose vice-president Rahul Gandhi has virtually earned his political chops by posing for photos in Dalit households, nearly 40 Bajrang Dal activists viciously attacked a Dalit family on charges of eating beef. And on July 20 in Bihar, a state ruled by the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal-both vociferous exponents of the rights of backward castes-two Dalit boys were thrashed and urinated on by a mob of upper caste men for allegedly stealing a motorbike. India was still grappling with these caste clashes when Parliament was rocked on July 21 after BJP leader Dayashankar Singh suggested India's most prominent Dalit leader, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, had a character "worse than a prostitute". These incidents and the reactions to them point to a larger trend. The abyss between lip service from political parties and the socio-economic reality of India has fuelled a social conflict that is now reaching a flashpoint. advertisement Dalits - a loose term to describe Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes - make up nearly 25 per cent of India's population. But seven decades after Independence, more than three-fourths of India's SCs live in rural areas and 84 per cent of them have an average monthly income of less than Rs 5,000. Even the constitutional protection guaranteed in the form of reservation has been hijacked for the most part by the relatively more affluent OBCs in the wake of the Mandal Commission. At the same time, the ability of Dalits to influence electoral fortunes as a political unit, especially in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, has ensured that every political party routinely professes its love for them. The electoral success of the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections is a shining example of the political relevance of Dalits in India. The Dalit vote share for the BJP doubled to 24 per cent from 12 per cent in 2009. Of the total 84 Lok Sabha seats reserved for SCs, the BJP won 40, including all 17 in UP. For those who dismiss these results as just a by-product of the 'Modi wave', the BJP won 41 of the 70 reserved constituencies in all the states where it has formed a government since 2014. In other words, where the Dalits have gone, so has victory. But ironically, in 2014-the year the BJP came to power at the Centre - 47,064 crimes were recorded against Scheduled Castes across India, up 44 per cent from 2010. Four BJP-ruled states - Rajasthan, MP, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh - accounted for 30 per cent of the total crimes committed against Dalits. So while poll arithmetic explains the new Dalit outreach programme of the party once mockingly described by Dalit leader Kanshi Ram as a combination of tilak (to represent Brahmins), tarazu (the scales, to symbolise Banias) and talwar (the sword, to symbolise Kshatriyas), the crime statistics highlight a backlash by the upper castes, traditionally the BJP's core supporters. Dalit subjugation, however, is not something unique to BJP. Magnifying the caste conflict is the community's growing impatience with most political parties' use-and-throw policy towards them. Their protest is taking many forms. In January this year, there was nationwide outrage over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University, sparking off debates in Parliament and forcing a reaction from Modi. After the Una incident, Dalit tanners in Gujarat dumped cow carcasses in government offices as the action of the 'cow protectors' had a direct impact on their livelihood. In Madhya Pradesh, 50 Dalit families have sought Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's 'permission' to kill themselves, alleging musclemen have occupied the land granted to them by the government 15 years ago. "The land allotted to me is occupied by members of the Banjara community, classified as OBC, who have refused to give possession to me. The government has not helped me get possession either," says Ganeshram, 55, a resident of Sankal, Madhya Pradesh. After years of being left behind, to borrow a Dickensian reference, Oliver Twist is asking for more. advertisement According to sociologist Dipankar Gupta, the fire is being stoked by the growing resentment among upper castes against sharing social and political privileges with Dalits. "When oppressed classes start asserting themselves, backlashes happen. In the US, the lynching of Blacks started in the later part of 19th century when they began asserting their rights. The same is happening with Dalits as they are increasingly participating in the social and political process," he says, pointing to how a 90 per cent increase in Dalit literacy between 2001 and 2011 has given them a bigger voice, supported by the gradual penetration into traditional and social media. This assertive participation has also added to the political relevance of Dalits. With assembly elections due next year in UP, a state with 40 million Dalits or 20 per cent of India's total Dalit population, and Punjab, which has a 32 per cent Dalit population, all parties have drawn up extensive strategies to consolidate and woo Dalit votes. "Under normal circumstances, Dalits don't vote together," says Gupta. "But when there is an issue affecting them, it has a pan-India appeal. What happens to Dalits in Gujarat will certainly impact Dalits in UP or Bihar. Naturally, all political parties are trying to milk the issue as it will consolidate Dalit votes." advertisement There can't be a better example of the rush for Dalit votes than the political scrum that followed the revolting assault on four Dalits on July 11 in Motasamadhiala, near Una, in Gujarat. The incident came to light when a video, ironically if inevitably posted by the 'victorious' assailants, went viral. Mayawati raised it in the Rajya Sabha on July 17, and within a week, the entire Opposition had landed in Motasamadhiala-from the BSP chief herself to Rahul Gandhi to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel. Though there is no evidence of the involvement of any BJP members in the incident, the reaction has caused a severe dent in the party's Dalit gameplan, which the Opposition is keen to capitalise on. But despite this welter of political pledges, Dalit oppression continues. advertisement POOREST OF THE POOR The socio-economic indicators that define Dalit population in India remain dismal. "Their condition is much worse than that of Muslims," says Professor Amitabh Kundu, who headed a group in 2013 to study the implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations, aimed at the betterment of the Muslim community. Over 44.8 per cent of the ST and 33.8 per cent of SC population in rural India was below the poverty line in 2011-12 as against 30.8 per cent of Muslims. More than 60 per cent of the Dalit population does not participate in any economic activity. Of the working population, nearly 55 per cent are cultivators and agricultural labourers. Around 45 per cent of rural SC households are landless. Only 13.9 per cent Dalit households have access to piped water supply compared to 27.5 per cent among the general category and only 10 per cent have access to sanitation as compared to 27 per cent for non-Dalit households. A staggering 53.6 per cent Dalit children are malnourished as compared to 39 per cent non-Dalit children. In Punjab, the state with the highest proportion of SCs to its total population-31.9 per cent-Dalits own only 2.3 per cent of the land. Over 60 per cent of Dalit households in the state live below the poverty line, according to the Punjab Department of Welfare of SCs and Backward Classes. "Political parties don't see these as problems. They want to keep deprivation among Dalits an issue which they can exploit for electoral benefits," says Sanghmitra Acharya, director of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Delhi. Sukhadeo Thorat, chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, and a research specialist in the economics of caste-based discrimination, laments that Dalit upliftment has remained restricted to sound bites. "Merely opposing the caste system and untouchability by expressing support will not help," he says. "Actual programmes and activities are needed for the equal treatment of castes. We need to create organisations to fight against the caste system." But in spite of the advertised enthusiasm for Dalit causes by political parties, their primary problems remain unaddressed. THE SWING FACTOR What is ironic is that this discrimination is rampant even when Dalit votes are now what swing elections. This is best illustrated by the electoral graphs of the Congress and BSP, two parties which have lost a huge chunk of Dalit support in recent years. The Congress party's vote share among Dalits has seen a steady decline-from 52 per cent in 1980 to 26 per cent in 2004 to 19 per cent in 2014. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party won only seven of the 84 constituencies reserved for SCs, down from 28 in 2009. Since 2014, in assembly elections where Congress was a significant electoral player, the party won seven seats reserved for SCs of the 70 that were up for grabs. The Congress's SC wing head, K. Raju, attributes this loss of support to disillusionment among Dalit youth. "The number of educated Dalit youth has grown exponentially after the 1991 economic liberalisation. However, jobs and opportunities in government sectors have shrunk because of which they could not take full advantage of the reservation policy. They could not really gain an entry even in the private sector. These aspirational and disillusioned Dalits were looking for a change," he says. It's a similar story for the BSP. According to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), 85 per cent of Dalits across the country voted for the BSP at the peak of its popularity in the early 2000s. In the 2012 UP assembly elections, Dalit support for the BSP went down by 23 percentage points, resulting in a massive victory for the Samajwadi Party. And in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Jatav (Mayawati's caste) support for the BSP declined by 16 percentage points and other Dalit support sank by 35 percentage points, resulting in the party being unable to open its account. Amit Shah and other BJP leaders at Simhastha Kumbh, Ujjain In Haryana in 2014, most Dalits supported the BJP, which benefited from the growing animosity between Dalits and Jats, the dominant social group in Haryana that usually sides with the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal. It swept to victory and installed a non-Jat chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar. The state has, of course, witnessed a dramatic and violent Jat backlash since then. An analysis of the results of the assembly elections where non-BJP and non-Congress parties have won further explains the role of Dalit votes. For instance, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha, and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu all garnered a major segment of the Dalit vote in their states. In Telangana, the Congress lost a substantial share of Dalit votes to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which easily formed the government. The CSDS survey says that the loss of Dalit votes for the Congress and BSP has been the BJP's gain. In bipolar states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the Congress lost a huge chunk of the Dalit vote to the BJP-in the '90s, the BJP managed to attract only one in every 10 Dalit voters while in 2014, one in every four Dalits voted for it. But if Dalit votes played a key role in BJP's electoral successes, they were also behind its demise in Bihar and Delhi. Now the allegations of atrocities against Dalits and the growing outrage in the community over the last few months are threatening to erase the advantages the party had gained. BJP'S GRAND DALIT PLAN After the BJP's Bihar debacle last year and Vemula's suicide, Shah met with RSS leaders in Nagpur, this March to chalk out a fresh Dalit plan for UP. Unwilling to lose the support base that served the BJP so well in 2014, the RSS announced an outreach programme marking the 100th birth anniversary of former RSS chief Madhukar Dattatreya Deoras. RSS workers were asked to 'adopt' Dalit families and eat meals with them. It also coined the slogan 'one well, one temple, one crematorium' to take a position against discrimination in villages. Krishna Gopal, who is looking after RSS-BJP coordination for the assembly election in the state, devised a Dalit Chetna Yatra to spread awareness about the Modi government's welfare schemes for Dalits to neutralise any damage and rid the party of its anti-Dalit tag. On April 5, when Modi announced the Stand-up India scheme for entrepreneurs, 17 SC MPs from the party accompanied him. In the recently concluded UP Legislative Council election, the BJP fielded Laxman Acharya as its first Dalit candidate. It also roped in Dalit leaders such as former DGP Brij Lal and former BSP Rajya Sabha member Jugal Kishore, who had accused Mayawati of selling tickets and becoming "daulat ki beti" instead of "dalit ki beti". In May, the BJP organised a Samrasta snan (social harmony bath) at Ujjain during the Simhastha Kumbh, where Shah took a holy dip with Dalit seers and later ate with them. MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also present, and posters of Dalit icons including Bhimrao Ambedkar, Sant Ravidas, Valmiki and Kabir were put up. These moves may have been targeted at enhancing the party's Dalit quotient, but the BJP is crippled by the fact that there is a dearth of strong Dalit leaders at the national level and in the states-an area where the Congress scores better. Modi may have inducted four Dalit ministers in his latest ministry expansion but none has been given important portfolios. Contrast this with the UPA regime, where Dalit leaders Sushilkumar Shinde and Mallikarjun Kharge were prominent ministers, for home and railways respectively. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, was daughter of Dalit icon Jagjivan Ram. "While the BJP has imported some leaders from outside, it has sidelined its own Dalit leaders, such as Sanjay Paswan, Satyanarayan Jatia and Ram Nath Kovid," says Professor Vivek Kumar, of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University. The ground connect, therefore, is broken. RACE FOR BABASAHEB'S LEGACY The correlation between Dalit support and the contrasting fortunes of the two national parties-BJP and Congress-has resulted in a mad rush between them to appropriate the legacy of B.R. Ambedkar, India's biggest Dalit icon. The seriousness with which the BJP is pursuing Dalit votes is reflected in the party's U-turn on Ambedkar over the last decade-from Arun Shourie, a senior minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, calling him a "false god" to a series of programmes launched by the Modi government to celebrate his contribution to the social and political fabric of India. Even Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, now hails him as the "ultimate unifier". During his London visit last November, Modi inaugurated a memorial at the site where Ambedkar lived during his London School of Economics days. The prime minister also laid the foundation stone for an Ambedkar memorial in Mumbai, and on March 21, for an auditorium to be constructed at 25, Alipur Road, Delhi, the house where Ambedkar had died. He also paid homage to the father of the Indian Constitution at his birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, observing it as Social Harmony Day, and got the United Nations to observe Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. Stumped by Modi's blitzkrieg on Ambedkar, the Congress woke up late but willing to admit its historic oversight. "Though he partnered with the Congress to frame the Constitution, we did not try to own his legacy until his 125th birth anniversary," Raju concedes. "First the BSP appropriated him, now all parties are doing the same." To stake its claim, the Congress, too, organised a big rally in Nagpur on his birth anniversary. Both parties expectedly faced verbal volleys from BSP chief Mayawati, the original claimant of Ambedkar's legacy. Addressing a huge gathering in Lucknow marking his 125th birth anniversary, she accused the BJP and Congress of using his name to solicit Dalit votes even though they never cared for Ambedkar or Dalit welfare in the past. A DALIT-CENTRIC OPPOSITION? One big change in electoral politics surrounding the Dalits that has come from the Una incident and BJP leader Dayashankar Singh's misogynistic comment on Mayawati is that the BSP has got a new lease of life. The party which had lost a number of senior leaders following Mayawati's poor showing in 2014 is suddenly back in the news again. The possibility of replicating the BSP's 2007 electoral engineering by blending Dalit and Brahmin votes looked impossible with declining Dalit support and upper castes siding with the BJP. After Singh's comment, however, the BSP's mega rally in Lucknow was a massive show of strength. Meanwhile, the Congress, which appointed a Brahmin CM candidate in Sheila Dikshit, also has a Dalit strategy for the state. It has prepared 400 young men and women, spread across 75 districts, to visit Dalit households, informing them about what the Congress has done for the community. "Earlier, our messages targeted those above 35. Now we're focusing on those between 18 and 35," Raju says. Trying to regain political relevance in UP and Punjab, the Congress will publish two manifestos in the run-up to the 2017 assembly polls-a main document with its election promises and a special Dalit manifesto to address the concerns of the politically significant constituency. The ruling SP has also recently activated its SC/ST cells and plans to connect with Dalits by organising Dalit mahasammelans in all of UP's 18 divisions. The primary target groups are the Pasis, Balmikis, Koris and Beria. BJP's Dayashankar Singh's misogynistic slur against BSP supremo Mayawati is likely to prove costly. Photo: Vikram Sharma In the other poll-bound state, Punjab, the electoral campaign of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the principal beneficiary of the losses incurred by the Congress and BSP among Dalit voters in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, winning four Lok Sabha seats, has a special plan to attract SCs. On March 15, the birth anniversary of Dalit icon and BSP founder Kanshi Ram, Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal addressed a gathering in Kanshi Ram's ancestral village Pirthipur Bunga in Ropar district. Dalits constitute over 40 per cent of the electorate in the four districts of Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr. Kejriwal also had a series of meetings with members of the Ravidasa community in Dera Ballan and the Valmikis in Jalandhar. A month earlier, he went to the border district of Abohar to meet the family of Bhim Tank, a Dalit who had been brutally killed in 2015 in a farmhouse belonging to Shiv Lal Doda, a liquor baron often photographed with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. In an impromptu speech, he announced a Delhi government job for a member of Tank's family, and promised to punish the culprits in two months if AAP came to power in Punjab. BJP's Dayashankar Singh's misogynistic slur against BSP supremo Mayawati is likely to prove costly. Photo: Maneesh Agnihotri For the Congress, the urgency to win back Dalits-once its core constituency in Punjab-was the driving force behind a two-day seminar on Dalits held in Ludhiana in February. But the party suffered a setbac in the Rajya Sabha elections held in the state last month. The internal battle between two Dalit castes-Ravidasa and Valmiki-for one of the party's two seats in the Upper House left the party in disarray. The Valmikis, whose candidate Hans Raj Hans lost out to the Ravidasa community's Shamsher Singh Dullo, have declared they will not support the Congress anymore. The party is now trying to cut its losses, with Amarinder Singh visiting the Ravidasa community's hub, Dera Sachkhand Ballan, and holding a Valmiki-Mazhbi Sikh Conference in Kapurthala. Congress leader Joginder Singh Mann has demanded that Valmikis be given 50 per cent of the total reserved seats in the elections. Meanwhile, the BJP's focus on Dalit votes in Punjab is evident from the appointment of Union minister Vijay Sampla, the party's most prominent Dalit face in the state, as the new president of its state unit. On May 21, the BJP organised the national executive committee meeting of its SC wing in Jalandhar. Nor did the BJP shy away from attacking its own ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), if it meant wooing Dalits. The party's SC wing president Dushyant Gautam criticised the state government for allegedly diverting Dalit welfare funds. Not to be left behind, SAD reached out to the Ravidasa community by laying the foundation stone for the Rs 110 crore Sri Guru Ravidass Memorial at Khuralgarh in Hoshiarpur. Khuralgarh is suddenly an important destination on SAD's electoral map, and Chief Minister Harkishen Singh Badal has declared it will be developed as a "world-class tourist destination". MUSLIM-DALIT ARITHMETIC Critics of the BJP see the party's new Dalit strategy as a double game-to consolidate Hindu voters to confront the Muslims and to break the perceived Dalit-Muslim nexus. This theory gained currency after the Muslim-Dalit combination paid dividends for Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Maharashtra in 2015. The party put up an impressive performance in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation election, jumping to the No. 2 spot ahead of the BJP and behind the Shiv Sena, winning 25 seats in the 113-seat corporation. Among successful AIMIM candidates were four Dalits and a Hindu OBC. While the BSP and Congress are open to such a combination in UP, the BJP seems determined to nip such coalitions in the bud. It's because of this coming together of Muslims and Dalits that the BJP student wing, the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, went after the Ambedkar Students' Association, the Dalit organisation of which Vemula was a member. "Why are these Dalit groups celebrating Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon? A new axis of Islamic forces and Naxal groups is emerging. They are trying to attract Dalits and other marginalised groups of Hindu society," says Sunil Ambekar, national organising secretary, ABVP. In June 2014, the BJP even tried unsuccessfully to fan a conflict between Dalits and Muslims over removing a loudspeaker from a Dalit temple in Moradabad. This potential alliance between two political groups is, however, something at the top of the Congress plan for UP as an antidote to the Hindu-Muslim polarisation that allowed BJP's 2014 sweep. "Our party's minority and SC wings are working in close coordination," says Raju. Incidents such as the BJP-RSS clamour for a beef ban and the 2015 Dadri lynching are also helping the Opposition redraw the Muslim-Dalit nexus. "The BJP will find it difficult to recover from these setbacks," says Vidyut Thakar, a political analyst from Gujarat. "At the national level, the Opposition seems to be veering towards a Dalit-Muslim-centric strategy against Modi, keeping 2019 in mind." Perhaps this is an indicator that the narrative around Dalits or Muslims, who have been just lucrative vote banks for political parties for decades, is unlikely to change. Years of entrenchment of caste and religious divisions have left a mark on Indian society that is difficult to erase. Until this reality is addressed, these communities will remain just pawns in electoral strategies. Perhaps before Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal or any other political leader goes for their next meal in a Dalit home, they should answer this: How many meals can a family of five with an income of less than Rs 5,000 afford in a month? with Uday Mahurkar Also read: The Dalit trap: Caste and the carcass --- ENDS --- Vermont's second case of human West Nile virus of this summer has been confirmed by the Department of Health, both of which occurred in Windsor County. The Department of Health's infectious disease epidemiologist, Bradley Tompkins, said that the two Windsor County cases were not related. Both patients developed the serious form of West Nile virus, the neuroinvasive West Nile virus disease, but both of them are recovering according to Tompkins, Washington Times reported. The neuroinvasive human West Nile cases in Vermont were confirmed by a test of the cerebrospinal fluid, he added. Tompkins said that the two cases both contracted their cases in Windsor County in Vermont since they told investigators they did not leave the county during the possible incubation period. However, the Department of Health will not identify the town, the individual and the sex or age of the person involved in order to protect their privacy. Only about 20 percent of the people who are infected become ill, Tompson declared. However, anyone in Vermont is at risk for acquiring the West Nile virus while the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable. Tompkins urged the people of Vermont to take precautions and avoid getting mosquito bites by limiting time outside when mosquitoes are particularly active. He also advised to wear long sleeves and long pants outdoors when mosquitoes are biting. Residents should also make sure that window screens are intact and the use strong insect repellents is suggested, WPTZ reported. The first human West Nile virus case was confirmed back in 2003 according to the information from the Department of Health while the last one was in 2013. There have been nine human cases in total since then. Vermont's second case of human West Nile virus was just recently confirmed after another Windsor County resident was hospitalized. The first case was reported in July 1. Six baby rhinos who were at risk of being washed away by flood waters were rescued by wildlife workers in Northeastern India. The rains have also flooded wide tracts of the Kaziranga national park, which is home to the world's largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros. An official at wildlife, Rathin Barman, said that six baby rhinos have been rescued since the flood began. All of the rescued baby rhinos will currently stay at the centre and will be released into the wild once the flood waters subside. Wildlife workers travelled through two villages by boat to save the animals from the Kaziranga National Park, The Telegraph reported. The assistant manager at Awareness for Conservation, Subhamoy Bhattacharjee, explained that the courage and empathy of the flood-affected villagers deserves special mention as they came together, setting aside their own predicament, to save a baby animal. In an interview, a villager said that all households in the area have their own boats since the area is flood prone. The villager continued to explain that somehow, they managed to drag the baby rhino and tie it to a tree in front of a house which only had a small space to stand but was safe from the flood waters for the time being. Veterinarian Dr. Samshul Ali who helped with the rescue added that this marks the first of its kind baby rhino rescue in the present flood phase. He explained that they had to be very cautious with the handling of the animal particularly during the boat journey. One baby rhino, however, drowned in the floods unfortunately, Time reported. The forest guards found the baby rhino's remains in the park located alongside the Brahmaputra river. The river was reported to have overflowed the danger mark at several places and breached its banks at others. A parent's touch is powerful and goes beyond forming bonds between parents and their children. From the first breathe of life, it is natural that a child would want to be touched. Studies show that a parent's touch goes from boosting a baby's development to shaping its brain in the future. A parent's touch is a very strong communicator in channeling emotions and forming an intimate bond. From Harry Harlow's famous experiment in the 1950s using young monkeys, he showed that the newborn's craved for a parent's touch. The baby monkeys would often cling to a soft dummy even if their milk came from a different source, The Adoption History Project reported. Researchers from Singapore and Germany used brain images to see if receiving a parent's touch frequently affects the human brain in an observable way. Annett Schirmer, Jens Brauer, and their colleagues wrote that their study explored a parent's touch directly at children can affect the child beyond social aspects, but shapes the functionality of the developing brain. The study was composed of 40 children around the age of 5 and their mothers. The children were ordered to play farm toys for 10 minutes and observed how many times a mother touched their child and vice versa. After a few days, researchers scanned each child's brain at rest to see its activity. The researchers focused on the region of the "social brain." The region is a sum of neuronal networks interconnected that tells difference between a person, place, or thing. It is the region of the brain that is responsible for making people behave in a certain manner during social occasions. Researchers observed that the brain activity on the social region had stronger neuronal networks for children who received a parent's touch often. Schirmer said that a study on the positive effects of touch in infants have already been done. He claims that their research specifically focuses on the relation of a parent's touch on the social region of the brain, Oxford Journal reported. The study found that a parent's touch frequently affecting the social region of the brain can be extended up to older age groups. It's nearly impossible to confirm the relationship of cause and effect between a parent's touch and a newborn's brain. However, the study conducted animal studies and suggested a link does exist between a parent's touch and the growth of the developing brain. A parent's touch that is gentle and affectionate reaches the brain via nerve fibers found on the skin called tactile nerves. In animal studies, it suggests that these tactile nerves are activated by a gentle touch and it triggers a rippling effect of hormones in the brain. A parent's touch is extremely important that can lead to many benefits on children. Schirmer said that infants and young kids crave for comfort from parents, so parents should give it to them. Earlier this week, Lighthouse Ministries was broken into and robbed of over $6,000 worth of baby care items that we provide to participants of our Working Mothers Support and Education Program. We were heartbroken. We quickly posted something on Facebook, hoping we could get enough donations to continue providing assistance for the children we are already serving. It was not long before the phones starting ringing. At the suggestion of Tiffany Strauss from HopeHealth, we started a GoFundMe page and posted a list of our most needed items. In the short amount of time since we shared our need, we have been overwhelmed with support from our community. Its often easy to get dismayed by the glaring instances of hate, injustice and greed that daily appear all around us. However, as a result of this one shameful action, we have been able to see such an outpouring of generosity, love and support. This support has come from people we have served, from our volunteers, from area churches and businesses, from our sister nonprofits and from our wonderful community members. On behalf of all of us at Lighthouse Ministries, I would like to say thank you to the entire Florence community. Thank you for supporting us for the past 20 years, and thank you for supporting us this week. Thank you for, yet again, confirming that there is more good in this world than not. CECILIA L. MEGGS Executive director, Lighthouse Ministries Florence Vehicles continued to move at snail's pace on several roads such as Mahipalpur Chowk, Rangpuri U-turn near Radisson hotel, Vayusenabad, Azad Market Chowk due to waterlogging. By India Today Web Desk: Even after the two-day traffic nightmare in Millennium city Gurgaon following heavy rains finally got over yesterday evening, commuters in Delhi continued to have their own share of traffic woes today. Vehicles continued to move at snail's pace on several roads such as Mahipalpur Chowk, Rangpuri U-turn near Radisson hotel, Vayusenabad, Azad Market Chowk due to waterlogging, causing hardships to the commuters. advertisement Delhi Traffic Police took to micro-blogging site Twitter to warn commuters of congestion due to waterlogging and said that the situation was likely to continue till Sunday. Traffic is heavy due to water logging at Dhansa Stand,Bahadurgarh stand,Nangloi stand,Deenpur mod,Tuda Mandi Najafgarh.; Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) July 30, 2016 Traffic is heavy at Mahipalpur Chowk ,Rangpuri U-turn,near Radisson hotel,Vayusenabad ,Azad Market Chowk due to water logging.; Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) July 30, 2016 Traffic movement will remain slow till 31/07/2016 on Faiz Road from New Rohtak Road T-Point to Bagga link road due to Kanwarias movement.; Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) July 30, 2016 Heavy monsoon showers on Friday led to waterlogging in some areas of the national capital and massive traffic jams across the city, causing severe inconvenience to the people who were stuck for long hours on the roads. The traffic snarls were triggered by the downpour which hit the city on Friday morning and increased in intensity in the afternoon. Commuters and office-goers had a tough time reaching their destinations and many of them shared their frustration on Twitter. Stuck in Delhi traffic jam with rains and water logging only God can help????; Thackli Lal (@thacklilal) July 29, 2016 "We spent two hours in a traffic jam in Delhi. Started from Karol Bagh at 3.15 p.m. reached home at 5.30 p.m.," said Anurag Mishra. BJP BLAMES HARYANA GOVT While waterlogged streets threw life out of gear in most parts of Haryana, political parties continued to indulge in slinging mud at each other to pass the buck. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda accused the Manohar Lal Khattar government of failing to perform its duty towards its citizens. "This is a serious issue. The Haryana government is a non-performing one. The government should take steps to ensure that these problems do not occur in the future," Bhupinder Singh Hooda said. BJP member Jawahar Yadav said that the Hooda government's fixation on creating tall buildings and leaving out creating overall infrastructural facilities was the root cause of the problem. advertisement "We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the people. We will try to ensure that such situations do not arise in the future. The situation at Hero Honda Chowk is under control, we will find a solution for it in 2 years," Yadav also blamed the Delhi Government for not cleaning the Najafgarh drain, which caused water-logging situation during the rainfall season in several parts of the city. --- ENDS --- The Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Rajasthan police arrested 12 persons for allegedly dealing with 'radioactive material' in Rajasthan's Dausa district. By India Today Web Desk: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan police arrested 12 persons for allegedly dealing with 'radioactive material' in Rajasthan's Dausa district. The cops say those arrested included the alleged sellers, who cheated people on the pretext of selling radioactive material. The buyers have also been reportedly rounded up. Some of the accused allegedly swindled the buyers with crores of rupees. HOT MESS advertisement According to the ATS, the team, acting on a tip-off, conducted a raid in Lavaan village and picked up 12 persons. The arrested included two locals, Satya Narayan and Ram Ratan. The team also recovered a glass box containing 'radioactive material' during the raid. It will be tested at Nuclear Power Corporation. "A glass box with three partitions containing the suspected radioactive material was seized from their possession and will be tested at Nuclear Power Corporation," said ADG ATS & SOG Umesh Mishra. "The accused, in connivance with some scientists from Delhi, used to dupe people. They were arrested yesterday," Manohar Lal, SHO of Lawan police station said, adding, they have been booked under relevant sections of IPC. PROBE LAUNCHED Apparently, the accused were planning to sell the product for hundreds of crores. Cops also found documents of US Nuclear Regulator with them. These are being probed. ATS had received a tip-off on their activities over two months ago and had been keeping the group under surveillance. The accused include residents of Mumbai, Surat and Bangalore, as well as Jaipur. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Ghaziabad, Jul 30 (PTI) Doctors affiliated with Indian Medical Association (IMA) today staged a protest here against the enforcement of the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010. A memorandum, addressed to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, was submitted to the District Magistrate in this regard, said IMA sources. Later, IMA district president Subhash Aggarwal told reporters that the government was trying to impose various "impracticable" conditions under the garb of the statute which was based on rules and regulations of "western countries". advertisement He said as per the provisions of the Act, doctors will be compelled to shut down their private clinics which will only add to the miseries of the general public. Aggarwal alleged that the Act will increase clerical work and the treatment protocol will turn out to be unfeasible for doctors to follow in semi-rural and rural areas. He said the number of female nurses was already very low in the country and added that the government must consider these demands before enforcing the Act as it will only promote interference of its inspectors. PTI CORR RC RG ABH --- ENDS --- After a contract signed between Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Russian manufacturer yesterday, India can now look forward to an enhanced and upgraded set of submarine hunting helicopters. Of the ten Kamov28 helicopters that were procured from the then Soviet Union, in the mid-80s, only four are in flying condition today. By Jugal R Purohit: Enemy submarines lurking in waters of India's interest will soon find their stay to be uncomfortable. Overcoming eight years of stalling and stagnation, Indian Navy (IN) has finally signed on the dotted line to enhance the effectiveness of its ten submarine hunting helicopters, the Russian Kamov-28. India Today has learnt that after a personal intervention and push by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, a contract to that effect was signed yesterday between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Russian manufacturer Rosoboronexport. All ten copters will be modernized, sensors upgraded and delivered at regular intervals over the coming five years. The total value of the contract is believed to be upwards of Rs 2000 crore. The manufacturer, contract says, will amalgamate these copters with state of the art sensors and equipment it will procure from a slew of European firms. It was learnt that such an effort has been attempted for the very first time. Towards that, the helicopters will be first sent to Kumertau in Russia at the facility of Russian Helicopters where they will undergo a technical overhaul to enhance the aircraft's life and performance. advertisement Once done, copters will be brought to Vizag, home of IN's Eastern Naval Command (ENC). At Vizag, naval air station Dega has been selected as the place where the sensors will be fitted and final assembly done. From that point, the copters will be available for the IN. Since Russia does not allow the import of European equipment, personnel from Russian helicopters will carry out the job in Vizag. Of the ten Kamov-28 helicopters that were procured from the then Soviet Union, in the mid-80s, only four are in flying condition today. The remaining have been mothballed for spares, it was learnt. "We are today making do with the technology of mid-80s, carrying out Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) roles to detect modern enemy submarines. The importance of this chopper can be understood by the fact that they can operate from the five Rajput class destroyers, the Talwar and Teg class of frigates and are designated to perform ASW role for aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya," said a source. The biggest threat to India's maritime interests and its own fleet comes from enemy submarines. While every warship has a hull-mounted sonar for tracking submarines beneath, experts believe that few can match the potency of an ASW helicopter. It is also the case that in the waters of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, due to composition and currents, hull-mounted sonar often lose their edge, a point where ASW helicopters with their dunking sonars come in handy. Another reason why helicopters are favoured is because while they can hunt a submarine, there is no way a submarine can detect, far less hunt down a chopper. The other helicopter that the Navy has for ASW roles is the Seaking Mk.42B which is rapidly ageing and is stretched. The case for the Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) of Kamov 28 was moved by the Navy in 2008, bids for which were opened in 2012. One of the reasons for the case staling was the VVIP helicopter scandal. As one of the firms which was to supply the radar, Selex Galileo, was a subsidiary of the tainted firm Finmeccanica, the MoD was careful about progressing. Following long-winding, inter-ministerial consultations the MoD moved ahead as Selex Galileo was a sub contractor of the Rosobornexport. "The MoD has nothing to do with them. This is as per the guidelines which have been promulgated by the ministry," explained a source. In fact, the MoD even sought a clearance from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for progressing in this case and managed one. WHAT DOES KAMOV 28 BRING TO THE NAVY? Maximum height achieved in flight 5000m Maximum range 900km Maximum flight speed 250km/hr Maximum take-off weight 12000kg Can person search and attack roles and to do so, it can carry bombs, torpedos and missiles on board NAVY'S HELICOPTER WOES Navy suffers from a massive gap in its ASW capabilities. But that is not it. There has been no sizeable acquisition in over a decade to boost its helicopter arm. With a requirement of over 100 helicopters across different categories, and yet going nowhere, the Navy's predicament is clear. advertisement The Indian Navy had to get 16 choppers as a direct replacement for Seaking Mk.42A helicopters which came with the INS Viraat in 1987 and were decommissioned by the end of the century. Categorised as 'Multi Role Helicopter' acquisition, it is yet to take off. Then there is the Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) deal to replace the Chetaks, introduced to the Indian armed forces in the 60s, with choppers of 4.5 ton class. In addition, Indian Navy is also looking at Naval Multi Role helicopters of a larger tonnage. It is all hanging in balance, for now. As a result of this, modern warships, often built at a staggering expense to the exchequer, are roaming the seas without vital helicopters on board. Many warships, which have two hangars on board are steaming past without even a single helicopter on board. "Overall availability of choppers is less than 20 per cent in the Navy". Deep within the Earth's rocky mantle lies oceans' worth of water locked up in a type of mineral called ringwoodite, new research shows. The results of the study will help scientists understand Earth's water cycle, and how plate tectonics moves water between the surface of the planet and interior reservoirs, researchers say. The Earth's mantle is the hot, rocky layer between the planet's core and crust. Scientists have long suspected that the mantle's so-called transition zone, which sits between the upper and lower mantle layers 255 to 410 miles (410 to 660 kilometers) below Earth's surface, could contain water trapped in rare minerals. However, direct evidence for this water has been lacking, until now. [See Images of Water-Rich Ringwoodite and Earth's Layers] RELATED: Piece of Africa Found Under Alabama To see if the transition zone really is a deep reservoir for water, researchers conducted experiments on water-rich ringwoodite, analyzed seismic waves travelling through the mantle beneath the United States, and studied numerical models. They discovered that downward-flowing mantle material is melting as it crosses the boundary between the transition zone and the lower mantle layer. "If we are seeing this melting, then there has to be this water in the transition zone," said Brandon Schmandt, a seismologist at the University of New Mexico and co-author of the new study published today (June 12) in the journal Science. "The transition zone can hold a lot of water, and could potentially have the same amount of H2O as all the world's oceans." (Melting is a way of getting rid of water, which is unstable under conditions in Earth's lower mantle, the researchers said.) Ringwoodite is a rare type of mineral that forms from olivine under very high pressures and temperatures, such as those present in the mantle's transition zone. Laboratory studies have shown that the mineral can contain water, which isn't present as liquid, ice or vapor; instead, it is trapped in the ringwoodite's molecular structure as hydroxide ions (bonded oxygen and hydrogen atoms). RELATED: Giant, Mysterious Body of Water Found Under China Desert In March, another research group discovered an unusual diamond from the mantle that encased hydrous ringwoodite. Though the find suggested the transition zone could contain a lot of water, it was the first and only ringwoodite specimen from the mantle scientists have ever analyzed (all other samples were produced in the lab or found in meteorites), and may not be representative of other mantle ringwoodite. [Shine On: Photos of Dazzling Mineral Specimens] "Right now, we're one-for-one, because that ringwoodite had some H2O in it, but we didn't know if it was normal," Schmandt told Live Science. So Schmandt and geophysicist Steven Jacobsen of Northwestern University in Illinois set out to observationally test if other mantle ringwoodite also contains water. The researchers knew the crystal structure of ringwoodite allows the transition zone to hold water, but that structure changes if the material moves across the boundary to the lower mantle (due to increasing pressures and temperatures). Because the structure of minerals in the lower mantle can't trap water the way ringwoodite can, Schmandt and Jacobsen reasoned the rocks would melt as they flowed from the transition zone to the lower mantle. "Melting is just a mechanism of getting rid of the water," Schmandt said. RELATED: Top 10 Most Polluted Places on the Planet To test this hypothesis, Jacobsen and his colleagues conducted lab experiments to simulate what would happen to transition zone ringwoodite as it travels deeper into the Earth. They synthesized hydrous ringwoodite and recreated the temperatures and pressures it would experience in the transition zone by heating it with lasers and compressing it between hard, anvil-like diamonds. Using their setup, they then slowly increased the temperature and pressure to mimic the conditions in the lower mantle. The ringwoodite transformed into another mineral called silicate perovskite, and transmission electron microscopy showed that the mineral contained silicate melt around single crystals of perovskite. "What that tells us is if there is similarly hydrated ringwoodite in the transition zone that's dragged down, we would expect it to produce melt," Schmandt said. "Because melt changes how seismic waves propagate, that's a target I can hunt for [with seismometers]." Using the Earthscope USArray, a network of portable seismometers across the United States, Schmandt analyzed seismic waves as they passed from the transition zone to the lower mantle. He found the waves slowed as they crossed into the lower mantle, suggesting that melt was present in the boundary. Importantly, the decrease in seismic velocity didn't happen everywhere - models showed the wave velocity decreased only where material was flowing downward from the transition zone to the lower mantle, as the researchers predicted. [Infographic: Earth's Tallest Mountain to Its Deepest Ocean Trench] The melt produced in the boundary likely then flows back upward, returning to minerals that can hold the water, Schmandt said, adding that this mechanism allows the transition zone to be a stable water reservoir. RELATEDL Vast Oceans Beneath Earth Revealed by Gem "[The study] provides critical experimental support for the important role that the transition zone plays in controlling the melting behavior and flux of hydrogen in the deep Earth," Graham Pearson, a mantle geochemist at the University of Alberta, who wasn't involved in the work, told Live Science in an email. Anna Kelbert, a geophysicist at Oregon State University who also wasn't involved in the study, notes that scientists have previously used numerous approaches to look for evidence of Earth's interior water reservoir, but this is the first time researchers have searched for clues of the reservoir by focusing on the potential water-induced melting at the bottom of the transition zone. "It provides an important multidisciplinary perspective on this problem," Kelbert said. "It has important implications on our understanding of the behavior of subducting slabs deep in the mantle, and on our understanding of overall water budget/distribution in the Earth." Schmandt hopes to now analyze seismic data from other areas across the globe and see how common mantle melting is. This would allow researchers to see if there's something special about the subduction history of the mantle beneath North America, or how the Earth's plates have shifted beneath one another over time. The new findings will also help scientists better understand Earth's water cycle. "The surface water we have now came from degassing of molten rock. It came from the original rock ingredients of Earth," Schmandt said. "How much water is still inside the Earth today relative to the surface?" Originally published on Live Science. Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Press Release July 29, 2016 Drilon vows to prioritize review of Constitution Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon on Friday assured that his committee will give the highest priority to the proposed measure that will amend the 1987 Constitution. "The proposed review of the 29-year old Constitution will be the 'top priority' of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and laws which I chair," Drilon said. "We will take up all the proposed measures and resolutions calling for the review of the Constitution as soon as the organization of the Senate is finalized and completed," Drilon assured. Drilon considers the revision of the Constitution "a delicate task" that needs the active involvement of all stakeholders. "We will hear from all stakeholders and experts to discuss the best mode of amending our Constitution. The committee will do its best to come up with the most appropriate and beneficial strategy," Drilon said. "But what is more important is that the mode that we will apply will be 'acceptable' to all the Filipinos, to whom the amendments will be submitted for ratification," Drilon said. He also said that the committee "will take into consideration the preference of the President in drafting its recommendations." Drilon is the author of Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 at the Senate calling for a constitutional convention to review the 1987 Constitution. Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 calls for a convention, whose members shall be elected by January of next year, to propose amendments to, or revision of, the 29-year-old Constitution. The resolution disqualifies members of the Congress at the time of the adoption of the resolution to become a candidate for election as Delegate to the Convention. It also prohibits candidates in the May 2016 elections to qualify as a candidate for election as Delegate to the Convention. Press Release July 29, 2016 Hontiveros files social protection laws, vows to protect sectors from inequality MANILA - "In times of growing inequality, the duty of the government is to protect the people not neglect them." This was the statement of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros as she filed four (4) new bills that she said will help "reduce inequality and address the exclusion of the most marginalized and vulnerable sectors in the country." Hontiveros described social inequality as the unequal distribution of wealth and power that alters rights and privileges, social status and access to important social services. Her proposed measures tackle the concerns of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, informal settlers, small fisherfolks, and coconut farmers, groups that she said are some of the most vulnerable sectors of society. Farmers and fisherfolks Hontiveros said she is pushing for the passage of the Coco-Levy Trust Fund law to create a trust fund for the sole use of the coconut farmers from the PhP 73-billion coco-levy fund. "The Coco-Levy Trust Fund will ensure that the money is collectively owned by small and poor farmers to promote their welfare and help revitalize the coconut industry by developing global and domestic markets." The Senator also planned to establish a separate agency for fisheries and fisherfolks' concerns through the Department of Fisheries Act. Hontiveros said that the Filipino fisherfolks are one of the poorest sectors", citing the Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan 2016-2020 that reported that poverty incidence in the sector is at 39.2 % in 2014. "It's time to develop our oceanic activities, especially in the light of our victory in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, to benefit our small fisherfolks without compromising ecological sustainability," she said. Informal settlers and the LGBT Meanwhile, Hontiveros filed the In-City Resettlement Act to protect informal settler communities who are in danger of violent and illegal demolitions by mandating the government to provide in-city or near-city resettlement. The neopyhte Senator also pushed for the enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Bill, which seeks to penalize all forms of discrimination according to gender identity, ethnicity and religion in schools and workplaces. A similar bill has been filed by Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao and co-authored by Bataan 1st District and first transgender Congresswoman Geraldine Roman in the House of Representatives. "Fight inequality" "Through these bills, we will address inequality by protecting the people from its multiform effects such as poverty, violence, inhumane treatment and discrimination. We must fight inequality to promote a more sustainable approach to development. This will guarantee the rights of all people and safeguard democracy," Hontiveros concluded. POE: EXEMPT FRESH GRADS FROM DOCUMENT FEES NEEDED FOR EMPLOYMENT Sen. Grace Poe has filed a bill seeking to exempt fresh graduates from paying burdensome fees for government documents which are required for employment. "Sa hirap maghanap ng trabaho, hindi naman makatarungang lalo pa nating pahirapan ang mga bagong graduate sa pagkuha at pagbabayad ng mga dokumentong kanilang kailangan," Poe emphasized. Senate Bill (SB) 343 or the proposed Fresh Graduates Pre-employment Assistance Act provides that all government agencies including state-owned and -controlled corporations and local government units shall not collect fees from fresh graduates for pre-employment documents including NBI, police and barangay clearances, and proofs of identification such as postal ID. Poe said that many fresh graduates aspiring to land a decent job find themselves financially constrained by voluminous requirements, impeding their search for employment. "Magpakita naman tayo ng malasakit," Poe said, "Matapos malubog ng kanilang pamilya sa utang para maitawid ang kanilang pag-aaral, haharapin naman nila ang napakaraming bayarin sa pagkuha pa lamang ng mga kailangang dokumento." To be qualified for the waiver, the applicant must show his diploma, certification or any document proving his recent graduation from high school, college or vocational course. The Commission on Higher Education, Civil Service Commission and the Department of Interior and Local Government will issue the rules and regulations of the said bill. The waiver must not be taken as a loss of revenue for the government, but as an investment in labor force, which is in its best interest to protect and promote, Poe said in her bill's explanatory note. Based on a Commission on Higher Education report, an average of 542,000 college students graduate every year from 2010 to 2014. Press Release July 30, 2016 Choose Peace Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros today reiterated her call to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and it's armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), to reciprocate the gesture of the Duterte government in declaring a unilateral ceasefire. The senator issued the statement after President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has given the communist guerrillas until 5 p.m. Saturday to issue their own declaration. Hontiveros welcomed Duterte's declaration of a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA. "At a time when it is easier to wage war than seek peace, President Duterte's decision is a bold and unprecedented move. I hope the government's ceasefire will be duly recognized and implemented by all state security forces." The neophyte senator, who was also part of the government panel for peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF) when Jose Maria Sison was the chief consultant of the group, challenged the CPP-NPA to immediately and unconditionally declare a ceasefire. She also condemned the NPA attacks in Davao del Norte, which came in the wake of the government's declared ceasefire. "The armed communist left has the opportunity to show to the public that it is capable of peace. If the CPP-NPA is really sincere in ending this armed conflict, it must renounce its anti-people military actions, silence its guns and choose the path of peace. It is the more courageous and revolutionary thing to do," Hontiveros said. Hontiveros, who hails from the democratic left Akbayan, is the ideological opposite of the CPP-NPA. In 2005, the CPP released a hit list containing the names of individuals deemed as "counter-revolutionaries" and "class enemies." The list includes Akbayan leaders such former Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales, Nathan Quimpo and Sixto Carlos. The hit list was issued after a series of assassinations by the NPA of personalities branded by the CPP as "enemies of the people." The explosion took place at Minarets road in the city of Herat. By India Today Web Desk: An explosion in Herat City claimed the life of one civilian and injured five others, including a police force member, today morning. According to the Herat police officials, the incident took place in Minarets road in Herat this morning around 10 pm. The explosives used in the attack were placed in a hand cart, officials confirmed. advertisement Two out of the five injured are in a critical condition, Public Herat Directorate of Herat said. --- ENDS --- Press Release July 30, 2016 Villar files bill providing free irrigation services to farmers Farmers will finally see the day when they do not have to pay for irrigation services if Sen. Cynthia Villar's bill providing for free irrigation services will be enacted into law. Senate Bill No. 140 or the Free Irrigation Reform and Restructuring Act of 2016 amends provisions of Republic Act No. 3601 prescribing the power and authority of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) to collect Irrigation Service Fees (ISF) or other forms of charges for the use of irrigation systems. "Given that farmers are among the country's poorest, the present system where farmers who could not pay are deprived of irrigation services is unfair. Their income is already small and ISF is an added expense that we should remove and in its place put a system where farmers are empowered to manage irrigation facilities," Villar said. "In the wake of typhoons and drought that devastated farmlands, free irrigation service is the right step to revive the agriculture sector," she added. Department of Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol has expressed its commitment to provide free irrigation to farmers starting next year. Villar, vice chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, said irrigation services is a vital government obligation to support the growth of Philippine economy, just like the network of roads being used for free. "One of the most important components of a rice productivity program is irrigation. We want to improve the irrigation program to help our agricultural productivity and to address national food security concerns. If we free farmers from paying this unnecessary cost in production, agricultural products will be sold at lower prices," she added. She noted that the proposed bill seeks to level the playing fields for Filipino farmers with the farmers of Thailand and Vietnam who are heavily subsidized by their governments. Under the bill, NIA will be renamed as the National Irrigation Development Administration (NIDA) and converted from a government corporation into a line agency under the Department of Agriculture. The existing NIA Board of Directors will be replaced by the Irrigation Planning and Advisory Board which will have the following functions, among others: To investigate, study and develop all available water resources in the country, primarily for irrigation purposes; to regularly monitor and evaluate NIDA's reports on the state of irrigation in the various regions of the country for all the major crop commodities in each region; to oversee, in cooperation with the Commission on Audit, the inventory of all NIA irrigation assets. Within one year from the effectivity of this act, NIDA will complete its turn over to farmer groups all completed and inventoried irrigation projects, including those currently under rehabilitation. With professional help, the beneficiaries of such irrigation facilities and projects will manage the maintenance of the irrigation facilities. Small communal irrigation system may be directly taken over by the farmers who are able to present management and maintenance plans for the sustainability of the irrigation projects. To be eligible, all stakeholder beneficiaries will be required to complete a requisite set of trainings in farm enterprise management and irrigation management concepts prior to the transfer of the particular irrigation facility to their group. The funding for the operation and maintenance of the irrigation facilities nationwide will be sourced out from the General Appropriations Act. By India Today Web Desk: Mollywood superstar Mohanlal is all set to make his grand entry in Tollywood with his upcoming film Janatha Garage. The latest buzz that is doing rounds on social media is that actor Mohanlal is likely to team with ace-director Gautham Menon for a bilingual film. ALSO READ: Mohanlal's Oppam trailer to be attached with Rajinikanth's Kabali? ALSO READ: Manamantha teaser: SS Rajamouli is all praise for Mohanlal's upcoming Telugu flick advertisement While each time reports about Mohanlal teaming up with Gautham turned out to be a mere rumour, interestingly, a stand-up comedian and actor Ashvin Mathew posted a photo with Gautham Menon on his Facebook page and hinted the possibility. He wrote "Gautham Vasudev Menon directing a film with Mohanlal?? All will be revealed soon!" Earlier, reports said that Mohanlal was approached to play actor Suriya's father in Gautham Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram, however, things didn't materialise. Sources also reveal that the project is very much happening and the discussions are in the final stage. Meanwhile, Mohanlal is awaiting the release of his Telugu film Janatha Garage and his bilingual film Manamantha/Vismayam. Mohanlal's much-awaited Malayalam film Oppam is slated for a September release this year. Gautham Menon is currently busy directing his upcoming film Ennai Nokki Paayum Thota, which has Dhanush playing the lead role. --- ENDS --- Three missing people who were last seen on a personal watercraft near Rio Vista were found safe early Saturday, Coast Guard officials said. A 36-year-old man, 22-year-old woman and 10-year-old girl were all aboard a white watercraft that left the Brannan Island State Recreation Area in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta around 8 p.m. Friday and never returned, spurring crews to search the area, the Coast Guard said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The family of an Oakland man shot by police while holding a pellet gun was set to file a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against the city of Oakland and the four officers involved, attorneys said. Richard Perkins Jr., 39, died on the evening of Nov. 15 on a sidewalk on 90th Avenue near Bancroft Avenue after three officers and a sergeant shot him while he held a Desert Eagle replica pellet gun, police said. The suit, brought by Perkins mother Ada Perkins-Henderson and his son Richard Perkins III, alleges police used excessive force and that the city failed to properly train and supervise officers, said EmilyRose Johns, an attorney representing the family. His family was seeking an unspecified amount in damages, naming the city of Oakland, Sgt. Joseph Turner and officers Jonathan Cairo, Joshua Barnard, and Allahno Hughes as defendants in the complaint. The complaint alleges that Perkins told officers the gun was fake and tried to comply with orders. Police, however, said in a coroner investigators report that Perkins walked up to officers and pointed the gun at them, which prompted the gunfire. Officers tried unsuccessfully to revive Perkins, who had suffered more than a dozen bullet wounds. He was pronounced dead by paramedics at 5:34 p.m. Officer body cameras captured some of the incident. Family members saw the video, Johns said, but they were not convinced of the officers account. They never see him pointing the gun at the police officers. They see his hands in the air, she said. The family continues to only have a part of the story and doesnt have any opportunity to move forward. The video was not immediately made available to the media or public, police said, citing the ongoing investigation. An autopsy report from the Alameda County coroners office showed several of the bullets that struck Perkins hit him in the back. Traces of cocaine and methamphetamine were found in his blood system, according to toxicology results. Alex Katz, chief of staff at the Oakland City Attorneys Office, said the city could not comment on the suit until they were officially served. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno A fire raging in the Big Sur area for more than a week has grown to 59 square miles, officials said Sunday. The blaze, known as the Soberanes Fire, swelled from 32,930 acres Thursday night to 38,000 acres by Sunday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. By PTI: Panaji, Jul 30 (PTI) Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today expressed dissatisfaction over Goa being pooled with other Union Territories (UTs) for reserved seats at the IIT here and pitched for raising the states quota to 50 per cent. "We are getting 50 per cent reservation for local population (in the newly set up IIT Goa). But strangely, I feel that at the central level there is still a mentality that they dont believe that Goa is a separate state," Parrikar said referring to the 50 per cent reservation of seats at the premier institute which Goa will have to share with Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. advertisement He was speaking at the inauguration of IIT Goa campus in the presence of Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. "They (Centre) somehow club it with other small Union Territories like Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. They have said 50 per cent for all this," the former Goa chief minister said. "I dont think it is fair (for) Goa to be treated almost like a non-state. We are a state, therefore, we should be given 50 per cent reservation. May be 40 per cent to Goa and10 per cent to others (UTs)," Parrikar, a former Goa CM, said. Referring to Javadekars announcement that the number of students at IITs had touched 10,000 this year, Parrikar said, "As a (former) student of IIT, I feel 10,000 is pretty huge a number. Quality gets sacrificed ... as we increase the quantity. "We can make it into 20,000 but it cannot be in geographic progression but in arithmetic progression. We have to mentor institutes for at least 15-20 years. If IIT Bombay is taken away from IIT Goa (as its mentor institute) in 2-3 years, I think you would be doing grave injustice to us by leaving us with one engineering college called as IIT, I dont want that," he said. PTI RPS KRK KIS PTP --- ENDS --- A California labor agency has raised questions about a proposed Uber settlement that would give the state $1 million of the $84 million to $100 million set aside for the companys drivers in California and Massachusetts and their lawyers. Replying to a federal judge, who had also questioned the adequacy of the settlement, a lawyer for the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency said Friday he saw no rationale for the $1 million figure, other than that this is a round number and a large figure compared with the states share of other labor settlements. The attorney, John Cumming, said the agency agreed with U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco that Uber could be on the hook for more than $1 billion in labor law penalties if the drivers go to trial and prove they should be classified as employees instead of independent contractors. The state would be entitled to three-fourths of those penalties, and the drivers would get the rest. The suit was filed in 2013 on behalf of 385,000 Uber drivers in the two states, challenging the ride-hailing companys classification of them as independent contractors rather than employees entitled to overtime, work expenses and other benefits. The settlement, negotiated by a lawyer for drivers in a class-action suit, would not affect that contractor status. Chen withheld approval of the settlement June 30 and said he wasnt sure it would compensate drivers adequately for the claims they were giving up by not going to trial. He asked the plaintiffs and the company for more information before deciding whether to approve the deal or send the case to trial, and also sought input from the labor agency on the $1 million allotted to the state. Other groups of drivers have filed separate lawsuits against Uber, also claiming employee status and seeking payment for meal and rest breaks, waiting times between rides, and to make up for the denial of workers compensation benefits because of their contractor status. The settlement, if approved, would require dismissal of those suits. The settlement would increase from $84 million to $100 million if Uber, now privately held, begins selling its shares publicly. Those amounts would include $11 million to $15 million for plaintiffs attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who reached the agreement after three years of negotiations with the company. The suit sought damages for the drivers wages and work expenses, and also exposed Uber to potential penalties for violating state labor laws. Private settlements generally classify a portion of their funds as penalties shared with the state. For example, an agreement to which a federal judge gave preliminary approval in June provided $27 million for 163,000 California drivers of the ride-hailing company Lyft, and designated $1 million of that sum as penalties. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com A huge beer merger took two major steps toward completion Friday. Anheuser-Busch InBev said Friday that it had received conditional approval from Chinese regulators for its merger with SABMiller, after the companies agreed to sell SABMillers stake in the maker of Snow, the worlds best-selling beer. The conditional approval by Chinese authorities is the last major regulatory hurdle for the transaction. SABMillers board, meanwhile, said it would recommend that shareholders accept an increased cash offer by Anheuser-Busch InBev that valued it at about $104 billion. The merger would create an industry giant accounting for about 30 percent of global beer sales and would give Anheuser-Busch, already the worlds largest brewer, a substantial operation in Africa, where it has little presence, and greater dominance in Latin America. To win regulatory approval in China, Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed in March to sell SABMillers 49 percent stake in the maker of Snow to China Resources Beer, a state-owned brewer, for about $1.6 billion. China Resources Beer already owns the other 51 percent of the brewer, C.R. Snow. The Ministry of Commerces approval is a significant milestone for the transaction, Anheuser-Busch InBev said Friday. It remains our objective to close the transaction in 2016. Anheuser-Busch InBev has received regulatory approval in 23 jurisdictions for the transaction, including China, the European Union, South Africa and the United States. The brewer has entered into a number of agreements to sell assets from the combined company to satisfy regulators about the deal. In November, Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to sell SABMillers 59 percent stake in MillerCoors in the United States to SABMillers partner in a joint venture, Molson Coors Brewing, for about $12 billion. In April, it accepted an offer by Asahi Group Holdings of Japan to buy the beer brands Grolsch, Meantime and Peroni, as well as associated SABMiller operations in Britain, Italy and the Netherlands, for about $2.8 billion. And Anheuser-Busch InBev also said in April that it would be willing to sell SABMillers assets in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia as part of a package of divestments to win approval from European regulators. The approval in China came as Anheuser-Busch InBev hopes to convince SABMiller shareholders that the deal is worthwhile. On Tuesday, Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its offer to $59 per share in cash. The increased bid came as the value of the pound has declined sharply after Britains vote to leave the European Union last month. As part of its proposal, Anheuser-Busch InBev made an alternative offer to win the support of SABMillers two largest shareholders U.S. tobacco giant Altria and the Santo Domingo family of Colombia that would give investors restricted shares instead of cash. The share alternative was intended to allow them to avoid a huge tax bill from the sale of their holdings. But some investors have raised concerns recently because the value of the share alternative has increased sharply as the value of the pound has fallen. On Tuesday, Aberdeen Asset Management, a SABMiller shareholder, said the revised deal remained unacceptable because it undervalued the company. Aberdeen said the deal favored SABMillers two largest shareholders and that those shareholders should not be allowed to vote on the cash offer. On Friday, SABMillers board said it would recommend that shareholders accept the cash offer, but it said its two biggest shareholders should be treated as a separate class, allowing other investors to vote on the cash offer separately. Aberdeen said Friday that although it still plans to vote against the deal, it welcoms the decision to treat the two largest shareholders as a separate class. This acknowledges the reality of the situation, and will help to ensure that the views of the rest of the investor base have due weight, Aberdeen said. LOCKHART, Texas A fiery hot-air balloon crash killed 16 people about 30 miles south of Austin on Saturday, marking one of the deadliest balloon crashes in U.S. history. The balloon had been gliding along a portion of Caldwell County, about 2 miles west of the town of Lockhart, when witnesses said it appeared to strike high-voltage power lines and catch fire. There were no survivors. The crash was the worst such ballooning accident since a 2013 crash in Egypt that killed 19 people. A witness who lives near the site of the crash described hearing popping noises before spotting a large fireball that she at first thought might have been a tractor exploding. The resident, Margaret Wylie, said she was in her home when she heard the noise. While outside, she heard a second pop and then turned to see a fireball erupt from the scene of the crash in a hay field. About the time I looked over there was when a whooshing sound happened and the fireball went up, she said. It was about 7:44 a.m. when emergency responders first received the report after Wylie called 911. None of the people killed was immediately identified. The National Transportation Safety Board is heading up the investigation and has assigned a Go Team of technical experts from Washington to examine the crash. Many were still en route to Texas late Saturday. The FBI is also assisting the safety board in collecting evidence from the scene. Just minutes before the crash, a husband and wife traveling on the Texas 130 toll road spotted the balloon, which was piloted by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides owner Alfred Skip Nichols. Joe Gonzales said that, even from his vantage point speeding by, he was concerned that the low-flying balloon had too many people aboard. Nichols was most recently certified to fly hot-air balloons by the Federal Aviation Administration in July 2014, according the agencys database of pilots. The website for Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides states that it has balloons capable of carrying 24 people. The business is based in New Braunfels, according to the Better Business Bureau. Safety board adviser Erik Grosof classified the crash as a major incident because of the significant loss of life. The investigation would begin full bore once the team of experts arrives, Grosof said, and it will be led by NTSB investigator Bill English. Bruce Lavorgna, spokesman for the Central Texas Ballooning Association who has been flying balloons for 26 years, said power lines are the most common cause of balloon crashes. Theyre very difficult to see from the air, Lavorgna said. He asks his passengers to tell him if they see any lines, because theyre easy to overlook. High-voltage power lines are very near the scene of Saturdays crash. Donald Trump belittled the parents of a slain Muslim soldier who had strongly denounced Trump during the Democratic National Convention, saying that the soldiers father had delivered the entire speech because his mother was not allowed to speak. Trumps comments, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that will air Sunday, drew quick and widespread condemnation and amplified calls for Republican leaders to distance themselves from their presidential nominee. With his implication that the soldiers mother had not spoken because of female subservience expected in some traditional strains of Islam, his comments also inflamed his hostilities with American Muslims. Khizr Khan, the soldiers father, lashed out at Trump, saying his wife had not spoken at the convention in Philadelphia because it was too painful for her to talk about her sons death. Trump, he said, is devoid of feeling the pain of a mother who has sacrificed her son. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, a rival of Trumps in the Republican primaries who has refused to endorse him, castigated him on Twitter. Theres only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect, he wrote, using the term for surviving family members of those who died in war. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family. Khans speech at the convention in Philadelphia was one of the most powerful of those given there. It was effectively the Democratic response to comments Trump has made implying many American Muslims have terrorist sympathies or stay silent when they know ones who do. Trump has called to ban Muslim immigration as a way to combat terrorism. At the convention, Khan spoke about how his 27-year-old son, Humayun Khan, an Army captain, had died in a car bombing in 2004 in Iraq as he tried to save other troops. He criticized Trump, saying he consistently smears the character of Muslims, and pointedly challenged what sacrifices Trump had made. Khans wife, Ghazala, stood silently by his side. Trump told Stephanopoulos that Khizr Khan seemed like a nice guy. But, he added, If you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say, you tell me. Ghazala Khan herself spoke publicly Friday to MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell, saying she cannot even come in the room where his pictures are. When she saw her sons photograph on the screen behind her on the stage in Philadelphia, she said, I couldnt take it. I controlled myself at that time, she said while choking back tears. It is very hard. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi making a statement regarding government business for the week starting August 1, said that the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 will be taken up for consideration and passage. By India Today Web Desk: The government is likely to table much-awaited Goods and Services Tax Bill among several others in the Rajya Sabha next week. About five-and-a-half hours have been allocated for discussion on the Bill. INCHING CLOSER Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi making a statement regarding government business for the week starting August 1, said that the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 will be taken up for consideration and passage. advertisement Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a GST meeting at his residence today with Jaitley, BJP chief Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the strategy for the Tuesday session. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May 2015 and vetted by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee. Facing the heating of political equations the bill had hit a roalblock in Rajya Sabha as the government lacks majoirty in the Upper House. Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have held a series of discussion with various parties to give the required momentum to the bill. On July 27, the Cabinet had cleared changes in the legislation, dropping the controversial one per cent manufacturing tax and providing guarantee to compensate states for any revenue loss in the first five years of rollout of the ambitious indirect tax regime. HAS THE TIME COME YET? Once the Rajya Sabha clears the legislation, the amended legislation would be returned to the Lok Sabha for its approval. The GST legislation, 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 remained in limbo in the Opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha. Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill 2015, the enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2016, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, along with a few others, will also be taken up in the Upper House. In the Lok Sabha, the government has listed for introduction the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, the Central Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill and the Employees Compensation (Amendment) Bill. ALSO READ: GST Bill, India's biggest tax reform since 1947, to be tabled in Rajya Sabha next week Mission GST: Arun Jaitley to meet state finance ministers today to put pressure on Congress --- ENDS --- The incessant rains in Agra, which have resulted in flooded roads , led to the cancellation of Amit Shah's rally in the city. The BJP president was to address a rally on Sunday to lure Dalit votes. BJP's president Amit Shah was to address the Yatra in Agra on Sunday in order to lure Dalit votes into the BJP fold. By Siraj Qureshi: The non-stop rains for the past week have wreaked havoc at the BJP's plans to cash on the Dhamm Chetna Yatra. BJP's president Amit Shah was to address the Yatra in Agra on Sunday in order to lure Dalit votes into the BJP fold. Also read: Uttar Pradesh polls, Post-Mayawati storm, BJP reworks Dalit outreach RAINS WASH OF AMIT SHAH'S RALLY advertisement With waterlogging at the Koti Meena Bazar rally grounds ending any possibility of holding the rally there, the local BJP leadership had to cancel BJP supremo's program at the last moment. The ralley convenor, Vijaydutt Paliwal, told India Today that the BJP was making efforts so that Amit Shah's rally could turn Dalits in support of the party. Heavy downpour turns Gurgaon roads into rivers, traffic comes to a standstill Day after monster jam, traffic woes strike Delhi Lakhs displaced, rhinos killed: Move over Gurgaon, it's the Assam floods that really need our attention BSP LEADERS WERE TO JOIN BJP? Several senior BSP leaders and party workers were also supposed to join the BJP in front of the party president Shah on July 31, but due to the waterlogging in the rally ground, Shah's program had to be cancelled. However, the party would continues its efforts to bring as many Dalits into the party as possible. BJP TRYING HARD TO LURE DALITS Paliwal said that the party's senior leaders have been holding 'nukkad' meetings in the Dalit populated areas of the city to bring them towards the BJP for the sake of their development. He said that now on Sunday, the BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya, and Dhamm Chetna Yatra convenor Arun Singh, would arrive in Agra. The number of BSP leaders who would join the BJP at that time will only be known on Sunday, though it is expected that the number will be quite large. BSP TO WIN IN 2017? Talking to India Today, Amjad Qureshi of the BSP said that however hard the BJP may try, it will not be able to lure away the Dalits from BSP. The Dalits consider BSP supremo Mayawati as their saviour and to dream of leading them away from her was futile. He said that the Dayashanker incident has also strengthened the BSP and it will destroy the BJP in the upcoming State elections. Mayawati slur: BJP suspends Dayashankar Singh for six years, BSP files FIR Dayashankar Singh, expelled by BJP for abusing Mayawati, arrested in Bihar advertisement Quereshi said that the Muslims have also moved away the Samajwadi Party and turning towards the BSP, so it was a real possibility now that the BSP will make a full majority government in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. Meanwhile, the BJP president Amit Shah would not address the rally in Agra on Sunday due to heavy rains. Also Read: Man posing as Amit Shah's nephew dupes BJP MLA and his friend --- ENDS --- This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Can't stand man buns and literary-reference tattoos? Then steer clear of Grand Rapids. According to a study by InfoGroup, the Michigan city has more hipsters than San Francisco. Infogroup came up with a list of nine types of businesses frequented by hipsters, then did the math on which major U.S. cities contained the most of those types of businesses. So Infogroup didn't count actual hipsters, they counted the people who sell hipster stuff to the hipsters. Hipster companies apparently consist of the following: live music venues, tattoo parlors, bicycle shops, thrift stores, coffee shops, breweries, beer stores, record stores, and music dealers. (What is a music dealer if not a record store? We have no idea. Must be a hipster thing.) When all was said and done with Infogroup's study, the once hipster home base of San Francisco ranked ninth. The only city we beat in the top 10 was Rochester. ROCHESTER! In a shocking turn, Sacramento came in fourth, bested only by Seattle, Portland and Denver. Says InfoGroup of San Francisco's ranking, "As home to the Beat Generation and the hippie movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s, San Francisco has deeply hip roots. Today, San Francisco appeals to the modern hipster with single-location coffee shops making up 28 percent of all businesses of interest. Thrift stores (16 percent), bicycle dealers (16 percent) and tattoo parlors (12 percent) make up the rest. Also, compared to all other hipster cities, San Francisco has the most record, tape and CD stores as well as bicycle dealers. If you need more proof, take a stroll through places like the Haight, where we're all reminded that San Francisco will never stop being hip." San Francisco might never stop being hip to InfoGroup, but we're apparently not even close to being as cool as Sacramento. According to InfoGroup, Sacramento is "the new Oakland." Oakland is inexplicably absent from the Top 20, beaten by notoriously hip destinations like Tampa, Fla., and Columbus, Ohio. No matter how you feel about hipsters and their ironic jorts, if Sacramento is beating us in cool contests, San Francisco is in trouble. Perhaps we fell off the hip track when Gwyneth Paltrow's high-brow website offered a "San Francisco Hipster Guide." Or maybe it's the fault of the Google Glass lady. Either way, our hipster credibility is plummeting. STOCKTON Prosecutors in Northern California said a gun stolen from Stocktons mayor was used to kill a 13-year-old boy last year. The San Joaquin County district attorneys office said one of two guns stolen from Mayor Anthony Silva was the murder weapon in the killing of Rayshawn Harris, the Stockton Record reported. Anil Kumar was found dead sitting on a chair inside the ICU on Friday morning. By India Today Web Desk: A Pakistani Hindu doctor was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside the Intensive Care Unit in a hospital. According to senior police official Naeemuddin, 32-year-old Anil Kumar was found dead sitting on a chair inside the ICU on Friday morning. He was found dead after he did not respond to knocks on the door of the surgical wing. advertisement The door was broken and he was found dead sitting on his chair. A syringe was found from the spot. "His death is being investigated as he was found dead in mysterious circumstances," Naeemuddin said. "It appears he had administered an injection on his hand as it was bandaged," he added said. The body will be sent for chemical examination while the syringe will be sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis. Earlier this week, two Hindu teenagers were shot in Pakistan's Sindh province over allegations of Quran desecration while another was arrested for blasphemy. One of the victims, 17-year-old Dewan Sateesh Kumar, succumbed to his injuries while his friend Avinash is in a critical condition, Dawn reported. --- ENDS --- MLA Satish Reddy blasted off at the recently appointed Deputy Conservator of Forests for the incident of flooding havoc during inspection in Kodichikkannahall, Bengaluru. By Rohini Swamy: 'Don't you have any shame? I will slap you and break your teeth' said a seething MLA Satish Reddy to the recently appointed Deputy Conservator of Forests, Deepika Bajpai. Deepika faced this verbal assault when she reached the spot where MLA Satish Reddy and Manjunath Prasad from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commisioner, came to inspect the areas in Bomannhalli and Kodichikkannahalli which had close to 4 feet of water due to heavy rains. advertisement This reaction at first stunned the officer but she was quick to react and ask the MLA to mind his language. "The flooding has taken place due to encroachments in culverts and many lake beds have been illegally encroached upon to built house causing the storm water drains to get blocked," the officer said. Satish Reddy's reaction came with the thought that the DCF has no idea why the flooding took place and verbally assaulted her with his remark. HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED Speaking to India Today, Deepika explained what had happened. The months of July and August is when the forest department plants saplings along the lake areas. The department was involved in it when the rains created havoc. The BBMP commisioner and the MLA Satish Reddy had decided to go to the spot and were calling Deepika to the affected areas. As she was occupied with her seniors on the job, she requested for time to reach Bommanhalli. On reaching the spot, an altercation surfaced between the MLA and Deepika Bajpai. The MLA targeted the IFS officer and allegedly claimed that it was the first department which should have helped avert the situation. "We have been fighting against the real estate lobby who have been trying very hard to claim the lake. If we allow them, they will convert the lake into another set of apartments. They have already encroached upon so many of our lakes in the city. We are trying to save our lakes and this flooding has not gone down well with the officials," said Deepika. "Since it is the planting season for the forest department at this time, I was in the field and I had told the MLA and the commisioner that as there was no network connectivity, I will return their calls. When I was there with my seniors, he got verbally abusive. He asked me "Maana maryaada ilava? I will slap you for bringing this situation," she said. LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE MLA Irked by Reddy's disrespectful behaviour, the DCF is planning to file a formal complaint against the MLA for his act. She will formally file a complaint with the IFS officers association and also send a copy of the fact finding report to the chief secretary. advertisement When India Today tried to speak to the MLA, he did not respond to the calls. Another BBMP official who had visited the site and sought anonymity said that the real estate lobby are solely responsible for this. "They claim areas to built houses and flats and later don't even bother to see if the drainage system is in place of not," the official said. The neighbouring Arekere lake flowed into the houses of the residents and fishes were seen floating in the water that had entered the houses. The BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, who visited the area said it has become a huge challenge as there have been several encroachments. "I will be taking up this issue on war footing, and we will try and see that the areas don't get flooded like this again, he said. --- ENDS --- The iconic factory at Vile Parle will no longer make the neighbourhood smell like a cookie heaven. By Shreya Goswami: Have you ever crossed Mumbai's Vile Parle area in the local train? While most train journeys take us across localities with various kinds of odours--from the vile to the fragrant--crossing Vile Parle had always been a pleasure. The aroma of India's favourite cookie/biscuit, Parle G, being baked in a large factory very close to the station made a journey through Vile Parle a drool-worthy experience, to say the least. This, unfortunately, will no longer be the case. advertisement The iconic Parle factory at Vile Parle closed its doors permanently this week, after functioning for 87 years. The Parle factory at Vile Parle has been functioning for 87 years. Picture courtesy: Twitter/amamsshah Started in 1929, this was the first factory established by Parle Products Pvt. Ltd., the company that gives us those sweet biscuits full of energy-inducing glucose. In fact, the company borrowed its name from the area itself, so much so that the factory has become the landmark for Vile Parle over the decades. Mumbaikars and Parle G fans took to social media to share their dismay at the factory's closure. Picture courtesy: Twitter/ParleG According to a Mid-Day report, this factory had to shut down thanks to low productivity over the past few years. The owners halted the production a few weeks ago, and finally had to close its doors. Also read: Mumbai says goodbye to another landmark as Mani's Lunch Home shuts down In recent years, we've seen many Mumbai landmarks bite the dust--Rhythm House, Samovar, and more recently, Mani's Lunch Home. As the city moves faster and faster towards progress, these shops, restaurants and factories just don't seem to belong in the urban fabric any longer. The 87-years-old factory had to be closed due to low productivity. Picture courtesy: Twitter/suhaasjoshi However, this does not mean that we won't get to indulge in our favourite tea-time biscuits anymore. Parle has a number of other factories in the country (in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana), and will continue producing all its products like Frooti, Hide & Seek and Bourbon, apart from Parle G. Raise a glass of cutting chai and a packet of Parle G to bid the iconic factory goodbye. Picture courtesy: Instagram/chaiiwala Parle G fans (and there are thousands of those in this country) and Mumbaikars, who enjoyed the delicious fragrance of the factory, have taken to sharing their dismay on social media since the Vile Parle factory's closure became news. We can do nothing about the landmark that was such an intrinsic part of Vile Parle, but all the cookie monsters out there will still get to indulge in Parle products. advertisement In fact, we believe the best way to bid this 87-year-old landmark a worthy goodbye is to raise a glass of cutting chai and Parle G to its fond memory. --- ENDS --- Two inmates from Saudi Arabia, Yusuf (21) and Abdus Salam (22) allegedly stabbed Thangminlien Zou of Churachandpur district to death with blunt objects. By Manogya Loiwal : Three inmates of the Sajiwa Central Jail in Imphal died today in two separate incidents of brawl between them. Two inmates, Yusuf (21) and Abdus Salam (22) allegedly stabbed Thangminlien Zou of Churachandpur district to death with blunt objects. As the word of the incident spread, other inmates over a fit of rage, barged into their cell and killed the two. advertisement Reason behind the former attack is still unknown. Security has been beefed up in the entire area and investigations are ongoing. More details are awaited. --- ENDS --- Do you think Brexit was a singularly British form of folly, having little to do with California? Think again. California is the global capital of Brexit-style votes, and this Novembers state ballot is littered with mini-Brexits. Dont think of a Brexit as a vote to leave a larger political or economic union. (California isnt about to leave the U.S. unless a Trump presidency stirs a Calexit movement.) Brexit is better understood as a special kind of ballot measure a plebiscite. Plebiscites are placed on the ballot not by citizens or interest groups but by powerful politicians to serve their own political needs. And plebiscites to put it bluntly are cursed. The term comes from the Latin plebs (the common people) and scitum (decree). But these days it may as well mean backfire. The plebiscite curse describes a tendency of plebiscites to blow up in the faces of the powerful people who pursue them. There are hundreds of examples around the world. Among the most famous was Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochets 1988 plebiscite to extend his constitutional power; dissidents beat the plebiscite and ended his hold on power (a campaign portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film No). In the British Brexit, the self-cursed politician was Prime Minister David Cameron, who wanted his country to remain in the European Union but put the Brexit question to the voters in order to quiet, once and for all, the anti-EU voices within his own party. He assumed he could win the vote, and put the Tories Hamlet-like to be or not to be European debate to rest. Instead, the British voters decided to leave and Cameron lost his job as prime minister. This dynamic should not sound foreign to Californians. Our elected officials have long put measures on the ballot and been hurt by their defeat or hamstrung by the unintended consequences of victory. The biggest and most recent example of the plebiscite curse here was Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggers 2005 special election for four ballot initiatives of his own making. All four lost, and he only saved his governorship by repudiating his own effort and replacing his top advisers. While politicians in other states have also damaged themselves with plebiscites, no place has been as profoundly cursed as California. One reason: Our state is the only place where a law made by ballot initiative cant be changed except by another vote of the people forcing even plebiscite-averse politicians to go to the ballot. Indeed, Californias inflexible form of direct democracy and a good part of the dysfunctional governing systems it has spawned is itself a plebiscite curse. In 1911, Gov. Hiram Johnson held an enormous plebiscite to introduce the initiative and referendum process. This year, the November ballot is getting criticism for its excessive length 17 statewide ballot measures but we should pay extra attention to the ones placed on the ballot by elected officials who call on the people to deliver their desired results, instead of relying on the power of their offices. Gov. Jerry Brown has his own plebiscitary initiative on the ballot. It would liberalize sentencing laws, but its risky. With crime up in California and public safety a bigger concern nationally, Republicans might defeat it and try to cripple the governors larger efforts to reduce the states prison population and better reintegrate former prisoners into California communities. Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor, is taking on the plebiscite curse with two initiatives one to tighten gun controls and the other to legalize marijuana. Hes using both measures to show leadership as part of his nascent campaign to succeed Brown as governor in 2018. But his gun control measure has raised tensions with Democratic legislators pursuing similar measures in the Capitol. And if Newsoms two plebiscites lose, it could badly damage his candidacy and his career. The dangers of plebiscites go beyond the risks to politicians and their causes. When powerful elected officials use the ballot for their own devices, they can raise questions about the credibility of our democracy. Attorney General Kamala Harris has faced criticism for writing favorable ballot titles and expediting legal reviews of plebiscites put forth by other politicians. And this year, the California Supreme Court, whose chief justice has been pressing for more funding for the courts, recently allowed the governors sentencing plebiscite to make this years ballot despite extensive alterations to the measure that have delayed previous ballot initiatives. It would seem direct democracy can be more direct for insiders. As the Brexit vote in Britain reminds us, when the leadership of a state or country loses credibility, great and risky political earthquakes can result. From Europe to California, the plebiscite is a curse that can feed on itself. Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters. PRNewsFoto/Columbia RecordsBarbra Streisand has unveiled the latest in her series of behind-the-scenes videos focusing on the making of her upcoming duets album, Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, and this one features Hugh Jackman. The two entertainers teamed up to perform "Any Moment Now," a song that Barbra's late friend Marvin Hamlisch co-wrote for the 1986 musical Smile, although the tune wasn't used in the production. In the video, Streisand reveals that "Any Moment Now" was the first tune she chose for the project, recalling, "I heard the song and I thought, 'This is a way for me to use actors who act and sing with Broadway material,' so the first person I thought of was Hugh Jackman." Jackman says he was thrilled when Streisand invited him to take part in the album, and so was his wife, who he points out is "the biggest Barbra Streisand fan." In the clip, Hugh explains that he excitedly commented to his wife, "I don't know how this has happened," to which she responded, "But you're doing it!" and he said, "Of course I'm doing it!" The video's premiere coincides with the release of "Any Moment Now" as a digital download. As previously reported, Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway will be released on August 26. The album also features Streisand performances with Anne Hathaway, Alec Baldwin, Melissa McCarthy, Antonio Banderas and other stars. Meanwhile, Streisand will promote the album on a new North American summer tour that gets underway this Tuesday, August 2, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. As the protest progressed, a group of lawyers from inside the gate pelted stones and hurled beer bottles at the journalists who then reacted to the attack, sparking of another round of violence that got out of control. By Revathi Rajeevan: More than a week after the clash between lawyers and journalists at Kerala High Court premises followed by an "unofficial ban" on media in courts, the high court today issued a press statement saying that individual judges can decide whether media should have access to judgements from judges' chambers. Although the HC said that "there is no ban imposed on the journalists from attending and reporting court proceedings," it stated that "the individual Judges will be at liberty to decline access to any person to their Chambers and the office of the Private Secretaries and Personal Assistants, including Personal Assistants attending to the court work of that judge from the Personal Assistants' Pool." advertisement READ: Lawyers pelt stones, throw beer bottles at journalists in Thiruvananthapuram This, the statement said, was "taking into account the requirements to insulate the Chamber and Office of each judge and attached staff, including Private Secretaries and Personal Assistants." The court order. The statement was issued following a clash between the police and journalists after the latter was denied entry into the Kozhikode district court today. At least four media persons were detained by the police in the incident. Reporters had been staying away from attending court proceedings following repeated clashes between lawyers and journalists on court premises in different parts of the state starting from July 21. The clashes were sparked off when high court lawyers had allegedly manhandled journalists following a dispute over a newsreport. The report concerned a government pleader accused of molesting a woman. After the clashes on HC premises, the registrar of the court had asked reporters not to access judgments from chambers. The reporters who attend court proceedings and hear the judgements, cross check the same with the judgements available at the concerned judge's chambers. The court's statement today said it will look into the issue of framing guidelines to ensure prompt and easy access to judgements by media. However, it did not mention any steps taken to ensure safety of reporters covering court proceedings. --- ENDS --- BEIRUT Dozens of families and some opposition fighters started leaving besieged rebel-held neighborhoods in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday after the government opened safe corridors for civilians and fighters who want to leave, state media reported. The government closed the main road into rebel-held areas of Aleppo on July 17, effectively trapping the 300,000 people living there. Last week, Syrian President Bashar Assad offered an amnesty to rebels who lay down their arms and surrender to authorities in the next three months. Opposition activists denied reports that Aleppo residents were leaving rebel-held neighborhoods of the city, saying state media was attempting to falsely suggest that civilians were fleeing the area in large numbers. Syrian TV footage appeared to show dozens of people leaving, a small proportion of the hundreds of thousands of people still living in besieged eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. About a dozen young men were shown on state TV surrendering to government forces. All had covered their faces, and most were carrying automatic rifles over their heads. As the men walked out of a building, Syrian government soldiers pointed their rifles toward them. State TV also showed dozens of women and children arriving in a street lined with heavily damaged buildings in the government-held part of Aleppos Salaheddine neighborhood. State news agency SANA said the civilians later boarded buses and were taken to shelters set up by the government on the western side of Aleppo. SANA said some fighters came forward to government forces stationed in Salaheddine, where they handed over their weapons and surrendered to authorities. Usually surrendering fighters are questioned by government authorities and then sign a pledge promising not to take up arms against the Syrian state again. We are feeling good now because we are under the protection of the army, may God protect them. We suffered a lot in order to be able to come here, a Syrian woman told state TV after leaving rebel-held parts of Aleppo, Syrias largest city and once its commercial center. State media said that large numbers of people were being prevented by militants from leaving rebel-held parts of the city. The Russian military said 169 civilians have left Aleppo through the three safe corridors since they were set up, including 85 on Friday and 52 more on Saturday. In addition, 69 fighters have left after laying down their arms, said Lt. Gen. Sergei Chvarkov, who heads the Russian center for reconciliation located in Latakia military base. He said four more corridors were in the process of being created. The Syrian government has set up six shelters that can accommodate at least 3,000 people, he said. Syrian opposition activists expressed deep skepticism over the governments humanitarian corridors. Aleppo-based opposition activist Baraa al-Halaby denied reports that civilians and fighters have left to government-held parts of the city. This is a game by the regime. Not a single person left, al-Halaby said. The regime wants to say that civilians have left in order to burn Aleppo. The Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition monitoring group, denied that civilians and fighters were heading to government areas of the city. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that people have left opposition areas but had no numbers. PARIS You cant put a guard in every church and patrol every beach. But after a wave of attacks in Western Europe, authorities are struggling to protect their people as best they can. The French Riviera city of Cannes has banned large backpacks on beaches lest they hide explosives, and Britain is providing extra funding for security at tens of thousands of places of worship. The grisly slaying last week of an elderly priest celebrating Mass in a Normandy church, less than two weeks after 84 revelers were mowed down by a truck on a beachfront promenade in Nice, sounded the alarm that nothing is sacred and no place is safe. Four attacks in a week in Germany also sealed the conviction. Churches take great pride in being open. But there comes a time when the reality of crime and the reality of terrorism may mean that some of that balance needs to be readjusted, said Mark Gardner, spokesman for Community Security Trust, which provides protection to Jewish synagogues and schools throughout Britain. The Trust started operating in 1994 after a car bomb attack on the Israeli Embassy in London injured 20 people and a devastating attack on a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people. The attacks in France and two of the four in Germany were claimed by the Islamic State group, thousands of miles away in strongholds in Syria and Iraq. Their preferred targets are symbols of what they label the crusader West in Europe, but with so many to choose from, no one can predict where terror might strike anew. France has been muscling up its security forces since two waves of Islamic State-claimed attacks in 2015 that left 147 dead and after two March attacks in Belgium that killed 32. President Francois Hollande has ordered 10,000 soldiers who have been patrolling since last year to stay in the streets, has called up reserves to bolster police and borders, and plans to use some to create a National Guard. But the challenge of protecting churches, synagogues, tourist haunts, beaches, summer festival sites, airports and train stations is among the most daunting tasks security forces have faced in recent times in France, and Europe. The city of Nice, citing the terror threat, canceled a memorial march set for Sunday to honor victims of the attack on the famed Promenade des Anglais. Some towns are pitching in as they can, or inventing new rules to ward off threats. The Riviera city of Cannes, 20 miles from Nice, has banned big bags on beaches until at least the end of October, bags that Mayor David Lisnard says could contain explosives or weapons. More controversially, the mayor of Rive-de-Gier, a small town near Lyon, decided to systematically refuse new applications by residents to bring their families to live with them, a process most often used by immigrants with loved ones in another country. Whether the mayor can actually change national policy allowing families to live together remains to be seen, but the initiative reflects a rising level of fear often directed at immigrants even though many assailants have been European-born. Today, no commune in France is safe, Mayor Jean-Claude Charvin said in a statement on the towns website. Each day, the government says Were at war ... (it) must give small towns the means to protect their citizens. 1 Refugee deaths: A leading migration group says more than 3,000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, nearly a 60 percent increase from this time in 2015. The International Organization for Migration in Geneva said Friday that the discovery of 39 bodies on Libyan shores this week raises the total, as of Wednesday, to 3,034 refugees who have died trying the crossing in 2016. The figure marks the third straight year in which more than 3,000 people have died in such attempts. 2 War crimes trial: A tribunal ordered Chads ex-dictator Hissene Habre on Friday to pay more than 4,700 victims at least $17,000 each for abuses suffered during his time in power. The Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal found Habre guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment on May 30 for crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and sex crimes committed during his presidency from 1982 to 1990. The trial began in July 2015 and was the first in which courts of one country prosecuted the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes. The court didnt announce the total figure, but it is estimated to be more than $85 million. MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called off a 5-day-old cease-fire after communist guerrillas killed a government militiaman and failed to declare their own truce by a Saturday deadline, in an early setback to his efforts to end one of Asias longest-raging rebellions. It was the first irritant in what has been warming relations between Duterte, who calls himself a left-wing president, and the Maoist guerrillas, who have been waging a decades-long insurrection. Both sides had agreed to resume peace talks next month in Norway, and it was not immediately clear whether the talks would be affected. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate OSWIECIM, Poland Pope Francis paid a somber visit in silence to the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday, with his only public comment a guest book entry begging Gods forgiveness for so much cruelty. The Argentine-born pontiff made an early morning pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitlers forces killed more than 1 million people, most of them Jews, during World War II. Francis entered the camp on foot, walking slowly in his white robes beneath the notorious gate at Auschwitz that bears the cynical words Arbeit Macht Frei (Work sets you free). Among the 11 survivors he met briefly was a woman in her mid-90s who helped deliver babies born to Auschwitz women; another, 101, played the violin in the death camp orchestra. Francis moved on to nearby Birkenau, a sprawling complex where people were murdered in factory-like fashion in its gas chambers. There he greeted 25 Holocaust rescuers, including a woman who as a child helped her mother smuggle in bread in their handbags to Jews forced by Nazi occupiers to stay in Warsaws ghetto. Altogether, it was a deeply contemplative and private visit of nearly two hours that Francis passed in total silence, except for a few words he exchanged with the survivors and rescuers. Vatican and Polish church officials said Francis wanted to express his sorrow in silence at the site, mourning the victims in quiet prayer and meditation. However, he did express his feelings, writing in the Auschwitz memorials guest book in Spanish: Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty! He then signed with his name in Latin, Franciscus and added the date 29.7.2016. Francis is the first pope to visit Auschwitz who did not himself live through the brutality of World War II on Europes soil. Both of his predecessors had a personal or historical connection to the site. St. John Paul II, born in Poland, witnessed the unspeakable suffering inflicted on his nation during the German occupation during the war. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, who visited in 2006, was a German who served in the Hitler Youth for a time as a teenager. Francis prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before greeting survivors one by one, shaking their hands and kissing them on the cheeks. He then carried a large white candle to the Death Wall, where prisoners at Auschwitz were executed. By PTI: Ahmedabad, Jul 30 (PTI) Gujarat government today appointed J N Singh as the new Chief Secretary of the state. Singh, a 1983 batch IAS officer, who was serving as additional chief secretary in the finance department, has been transferred and appointed as Chief Secretary to Gujarat government, a notification issued by General Administration Department here said. He will replace G R Aloria, who retires tomorrow. PTI PD ARS SRY JMF --- ENDS --- advertisement KANDAHAR, Afghanistan An important district in Afghanistans southern poppy-growing province of Helmand has fallen under Taliban control after heavy fighting that killed as many as 17 police officers and wounded up to 10 others, an official said Saturday. The director of Helmands provincial council, Kareem Atal, said Taliban militants attacked a series of police checkpoints Friday night as part of a larger assault in the Kanashin district. Earlier, his deputy, Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, said Kanashin district had fallen into Taliban hands. The fall of the district, which borders Pakistan and major poppy-producing districts, means Taliban are in control of 60 percent of Helmand, Akhonzada said. Much of the area of Marjah, Sangin, Garmser and Dishu districts already have fallen to the Taliban, he said. Atal said troops had been deployed to retake the district, but it would be a difficult task because the Taliban have destroyed all the checkpoints. Authorities have been trying for months to persuade rural districts to reduce the number of police checkpoints, as they are manned by small numbers of officers who are vulnerable to Taliban attacks. They want to consolidate the checkpoints, so that there are fewer of them but each is more heavily manned and less vulnerable. Residents, however, prefer the regularly spaced small checkpoints, officials have said, as they make them feel safe. Kanashin is a major drug smuggling route. Helmand produces most of the worlds opium, the raw material of heroin, which helps fund the Talibans insurgency. The fall of Kanashin follows a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which concluded that government forces have lost 5 percent of the territory they held at the end of January. The report released last week said 66 percent of districts across Afghanistan were under government control or influence at the end of May, a decrease from the 70 percent at the end of January. The Taliban have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government since 2001, when their regime was ousted by the U.S. invasion. The insurgents consider Helmand, along with neighboring Kandahar province, to be their heartland. Elsewhere on Saturday, explosives hidden in a fruit cart at a market in the western city of Herat killed two people and wounded six others. Merely a month after lightning strikes killed nearly 100 people in UP and Bihar, tragedy has struck again in Odhisa today. By Indo-Asian News Service: At least 30 people were killed and 35 others injured due to lightning strikes in different parts of Odisha, police said on Saturday. While the maximum number of eight deaths were reported from Bhadrak district, there were seven casualties in Balasore district and five in Khurda, said police. Besides, three deaths were reported in Mayurbhanj and one each in Kendrapara, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, police said, adding details of three deaths are awaited. advertisement ALSO READ: Deadly bolts from the blue: 9 times lightning strikes shocked the world Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Mohapatra said they had received reports of several death cases due to lightning. Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday expressed his condolences over the deaths of people due to the lightning strikes. The Chief Minister also directed the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) to disburse assistance immediately to bereaved families as per the Relief Code. ALSO READ: Lightning kills 56 in Bihar, 42 in UP in last 24 hours --- ENDS --- A day after widespread protests in Karnataka, cops have roughed up locals including senior citizens and women. Several senior leaders have condemned the lathicharge that injured over 30 persons. By Rohini Swamy: As Karnataka saw widespread protests after the Mahadayi water dispute tribunal rejected Karnataka's request for an interim order allowing to draw 7.56 tmcft of drinking water under the Kalasa Banduri drinking water project, another shocking incident has come to light. Many of those who participated in the protests especially from the districts of Nargund, Navalgund and Hubli - Dharwad did not expect the police to forcibly enter their houses and beat them up. Many villagers from Yamanur, Navalgund districts had participated in the stone pelting incident where several central government offices including the BSNL office were attacked to mark their protest. The protestors tried to set the office on fire. They also had set a few buses on fire. But the next day, several police officers had landed at their houses and dragged them out and beat them up. advertisement OVER 30 PEOPLE INJURED IN LATHICHARGE More than 30 people were reported injured and were later admitted to a Hubballi hospital for treatment. The Navalgund police registered a case against over 50 people including local leader Lokanath Hebasur for creating unrest in the district. Yelamma too had joined the protest as every year she faces acute water shortage during the summers. She travels nearly five kilometres to get water for her family and the cattle she raises. She too felt that the 7.56 tmcft of water would help her survive through the worst dry spells. The police indiscriminately attacked woman and senior citizens. The police indiscriminately attacked woman and senior citizens. She faced the lathicharge by the police thinking that was just to dispel the crowds. The next morning , she found herself being dragged out of her house and beaten with lathis. "I did not how to react , we were fighting for our rights, they came and beat us black and blue. You can see the clot on my hand," she said. SENIOR BJP LEADERS CONDEMN ATTACK Senior BJP leaders such as B S Yeddyurappa , Ananth Kumar and D V Sadananda Gowda have condemned the lathicharge by the police. "I demand a thorough probe to be ordered immediately about the police brutality and cruelty on women from the villages of Yamanur and Algawadi villages. I also demand that the state government comes out with an action plan to get the Mahadayi dispute sorted . The state government is at the brink of a precipice and people are angry and agitating. The state government must soothe the ruffled sentiments of the people," said the BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa in a statement. BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa's statement. The Karnataka state Director General of police Om Prakash has said that strict disciplinary action will be taken against all those who are found to be involved in the rampage. The Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara also condemned the act and said that he has ordered probe into the matter and actions will be taken all those who were involved in this inhuman act. SO WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THIS FLASHPOINT? The Mahadayi river, which has its source in Karnataka, flows through Goa to the sea and Goa fears that the diversion of water to northern Karnataka would harm its interests. This dispute has been going on since 2002 and Goa had approved the water tribunal seeking clarity whether water should be diverted to Karnataka or not. Though the river Mahadayi originates in Karnataka, it is considered the lifeline for Goa and newly 75 per cent of the river's catchment area is in Goa. The Mahadayi Water Tribunal pronounced its order in favour of Goa on Monday and since then protests have broken in the districts of North Karnataka opposing the move as well as stating that the Congress government in Karnataka and the BJP leaders such as Union minister Ananth Kumar, Former BJP state chief Prahlad Joshi were not convincing enough which led to the loss in getting water for the state. While a statewide bandh was called bringing the state almost to a standstill, it was the districts of Hubli-Dharwad, Belagavi, Gadag, Nargund and Navalgund that was worst hit by the bandh call. Also read: Mahadayi river dispute: Bandh call disrupts life in Karnataka, film fraternity lends support Power Yogi July 25, 2016 How Baba Ramdev emerged as a political, economic and cultural superbrand Was it necessary to carry such a repulsive cover image of Baba Ramdev? FYI, we buy Patanjali products not for his 'connections' but because they are cheaper, ayurveda-based and have healthier ingredients. J Akshobhya, Mysuru Yogi bare I have always admired the aesthetics of india today's cover designers but this issue was a drastic departure (Power Yogi). The sight of the hirsute yogi's langot-clad posterior was absolutely revolting. Foreign readers must have been perplexed by this suggestion of a reversal in the country's quest for modernisation. It makes sense, though, if it's meant as a dig at entrenched international brands in India. Col David Devasahayam, Chennai The stupendous rise of Baba Ramdev will no doubt have Harvard and the IIMs incorporating Patanjali as a case study in their curriculums. JM Ovasdi, Jaipur Your Baba Ramdev cover does justice to neither the yogi nor yoga. Avinash Godboley, Dewas Baba Ramdev is an eyesore for Page 3 people who spare no opportunity to deride him and his business. Why should we not prefer indigenous products to foreign brands if they are on par quality-wise? On that count, Patanjali boasts of a million satisfied customers. Hena Prasun, Mumbai Ramdev's peddling of his brand of 'televised yoga', a practice frowned upon by yoga patriarch B.K.S. Iyengar, has paid off. The yoga has taken a backseat while Ramdev cocks a snook at the multinationals. One can only imagine him saying 'Patanjali ki jai' as he laughs all the way to the bank. CV Aravind, Bengaluru Hats off to the wellness guru, who has made yoga accessible to the common man and packed the goodness of Ayurveda into products for a swachh body and, thereby, a swachh nation. Praveena Thimmaiah, Bengaluru Patanjali's success has silenced Baba's critics. He is truly fulfilling Modi's directive to Make in India. One wonders if it is to benefit certain MNCs that Brinda Karat and Ghulam Nabi Azad have been trying to put him down. They could certainly not have predicted that a mere yoga guru would acquire the status of a national icon. Sudarshan Nandi, Midnapore Ramdev is clearly a brilliant strategist. First, he cultivated friends among the high and mighty, then built a large following through his yoga shows on television and finally leveraged those two strengths to create an FMCG empire good enough to compete with multinational giants. Krishan Kalra, via e-mail The sorrow and the pity It's surprising india today found it worth its while to glorify the death of a self-styled cowboy brandishing a Kalashnikov and given to killing at will (A Rebellion Goes Viral). You should have instead published photos of security forces who face the wrath of misguided youth while carrying out their duties. Lt Col AE Charles (Retd), Coimbatore At a time when the world is being called upon to usher in a sustainable future through the judicial use of natural resources, China, with its craze for megacities, will only exacerbate the ecological crisis (New Dream Cities). Despite its considerable investment in renewable energy, Thomas Friedman's quote resounds: "What if it meets all criteria of economic success except one: You cannot live there!" CV Krishna Manoj, Hyderabad China is brimming with possibility, but its rapid urbanisation also needs to be matched by conscientious relocation. The impact of development at breakneck speed on agrarian resources needs to be assessed. Havish Madhvapaty, Delhi The halo of martyrdom conferred on Burhan Wani is a product of the open fascination with career militants glamourised via social media. The dream Wani-a smartly turned-out militant hanging out with his gun-toting mates in the orchards of Tral- sold made terrorism seem an attractive profession. Among those who fell for it were educated boys from well-to-do families. P Arihanth, Secunderabad The pain and ire of Kashmiris losing their sons is understandable, but the self-destructive pursuit of azadi has to be given up. It is disquieting that Kashmir's embittered youth identify with what Wani stood for. These separatist sympathisers are oblivious to the unfeasibility of seceding from India into an independent land-locked state susceptible to being preyed upon by an expansionist Pakistan. Nalini Vijayaraghavan, Thiruvananthapuram Her name is Sheila The Congress has pulled a rabbit out of its hat by brandishing Sheila Dikshit as its CM candidate in UP (Grand Oldies Party). She was reportedly chosen by the party's high maintenance election strategist Prashant Kishor to lure Brahmin votes. It has been over 30 years since the party ruled the state and she will require a herculean push to become a real contender for the top stakes. The party has atrophied in its few pockets of support in the state. It has to consolidate its voter base, something SP, BSP and BJP have sorted out. Padmini Raghavendra, Secunderabad In the name of progress West Bengal has made an uncharacteristic transition from Nano to Yes Please under the aegis of Mamata Banerjee. The street fighter-turned-shrewd political leader, who drove the Tatas out of West Bengal, has made a much-needed course correction since, heralding hope for the investment-starved state. She has accepted the need to bolster rapid industrial growth to control unemployment. In her second term as chief minister, she cannot afford to commit political harakiri. She is treading carefully, and wisely, this time round. MRG Murthy, Mysuru I read with interest your excellent editorial (Letter from the Editor, July 11) on Brexit based on your personal knowledge as a student in London in 1967. I could appreciate it because I was a student in the University of Brussels and also an 'intern' in the EE Commission in 1970-71. I do not, however, agree with Nandan Nilekani that export-led growth is not important for India, and technology, including his brainchild Aadhar and smartphones, will solve all problems. This may be true in small countries like Sweden, Finland or Singapore. Even now we do not know whether even 'tweets' are seen by the powers-that-be in government, let alone getting a reply. 'Tweet', 'Tweet' is like the old 'apply', 'apply' and 'no reply'! Your other eminent writers have dealt with problems of trade and investment, both ways, after Brexit. But they have not provided a road-map. Art. 50 Lisbon Treaty negotiations will take about two years and technically there should be a 'stand still' on these agreements between India and the EU/Britain. Are we going to adhere to this or talk simultaneously as in the 1970s? Commerce, industry and finance ministries should know. As far as the existing investments are concerned, people like Hinduja and Swraj Paul may not relocate to the EU. But it is advantageous for others to relocate in a bigger market. All these questions have to be answered. Dr G Sundaram, Chennai STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Two Staten Island men have been arrested in connection with a Mount Kisco jewelry store heist, according to The Examiner News. Westchester County police said Thomas Curry, 28, walked into Wilson & Son at around 2:50 p.m. Thursday and stole two watches valued at $50,000, the report said. Curry ran to a waiting Lincoln Navigator, which fled the scene, according to the report. Within minutes, police located the vehicle and took the driver, Curry, into custody, the report said. Joseph Mason, 25, allegedly jumped out of the Navigator and ran off. Police found him almost eight hours later, at 10:30 p.m., hiding in a cemetery following a manhunt that involved officers, canines and an Aviation Unit helicopter, The Examiner News reported. Curry was charged with second-degree grand larceny, while Mason was charged with fourth-degree criminal facilitation, the report said. It wasn't immediately clear whether Mason is the same man reportedly indicted earlier this month in connection with a bank robbery in New Jersey. Mount Kisco is approximately 65 miles north of Staten Island. Watch the wonderful surprise this man gave his wife, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, on their tenth anniversary in form of a flash mob. By India Today Web Desk: Carl Gilbertson, a resident of Liverpool, UK, wanted to do something for his wife Laura on their tenth wedding anniversary. So, he made a plan with his friends at the Liverpool Media Academy and came up with the idea of flash mob. While many may think flash mobs are out of fashion or a 'dud', Laura didn't seem to be feeling that away. Suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, wheelchair-seated Laura was moved to tears by her husband's gesture. advertisement As the LMA students sing Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are, the couple can be seen holding hands and cherishing the moment. Gilbertson also wrote on Facebook in soul-stirring words what his wife means to him: "Finally I just want to leave the last word for my Laura. At our wedding breakfast I said that 'it is the greatest honour anybody could ever bestow upon me for you to take me as your husband and the most enduring privilege to be able to call you my wife'. It was never just a line for a speech it was how I felt and you spend every day re-enforcing it. Your strength, courage and dignity take my breath away and though most Saturday's at kick off time you may not think it, you're the only thing that really matters. My babe, you're amazing - just the way you are" Watch the heartwarming video of this loving husband's gift to his wife: --- ENDS --- 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 Children between 3 and 6 years of age group should get education under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy but play schools are not registered and are not following the norms. Right now play schools in the country are following no norms and guidelines. By Mail Today Bureau: Mushrooming play schools across the country will be soon monitored and registered by the government to ensure they maintain certain standards, which is currently operational without following any government rule. According to senior government officials, growing sector of pre-nursery institutions are not regulated and have sprung up in each lane like a pan shop. MONITORING QUALITY OF SERVICE So to keep a track on facilities and education imparted to toddlers, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is forming a policy through which such centres will be registered and accredited but will also frame kind of curriculum and learning tools children will be provided. Children between 3 and 6 years of age group should get education under Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy under the ministry of WCD, but play schools are not registered and are not following the norms. NCPCR is working in making policy to bring play schools under the ambit of ECCE scheme. advertisement As of now, there is no regulation in place to monitor the quality of service being provided at such facilities. "Right now play schools are following no norms and guidelines. These play schools are not complying with any definition of schools under RTE act. Only creche is only outside RTE act where kids below three years of age can go. Any institution which is providing education to kids over three years should follow RTE act and ill have to follow ECCE schemes," senior officers of NCPCR told Mail today. PLAY SCHOOLS' RELEVANCE TO RTE ACT The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) which came into effect 1 April, 2010, has also addressed early childhood care. "Play-schools are very relevant for early education but this sector is completely unmonitored and keeps children at risk. I had moved court against unrecognised school and despite court's direction government has failed to address it," said lawyeractivist Ashok Agarwal. Official added that it is even found that even kids below three years of age are being admitted to play school. If a kid is below three then they can go to creche and not to playschools. Giving education to kinds below three violates government's rule. The Commission is forming a guideline to regulate play schools which are admitting kids between age group of three to six and it will then be forwarded to the ministry for further implementation. GROWING NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS Officials claim there are no estimate of exact number of unregistered play schools but claims that their number is increasing every day and so is the complaint against them. NCPCR has received several complaints about fee and safety measures taken by such institution. "After receiving complaints we also tried to cancel their registration and but they are like pan shop. They have no registration and follow no rules," officer said. In Delhi close to 50,000 kids go to play schools. Commission is also working on fee structure adopted by these institutions and will also monitor the category of teachers hired by them. "We don't have enough nursery trained teachers when compared to the pace at which these institutions have mushroomed in the country," official said. The policy will specify the minimum qualification required. ALSO READ: Prakash Javadekar holds meeting with RSS leaders to formulate country's education policy Exploring vocational education in medicine: Is MBBS the only option in healthcare? Post-convention it has become clear the presidential race will be fought in the struggling manufacturing towns, cities and rural farming communities of the Rust Belt, as Clinton used the days following her convention to try and win back some of the white working class voters that once made up a key piece of the Democratic Party's electoral coalition. Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-diversity, anti-trade message has appealed to those voters, who feel frustrated with an economic recovery that's largely left them behind. With the end of the school year fast approaching, students across the ACT and region are starting to think about their futures. When it comes to tertiary education, Canberrans are spoiled for choice and consequently have the highest rate of degree qualifications per capita, and are twice as likely to hold a postgraduate qualification as Australians outside the capital. A much underrated alternative to progressing straight to university is to become a qualified tradesperson through an apprenticeship. University degrees have traditionally carried a level of prestige, and parents who never had that opportunity are often keen to see children study at this level. Learning a trade can really set you up for success but you can always hit the books afterwards. Credit:James Davies However, there are a number of advantages to an apprenticeship, which can see you on your way to owning and running your own business. With more and more women considering trades as a viable option, this is definitely a message for everyone. Unlike tertiary education, apprenticeships combine paid work with training, which means you will earn an income at the same time as you earn a qualification. Unlike the part-time job at university, you are accumulating knowledge and skills that will be needed for your future occupation in a real-world setting. Also, unlike university, you can finish your training without a HELP debt hanging over you for years. In this environment, no government, whether bullish or more measured, can guarantee absolute safety just as no physician can guarantee her patients continued good health. Yet rising public anxiety demands just this. Decisions must therefore be made. More or less continuously, which is the danger. Hence, a fortnight ago, we learnt that urgently tightening our counter-terrorism laws would be the first order of business for the Turnbull government. Politically, this is understandable. Administratively, the case is less compelling. Admittedly, this is difficult terrain for any government. In the face of the Islamist threat, citizens yearn for old certainties and clear boundaries delineating friend from foe by cohort of nationality or faith if necessary. With every attack, the allure of an aggressively anti-intellectual populism via demagogues like Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson grows. Once fringe-dwellers, these figures are surfing the illusion that by hiving off sections of the community from the mainstream, that mainstream is secured. Yet so fundamental is the proposed negation of universal human rights and cherished cultural norms, that the original purpose of "protecting our way of life" risks annihilation anyway. The unvarnished advice from our police is that an attack is "probable". Stopping Muslims from entering the country or banning Halal certification will have no impact on that not a positive one anyway. The government's terror alert website is confronting: "Credible intelligence, assessed by our security agencies indicates that individuals or groups have developed both the intent and capability to conduct a terrorist attack in Australia the factors that underpinned that decision (setting) persist, and some have worsened. Those who wish to do us harm, some located here and some overseas, continue to view Australia as a legitimate target." With a realistic fear of attack pressing on one side of the public imagination, and simplistic solutions pressing on the other, the last thing governments caught in the middle can afford, is to be seen to be doing nothing. And so we see the sudden priority announced in the past fortnight to legislate indefinite post-sentence detention for criminals convicted of terrorist offences. What ever the argument and many Australians would say the threat justifies this move there is no denying the reversal of a central tenet of our legal tradition, inherent in such a change. And, accepting that fact, the first question must be, why rush? We already knew, this change was in the offing because premiers had ticked off on it in COAG after discussing it in 2015 and then again in April. If its passage into law is now urgent, one wonders why Turnbull delayed that process by dissolving Parliament in May for an early election. Plus, of the convicted terrorists currently accommodated at Her Majesty's pleasure, the first is not due for release until 2019. This leaves rather a large amount of time to consider changes carefully. The danger is in surrendering long-held rights and established limits on state power in small increments. It was a warning well made by Justice Kirby in 2010 in the High Court case of Fardon v Attorney-General for the State of Queensland. Citing the rise of national socialism in 1930s Germany, he noted that sentencing turned on the "pictorial" character of the convict rather than the offence committed and that "political prisoners and "undesirables" became increasingly subject to indeterminate detention. "This shift of focus in the criminal law led to a practice of not releasing prisoners at the expiry of their sentences. By 1936, in Germany, a police practice of intensive surveillance of discharged criminals was replaced by increased utilisation of laws permitting 'protective custody'." And he noted ominously that the independent German courts were not instructed, because "they did not need to be". It was encouraging to witness the political and community response this week to footage and testimonies demonstrating the inhumane and abominable treatment of children in detention in the Northern Territory. There is a chilling, compelling parallel and I'll come back to that below. Within hours of the distressing evidence, aired on the ABC's Four Corners program, of brutality to the point of torture of vulnerable people incarcerated in a taxpayer-funded hell-hole administered by our elected representatives and those who report to them, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called a royal commission. The entire nation, he said, was shocked and appalled by the atrocities, which included beating children, keeping them in solitary confinement in cruelly small spaces for unconscionably extended periods, constraining them in barbaric devices, throwing them against walls and onto the concrete floor and spraying them with tear gas. The overwhelming majority of the victims are Indigenous; while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people make up less than a third of the NT's population, they account for 97 per cent of children in detention there. That, in itself, reflects the profound cultural woes associated with the detention centre scandal. It has long been known and reported that such appalling child abuse was being perpetrated under the auspices of our lawmakers. Indeed, there had recently been two official reports but the territory's government disgracefully failed to act. Australian and international laws may well have been broken, and should this be found to be the case, those responsible should pay dearly. In graph after graph, statistic after statistic, the Territory sticks out. It spends $1150 per head on police and courts, more than twice the $430 the rest of the nation spends. And it doesn't spend it to the satisfaction of its residents. Territorians are far less satisfied with their police than the rest of us. They are also the most likely to believe they don't "perform their job professionally" and don't "treat people fairly and equally". Anyone who doubts that the Northern Territory is different should look at the number of police per 100,000 residents. The Territory has 700. The next highest state, South Australia, has 312. The rest of the nation makes do with 267 . And the Territory's super-expensive rehabilitation system is extraordinarily bad at rehabilitating. Sixty per cent of the prisoners released from the Territory's jails are back within two years, compared to half in the rest of Australia. The latest Productivity Commission report shows that one-third of the Territorians who've completed community service orders are back on new ones within two years, compared to one-fifth in the rest of the nation. The commission is incredibly careful not to draw conclusions from the data it lays out each January in its report on government services. It needs the cooperation of the states in order to get the otherwise unpublished information. If it was less guarded, it would probably say the jailers in Territory are particularly unproductive. There's one for each nine prisoners, compared to one for each 16 elsewhere. Yet for the most part they simply keep their prisoners locked in cells, for an average for 17 hours each day, compared to 10 hours in the rest of the country. And they are far less concerned about improving prisoner's lives. Only 14 per cent of Territory prisoners attend training courses, compared to 32 per cent in the rest of the nation. If the jailers live a featherbedded life compared to the largely Indigenous population they are responsible for, it's symptomatic of the Territory as a whole. It employs 12 per cent of its population as public servants, compared to 7 per cent in other states. And it pays them better, an average of $83,000 compared to $75,000 per annum, according to my calculations. It is able to do it because it gets five times its per capita share of the GST distribution. The next most looked after state, Tasmania, gets only 1.8 times what it puts in. Tragically, the Territory gets the largesse because the formula awards it extra points for Aboriginal disadvantage. But there's no requirement under the Grants Commission rules for it to actually spend that money on Indigenous disadvantage, meaning there's a financial incentive for it not to. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull accurately reflected the mood of the federal Cabinet when he rejected Kevin Rudd's bid to lead the United Nations, according to deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce. Seeking to "make [it] clear" the decision was not a so-called captain's call, Mr Joyce suggested a majority of his Cabinet colleagues were in favour of denying Mr Rudd the nomination for UN Secretary-General. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in the cabinet meeting that ultimately ended Kevin Rudd's bid to become UN chief. Credit:Andrew Meares "I've seen some reports that this was a captain's pick, it was not. It was a decision of Cabinet," the Nationals leader told the ABC. "I don't think it's giving too much away to say it was a majority." If accurate, Mr Joyce's assessment would mean Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was among a minority of Cabinet ministers who supported nominating Mr Rudd for the very senior position. The "no" side has struggled to form a working coalition in time to lobby Attorney-General George Brandis on the plebiscite's structure, but the "yes" side has developed a campaign vehicle called Australians 4 Equality, which aims to build a winning coalition and raise funds. It has staff, a rudimentary website, an office in Sydney and a network of volunteers. Both sides of the debate are trying to unite their troops before the likely public vote. Mr Dreyfus says he has received dozens of emails from the LGBTI community urging Labor to "hold the line" against "a harmful, divisive plebiscite". Credit:Cathal McNaughton The divide is between those who want to stop the plebiscite at any cost even if it means delaying marriage equality into the never-never and those who now view a public vote as almost inevitable. On Monday, Australian Marriage Equality will launch a petition and media blitz asking that no public funding be given to either side of the campaign. By contrast, the Australian Christian Lobby is demanding $15 million in taxpayers' money. While AME remains vehemently opposed to a plebiscite, which it regards as damaging and unnecessary, it has been carefully preparing to fight and win a campaign. But others within the pro-equality movement are dedicating their energy to stopping the plebiscite, at the risk of delaying same-sex marriage to a future term of government. One plausible scenario is that Labor, the Greens and others block a plebiscite in the Senate, hoping the Coalition will agree to a parliamentary vote. Veteran gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome this week wrote on Facebook: "I have come to the view that it will be easier to achieve a cross-party free vote, or encourage Liberals to the cross the floor [sic], than it will be to conduct a plebiscite fairly and have a 'yes' vote implemented quickly." That view is not shared by other leaders of the pro-equality movement, such as AME chairman Alex Greenwich. They are not convinced it will be possible to block a plebiscite in the Senate but even so, they do not believe the Coalition would then accede to a free vote. A key factor in that reasoning is the greater prominence of the Nationals within the Coalition party room following the election. By PTI: Karachi, Jul 30 (PTI) Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Murad Ali Shah was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of the countrys southern Sindh province. He took oath as the twenty-fourth CM of the province last evening at a ceremony held at the Governor House. Shah replaced the long serving octogenarian Syed Qaim Ali Shah in the key position in the PPP governed province. advertisement Qaim Ali Shah was asked to step down by the top leadership of the party during meetings held in Dubai last weekend. Earlier in the day, Murad, son of former chief minister of the province Abdullah Shah, was elected in the session of the Sindh Assembly. Shah secured 88 votes in favour, while three votes were cast in favour of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafs Khurram Sher Zaman. In a widely expected move earlier, the PPP had formally nominated senior minister Syed Murad Ali Shah as chief minister after Qaim Ali Shah handed in his resignation earlier this week. Murad Ali Shah is a seasoned politician having been elected to the provincial assembly from the Jamshoro constituency PS-73 since its creation in the 2002 general elections. He was elected to the seat from 2002-2007, and was elected again on the same seat during by-polls in 2014. Shah was disqualified from the 2013 general election as he held Canadian citizenship at the time. He later renounced his Canadian citizenship so he could contest by-polls in 2014. Qaim Ali Shah, 83, who has survived several attempts to remove him as CM in the past said he accepted any party decision and would abide by it and tendered his resignation to the Governor after returning from Dubai. Sources said that the declining law-and-order situation in the province and the growing influence of the Rangers were among the reasons for the central PPP leadership to remove Qaim Ali Shah. Karachi, a metropolis of around 20 million people, remains the economic and financial hub of the country but its worsening law-and-order situation had increased the pressure on the PPP high command to change the leadership. Earlier this week two military personnel were shot dead in a target killing in the busy Saddar area of the city. PTI CORR DBS --- ENDS --- It's a case of Sayre's Law: the smaller the stakes, the fiercer the politics. This week, young Liberal students at Sydney's most prestigious university were forced to hire extra security to monitor their orientation day activities, after fears of violent altercations. New members: Jane Cusack, sister of NSW MLC Catherine Cusack, at the Sydney University Liberal Club stall on orientation day. The Sydney University Liberal Club, a prominent recruiting ground for future Liberal operatives, is riven by a factional war so toxic that the students' union dissolved the club's entire membership in May. The University of Sydney Union also forced the club to hire, and pay for, an extra security guard to oversee its orientation day stall on Wednesday. An Australian fashion label that started in a Melbourne garage is now disrupting the fast fashion industry. Tigermist a label aimed at young women has eight new product arrivals landing on its online store a day, whereas traditional retailers like Zara, Topshop and H&M usually refresh stock every week. The Tigermist dress Zhivago claims is a copy. Credit:Instagram Launched by sisters Stevie and Alana Pallister nine years ago as a boutique, it has grown to become a successful online and social media moneymaker. "The store was doing well but it was Facebook where things were taking off. We'd take photos of me wearing the products then upload them and by Thursday, Friday and Saturday we'd be getting calls asking about the dresses and things online," Stevie said. Illustration: Matt Golding. A Fairfax Media analysis of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data shows opioid prescriptions have jumped 28 per cent since 2009. In contrast, the number of opioid prescriptions has been dropping since 2013 in the US. The rate of prescribing the painkillers also continues to rise in Australia, the most recent PBS report into opioids found, with more than 150,000 people accounting for almost two thirds of total prescriptions, which suggests their treatments are for chronic pain. The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists pain medicine faculty dean Chris Hayes said the evidence for opioids' long-term usage had always been sketchy, and had been extrapolated from studies finding the drugs helped cancer patients and people with short-term injuries manage pain. "Broadly thinking, it hasn't worked and the drugs have caused more harm than benefit," he said. So why were the prescriptions still rising in 2014, the last year for which there is full PBS data? Dr Hayes expects the numbers to have dropped in 2015, the same year the College of Anaesthetists issued a new "traffic light" system that warned doctors against prescribing high opioid doses. When it comes to pain management, he said the pendulum had swung from passively received drugs to a more active approach, including exercise and psychological strategies. Trouble is, these services have long waiting times and are expensive. College of General Practitioners committee on quality care head Evan Ackermann said while five appointments to chronic pain specialists were subsidised under Medicare, sufferers often needed more than that for long-term strategies. This meant people in poorer areas where chronic pain rates were highest could not afford to pay for the treatments were more likely to remain on opioids, he said. Malcolm Hogg, head of pain services at Royal Melbourne Hospital, said the median waiting time was five months, although in some cases people were waiting for three years for treatment. The wait times only make it harder to get people off the drugs, he said, with the additional risk of them becoming depressed. Dr Hogg said he knew of a patient who had been driven to suicide while on the waiting list for pain services. An active treatment of chronic pain is the approach Chris Philips took, which ultimately helped him get his life back on track. He was part of a group of 30 who spent three weeks in a pain-management program aimed at rebuilding muscle capacity and providing ongoing strategies to tolerate pain. Ian Thorpe is Australia's greatest swimmer and has won more Olympic gold than any other Australian athlete, but he readily admits his sporting prowess doesn't extend to running. "I'm like most swimmers, I don't run. If I run I run on sand, not bitumen. I tend to get shin splints." Thorpe said. "I've run up hills but I've never done Heartbreak Hill or City2 Surf." Olympian Ian Thorpe presented a 'surprise' talk to a group of runners training for the City2Surf at the adidas store in Pitt Street. Credit:James Alcock Thorpe, 33, who has won five Olympic gold medals, offered some words of wisdom to about 100 participants of a City2Surf training run on Monday night as they embark on the final two weeks of training before the country's biggest fun run. "People doing it are at all different levels. For some people, achievement is just to get through and I'm all for that," said Thorpe. A Sydney deputy mayor already under fire for texting a senior public servant she would be "better as a housewife" has been caught out again, emails obtained by Fairfax Media show. Emails show Ryde councillor Roy Maggio, who last week evaded censure for the housewife remark, repeatedly called another senior staff member "cuddles" despite her express wishes to the contrary. City of Ryde councillor Roy Maggio is in hot water again. The emails come as a union representing local government staff has warned that investigations into misbehaving councillors such as Cr Maggio could be dropped as an unintended consequence of the state's government's plans to merge them. "Hi Cuddles, I require some ink for the printer," Cr Maggio wrote. "No more delays. Simply I am getting annoyed." The bold and beautiful have undone organic farmer Tobias Koenig's hours of toil in two potato fields at Ingelara, south of Canberra. "We probably have deer every year, one or two, walking through the potatoes, which is not a worry," Mr Koenig said. "They are fallow deer. They are beautiful. Fallow deer in the wild. Credit:Invasive Animals CRC "This year, all of a sudden about six weeks ago before the rain, there was no green feed about. They must have got desperate." At first he was mystified as to what had flattened his 40-metre long, heaped rows, until a neighbour watched the crop one night, and counted 30 deer from nearby bushland, digging out potatoes. Being politically active is the focus of Jocelyn Dracakis' whole life, the 20-year-old says. "I invest a lot of time and energy into it; I find it so rewarding." As the women's officer on the University of NSW Student Representative Council, Ms Dracakis was instrumental in achieving affirmative action for the SRC board this year. But she is equally proud when she links one person to a service which leaves them better off. Jocelyn Dracakis, women's officer on the University of NSW Student Representative Council in Kingsford on Friday. Credit:Janie Barrett "I think all the little things add up to a lot," Ms Dracakis says. "[Political activism] is about changing attitudes and changing the culture in the long term, but it's also about empowering individuals." A would-be armed robber wielding an axe has fled empty-handed after an employee at a Stafford Heights newsagency refused to cooperate on Saturday morning. About 7.10am a man entered the Farrant Street business and threatened a male employee with an axe, but when the attendant refused to comply with the man's demands, he fled. Police are searching for an axe-wielding thief, who fled a Stafford Heights newsagency empty-handed after an employee refused to cooperate on Saturday morning. The employee was not physically injured during the incident. The man is described as being about 173cm tall with a slim build, he was wearing a black balaclava, a high-visibility long-sleeved shirt and dark coloured tracksuit pants. Three people have been charged with manslaughter in relation to the death in June of one-year-old Caboolture toddler Mason Lee. Brisbane man, William Andrew O'Sullivan, 35, from Hazeldean near Somerset Dam, appeared in Brisbane's Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning before chief magistrate Ray Rinaudo. A fourth person has been stood down following the investigation into the death of Mason Jet Lee. The toddler's mother, Annemaree Louise Lee, 27, from Caboolture South, was remanded in custody,after appearing in Toowoomba Magistrates Court. Ms Lee will reappear in Toowoomba Magistrate Court on Monday, August 1, police confirmed. A group of four women who locked themselves into a makeshift metal cage in the city to protest the abuse of children in prison have been removed by police. Police cut chains to remove the women from the cage outside Flinders Street station at 4am on Sunday morning. Flinders Street in Melbourne CBD blocked into the night on Saturday. Credit:Wayne Hawkins "They were removed without incident," police spokeswoman Julie-Anne Newman said. "The protesters, who held a presence at the intersection since Saturday afternoon, have dispersed from the area." She said no arrests were made and there were no injuries. By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jul 29 (PTI) US President Barack Obama considers Prime Minister Narendra Modi a good friend and the two countries have collaborated on a number of projects, the White House said today. "We are in close contact with the government of India. President Obama considers Prime Minister Modi a good friend. Weve collaborated on a number of projects," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters at his daily press conference. advertisement Schultz was responding to a question on Chinese aggressive behaviour on South China Sea. "Most recently, most notably the agreement that the United States worked with India on, allowed for the Paris climate deal to happen. So the president is enormously proud of that work. He is also enormously grateful to Prime Minister Modi for his work on that," Schultz said. "But thats not the only facet of our relationship. Obviously, we have economic ties, deep security ties. So the president deeply values his relationship with Prime Minister Modi," he said in response to a question. PTI LKJ UZM --- ENDS --- Parents at a Catholic primary school in Mentone are agitating to have a portrait of Cardinal George Pell removed from their school hall after allegations of sexual abuse emerged against the priest recently. On Wednesday night, ABC's 7.30 aired detailed allegations made by former students of St Alipius primary school in Ballarat, who alleged Cardinal Pell would play with them in the swimming pool and molest them by touching their genitals under water. Cardinal Pell has rejected the accusations, which are being investigated by Victoria Police. Parents at St Patrick's Parish Primary school say they have been asking for the painting to be taken down for "years", but the new allegations have brought matters to a head. Four women who locked themselves into a makeshift metal cage were preparing to spend the night on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets to protest against the abuse of children of prisons. On Saturday, police closed the intersection to all traffic, maintaining only a minimal presence to oversee the crowd of about 100 peaceful agitators. The protest outside Flinders Street station on Saturday night over the treatment of Indigenous youth in detention. Credit:Wayne Hawkins The women's action was part of a Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance rally held at the State Library of Victoria on Saturday afternoon where thousands had gathered calling "for justice for the children tortured in Don Dale and all prisons". It followed harrowing footage aired this week on ABC's Four Corners program revealing the apparent abuse of children in custody in the Northern Territory Hundreds of Victorian children are living in cars, caravan parks, dangerous rooming houses and on the streets, as the young are worst hit by the state's ballooning housing crisis. While the number of homeless people of all ages is on the rise, no group is more affected than children. There has been an alarming increase in the number of children homeless in Victoria. There was a 82 per cent increase in babies and young people aged up to 14 being registered as homeless in the two years to June last year, compared to a 33 per cent rise across the adult population. It is a harrowing trend, say welfare agencies. "The number of children in completely unacceptable accommodation is growing before our eyes," Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Jenny Smith said. Holidaymakers have been left stranded following the collapse of Northbridge-based travel agents Global Plus Holidays. The company shut it's offices abruptly last Monday and at least five customers have contacted authorities to say they paid more than $15,000 on travel bookings but then discovered the flights had not been paid for by the agency. Travellers have been left stranded after the collapse of Perth's Global Plus Holidays. Credit:Nine News Travellers have been scrambling to get hold of the Department for Consumer Protection saying their travel plans have been ruined and they have been left out of pocket. Nine News reported that it knew of one couple who had been left stranded abroad because the company had not stumped up the cash for their return flight. Brussels: Belgium charged a man with planning to commit murder in a terrorist attack and released his brother after a series of house searches on Friday evening, federal prosecutors said. For the time being, there was no connection with the attacks at Brussels airport and the metro on March 22, in which 32 people were killed, the prosecution office said on Saturday. Belgian police say they have foiled a planned terrorist attack after the arrest of a man in Brussels. Credit:Sylvain Lefevre Nourredine H., was detained with his brother Hamza H., on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium. A judge on Saturday charged Nourredine with attempting to commit a terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation, and extended his custody. Highly classified intelligence briefings for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump begin this week, with both candidates raising concerns over the other's ability to handle classified information. Leading Democratic figures, including President Barack Obama, have openly questioned whether Trump is temperamentally fit to be trusted with the country's security secrets. And while Clinton, as a former Secretary of State is no stranger to top-secret intelligence, her handling of classified information over email while she was Secretary was characterised by FBI Director James Comey as "extremely careless" earlier this month. However, America's Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr, has confirmed that the controversial Republican presidential nominee will be briefed on the country's most sensitive national security issues. Mr Clapper said he has "no hesitation" over briefing Trump, citing tradition and Trump's successful clinching of the Republican nomination. "I'll tell you really it's not up to the administration and certainly not up to me personally to decide on the suitability of a presidential candidate," Mr Clapper said on Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum, declaring that voters decide who will be "cleared for everything" through the nomination process. Beirut: A maternity hospital supported by Save the Children was bombed in an air raid in the Syrian city of Idlib on Friday, leaving at least five dead. The strike hit outside the hospital, one of the biggest treating women and babies in the north-west of the war-torn country, killing several relatives of patients. The final death toll was expected to rise, but doctors were "too busy treating the injured to count the dead," a spokesman for the charity said. As the largest maternity hospital in the area, the facility serves 1,300 women a month and delivers more than 300 babies. A nationalist media outlet in China has lambasted Australia as a "country with an inglorious history" that doesn't rate being called a "paper tiger" following Canberra's decision to support an international tribunal that ruled against Beijing's territorial claims. "Australia is not even a 'paper tiger,' it's only a 'paper cat' at best," the Global Times said in an opinion piece published on Saturday. "At a time when its former caretaker country the UK is dedicated to developing relations with ChinaAustralia has unexpectedly made itself a pioneer of hurting China's interest with a fiercer attitude than countries directly involved in the South China Sea dispute." "But this paper cat won't last." Sometimes, it seems, you can judge a book by its cover. And so it should be no surprise that Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump, a recently published book by Garry Trudeau that collects Donald Trump-themed newspaper strips (and shows a glaringly stern Trump, his hair emanating an orange glow, on the cover) from over the years, does not pull any punches. Trudeau's introduction sets the tone for his feelings about the Republican presidential candidate, whom he describes as "the gold standard for big, honking hubris". Thus this collection comes across as a very opinionated time capsule of Trump's transformation from New York real estate mogul to presidential candidate, as seen, interpreted and drawn by Trudeau. On a mission: Trudeau describes Trump as "the gold standard for big, honking hubris". Credit:AP The journey begins in 1987, just after some musings from the real-life Trump, on the possibility of a presidential bid, and it ends on the campaign trail April 17, 2016, with the cartoon version of the candidate hawking Trump-brand insults. Trudeau responded to questions about the book by email this week, including revealing one of his favourite strips, which ran July 26, 1988. It was part of a sequence about the Trump Princess, in which its owner informs the new captain of the 300-foot yacht's virtues. One of the self-styled "child retrieval experts" who helped carry out the 60 Minutes child abduction in Lebanon says the operation went perfectly until it was "botched by an evil person." Briton Craig Michael, who is still in jail in Lebanon, issued a statement through the Child Abduction International Recovery organisation's (CARI) official Facebook page on Saturday. CARI is run by Adam Whittington, the ex-Australian soldier and British police officer who was released on bail after a bitter feud with the father of the two children - Ali Elamine. Michael praised Whittington, who upon returning home has vowed to reveal all about what went down in Beirut in the April operation but is focussed on raising the money needed for his three accomplices, including local men Khaled Barbour and Mohammed Hamza, to be also released on bail. PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig said he will oppose the PDP government if it files appeals against the CJM's order. The CJM today ordered SSP Srinagar to file an FIR against his Deputy SSP for killing a Kashmiri youth. By Naseer Ganai: Exposing the widening fissures within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, a senior leader of the party and a member of Parliament, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, today said he would oppose the government if it files an appeal in the High Court against Chief Judicial Magistrate's order to file FIR against a police officer accused of killing a person inside lawns of his house during current unrest. advertisement "When a judge says file an FIR, it is not a conviction. It is a move towards an investigation of a case. I have heard that the government is planning to file an appeal against the CJM Srinagar's order. It is a bad decision and I am disillusioned with such kind of a policy," Baig told India Today on phone. WHY BE AFRAID OF THE TRUTH? Baig, who is among the founding members of the PDP, said if he gets an opportunity, he will appear in the High Court and will oppose the appeal. "I was disillusioned when I heard about the government's move," he said. Baig, who himself is a well-known lawyer, said the court order to register an FIR doesn't amount to any conviction or chargesheet but is only an inquiry initiated to find the truth. "And why should anyone be afraid to know the truth", he asked. CJM ISSUES NON-BAILABLE WARRANT AGAINST SSP SRINAGAR The CJM Srinagar today issued a non-bailable warrant against the SSP Srinagar as he the SSP did not register an FIR against a Deputy SP, in spite of the court's direction. Earlier, the court had directed the SSP to register an FIR against Deputy SP Yasir Qadri and investigate the killing of a Srinagar youth, who according to the youth's family, was killed in cold blood by the police officer in the lawns of his house. Court issues NBT against senior police officer in J-K THE ORDER BY CJM "The applicant has submitted that on July 10 at 6:45 pm when they were watching television, a police party headed by Deputy SP, Yasir Qadri, barged into their house and started smashing windowpanes and doors of the house. The wife of the applicant tried to stop the said police officer, however, he physically assaulted her. The son (deceased Shabir Ahmed Mir) could not tolerate the thrashing of his mother and tried to rescue her from the clutches of the police officer. The officer took out his pistol and fired two shots at him resulting in his on-the-spot death." advertisement The CJM's earlier order further read, "The applicant has submitted that the Deputy SP took law in his hands and killed his son in cold blood without any reason and rhyme. The applicant has submitted that he filed an application with the SHO Batamaloo, who refused to lodge an FIR against the said Deputy SP,". "In the light of the application and affidavit sworn by the applicant, SSP Srinagar is directed to register an FIR against the said official and investigate the matter. The SSP concerned is further directed to get the case investigated by some police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police," the order of CJM reads. But the order was not complied with by the police, following which, the court today issued a non-bailable warrant against the SSP. The court said the SSP is directed to show cause as to why contempt proceedings would not be initiated against him for not obeying the court directions as he was asked to lodge the FIR and file a copy of the FIR within 24 hours. Also read: 2 women killed in Army firing, probe ordered J&K violence: DIG South Kashmir, SSP Anantnag transferred --- ENDS --- advertisement Property owner calling on the State and Collectivity to do what is necessary for him to demolish the building. French Quarter:--- The owner of the dilapidated apartment building situated at 10 Impasse Adams Alexander, Standford Jermin could not get a mother and her children out of the dilapidated building on Friday morning in order for him to demolish the building since he is in possession of a demolition permit. The woman Vannie Maduro, mother of 14 children most of whom are residing at the I CAN Foundation refused to get out of the building even though the owner of the building notified the families that took up residence in the building that he will be demolishing the building on July 29th 2016. On Friday morning Standford Jermin showed up at the residence with heavy equipment to demolish the building but the mother and her children refused to get out. The Red Cross and their team showed up at the location stating that the woman went to the French Quartier Conseil du quartier and informed them that she will be evicted on Friday, upon reaching the scene the property owner presented the Red Cross with the demolition permit he obtained from the Collectivity of St. Martin during the month of May 2016 but to date he is not able to get the woman who has Dutch nationality to get out of the building that he said is very dangerous. The other squatters including the womans brother who was operating a garage at the property cleared the place since they all know that they were not renting the building and also knows that the building is unfit for living accommodations. At some point the Territorial Police and the Gendarmes showed up at the scene and pleaded with the woman and told her that she has to leave the place since she is not renting and that the building does not have any type of utilities such as water, electricity or even toilets, but the woman insisted that the French government has to find a house for her and her children since according to her they are French because they (her children) were born on the French side of the island. According to information SMN News obtained from the social services, the children are supposed to be placed in foster care but for some reason they are not able to find a home that would take in all of the children. SMN News also learnt that the woman went to enlist for a social home but she was denied because she is not working and cannot guarantee that she will be able to pay her rent and other bills if she is granted a social home on the French side of the island. The Gendarmes confirmed that they are now going to work on the case since they had to intervene and they will get advice from the prosecutor and Prefette as to how the property owner should move forward. I want to make clear that its been over 20 years the apartments were not rented out and I am tired of throwing people out. This building was scheduled to be demolished a long time ago but a few years now I fell ill and the people living in the apartments just moved in and lived there freely. I did the best I could by sticking up the demolition permit on the building several times and the last time I did I gave the squatters a date on which the building has to be vacated, but when I came here this morning with the person that has to demolish the building we could not because people are still inside the building. I want to also make very clear that if any of the people occupying the building at this moment gets injured in the event of a hurricane or earthquake it is the Collectivity and the State that will be responsible. I did what I had to do which is go through the legal channel to get the necessary documents to demolish the building, now its for those that are elected and the State to do the necessary to get the people out Jermin said. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Judge of Instruction remanded the suspect J.A.J.R. (41) to custody (bewaring) for eight (8) more days. The Prosecutors Office had requested that the suspect, former head of the St. Maarten National Security Service VDSM remain in pre-trial detention in light of the ongoing investigation. J.A.J.R. is suspected of embezzlement (from January 2011 till mid-2013) and money laundering (from January 2011 till 19 July 2016) for the amount of NAf. 800.000,-. The investigation is in full swing. Prosecutor's Office Bulletin Two areas of interest are being monitored for development in the tropical Atlantic. Both systems are tropical waves and are not directly affecting land at the moment. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) continues to watch a pair of disturbances over the Atlantic Ocean that have some potential to develop into a tropical depression over the next few days. Both areas of interest are tropical waves a batch of energy and general spin in the atmosphere that develops due to temperature contrasts on either side of Africa's Sahel region that are moving west across the central and eastern Atlantic Ocean. The first tropical wave - designated Invest 96-L - was located just west of Africa, or several hundred miles south of Cabo Verde. This naming convention is used by the NHC to identify features that are being monitored for potential future development into a tropical depression or a tropical storm. (MORE: What is an Invest?) As of Friday evening, the NHC indicated that Invest 96-L had a medium (50 percent) chance of developing into a tropical depression during the next five days. The disturbance has a short window of development because it is headed h into a fresh surge of dry air moving into the eastern Atlantic Ocean. A second tropical wave - designated Invest 97-L - was located more than 1,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. National Hurricane Center This separate tropical wave has been given a low (30 percent) chance to develop during the next five days. The NHC said that this system's fast movement was a negative to development. The aforementioned dry air in the region also may be playing a role in keeping convection rather disorganized. Regardless of development, showers and some gusty winds should spread into the Leeward Islands this weekend, then through the Caribbean Sea next week, typical of most tropical waves. 97-L may enter better conditions in a few days in the western Caribbean. These are the first tropical waves in the Atlantic Ocean to have a chance to develop this season, which is why they have our attention. However, they both have a long way to go, and there's plenty of time to monitor the disturbances as they track west, so there's no need to have any major concerns at the moment. Technically, the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Much of the tropical activity occurs between the second week of August and the second week of October. In late July and early August, we begin to keep an eye on the eastern Atlantic as it begins to show signs of life. (MORE: Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Drought Likely to Become the Longest in 130 Years) Why We Begin Looking Farther East Into the Atlantic This Time of Year In July, a series of tropical waves often form across the Sahel area of Africa and move westward toward the Atlantic coast. The Sahel area lies between the Sahara Desert to the north and wetter areas to the south. Tropical waves can develop into tropical storms and hurricanes once they emerge into the Atlantic, but because of some unfavorable environmental factors, they tend to not develop in July. Meteorologists observe trends, however, that can frequently give us a sneak peek of what the heart of the tropical season could look like. Over the past couple of weeks, we have noticed a series of weak tropical waves that have moved westward, emerging off the African coast. These waves have dissipated rapidly due to lots of dry air, cool ocean temperatures and wind shear in this region. African easterly waves are shown by clusters of orange cloud tops originating in east Africa, moving west into the Atlantic Ocean. Now that we are moving toward August, ocean temperatures have risen to about 80 degrees along the African coast more favorable for tropical development. Each preceding wave has added moisture to the atmosphere in the eastern Atlantic, and the amount of dry air that can inhibit development is eroding. The latest satellite photograph clearly shows a number of tropical waves in the Sahel region of Africa, which are moving westward. (MORE: Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season Sees Record Start to July After a Slow Start) August and September: More Favorable For Development Tropical waves that emerge off the African coast often develop around or after passing the Cape Verde Islands. Meteorologists make frequent references to the "Cape Verde" season, which is essentially a season within the overall hurricane season. Most Cape Verde storms develop from mid-August until late September. There are so many "mouse traps" (unfavorable conditions) in the Atlantic that very few of these Cape Verde tropical storms and hurricanes ever make it all the way to the United States. But there have been some notable Cape Verde storms that made it to the East Coast of the U.S., such as the 1938 Hurricane, Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Development of tropical waves into tropical storms or hurricanes is determined by several environmental factors that can range from somewhat favorable to extremely favorable, including: Ocean temperatures The orientation of ridges (high pressure) and troughs (low pressure) aloft A moist environment In general, the ocean temperature needs to be around 80 degrees for tropical cyclones to develop. Off the coast of Africa, that doesn't usually occur until late July. Tropical systems like to have winds that are roughly the same speed and direction through a depth of the atmosphere for maximum development. Wind shear - changing winds with height - tends to break up tropical systems that are trying to develop, displacing convection away from a center of circulation. This often occurs when a trough of low pressure aloft is to the west of a tropical weather system, such that west to southwest winds aloft combine with the typical tropical east-northeast trade winds to produce wind shear. Enlarge Expanding high pressure ridge creates a more favorable environment for tropical systems to develop and move westward in the Alantic In August and September, a high-pressure ridge aloft, known as the Bermuda-Azores high, often expands and creates a more favorable environment for development. Atlantic systems are often steered toward the western Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and sometimes all the way to the U.S. Since the area from Africa to the eastern Atlantic looks quite active already and we now have a tropical system of interest, it'll be interesting to see what the rest of the hurricane season will have in store. Martinique/St. Martin:--- Authorities in Martinique has issued a national and international warrant for Rachid Rafaa (40) a Moroccan who disappeared while being on house arrest in Martinique since earlier in the week. Rafaa was convicted in Morocco as an alleged jihadist but the EU courts ruled in his favor not to extradite him back to his native country as he faces the death penalty. Since 2014 Rafaa, a computer specialist was transported to Martinique where he was kept under house arrest but managed to escape early last week. Ever since his disappearance, the wanted Rafaa is being sought by all police agents in the region including St. Martin. According to Martinique news, all avenues are being explored to capture the wanted man and contacts have been made with all the neighboring islands. The authorities in Martinique confirm that the security services are on alert and are mobilized to trace the Moroccan computer. "Special attention is also given to different points of air and sea leaving the country and the most sensitive places," the Prefecture of Martinique announced. Ever since the disappearance of the Rafaa, authorities on St. Martin remains tightlipped on the issue even though other news outlets are claiming that Rafaa may be on the island since there are possibilities that he entered the island by sea. SMN News learnt that on Thuesday the entire police core both territorial and the gendarmes were in meetings most of the morning regarding the escaped jihadist who probably is on the island. However, the gendarmerie refused to comment on the matter even though they are on high alert looking for the alleged terrorist. The photograph of Rachid Rafaa has been widely circulated but so far there are no specific indications to say he is on St. Martin/St. Maarten. 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? Mexican Children's Hospital Research on problems of development from brain function perspective. Mexicos Children's Hospital "Federico Gomez" presents the first research progress about problems of development from the brain function perspective. This alteration in neuronal ducts can be treated with medication and psychotherapy Mexicos Children's Hospital "Federico Gomez" presents the first research progress about problems of development from the brain function perspective This alteration in neuronal ducts can be treated with medication and psychotherapy A study by researchers at Mexicos Children's Hospital "Federico Gomez" (HIMFG by its initials in Spanish) announced that there are neurological disorders that may predispose to children to develop obesity, sleep disorders, short stature or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At a press conference, the head of Neurology at HIMFG, Dr. Eduardo Javier Barragan Perez, who is leading the investigation, said that it was also identified that the neural disorder can be treated with medication and psychotherapy. Accompanied by doctors Silvia Hidalgo Tobon, Magnetic Resonance researcher; and Pilar Dies Suarez, Head of Imaging at the HIMFG; Dr. Barragan Perez explained that the study was conducted in a group of healthy children and in another composed by children with obesity, ADHD, short stature or behavior or language problems. They were all practiced different imaging studies to understand the functioning of their brain. Dr. Pilar Dies Suarez said that in order to obtain the results in both groups, was made a comparison of the brain tracts, where it was observed that children with a pathology presented a problem of brain connectivity. She said typically, brain tracts would be the communication channels responsible for bringing information to the different areas of the brain; when they dont work properly, the message arrives late, which limits the functioning. The specialist shared the experience in handling medical treatment to children with ADHD in this situation; it was observed that those who were medicated and had a year of treatment presented a significant improvement in the functioning of the brain tracts. The specialists recommended to parents that if they observe non-appropriate behavior in their children as aggression, uncontrolled impulses, obesity or stunting, search for medical advice. Mexicos Children's Hospital "Federico Gomez" presents the first research progress about problems of development from the brain function perspective. This alteration in neuronal ducts can be treated with medication and psychotherapy. They also stressed that it is important to detect this condition before five years of age or during adolescence, so that the treatment has a better effect. These are the preliminary findings of the study; it still has several aspects to investigate. Mexicos Childrens Hospital "Federico Gomez" was founded in 1943 and is located at the center of Mexico City. This hospital is part of a number of institutions with the Certification of the General Health Council of Mexicos Ministry of Health for its high quality sanitary standards. It provides highly specialized medical care with safety and quality to Mexican children. Also, prepares human resources and carry out scientific research of excellence. In addition provides medical care highly specialized in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of children without social security and therefore with lower socioeconomic resources. Cookbook and autobiography explains how a Scottish boy cooked his way from Vegas to Barbados Celebrity Chef Grant Macpherson, has written an autobiographical travelogue and cookbook, "Word of Mouth." Chef Grant MacPherson, has cooked for heads of state and celebrities such as Margaret Thatcher, George H. W. Bush, Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela, Morgan Freeman, and Julia Roberts. MacPherson has released an autobiographical recipe book "that spans 5 continents, a 30-year career, 8 world-class food and beverage destinations and offers an insight into one man's story and the people that shaped him. Original recipes, dimensional images, quotes from household names, friends and family, messages from industry influencers and a gastronomic adventure awaits the reader," he says. The book is titled Word of Mouth. It's intended for "Chefs, students, peers, home cooks, travelers, entrepreneurs, visionaries, creatives, foodies, photographers, growers, drinkers" and his fellow Scots. "Word of Mouth is something I want my sons to have, this is a thank you to those who I had the pleasure of working with and somewhat a reflection to date of such a full life and almost a wonder as to what is next", says MacPherson. MacPherson has probably worked somewhere you have dined, met someone you know or created a dish that makes your mouth water. His book covers every food joint from chopping chicken wings at Bugsy's to the James Beard House in New York City. Macpherson has designed menus for Richard Branson. He has also cooked alongside culinary stars such as Joel Robuchon, Jean Georges Vongerichten, Michael Mina, Thomas Keller, and the late Jean Louis Palladin. MacPherson was a gold medalist at the 1992 Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany, and has directed prestigious resort kitchens on five continents, including The Regent, The Ritz-Carlton, The Four Seasons, Malaysia's Datai Hotel, and the Raf es Hotel in Singapore. MacPherson's headed the culinary operations for the Steve Wynn organization for 10 years, where he opened and overseeing operations of 50 food and beverage venues, including The Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas, and Wynn Macau. While there, each Wynn resort received Five Diamond AAA Awards, Forbes Five Star Awards, and Michelin Guides Five Red Pavilions Awards. MacPherson moved from Vegas casinos to Barbados, where he became the Culinary Director and Head Chef at the celebrated Sandy Lane Hotel in St. James, Barbados. Chef MacPherson was named the Executive Chef for Viking Range Corporation's Commercial Division in early 2010. In this role, he assists Viking Commercial customers in planning and selecting their equipment, as well as providing input into new product development. MacPherson will also represent Viking Commercial at culinary events and via social media. Celebrity Chef Grant Macpherson, has written an autobiographical travelogue and cookbook, "Word of Mouth." As a part of his collaboration with Viking, MacPherson launched his first cookbook in early 2011. Entitled In the Viking Kitchen with Chef Grant MacPherson, the book features original MacPherson recipes and stunning photography of each, as well as photography of commercial and residential Viking equipment. MacPherson graduated from Niagara College in Niagara Falls, Canada. In 2006, his alma mater awarded him an Honorary Bachelor of Applied Studies Degree for outstanding professional and personal achievements in the fields of culinary arts and hospitality. He will continue serving as a consultant in the hospitality industry through his consulting firm, Scotch Myst Culinary. In 2012, he began a new partnership with Las Vegas and NYC based chef, Sammy De Marco and their new project, The Merrywell at Crown Melbourne and Metropol Perth. Sandra "Susan" Merritt and David Daleiden cleared of charges in State of Texas Susan Merritt and David Daleiden were both members of an anti-abortion group called Center for Medical Progress (CMP). Posing as representatives of an actually-fictional company they called Biomax, the pair met with Planned Parenthood officials Charges were dismissed for both defendants in the Planned Parenthood surreptitious video incident. Both Sandra "Susan" Merritt and David Daleiden had been charged by the state of Texas with trafficking in human organs. The charges were dismissed by Judge Diane Bull on July 26. Merritt and Daleiden were both members of an anti-abortion group called Center for Medical Progress (CMP). Posing as representatives of an actually-fictional company they called Biomax, the pair met with Planned Parenthood officials in a supposed effort to purchase fetal tissue. According to CMP, the videos they released during 2015 show Planned Parenthood personnel willing to accept money for fetal tissues, allegedly in order to compensate for the cost of harvesting it. The CMP claim the videos show, among others, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, a Senior Director of Medical Services for Planned Parenthood, discussing her method of abortion over lunch with Merritt and Daleiden. "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver," Nucatola told them, "because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm basically gonna crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact." Susan Merritt and David Daleiden were both members of an anti-abortion group called Center for Medical Progress (CMP). Posing as representatives of an actually-fictional company they called Biomax, the pair met with Planned Parenthood officials. In another video, a former employee of StemExpress, Holly O'Donnell, claims she was told by her managers to encourage women to sign consent forms for their fetuses to be harvested for medical research. She claims that even when consent was not given, fetuses' tissue was gathered and donated. Meanwhile, the New England Journal of Medicine implicitly implicated Planned Parenthood by applauding their "efforts to channel fetal tissue" toward medical research. Spokespeople for Planned Parenthood deny all allegations and claim the videos were either heavily edited or falsified. Nevertheless, in October, 2015, Planned Parenthood announced they would no longer accept reimbursement costs for fetal tissue. While the released videos stimulated widespread public outcry and calls for the federal government to investigate the methods of Planned Parenthood, Texas decided to charge the pair of undercover videographers criminally in January, 2016. Upon dismissal of the criminal charges, Matt Staver, Chairman of Liberty Counsel, legal representative for Sandra Merritt, said, "The indictment was politically-motivated and should never have been filed in the first place." ChristianMingle, the Leading Christian Dating Site, Aligns With the Southern Diocese of the Fellowship of International Churches LOS ANGELES, CA (Marketwired) 07/29/16 , the largest and most trusted online dating community for single Christians, announced today that the Southern Diocese of the Fellowship of International Churches has joined the program. This fellowship includes 15 churches located in Mississippi and Georgia, all of which now offer ChristianMingle memberships for their congregants. The rapid growth of its church program demonstrates ChristianMingles commitment to helping Christians find love along with the community of churches recognition of this important program. is the online resource that offers pastors a host of tailored web tools to help connect singles within their church communities. Statistics show that people who meet and marry in church are more likely to stay married, start a family and attend church regularly. CMforChurches.com gives exclusive resources and personalized tools to help connect these singles Christians through the church programs. encourages genuine connections and faith based relationships by offering the following user benefits to church partners and their members: Custom Website Custom site for church attendees Custom Badges (Coming Soon) Church badging so members can easily meet Customer Service Dedicated customer service line and account manager Membership Discount 50% off lifetime membership for church attendees We are pleased to incorporate another wonderful community of churches that can utilize the tools we offer to help single Christians find lasting love and fulfilling relationships within their faith spectrum, said Michael Egan, Chief Executive Officer, Spark Networks. We look forward to collaborating with these pastors and their respective communities of Christian singles. With over 16 million registered users worldwide, has the largest community of eligible Christians on any dating site. ChristianMingles online community is built on core Christian values and represents the broad diversity of Christianity today. By incorporating a faith spectrum, ChristianMingle provides the most robust ability for Christians to find others that share their values. ChristianMingle is also known for its dedication to safety and customer service, with each profile and photo going through rigorous review to ensure members are confident in their community. ChristianMingle is available for download in the and stores. Spark Networks, Inc.s mission is to create iconic, niche-focused brands that build and strengthen the communities they serve. Spark Networks portfolio of consumer websites is anchored by and .com, and also includes and , among others. Spark Networks shares trade on the NYSE MKT under the ticker symbol LOV (NYSE MKT: LOV). Slyce Appoints New Chief Financial Officer and Closing of Convertible Debenture CALGARY, CANADA (Marketwired) 07/29/16 Leading visual search and image recognition company (TSX VENTURE: SLC) (FRANKFURT: 06O1) (Slyce or the Company) today announces it has appointed Mr. Swapan Kakumanu as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Kakumanu will be replacing Mr. Khurram Qureshi who resigned effective July 26, 2016. Mr. Kakumanu has over 20 years of senior finance and operations experience. He has served at executive levels in both public and private companies including senior roles as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Company Secretary, as well as serving on the Board. Mr. Kakumanu has extensive experience in public company reporting, investor relations, ERP implementations, mergers and acquisitions, internal controls and general overall financial and operations management. He is well versed in commercializing technologies and launching software (including SaaS) solutions, and his experience spans manufacturing, distribution, oilfield services, healthcare technologies and multi-jurisdictional operations. He holds CPA.CGA, ACA (Chartered Accountant, India) and ACMA (Certified Management Accountant, India) designations. Mr. Dale Johnson, Executive Chairman of Slyce Inc., commented Swapan is a welcome addition to our team. He is a results driven individual with strong business and finance acumen. We look forward to drawing on his expertise and experience as Slyce continues to execute on its plan. Mr. Johnson also extended thanks on behalf of the Board for Mr. Qureshis service to Slyce and wishes him the best of success in his future endeavors. The Company is also pleased to announce the second and final close of $90,000 of the $1 Million Convertible Debentures (CD) offering for a total of $840,000. The first close of $750,000 was announced on June 23, 2016. Slyce will use the proceeds to fund its ongoing technology development and for general working capital purposes. The CDs pay 10% annual interest, payable in kind with Common Shares issued at a price per share equal to the volume weighted average trading price for the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV) for the 20 consecutive trading days ending five trading days prior to the date on which the Corporation submits an application to the TSXV for issuance of Common Shares as payment of the principal and interest under the CD. The CD matures on December 31, 2017. Interest shall be payable on June 30th and December 31st in each year commencing on December 31, 2016. The outstanding amount of each CD, including all interest accrued thereon will be convertible, for no additional consideration, at a conversion price of $0.10 per security or such other price as approved by the TSX Venture once the conversion terms of the CD are met. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy the securities in the United States, in any province or territory of Canada or in any other jurisdiction. The securities offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. There shall be no sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy or sale would be unlawful. About . Slyce, based in Calgary, Alberta, delivers sophisticated visual search technologies and is currently focused on enabling a powerful sales channel for major retailers and their customers. Consumers, wherever they are, can conveniently engage with retailers by taking pictures of desired products using their mobile devices, thereby initiating the visual search service with near-instant product recognition capability. The Company delivers its technology both as a white-label visual search platform and as a suite of consumer mobile apps. Slyces technology is used by large retail brands such as Neiman Marcus, Tillys, Urban Outfitters, JCPenney and Home Depot. Slyces business model features multiple revenue streams arising from its visual search platform, consumer apps and corresponding data services. The revenue streams include fees for software licensing, integration, purchase transactions, program promotions and data analytics. Slyce is also listed on the Frankfurt exchange trading under (FRANKFURT: 06O1). For image download and further company information, please click for the . READER ADVISORY Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release contain forward-looking information. The words will, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, intent, may, project, should, and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by Slyce. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Slyce. Slyce does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws. None of the information contained on, or connected to, Slyces website is incorporated by reference herein. Contacts: For further information and interviews, please contact: Slyce Inc. Ted Mann President Slyce Inc. Roy Roman (647) 464-6200 By PTI: Panaji, July 30 (PTI) Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) can have a tie-up with the IITs. "We have signed an agreement with DRDO for jet propulsion lab which is to be jointly set up with IIT Mumbai and Madras, the total cost of which is about Rs 160 crore," Parrikar said after inaugurating the IIT Goa campus in presence of Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. advertisement Some 8,000 scientists of DRDO can be a big resource for the educational institutes, Parrikar said, adding, "We can teach. We can select a few scientists who have done top-end research (for teaching)." On the quality of research at DRDO, the Defence Minister, himself an IIT graduate, said in the next one or two years the country would not need to import any part of its missile technology, adding, "We will be in the position to manufacture it here." We can have tie-ups with IITs, including Goa IIT, after a couple of years, to develop something, Parrikar said, adding, DRDO laboratories can be used for summer vacation training of IIT students. "We can tie-up with DRDO to get visiting faculty in various subjects which can give proper adoptable technological edge in education," he added. PTI RPS KRK NSD PTP --- ENDS --- Here are the raises coming for Mishawaka teachers and administrators From teachers and administrators to bus drivers and substitutes, increased pay is coming to staff across the School City of Mishawaka. Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav who was on his way to Masaurhi today was stranded midway after his SUV got stuck in a pothole. By Rohit Kumar Singh: The pothole menace is not only causing tremendous problem to common man but also to our politicians. In the last few years, in Patna, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ensured that roads will be built and there will be no potholes but it seems more work needs to be done. On Saturday, Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav had to bear the brunt of potholes in Patna. advertisement Yadav, who was going to Masaurhi area which falls in his constituency Patliputra via Sipara when his SUV got stuck in a pothole almost a feet deep. India Today team was at the spot taking stock of the pothole menace when they found the Minister's SUV stuck. Yadav's SUV in which he was sitting had to battle huge potholes on its way to Masaurhi. Speaking to India Today, Ram Kripal Yadav blamed the Nitish Kumar govt for not building roads leading to potholes in Patna. Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav blamed Nitish Kumar government for potholes. "Patna is full of potholes. This road is important for commute and people are being affected. After monsoon rain, problems of people going to compound. I don't know where the government is. My SUV also got stuck right now," said the Union Minister. According to figures, in 2014, more than 800 people lost their lives in Bihar due to the deadly potholes but despite this, the menace continues and the problem remain. What is scary is that when it rains, people literally risk their lives driving on this road. "Several times entire truck has overturned while crossing on this road filled with potholes. The danger is more for bikers and people driving on two wheelers," said a local. Also read: Bihar: Angry villagers start farming on NH-104 to protest against bad roads --- ENDS --- 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 By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the convention that banks deposits were safe investment avenues would be a thing of past and people would shift to alternative instruments which have the potential to provide better returns. "It (bank deposit) is certainly safe, but then the whole concept of economic system that banking system pay high rate of interest for those deposits were no longer relevant. And world over people have successfully experimented it. advertisement "The conventional deposit rate, the lending rate are very low but you have very powerful alternative instruments in which if you invest you will earn a lot higher. That is how the pension funds and sovereign funds are surviving and doing extremely well," he said while launching the State Bank of Indias wealth management initiative SBI Exclusif. The Bank, he said, can play a role in helping large section of retired persons who were trying to live a respectable life on the strength of their savings. "In India now as that opportunity expands, as a number of people with additional resources increases, you need a set of competent managers to manage the resources," Jaitley said. SBI Exclusif is targeted at the fast-growing affluent segment in the country for wealth management which will come initially free of cost. Under the scheme, SBI Exclusif customers will have access to a dedicated Relationship Manager supported by a team of investment experts to take care of all their banking and investment needs. The bank had launched the offering in Bengaluru on a pilot basis on January and it rolled out this service in Delhi today for customers who earn a monthly income of Rs 2 lakh per month or fixed deposits of Rs 30 lakh or Rs one crore housing loan. PTI DP JD CS MR --- ENDS --- This artist's impression depicts the accretion disc surrounding a black hole, in which the inner region of the disc precesses. "Precession" means that the orbit of material surrounding the black hole changes orientation around the central object. A 30-year-old mystery about black holes has just been solved. The story starts in the 1980s, when astronomers found that small (stellar-mass) black holes emit X-ray light that flickers in a curious pattern. At first, this flickering occurs every few seconds; however, the time between each flicker shortens over the course of a few months, eventually stopping completely. This "quasi-periodic oscillation" (QPO) was thought to be a result of a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity that any object with enough mass, like a black hole, will twist space-time as it spins. Later, scientists calculated that these gravitational vortices will cause the orbits of particles around the black hole to change orientation, leading to the QPO phenomenon. [Images: Black Holes of the Universe] "It is a bit like twisting a spoon in honey: Imagine that the honey is space, and anything embedded in the honey will be 'dragged' around by the twisting spoon," Adam Ingram, lead author of a new study describing the findings, said in a statement. "In reality, this means that anything orbiting a spinning object will have its motion affected," added Ingram, of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Though the observed QPO periods were close to those predicted by this idea, there had not been enough evidence to nail down the connection until now. Observations by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft and NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite show that matter orbiting close to a black hole moves in paths that wobble in a characteristic way one that reveals the gravity-twisting behavior of black holes, the researchers said. The two satellites observed the X-ray light emitted by iron atoms in one black hole's accretion disk the flat collection of dust and gas spiraling into the object. The accretion disk is receding on one side and approaching on the other, relative to the spacecraft; the light emitted is therefore shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum on the approaching side, and red-shifted on the other. (This is similar to the way sound waves emitted by an ambulance's siren are shifted as the vehicle approaches and then passes an observer.) These shifts revealed the twisting motion of the accretion disk, which was caused by the black hole's powerful gravity, the researchers said. "We have spent a lot of time trying to find smoking-gun evidence for this behavior," Ingram said. The new study was published in May in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. You can follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Space.com. In an instance of cow vigilantism earlier this week, two Muslim women who were carrying buffalo meat were assaulted by people at a railway station in Mandsaur on suspicion that it was beef in the presence of police which arrested the duo. By Press Trust of India: Expressing concern over reports of "rising intolerance and violence" in India, the US has asked the Indian government to do "everything in its power" to protect citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrators. Responding to questions on reports of alleged violence against people eating beef and assault on two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat in Madhya Pradesh, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said, "We stand in solidarity with the people and Government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in confronting all forms of intolerance." advertisement TOLERANT-INCLUSIVE VISION "Were obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence. As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable," he said. Kirby said the US looks forward to continuing to work with the Indian people to realise their tolerant-inclusive vision, which is so deeply in the interests of both India and the US. In an instance of cow vigilantism earlier this week, two Muslim women who were carrying buffalo meat were assaulted by people at a railway station in Mandsaur on suspicion that it was beef in the presence of police which arrested the duo. The incident came close on the heels of the attack on dalit youths in Gujarat by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. ALSO READ: Only the rich and famous talk of intolerance, says Anupam Kher Akhlaqs family questions authenticity of Mathura lab report --- ENDS --- The incident captured in a camera shows the man struggling to swim and pleading for help. Unable to fight the strong water current he was subsequently dragged away. By Akshaya Nath: A 45-year-old farmer drowned at the Pullur check dam in Keelpallathur village bordering Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The incident captured in a camera shows the man struggling to swim and pleading for help. Unable to fight the strong water current he was subsequently dragged away. The victim, identified as Sreenivasan, fell off the dam in an inebriated condition in presence of several people, including Andhra Pradesh police officials. advertisement Andhra police and rescue teams are trying to locate the man's body. The Andhra Government had recently increased the height of the Pullur check dam by 12 feet. However, the farmers in Tamil Nadu, particularly those in the upper Palar region, fare apprehensive that this move would prevent water flow into their dry beds in Vellore district. Consequently, the farmers in this region have been talking about protest for the rise in the dam water level. Watch link here --- ENDS --- A man is fighting for life in hospital after he was attacked near a train station early this morning. Emergency services were called to York Road, Ilford, after a man was found suffering from a head injury. A spokesman for the Met Police said the victim had been rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Following the incident, a large section of the road was cordoned off, blocking access to Ilford station. Transport for London tweeted this morning that the main entrance would be closed until further notice. A spokesman for the Met Police said there had been no arrests so far and inquiries were continuing. A man was left fighting for his life after being stabbed in the early hours of this morning on a quiet street in west London. Met Police officers along with paramedics were called to Boston Manor Road at the junction with Swyncombe Avenue in Brentford at 3.30am to reports of a man being stabbed. A 22-year-old man was taken to hospital with what were initially described as life-threatening injuries. An police spokesman confirmed he is no longer in a life-threatening condition. A man in his 20s was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in custody. Enquiries into the incident are still ongoing. A man has died after being stabbed in front of horrified passengers outside Bethnal Green Tube station. Police have confirmed a man in his 30s was knifed to death last night on Cambridge Heath Road. Witnesses took to social media to report a bloody crime scene, with police cordoning off the station from 11pm. Bystanders have claimed that an argument started at a nearby boxing match which spilled out into the street. Photos showed passers-by battling to try and save the victim, who had been stabbed in the chest. A witness told the Standard the incident was sparked by a "barge", and it was a "tense atmosphere". A resident also tweeted: "Just a casual day in Bethnal Green where someone got killed outside my house so now I can't go down my road." A Met Police spokesman said: Police were called at 10.35pm to reports of a person stabbed outside Bethnal Green station. A man in his 30s was taken to hospital with stab wounds to his chest. He was pronounced dead around 11.39pm. Next of kin have not been informed and formal identification awaits. Tense environment: A witness reported the incident was sparked by a 'barge' / Snapchat "Enquiries into the stabbing are ongoing." Part of Cambridge Heath Road is still cordoned off this morning T hree teenagers have been robbed at gunpoint while playing Pokemon GO at a north London park. The trio, aged 15, 16 and 18, were hunting the virtual creatures in Whittington Park, Holloway, at around 10.30am on July 26 when they were approached by three youths. One demanded the teenagers hand over their phones while another pulled out what appeared to be a handgun from the waistband of his trousers. The shocked teens handed over their mobiles and left the park. Police say the same three men may have carried out another robbery just half an hour earlier in the park. This time, a 24-year-old man was robbed by the men, who all had their faces covered, as he approached the park entrance near Holloway Road. Again, one man pulled out a silver handgun and pressed it into the victims stomach before demanding he hand over his possessions. After he was robbed, the youths ordered him to turn around and leave the park. All three youths are described as Asian and 16 to 17-years-old. One, around 5ft 6ins tall was referred to as "Kushi and wore a black zip-up jumper, black trousers and a black bandana. The second was around 5ft 8ins tall and wore a dark grey puffer jacket. Pokemon Go - British gamer claims he caught them all Police say the third person wore a black zip-up jumper, black North Face gilet, and dark-coloured trousers. Investigating officer PC Kevin Yeung from Islington said: "These were really shocking attacks on young people walking around a much loved park. "Were you in the area? Did you see anything? "My team are keen to hear from anyone who can help lead us to the culprits. Robberies where a gun is shown or indicated are very rare and we are keen to apprehend those involved as soon as possible." Anyone with information should call Islington CID on 020 8345 0262 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. A 19-year-old man has been charged with raping a woman at a south London train station. Police were called to West Dulwich station shortly before 6am after a woman in her 20s reported she had been seriously sexually assaulted. Following the alleged attack, Kent-bound trains were unable to stop at the station while the pathway to a platform was cordoned off by British Transport Police. Salah Koubar, of Densole Close, Beckenham, was arrested on July 28 in connection with the incident. Police charged him the following day with rape. Koubar appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court today where he was remanded in custody. He will next appear at Blackfriars Crown Court on August 30. M ore than a dozen pupils are being excluded from London schools each week for sexual misconduct, new government figures have revealed. Across the capital last year 40 pupils - or almost one per school week - were permanently excluded, while nearly 500 more were temporarily barred from school for sexual offences. The behaviour that saw pupils banned included sexual abuse, assault, harassment, lewd behaviour, sexual bullying and sexual graffiti. The statistics, released by the Department for Education (DfE) late last week, revealed that across the capital 890 pupils had been permanently banned from schools for reasons ranging from assaulting another pupil or a member of staff, to bullying, theft, or persistent disruptive behaviour. More than 40,000 students were also banned from lessons temporarily during the last school year. Of the excluded students, 140 had been permanently kicked out for issues involving drugs and alcohol, while more than 1,000 more received temporary bans for similar issues. The data covered pupils in state education at primary and secondary level, as well as those at state-run special schools. Of the permanent exclusions, 60 were from primary schools, 810 from secondaries, while 20 were from special schools. Nationally, school exclusions have risen for the third year in a row. Across English schools there were 5,800 permanent exclusions last year - the equivalent of 31 per day - a 17 per cent increase on the previous year. In response to the data, an NSPCC spokesman said: Schools should be safe places where pupils can fulfil their potential, so its disturbing that so many children have been victims of sexual crimes. Children accused of sexual offences have often been victims of abuse, harm and trauma themselves. And the ever-growing availability of online porn is also having a de-sensitising effect on many children, with some wanting to copy what they see. If we are to tackle this growing problem and protect young victims, more needs to be done to identify and treat children who might commit offences. And all children need to be educated about what sexual abuse is and how to get help immediately if they or someone they know has suffered an attack at school. A DfE spokesman said: "Incidents of crime in schools are very rare but we are clear that no teacher or pupil should live in fear of violence or harassment while on school premises. "That is why we've given headteachers more powers to tackle poor behaviour and exclude pupils if necessary, as well as introducing new training for teachers to help manage and support disruptive children. "We have also removed 'no touch' rules that stopped teachers taking disruptive pupils out of classrooms, and ensured schools' decisions on exclusions can no longer be overruled." A man from Abbey Wood who claims he has seen spirits outside his home has captured a "ghost" in his kitchen. Ian Hawke has released a video of the spooky presence allegedly throwing crockery around as he monitors it with paranormal detection equipment. Mr Hawke, an actor who lives on Overton Road, decided to try and film the ghost after spotting someone on his home CCTV. "It all started when I saw an image of a ghost outside the front of my house on my CCTV. "We have some weird things going on in the home, like lights going off and on and I have heard children crying which I thought were my kids but then I check on them and they are asleep. "I have always been a sceptic myself so just thought the lights were power surges and that maybe the children are talking in their sleep. "But when I saw the person on the CCTV, I decided to get someone in to try and see what was going on." In the video, Mr Hawke, 42, first attempts to engage with the spirit for a "chat". He is heard saying: "Come on please show. Anything, please, anything." Shortly after a cup is flung off the kitchen surface onto the floor, followed by a plate. Mr Hawke reacts with panic and his heard shouting: "I am getting out of this f****** house." He said people had accused him of staging the whole thing, adding: "I am an actor and I do pranks as well so people just think it's fake and that is why I was doubious about putting it up. "They accused me of pulling the cup off with fishing wire, but why would I make it up? If they had been there and saw it happen they would believe it." Mr Hawke said that his neighbours have also experienced supernatural activity in their homes and believes it is due to the area's history. He said: "Aparrently this used to be a sacred place where people were buried because there was a monastery behind where the houses are. "I don't know what it is but there is a lot of strange stuff going on around here." By PTI: from Assam:Cong New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Congress today accused three Sangh Parivar organisations of "resorting to trafficking" of young tribal girls from Assam in flagrant violation of all laws and wondered whether it was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis promise of "Beti bachao, beti padhao". "Painful, ugly and dirty truth of trafficking of young tribal girls from Assam under the garb of better education by none other than three affiliates of the Sangh Parivar i.e. Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Vidya Bharti and Sewa Bharti stand exposed," party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi told reporters. advertisement Addressing a joint press conference along with Mahila Congress chief Shobha Oza, she claimed that a detailed investigation and documentary evidence has "unflinchingly established" as to how the Sangh Parivar "flouted" Indian and International Laws on Child Rights to traffic 31 young tribal girls from Assam to Punjab and Gujarat to Indoctrinate them. They alleged that orders to return these children to Assam-including those from the Assam State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and Childline, Delhi and Patiala - were violated with impunity by Sangh Parivar run institutions with "active connivance" of BJP-ruled governments of Gujarat and Punjab. "Is this the fulfillment of Prime Minister Narendra Modis promise of BETI BACHAO, BETI PADHAO? Is this BJP/RSS idea of inculcating education and protecting children? Would the BJP ensure that the 31 girls return home to their families, who have been denied access to their own children?," they asked. "Will BJP government at Centre as also of Gujarat/Punjab take action against RSS workers and its affiliate organisations for defying the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, Indian Penal Code and other laws?," they asked. PTI SPG IKA RG IKA --- ENDS --- A former Royal Marine who got engaged just last month has been killed in a climbing accident in the French Alps. Duncan Potts died on Wednesday as he climbed the Dent du Geant mountain in the Mont Blanc range near Chamonix. The 28-year-old was with a friend, Luke Stevens, when a rock came loose in his hands and he fell around three metres, the Telegraph reported. Mr Stevens managed to call for help, but despite the best efforts of a mountain rescue team, Mr Potts died at the scene. The rock, which Rescuer Commandant Stephane Bozon said was "as big as a car boot", struck Mr Potts on the head and shoulders. Mr Bozon told the newspaper: "It looks like he died instantly judging from the amount of blood at the scene." The accident happened on Wednesday, the pair's first day of climbing after they left the UK on Tuesday for their four-day trip. The Foreign Office said it was providing consular assistance to his family. Mr Potts, from Coldridge in Devon, was an experienced rock climber and mountaineer, having previously undertaken Alpine expeditions including an ascent of the Matterhorn in Switzerland last summer. He had recently left the Royal Marines and last month got engaged to equine vet April Lawson, who, following his death, changed her Facebook profile picture to a photo of the two of them together. Mr Potts' younger brother, Andy Potts, paid tribute to him on Facebook, saying: "It's really starting to hit home how much and widely he is going to be missed. I'm still struggling to come to terms with the fact that my big brother is no longer with us. "Duncan had such an incredible group of friends and you all made his life so fun filled and special and I want to thank every one of you for being such an important part of his life." His sister, Izzie Potts, wrote: "All our hearts are well and truly broken without you, Duncan." Colonel Kevin Oliver, from the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in Lympstone, Devon, paid tribute to him on behalf of the marines. He said: "We are saddened to hear of the death of Duncan Potts, an ex member of the Royal Marines family and a mountain leader. "We knew him as a fine young man who was a credit to the service, who left having achieved much in his career. The thoughts and sympathies of those that knew him go out to his family and friends." T he mother of a 20-year-old British man accused of attempting to shoot Donald Trump has launched a crowd-funding campaign to cover his legal costs. Lynne Sandford, 41, has launched the campaign to pay for her son's legal battle to return to the UK, after he was put on suicide watch while in prison in the US. Michael Sandford allegedly tried to grab a policeman's gun to kill the Republican presidential nominee during a rally at Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas on June 18. He later toldofficials he wanted "to shoot and kill Donald Trump", it is claimed. Sandford is due to face trial in Las Vegas next month, pleading not guilty to charges of disrupting government business and official functions and being an illegal alien in possession of a gun. Sandford's mother speaks The campaign says Sandford is currently "shackled and handcuffed, and on suicide watch" in a Nevada prison. His mother, from Dorking in Surrey, has appealed for Sandford to serve his sentence in a psychiatric hospital in the UK. Campaigners have expressed concern that Sandford may attempt suicide if he were to receive a potential 30-year prison sentence rather than psychiatric care. He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after attempting to commit suicide aged 14. Ms Sandford, a single mother, said she is worried about the mental state of her son, who suffers from autism, OCD and depression. Londoners on Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton She said: "I am very grateful for all the help and kindness that I have received from my friends and the general public and I hope that they will be kind enough to support this campaign so that Michael can be looked after by the appropriate authorities." The Sandfords' UK lawyer Saimo Chahal said it would be "very serious" were the young Briton to serve a sentence in Nevada. She said: "We hope to influence the legal process so Michael can be returned to the UK so that he can receive the medical treatment which he needs so badly." Sandford is due to face trial at a federal court in Las Vegas on August 22. A pre-trial hearing will take place on August 11. The campaign, launched on the crowd-funding site Crowd Justice, is available here. By PTI: Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) Senior IPS officer Satish Mathur has been appointed as the new police chief of Maharashtra. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has appointed Satish Mathur (1981 IPS batch) as the next Director General of Police of Maharashtra, K P Bakshi, ACS Home, told PTI. Mathur, who succeeds Pravin Dixit, is currently holding the post of Director General, Anti-Corruption Bureau. PTI VT ARS AAR --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Youssra El Sharkawy Cairo, Jul 30 (PTI) The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of any country specially the emerging economies, Indian envoy to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya has said on the growth of the sector. Bhattacharyya inaugurated the Roundtable of Maulana Azad Center for Indian Culture with a seminar entitled "Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)- Drivers of Economic Growth" on Thursday. advertisement During the seminar, experts from the two country exchanged their views on the topic and compared their experiences. The event was the first of a monthly series. The series will discuss a variety of topics. "In the MACIC Roundtable we will have Indian and Egyptian experts to sit around and exchange views in a very informal format. This is essentially for the sharing of best practices between the two sides," said Ambassador Bhattacharyya, who added that the roundtable will be covering a range of topics including business, culture, academic issues and other topics. "The idea is to have a wider audience. I will invite the young people of Egypt to come in large numbers from universities, think tanks, media, civil society to take part in the roundtable," the Ambassador said. Ashish Khanna, Indian Energy Team Leader in World Banks South Asia Sustainable Development Department, said the roundtable is quit important for both Indians and Egyptians as both of them share similarities. "While 40 to 60 per cent of people in Egypt are informal employers, 90 per cent of Indians are not employed in formal sector," Khanna said. "India has eased access to finance by having dedicated financial institutions which specialising in solving special problems of small and medium enterprises," he added. Ahmed Abdel Wahab, researcher from the Economic Freedom Program of the think tank Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies said that SMEs projects in Egypt face some challenges including the lack of information and the complicated process of legal initiation in various governmental organisations. Ihab Shaarawy editor at the Egyptian Gazette daily newspaper, spoke about his experiences as an Egyptian journalist who spent four months in 2010 in India to study a course on "journalist development". During his stay in India, Ihab covered a variety of topics. "In India there is a special ministry of SMEs and several institutions and initiatives that are mainly concerned about the development of the SMEs sector," said Ihab, who also highlighted the Make in India initiative as the most recent intuitive launched by Indian government. advertisement Asser Salama, member of Joint Business Council, showed a presentation on the challenges that face the SMEs in Egypt and the success stories of some people who succeeded in growing their projects. PTI YES DBS --- ENDS --- Whats your vision of perfect government? For some it seems to be no government at all, or at least no regulation, but where the police and military are strong and people feel secure in their homes. Ive seen what that looks like. Its chaotic, for one thing: Taxis and motorcycles weaving through busy traffic that short-cuts through residential neighborhoods, because the shortest routes to anywhere mingle pavement with narrow stretches of cobblestone and gravel. Cops packing pump shotguns or assault rifles guarding banks, shopping malls and supermarkets owned by the rich. Power poles strung with a spaghetti of tangled electrical wires. Building projects abandoned and restarted again in a different style, with mismatched materials, their stairways left climbing toward stories that may never exist. Houses that give away their age by whether the walls surrounding them are rimmed with rusting upturned nails, coils of razor wire or modern electrified fencing. Thats Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. I just got back. My passport said I hadnt been there in eight years. I first visited in the 1970s, when the population was 2.5 million. Its more than 8 million today. Out in the country, life can be better. The cobbles wind through quaint old towns, some founded by Spaniards, where ancient churches rise elegantly above rooftops shingled with curved red tiles. The pace is slower. You smell exotic flowers, hear parrots jabbering in their cages, see men still riding horses or driving oxcarts made from pickup beds and uniformed schoolchildren laughing in the streets. We had to wait once while a parade passed, with pretty girls and costumed kids waving at us and smiling toward my camera. The Honduran police and cops are strong, almost as fearsome as the narco-traffickers or the gangs, some of which got their start in California among illegal Honduran immigrants bullied by our homegrown thugs. A gang shot down a relative Id never met, and his wife. They once pulled over one of my brothers-in-law and stole his pickup and possessions, leaving him naked and face-down in a field. I had a nephew who joined the military. When he was a kid hed laugh and recite episodes of Beavis and Butt-Head to me from memory. He was shot to death. The military called it a suicide. I had another nephew, Carlitos, who studied to become a lawyer. He and a friend were returning home late from a party and got pulled over by police who coveted the SUV they were driving. The friend got shot dead. The cops drove around until they found a place to dump the body, then they executed my nephew. Their mothers raised hell about it for years. The first boys mother, regent of the national university, later received a humanitarian award from Michelle Obama. Id been reluctant to go back. Im a big, white-haired gringo. I didnt want to make my family a target. But were all getting old. My eldest brother-in-law is 75. Maria is the second-youngest, and she wanted to go back for her 60th birthday. We stayed with family, and they love us and keep us safe. Honduras produces great coffee and cigars. I used to prepare coffee with my late father-in-law, who grew it. Real coffee starts inside a red berry. You pick the berries and dry them on a concrete slab in the sun. Then you husk off the fruit and let the seeds the light blond beans dry some more. Wed build a small wood fire in a brick stove and put a pan cut from an oil drum over the flames, scoop in the beans and roast them until they smoked, quitting when they lightly charred or cooking them black. Hed set most of the roasted beans aside and run a few pounds through a meat grinder. Wed take turns cranking out hot powdered coffee until our arms ached. The scent of it was intoxicating. He made his coffee in a beat-up aluminum pot with a cotton sack sewn onto a loop of twisted copper wire, pouring boiling water through the grounds. The bottom of the sack hung in the water and allowed it to steep. Once youve had coffee like that, you cant go back to the regular stuff. As the beans roasted, hed take a weathered Puma folding hunting knife and shred sugar shavings into the pan from a hard brown block. It would char and caramelize over the cooked beans. He gave me that knife. He said it took up too much room in his pocket, but I think he just wanted me to have it. Id left it down there. I cleaned it this time and sharpened it up, then gave it to Carlitos little brother, Alejandro. Hes my daughters age. Hes going to be a lawyer too. I told him it was his grandfathers and that it should stay in the country, with family. Truth is, I cant imagine losing my brother that way. I didnt want to tell him that. Some of us like to think we have it bad. Poor people there live in tin-roofed shacks made of pallets and cardboard, reached by dirt paths up steep hillsides. They clean windshields or sell fruits at intersections. Some live in a valley filled with toxic smoke from a burning mountain of garbage, picking through newly arrived truckloads for anything of value. The blind or crippled are left to beg in the streets. I came back from that once to a letter from a local guy complaining because his neighbors dog had pooped on his lawn. It left me believing that Americans ought to travel more. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe The IAF AN-32 aircraft that went missing on the morning of July 22, 2016 has left the experts surprised at its sudden disappearance. The aircraft was carrying 29 people. The minister added that he was personally monitoring the whole operation, and he was getting updates every few hours. Photo: PTI By Indo-Asian News Service: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday told parliament that India has sought help from US to check if their satellites captured any signals from the missing AN-32 aircraft, while noting there was very little possibility that sabotage played any role. SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE Giving clarifications on the missing aircraft in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said he was "disturbed" at the aircraft's sudden disappearance, and even experts are "puzzled". advertisement "I am also disturbed at such a sudden disappearance. I spoke with many air chiefs, other senior air force personnel, they also are puzzled by the sudden disappearance," he said. "AIRCRAFT HAD ADEQUATE LIFETIME" Assuring the house that the aircraft had "adequate lifetime", Parrikar also said that maximum efforts are being made to reduce accidents and also that any aircraft not fit for flying was not flown. He said that this aircraft "was almost at the end of the range of passive radar. In effect in another 10 minute it would have crossed the limit of the passive radar and there is an area around 150-200 nautical miles where there is no radar coverage either from Chennai or Port Blair." AN-32 WAS AVOIDING A CLOUD, LAST MOVEMENT TRACKED He also said that the aircraft had undergone its first overhaul, and had already flown for 179 hours after that. The pilot had flown for over 500 hours on the route. "So it is not that something new was happened," he said. "Only thing which was recorded was because of a cumulonimbus cloud which normally no aviator will like to enter into because it is a very charged and heavy cloud... they (pilots) said we are deviating to right," Parrikar said, adding that this happened 7-8 minutes before the plane went off radar. "At the time of coming down it actually tilted to the left and descended very fast from 23,000 feet in few seconds. Then it disappeared from the radar. "Two things happened, it was at the age of radar signal where you don't get very active radar signal, you just keep track of it. There is no SOS, no transmission at any frequency, it just disappeared... That is the worrying part," he said. He also said that no signal from the emergency beacon locator has been tracked, but added that that it was "difficult that it will be actually activated" if the aircraft dives inside water. "In the earlier Coast Guard case (Dornier crash) also, it had not activated," he said. NO SABOTAGE SPECULATED Parrikar also said there was very little chance of a sabotage. "I can't speculate... we are searching for it but I can say only this much, though we are checking all angles, the possibility of a sabotage is comparatively very less. advertisement "They have standard operating procedure, all passengers were from defence forces." US ROPED IN FOR HELP About search operations, he said US has been contacted for any information from their satellites. "We did not get even a single signal. We are now contacting US, if their satellites have picked signals," he said, but added that a satellite may not have picked signals because of thick cloud cover, and it also depends on whether a satellite was crossing the area at the time. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR FOR RECOVERY? He added that so far, 505 hours of air sorties have been undertake and 23 different items were noticed. Of the 23 inputs, there were 17 visual sightings and six transmissions. Indian survey ships are searching the seabed, and submarine Sindhudhwaj, which had finally located the crashed Dornier, is carrying out an underwater search. "Round the clock air surveillance is being maintained. There are 10 Navy ships in the area. The depth of water is 3,300 to 4,000 meters. Special vessels have also been summoned," he said. advertisement The minister added that he was personally monitoring the whole operation, and he was getting updates every few hours. Also read: All 29 feared dead as IAF AN-32 goes missing over Bay of Bengal, massive search on --- ENDS --- Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (440) Jan 2014 (544) Feb 2014 (475) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (441) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (579) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (921) Nov 2015 (801) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (946) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (966) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sep 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (655) It sounds like a big promise. In less than five years, Medicaid managed-care company Centene says two office high-rises one 28 stories, the other 34 stories and some 2,000 employees will be new additions to downtown Clayton. About 1,000 of those employees will come from consolidating Centenes existing operations within Missouri, where it currently employs some 2,900 people. Almost all of them about 2,600 work in the St. Louis area, in offices from Chesterfield to Ferguson. More than 1,000 already work at Centenes 17-story Clayton headquarters, where it has expanded beyond the eight floors it originally occupied as its need for space has grown. Another 1,000 employees would be so-called new jobs, added through natural growth or mergers and acquisitions to a corporate campus where they could expect to earn an average of $73,000. That seems reasonable to Steve Halper, a New York analyst covering Centene for FBR Capital Markets. In terms of planning for long-term growth, I think they do a very good job of it, Halper said. What it demonstrates is that they expect the company to continue to grow. Centenes core business is running state Medicaid programs, and it could continue to add states. But it is also growing its insurance product offerings, and Halper said the company could continue to add new services. Building office space is a good corporate strategy, and building plenty of new space near its existing headquarters jibes with its reputation for running a pretty centralized operation, he said. They have plenty of people in the field, but they have good management controls at the headquarter level. Centene recently became the largest Medicaid managed-care company in the country with its $6 billion purchase of California-based Health Net Inc., doubling the people it covered. Its application for state incentives, released last month, implied that a fair amount of its local job growth would come from moving Health Net jobs from California to the St. Louis area. The primary purpose of the new facility would be to house certain functions that currently reside in California, the company wrote in its application. Secondarily, new jobs from the organic growth of Centene would be located in the proposed facility. The companys application specifically says the state financing would offset new-hire recruitment and training costs, and relocation costs related to California employees. Centene asked for some $45 million in state incentives to aid its expansion, as well as about $95 million in local tax abatement, according to the application. Centene, though, says the local abatement would have a final value of between $88 million and $135 million, including 50 percent local tax abatement. However, Centene spokeswoman Marcela Hawn said in an email that the company would add new corporate positions to the planned Clayton headquarters through new growth. Our plan is to fill open Corporate positions related to Health Net growth through our normal new-hire recruiting process, she wrote. For example, accounting has numerous positions in Clayton that need to be filled by year-end. Many of these new hires are related to Health Net growth. These positions would reside in Missouri/Clayton. Already, the company is growing at a breakneck pace, and even the new employees that join its workforce of about 25,000 outside of Missouri tend to come to the Clayton headquarters to train. Its one of the reasons the second phase of Centenes expansion would include a hotel and event space as part of a 34-story office complex. Were hiring about 40 people a week, said Robert Clark, CEO of developer Clayco, which is handling Centenes campus expansion project. Were doing a tremendous amount of training on this campus for the other locations Centene has. Centene is actually planning for well over 2,000 employees. Its building plans call for capacity for up to 2,800 employees in downtown Clayton. Plus, there would room for close to 2,000 more workers in the two office towers, which the company will lease to third parties. But as it has done in its current headquarters, it could move into more than the original footprint it occupied as leases expire and its need for space grows. And a third phase, one without a timeline yet, could add another 25-story office building to the west of Centenes existing tower. How much space will the company need after 2020? Its not clear even Centene knows yet. Post-Dispatch reporter Samantha Liss contributed to this report. NEW YORK Nearly two years ago, Hillary Clinton commissioned an armada of white papers on economic policy to prepare for what her team assumed would be a presidential battle with a Republican such as Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, who were making wonky appeals to the middle class the central planks of their campaigns. It was a strategic necessity, Clinton later confided to associates. She thought that voters would demand detailed plans from the candidates and reject what she called "easy answers" on the big challenges facing the country. The campaign has not played out the way she imagined, with Republican nominee Donald Trump offering little detail about his promises to make America rich again. Still, when Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination this week, she stuck with her plan to lay out her economic proposals, declaring "I sweat the details of policy." As Clinton sets off on a three-day bus tour, she is struggling to connect with an economically anxious electorate: General-election polls show that voters, and by vast margins working-class whites, trust Trump more than Clinton to handle the economy. Campaign officials say they have constantly heard from donors and outside advisers that their candidate needs to strip down her economic message. It's a challenge, they say, that weighs on them. "You don't want to be, as the expression goes, bringing a calculator to a knife fight," said one senior Clinton adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to frankly discuss the campaign strategy. Clinton's plan represents "a very sensible approach to economic policy and the challenges we face," said Alan Krueger, a Princeton economist and former chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers who is advising Clinton in the race. "The risk in the campaign is, it doesn't fit easily on a bumper sticker." Events have made it difficult for Clinton to lean on what used to be her simplest pitch - a call to return to "Clinton economics," the balanced-budget, pro-free-trade policies of her husband's administration in the 1990s that helped fuel an economic boom but was followed by stagnating working-class wages and sharply rising inequality. Instead, she offers a layered explanation for why middle-class incomes remain lower today than they were when her husband left office, including globalization, technology and poor choices by business leaders and policymakers. And, in contrast to Trump's simplicity, she makes the case that her complicated solutions are the right way to address the challenges. "It's fair to say that my economic plans are detailed and varied because I think we are facing complex problems that require serious solutions," Clinton said in an interview with The Washington Post. "But they're all focused on a single, overarching goal, and that is to create good-paying jobs with rising incomes. That is the defining economic challenge of our time." Still, as she tries to consolidate support from anxious progressives and court beleaguered white workers, she is facing calls to go bigger, and simpler, on the economy. "She needs to give people some hope that she 'gets it,' " said Robert Reich, a former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) in the primaries. "Not only the stresses that people are feeling, but also the need for a strong response." ________ Arguably no issue represents the tensions facing Clinton's economic agenda more than trade. After Clinton lost the Michigan primary to Sanders, who had rallied voters against "disastrous trade deals," donors pressured the campaign to adopt the Vermont senator's more standoffish message on trade, according to senior campaign officials. They wanted her to say, flatly, that trade was killing American jobs. Clinton rejected those calls for broad-brush statements. Instead, according senior campaign officials, Clinton embarked on a more targeted strategy: Use details to show voters she recognized the downsides of trade, without embracing the full message they wanted to hear. "I want to talk about specifics," she told her advisers, and they consulted with the steelworkers union and the office of trade critic Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. In the end, she decided to focus on a provision in President Obama's proposed Asia trade deal called "rules of origin" that was little known by the broad public but resonated among trade opponents. The provision would make trade with China easier by allowing cars manufactured primarily from Chinese parts to be labeled "Made in the USA" if they were assembled in the United States. She centered a speech in Youngstown, Ohio, on her opposition to it. After that, "I started saying I trust her on trade and manufacturing," said Brown, a top Senate liberal who was considered as a potential running mate. Clinton went on to win the state, including voters who told exit pollsters they worry that trade takes away American jobs. Clinton advisers say that strategy exemplifies her nuanced approach to gaining the trust of anxious voters on economic issues. Trump is already working hard to combat it, on trade in particular. He has labeled the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (which Clinton supported publicly as first lady), expanded trade with China and other trade agreements "Clinton's trade deals." In those attacks, Clinton's supporters see a big risk. On trade, "Donald Trump is formidable," said Jared Bernstein, a former top economist for Vice President Biden. "He is talking about something real, and he is making many points that people on the left have been making." Today, Clinton's trade stance remains far more nuanced than Trump's. Asked in The Post interview whether the United States would have been better off not passing three controversial trade measures with North and Central America and China, she responded, "I think that's a hard question to answer." "I look at this from both sides," she said. "We've got to make our trade agreements more enforceable and then enforce them. We've got to renegotiate them so that we are not being taken advantage of. We have to make sure they've met the bar I've set. But at the same time, we have to support people who are affected, dislocated by trade. And we just don't do a very good job of that." A day after Clinton spoke to The Post, Trump called NAFTA "the worst trade deal in history" in a Pennsylvania speech. He said expanded trade with China had created "the greatest job theft in history." "This wave of globalization," he told the crowd, "has wiped out our middle class." _______ Clinton's presidential policy apparatus began with a small group of formal and informal advisers conducting what amounted to a research project on what is wrong with the American economy - and how to fix it. They interviewed about 200 experts. What she has released so far is the distilled product of that effort. Her plan includes spending more than $1 trillion to rebuild U.S. infrastructure, allow students to attend college without incurring debt, and help working families afford day care for their children and take paid leave to raise them. She thinks such spending would create jobs and accelerate economic growth, help low- and middle-income students gain skills that are increasingly necessary for high-wage work, and reverse a recent trend of women leaving the U.S. workforce. She would raise taxes on the highest earners and impose a new minimum effective tax rate for them to pay for those programs and to curb inequality. She would add to the Obama administration's wave of new regulations on Wall Street. And she would change the tax code to discourage companies from moving operations overseas, while encouraging them to share profits with workers and invest more in long-term opportunities. "We skewed the tax code toward the wealthy," Clinton said. "We continued to undermine workers' rights. We have blocked investments in our shared future. And I don't think it's just greed, as serious as that is. It seems we've lost a sense of shared responsibility and forgotten we're all in this together." Trade isn't the only issue where she has rejected the most liberal wing of her party. She did not endorse a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage - even though the policy polls well, it was included in the party's platform and it would lift the wages of many working-class Americans. Instead, she backs a $12-an-hour federal minimum and the ability for states to set higher ones if they choose. Aides say that is because she thinks that $15 an hour may be too high for states with lower average incomes and costs of living, such as her former home of Arkansas. And sometimes she has waved off her political team. For example, they did not want her talking about corporate "short-termism" in her early campaign speeches last year - the idea that companies value short-term profits over the long-term investments that make for good jobs and sustainable businesses. Her advisers warned it was too confusing for voters. She used it anyway. _____ Clinton's economic plan has drawn praise from a wide range of liberal and center-left policy experts, even when those experts have disagreements about what to do to address middle-class challenges. She has blended slogans and policy proposals from several top liberal policy thinkers. For example, she talks about the rules of the economy being "rigged" against workers and toward the wealthy and powerful, in the manner of Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, and about family-friendly policies creating growth and prosperity, in the vein of Heather Boushey, an economist and writer who heads the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Still, some liberals argue that Clinton must do more. James Galbraith, a prominent liberal economist who supported Sanders in the primary, said it is possible that Clinton could beat Trump with her current economic message, "but my gut would be not to be overconfident." To energize progressives, he added, "there's got to be a transition toward the positions Bernie Sanders has taken this time around, because that's where the young people are." Clinton backers say her plan is plenty bold as is. "Many of the things that were the demands of progressives, she sang the words," said Heather McGhee, the president of the public policy organization Demos and a liberal supporter of Clinton's. She praises Clinton's debt-free college proposal in particular: "Bernie Sanders and the movement behind him should declare victory on that." Looking toward November, polls show that Clinton has struggled to connect with voters' economic concerns the way Trump has. A Pew Research Center poll this month reported that voters say Trump would do a better job than Clinton improving the economy, 48 to 43 percent. An earlier CNN poll showed Clinton trailing Trump by 8 percentage points on the question of who voters trust to handle the economy. That trust deficit swells to 32 points among white voters without a college degree, the economically anxious group that is key to Trump's presidential hopes, and with which Clinton has lost the most ground compared with President Obama in 2012. Both polls showed Clinton winning overall. Clinton's team thinks wonkiness will win the day, by showing her to be a more serious candidate and by forcing Trump to flesh out his plans. "That's going to be more persuasive than making these wild promises," one senior adviser said, adding: "We'll see." The trend for the past several election cycles has been for all candidates, Republican and Democratic, to add more detail to their policy proposals, especially as primaries give way to the general election. This year could be a massive exception. Trump has begun to release economic fact sheets to accompany major speeches, and he is promising updated details for his tax plan. His website now has seven items under its "positions" heading. Clinton's "issues" section has 37. People's Liberation Army is bracing for major showdowns in its increasingly volatile neighbourhood triggered by the international tribunal verdict quashing China's expansive claims over the resource-rich South China Sea. President Xi Jinping is pushing China's 2.3 million-strong PLA which turns 89 on Sunday to train hard to win wars as it expands its high tech arsenal. (Photo: Reuters) By Press Trust of India: Undergoing radical transformation to increase its combat capability amid rising tensions over the disputed South China Sea, President Xi Jinping is pushing China's 2.3 million-strong PLA which turns 89 on Sunday to train hard to win wars as it expands its high tech arsenal. Reorganised from top to bottom by Xi in the last four years, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) - the world's largest - is bracing for major showdowns in its increasingly volatile neighbourhood triggered by the international tribunal verdict quashing China's expansive claims over the resource-rich South China Sea (SCS). READ: China continues aggressive stand on South China Sea Reform is a comprehensive and revolutionary change, and obstacles and policy issues that may hold back reform measures must be addressed so as to build a strong armed forces commensurate with China's international status, Xi has said as he consolidated his hold over the military to emerge as the most powerful Chinese leader in recent times. advertisement USD 145 BILLION BUDGET FOR PLA Operating under the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) unlike other militaries which function directly under governments, the PLA now enjoys a whopping over USD 145 billion annual budget, next only to the US military with whom it looks set for a confrontation in the SCS. Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, shakes hands with military delegates attending a conference of Communist Party members of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) during an inspection tour of the army's headquarters in Beijing. (Photo: PTI) Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, shakes hands with military delegates attending a conference of Communist Party members of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) during an inspection tour of the army's headquarters in Beijing. (Photo: PTI) Focusing his attention on the PLA the day he took power in 2013, Xi wanted the military to function under the command of the Party, increase its capability to win wars and operate in proper working style by weeding out corruption. READ: Uttarakhand border incident: China's PLA says troops 'will not cross LAC' Over 40 top commanders including two retired military chiefs faced investigation for corruption, which became rampant in the PLA with allegations of generals selling ranks for hefty bribes. On July 25, a Chinese court sentenced former military chief Guo Boxiong to life in prison for corruption. He was reported to have accepted bribes worth about USD 2.3 million mainly selling military ranks to highest bidders. Xi also carried out the biggest anti-corruption drive to cleanse the party in which thousands of officials have faced punishment. READ: Defiant Taiwan takes on Beijing, sends warship into disputed South China Sea PLA UNDER CMC While firming up his grip on the military, Xi also stepped up PLA's reorganisation and brought the entire command and control under the Central Military Commission (CMC), the highest military body headed by him. On April 20, Xi appeared in public with a new title - commander-in-chief of the newly-established CMC joint battle command centre which he inspected on the day dressed in camouflage fatigues. The centre belongs to a tiered command system including the CMC, theatre commands and others. It is part of the overall reform of the PLA's organisation, a culmination of Xi's military thought, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Also Read: China holds combat drill in South China Sea With eye on China, Modi govt gives Adani Rs 16 billion to build India's first transshipment port Defiant China to close access to part of South China Sea for army drills China vows to protect South China Sea sovereignty, threatens to set up air defence zone Beijing's South China Sea claims unfounded, rules The Hague tribunal High stakes legal ruling looms in South China Sea dispute ST. PETERS The two suspects accused of trying to steal a woman's purse at a Costco in St. Peters Thursday have been charged with second-degree robbery and are being held on $35,000 bond, police said Saturday. Police have arrested Tyler Gutman, 24, and Dominique Stephenson, 22, both of St. Charles County, in connection with the case, St. Peters police Officer Melissa Doss said in a release. Gutman was arrested and his car seized on Friday after police identified him through a database search for the suspect vehicle. Stephenson turned himself in to police Friday evening after he learned they were looking for him, Doss said. The St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged the two with second-degree robbery, according to police. They are being held on a $35,000 bond at the St. Charles County jail. The two allegedly drove up to a 29-year-old woman at the St. Peters Costco as she was putting groceries in her vehicle about 6:45 p.m. Thursday. One man grabbed her purse and ran to the car, according to police and a video that officials provided. The woman ran after them and tried to enter the car, but got stuck in the passenger door. The robber opened the door to let her out, fell out himself, then got back in without the purse. The woman was later treated for minor injuries and eventually recovered her purse. Police have recommended that people be aware of their surroundings and never try to stop a criminal. ST. LOUIS Tuesday could be a long night for Missouri Republicans. A new Post-Dispatch poll finds that, just days before the statewide primary elections, all four candidates for the Republican nomination for governor remain close enough to win Tuesday. The poll shows that, in a sample of 400 likely Republican voters, businessman John Brunner leads the pack with 23 percent support just 2 percentage points ahead of former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens and former Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, who are tied at 21 percent each; and 5 points ahead of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is at 18 percent. The poll, conducted for the Post-Dispatch by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, has a margin for error of plus or minus 5 points. I cant recall seeing a race with four candidates this close, and Ive been doing this 30-some years, said Mason-Dixon Managing Director J. Brad Coker. Just to put things in perspective, in a 400-interview poll, four people makes 1 percent. So the difference between Brunner and Kinder is 20 people, out of 400. With about 17 percent of the field undecided, its going to be crazy, added Coker. This could come down to one gaffe, or one good news cycle in the final days. The same poll found even closer races in the GOP primaries for state attorney general and lieutenant governor. Attorney general candidate Josh Hawley is 1 point ahead of Kurt Schaefer, 38 percent to 37 percent, and lieutenant governor candidate Bev Randles is 1 point ahead of Mike Parson, 35 percent to 34 percent. On Tuesday, voters in each party primary will pick nominees to compete in the Nov. 8 general election for one U.S. Senate seat, all statewide offices except state auditor, all Missouri House seats, some Missouri Senate seats and assorted local offices. Party politics, no party Many of the races have multiple candidates but no likely surprises in terms of who the nominee will be, the poll found. In the two parties primaries for the U.S. Senate, for example, incumbent Republican Sen. Roy Blunt and Democratic challenger Jason Kander both are leading in their respective primary fields by more than 50 percentage points over their nearest in-party competitors. And state Attorney General Chris Koster is leading in the four-way race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination with 73 percent support among 400 likely Democratic voters polled. In the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, former U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan has a sizeable lead over two opponents. In the partys race for secretary of state, former news anchor Robin Smith was leading handily over two others. Similarly, in the partys treasurer primary, former state Rep. Judy Baker had a lead of more than 2-1 over first-time candidate Pat Contreras. On the Republican side, lawyer Jay Ashcroft had a commanding lead over state Sen. Will Kraus and another candidate in the secretary of state race. The Republican race for the right to go up against Koster in the November general election for governor features four well-known, well-funded primary candidates, with no clear frontrunner. In fact, at least two other recent polls by other organizations have found essentially the same span among the candidates that the Post-Dispatch/Mason-Dixon poll found all grouped around 20 percent support, within a few points of each other but in differing orders. A separate portion of the Post-Dispatch poll, comparing hypothetical gubernatorial matchups between Koster and each of the four Republicans, further muddles the question. In that portion of the poll (which uses a different sample that encompasses Republicans, Democrats and independents), Koster wins in each of the matchups. But he has the hardest time with Kinder, edging him by just 1 point despite Kinders fourth-place ranking when hes compared to just other Republicans. It may show that Kinder has better crossover appeal. I would attribute that to the fact that hes been elected to statewide office, said Coker. Typically in Republican primaries, you have everybody trying to outflank each other on the right, but these voters (from the mixed sample) arent influenced as much by whats going on in the primary. The GOP gubernatorial race has been the most expensive primary race in Missouri history the four candidates have spent a combined total of more than $22 million in all and one of the most acrimonious. With few policy differences among the four, the campaign has been marked by personal grudge matches, anonymous internet attacks, secretly recorded phone calls, a lawsuit, a state ethics complaint and the establishment of two shadowy federal super PACs. The candidates funding sources also have become a source of contention. Greitens has received the bulk of his money from out of the state, including almost $2 million from a federal super PAC whose donors havent been revealed. Brunner is mostly self-funding, as he did to the tune of $8 million during his failed 2012 run for the U.S. Senate. Hanaway and Kinder both have individual big-money benefactors: St. Louis investor Rex Sinquefield in Hanaways case, and siblings David Humphreys and Sarah Atkins of Joplin-based TAMKO Building Products, in Kinders case. Sinquefield and Humphreys are similarly positioned against each other as the moneymen in the razor-thin attorney generals Republican primary, with Sinquefield donating heavily to Schaefer, a state senator, and Humphreys donating heavily to Hawley, a University of Missouri law professor. In the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, Sinquefield, Humphreys and Atkins all have funded Republican candidate Randles, an attorney, who is running against Parson, a state senator. The only statewide primary race in which the Democrats appear to have any contest at all, the poll found, was in the partys primary for attorney general. St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman is ahead of former Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley by an 8-point margin, 45 percent to 37 percent. In the Republican governors primary, the challenge for each of the candidates will be to pull from the 17 percent of voters who are undecided, according to the poll. Adding to the challenge is the fact that all four of the candidates already are very well known among Republican poll respondents, leaving little opportunity to introduce themselves to fresh voters. Just 7 percent of Republican poll respondents dont know who Greitens is, the highest non-recognition number; the lowest went to Brunner, at 4 percent. As with the other rankings, all four candidates are grouped relatively close together in terms of favorability ratings among Republicans. All four gubernatorial candidates have significantly better favorable than unfavorable ratings though neutral recognition is just as high as their favorables, ranging between 35 percent and 43 percent. The thing to remember about that 17 percent undecided is that those voters wont necessarily split evenly on election day, said Coker. But if it does split four ways, it will be a long night. Those interviewed for the poll were randomly selected from phone-matched Missouri voter registration lists that included both land-line and cellphone numbers. CLAYTON The performance of the St. Louis County Board of Elections in Tuesdays primary could be like watching the first appearance of a relief pitcher after a shellacking on the mound. Theres a reasonable expectation the pitcher will succeed. And a compelling reason to pay attention if he doesnt. The scenario is analogous to the situation facing officials as they prepare for the first polling since ballot shortages turned the April 5 municipal elections into an ordeal that Gov. Jay Nixon characterized as inexcusable. We expect the microscope will be on all the processes, said John Maupin, a Republican commission member of the four-person board governing the election authority. Eric Fey, the Democratic Elections Director who took the brunt of the heat in April, is mindful of the pressure to deliver a boffo performance when county voters return to the polls Tuesday. Pointing to measures taken to address issues that marred April balloting, Fey said he was confident his office would begin this week the process of regaining the trust of county voters. My biggest fear is that the things that can happen every election, like a janitor forgetting to unlock the door at a polling place in the morning or a poll worker not showing up on time, will be blown out of proportion, Fey said. He added, Weve done everything in our power to organize a good election. Republican Election Board Commissioner John King believes the agency is up to the challenge. Everyone the employees, directors and board members are aware of the last two elections and the mistakes that were made, said King, a Republican. And we think we have it set up now to get it as close to perfect as we can. Fey, a former County Council legislative aide with a passion for the voting process, was appointed co-director of the agency 18 months ago. He joined Republican Elections Director Gary Fuhr, who had been on the job since 2012. (In St. Louis County, the elections director representing the party holding the Missouri governors office is first among equals.) As a volunteer with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Fey had observed balloting in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Macedonia. Then, in April, he learned how quickly the democratic process in America can spin out of control. The polls hadnt been open a half hour on April 5 before word began to spread of ballot shortages that would ultimately hamper voting at 60 county precincts. The political class was quick to respond. Ballots were still being cast when Secretary of State Jason Kander ordered his offices Election Integrity Unit to look into the irregularities. By the end of the month, state legislators had convened not one, but two, hearings into what occurred. The County Council followed up in early May by summoning Fey and Fuhr to Clayton for a grilling. The fallout led to a week-long suspension for Fey and a deputy agency official. Ballot shortages also led to disputes over the outcomes of an aldermanic race in Sunset Hills and the mayoral office in Berkeley. As a result, special elections to choose candidates for those offices will be folded into the November general election. Fuhr meanwhile announced his retirement a decision Fuhr insisted had been in the works prior to April. Airlifted ballots Before his departure, Fuhr joined Fey at a House of Representatives hearing where they told lawmakers that a post-election autopsy had determined the April 5 problems cascaded from a missed ballot filing deadline by the tiny county municipalities of Mackenzie and Uplands Park. Some jurisdictions might have been able to overcome such errors. But a county with 90 municipalities and 432 polling places with overlapping jurisdictions that require 232 different ballot styles in a municipal election presents its own problems. The system was further complicated for municipal elections because the date of the Missouri presidential primary, on April 15, left no time for re-calibration of the countys electronic voting machines. The county as a consequence was forced to use paper ballots with, as one legislator put it, disastrous results. The mistakes were pretty mundane, Fey said last week. But the result was catastrophic. With guidance from the state and the commissioners who oversee the Board of Elections, the authority has adopted several new policies to make sure the Aug. 2 primary and other elections moving forward will not reprise April 5. Fey and interim Republican Director Christian Tolbert have addressed the most demanding task by double-checking the ballots delivered to polling places in the run-up to Tuesdays primary. A second key to the safety net is a protocol that now requires the agency to store extra ballots at election headquarters in Maplewood. In the past, printers have delivered a pre-established number of ballots to the county. Most of the overruns remained at the print shop. When the county ran short of ballots in November 2014, it was forced to airlift the overruns from a printer outside Kansas City. Caught short again in April, the authority scrambled to get ballots to the polls. Fey saidv that in the future the county would maintain a cache of overruns at the elections office. The county will pay in advance for the extra ballots and receive a refund from the printer for unused ballots returned after the election. Volunteer effort State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, said the elections authority would have two factors working to its advantage Tuesday: low turnout and the absence of the statewide and local ballot referendums that have led to mix-ups in the past. Its not going to be as complicated as it can get sometimes, said Dogan, chair of the House Task Force on Election Procedures and Accountability. Dogans committee has recommended the Legislature study several reforms on the oversight of elections in St. Louis County, including removing political appointees from leadership roles. Fey said most voters remained unaware that the success of his agency relied on the efforts of 4,000 volunteers who receive $150 each for the 14 hours they put in on election days. People have to remember that they only do this two or three times a year, the director said. Its not like a McDonalds restaurant where they are doing the same thing day in and day out. The job of volunteers at 50 polling places will be easier Tuesday when the county rolls out a pilot program for electronic poll books. The tablets, which expedite the registration process, will appear at polling places countywide in November. Theres always trepidation about trying something new, said Maupin. But we think this will be a real advance for keeping the lines down and moving. By PTI: Chennai, Jul 30 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government today said it is taking all steps to safely bring back 10 pilgirms from the state stranded in Nepal. Hailing from Kanchipuram in the state, 10 pilgirms to the Mukthinath temple are stuck in Jomson in Nepal following heavy rains and landslides there. After a section of media reported it and based on a representation from the son of one of the pilgrims, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered officials to get in touch with the officials of the Indian Embassy in Nepal, a government release said. advertisement The 10 pilgirms were part of a larger group of 19. Of them, nine managed to reach nearby Pokhara. First Secretary of the Indian Embassy Pranav Ganesh told the Tamil Nadu government that the weather in Jomsom has not improved. He said the stranded pilgrims could be taken by helicopter from Jomsom to Pokhara, from where they could reach Kathmandu by a flight. Ganesh asked the Tamil Nadu government to bear the helicopter fare of Rs 2.10 lakh for the pilgirms, the release said. "The Chief Minister has ordered immediate remittance of Rs 2.10 lakh to our embassy and has instructed officials to bring back the pilgrims safely," it said. She directed the officials to bring them to Delhi, house them at Tamil Nadu House and make arrangements for their return to Chennai. PTI VGN RC GVS --- ENDS --- Say you took one of those neuralizer devices from the Men in Black movies and wiped out someones memory. Then you showed him the highlights of the Republican and Democratic national conventions. He wouldnt know they were talking about the same country. For the next 101 days, the nation will be presented with two starkly different visions of America. There is Donald Trumps America, beset on every front, losing at everything, yearning for greatness lost, anxious, fearful and looking for a white knight. Then there is the America on display at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. It was an America where movie stars and a four-star general, Muslims and Baptists, Catholics and Methodists, gay people, young people, old people, black people, white people and brown people came together to speak of hope and unity and, oh, by the way, to nominate a woman to be president. Yes, it was slickly packaged, but so was the Republican Convention. These are the images the parties, for better or for worse, are presenting to voters this year. Trump has left no doubt that his dark vision is the one Republicans will have to settle for. Down-ballot candidates and voters who are troubled by it will have to hold their noses or abandon ship for libertarian Gary Johnson. For the Democrats, a party as the old joke goes famous for circular firing squads, the trick will be two-fold. One, it must hold its coalition together. And two, it must sell it to independent voters, particularly those who dont think the party has their interests at heart and those who have come to believe, over her long public career, that Hillary Clinton is just one of those snippy women they dont like. The Democrats spent a lot of effort last week dealing with both issues. President Barack Obama twice won election with a coalition of women, minorities, college-educated men and young voters. Like the first African-American president, Clinton is a barrier-buster, but she lacks the panache that made Obama attractive to younger voters. Oddly, this group found succor during the primary season in a grouchy, panache-free 74-year-old Vermont socialist. Bernie Sanders had the kind of ideological purity that appeals to the young, and should. Bernie or bust-ers briefly threatened to disrupt the convention before Sanders, with the help of high cool-quotient comedian Sarah Silverman (Youre being ridiculous) brought most of them back to earth. Sanders pushed Clinton, and the party platform, to the left. If Bill Clintons administration was Clinton I, then Clinton II will reflect a different set of values. Bill Clinton came out of the Democratic Leadership Council era, when party leaders turned to Wall Street to offset the declining power of organized labor. The era of big government is over, Bill Clinton said during his 1996 State of the Union speech. In fact, big government wasnt over, it was just refocused on Wall Street and corporate America. Income inequality widened. Cheap credit and the tech boom disguised what was happening to the middle class. With the active support of the first lady, Clinton signed welfare reform, the crime bill, bank deregulation and other measures that are now anathema to the left. Clinton II is repudiating much of what Clinton I accomplished. Bill Clinton has apologized for signing the crime bill. And in her acceptance speech Thursday night, Hillary Clinton promised to lead a stronger together coalition to build a country where the economy works for everyone, not just those at the top. Where you can get a good job and send your kids to a good school, no matter what ZIP code you live in. A country where all our children can dream, and those dreams are within reach. Where families are strong communities are safe. Shes right. America is not a zero-sum society. This message should resonate not just within the Democratic coalition, but among white working-class voters whove come to feel abandoned by Washington. The politics of grievance hangs heavy over the 2016 election, as does the politics of identity. Too many Americans mistrust too many others. They nurture grievances inside of information silos where their beliefs arent challenged and they dont have to hear anything they dont agree with. They mistrust coalitions because the other guys seem to be getting all the breaks. They may especially mistrust a coalition headed by Hillary Clinton, whether they made up their minds in 1992 when she said I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, or in 2013 when she began making $225,000 speeches to banks and corporate groups. This history didnt come up during the convention. Clinton was portrayed, particularly by her husband, as a woman who has devoted her life to public service, particularly to children and the underprivileged. There is no doubt this is true, nor of her devotion to public service, but there is equally no doubt that she has unapologetically monetized it when she could. Many, if not most, public servants do the same thing, most of them men. There is more than a hint of sexism attached to resentment against Clinton. She chose to combine a career with motherhood and home life, was successful at it and took no end of grief for it. She is universally described as warm and caring in private settings, but is understandably wary in uncontrolled public settings. She will have to get past that. Americans want to like their presidents. Luckily, her opponent will make it easier. Hillary Clinton had a very good week. She will need to have a good next 101 days. Can we be assured that the plant will not pollute our land or water supply so that we are not discovering something decades later like so many areas in Missouri? By PTI: (Attn.editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) Study by Global Hospitals Shows Generic Hepatitis C Drugs Effective in Treating the Disease MUMBAI, India, July 30, 2016/PRNewswire/ -- A good reason to celebrate, say hospital doctors In India, it is estimated that up to 1.5% of the population has a hepatitis C infection, with certain areas in the Punjab, North East and tribal areas considered possible "hepatitis C virus hotspots". advertisement With a global burden of 130-150 million people, hepatitis C, along with hepatitis B, are among the leading causes of liver cancer and pose a significant health challenge. The standard of care for hepatitis C has changed over the years. Initially, it was only injectable interferon. Later, combinations of injectable interferon or pegylated interferon with ribavirin and protease inhibitors were introduced. More recently, the World Health Organization has recommended that newer oral agents called direct antiviral agents (DAA) be included for all patients with hepatitis C. DAAs have been found to be better tolerated, safer, need to be taken for a shorter time and are more effective. Dr. Samir Shah, Head, Department of Hepatology, Institute of Liver Diseases, HPB Surgery and Transplant, Global Hospitals, Mumbai recently presented the results from a 14-centre study across India where a DAA, sofosbuvir, was used in an interferon-free combination with ribavirin, for 117 treatment-nave patients with chronic hepatitis C infections. (MORE) PRN TLS TLS --- ENDS --- Washington, DC (PRWEB) July 30, 2016 Registration for NLN Education Summit 2016 is in full swing. Join faculty, deans and administrators, students, and other health care professionals in Orlando, September 21-23. Meet and learn from colleagues and experts in nursing education as you participate in the exchange of information and ideas. The gathering is also an occasion to celebrate professional achievement, an opportunity for formal and informal networking and mentoring; and just plain fun. President of the NLN Anne R. Bavier, PhD, RN, FAAN, reiterated her advice to register now: "There is truly no better way for nurse educators to recharge than to participate in the Summit. This yearly must-attend event embodies the NLN's mission to promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of our nation and the global community. I look forward to welcoming colleagues to Orlando." "Beyond Boundaries," said NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, "is about creating access to outstanding, culturally sensitive health care to underserved patient populations worldwide, beginning with improved educational opportunities for all by increasing diversity among nursing students and nurse faculty." The exploration of global perspectives will begin with Wednesday evening's keynote speaker: Dr. Shelia Tlou. The director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa and former member of parliament and minister of health for Botswana, Dr. Tlou provides leadership in the response to HIV-AIDS and ensures technical support to UN teams in 21 countries across the region. Dr. Tlou is the United Nations Eminent Person for Women, Girls, and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. Another yearly Summit highlight, the Debra L. Spunt Lecture, funded by Laerdal Medical, will take place on Friday morning, delivered by Janice C. Palaganas, PhD, RN. Dr. Palaganas is director of educational innovation and program development at the Center for Medical Simulation at Harvard. She also lectures on simulation and interprofessional dynamics at Harvard Medical School. "Knowing Bounds to Know No Bounds: Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education" will address the topic of crossing boundaries from her unique perspective. Abstracts are available on the Summit app and on its dedicated microsite for participants to select which concurrent sessions to attend, based on individual needs and interests. Some of the most popular sessions, e.g., "How to Teach so It Sticks," How to Deliver Constructive Feedback Effectively," Developing Test Questions," are filling fast. First-time attendees are urged to take advantage of "Navigating the Summit," a welcoming orientation session on Wednesday afternoon. New this year, the NLN Honors Convocation on Friday afternoon celebrates the NLN Centers of Excellence, the winners of the prestigious NLN Awards, and induction of the 2016 Class of Fellows into the NLN Academy of Nursing Education. The Summit closes with the festive (and fun) President's Reception immediately following at 6:15. >>Complete information and registration ### Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its more than 40,000 individual and more than 1,200 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/07/prweb13585853.htm The logo of Xerox company is seen on a building in Minsk, Belarus, March 21, 2016. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko By Aishwarya Venugopal (Reuters) - Printer and copier maker Xerox Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as restructuring efforts ahead of its planned split into two companies helped cut costs. The company, which is splitting to separate its printer business from its business process outsourcing unit, said it slashed about 1,300 jobs globally in the second quarter. Xerox's total costs declined 6 percent to $4.24 billion. This included restructuring and related charges of $71 million, less than the $100 million the company had estimated in April. Shares of Xerox, which said it was on track to meet its annualized cost savings target of about $700 million for 2016, rose nearly 4 percent in early trading on Friday. Xerox said it expected one-time pretax separation costs of $175 million-$200 million, lower than the $200 million-$250 million it had estimated earlier. The company had about 131,800 employees as of June-end, down about 11,800 from the end of December. Xerox's total revenue fell for the sixth straight quarter as corporate customers reduce printing to reduce expenses and consumers shift to mobile devices. Like rivals Lexmark International Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co , the company is focusing on its software and service businesses. "Document technology revenue declines moderated and margin improved, driven by cost and productivity initiatives," Chief Executive Ursula Burns said. Revenue from Xerox's document technology business, which includes printers and copiers, fell nearly 7 percent but the decline slowed from 10-13 percent in the prior four quarters. The business is Xerox's biggest, accounting for about 40 percent of total revenue. Revenue from its business process outsourcing unit fell nearly 4 percent. However, revenue rose about 1 percent in its document outsourcing business, the sole bright spot for the company. WEAK FORECAST Xerox forecast adjusted earnings of 26-28 cents per share for the third quarter, largely below the average analyst estimate of 28 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Net income from continuing operations jumped 45 percent to $155 million, or 15 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30. Excluding items, Xerox earned 30 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 25 cents. Revenue declined 4.5 percent to $4.39 billion, in line with the average estimate. Xerox shares were up 3.6 percent at $10.24 in morning trading. Up to Thursday's close, the stock had risen about 7 percent since Jan. 28, a day before the company announced the split. (Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey) Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party led by Bhim Singh had filed a petition seeking direction to the Governor to intervene under section 92 of the Jammu and Kashmir constitution which meant a rule by the Governor Petition was filed seeking direction to the Governor to intervene in the agitated situation of Jammu and Kashmir since the killing of Burhan Wani By Mail Today Bureau: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to order Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, but asked Modi government's Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to file a status report on the ground level situation in the strife-torn state by Monday. PETITION SEEKING GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party led by Bhim Singh had filed a petition seeking direction to the Governor to intervene under section 92 of the Jammu and Kashmir constitution which meant a rule by the Governor. The plea was filed after the protests and violence that have taken over the state since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani. advertisement Clashes between security forces and protesters have resulted in the death of several civilians and CRPF personnel. It is to be noted that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti called an all-party meet to discuss the unrest in the Valley and asked the Centre to ensure engagement of all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir for carrying forward the peace and reconciliation process in the state. The issue had also come up for discussion in both Houses of Parliament following which Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the security forces will exercise restraint when it comes to civilians but maintained that there will be no place for militancy. Curfew is still on in the Valley as it enters its fourteenth day of protest. ANARCHY AND DISORDER Petitioners of Panthers Party said the state was "under siege of the security forces and the police for the past two weeks, resulting in a total chaos, anarchy and disorder in the entire valley of Kashmir". It said that Governor's rule under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir should be imposed. The petition sought a direction to the Governor to dissolve the Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir "which has failed to discharge its duties and functions". The court had originally asked Panthers Party why they did not approach the Jammu and Kashmir High Court for remedy. It then said that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court "has been locked up" as well, and they can't go anywhere else. The plea sought direction to the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to intervene under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and take over the administration in the state in the interest of security, safety and fundamental rights of Indian citizens. ALSO READ: Kashmir violence: Sacrifices will not go in vain, says CM Mehbooba Mufti Need to have dialogue with people of Kashmir: V K Singh --- ENDS --- By PTI: Jamshedpur, July 29 (PTI) Tata Steel (India) has been recognised as ?Industry Leader? under the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) assessment for the Assessment Year 2015. The award was presented to the Company by Cyrus P Mistry, Chairman, Tata Sons, during the Annual Group Leadership Conference (AGLC) held in Mumbai today on the birth anniversary of J R D Tata, a Tata Steel press release said.. advertisement T V Narendran, Managing Director, Tata Steel India & South East Asia, Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director, Finance and Corporate, Tata Steel, among other, received the award on behalf of the Company. Tata Steel re-engaged with the TBEM assessment in 2015 after a gap of 11 years. The assessment was carried out for Tata Steel India at an enterprise level, i.e. covering all business units of the Indian operations as one entity. The assessment is done on multiple dimensions of business requirements such as Leadership, Strategy, Customer Focus, Measurement Analysis, Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Operations and Business Results. PTI BS SUS DKB --- ENDS --- Minimum hotel rates termination shakes tourism industry By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s): The tourism industry has expressed mixed feelings following a Government announcement to scrap the minimum room rates policy in Colombo city hotels. Marketing the destination which has become a big issue due to the its lack of competitiveness on the global scale has led to many tour operators calling for the removal of the ceiling on room rates in Colombo but now some hoteliers want the government to change plans. On Thursday the government announced plans to abolish the scheme from March next year leaving Colombo city hotels the freedom to price room rates competitively. Tourism Development, Lands and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga has decided to abolish the minimum room rate regime with effect from March 31, 2017, the announcement said. This decision, the release noted was taken by the Minister based on a recommendation of the Tourism Advisory Council which comprises of key players in the hotel and travel trade. The Council was of the view it was time to do away with the minimum rates as it has now served its purpose. Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) issuing a statement on Friday called it a decision taken at the right time. It said that the MICE sector was affected severely losing out on meetings and conferences to competing destinations in the region. Aitken Spence Travels Managing Director Nalin Jayasundera said that this would prove good for the country in general and help business during the off season as it would allow the rates to fluctuate accordingly. This would improve on the occupancies to Colombo and help in being competitive with destinations like Malaysia and Thailand, he noted. Veteran hotelier and Galle Face Hotel Management Senior Vice President Chandra Mohotti explained that while the imposition of a room rate structure was a rare phenomenon in any tourist destination it however, helped the small and medium hotels in Colombo. He noted that once arrivals increase the new policy should satisfy all concerned. However, it was pointed out that should the total arrivals not match up to the availability of rooms then it could impact the smaller hotels. In the long run, Mr. Mohotti explained it could affect the revenues of the 5-star hotels and as a result the good faith of all is required. In the meantime, it is learnt that some of the smaller hotels would be looking at lobbying the government to ensure they would not be impacted and attempt to subvert this move. The 3-star hotels would be significantly impacted since they believe it would be tough trying to sell their product in a marketplace where the bigger hotels would have be able to cut rates leaving no room for the smaller hotels to become too competitive. By PTI: Jammu, Jul 30 (PTI) A terrorist like Burhan Wani did not deserve a second chance, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh today said as he seconded the statement of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti that security forces were not aware about the identity of the militants engaged in the encounter on July 8. "A terrorist is a terrorist. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. A terrorist has to be dealt like the way as has been done by the security forces," he told reporters here this evening. advertisement "No second chance is given to any terrorist. Any person who holds a gun and is killing the people has to be dealt like this," he added. When asked to comment on Mehboobas statement that had the security forces known about the presence of Wani he would have been given a second chance, Singh said that a terrorist does not deserve a second chance. "I dont see that such a statement has been issued (by the chief minister) I think she was also referring to the situation that emerged afterwards, that suppose the security personal would have known this they would have taken precautionary measures to averted violence which took place after the encounter," he said. Singh said the security forces had informed the government about the encounter but they had no information who the hiding terrorists were. "We were told by the security forces but they did not know who was there. "Suppose they would have known it precautions would have been taken so that there was no situation where people would have gathered to protest," he said. "I have no information that at any point in time anybody had claimed they knew who the hiding terrorist were. I am talking about the information the government was having and that is our information. They (security forces) did not know who was hiding there, it was a routine anti-terror operation and ultimately three terrorists were killed in it," Singh . He said the coalition partners were on the same page on dealing with terrorism in the state. "That is very clear that is the policy of the government. I have not heard it (CMs statement); government is on the same page as far as dealing with the terrorists are concerned," he said. Singh said it was a routine anti-terror action and such operations take place daily, even today search operations are going on and they will continue. "There was a large number of people who gathered there and activated the violence. Suppose the security forces had known then precautions would have been taken," he said. PTI TSS AB MNG ZMN MNG --- ENDS --- advertisement NDB isnt private property, says Deputy Minister Eran By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s): The Government this week firmly reiterated that the chairman of the National Development Bank (NDB) should be independent of the bank in line with good governance after the former state development bank was stopped in its tracks by a plan to alter the articles of association and do away with the current independent chairman. Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne, incidentally a former CEO of the same bank, told the Business Times that the NDB is not someones private property to do as they please. This was a government bank that was taken to the stock market. If it does not have the highest standards of governance and ends up in private capture, the people of this country will lose faith in privatisation and market mechanisms. Last week the NDB cancelled an Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) called to change the articles to permit a non-independent chairman, after the banks fourth largest shareholder Dr. Sena Yaddehige obtained an interim order from court stopping the NDB move. Independent directors are those who either directly or indirectly do not hold more than 1 per cent of the issued shares of the bank. The deputy minister added that requiring the chairman of the board to be an independent director is a part of good governance which also makes good business. Current chairman N.G. (Tanky) Wickremaratne, a government nominee by the present regime, has decided to step down, bank sources said. There was high drama last year after the government sought but failed to replace most government nominees as chairpersons of the former Rajapaksa administration at the Commercial Bank, HNB, Sampath and Seylan which have sizable stakes from state institutions. The NDBs current articles require that its chairman is an Independent Director whilst the Banking Act Direction No. 11 of 2007 on Corporate Governance for Licensed Commercial Banks in Sri Lanka does not impose such a restriction, which was NDBs argument for such a resolution. The NDB board consists of six independent directors and four non-independent directors of which one is an executive director. Dr. Yaddehige went to court to restrain NDB from acting contrary to its corporate governance obligations and its Articles of Association and tabling the resolution seeking to change the articles. His lawyers said that to date no application has been made by NDB bank to the Commercial High Court, to vacate the said restraining order. Their client has argued that removing the requirement of having an independent director as the banks chairman is not in the interest of NDB and would result in complying at a lower standard in respect of the corporate governance code of good governance. No cause for alarm; Brexit could take longer By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s): Negotiations for Britains exit from the EU could take longer than stipulated (two years) and there is no reason for immediate panic (from Sri Lanka and the rest of the world), a meeting was told on Tuesday. It was also disclosed at the Sunday Times Business Club (STBC)s monthly meeting that there is a small chance that the decision may be reversed (meaning Britains decision to exit). The STBC meeting discussed various issues and implications for Sri Lanka from Britains exit from the EU: The discussion involved eminent panellists namely Paul Godfrey, Charge daffaires, Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives; Ms. Subhashini Abeysinghe, Head of Economics, Verite Research; and Srilal Miththapala, Past President, Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka. It was pointed out that it took Greenland, a small country with 55,000 people three years of negotiations to leave the EU. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Brexit has complex negotiations Negotiations will take time as Britains exit is even more complicated (than Greenland), it was said. Sri Lanka applied for GSP + on June 19 and the process would take 8-10 months thereafter when a decision is reached on the application. Panellists said it is a little too premature to panic over Brexit. Maybe UK could be the entry point to the EU for trade like what Sri Lanka wants to be to South Asia, it was suggested. Ms. Abeysinghe, in her presentation, said exports to UK have been stagnating since 2007, noting that while this continues to be the second largest export destination its share has declined. Growth in exports to UK has been lower than growth in exports to other destinations during 2010-2015, she said adding that for Sri Lanka, apparel is the largest beneficiary of GSP +. UK is the single largest export destination for Sri Lankan Apparel in the EU. Ms. Abeysinghe noted that 79 per cent of exports to UK is apparel compared to 54 per cent in the rest of the EU. After 2009, growth in apparel to UK fared poorly in comparison to exports to rest of the EU. Its an uphill battle for the UK, she said adding that Britain must negotiate more than 50 trade deals, to replace the ones Britain will forfeit by leaving the EU. Under the maximal form of withdrawal, civil servants would painstakingly have to copy, or scrap, EU regulations, she said adding that, according to one estimate, only about 20 civil servants in London now have experience in complex trade negotiations. Mr. Miththapala said that with the weakening of the UK currency, changes to aviation regulatory framework, and other post-BREXIT woes, and whatever long term effects will unfold in the UK, there is no doubt that outbound UK travel to Sri Lanka will take a hit in the short term, Since Britain is an important source market for Sri Lanka tourism, it would be prudent for Sri Lanka Tourism to be mindful of the behaviour of the British tourist market in the short term, as UK settles down in the post Brexit era. Sri Lanka may have to resort to time based tactical promotional offers, and other creative initiatives to keep the British interest in Sri Lanka as a tourist destination, alive. He added that local tourism promotion should not resort to discounting but add value to the holiday package. Slow down on marketing, and increase sales activities, was his view. Sri Lanka to sign ETCA with India by end 2016 By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s): The Government is set to sign the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India, which has triggered a major controversy from professional groups, by end this year with a working draft prepared by Sri Lanka to be discussed with an Indian trade delegation due here in the next fortnight, it was officially announced on Tuesday. Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama told a media conference that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore will also be signed this year while the China FTA will be signed next year. The national policy is likely to be presented in Parliament by the end of August. He said that for first time in Sri Lanka, the government is consulting all chambers of commerce and professional bodies on these trade and investment accords. The government will not allow the entry of foreign professionals except in special cases, as it is the case now under the Board of Investment rules,he emphasised. India and China will be set up Special Economic Zones in Sri Lanka to start industries, he said adding that Indians will be setting up pharmaceutical and auto parts industries in their zone. The Chinese have asked for 55 sq km (15,000 acres) of land in the Hambantota area in the Southern Province for their zone, and we are in the process of acquiring the land. When developed, this area will generate one million jobs. The location for the Indian SEZ is yet to be finalised. Next week the Chinese delegation will be here to start talks on the Free Trade Agreement, he said adding that, the week after that the Indian delegation will be here and towards end-August the Singapore delegation will be here. The FTA with Pakistan provides an opportunity for Indian investors to access that market on a preferential basis by locating in Sri Lanka. Intuitively, there will be possibilities to re-direct some of the Indo-Pakistan trade currently transiting through Dubai, he revealed. These agreements will give companies located in Sri Lanka preferential access to a market of around three billion people, he pointed out. To make the MPs representing various political parties aware on the whole process and obtain their views on the trade agreements, action has been taken to set up a Parliamentary Working Committee. The EU GSP + will be restored in about six months and a separate agreement will now have to be reached with the UK as Brexit looms over the island, he disclosed. He has also made an announcement on the establishment of the Agency for International Trade consisting of 11 experts of repute headed by renowned economist Dr. Saman Kelegama which was not much publicised. Members of this agency have met on a weekly basis for the last several months and deliberated on matters pertaining to international trade and bilateral trade agreements and have developed valuable insights and positions that Sri Lanka should make use during negotiations, Advisor of the Agency, former Director General of the Department of Commerce K.J .Weerasinghe revealed. The scope and the basis for negotiations on the comprehensive trade agreements have been formulated, he said. Faizer Mustapha, Minister of Local Government also attended the media conference but his presence in the briefing of countrys trade agreements was not explained thus arousing the curiosity of some of the journalists. However Minister Mustapha, a close ally of President Maithripala Sirisena, noted that the President had directed him to tell the media the government will not sign any agreement which goes against Sri Lankas security and national interests. He noted that it is essential to enter into trade and investment accords with various countries as these are necessary for economic growth of the country. All countries are friendly to Sri Lanka now. That gives us a good platform to negotiate good deals. Foreign investments hinge on political relations, he added. He pointed out that there were no political differences or any reservations in the national government on trade agreements with foreign countries. Sri Lankas co-operative society banks face credit and deposit risks By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s): Sri Lankas Thrift and Credit Co-operative Society Banks (financial institutions) are facing a risk to their credit profiles and deposit base due to rising exposure to micro finance, corruption, fraud, malpractices and mismanagement of the administration, financial analysts warned. The situation is grave for depositors of those financial institutions controlled by provincial councils as it is outside the purview of the Central Bank. At least two of these institutions are on the verge of collapse as a result of loan-book exposure to microfinance, default rate, corruption and frauds, they disclosed. These two cooperative banks are currently in trouble and the sum of money allegedly misappropriated could reach Rs. 600 million and over, official sources confirmed. The management at the 532 C Wattegedera (Maharagama) Thrift & Credit Co-operative Society Ltd and the Gothatuwa Thrift & Credit Cooperative Society Ltd are allegedly involved in malpractices and these two societies have failed to refund the deposits on maturity to their clients, several depositors told the Business Times. It has been revealed that the Wattegedera institution has deposits of around Rs. 600 million with a deposit base of 550. Police filed a case at the Gangodawila Magistrates Court following complaints lodged against the management, a disgruntled depositor said. Thrift and Credit Co-operative Societies function as co-operative societies registered under the Co-operative Societies Law, No.5 of 1972 and also other co-operative societies are registered under a statute of the Provincial Councils. Assistant Commissioner of Cooperative Development (Administration) K.M.M. Chaminda told the Business Times that the board of directors is responsible for all financial transactions of the co-operative society and legal action could be taken against the management in case of mismanagement. These registered societies are authorised to accept deposits from public and lend monies to their members, he revealed. He said 56 societies operate under the aegis of the Cooperative Development Department and are subject to strict monitoring. The department is also the national level regulatory body. However a larger number of thrift and credit co-operative societies function under the control of provincial councils, which are also categorised as co-operative banks as they perform banking functions at grass root level. The Central Bank has no authority over these thrift societies, a senior official of the Central Bank told the Business Times. According to available data, the co-operative banking system accounts for about 1.5 per cent of the assets of the financial system in the country. The total amount of deposits in 1619 co-operative rural bank branches including Thrift and Credit societies in the island amounted to over Rs. 25 billion while the advances portfolio was Rs. 8 billion. Their deposits account for nearly 3 per cent of total savings and time deposits of all deposit taking institutions in the island. Depositors at the two thrift societies that are in trouble alleged that the management had destroyed files with documents and deleted computer data to cover up their corruption, fraud and mal practices. One of the office bearers has taken a loan amounting Rs.11 million under his sons name and defaulted it and at least a sum of Rs 25 million had been misappropriated by this person, they alleged adding that some of the lands mortgaged to this financial institution had been either re-mortgaged or sold at present. Unhappy over FCID progress bt-rcb poll: Street respondents urge disbanding of special police unit View(s): View(s): Sri Lankas controversial Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) received mixed reviews from the public in a joint new poll by the Business Times and Research Consultancy Bureau this week with one street critic saying the drama during arrests is like a Tamil film in South India with a different script everyday. The unnamed respondent said: All actors belong to the same category. Same people come in and go out. We are the spectators. We are the fools. The whole country had become a joke. He was responding to four questions in the now-respected BT-RCB polls, in this case examining the FCID and its performance; whether it should be disbanded and the perception of jail as accused persons seem to enjoy being led in handcuffs and locked up in remand jail (claiming to be political prisoners). With the Government completing its first term in office, the negative public perception of the FCID from the poll was contrary to what the Government would have hoped. The poll was conducted by the BT on email and by the RCB through street interviews in Colombo and Galle. Interestingly, while both the polls reflected common positions, the question as to whether the FCID should be disbanded drew a totally opposite response. In the RCB poll, 61 per cent of the respondents agreed that the FCID should be disbanded while the BT email response showed only 10 per cent agreeing while 77 per cent said the FCID should continue. The slow process in bringing the criminals to book was succicently explained by one RCB respondent who said: It is the progress of the FCID that determines the future of this Government. What has it done so far? While the Prime Minister is systematically rounding up the culprits, by five years all the Rajapaksas would be rounded up (but that is also the time when the governments term ends). The results of the polls are shown on page 1 graphic. While street respondents were clear in their answer to the first question as to whether the FCID was doing a good job with 64 per cent saying no (disagree), BT respondents were mixed with 43 per cent saying yes (agree), 33 per cent saying no and 23 per cent, undecided (unable to comment). Both polls were critical over the manner of arrests (trooped into court, showing off handcuffs, drama enacted outside with statements to the media, special benefits in jail, etc), with 60 per cent of street respondents saying this had caused a negative impact while 82 per cent of BT respondents also said negative. Strong comments emerged in the RCB street poll, among them being: The rogues are not taken in for the real crimes they have committed. The FCID should not be dissolved. We need an institution like this to maintain discipline in a country. Their activities should be further expanded but made more efficient. Although things do not materialise now, it will improve in the future. Both sides are corrupt. The side in power has the edge of benefits. The real scene will happen when the other side comes to power. We will be the spectators. We have no confidence in this system since no one will get a proper punishment. We get fooled every time. This idea (FCID) is good since it can bring out a real change in the country. Now they will fear to rob in the future. This is a joke. It serves no purpose and we have no confidence in it. Those who are taken in will return as ministers one day. It is like a tele drama. The JVP is playing a part in this. The FCID has helped to instill discipline. Rules are strong and in future robbers will think twice before rsorting to crime Only allegations against the opposition are investigated. What about (former Central Bank Governor) Arjuna Mahendran who has allegedly robbed millions. Why hasnt his statement been recorded by the FCID? Advocating a sensible strategy for the OMP Bill View(s): Even from a fairly prosaic standpoint, the Unity Governments proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Bill has all the explosive potential of a double edged sword. This is the first prong of the Governments promised package of transitional justice reforms originating from the 2015 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution. Undermining from within Unlike Commissions of Inquiry established under Act No. 17 of 1948 (as amended), the OMP will be a permanent body tasked with searching for and tracing missing persons, identifying appropriate mechanisms for the same and clarifying the circumstances in which such persons went missing. The permanency of the mechanism constitutes a significant departure from familiar traditions of Heads of State establishing Commissions to ward off pressure and then unceremoniously dissolving these bodies as a matter of political expediency. The most recent illustration in this respect was the Udalagama Commission, headed by an otherwise well regarded judicial officer, which became embedded in the ugly thicket of high political controversy. The undermining of the Commission from within was so blatant as to invite palpable derision. Astoundingly the Commission accepted the assistance of a Deputy Solicitor General as Primary Counsel despite the fact that this same state law officer had been advising and instructing the police and state agents on the August 2006 executions of Action Contra LFaim (ACF) aid workers in Mutur, which case was itself being investigated by the Commission in the wake of serious prosecutorial and investigative lapses. Recognizing past negative patterns The immediate conflict of interest arising therein could have been identified by a child. Indeed, handing down a legal opinion on this issue at the time, two esteemed retired Sri Lankan Supreme Court Justices warned against the bias inherent therein and pointed out that the involvement of state law officers in such a manner violated professional legal ethics. Probably if this Commission had been allowed to function properly and conclude its investigations, the outcry for an international war crimes inquiry may have had less resonance. But bloated by the arrogance of those who colluded with the Rajapaksa deep security state, the process was doomed literally from the start. Its interim reports were contemptuously tossed aside and were made public only last year. But the point here was that the Commissioners were quite unable to free themselves from the iron grip of the establishment. This has been the constant negative pattern of those sitting on Sri Lankas accountability bodies. And the most telling lesson that this teaches us is that while systems and institutions may be experimented with either way, the absence of individuals possessed of sufficient moral fibre will inevitably cripple the proper working of whatever institutions that are in place, flawed or otherwise. Wide powers of the OMP What we have seen under this Government does not inspire much confidence either. An instructive example thereof is the Victim and Witness Protection Authority which has been singularly incapable of making any positive impact with its very functioning attended by confusion worse confounded. The governments ratification this year of the United Nations Convention on Disappearances also means little if this is not reflected in national law. Enforced disappearances must be criminalized with the Attorney General being put on notice to demonstrate a change in prosecutorial policy. These are the hard decisions as opposed to relatively soft processes of tracing and identifying missing persons. But dismissing the hysteria of its detractors, there is nothing alarmist in the fact that the Bill allows the OMP to admit, notwithstanding the Evidence Ordinance, statements or material which might be inadmissible in civil or criminal proceedings. Commissions of Inquiry established under the 1948 law had these very same powers. It is the height of ignorance if not folly to suggest that this is a new and dangerous precedent. Sri Lankas legal system has not been turned on its head as it were, simply by this provision. Worrying exclusion of RTI In other respects however, the proposed OMP is more empowered than COIs. One notable new feature is the power to apply for a court order in order to carry out and observe excavations and/or exhumation of suspected grave sites. Its officers have been empowered moreover to enter without a warrant and investigate suspected places of detention for the purpose of procuring evidence that is necessary for any investigations. The OMPs scope is creditably wide, extending to those found to have been missing beyond the North and East and without a limiting time frame. Its functioning is subject to the fundamental rights jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as well as a conferred writ jurisdiction on that Court. However the Bills shutting out the Right to Information (RTI) law in its entirety is extremely troubling. Ironically, this comes hard on the heels of the ink not even drying on the RTI Bill itself. If the confidentiality of cases being investigated was a concern, it may have been better to have stipulated protection re information on a case by case basis rather than under this broad generalized exception that we see now. This is unacceptable. That said, protests by the Rajapaksa joint opposition regarding the shutting of RTI from the OMP Bill only demonstrates its collective hypocrisy. After preventing RTI with all might and main during the Rajapaksa Presidency, this outcry must be treated with the profound disdain that it deserves. Strategic planning for public acceptance On a more serious note, this is a manifestly difficult line that must be finely balanced. Given that the Bill stipulates that the findings of the OMP will not lead to criminal or civil liability, the fear is that this will end up as a glorified Commission of Inquiry. And its usefulness for Rajapaksa rhetoric leading to a particularly vicious circle of racism and counter-racism must not be underestimated. Thus, it makes eminent sense for the Government to take this Bill fully before the Sri Lankan people. The matter of enforced disappearances is, after all, not a subject that the South is a stranger to. This discussion must not be limited to Colombos elite circles or the twitter generation as it were. In the alternative, the resultant ominous backlash may well destroy whatever good intentions propelling the bringing forward of this draft law in the first instance. Consultants galore in this land of kiri (ella) and pani View(s): It was not too many moons ago that the loquacious Rajitha Senaratne, minister and cabinet spokesman, claimed that the condition of some of our roads demanded that ministers and others of such elevated status straining every sinew to serve the people, need to have comfortable (not to mention expensive) vehicles to perform their sacred duties. Dont get me wrong. Minister Senaratne is an honourable man. So are they all, all honourable men (and women, naturally). So if he says the roads are bad, especially in the hilly, estate and wooded areas of the country where he and others of his ilk have planted their political stakes, they must be bad. What some of them were doing while serving-faithfully one assumes in the previous government for many years without getting those dilapidated roads repaired and restored remains unanswered but does cast some guilt on their own performance. It would have been much easier to have had this remedied then by getting the relevant ministerial colleague or other honourable district politicians to pass on tenders to kith and kin to make the existing roads even worse so that more tenders could be granted to the same kith and kin to repair them time and again. Minister Kiriella must surely know about the tender touch as something about colleague Daya Gamage did make the news quite recently. That is by the way of course. That the roads had not been done shows not the lack of kith and kin to gain from profitable ventures but others more politically powerful and enterprising with an understanding of ministerial financial perquisites and enhancement appear to have beaten them to the waiting booty. At least it must be said to the eternal gratitude of Higher Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella that he had lent an ear to the latest lament of our dentist minister who cries for new cars to travel on old roads. JVP Parliamentarian Nalinda Jayatissa mentioned in Parliament the other day that Minister Kiriella, who patrols the highway to higher education, had appointed 56 consultants to the RDAs Southern Road Development Project. Oh, no, said the aggrieved minister, it is not 56 but 45 or words to that effect. If one might adapt the words of the Bard whats in a number, after all. That which he calls 45 smells as bad as 56. Dr. Jayatissa who has delved into this issue with the persistency of a mole has found that only two in that galaxy of consultants had GCE A level qualifications while the rest had only an O level pass or had not even got that far. So what is Dr. Jayatissas grouse? He should take a roll call of the educational qualifications of the 224 other members he sits with in parliament today. That once august Chamber was in years gone by virtually second home to many intelligent, widely-read, knowledgeable and articulate persons who could hold their own with counterparts elsewhere in the world. Would he not be even more shocked at the crass lack of education and ignorance that pervades those corridors of power today for which the tax- payer coughs up huge sums to maintain and feed todays parliamentary multitude. He might recall that two years ago a survey of the educational status of members of the last parliament found that 94 of them had failed the GCE O/L and 142 of them had failed the GCE A/L. I doubt whether any such survey has been done on the current crop of MPs that make laws for the rest of us. Never mind. It would save the citizenry of Sri Lanka more shocks to the nervous systems and disturb their mental equilibrium were they to learn of the quality of those who have been elected to the legislature supposedly to represent the people. Dr. Jayatissa might have collected his medical degree and Rajitha Senaratne practised open-mouthed treatment but there are many out there among them who had struggled to get a few steps up the educational ladder and failed despite the free education system. Since entry to the public service at the lowest level requires at least an O level what could be more lucrative than bulldozing into politics, a vacation rather than a vocation that requires more brawn than brain the ability to bully, assault, coerce, abuse, misuse and revel in corruption and be corrupted as though the last needs any persuasion. This is of course not to say that all politicians have acquired these attributes during their political journey in this samsara but there are many who make the headlines when their deeds and misdeeds lie exposed. There is no sense blaming the media for exposing the corrupt or those who abuse and misuse the system at the expense of the public. If there were no misdeeds, no abuse, no corruption there would be no headlines. Comprende? When those who make laws on our behalf have little or no formal education and at the first sight of public exams disappear into forest reserves which will themselves disappear before long or into political parties, should it come as any surprise that the consultants politicians appoint should have even less education than those who appoint them. As though the consultant fiasco was not another embarrassing moment of misplaced yahapalana morality and public betrayal, the JVPer revealed another dimension to this Kiriella saga. The public was told that a Buddhist monk was among those who were to be consulted on road development. Minister Kiriella disputed this but then when the name of the venerable monk was mentioned and whence he came the ministerial protestations appear to have subsided by more than a few decibels. If all what has been revealed in parliament is true and which outsider would be brave enough to say that lies are uttered by honourable members then precisely what advice on road development the monk, or for that matter any of the 50-odd consultants, would offer or be consulted on remains quite a mystery like the missing millions (or is it billions?) under the previous dispensation. It is possible, of course, that as a consultant to the Road Development Authority the venerable monk has been appointed to teach those who have strayed from the righteous road to return to the true path of Buddhism and Buddhist values that they seem to have abjured in their daily existence. One must not forget, as the Gammanpilas and the BBS keep reminding us, Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country and those who undertake civic duties solemnly swearing to follow the fundamental tenets of Buddhism need regular admonitions to adhere to them even if they come from the sacred Buddhist city of Kandy or thereabouts. As a Marxist or so we think the good doctor might be more concerned with worldly matters but those who publicly display their undying faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha need to be reminded that accumulating ill-gotten wealth, cheating and misleading the public betray the commitments on transparency, accountability and impartiality they gave the country as followers of good governance. While crime busters are running around looking for rogue elements to question and prosecute, this episode is surely a clear case of admission of guilt. In the very assembly that is said to represent the essence of parliamentary democracy, a minister admits that the consultant jobs he gave were to those who worked at last years elections to bring his party to power. He says each consultant is paid Rs. 65,000 a month including Rs. 40,000 for travel. Fine, though it is not mentioned where these consultants are travelling to work from, if they travel and work at all. The critical question is whose money is the minister or the institution concerned which is responsible to the minister, using to pay the wages? If Kiriella wants to thank those who worked for his party and pay them for their troubles, then he should do so from his own purse or from the party coffers. But he is not doing that. The taxpayer has been asked to pay for the political work these so-called consultants did for the minister and his party. So why are the law enforcement authorities that often pass the buck when an irate public asks about the delays in prosecuting those allegedly guilty of misappropriation of public assets, abuse and misuse of power not questioning Minister Kiriella over the use of public funds to pay the salaries of road development consultants who have found an easy road to salvation? Why must the public pay the ministers political debts especially at a time when higher VAT and other taxes are being imposed on the public claiming the government needs additional revenue? If there is a debt to be paid it should be paid to the voters of the Kandy district who made a fatal error in voting for Kiriella. And what are the UNP leaders who appeared before the public as clean and incorruptible doing against a senior party man who has made a damning admission that surely violates the principles of good governance that they promised the people? This is not the first time that Minister Kiriellas name has cropped up over misuse of his position. Remember his attempt to influence appointments to positions in two universities by writing letters to university authorities. And it is this country with more warts appearing regularly on the face of this yahapalana administration that Sri Lankas dear friend in the US State Department, the mid-level diplomat Nisha Biswal, wants to turn into another Singapore. Such a herculean task would surely make Sri Lanka the miracle of Asia. Or are those principles and pledges made last year about clean government now part of the paleolithic age? Missing links in the Missing Persons Bill View(s): The move by the Government to establish an Office for Missing Persons (OMP) is clearly one of the outcomes of the UNHRC Resolution that requires Sri Lanka to hold an investigation into allegations of violations of International Humanitarian Law during the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) back in 2009. Not that the search for Missing Persons, is in itself something to be taken lightly. So many went missing over a period of three decades not just due to one insurgency in the North, but also due to one in the South. Many took advantage of the situation in the country to settle personal grudges. The controversial aspect of the Bill, however, is whether it is an opening of the door to foreign participation in a process that the Government insists is a domestic mechanism; and whether this foreign involvement is an instance of caving in to external elements wanting to continue meddling in the internal affairs of this country from afar. There is a sweeping array of powers sought to be given to the proposed OMP including the ability to enter into agreements with any person or organisation, whether local or foreign for a wide range of purposes. Ironically, the earlier Maxwell Paranagama Commission on Missing Persons which was prematurely wound up to make way for the OMP, partly on the insistence of the UNHRC, put itself in controversy last year when it appeared to recommend that foreign judges sit on a war crimes panel; charges which it hotly refuted. While foreign technical and expert advice may be obtained, accountability mechanisms must be in conformity with the spirit as well as the letter of Sri Lankas Constitution, thus effectively barring foreign judges from adjudicating on highly sensitive local matters. In principle, there are positive features in the Bill. The primary mandate is that of searching for and tracing missing persons and identifying appropriate mechanisms for the same, and of clarifying the circumstances in which such persons went missing. The OMP mandate includes making recommendations to relevant authorities to address the incidence of missing persons, protecting the interests of missing persons and their relatives, identifying avenues of redress available to missing persons and their relatives and informing them of same, and collating data related to missing persons from previous processes carried out by other entities and establishing a centralised database. Unlike Commissions of Inquiry, the OMP is a permanent body not subjected to the political risk of premature termination. Its mandate applies to all missing persons regardless of the time period. It covers not only the Wanni war-affected but also members of the armed forces or police identified as Missing in Action (MIA), those missing due to political unrest or civil disturbances and those subjected to an enforced disappearance as defined in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. This broad mandate is praiseworthy. The OMP is subject to judicial review of the Supreme Court. There is judicial supervision in other respects as well. The OMP is empowered to apply to a Magistrates Court in order to carry out an excavation and/or exhumation of suspected grave sites and to act as an observer at such proceedings. The OMP findings will not lead to criminal or civil liability leading some to speculate that this would merely be another glorified Commission of Inquiry. But extraordinarily, the Bill provides that the still to be signed by the Speaker Right to Information Act will not apply to the OMP. Concerns of confidentiality regarding information on missing persons may be legitimate in some cases. But that must be dealt with on a case by case exclusion, not by a blanket exclusion which the OMP Bill contains. Proposing this broad exclusion soon after the RTI Bill was unanimously passed by Parliament calls into question the Governments commitment to RTI. What really is there to hide? At the heart of the matter, the enforced disappearances of Sri Lankan citizens, now covered under the convenient euphemism of missing persons call for a measured, coordinated and above all, effective State response. The Government is under an obligation to correct system flaws in its investigative, prosecutorial and judicial bodies. Restoring public confidence in the efficacy of the law, which remains at an all-time low, will do much to satisfy the expectations of citizens that the State will act as their protector rather than as their abuser. The 2011 report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommended that a comprehensive approach to address the issue of missing persons should be found as a matter of urgency as it would otherwise present a serious obstacle to any inclusive and long-term process of reconciliation. But will the OMP redress this deficit of public trust or aggravate it? Will it encourage divisive debates on foreign vs. local which we see already even while the crucial but quite unglamorously laborious task of reforming the countrys criminal justice systems in regard to alleged war brutalities as well as ordinary grave crimes is pushed to a side? These are important questions that the Bills enthusiastic proponents should be called upon to answer. And lest we forget, those missing includes not only the war victims of the North and East but also Muslim citizens targeted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and thousands of Sinhalese who disappeared during the 1980s and whose relatives still await justice. The proposed law states that priority should be given to cases where there is already some substantive evidence to begin an inquiry. What better prima facie evidence is there to conduct an inquiry than the case of the 600 policemen who were killed in 1990 in one sweep in the Eastern Province when they were told to surrender to the LTTE on the orders of the then Government of Sri Lanka? The case of the 600 policemen officially classified as MIA (Missing in Action) is one of the sad chapters of this countrys war on terror, and how let down they were by the politicians of the day, the political leaders to follow, and the police top brass right along since that fateful day. Compare for a moment how the US President broke journey in Spain and flew down to Texas for the memorial of five policemen who were gunned down recently. There is an argument that these policemen are not missing persons, but that they were brutally murdered and that their mass graves are identifiable. Thus, this case clearly falls into the category of a war crime and it must be investigated as the perpetrators of this heinous deed the cold blooded mass murder of uniformed men waving white flags are still in the land of the living. Priority must be given, either way under the OMP or whatever future tribunal is to be set up under the Geneva Resolution. This terrible episode must not be buried with the bones of those unfortunate policemen. Cambrian Sing -Along View(s): Prince of Wales College together with Princess of Wales College of Moratuwa will be presenting a special Musical evening to celebrate 140 years, titled Cambrian Sing along on Saturday, 6th of August, 2016 at 6.30 pm, at BMICH ballroom. Songs of Sinhala and English, from the late 60s 70s and 80s favourites will be played on this evening such as hits by Jim Reeves, John Denver, Sunil Shantha, C.T. Fernando, La Ceylonians, Los flamencos, Clarence Wijewardana and Milton Mallawarchchi, Indrani Perera along with audience participation. Music will be provided by Luckey Deva and The Spirit featuring Shenya Napthalie. All band members of The Spirit Shiraz Sudar(drummer) Lakmal Peiris (guitar) Kamal Gallage(bass) Disnaka Danasekara (Keyboards) are Cambrians. At the event, table of ten tickets are priced at Rs. 2,000/- each inclusive of sumptuous dinner with beverages, prizes and surprises. A song book containing up to 100 songs will be given free to the participants. It will be a memorable evening indeed. Cambrian sing along with spirit. Contact for Tickets Mr Anil Mendis 0713164976 (Project Chairman PWC ) Mrs Ilangathie Fonseka (project Chairman PSWC ) Open space for creativity with Open Brain Text and pix by Dilantha Dassanayake View(s): View(s): Open Brain is a bi-weekly event that allows like minded souls to share their talent andvaried art forms, skill or ideas. The architects of this project are poets Ohan Mark and Michael Ketigian who began hosting informal gatherings in their cramped apartment in New York back in 2013. Ohan worked as an economist and Michael as a start-up operation manager, they had a small following which later grew to large crowds. Initially in their apartment and at various venues round the city while having large meet ups in the park during summer time. We wanted to create something that wasnt just about poetry. Most people come ready to share and other are just open vessels. Michael said A third friend who was the founding member of Open Brain in New York subsequently moved to San Francisco and started another branch. While a further friend moved to Tokyo started another branch that has now taken off on its own. She then move back to South Africa and started another branch. In October Ohan moved to Colombo and by February Michael had followed. We always talked about moving away to live in another country, once our friend had given us a tour of Sri Lanka we loved it and were hooked on the established art scene Ohan said. In November Ohan hosted the first open brain in Colombo and since then they have been alternating from friends houses and their own. Last week they had there first session at the British Council Library. Their events in Colombo attract around 35 to 50 attendees. Any form of art can be shared like poetry, music, comedy or drawings. In fact there are no boundaries to who can share. In New York th duo had a friend who was a massage therapist, she would call on volunteers and demonstrates different techniques to release stress. We try to keep it very organic and there is no set order to what is shared, in Colombo Ohan or I usually start the proceedings. We are trying to take art out of a vacuum sealed box for everyone to share, said Michael. This concept is by no means new, enlightenment era salons can be dated to Roman times. Ideas have always been passed in a gathering of people, what is different with Open Brain is its informal settings. Ohan and Michaels down to earth warm personalities bring energy and enthusiasm that comfort their audience. They create an environment and community where people are able to share with out being judged. The recent Open Brain session was held at the British Council amidst beanbags and comfortable chairs in a circle and began with their own original material. Their large extension of friends also helped calm all new comers and as they say you are not obliged to share yet it is encouraged. Story telling with Caravan Following the success of Open Brain organisers decided to create an event that was not strictly for as they put it arty types. Caravan is an evening where anyone of any age can come and share a story. Theres no other art form than sharing an experience and then discussing it with the audience. This is more off the cuff and just stories said Ohan. You have to stand in front of the group and tell your story, but its a very informal experience at Cafe Kumbuk. The night starts with names placed in a bowl and again you are no t obliged to share but if called the minimum you will have to say is your name. Again either Ohan Mark or Michael Ketigian would start the event to get the ball rolling. Mark began with a story of how he found himself in hospital and being questioned whether he had taken class A drugs which he had not. Then a name was pulled out of the bowl. This participant merely wanted to state his name and profession but was later prompted with a few questions. Subsequently he told the story of his start up business. Later various friends of Ohan and Michael share stories of humourous situations. One attendee Stefan related how he was stopped on his dirt bike in Colombo and went to court to pay a fine. It later turned out that his licence was taken and he need to retrieve the document in a very doggy car park like meeting between two spies. Another attendee Lal who was late for a yoga class at the Prana Lounge next door, stumbled upon the event. He was reluctant at first but gave a great story of how he came in to contact with one of the most venomous snakes in Sri Lanka, Russells viper. Asked weather the two events they curate are similar and will attract the same crowd Ohan said, 80 per cent of the crowd will be different at the two gatherings. Our closest friends will attend as they share similar interests. This is for anyone who just has a story, you dont need any skills to tell a story. They shall be alternating the weeks of both events. They are both held in a very relaxed atmosphere where you will be able to share as well again knowledge. Text and pictures by Dilantha Dassanayake The young actor wrote an appeal letter on behalf of PETA, on the occasion of International Tiger Day. On International Tiger Day, actor Tiger Shroff wrote to the Indian government to save the big cats. Picture courtesy: Instagram/shannonyoung19/Twitter/iTIGERSHROFF By Shreya Goswami: The world came together to renew the global commitment towards saving tigers from extinction, on International Tiger Day, July 29. Our very own Bollywood tiger, actor Tiger Shroff, did his bit by appealing to the Indian government to save the big cats. Tiger Shroff, who is famous for his roles in movies like Heropanti and Baaghi, has a connection with tigers that goes beyond just his name. advertisement In a recent interview, he admitted that he had been named Tiger by his parents because he used to scratch and bite as a kid. During the shooting of his Bollywood debut movie, Heropanti, he even adopted a four-year-old tigress, Lee, at the Maharajbagh zoo in Nagpur. Clearly, Shroff is dedicated towards protecting and saving tigers. Yesterday, he joined hands with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to urge the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Anil Dave, to save tigers from extinction. Also read: Bone-chilling video from PETA shows how ostrich leather is made Shroff makes a clear point in the letter: Not only do these big cats need to be saved, but their natural habitat, the jungles, need to be preserved as well to ensure their continued well-being. Read the full letter here: Tiger Shroff urges the government to save tigers and their natural habitat from extinction. Picture courtesy: petaindia.com Tiger Shroff urges the government to save tigers and their natural habitat from extinction. Picture courtesy: petaindia.com The young actor, who will take on the role of a superhero in his upcoming movie, A Flying Jatt, also tweeted the same, to further show his allegiance to the big cat community: Wonder what'll happen when all the tigers of the world unite? Picture courtesy: Twitter/iTIGERSHROFF One doesn't have to wonder what'll happen when all the tigers of the world do unite to survive the cruelty of mankind. And you can quite imagine Tiger Shroff as the Tarzan absolutely at home with those beautiful creatures of the jungles, can't you? --- ENDS --- Power of Plays Camp Kreativ returns in August View(s): Back for the third year in succession is leading dramatists and puppeteers Power of Plays unique summer holiday offering, Camp Kreativ (CK). Billed as an intensive week of eye opening experiences with hands on skill development by professional artists and teachers, the camp has gained a popular following among a wide age group since its workshops cater to children from the age of 4 19. Taking place from August 8-13, CK 2016 will cover multiple creative disciplines and focus on facilitating a positive experience which will ignite participants interests and encourage them to explore their interests in a fun, empowering and non competitive environment, a statement from the organisers said. This year CK 2016 features workshops in cartooning, cookery, craft, dance, maritime history, robotics and theatre. Speaking about the camp, Founder and Artistic Director of Power of Play Sulochana Dissanayake was quoted in the statement as saying We are very proud of how Camp Kreativ has evolved! Every year we have been able to offer more diverse workshops, and CK 2016 has the widest range of offerings we have had to date. We are pleased to welcome Hasith from KidsIgnite who will run an exclusive workshop that aims to inspire kids to enhance their technical creativity and learn technology and engineering concepts. Brand new this year is Connect Through Play 3 special sessions for mums with babies aged 6 to 12months, which will be conducted by Seema Omar and Tehani Chitty, a counselor and drama therapist respectively. CK 2016 sees the return of Ramla Wahab Salman and Nirosh Perera. Ramlas Stories from the Sea sessions explore the historical and fantastic stories covering the maritime history of Sri Lanka and its surrounding Indian Ocean. Cartooning with Nirosh Perera teaches kids the techniques, tips and tricks for better cartooning. Both sessions were very popular at last years camp, and will cater to the 7 to 12 and 13 to 19 age groups. Together Everyone Achieves More with Razafa Faiz and Fun with Cookery and Crafts with Champika Tennakoon provide mornings of great activity for 4 -6 year olds. While the Free Play sessions with Seema Omar and Tehani Chitty will use drama games, storytelling, art and movement to develop participants creativity and imagination. Founder of The Dance Factory, Erika Ekanayake will handle the Lets Dance workshops which focus on hip hop and free style, while Sri Lankan-Australian musical comedy performer Larry T Hill and actor and director Vindhya Fernando will present the Bravo Theatre Playshop and A whole lot of drama respectively. Larrys workshops will teach participants to tell a fantasy story using voice, human props, music and live sound effects, while Vindhya will utilize movement, voice, improvisation and theatre games to enable children to build their creative expression. CK 2016 will take place from August 8-13 at the Minds Alive Preschool, 11, Medawelikada Road in Rajagiriya. Register online at www.powerofplay.lk or visit the MILK bookstore, 44A, Horton Place, Colombo 7 (CASH payments only). For fee details and more information visit the site. Election Commission targets youth vote through social media View(s): The Election Commission (EC), in collaboration with the International Foundation Election IFSES, has planned a youth-friendly programme to encourage youth to register for voting. The programme will commence on August 5 and continue till August 12, during which period the EC will educate the youth through an interactive programme called # youth Vote SL. EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said the programme will be channeled through a national social media campaign, where youth can create educational posts about the importance of the vote. He said the primary objective is to encourage national youth lead organisations, networks and societies to engage in creating public awareness through creative and innovative ways. Deputy Commissioner of Elections said the secondary and most important objective of the campaign is to develop, for the first time in Sri Lanka, a national youth network directly connected to the EC through social media. The EC will call on youth to register online and offline. Then, with that information, each youth too will have the opportunity to vote, after they are registered. Meanwhile, the Convener of the youth-led steering committee, Naushalya Rajapaksha said their committee will engage in educating youth about the election process. She explained that, first, during the seven-day programme, any number of youth associations can make use of any social media based application such as Facebook, YouTube or blogs to educate themselves on the importance of voting. Ms Rajapaksha invited all youth-based Rotaract Clubs, youth federations etc. to join the project and win an award for Best Campaign. She said that youth clubs and societies entering the programme should conduct their activities according to the guidelines imposed. Htota and Mattala: China declines Lankas request Converting loans into equity: Beijing wants talks with investors on commercial terms View(s): View(s): By Our Political Editor China has declined Sri Lankas request to convert into equity Beijing-funded projects including the Mattala Airport and the Hambantota Port. Chinas Ambassador Yi Xianliang told Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that it was not possible according to Chinas laws. He said it should be done through discussions with investors on commercial terms. The latest request was made by Premier Wickremesinghe to Ambassador Yi at a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM). He was in attendance. However, the Chinese envoy had said that his Government was willing to extend its fullest cooperation on this matter and support to overcome the current financial issues of Sri Lanka. Already, China has recommended a list of its leading companies for tie-ups with the Mattala Airport, Hambantota Port and other key ventures in Hambantota. The move comes as the Government prepared to set up a Hambantota Development Corporation to coordinate the development of this southern district. On the recommendations of Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema, a committee is to be named to draft the necessary laws for the establishment of this Corporation. The committee is also to be tasked to prepare a Cabinet memorandum for this purpose. Another major Chinese aided project, the Colombo Port City development is expected to get under way by October. The Government has set August 15 as the tentative date for the signing of a tripartite agreement. Details of the new measures appear in the Political Commentary on Pages 12 and 13. Premier Wickremesinghe had explained to Ambassador Yi that there was an urgent need to start the budgetary process for the coming year. Since a major portion of the Governments recurrent expenditure is the Chinese loan component, he had said it was necessary to finalise the debt amount which could be converted to equity without delay. With regard to many other projects which the Government has identified to be transferred into equity, the Government has decided to call for proposals worldwide. It will also call for proposals from Chinese companies and conduct direct talks. The selections will be made in consultation with Colombo and Beijing. JOs paada yaathra walks the talk to Colombo tomorrow View(s): The third leg of the Jana Satana Paada Yaathra (protest march) organised by the Joint Opposition (JO) concluded in Nittambuwa town last evening. The procession is due to arrive in Kiribathgoda today, before entering Colombo tomorrow (1) where it will conclude with a public rally. The march began from Peradeniya town on Thursday (28), after police obtained a court order prohibiting the marchers from commencing their procession within the municipal limits of Kandy town. The march had originally been scheduled to commence from Kandy. Participants, numbering several thousand, commenced their paada yaathra after former President and current Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa took part in religious observances at the Getambe Purana Rajamaha Vihara to invoke blessings on the march. The march was originally due to pass through Mawanella town. However, police had obtained yet another court order prohibiting the marchers from entering Mawanella. As such, JO organisers decided to end the first day of the procession next to the Gantenna sub post office, about 20 metres from Mawanella town. As a court order was in place, prohibiting the marchers from entering Mawanella town, organisers made certain they bypassed the town completely by commencing the second leg of the march on Friday from Uthuwankanda. The marchers passed through Kegalle town and Galigamuwa before ending their paada yaathra for the second day, when they arrived in Nelundeniya. The third leg began from Nelundeniya yesterday. The procession passed through several major towns along the Kandy-Colombo road, such as Warakapola and Weweldeniya, before ending for the day in Nittambuwa. Heavy traffic has been reported along the Kandy-Colombo road during the procession. The police however, were seen doing their utmost to control the situation and direct traffic with minimal inconvenience to the public. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as JO stalwarts Dulles Alahapperuma, Vasudewa Nanayakkara, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Gamini Lokuge, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila were among the many prominent parliamentarians who took part in the protest march. There have been numerous functions organised along the way as the marchers make their way to Colombo. JO Leaders have addressed supporters at these functions, while several dansals were also organised on all days, offering food and drinks for those taking part. Those taking part have also made their presence felt on social media, with photos and videos uploaded to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. However, the march has also created a minor split in the JO, with General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Communist Party D.E.W. Gunasekara refusing to take part in the rally, on the grounds that the slogan claiming the proposed new Constitution a death trap was misleading. However, the partys Chairman, Raja Collure insisted Mr Gunasekaras decision to not participate was his personal choice, but that, the party had decided to take part in the procession. Madushanka case: Pakistani activist to intervene View(s): Pakistans former Federal Minister for Human Rights and leading human rights and civil rights activist Ansar Burney has pledged to intervene in the case of a young Sri Lankan man who is under detention for over nine months for his alleged role in a plot to assassinate the President of the Maldives. Lahiru Madushanka (24) has been under detention since October last year in the Maldives for his alleged involvement in the assassination plot and has been refused bail several times despite attempts by his lawyers to get him released. Mr. Burney, who is also a former United Nations Expert Adviser on Human Rights, met Mr. Madushankas family members in Colombo this week and assured he would intervene in the case after studying the legal documents.Family members have denied that Mr. Madushanka was in anyway involved in the plot to kill Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen. They said he had visited the Maldives to take up a job offer when he was arrested. Mr. Burney asked Mr. Madushankas family members to get the legal documents from the Maldives court for him to familiarise himself with the case. SAITM gives its side of story, Kiriella says suspension of new intake only a discussion By Kumudini Hettiarachchi, Minushi Perera and Kaveesha Fernando Deans of eight state medical faculties reiterate call for immediate halt to new admissions View(s): View(s): Ten days after a high-powered delegation of medical professors issued a strong report on the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) including a call to immediately suspend new intakes of students, the future of the controversy-ridden institution remained in the balance. As to-and-fro arguments were dished out by defenders of SAITM (mainly its management, students and parents), others urged the SAITM authorities and the Government to separate the two main nagging issues the legal status (including recognition as an institution to send out graduates who should be registered to practise medicine) and the humane factor (that students should not be made to suffer for the SAITM managements shortcomings). Deans of the eight state medical faculties, who submitted their report and discussed the matter with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella last week, this week, followed this up with a fax on Monday July 25 to the Higher Education Ministry Secretary to implement, as promised, at least the first recommendation immediately halt new admissions to SAITM, until issues are resolved, the Sunday Times reliably understands. Their report, among other matters, lists out clearly that the due process was not followed by SAITM, a similar position taken by the Sunday Times which has campaigned since 2011 for a proper legal process to be followed particularly in the field of medical education which unlike any other profession deals with the births, lives and deaths of the men, women and children of Sri Lanka. Joining other experts in the field, the paper has consistently maintained that students should not suffer for the alleged faults of SAITM which is now using the humane-situation-of-students-card, to formalise a so-called private medical faculty that has not allegedly followed due processes. The Sunday Times has maintained that private medical education, if and when, established in the country should be done the right way and in keeping with the right norms and laws. The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) and the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), individually also maintain that the main issue with regard to SAITM has been the non-compliance to standards of medical education as prescribed by the SLMC. GMOAs Dr. Nalinda Herath alleged that as SAITM is an illegal institute, the fraud that it has perpetrated on the public needs to be investigated and the culprits punished under the laws of the land. However, a question on whether the due process including recognition from the SLMC as medicine impacts on peoples life was followed was dealt with lightly with the SAITM Registrar saying, It doesnt make a difference whether it is a doctor, engineer or account, everything affects the life of people. This was at a media briefing on Thursday by SAITM management, elaborately organized at the Malabe-based Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital (NFTH) by a public relations outfit which appears to have been hired for a damage-control exercise (the same unit was hired by the Colombo Port city when protests rose during the latter stages of the Rajapaksa administration). To the Sunday Times query on the issue of an SLMC compliance certificate, counter-questions were raised whether Rajarata and Eastern Medical Faculties had also got this SLMC compliance certificate. In the meantime, the Deans in their July 25 letter urged Higher Education Ministry Secretary D.C. Dissanayake to take immediate steps to implement this recommendation (halt new intake), pointing out that the Minister himself was of the view that this recommendation is very reasonable, given the controversy surrounding the MBBS degree programme offered by SAITM at present. However, Minister Kiriella, when asked by the Sunday Times on his agreement with the Deans at last weeks meeting to suspend the new intake of students, was quick to say, There was only a discussion (with the Deans). There was no such agreement. He added, Seven Deans came and met with me and they proposed that SAITM should be converted into a private public partnership and so many other matters were discussed. It is reliably learnt, and also confirmed by the fax, that the Minister had endorsed the Deans view that new student intakes should be suspended forthwith. In the July 25 fax, the Deans cite the rules made under Section 137 of the Universities Act (published in Gazette No 1824/21 on 2013.08.22 and subsequently amended in Gazette No 1847/56 published on 2014.01.31 and amended again in Gazette No 1891/9 or 2014.12.02) that require all non-state institutes, recognized as degree-awarding institutes which offer study programmes leading to degrees in Medicine, to obtain compliance certification from the SLMC and to submit such certification to the Specified Authority. Our first recommendation is that recruitment of students to the MBBS degree programme and admission of new students should be halted with immediate effect. Admissions should not be allowed to recommence until SAITM has obtained the compliance certificate from the SLMC, the Deans state clearly, going back to the meetings they had on July 21 with the Prime Minister and Minister Kiriella both of who, were of the view that our recommendations could pave the way for resolution of the current impasse regarding the medical degree programme offered by SAITM. The Minister, though, asked by the Sunday Times whether he had agreed to stop new admissions, retorted, We had a discussion. You dont know the difference between a discussion and an agreement we had a discussion on so many things. They requested that admissions be stopped but there was no agreement they also proposed that SAITM should be converted to a public private partnership that they will support it but that was a discussion, he insisted, adding that there was only a discussion and I will have to report to other members of the Cabinet for approval but what we really discussed was the conversion of SAITM into a public private partnership. The Sunday Times understands that the Minister said that it (the stoppage of new admissions) can be done until the problem is sorted out, even though one UGC official present at the meeting showed some reluctance to do so. The Deans statement, meanwhile, has stirred another controversy. The SLMC which met on Friday for its monthly meeting discussed whether the Deans Joint Statement which had been circulated on request was issued in an official or private capacity. Another set of observations by a group of SLMC members correcting several sections of the Joint Statement had also been put up at the meeting. The Sunday Times understands that there was some discussion among members over a comment by an SLMC member who is also a Dean that this person had posted the Joint Statement to judges across the country. Matters such as conflict of interest and whether that Dean should have taken such action even in a private capacity had generated some debate. Meanwhile, the lengthy media conference at SAITM on Thursday was followed by a tour of the NFTH, after journalists had been ferried by bus from Colombo to Malabe. When asked where its founder Dr. Neville Fernando was, the answer was that he was unable to attend the briefing as he was at a meeting. About a week ago Dr. Fernando was seen on local TV visiting the Dalada Maligawa. The SAITM Panel which held the briefing, going into detail about the teaching, facilities and standards of the 19 students who have graduated with the SAITM MBBS, comprised Prof. Deepthi Samarage (Paediatrics), Prof. Kolitha Sellahewa (Medicine), Vice Chancellor Prof. Ananda Samarasekera (Forensic Medicine), Registrar Husni Hussain, CEO of both SAITM and NFTH Sameera Senaratne, Prof. Neville Perera (Surgery), Director of Medicine Prof. Deepal Weerasekara (Obstetrics and Gynaecology), SAITM MBBS holder Tharindu Ruwanpathiranage and a current student Prageeth Wimalachandra. With regard to obtaining degree-awarding status, a slide presentation at the briefing stated that such status was awarded after many institutional, programme and financial reviews by committees comprising eminent personnel. The slides stated: n By Gazette No: 1721/19 dated 30.08.2011 and Gazette Notification No: 1829/36 dated 26.09.2013 SAITM has been granted degree-awarding status to award the MBBS degree. n According to the Gazettes there were stipulations which SAITM had to fulfil within a specified time frame. n All stipulations were fulfilled by SAITM within the said period and the specified authority has issued two letters confirming that SAITM has fulfilled all conditions therein. With regard to maintaining quality in medical education, Prof. Samarage said all aspects such as curriculum, assessments/clinical examinations, staff, teaching-learning methods, quality of students and infrastructure facilities had been reviewed by the SLMC which said it has no issues. Prof. Samarage explained that there are 21 Professors, 76 Senior Lecturers/Consultants, 59 Lecturers and 38 other academic staff, while going into detail about the infrastructure facilities as well as the state-of-the-art teaching hospital. With regard to assessments/examinations, she said that different tools of assessment methods were used, with the final-year theory examination having the same format as in state medical schools. The final-year clinical examinations also have a similar format as in the state medical schools and were held with the participation of external examiners. Students were given a consensus mark considering both sets of marks given by internal and external examiners with the latter being Professors from the Colombo, Peradeniya and Ruhuna Medical Faculties, Senior Lecturers from Peradeniya and Senior Consultants from the National Hospital, the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children and the Kandy Hospital who are examiners for the Colombo and Peradeniya Medical Faculties. Regarding deficiencies in the practical experience cited by the SLMC, Prof. Samarage said that the deficiency in exposure to preventative care services in an MOH (Medical Officer of Health) area and lack of facilities for training in practical clinical Forensic Medicine are no longer valid as students have this training at the Avisawella Hospital and the Kaduwela MOH. She reiterated that the SAITM academics do not agree with the third deficiency cited by SLMC which is General inadequacy of clinical exposure in all areas in terms of numbers and case mix is of grave concern. In particular, exposure to trauma in Surgery, common surgical emergencies and obstetric care is lacking. The Faculty is making an attempt to overcome these deficiencies, but is still insufficient at present. Prof. Samarage questioned why the SLMC has no grave concerns to register graduates from foreign medical schools with inferior quality proven beyond doubt; the SLMC provides assistance through the Health Ministry for further training to improve the quality of graduates from these medical schools utilising state facilities; the SLMC has tabled a separate adverse report submitted by one member of the review team who did not participate in the review process; the SLMC had made the nine-member review panel change their initial recommendation of SAITM graduates as being registrable; the GMOA and student unions are silent about the functioning of the fee-levying KDU (Kotelawela Defence University) medical school and it obtaining state facilities; the GMOA and student unions do not object to students going abroad to obtain private medical education. Whats a Certificate of Compliance, asks SAITM VC When asked specifically by the Sunday Times at Thursdays media briefing whether SAITM has got Compliance Certification from the SLMC, SAITM Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. Ananda Samarasekera said: Point is this, to answer your question I should know what is a compliance certificate means, from whom should we get it. In the gazette notification we saw about a compliance certificate and we wanted to verify what this compliance certificate means, compliance with what and who is the relevant professional body that the compliance certificate if at all (should) obtained from? And we wrote a letter asking for clarification. To the question to whom they wrote, the reply was that it was to the specified authority which is the Higher Education Ministry. Yes. About one and half years back. We had a delegation and met him and there was no answer, said the VC. Here are some questions that the Sunday Times asked the SAITM management not only at the media briefing but also at a separate meeting on Wednesday with Vice Chancellor Samarasekera and Director Laboratory Services and Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry, Dr. Keerthi Attanayake and on e-mail. What is the justification against allegations that SAITM is illegal? Please describe the process of setting up the Medical Faculty briefly and how, when and from whom authorizations were achieved, with dates and documentary proof. SAITM is a legally established higher education institution according to the current legislations applicable to set-up such institutions in Sri Lanka. SAITM has fulfilled the legal requirements set out in section 70 and section 25 of the Universities Act of 1978 and the procedure relating to recognizing as a degree awarding institute has been duly followed and the Minister of Higher Education in accidence (accordance?) with the powers vested on him has declared in the Government Gazette in 30th August 2011 as a degree awarding institute to award the MBBS (SAITM) degree subject to certain conditions. All these conditions have been fulfilled and was (were) reviewed by a panel of exports (experts?) appointed by UGC at the time and the Specified Authority (Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education) has issued a letter confirming that. Subsequently this gazette notification was amended by another Gazette in September 2013 have re-evaluated the institution and the academic programme and included the first four batches of students taken to follow the MD programme of the NNSMA (Nizhny Novgorodof State Medical Academy) Russia subject to some conditions. Those conditions were also fulfilled and were revived by another panel of experts appointed by the specified authority. The NFTH which is the main hospital for clinical training with professorial units is an approved private hospital by the health regulatory authority. The curricula are on par with the curriculums of state medical faculties and the benchmark statement of medicine of the UGC. In terms of the section 29 of the Medical Ordinance Medical degree awarded by University of Ceylon or corresponding University or from a degree awarding Institute or KDU must be accepted for registration as a medical practitioner and there is no provision in Medical Ordinance to ask or give prior recognition for those degrees. Furthermore SLMC does not have minimum standards prescribed by regulation (approved by Parliament) to evaluate medical school within Sri Lanka. SLMC is not vested with powers in terms of Medical Ordinance to issue a certificate of compliance. What is the role of the SLMC with regard to SAITM (the private medical college)? Is there no role at all? If not, why has the SAITM Management invited the SLMC by letter to visit SAITM? SLMC has a role to play in SAITM like for any other degree awarding institution in Medicine, state or non state, to ensure maintaining of minimum standards which have been recognized by law. However to do this SLMC should have Minimum standards prescribed by regulations and approved by Parliament as stipulated in the Medical Ordinance. The guidelines for accreditation published by SLMC are not the prescribed standards published by regulation. As such even though SLMC could acc (ask?) for information and even carry out a visit under section 19 of the Ordinance they cannot make any comment or further recommendation to the Minister of Health to initiate de-recognition of the degree for registration. In any event SLMC is not vested with the powers to recognize or derecognize or refuse registration of the MBBS degree by SAITM under current laws. SLMC was invited by SAITM only to inspect the study program and the facilities with a view of obtaining its advice for any further improvements. Is there a difference between specified authority and specified body in the Universities Act? Yes there is a clear difference between specified authority and Specified professional body Specified authority is appointed by the Minister of Higher Education by regulations approved in the Parliament to perform specific activities laid down in the Universities Act. Specified professional body is not defined in Universities Act. Once the Specified Authority is appointed (currently the Secretary of Minister of Higher Education and earlier UGC), such authority may publish rules in the Government Gazette under his signature for the administrative and academic purposes. These rules cannot supersede the laws or regulations made under provisions of law. Furthermore by these rules the powers vested on the Minister, or specified authority cannot be delegated to another person or a body such as SLMC. Has SAITM obtained a Compliance Certificate from the SLMC? We have not been informed as to the specific professional body relevant to degree awarding institutes in Medicine who is legally empowered to issue such a certificate. A letter requesting clarification regarding this was sent to specify (specified?) authority more than year ago and also discussed with the then specified authority but no response yet. Furthermore the rules were published after SAITM was given degree awarding status whether these rules have retrospective effect also not stated. As far as SAITM is aware there is no degree awarding institute (Medicine or other) who has fulfilled this requirement. Whats brewing? Huge duty waiver for beer company View(s): The Ministry of Finance has granted significant duty waivers to Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC to import beer in view of its local factory being submerged in floods two months ago, documents obtained by the Sunday Times show. The relief was granted without publicity and translates to Lion Brewery importing beer from several Asian countries at the rate of excise duty charged for local manufacture. Lion and Carlsberg brands sold by Lion Brewery are also produced in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and India. As such, the Government has slashed the customs import duty per litre of beer of less than five percent alcohol to Rs. 129 from Rs. 500 (75 percent); and for beer of more than five percent alcohol from to Rs. 246 from Rs. 500 (51 percent). This respite has only been granted to Lion Brewery. The total duty levied on imported beer, including cess and Port and Airport Development Levy (PAL), is about Rs. 582 per litre. The Customs Ordinance permits the Minister of Finance to exempt goods imported by certain persons from import duties only if he deems it expedient in the public interest to do so. These waivers have been given despite Suresh Shah, the Chief Executive Officer of Lion Brewery, stating in the 2015/16 annual report that, at the time of writing, the assessment is that the brewery will be out of production for 3 months. Your companys insurance policies cover both floods & business interruptions. As an extra precaution we also ensure these policies are re-insured so that no single insurer carries a significant burden, he reassures shareholders. Thus from a cash flow perspective we do not foresee significant challenges. However, meeting the needs of the market will be a challenge, particularly in the initial weeks, he says. The same annual report reveals that generators, boilers and pumps were damaged but will be recovered relatively quickly. However, the electrical panels and electronics that were submerged have to be replaced, it says. These items are sourced from overseas and are made to order. The Sunday Times is in receipt of customs declarations forms dated July that prove that the waivers have been applied. A senior official from the Trade and Investment Policy Department of the Finance Ministry was tight-lipped when asked which companies had received duty waivers to help them tide over operational difficulties caused by the floods. He asked the Sunday Times to send a written request for information. However, a Customs Department official said that, in the aftermath of the floods in May, the Government had waived for one month import duties on 36 essential food and relief items. Beer or any form of alcohol was not on that list which was sent also to the Ministry of Disaster Management. According to its financial statements, Lion Brewery made a net profit of Rs. 2 billion for the 2015/16 financial year. Carson Cumberbatch Groupthat owns Ceylon Beverage Holdings which is the main shareholder of Lion Breweryrecorded a net profit of Rs. 4.5 billion in the same period. According to calculations, the Government would lose Rs. 371 per litre of beer of less than five percent alcohol and Rs. 254 per litre of more than five percent alcohol imported by Lion Brewery. If Lion imports around five million litre of beer per month for four months, the potential revenue loss for the Government would be Rs. 6 billion. Lion Brewery accounts for 85 percent of the beer market. The company acquired Millers Brewery in 2014 for Rs. 5.1 billion to maintain market dominance. Around the Buddhist world Udumbara Udugama steps into the International Museum of World Buddhism at the Dalada Maligawa View(s): View(s): The first-ever International Museum of World Buddhism was opened at the premises of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy on May 11, 2011 and since then has become a learning centre for University students and students following higher studies in Buddhism. The different galleries provide useful information on the history of Buddhism in different countries, both Theravada and Mahayana. Secretary, International Affairs at the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Lionel Wijesundara, speaking to the Sunday Times on the construction and establishment of this museum said that initially the concept of a museum of Buddhist civilization was discussed by Prof. Senarat Paranvitana in the 1950s. Successive Diyawadana Nilames brought up this subject and it was Pradeep Nilanga Dela, the present Diyawadana Nilame, the lay custodian of the Sacred Tooth Relic, with the blessings of the Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters who was able to make this concept a reality. The Diyawadana Nilame had told Mr. Wijesundara that as most Sri Lankans are unable to visit other Buddhist countries, which have a rich Buddhist culture, he felt the need to organise a museum with the participation of all the Buddhist countries in the world. The site is the old Courts Complex behind the Sri Dalada Maligawa built in 1880, the ideal building for a museum of this magnitude. The museum and the galleries were ably planned by Prof. Leelananda Prematilake, former Head of the Department of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya. The consultancy work was done on a voluntary basis without any remuneration for his untiring efforts, perhaps considering it to be a meritorious act. Prof. Prematilleke made a thorough study and designed the galleries of this two-storey building, taking into consideration the three main routes through which originally Buddhism spread in ancient India as well as modern Bangladesh and Pakistan, the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. The three main routes are: The South Asian route (ancient India and Sri Lanka); the South East Asian Route (Myanmar/Burma), Thailand (Siam), Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia) and the Northern Route (Afghanistan and Central Asia and the Far East including China, Taiwan and Japan). In 2008, foreign missions, embassies and high commissions of countries historically associated with Buddhism were invited to join with the Maligawa authorities to make this museum a reality. There are some 18 galleries both of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist countries spread over two floors. At the entrance, on the way up to the building, large stone Buddha images from Malaysia, Cambodia and the Buddha image from Sri Lanka are displayed on the way up the stairway. On the ground floor are the galleries of India, Bangladesh , Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lankan while Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Central Asia, China, Tibet have their galleries in the upper floor. The Foreign Missions had arranged for their own architects, engineers and craftsmen to come and work together with their Sri Lankan counterparts in setting up the museum. Explanatory panels placed under the exhibits give the viewer a chance to discover more. Ten guides are available to lead the visitors and explain to them in detail the Buddhist heritage of each country. The brochure of the Museum provides many details how the Buddhist missionary activities of Emperor Asoka of India spread to many countries, including Sri Lanka as well as information on each country represented. We learn that though modern Bangladesh remains a Muslim country, there are important Buddhist sites there such as Badkhanta, Pahapoor, Rohitagiri. The snow-clad Himalayan rock summit of Bhutan follows Mahayanism. Pakistan, ancient North-western India including Gandhara, Taxila and Peshawar has very valuable Buddhist monuments. A unique artistic creation is the stone sculptures of Gandhara depicting the history of the Buddha Myanmar and Thailand, both Theravada followers, are well known for their meditating prelates. In Myanmar, the Swedagon stupa in Rangoon and many other Buddhist temples including the Ananda Vihara at Pagan are well known Buddhist monuments. Cambodia is known for the worlds largest Mahayana shrine, the Bayon at Angkor Thom adorned with the heads of Lokesvara on the sikharas. Laos was earlier a Theravada country now attracted to Mahayana. Vietnam is very much influenced by Cambodian and Laotian Buddhism, having lost much of its Buddhist culture due to the war. Mainly an Islamic country, Malaysia was influenced by Buddhism prevailing in the neighbouring nations. Indonesia earlier known as Java has the celebrated Borobudur Stupa of Mahayana origin which is believed to be the largest stupa on a volcanic hill. Well known Buddhist sites of Afghanistan are Hadda (ancient Nagarahara), Bamiyan with the worlds tallest Buddha image (now destroyed), and ranges of cave monasteries. China has many Mahayana Buddhist sites. Monk travellers of China, Fa-Hsien and Huan-Thsang have historical connections with Sri Lanka and India. Korea has produced magnificent temples with beautiful sculpture and murals. Japan which has a rich Buddhist heritage performs many Mahayana rituals. Kyoto city and Nara possess large monasteries with libraries and many other centuries -old Buddhist edifices. With its interesting display of architectural and sculptural replicas, paintings and photographs depicting the ancient glories of Buddhist Art, the International Buddhist Museum at the Sri Dalada Maligawa, helps visitors to gain a better understanding and knowledge of the Buddhist world. House donated to injured student View(s): Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa accompanied by Western Provincial Councillor Jayantha Silva cuts the ribbon to enter a new house that was handed over to the family of a Royal College student who has been bed-ridden following a near-drowning at the school swimming pool. In May, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe handed over the entitlement of the new house to the mother of the student at a function held in Maradana. Launch full probe on massacre of the 600 policemen By Tassie Seneviratne View(s): View(s): I was rather perplexed when I read the article by former DIG B Anton Jeyanathan (the Sunday Times 2 of July 17). Categorising the mass murder of more than 600 police officers as missing persons is greatly downsizing the gravity of the heinous crime. The term Missing persons generally coupled with involuntary removal of persons, is far less in gravitas. He goes on to say, I am certain all the details about the surrender of the policemen, whisking them away in vehicles and subsequently their whereabouts which are not known This is a misleading statement because there is eyewitness evidence in proof of their whereabouts. They are in the land of god Pluto. Christopher Morris of The Guardian UK reporting from the Thirukkovil grave told this grim story on July 23, 1990. He said: Search finishes at grave of policemen. Thirukkovil on grim proof of a massacre. In a clearing surrounded by dense scrubland, 12 miles south of the village of Thirukkovil in Sri Lanka, a pit about four feet deep had been dug in the dry earth. Lying in it, covered by a thin layer of sand, are the decomposing bodies of about 100 Sri Lankan policemen, shot in cold blood by Tamil Tiger rebels. Nearby are more remains, this time bits of burning bodies and charred bones, mingling with logs and wire from the inside of rubber tyres, fuel for the pyre on which many bodies were thrown. Throughout the area, now marked out with wooden stakes, is the stench of rotting flesh. Grim evidence of what had occurred is still visible. In one place the victims had been made to lie down in the dark, in a line about 30 metres long, and according to those who had survived, they were shot in the back of the head. Patches of congealed and blackened blood, dried out after more than a month in the hot sun, revealed where the shooting had taken place. When the sand in the pit nearby was raked back, two decomposing arms, the hands still tied together, were revealed; then a skull, and some fragments of uniform scattered around the area was more evidence of the victims identities; police pass books, and pairs of slippers, belonging to the men who had been off duty in their barracks when they were taken captive. The evidence of the mass-murder was placed before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and an eyewitness account about the complicity of Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, was placed before the LLRC in camera. These facts indicate this case has a bearing on reconciliation. Although it is not in the purview of the LLRC to investigate murder, it has made a strong recommendation that the circumstances of the surrender and the mass murder be fully investigated and appropriate action taken. In his article, the writer also states that a delegation from the Retired Senior Police Officers Association (RSPOA) went before the Maxwell Paranagama Commission which was inquiring into missing persons and lodged our complaint. It is obvious that this mass murder did not come within the purview of the Commission and it has ignored the submissions. Complaining about this case to the Maxwell Paranagama Commission is like going to a toy shop and asking for a five-seater full option car. I have also been writing time and again about this massacre to remind the people of the great sacrifice made by these noble policemen and to bring honour to them. I hope these forlorn police officers hear us crying for them. I understand that during the presidential election campaign, a Retired Senior DIG who has taken to politics, and was a supporter of the incumbent President, discussed the case of these police officers with him and obtained a promise that he would have the matter investigated and appropriate action taken when he came to power. A good move indeed! Now he has come to power and the Retired Senior DIG has reminded him of it, but to no avail. Promises of the so-called Yahapalana politicians are no better than promises of all run-of-the-mill politicians. With political expediency taking precedence over principles, we cannot expect the political will to have justice meted out in the case of this massacre. The only step left is to go to the last bastion of justice, the Supreme Court, with a Writ of Mandamus application to compel the Inspector General of Police to investigate the circumstances that led to the surrender and the mass murder that followed. I quote from the Final Report of the LLRC under a section titled Issues Relevant to Addressing Grievances and Promoting Reconciliation. Failure to Give Effect to Rule of Law.9. 207 Two senior retired police officers and two representers who had been victims of an abduction along with around six hundred police officers referred to the alleged involvement of Karuna, the then LTTE leader of the Eastern Province and several other members of the LTTE regarding the murder of the police officers who had been ordered to lay down arms and surrender to the LTTE. Pursuant to the allegations made by the representers the Commission questioned Mr. Muralitharan alias Karuna about the allegations leveled against him. He denied the allegations in respect of these murders. However, this Commission regrets that up to date no investigation has been conducted in respect of the killing of 600 policemen. The Commission is of the view that this matter warrants a full investigation because of the nature of the Crime and the bearing it has on Reconciliation. Since June 1990 there have been fear psychoses caused by respective governments, and especially under the 18th Amendment, even the Supreme Court could not be relied on to mete out justice. Now under the 19th Amendment there is hope again that the Supreme Court will act without political interference. (The writer is a Retired Senior Superintendent of Police and former Personal Staff Officer to Inspector General of Police, and former Director handling Police Grievances) By Indo-Asian News Service: The UK's first maternity clinic for women who have been victims of rape and sexual assault opened its doors in London, a media report said on Friday. According to authorities, the clinic will provide extra antenatal support with specially trained midwives, psychologists and paediatricians, BBC reported. Co-run by Barts Health NHS Trust in London, the scheme could be introduced in other UK hospitals if successful, the authorities said. advertisement Pavan Amara, founder of the My Body Back project, which jointly established the clinic with the Barts Health NHS Trust, has met a number of women who told her of traumatic experiences during their pregnancies. "One woman was told by her rapist: 'If you relax it'll be over with quicker.' When the woman was told the same thing in a healthcare setting, the health professional was completely unwittingly and unknowingly echoing the words of the rapist," Amara was quoted by the BBC as saying. "It had a huge impact on the woman mentally. It's things like this... very small, but very big for a woman who is vulnerable." According to latest official figures, one in five women between the ages of 16-59 in England and Wales has experienced some form of sexual violence, BBC added. --- ENDS --- Replying to a query raised by Rajan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar acquiesced in front of the House that loss of revenue could not be "ruled out", though the government did not have any estimates of the loss. By Mail Today Bureau: The government does not know how much it loses yearly on account of under-recovery of dues from around four lakh private and official occupants of its properties and land across India. According to Rajya Sabha MP and BSP leader Ambeth Rajan, the amount runs into thousands of crores of rupees per annum. Replying to a query raised by Rajan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar acquiesced in front of the House that loss of revenue could not be "ruled out", though the government did not have any estimates of the loss. The reason behind the proposed loss to the public exchequer is also interesting in the same measure as the loss itself. advertisement SHORTAGE OF B&S CADRE PERSONNEL According to Rajan, the loss is due to the acute shortage of barrack and store cadre (B&S Cadre) personnel of the Military Engineer Services (MES). The same is borne out by the testimonies of the defence establishment as well as the B&E cadre association. In a letter to the defence secretary in June this year, Engineer-in Chief, Lieutenant general Sanjiv Talwar said there was "huge deficiency" in the B/S Cadre. "The cadre has very important role in MES" as "The complete recovery of rent, electricity and allied charges from the consumers is the responsibility of B/S Cadre." Referring to the Rajya Sabha question by Rajan, Talwar wrote in the letter: "In fact we could not even state the amount of revenue loss being incurred since due to the acute deficiency of the cadre we cannot even check the actual loss". ALSO READ: Govt will do every bit to recover dues from telcos: Minister --- ENDS --- Motorists travelling on Desert Road State Highway 1 are being warned to drive cautiously with snow showers expected tonight says the New Zealand Transport Agency. The media release says between 10cm and 15cm of snow may accumulate about the summit from tonight and Sunday afternoon. His bakery wall in Tauranga is lined with 56 awards for outstanding pies, having consistently beaten out the competition. Its fair to say, Bethlehems Patrick Lam, a five-time Bakels Supreme Pie Award winner, is a pastry pro and perhaps the countrys best ever pie maker. A Lotto ticket bought in Tauranga is worth $32,140 after taking a share of last nights Second Division. The ticket was one of eight tickets from around the country who shared the prize. The winning Tauranga ticket was purchased at Pak n Save in Tauranga. Of the 1,052 World Heritage Sites worldwide, 35 are in India. Yet another 50 from India are on the tentative World Heritage list-but with each country permitted only two nominations per year, it will be many more years for our stated ambitions to come to fruition. Rarely does heritage-built or natural-generate news that evokes pride. So this week's headlines announcing three additional UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites in India was welcome news. Even before the World Heritage Committee annual session in Istanbul was disrupted by the failed coup-the designation was announced for the archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara in Bihar, the Khangchendzonga National Park of Sikkim and the Le Corbusier-designed capitol complex in Chandigarh. advertisement Ratish Nanda The Khangchendzonga National Park named after the world's third highest peak, Mount Khangchendzonga, spanning valleys, lakes, glaciers, snow-capped mountains and ancient forests, is linked organically with the Buddhist faith. The Nalanda Mahavihara, or Nalanda University, comprises the archaeological remains of a Buddhist monastic and scholastic institution dating from the 3rd century BCE. It includes some impressive stupas, shrines and viharas. The historical significance of the site testifies to the evolution of Buddhism into a full-fledged religion. In the designation of both these sites and especially for Nalanda, India received significant support from countries where Buddhism is a dominant religion. The designation of the capitol complex in Chandigarh is a result of the transnational proposal submitted jointly by Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan and Switzerland, denoting 17 sites spread over these seven countries. The designation confirms Le Corbusier's invention of a new architectural language in the 20th century. Currently, 1,052 sites are listed on the World Heritage List across 165 countries. As with the designation of 17 sites of Corbusier, many of these include more than one monument or complex and at least 34 are on national boundaries. Just as Khangchendzonga is designated for both natural and cultural Outstanding Universal Value, 35 sites are considered to have 'mixed' value; 814 cultural sites and 203 natural sites make up the full list. Of the 1,052 World Heritage Sites worldwide, 35 are in India. Yet another 50 from India are on the tentative World Heritage list-but with each country permitted only two nominations per year, it will be many more years for our stated ambitions to come to fruition. The listing of sites that are of significance to mankind, and not just to the countries within which they are located, was formalised in 1972. By 1993, with an ever-expanding list, UNESCO brought in stringent guidelines for proposals, including a 'management plan' to ensure that the value of the sites is preserved in perpetuity. As per these conditions, not a single site was inscribed from India for 10 years till 2002, and our record since then has been poor, with several proposals rejected. advertisement With designation not guaranteeing funds or international assistance for several years, decision-makers in India have questioned the need for making an effort. On the other hand, countries such as China and Italy-both with many more sites on the list-have long appreciated the significant gains in national pride and tourism dollars. They have invested manpower and financial resources in preparing nomination dossiers that ably demonstrate 'outstanding universal value' and then ensured that standards of conservation are maintained at designated sites. The Nalanda designation will be the second cultural site since 1993, after the Rani Ki Vav designation from Gujarat, where the exhaustive dossier was prepared in-house by officers of the Archaeological Survey of India. This implies that the staff responsible for the site have a deep understanding of, and are familiar with, the responsibilities the designation entails. In 2014, the minister of culture, Dr Mahesh Sharma, designated many of the cultural world heritage sites in India as adarsh smaraks, where the provision of additional facilities are being planned for an enhanced visitor experience. European countries, having long realised that preserving natural and built heritage leads to economicgain, contributed to the sustainable development of historic city centres. In 2007, a fifth C-for 'communities'-was added to the four objectives for World Heritage Sites: credibility, conservation, capacity-building and communication. advertisement If designation is to be meaningful for Indians and worthwhile to decision-makers, conservationists need to strive to meet these five Cs. This would require meaningful conservation by dedicated multi-disciplinary teams at each site, with civil society and corporate sector involvement leading to a trickledown of benefit to those who need it most-demonstrating that conservation can help fulfil stated government objectives. Ratish Nanda is chief executive, Aga Khan Trust for Culture --- ENDS --- By PTI: Chandigarh, July 30 (PTI) A group of unidentified youths today attacked a Delhi Police team escorting an undertrial to a court with pepper powder and opened fire before escaping with him near Haryanas Bahadurgarh town. The incident happened this morning when about 8-10 youth intercepted the vehicle, in which the 27-year-old prisoner, Jitender alias Gogi, and four Delhi Police personnel, near Ganpati Dham on NH-10 in Bahadurgarh and opened fire and also attacked the policemen with pepper powder, a Haryana Police official said. advertisement The undertrial was being taken to a Narwana court from Delhi for a hearing. Police also retaliated, but the youths managed to escape with Jitender, he said. "The prisoner, Jitender, escaped from police custody when he was being taken for a court hearing to Narwana from Delhi," Bahadurgarh City SHO, Vishnu Parshad said. The accused also managed take with him a gun of one of the policemen, police said, adding that Jitender had several cases against him including around 10 of murder. A case had been registered, police said. PTI SUN SMJ RT SMJ --- ENDS --- SHARE Bernadette Kopacz, Vero Beach Letter: Hillary Clinton failed as secretary of state I must express my total disdain for the outcome of the Hillary Clinton email investigation debacle. How could anyone either be so stupid or naive to be secretary of state and not know what she was doing was wrong? I still feel as many investigations that have taken place, with deleted emails, missing emails, etc. does anyone consider the fact that in some way, she was responsible (besides the fact that she was) for Benghazi through some hacking of her emails? And James Comey saying that she was "extremely careless" doesn't feel she would be convicted in a court of law? I think with normal citizens hearing the case (not judged by her "peers" because they're crooked too) she would be tried, convicted and sent to jail. When asked whether the "careless" handling of classified information would expose an FBI employee to possible termination, Comey said "Yes." In my Facebook comments my response to this is an example. There is an impaired driver that kills a pedestrian. The driver was "extremely careless." Okay (slap wrist and go home) No, the normal citizen would probably be charged with manslaughter, fined, then jailed. Will the driver go to court and say, "Oh judge, I didn't know I was impaired"? and the judge says, "Oh, OK but you know that was 'extremely careless' of you. Now go home and think about what you've done." Right. Sure. An idiotic example, yes but that's what this entire incident is. Idiotic. Clinton's "crime" is so much bigger than that. She was responsible for our nation and the safety of American ambassadors throughout the world. She failed. I have absolutely no intention of voting a liar into office (again). And Clinton supporters, smarten up. SHARE SATURDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS Fitness Boot Camp: 6 a.m. July 19-Aug. 11. Tues. & Thurs. Sebastian Karate a Fitness & Self Defense Center, 13248 U.S. 1, Sebastian. Ages: 17+. $100. Register: 772-538-1753. Cat Adoption Event: July 23-Aug. 7. Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County, 6230 77th St., Vero Beach. Ages: 18+. 772-388-3331. Friends of the Library Used Book Depot: 4 for $1 fiction sale continues, Christmas in July featured. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. July 25-30. 1670 14th Ave., Vero Beach. 772-562-0043. Vero Beach Pirate Festival: July 30, 31. Among the Oaks at Riverside Park, Vero Beach. Saving & Organizing Your iPhone Photos Class: 9:30-11:30 a.m. July 30. Island Images Studio, 2036 14th Ave., Suite 101, Vero Beach. $42-$50. Register: 772-231-3515; www.refreshfotos.com. Pirate Art Festival: Pirate Art Show. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. July 30. Royal Palm Point, 2 Royal Palm Point, Vero Beach. Christmas in July at Vero Beach Veterans: 6 p.m. July 30. Vero Beach Veterans Club, 2500 15th Ave., Vero Beach. Adults. Call for price of dinner. Reservation: 772-778-1299; verobeachveterans.com. SATURDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ARTS KidZ Artshop: Gallery tour with studio art activity. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Vero Beach Museum Of Art, 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach. Ages: 4-11. 772-231-0707; www.verobeachmuseum.org. CHILDREN/TEENS Karate and Qigong for Children: Japanese Go-Ju Karate and Chinese Qigong and Kung fu. Noon. The Cloudwalker Place, 703 17th St., Vero Beach. Ages: 5-15 years old. $80 per month, Scholarships available. 772-217-2887; www.thecloudwalker.com. EXERCISE/HEALTH Martial Arts for Executives: Japanese and Chinese internal arts training for therapeutic benefits. Noon. The Cloudwalker Place, 703 17th St., Vero Beach. Ages: 15+. $90 per month. 772-217-2887; www.thecloudwalker.com. Pickleball University Open Play: 8:30 a.m. Pocahontas Park, 2140 14th Ave, Vero Beach. All ages and Levels. $2/annual membership $24. 772-50-15685; vbpickle@gmail.com Facebook: Pickleball University. Pilates Reformer Group Class: Reform your body, strengthen your core. Joseph Pilates Techniques. 9 a.m. The Club at Spine and Sport, 1345 36th Street, Vero Beach. Adults. $90 for 6 weeks. Reservation: 772-559-0866; namaste5@yahoo.com. Qigong Self Healing Class with Joane: Spend one hour practicing highly beneficial health enhancing techniques. 10:30 a.m. The Club at Spine and Sport Institute, 1345 36th St., Vero Beach. All ages. $9-$12. Reservation: 772-559-0866; namaste5@yahoo.com. GAMES Triple Play: Noon. Senior Activity Center of Sebastian, 1255 Main St., Sebastian. Ages: 50+. $1. sebastianseniors.org. NATURE Adventure Kayaking: Naturalist guided kayak/paddleboard tour on the Indian River Lagoon. 9 a.m.-noon, every day. Round Island Park, South Highway A1A, Vero Beach. $50 adult, $25 child. Reservation: 772-567-0522; paddleflorida.com. Canoe Trip on the Lagoon: Guided canoe excursion on the Lagoon. 9-11:30 a.m. Environmental Learning Center, 255 Live Oak Drive, Vero Beach. Ages: 8+. $7-$15. Reservation: 772-589-5050; DiscoverELC.org. Evenings on the Lagoon Motorized Kayak Eco Tours: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Every Day 1 hour before sunset. Round Island Riverside Park, 2200 South Highway A1A, South Vero Beach. One hour before sunset, every evening. $35 per seat. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. Tours through the Mangrove Forests: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Varies based on tides, daily. Stan Blum Boat Launch, 613 North Causeway Drive, Fort Pierce. $48-60; Group discounts offered. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. OTHER Bobby and the Blisters: 8-11 p.m. June 11. Osceola Bistro, 2045 13th Ave, Vero Beach. Reservation: 772-569-1299; osceolabistro.com. Dog Obedience Training: Registration required with instructor Shelly Ferger. 9 a.m. Dogs For Life, Inc. Off-Leash Dog Park, 1230 16th Avenue, Vero Beach. Ages: 7 months+. $120. Reservation: 772-567-8969; dogsforlifevb@bellsouth.net. SUNDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS Sons of the American Legion Sunday Breakfast: 8-11 a.m. July 31. Post 189, 807 Louisiana Ave., Sebastian. $2-$5. Sunday Breakfast: 8-11 a.m. July 31. American Legion Post, 807 Louisiana Ave., Sebastian. $2-$5. Salsquad189@gmail.com. SUNDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS DANCE CardioFunk HipHop: Beginner HipHop Dance. 2 p.m. IRC Main Library, 1600 21st St., Vero Beach. Ages: 10+. Donation: 772-770-5060; irclibrary.org. EXERCISE/HEALTH Health Enhancing Class at Wabasso Beach with Joane Patrick: Practice Easy Gentle Movements, Deep Breathing and a Meditative Mind. 8 a.m. Wabasso Beach under the Gazebo, Where 510 Meets the Sea, Sebastian. Offering. 772-559-0866; namaste5@yahoo.com. GAMES Bar Bingo: 1 p.m. Sebastian Eagles Aerie 4067, 9606 Trade Center Drive, Sebastian. Adult. $1 per card. 772-589-6573; empresslp234@gmail.com. MEAL Breakfast: Open to the public. 8 a.m.-noon. American Legion Post 39, 1535 Old Dixie Highway, Vero Beach. $6. jerip80@hotmail.com. Sunday Breakfast: Sunday Breakfast cooked to order. 9 a.m.-noon. Vero Beach Veteran Club, 2500 15th Ave., Vero Beach. $3-$6. 772-778-1299; verobeachveteran.com. NATURE Adventure Kayaking: Naturalist guided kayak/paddleboard tour on the Indian River Lagoon. 9 a.m.-noon, every day. Round Island Park, South Highway A1A, Vero Beach. $50 adult, $25 child. Reservation: 772-567-0522; paddleflorida.com. Evenings on the Lagoon: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Every Day 1 hour before sunset. Round Island Riverside Park, 2200 South Highway A1A, South Vero Beach. One hour before sunset, every evening. $35 per seat. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. Tours through the Mangrove Forests: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Varies based on tides, daily. Stan Blum Boat Launch, 613 North Causeway Drive, Fort Pierce. $48-60; Group discounts offered. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. OTHER Fishing: You bring the pole, we've got the bait. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. LaPorte Farms, 7700 129th St., Sebastian. $5 donation. 772-633-0813; laportefarms1@aol.com. LaPorte Farms: Self guided tours, pony rides. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. daily. LaPorte Farms, 7700 129th St., Sebastian. Donations. 772-633-0813; laportefarms1@aol.com. Vero Beach Widows and Widowers: Brunch 11:30 a.m. C. J. Cannons Restaurant, 3414 Cherokee Drive, Vero Beach. RSVP: Anna Mae, 1-772-461-1208. Snowbirds Welcome! LOOKING AHEAD AUGUST Hair Cuttery Back-to-School Share-A-Haircut Program: HC will donate haircuts to a child in need. 9 a.m. Aug. 1-15. All Hair Cuttery locations, 12th St. Plaza, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 1. VNA Hidden Treasures Vero, 656 21st, Vero Beach. Family Dog Manners: Learn to train your dog to be a great companion. 6:30 p.m. Aug. 1. Humane Society of Vero Beach, 6230 77th St., Vero Beach. $75. Register: 772-978-7863; www.hsvb.org. Bankruptcy and Fair Debt Collections Know Your Rights: Clinics on Bankruptcy and Fair Debt Collections. 2:30 p.m. Aug. 1, Sept. 6, Oct. 4, Nov. 7, Dec. 5. Indian River Courthouse, Jury Assembly Room, 2000 16th Avenue, Vero Beach. Register: 772-466-4766; www.FRLS.org. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-10 a.m. Aug. 2. Gifford Youth Activity Center, 4875 43rd, Vero Beach. Exchange Club of Vero Beach: Noon Aug. 2. C.J. Cannons Restaurant, 3414 Cherokee Drive, Vero Beach. $12. RSVP: 772-713-9004; www.exchangeclubofverobeach.org. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Aug. 3. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: Noon-2 p.m. Aug. 3. North Indian River County Library, 1001 Sebastian Blvd., Sebastian. Feisty Fido: Instructor approval required to help your socially challenged dog. 5:30 p.m. Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24. Humane Society of Vero Beach, 6230 77th St., Vero Beach. $75. Register: 772-978-7863; www.bestbehaviordogtraining.org. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 9-11 a.m. Aug. 4. VNA Hidden Treasures Vero, 656 21st, Vero Beach. Jim Sawgrass: 10:30 a.m. Aug. 4. North IRC Library, 1001 Sebastian Blvd., Sebastian. 772-589-1355; www.irclibrary.org. Mulligan's 12 Weeks of Summer: 10% of the evening's proceeds go to Dogs For Life. 5-8 p.m. Aug. 4. Mulligan's Beach House Bar & Grill, 1025 Beachland Blvd., Vero Beach. www.dogsforlifevb.org. Adult Dance Masterclasses at Riverside Theatre: Intermediate classes with professional dancers from the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company. 10-11:30 a.m. Aug. 5. $50 both classes/$30 for one class. Riverside Children's Theatre: 772-234-8052. Mr. Harley: 10:30 a.m. Aug. 5. IRC Main Library, 1600 21st Street, Vero Beach. 772-538-7558; www.irclibrary.org. Adult Dance Masterclasses at Riverside Theatre: Advanced classes with professional dancers from the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 5. $50 both classes/$30 for one class. Riverside Children's Theatre: 772-234-8052. The Well Armed Women Indian River County Chapter: Grand Opening. 1st Meeting National Organization of The Well Armed Women IRC. 9 a.m. Aug. 6. Indian River County Shooting Range, 10455 102nd Terrace, Sebastian. Ages: 21+. RSVP: 772-473-1800; www.twawshootingchapters.org. RT Star's Back To School Party: A free community event at Riverside Theatre. 10 a.m. Aug. 6. Riverside Theatre, 3250 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach. 772-231-6990; www.riversidetheatre.com. Back to School Physicals, Immunizations Backpack Brigade: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 6. Whole Family Health Center, 981 37th Place, Vero Beach. 772-257-5785. One Pulse Extravaganza: Benefits the One Pulse Fund; live music from Collins and Company, DJ music, a cash bar. 7-11 p.m. Aug. 6. Heritage Center, 2140 14th Ave., Vero Beach. $20. 772-713-5520. Theatre-Go-Round Dinner Theatre: "From Sea to Shining Sea". 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7, 21, Sept. 18. Quilted Giraffe Restaurant, 500 South U.S. 1, Vero Beach. Reservation: 772-252-9341; theatregorounddinnertheatre.com. Think Pink Art Show and Raffle Event: Benefits Treasure Coast 'Friends in Pink'. 5-8 p.m. Aug. 7. Gallery 14, 1911 14th Ave., Vero Beach. 772-562-5525; www.gallery14verobeach.com. Video Bible Study: Do You Believe. 6 p.m. Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28. First Baptist Church of Wabasso, 4720 86th St., Wabasso. 772-589-5256; firstbaptistwabasso.org. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-noon Aug. 8. Harvest Food, 1360 28th, Vero Beach. Friends After Diagnosis: Speaker: Allison Snowden acupuncture, integrative medicine for breast cancer survivors. 2 p.m. Aug. 8. First Presbyterian Church, 520 Royal Palm Blvd., Vero Beach. 772-978-9392; www.FriendsAfterDiagnosis.com. American Legion Auxiliary Quarter Auction: 6 p.m. Aug. 8. American Legion, 807 Louisiana Ave., Sebastian. Ages: 18+. 772-882-7352; avondaisy44@aol.com. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. Aug. 9. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st St., Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 10-11:30 a.m. Aug. 9. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop, 5480 85th, Wabasso. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10:30 a.m. Aug. 10. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Aug. 11. VNA Hidden Treasures Vero, 656 21st, Vero Beach. Transcendental Meditation: Introductory presentation on the Transcendental Meditation technique all questions answered. 7 p.m. Aug. 12. The Center for Spiritual Care, 1550 24th St., Vero Beach. 772-480-0047; www.tm.org. V.B.E. PTA Indoor Sale: 8 a.m.-noon Aug. 13. Cafeteria, 1770 12th St., Vero Beach. Rent a table $15 call 564-4611. RSVP: 772-564-4611; james.batory@indianriverschools.org. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10 a.m. Aug. 15. River Park Place, 700 3rd Circle, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 15. VNA Hidden Treasures Vero, 656 21st, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-9:30 a.m. Aug. 16. Christi's Family Fitness, 1250 Old Dixie Highway, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10:30 a.m. Aug. 17. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Aug. 17. Second Chance Thrift Store & Training Center, 490 Old Dixie Highway, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-10 a.m. Aug. 18. Gifford Youth Activity Center, 4875 43rd, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. Aug. 18. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st St., Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: Noon-1 p.m. Aug. 18. South Mainland Library, 7921 Ron Beatty Blvd., Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: Noon-1 p.m. Aug. 18. Our Father's Table Soup Kitchen 4221 28th, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. Aug. 19. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10 a.m. Aug. 20. Allen AME Church, 6425 85th St., Wabasso. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-10 a.m. Aug. 20. Sebastian Gym & Fitness, 345 Sebastian Blvd., Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10:30 a.m. Aug. 22. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st St., Vero Beach. Candidate Forum: August Primary election for School Board and County Commission races. 6 p.m. Aug. 22. Heritage Center, 14th Ave., Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. Aug. 24. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st St., Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. School Supply Drive for Feed the Lambs: Bring supplies to August Vero Beach Christian Business Association luncheon. 11:30 a.m. Aug. 25. The Plaza, 884 17th St., Vero Beach. www.vbcba.org. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:45-9:45 a.m. Aug. 28.St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church, 901 Clearmont St., Sebastian. SHARE FRIDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS 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. FRIDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ART Alizarin Crimson Art Studio: Over 30 years of Fine Art Instruction Painting Classes-All Levels. 9:30 a.m.-4 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. Art Classes: Impressionism to realism oil painting classes with Kate Wood. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; 1-4 p.m., weekly. Alizarin Crimson Studio, 2611 E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. Adult. $35. Register: 772-287-0835; fineartrestorers.com. Intuitive Watercolor Class: Express your inner self in watercolor to create beautiful artwork. 1:30-4:30 p.m. Artist Nook, 45 Kindred St., Stuart. $30. Register: 772-692-4733; sferina222@yahoo.com. Youth Art Classes: Oil painting for young students with instructor Kate Wood. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Alizarin Crimson Studio, 2611 E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. Ages: 12+. $25. Register: 772-287-0835; fineartrestorers.com. CHILDREN/TEEN "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 27-60 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: 12-18 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: 19-26 months. 11:30 a.m.-12:30 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: 3-11 months. 12:45-1:45 p.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. 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. Broadway Style Tap Dance Classes: 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 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. Friday Dance Party: Music mix is Smooth, Latin, Swing and Country. 7-10 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. $12 per person. Reservation: 609-356-2973; www.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. 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 Food Truck Extravaganza: A gathering of food trucks in Port Salerno. 4-8 p.m. St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 5150 Railway Ave., Port Salerno. Ladies Night with DJ Turn UP and DJ Beatnox: 8 p.m. 360 Tiki Bar and Lounge, 1200 Southeast U.S. 1, Stuart. 772-287-6917; Kathleenickes@gmail.com. Piano Instruction: Beginners to concert level. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Shirley Heifetz, Jensen Beach. Ages: 8+. Registration: 772-934-6812. Reggae with the Floridan Band with Steel Drums: 6-9 p.m. Mulligans Beach House, 2019 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. www.thefloridianband.com. 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. Social Bridge: Very friendly group for rubber bridge. 1 p.m. PSL Community Center, Airoso Blvd. & PSL Blvd., Port St. Lucie. All ages. $2. 772-332-8200; PSLSocialBridge@gmail.com. SATURDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS 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. SATURDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ARTS Alizarin Crimson Art Studio: Over 30 years of Fine Art Instruction Painting Classes-All Levels. 10 a.m.-1 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. 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. 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. Rio Ballroom: All levels new trio dancing; social dancing after group class. 6 p.m. July 30. Crystal Ballroom, 2051 N.E. Dixie, Jensen Beach. Adults. $10-$15 with dinner. Reservation: 772-485-8200; josephmorley1@gmail.com. OTHER Ladies Night with DJ Turn UP and DJ Beatnox: 8 p.m. 360 Tiki Bar and Lounge, 1200 Southeast U.S. 1, Stuart. 772-287-6917; Kathleenickes@gmail.com. MC Genealogical Society: Research assistance by DAR. 10 a.m.-noon Blake Library, 2351 S.E. Monterey Road, Stuart. Ages: 12+. 772-220-1638; mcgensociety.org. Port Salerno Green Market Arts & Crafts: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 5150 Railway Ave., Port Salerno. 828-699-1727; communitygreenmarket@gmail.com. Reggae with the Floridan Band with Steel Drums: 6-9 p.m. Mulligans Beach House, 2019 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. www.thefloridianband.com. Vine & Barley Palm City: Live music. 8:30-11:30 p.m. Vine & Barley Palm City, 2951 S.W. High Meadow Ave., Palm City. 772-781-1717; VineAndBarleyPalmCity.com. LOOKING AHEAD Sensory Friendly Day: For children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Sensory Processing Disorders. 10 a.m.-noon July 31. The Children's Museum of the Treasure Coast, 1707 N.E. Indian River Drive, Jensen Beach. Register: 772-225-7575; www.ChildrensMuseumTC.org. 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, J.C. 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. Parent University: 9 a.m.-Noon. Aug. 20. Martin County High School, 2801 Kanner Highway, Stuart. martinschools.org. 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 By Nicholas Samuel of TCPalm FORT PIERCE Police are investigating an incident where numerous gun shots were fired into unoccupied vehicles parked at a residence Friday afternoon, said Ed Cunningham, spokesman for the Fort Pierce Police Department. This is the fifth gunfire incident in the city since July 17. Officers responded to the gunfire about 3:35 p.m. in the 1100 block of North 22nd Street, Cunningham said. No injuries are reported. The mouth of the St. Sebastian River (left) is seen where it meets the Indian River Lagoon under the U.S. 1 bridge, linking Brevard (top) and Indian River counties. (FILE PHOTO) SHARE By Jeff Burlew, USA TODAY NETWORK | Tallahassee Democrat People deeply suspicious of Gov. Rick Scott's environmental agenda were hardly surprised Tuesday when the Environmental Regulation Commission signed off on controversial new limits for toxic compounds that can go into Florida's surface waters. They say the fix was in when the Department of Environmental Protection took the standards to the commission for approval, the latest step in a yearslong effort to modernize out-of-date limits under the federal Clean Water Act. The agency sought approval from the seven-member commission at a time when its governor-appointed ranks were down two people. Seats set aside for local government and the environmental community were empty when it voted 3 to 2 to approve the standards. "The whole thing stinks," said Dr. Ray Bellamy, a Tallahassee surgeon who served on the commission in the 1980s under Democratic and Republican governors. "But so does just about everything else this administration does in relation to the environment." But members of the commission including those who voted against the plan say there was no grand conspiracy to take advantage of the vacancies and push the new regulations through. They say they made a good-faith effort to act in Florida's best interests while weighing a highly complicated and technical proposal. "A lot of people are disappointed with our action," said Cari Roth, a Tallahassee attorney who is chairwoman of the Environmental Regulation Commission and voted in favor of the proposal. "And I struggled with it mightily because it's not like I was unaware of how controversial it was and how passionately people felt about their concerns." DEP's plan would put regulations on nearly 40 dangerous chemical compounds for the first time. But it also would allow higher amounts of nearly two dozen others, including known carcinogens. State statutes say the governor "shall provide reasonable representation from all sections of the state" on the commission, including members who represent agriculture, development, local government, the environmental community, lay citizens and science. At the time of the vote Tuesday, the environmental seat had been vacant for more than a year. The local government seat had been empty since February. Scott's most recent appointee sits in the "lay person" chair but is in fact an agency insider. Craig Varn of Tallahassee served as DEP's general counsel from February 2015 to April before joining the commission in May, around the time the department rolled out its new standards. Varn voted in favor of the new standards, noting at the time that both industry and environmentalists had problems with it. Sarah Walton, a Pensacola attorney who also occupies a "lay" seat, also voted for the plan. Voting against it were Adam Gelber, a Miami Beach biologist and senior project manager for Atkins North America, and Joe Joyce, director of the Center for Leadership at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Linda Young, executive director of the Florida Clean Water Network, said the outcome of the vote probably would have been different had the commission been operating with all seven members. "I'm feeling like that was deliberate, to have those seats empty," she said. "People not only feel like their waters are being threatened but also that that's not democracy. That's not what we expect from our government. And people are mad." Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, issued a statement last week calling the standards "indefensible" and noting new limits on some compounds would increase by more than 1,000 percent. "I cannot help but think that the vote would have not been 3-2 in favor, but 4-3 against, had a full commission been given the chance to vote on this proposal," he said. The Governor's Office responded to questions about the vacancies by inviting people to apply for them online. Asked about the new limits, the Governor's Office said it has worked alongside the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen water-quality standards. "Our No. 1 priority is the safety of the families and visitors in our state and ensuring the highest water-quality standards," said Lauren Schenone, the governor's press secretary. 'CANCER LOTTERY' or 'VERY GOOD PROGRESS'? Florida last updated its human health criteria for surface waters in 1992. DEP took new standards to the commission in 2013, but the commission tabled them in part over questions about fish consumption data used to calculate limits. Under current standards, Floridians have a 1 in 1 million greater risk of getting cancer from exposure to the chemicals through seafood or water. Under the new ones, average Floridians still would have a one-in-a-million risk. But others who weigh less than average or eat more seafood would have higher risks. Chances would go up to around 1 in 100,000 for people more exposed and around 1 in 10,000 for subsistence fishermen, DEP says. The department arrived at its new limits using a probabilistic approach, a complicated methodology not used by any other state. DEP says its method better protects all Floridians from cancer. But critics deride it as Florida's "cancer lottery." Roth, who represents the development community, said she never would have voted for the new standards if she thought they would increase cancer risks. The former general counsel for the Department of Community Affairs is a breast cancer survivor herself. She said the new numbers were built on conservative assumptions that err on the side of protecting human health. The department assumed all fish Floridians eat comes from Florida and all waters are polluted at maximum levels, neither of which is the case. She also said DEP staff assured the Environmental Regulation Commission that regulated entities would not increase polluted discharges into the water. "So, we could have done nothing again on Tuesday and study it for another decade," she said in an email. "Or put it in place, with 39 new pollutants now regulated and keep refining as we learn more. But after almost 25 years, it was time to make progress, and I'm certain it is good progress. Very good progress." 'NOT AN EASY DECISION' Walton, who cast the deciding yes vote, declined to publicly discuss her rationale from the dais. However, she told the Tallahassee Democrat in a subsequent email she voted in favor of the new criteria because of the science presented by DEP. "This is a positive move in the right direction," she said. "Although it was not enough for some and was too much for others, the standards needed to be updated. This was not an easy decision. I thought about it carefully and considered everything presented." Gelber said he voted no because he wasn't confident the data used for fish consumption and other factors were specific enough to Florida, a state with unique geology and numerous water bodies. He said he applauds DEP for its efforts. "Although I voted against the regulations, I feel that there are benefits that resulted from setting criteria on Tuesday," he said. "We've set criteria for previously unregulated chemicals. We've reduced other criteria. And I would hope that the department would develop more Florida-based data during future reviews to address the citizens' concerns for the chemicals that increased." The new standards must be reviewed and approved by the EPA before they become final. Young, of the Clean Water Network, said she plans to ask the EPA to conduct public hearings in Florida before approving the limits. If the federal agency approves the state plan, litigation could ensue. "I'm hoping EPA will say no," Young said. "But if they don't, it depends on how they justify and how they explain their decision. There's a steep hill to climb to have a good legal basis for suing EPA over something like this. But I am not at all convinced that these criteria even meet EPA's bare minimum standards." Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter. ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS Port Myaca at Lake Okeechobee SHARE By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm Instead of "Dueling Banjos," we have "Dueling Promos." U.S. Sugar Corp. and the Rivers Coalition are using full-page ads in editions of Treasure Coast Newspapers to tout their differing proposals to stop Lake Okeechobee discharges causing massive blue-green algae blooms in the St. Lucie River. U.S. Sugar which farms more than 215,000 acres mostly south of Lake O and employs 1,700 people fired the first salvo with a series of ads in numerous media, mostly in April and May. On July 20, the Rivers Coalition a consortium of more than 70 businesses, homeowners associations, nonprofit agencies and fishing clubs representing about 300,000 Treasure Coast residents fired back with an ad in The Stuart News and the St. Lucie News Tribune headlined: "Big Sugar blocks the truth." On July 24, U.S. Sugar replied with an ad in The Stuart News accusing the coalition of "name-calling" for using the term "Big Sugar" and disputing whether the flowway would work. A response by the coalition isn't likely, said Darrell Brand, a director of the nonprofit Rivers Coalition Defense Fund. "We don't have the budget for it," Brand said. The rivers coalition ad looks a lot like the U.S. Sugar ads, with a map of the South Florida "plumbing" system with arrows showing where water flows and should flow. Instead of U.S. Sugar's photos of citrus and a smiling farmer, the Rivers Coalition ad features photos of dirty water pouring through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam and algae-infested water. "There wasn't a conscious effort to recreate the U.S. Sugar ad," Brand said. "We've had that map on our website several years." The Our Indian River Lagoon team analyzed questionable statements in the first round of U.S. Sugar ads; so it seemed only fair to look at the Rivers Coalition ad and the new U.S. Sugar ad with a critical eye. RIVERS COALITION The statement: "The only fix is the River of Grass flowway." Our analysis: Why did they use the term "flowway"? Rebuilding the River of Grass flowway to move water south won't work, according to the University of Florida Water Institute report issued in 2015 for the state Senate. This is from page 101 of the report: "While it may seem intuitive that re-establishing a broad flowway from near Lake Okeechobee to the northern Everglades is a sound restoration strategy, independent assessments indicate that modifications of the landscape have, to a large degree, compromised options to do so." The UF report cites studies showing "a passive ... flowway is not the optimal approach for addressing problems of too much water going to the estuaries in the wet season or too little water going to the Everglades in the dry season." The Rivers Coalition ad also states 207 scientists signed a petition "calling for a flowway." Here's the petition they signed, and there's no mention of a "flowway": "As a scientist working in the Everglades, it is my scientific opinion that increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward, is essential to restoring the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries." The coalition's response: The word "flowway" and term "River of Grass Flowway" wasn't meant to refer to a specific project but "to indicate the need for enough storage, treatment and conveyance of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades to stop the discharges to the estuaries," said Mark Perry, a Rivers Coalition director and head of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart. Perry also cites the UF study (page 106) that calls for a plan "for the next increment of south-of-the-lake storage, treatment and conveyance ... to more closely meet the performance targets of both the estuaries and Everglades ecosystems." That "south-of-the-lake storage, treatment and conveyance," Perry said, is what the Rivers Coalition is calling for, too. The same goes for the scientists' petition, Perry said. Their call for "increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward" can be interpreted as a flow or flowway of water south from the lake to the Everglades, not a specific project. U.S. SUGAR The statement: Fund and complete Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects like the C-44 Reservoir in Martin County, which will reduce discharges into our waterways, and expedite repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike. Our analysis: Those project won't get the job done. First, corps official have said several times that ongoing repairs to the dike won't guarantee Lake O will be able to hold more water without continuing to pose a threat to communities south of the lake. As far as the "Complete the projects already underway" chorus, let's open the UF Water Initiative report once again, this time to page 130: "Existing and currently authorized storage and treatment projects are insufficient to achieve these goals (stopping the discharges)." The C-44 project could hold some Lake O discharge water, but it's designed to hold and treat water from the surrounding basin. U.S. Sugar's response: "In our ad, we are arguing that with expedited repairs, the Herbert Hoover Dike should store more water," said Ryan Duffy, a U.S. Sugar spokesman. Before 2008, when the corps revised its guidelines for when and how much Lake O water to discharge, the lake could hold a lot more water, Duffy said so much more "it's possible the lake would not currently need to be discharged." The current project to strengthen the dike, plus finishing the "projects already underway" that are part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan "are critical to reducing the frequency of discharges," Duffy said. SHARE By Chrystian Tejedor, Sun-Sentinel The laws are clear: You can't be drunk while driving a boat or a car. Boaters, however, are allowed to drink on a vessel, while drivers are sent to jail if they have an open beer bottle in the car. Now, as more people are flocking to the water during the long July Fourth weekend, local and state law enforcement officials are looking out for drunken boaters who could cause serious crashes. "We see this more in the summer months," said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Jorge Pino. "Boaters should definitely not drink, get impaired and get behind the wheel of a boat." Authorities don't know why Florida laws, which banned open containers in cars and set the level of impairment for driving and boating at 0.08, didn't ban open containers on boats. Local boaters, however, say that alcohol has no place at the helm of a vessel. "I don't think the operator should be allowed to drink," said Capt. Paul Fasolo of Boynton Beach-based Ham'r Time Sport Fishing Charter Service. "You have to have someone sober in charge." But there likely won't be an effort to get the law changed, according to police and Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Broward and Palm Beach counties. That's because being able to drink on a boat is widely accepted and it is less likely to cause a crash than drinking in a car, said Fred Kasdin, the M.A.D.D. chapter's executive director. "I don't think it's come to the point where the Legislature will address it," said Lt. Ed Cates, FWCC assistant boating safety coordinator. "We actually see that operator inattention as far as cause is more significant." Statistics from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission back that up. In Palm Beach County, where 44,416 vessels were registered in 2007, about 6 percent of accidents were caused by alcohol. And in Broward County, where 50,823 vessels are registered, about 5 percent of boating accidents were alcohol-related. Speeding accounted for the majority of Palm Beach County crashes while operator inattention led to most of Broward's boating wrecks in 2007. Alcohol has never been the leading cause of boating accidents in Florida, Cates said. Nonetheless, authorities say that it's not a good idea to load a cooler full of beer or liquor, head out on a boat and drink while motoring around a lake or on the busy Intracoastal Waterway. "In BUI, your faculties and ability to react are limited," Cates said. That's also a concern for Lynn Simmons, who runs Splashdown Divers from the Boynton Beach Marina. She said alcohol is dangerous for anyone on a boat in case of an emergency. "It impairs your judgment," she said. "Even if a person isn't operating a boat they may have to." Police can arrest someone accused of boating under the influence of alcohol and issue citations for other safety violations even though they cannot charge a boater with having an open container. The Broward Sheriff's Office, however, has not made a BUI arrest since 2005, spokeswoman Kayla Concepcion said. "It could be that people are hearing the warnings and are more aware of the dangers of alcohol," she said. In Palm Beach County, deputies charged four boaters over Memorial Day weekend with operating their vessels under the influence of alcohol. In just four days, deputies surpassed the three BUI arrests they had for all of 2007, according to statistics from the Sheriff's Office. "BUIs are very hard to detect," Sgt. Yvonne Cacioli of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit said. "The wind and the seas sometimes make the ordinary person appear impaired." SHARE Jim Ferro captured the sunrise at Stuart Beach on Wednesday, July 27, 2016. Weather overview for east-central Florida on Saturday. (NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE) Boating forecast for Saturday. (WPTV NEWSCHANNEL 5) Two systems are being monitored in the Atlantic Ocean in this five-day overview. (NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER) By Staff Report The excessive heat continues today with heat index values in the low 100s and little rain to bring any relief. Daytime temperatures are warming rapidly, and the warmth combined with high humidity will push heat index values up to 105. We'll have only meager chances for showers along the immediate east coast, but better inland from mid to late afternoon through sunset. Today, it's mostly sunny, with a high near 91 expected and a light and variable wind becoming east-southeast 5 to 10 mph. Tonight, there will be a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 a.m. It will be partly cloudy, with a low around 74 and an east-southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Keep an eye on conditions with our live weather radar. ADVISORIES High heat index values: Values are to reach 100 to 105 degrees across much of east-central Florida by early afternoon and persist for several hours. If outdoors, be sure to stay hydrated and take frequent breaks from physical exertion to prevent heat related illness or injury. To the extent possible, stay out of the direct sun. The rip current risk today is low. Sunrise today was at 6:44 a.m. Sunset is at 8:12 p.m. EXTENDED FORECAST Source: National Weather Service Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Light southeast wind becoming east-southeast 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9 p.m. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. Light east-southeast wind becoming east 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Partly cloudy, with a low around 75. East wind around 10 mph. Tuesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 9 a.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Tuesday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 77. East-southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. TROPICAL UPDATE Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Source: National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two systems. 1. A strong tropical wave about 550 miles east of the Lesser Antilles is moving westward at 25 to 30 mph. There are no signs of a circulation and development should be slow to occur for the next couple of days because of the system's rapid motion. Regardless of development, it will likely bring locally heavy rains and gusty winds to portions of the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola. By the middle of next week, the disturbance is expected to be in the western Caribbean Sea, where conditions are likely to be more conducive for development. Formation chance through 48 hours: 30 percent Formation chance through five days: 60 percent 2. Shower and thunderstorm activity associated with a tropical wave and a low pressure system centered about 400 miles southwest of Cabo Verde has become less organized. Development of this system is becoming less likely due to unfavorable upper-level winds. Formation chance through 48 hours: 20 percent Formation chance through five days: 20 percent Eastern Pacific Ocean The Hurricane Center is monitoring one system. A broad area of low pressure about 750 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. A tropical depression is likely to form later this weekend or early next week while the low moves west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph. Formation chance through 48 hours: 60 percent Formation chance through five days: 90 percent TODAY'S TIDE FORECAST Source: National Weather Service Sebastian Inlet Bridge High tides: 5:18 a.m. and 6:07 p.m. Low tides: 11:40 a.m. and 12:12 a.m. Sunday Fort Pierce Inlet, South Jetty High tides: 5:35 a.m. and 6:24 p.m. Low tides: 11:46 a.m. and 12:18 a.m. Sunday MARINE FORECAST Source: National Weather Service The Atlantic high pressure ridge axis will remain over Central Florida through early next week, maintaining a light to gentle south to southeast breeze and favorable boating conditions. Showers and thunderstorms will remain minimal today. Today: South winds 5 knots becoming southeast 5 to 10 knots in the afternoon. Seas 1 foot with a dominant period 8 seconds. A light chop on the intracoastal waters. Tonight: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 1 to 2 feet with a dominant period 8 seconds. Mostly smooth on the intracoastal waters. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Sunday: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet with a dominant period 9 seconds. A light chop on the intracoastal waters. Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Sunday Night: Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Mostly smooth on the intracoastal waters. With just days before the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 official unveiling, a new leak now reveals the purported release date for Europe. The Galaxy Note 7 is set to debut on Aug. 2, and previous rumors have suggested that it would go on sale on the same day. That may apply only to Samsung's home market of South Korea, however, with other markets to get the device later on. New information now indicates that the European release date for the Galaxy Note 2 will be on Aug. 16, which is two weeks after the Aug. 2 unveiling. While we cannot vouch for the accuracy and authenticity of this leak, an Aug. 16 commercial release would not be too farfetched. OEMs often take a while to start selling a device after the unveiling, and two weeks would not be that long of a wait. The tip comes from a Dutch publication and refers to the purported release date for the Galaxy Note 7 in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, if it turns out to be accurate, it would likely apply to all European markets where the Galaxy Note 7 will go on sale. Moreover, it seems that only two of the three Galaxy Note 7 color options will be available at launch, namely black and silver. The blue variant will reportedly arrive later on. When it comes to the price of the handset in Europe, Tech Times previously reported that the Galaxy Note 7 may be the most expensive Note to date, starting at 849 for the base model, which is expected to pack 64 GB of native storage space. That would translate to about $950 based on current exchange rates, and the price would go up for configurations with higher storage capacity. In the United States, meanwhile, the Galaxy Note 7 could still hit retail on Aug. 2. T-Mobile is reportedly among the first U.S. carriers to get on board with the upcoming flagship phablet, as it is expected to start taking preorders for the Galaxy Note 7 as soon as next week. Based on the various leaks and rumors so far, it seems that Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 7 on Aug. 2 and release it on the same date in some markets, possibly including the U.S., while other markets will have to wait until Aug. 16. It's all still in the rumor state at this point, so it's best to take all leaks and speculation with a grain of salt. Samsung should offer more details regarding pricing and availability in the coming days, and we'll make sure to keep you up to date as soon as more information becomes available. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This week was filled with some great news coming out back to back... including high profile news such as 'Yahoo to be acquired by Verizon', 'LG to invest USD 1.75 Billion in flexible OLED display production', and a couple of new gadgets and smartphones being launched. The week started with newer and stronger Gorilla Glass 5 being revealed and another smartphone in the deca-core competition -- the Xiaomi Redmi Pro was launched. Just then, we also came across the rumour mill spinning about the Iris Scanner that would come with the upcoming Galaxy Note 7. We also published around another leak that was actually made by the king of leaks as they call him, Evan Blass himself. His shocking announcement via Twitter was that the new Apple iPhone 7 would be launched officially on Sept 16. Along with this, Amazon Prime service entered the Indian market, Xiaomi launched its new Notebook Air which directly competes with the Apple Macbook Air, Blackberry introduced its new smartphone, Zoho launched a couple of new products along with its very own programming language called Deluge, and Google Chromecast turned three! A lot more happened. Last but not the least, we also reviewed Brainwavz Audio S1 earphones specially built for iPhones and other iOS devices. Read on if you have missed these wonderful stories. 1. Newer Stronger Gorilla Glass Will Soon Protect Your Next Smartphones Its been over two years since Corning revealed Gorilla Glass 4 assuring users to keep phones protected from falling and rough weather. Now the company is back with a new version that can withstand even higher falls. The new version, the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 will survive drops from up to 1.6 meters (a little over five feet) about 80 per cent of the time, it claims. Read The Full Story Here 2. Deca-Core Competition: Xiaomi Redmi Pro Up Next Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has revealed plans for releasing yet another flagship product, with the latest group of processors in the market. The new 'Redmi Pro' will sport the Mediatek Helio X25 SoC, which will be of a Deca-Core design, or 10-core structure. Chief Executive Lei Jun has also confirmed to the media, regarding the use of the latest processor. Read The Full Story Here 3. Galaxy Note 7 May Get Iris Scanner Rumours have been lately talking about the new Galaxy Note 7 by Samsung with an iris scanner. DNA reported about screenshots of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 getting leaked and also about the new features that are expected to come loaded with the upcoming device. Adding to the pile of rumours, Android Authority also posted on how the iris scanner works in the Galaxy Note 7 device. Users will have to position their eyes as given on the phone screen at a distance of around 25 - 35 centimeters. Read The Full Story Here 4. Amazon Prime Comes To India; Get It At INR 499 Amazon India has finally announced the launch of its Prime subscription service in India. While users can first get the service on a free 60-day trial basis, they can continue the service at just INR 499. However, DNA has recently reported that the price may increase to INR 999 thereafter. Under the 'Prime' service, Amazon India will be offering members access to free, guaranteed and unlimited one-day and two-day deliveries across 100 cities. Read The Full Story Here 5. Whats The Big Deal About Verizon-Yahoo Deal? When Facebook acquired Whatsapp for USD 19 billion in 2014, a few eyebrows were raised. Reports of Microsoft deciding to gobble up Linkedin.com for USD 26 billion too made us sit up and take notice. However, when news of Verizon acquiring Yahoo! for USD 4.6 billion came along, the industry just stifled a yawn. And, with good reason as about the only thing that appeared exciting with the Yahoo! story in recent times was the exclamation mark that goes with the trademark title of the company. Read The Full Story Here 6. Apple iPhone 7 To Launch On Sept 16, Says Evan Blass Apple fans, here's some good news for you. TechRadar has recently published a report stating that the Apple iPhone 7 may be launched on September 16, which is actually based on a hint recently tipped out by Evan Blass (@evleaks) himself. Evan Blass has also clarified that the date (Sept 16) which he refers to, is not the launch event date.. but, a retail release. This means that users can actually purchase the new Apple iPhone 7, Sept 16 onwards. However, we are still not clear about the availability in the Indian market. Read The Full Story Here 7. Brainwavz S1 Review: Deep Bass For Bass Lovers [Video] The Brainwavz S1 comes with a 3.5 mm gold plated audio jack. Also, since the earphone is not compatible with Android smartphone, we could observe a strange noise in the background while recording through the integrated microphone. However, the earphone testing was done with Lenovo ZUK Z1 and not an iPhone. If it would have been an iPhone, the case would have been completely different since the earphone is specifically designed for iOS devices. Watch The Video Here 8. Watch Out MacBook, Now Xiaomi Is On Air Too After all the wait, Xiaomi has finally launched its new Notebook Air, and... it is directly competing with none other than the Apple Macbook Air. You can pretty much see the competition in the name itself! The new Xiaomi laptops come with 12.5 inch and 13.3 inch full HD display and are powered by Intel Core M as well as Core i5 microprocessors. Read The Full Story Here 9. Blackberry Introduces Android Smartphone - DTEK50 BlackBerry has unveiled DTEK50, dubbed as the worlds most secure Android smartphone. DTEK50 is BlackBerrys second smartphone powered by Android, following the PRIV. Fully equipped with Android Marshmallow 6.0, DTEK50 combines BlackBerrys unique security, privacy and productivity with the full Android experience in an all-touch design, at a price point thats accessible for consumers and ideal for enterprise fleet deployment. Read The Full Story Here 10. The Humble Chromecast Turns Three, Happy Birthday! Three years ago, on the 24th of July Google introduced this little fella, who was hailed as the every mans streaming gadget. There is no doubt about that Chromecast still remains the humble guy in affordability and availability. For over three years and many more to come, Chromecast will be a part of our lives and we will look forward to new features and upgrades in the days to come. Read The Full Story Here Gorilla Glass, Gorilla Glass 5, Xiaomi Redmi, Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Iris Scanner, Amazon Prime Lula da Silva turned 77 years old amid glowing messages from supporters, including his former political rivals who have joined the fight to prevent Bolsonaro's re-election. | Read More Brazil A delegation comprised of eight Brazilian tanneries participated in a commercial mission to Thailand between July 18-20. Full access to this article is limited to International Leather Maker Subscribers How to Subscribe Subscribing is EASY, you can do it online. Once we receive payment and approve your subscription we will send you a password allowing you online access to additional content like this article. A model of Vietnam Airlines aircraft (front) is seen next to models of ANA's aircraft at a ticket office in Hanoi January 12, 2016. Photo credit: Kham/Reuters Japans ANA Holdings has completed a US$108 million deal to buy an 8.8 percent stake in Vietnam Airlines, news website Deal Street Asia reported Thursday. Vietnam Airlines reportedly will hold an extraordinary meeting prior to September 30 in order to elect ANA representatives to the board, and adopt a plan to increase charter capital by issuing additional shares to its existing shareholders. Under the strategic partnership, the two airlines will launch codeshare arrangements, which will cover 30 major domestic routes within Japan and Vietnam and 10 international routes between the two countries. Vietnam Airlines has said it will continue to look for potential investors to cut the state ownership to 65 percent. The Vietnamese carrier sold 49 million shares, or a 3.5 percent stake, in an IPO in November 2014 for about $51.3 million. Chief Executive Officer Pham Ngoc Minh told Bloomberg in April that the airline expected to list its shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange later this year after closing the deal with ANA and fulfilling some procedural requirements of the exchange. He said, Irans role [in the Middle East] is principally destructive. and that the Iranian regime is trying to strengthen its own hand, while it contributes to the genocide of the Syrian people and funds terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. Mukasey thanked the Peoples Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) for their role in exposing the Iranian regimes clandestine nuclear weapons projects, and he congratulated the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its President-elect Maryam Rajavi for the ten-point plan for a future free and democratic Iran. He criticized the attempts by the regime to smear the Iranian Resistance as violent terrorists. He said, The [nuclear] treaty itself was a huge mistake and if its worst effects can be undone, they should be undone. He said: If you deal with an absolute tyranny, you strengthen it. If you tighten the screws, which may be harmful to the Iranian population, but in the long run it will do more to benefit them. The baby was discharged from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital in Ben Tre Town after doctors said they could not save the baby. Photo credit: Mau Truong/Tuoi Tre A 4-month-old baby in the southern province of Ben Tre died Friday, four days after getting a shot of the controversial 5-in-1 vaccine Quinvaxem, local media reported Saturday. The baby received the shot at a local medical center in Chau Thanh Districts Phu Tuc Commune on Monday morning and started to have difficulty breathing the next morning, Tuoi Tre newspaper said. The parents brought the baby to Chau Thanh General Hospital and then Nguyen Dinh Chieu Hospital. The baby fell into a coma and was put on a ventilator on Wednesday, before being taken home Friday noon after doctors had exhausted all options. The baby died on Friday afternoon. Authorities said they are investigating into the case. Quinvaxem is a WHO prequalified drug and has been distributed in Vietnam by Berna Biotech Korea Corp since 2010 under a national immunization program sponsored by the global vaccine alliance GAVI. It protects children from two months old against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenza type B. Babies are given the vaccine for free, but it has lost much of the public trust following at least 24 post-vaccination deaths since 2012. In all the cases, the health authorities said there was no problem with the vaccine's quality and its administration. Vietnam provides around 5.5 million Quinvaxem shots every year and up to 200,000 of more expensive alternatives like the French-made Pentaxim, which costs around US$30 a shot. Quinvaxem uses whole-cell preparations in its whooping cough component while costly alternatives use purified antigens, which are considered safer, but their supply is limited. Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, addresses a parliamentary session in Hanoi on July 29, 2016. Photo credit: Dau Tu newspaper Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp. (FHS) has transferred US$250 million, half of the compensation package committed for a toxic spill disaster in central Vietnam, to the Vietnamese government, environment minister said Friday. Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said the government will distribute the amount to the four affected provinces. FHS will pay the remaining half on August 28, Ha told local media on the sidelines of a parliamentary session in Hanoi on Friday. He also said a team of scientists are working to assess the quality of seawater in the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue in order to find solutions to the environmental disaster. In a report to the parliament this week, the government says the toxic pollution discharged by FHS has harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen. An estimated 70 tons of dead fish washed ashore along more than 200 kilometers of coastline in the four provinces in April. Last month the Vietnamese government announced that FHS, a subsidiary of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics, was responsible for the mass fish deaths, saying the firm dumped industrial waste containing phenol, cyanide and iron hydroxides in the water. Chuan Yuan-Cheng, chairman of FHS, said: We respect the government's investigation results and are cooperating with the authorities to handle and mitigate the consequences." The firm also apologized for causing the disaster and committed to paying US$500 million to recompense local people for their economic losses, supporting them to find new jobs and treating polluted sea environment. It also promised to repair its waste treatment system and cooperate with responsible government agencies to monitor sea environment. But more scandals continued to be uncovered. Earlier this month authorities in Ha Tinh found six sites where FHS dumped its waste illegally, including a farm where 100 tons of waste was found. Authorities are investigating into these alleged violations. The cyber-attacks on Vietnam's two major airports have affected more than 100 flights, dozens of which were delayed for up to one hour, the country's aviation authorities said. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said in a press release Saturday that it has ordered other airports across Vietnam to tighten aviation security after hackers targeted computers systems at the airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The computer systems at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City were hacked at 1.46 p.m., and Hanoi's Noi Bai airport at 4.07 p.m.. The hackers, allegedly from China, took control of the flight information screens and displayed distorted information about the East Sea (South China Sea) and insulted Vietnam and the Philippines, according to authorities. However, they were unable to break into the search and ticket-booking system, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat. The flight operations and security systems at the airports still worked normally, he said. In its press release, CAAV said the attacks interrupted the airports electronic check-in systems, so check-in procedures were handled manually, leading to multiple flight delays. Shortly after the attacks, the CAAV and the National Civil Aviation Security Committee ordered the northern and southern airports authorities, along with relevant sides, to work with security departments of the Ministry of Public Security to handle the incident. Alleged Chinese hackers The website of Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, was also hacked and defaced for a few hours on Friday afternoon. A list of more than 400,000 members of the airline's frequent flyer program was stolen and leaked on the Internet. The website of Vietnam Airlines was defaced on Friday, displaying a logo of 1937cN, a Chinese hacker group. The cyber-attacks, arguably the most serious so far in Vietnam, were carried out a few weeks after an international tribunal issued a ruling in favor of the Philippines that invalidated China's claims in the East Sea. 1937cN teAm, one of the best-known and most powerful hacker groups in China, has been alleged of carrying the attacks as its logo appeared on the hacked screen. The group is known for having targeted many websites in Vietnam for the past years. However, the group said in a statement on its website on Saturday that it is "irrational, unscientific" to blame China on the hacking incident. In a photo provided by the victims' family, a woman is unconscious while her fiance is left with a bleeding nose after they were beaten by a group of men, led by police officer Phan Van Hung, in July A civil penalty will be issued against a policeman who had attacked his ex-girlfriend and her fiance "out of jealousy" in central Vietnam, a news website quoted a senior police officer as saying Saturday. Phan Van Hung, an officer of the mobile police department of Ha Tinh Province, and four other men were accused of attacking the couple on Jul. 20. He is the son of a vice chairman of the People's Committee of in Cam Xuyen Dist. in Ha Tinh Province. Captain Ha Huy Hung, chief officer of the Criminal Police Dept. of Cam Xuyen which has handled the case, said Phan Van Hung will be fined for simple battery and disturbance of public order, according to a report on VietnamNet. He said the victims did not demand a compensation. Leaders of the Ha Tinh mobile police department will decide their own punishment against Phan Van Hung, based on the final report on the case, Captain Hung also said. Afghan National Army (ANA) officers march during a training exercise at the Kabul Military Training Centre in Afghanistan in this October 7, 2015 file photo. When Afghan troops pushed into Kot, a district close to the border with Pakistan, this week, they found many of the houses empty, with posters plastered on the walls and black flags left by departing Islamic State fighters. Backed by U.S. special forces troops and airstrikes that authorities say have killed hundreds of Islamic State fighters in recent weeks, the Afghan army has launched an offensive against the movement, which is now believed to be confined to three or four districts in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan commanders said they faced little resistance as they pushed into Kot after a heavy air and artillery bombardment as fighters pulled out into nearby mountain areas. "We have already destroyed their training camps in Kot district and the operations will expand to other districts too," said Shereen Agha, an Afghan army spokesman. Provincial government spokesman Attahullah Khogyani said 78 Daesh fighters had been killed in the operation and many bodies had been concealed inside houses to hide the number of fatalities they had suffered. Five U.S. special forces troops, fighting alongside Afghan special forces, were injured in the fighting. Involving both regular army and special forces, the operation in Nangarhar, dubbed "Wrath of the Storm", coincided with last week's suicide bombing in Kabul that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 230 more. The operation, the Afghan army's first major strategic offensive of the summer, was planned well before the attack on a demonstration by mainly Shi'ite Hazara people in Kabul. But that attack, which was immediately claimed by Islamic State, added urgency to the operation, which military officials say has pushed Daesh fighters back into the mountains of southern Nangarhar. Abdul Hakim, one of the residents left in the dusty town bazaar, gave a careful welcome to the incoming troops. "I am very happy to see the government forces defeated Daesh and saved us from the atrocities and terror," he said as troops moved about pulling down the posters and flags covering many of the surrounding walls. However after innumerable false dawns in decades of conflict in Afghanistan, officials in the NATO-led coalition that provides assistance to Afghan forces are cautious about declaring success against Islamic State, which President Ashraf Ghani promised to "bury" in January. According to figures quoted in a report by the Special Investigator for Afghanistan, a U.S. watchdog, Afghan government forces control just under two thirds of the country, 5 percent less than at the start of the year. But Western officials say the army has increasingly taken the offensive against the insurgents, both Taliban and Islamic State, and prevented the fall of district and provincial centers. Islamic State first appeared in Afghanistan at beginning of 2015 and U.S. officials say some 70 percent of its fighters come from the TTP, the Pakistani Taliban, many from the Orakzai area in the frontier region on the Pakistan side of the border. Previously considered a much smaller threat than the Taliban, their bitter enemies, the Kabul bombing underlined how dangerous they could be, even without holding large tracts of territory. Afghan and U.S. military officials believe the concentrated attacks on the movement over the past six months have killed many of its fighters and leaders and weakened the group, despite its ability to mount the Kabul attack. Gen. John Nicholson, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said this week that the number of Daesh fighters, estimated at around 3,000 in January, has been roughly cut in half and now stood at between 1,000-1,500. At least 16 people were feared dead after a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed in a pasture near the central Texas city of Lockhart on Saturday morning, according to federal and local authorities. "It does not appear at this time that there were any survivors of the crash," Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel Law said in a statement, according to his office. Emergency responders in Texas said the fire hit the basket portion of the hot air balloon. The accident is likely to be one of the deadliest hot air balloon crashes on record. It comes about three years after 19 people, mostly Asian and European tourists, were killed in a hot air balloon crash in Luxor, Egypt. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the Lockhart crash, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Austin. It did not offer any information on fatalities but said at least 16 people were on board the balloon. The Caldwell County sheriff's office said it was working to determine the identities of those aboard. More than a dozen police vehicles could be seen on pasture land at the site of the crash, in live video provided by Austin TV station KVUE. The FAA said the crash took place at about 7:40 a.m. (8.40 a.m. ET) and that the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified. Texas Governor Greg Abbott offered his condolences to those killed in the crash. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community," he said in a statement. Lockhart is a town of about 13,000 people near state parks and home to a variety of barbecue restaurants considered to be among the best in the state. The crash in Egypt occurred after a mid-air gas explosion. A year before that incident, a hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board in the country's worst air accident in more than three decades. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton looks at a computer screen during a campaign stop at Atomic Object company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. March 7, 2016. A computer network used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign was hacked as part of a broad cyber attack on Democratic political organizations, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The latest attack, which was disclosed to Reuters on Friday, follows two other hacks on the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, and the partys fundraising committee for candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. A Clinton campaign spokesman said in a statement late on Friday that an analytics data program maintained by the DNC and used by the campaign and a number of other entities "was accessed as part of the DNC hack." "Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised," said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill. Later, a campaign official said hackers had access to the analytics program's server for approximately five days. The analytics data program is one of many systems the campaign accesses to conduct voter analysis, and does not include social security numbers or credit card numbers, the official said. The U.S. Department of Justice national security division is investigating whether cyber attacks on Democratic political organizations threatened U.S. security, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The involvement of the Justice Departments national security division is a sign that the Obama administration has concluded that the hacking was sponsored by a state, people with knowledge of the investigation said. While it is unclear exactly what material the hackers may have gained access to, the third such attack on sensitive Democratic targets disclosed in the last six weeks has caused alarm in the party and beyond, just over three months before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Hackers, whom U.S. intelligence officials have concluded were Russian, gained access to the entire network of the fundraising Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, said people familiar with the matter, detailing the extent of the breach to Reuters for the first time. Cyber security experts and U.S. officials said earlier this week they had concluded, based on analysis of malware and other aspects of the DNC hack, that Russia engineered the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to influence the U.S. presidential election. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday it was "aware of media reporting on cyber intrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters." "The FBI takes seriously any allegations of intrusions, and we will continue to hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace," the agency said in an emailed statement. The hack did not involve the private email system Clinton used while she was secretary of state. Russian hackers The new disclosure to Reuters that hackers gained access to the full DCCC network means they would have had access to everything on the network from emails to strategy memos and opposition research prepared to support Democratic candidates in campaigns for the House. The hack of the DCCC, which is based in Washington, was reported first by Reuters on Thursday, ahead of Clintons speech in Philadelphia accepting the Democratic partys nomination. Russian officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Several U.S. officials said the Obama administration has avoided publicly attributing the attacks to Russia as that might undermine Secretary of State John Kerrys effort to win Russian cooperation in the war on Islamic State in Syria. The officials said the administration fears Russian President Vladimir Putin might respond to a public move by escalating cyber attacks on U.S. targets, increasing military harassment of U.S. and allied aircraft and warships in the Baltic and Black Seas, and making more aggressive moves in Eastern Europe. Some officials question the approach, arguing that responding more forcefully to Russia would be more effective than remaining silent. The Obama administration announced in an April 2015 executive order that it could apply economic sanctions in response to cyber attacks. Trump on emails The hack on the DNC, made public in June, led to WikiLeaks publishing more than 19,000 emails last weekend, some of them showing favoritism within the DNC for Clinton over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on Sunday as a result, creating a rocky start for the party's convention in Philadelphia this week. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday invited Russia to dig up thousands of "missing" emails from Clinton's time at the State Department, prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging foreigners to spy on Americans. On Thursday, Trump said his remarks were meant as sarcasm. Earlier in the week, Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan had criticized Trump and called the hacking "a national security issue." Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said on Friday the reported breach showed cyber security is "a problem wherever Hillary Clinton goes. Hopefully this time there wasn't classified or top secret information that puts American lives at risk." In Washington, the DCCC said early on Friday it had hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. "We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network," the DCCC said. "We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation." The DCCC had no additional comment late on Friday. Officials at the DNC did not respond to requests for comment. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, told CNN on Friday she had not heard about the hack of the Clinton campaign. But she said: "It wouldn't surprise me. I think it should be pretty clear that both campaigns should be aware that there's a problem out there. Everybody should be cautious." Indonesian men light candles during an anti-execution rally in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta on July 28, 2016 Indonesia Friday executed four drug convicts, three of them foreigners, by firing squad, an official said, drawing swift condemnation as Jakarta pushes on with its tough campaign of capital punishment. Ten others expected to have faced the firing squad, including nationals from Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, were not put to death but officials said they would be executed at a later stage. Authorities did not give a reason for the reprieve, but the prison island where they were expected to be executed in outdoor clearings was hit by a major storm as the other sentences were carried out. The executions, which saw an Indonesian and three Nigerians face the firing squad, were the first in the country since April last year when authorities put to death eight drug convicts, including two Australians. President Joko Widodo has defended dramatically ramping up the use of capital punishment, saying that Indonesia is fighting a war on drugs and traffickers must be heavily punished. Noor Rachmad, deputy attorney general for general crimes, said the latest executions were "done not in order to take lives but to stop evil intentions, and the evil act of drug trafficking". He added that "the rest (of the executions) will be carried out in stages", saying that the timings had not yet been decided. Amnesty International condemned the executions, with the group's Rafendi Djamin labelling them "a deplorable act". "Any executions that are still to take place must be halted immediately. The injustice already done cannot be reversed, but there is still hope that it won't be compounded," he said. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union had also voiced opposition to the plan in recent days. Friday's executions, which happened at 12:45 am (1745 GMT Thursday), came after a day of frenetic activity, with distraught relatives travelling to Nusakambangan island to say farewells to their loved ones and ambulances carrying coffins over to the heavily guarded penal colony. Execution drive The executed Indonesian was named as Freddy Budiman, while the three Nigerians were: Seck Osmane, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke and Michael Titus Igweh. Eleweke's lawyer, Afif Abdul Qoyim, told AFP the execution should not have gone ahead as his client this week filed a legal appeal. Map locating Nusakambangan island in Indonesia where four executions took place on Friday. "When this process is not respected, that means that this is no longer a country that upholds the law, nor human rights," he said. Two people whose cases had raised high-profile international concern among rights groups were not executed. The first was Pakistani Zulfiqar Ali, whom rights groups say was beaten into confessing to the crime of heroin possession, leading to his 2005 death sentence. Syed Zahid Raza, the deputy Pakistani ambassador in Indonesia, hailed his reprieve as a victory and said it was due to diplomatic efforts in Jakarta and Islamabad. The other was Indonesian woman Merri Utami, who was caught with heroin in her bag as she came through Jakarta airport and claims she was duped into becoming a drug mule. At Cilacap, the city closest to Nusakambangan, family members were initially shocked to learn on Thursday morning their relatives would be executed in a matter of hours, having initially thought it would take place a day later. Some distressed relatives protested their loved ones' innocence, while 10 women's rights activists rallying in support of Utami were detained. It was the third batch of executions under Widodo, and means 18 drug convicts -- mostly foreigners -- have been put to death since he became leader in 2014. His execution drive has shocked the international community and disappointed activists, particularly as hopes were high that Widodo, seen as a fresh face in a political world dominated by figures from Indonesia's authoritarian past, would improve the country's rights record. "The UKs actions in Libya were part of an ill-conceived intervention, the results of which are still playing out today." Syrian government forces patrol in the northwest outskirts of Aleppo on July 28, 2016 Syria regime ally Russia on Thursday announced a "large-scale" aid operation to allow civilians and fighters to flee besieged Aleppo, as the president offered an amnesty to rebels who surrender. The opposition, however, condemned the initiative as an attempt to "alter Aleppos demographics and ensure forced displacement", while Amnesty said it was "not a substitute for allowing impartial humanitarian relief for civilians... many of whom will be sceptical about government promises". UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien warned that any corridors must be used voluntarily and protection be guaranteed. "No one can be forced to flee, by any specific route or to any particular location," said O'Brien. "Protection must be guaranteed for all according to the principles of neutrality and impartiality." Government forces have surrounded rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo since July 17, sparking fears for an estimated 250,000 people who live there. Residents have reported food shortages and spiralling prices in rebel districts since regime forces cut off the opposition's main supply route into the northern city earlier this month. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said three humanitarian corridors were being opened "to aid civilians held hostage by terrorists and for fighters wishing to lay down their arms". He told Russian news agencies that a fourth corridor would be opened to the north of Aleppo for rebels to flee with their weapons. Medical and food assistance would be provided along the routes for civilians and fighters who lay down their weapons, Shoigu said. President Bashar al-Assad, meanwhile, issued a decree offering an amnesty to rebels who surrender over the next three months, state news agency SANA reported. "Everyone carrying arms... and sought by justice... is excluded from full punishment if they hand themselves in and lay down their weapons," it said. Syria's state television also announced "the opening of three passages to allow citizens out of eastern districts" of Aleppo. Regime planes on Thursday dropped flyers showing a map with the location of these humanitarian passages, he said, as well as small aid packages, an AFP correspondent said. He went to see one of the corridors but said it remained closed and saw no movement of local residents nearby. "We're scared of using the regime crossings because we refused to do military service. The corridors are nothing more than words. It's just an excuse to throw people into jail," said Hassan Ibrahim, a 25-year-old father. Regime advance Previously the country's economic hub, Aleppo and its surrounding countryside have suffered some of the worst fighting in the five-year conflict that has killed more than 280,000 people. Syria. It has been roughly divided into a regime-controlled west and a rebel-held east since July 2012. Analysts say that losing Aleppo would be a major blow for the armed opposition and could signal a turning point in the conflict, which began in 2011 with the brutal crackdown of anti-government protests. Also on Thursday, Syrian government forces drove rebels from the neighbourhood of Bani Zeid, on Aleppo's northern outskirts, after heavy overnight fighting, a monitor said. The Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee condemned Russias proposal as "a euphemism for Russias efforts to alter Aleppos demographics and ensure forced displacement". "The forcible displacement of Aleppos population is a war crime perpetrated by the Syrian regime and a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council," it said, referring to Russia. Amnesty was also dismissive. The Russian plan was "not a substitute for allowing impartial humanitarian relief for civilians who remain in opposition-held areas of the city or other besieged areas, many of whom will be sceptical about government promises", it said. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said the world body had not been consulted on Russia's initiative. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch accused Assad's regime and Russia of extensively using banned cluster munitions against the rebels since late May. The New York-based watchdog said it had documented 47 cluster munition attacks that killed and injured dozens of civilians in rebel-held areas in three provinces since May 27, many north and west of Aleppo. On the opposition front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra Front, announced Thursday it was breaking ties with the global terror network. Al-Nusra is a main rival of the Islamic State jihadist group from which it wants to distance itself as a target of foreign air strikes. At least 15 civilians were killed and dozens wounded Thursday in US-led coalition air strikes on the northern IS-controlled town of Ghandoura, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The town is near Manbij, a strategic waypoint between Turkey and the IS bastion of Raqa, and came after the coalition opened a formal investigation to determine whether its air strikes last week near Manbij claimed dozens of civilian lives. According to the former European Commissioner, anyone who expected that the nuclear deal would result in a more liberal Iran was naive. Verheugen spoke about the importance of a political dialogue between the West and the Iranian Resistance: the Peoples Mojahedin of Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and urged his fellow Europeans to reject the Iranian regimes lies, and recognize the Resistance as a truly viable alternative. He called the inaction of EU member states with regards to the PMOI (MEK) members who are exiled in Camp Liberty in Iraq, calling their treatment, shameful. Days before the Free Iran rally, the regimes mercenary militias launched a rocket attack on their political opposition and injured more than 50 PMOI (MEK) residents of Camp Liberty, who were supposed to be protected. Verheugen claimed that one of his earliest political activities was a demonstration against the Shah, who was the dictator of Iran prior to the 1979 revolution. He said, I never thought that what would replace them would be even worse. Unmarked graves are seen at the 'Traitors' Cemetery', set up specifically to bury the bodies of coup plotters who died in the failed military coup of July 15, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 29, 2016. Captain Mehmet Karabekir's body was not washed before burial. Nobody recited prayers from the Koran before he was laid to rest in a hastily dug hole near an animal shelter, denied all Muslim rites. He is among the dozens of Turkish soldiers accused of trying to overthrow President Tayyip Erdogan and the government in a failed military coup this month, his fate a sign of the fury felt over a night of bloodletting that killed more than 240 people. Karabekir lies with no tombstone next to three other two-meter deep holes prepared with a mechanical digger. He was the first to be buried in a plot of land of about a quarter of an acre sectioned off last weekend in a disused part of a construction site on the eastern outskirts of Istanbul. Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas called it "The Traitor's Cemetery" - established, he said, specifically for coup plotters in the military. The government of Turkey - a predominantly Muslim country - has detained, removed or suspended tens of thousands of people in the civil service, military judiciary and elsewhere over their suspected links with perpetrators of the attempted putsch. While the crackdown has drawn concern and criticism from Western capitals, rights groups and some domestic opponents of the government, most Turks have shown unity in their opposition to the coup attempt, with regular rallies of solidarity. A security guard walks at the "Traitors' Cemetery", built specifically to bury the bodies of coup plotters who died in the failed military coup of July 15, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 29, 2016. But, for many people, the retribution across the country has gone too far with the "Traitor's Cemetery". There has been widespread criticism this week, not just from rights groups, but also from Turks who took to social media to express their opposition. This reaction has led officials to distance themselves from the cemetery. Even though Turkey's religious authority has said it will not provide Islamic funeral services for coup soldiers, a spokesman told Reuters that top cleric Mehmet Gormez did not support the establishment of a burial ground for traitors, saying it was hurtful to the families of the dead. On Thursday Mayor Topbas, who was among the local officials who came up with the idea, told broadcaster TGRT Haber that he had ordered the removal of its "Traitor's Cemetery" signage - though it was unclear if the plot would continue to be used for the same purpose. A spokesman for the mayor did not return repeated phone calls. There is no suggestion that Erdogan or the central government had any link with the municipal decision to establish the Istanbul burial ground. Local media reported that Karabekir's family refused to claim his body, prompting the authorities to bury him in the makeshift grave on Monday. His sister-in-law, when contacted by Reuters, said the family did not want to make any comment and requested privacy. "Nobody should go to God with such darkness," said a resident in the Acibadem area of Istanbul, where officials and newspapers said Karabekir shot dead a local administrator as he and a group of soldiers tried to seize a building. She declined to give her name due to the sensitive nature of the issue. Power grab On July 15-16, 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. Erdogan blamed his ally-turned-foe Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic cleric, for orchestrating the attempted power grab and warned the perpetrators would pay a heavy price. Gulen denies the accusations, but authorities have launched a crackdown on his vast network of followers, removing or suspending more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, teacher, diplomats and journalists. Almost two thirds of Turks believe Gulen was behind the coup attempt, according to a phone poll of 1,496 people released on Tuesday. The Andy-Ar survey showed nearly 4 percent blamed the United States or foreign powers and about 2 percent blamed Erdogan. The extensive purges that have followed have been internationally contentious. Erdogan's critics fear he is using the events to crack down on all forms of dissent. Unmarked graves are seen at the "Traitors' Cemetery", set up specifically to bury the bodies of coup plotters who died in the failed military coup of July 15, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 29, 2016. Rights group Amnesty International has said it had received credible evidence of detainees being subjected to beatings and torture, including rape, since the coup attempt - accusations roundly rejected by Turkish officials and the justice ministry. The cemetery, guarded by private security guards and located inside the gated building site around 50 km (31 miles) east of Istanbul's city center, has won some approval from some Turks but has largely drawn criticism. "This practice is not right and our president Gormez has expressed his disapproval of it to the relevant authorities," the spokesman for the Religious Affairs Directorate said. Following the criticism, Karabekir, buried on Monday, may be the only person put to rest there. "We have been told more people might be brought here but that hasn't been the case," said a security guard at the site. Turkish soldiers search for missing military personnel suspected of being involved in the coup attempt in Marmaris, Turkey, July 18, 2016. President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Western countries on Friday for failing to show solidarity with Turkey over the recent failed coup, saying those who worried over the fate of coup supporters instead of Turkish democracy could not be friends of Ankara. Erdogan also rejected Western criticism of purges under way in Turkey's military and other state institutions which saw more than 60,000 people detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, suggesting some in the United States were on the side of the plotters. "The attitude of many countries and their officials over the coup attempt in Turkey is shameful in the name of democracy," Erdogan told hundreds of supporters at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital. "Any country and any leader who does not worry about the life of Turkish people and our democracy as much as they worry about the fate of coupists are not our friends," said Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and perhaps death on the night of the coup. Turkey's Western allies have condemned the coup in which Erdogan said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 were wounded, but have been rattled by the scale of the crackdown in the aftermath. Images of detained soldiers with bruises and bandages have worried civil rights groups over mistreatment. The purges have targeted supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the July 15-16 failed coup, but Erdogan's critics say he is using the measures to crack down on any dissent. Erdogan also criticized the European Council and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to be a part of, for their failure to pay a visit to offer condolences, saying their criticism was 'shameful'. The Director of U.S. National Intelligence, James Clapper, said on Thursday the purges were harming the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq by sweeping away Turkish officers who had worked closely with the United States. The head of U.S. Central Command, General Joseph Votel, said he believed some of the military figures whom the United States had worked with were in jail. Votel's comments drew condemnation from Erdogan. "Instead of thanking this country which repelled a coup attempt, you take the side of the coup plotters. The putschist is in your country already," Erdogan said, referring to Gulen, who denied any involvement in the coup attempt. In a statement released by the U.S. military on Friday, General Votel said any claims that he was involved in a failed coup attempt in Turkey were "unfortunate and completely inaccurate". White House spokesman Eric Schultz has also dismissed claims that Votel supported the coup plotters, and referred to U.S. President Barack Obama's comments from last week saying any reports that Washington had prior knowledge of the attempted overthrow were completely false. Erdogan has blamed Gulen for masterminding the attempted coup and has called on Washington to extradite him. Turkish officials have suggested the U.S. can extradite him based on strong suspicion while President Obama last week insisted Turkey must first present evidence of Gulen's alleged complicity in the failed coup. Military shake-up Late on Thursday Turkey announced a shake-up of its armed forces, NATO's second largest, with the promotion of 99 colonels to the rank of general or admiral and the dishonorable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged roles in the coup. A man waves Turkey's national flag as he with supporters of various political parties gathers in Istanbul's Taksim Square during the Republic and Democracy Rally organised by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkey, July 24, 2016. About 40 percent of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup. Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik told broadcaster NTV on Friday that the shake-up in the military was not yet over, adding that military academies would now be a target of "cleansing". The purges have also hit government ministries, schools and universities, the police, civil service, media and business. Seventeen journalists were formally arrested late on Friday over their alleged links with the coup plot while four others were released. Arrest warrants for dozens of others were issued earlier this week. The number of public sector workers removed from their posts since the coup attempt now stands at more than 66,000, including some 43,000 people in education, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. Interior Minister Efkan Ala said more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup, and that 50,000 passports had been canceled. The labor ministry said it was investigating 1,300 staff over their possible involvement. Erdogan has claimed that Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a secretive "parallel state" that aimed to take over the country. Erdogan's critics say he is using the purges to crack down indiscriminately on dissent and to tighten his grip on power. With long land borders with Syria and Iraq, Turkey is a central part of the U.S.-led military operation against Islamic State. As home to millions of Syrian refugees, it is also the European Union's partner in a deal reached last year to halt the biggest flow of migrants into Europe since World War Two. Turkey hosts U.S. troops and warplanes at Incirlik Air Base, from which the United States flies sorties against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Those air operations were temporarily halted following the coup attempt. Attempting to reassure the United States, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that Turkey's armed forces, "cleansed" of their Gulenist elements, would prove more "trustworthy ... and effective" allies against Islamic State. Nevertheless, there is a growing anti-U.S. mood in Turkey which is likely to harden further if Washington refuses to extradite Gulen. Several hundred flag-waving protesters staged a peaceful protest march near the Incirlik base on Thursday, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and "Damn the U.S.A", the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper reported. The protesters burned a U.S. flag. "Power poisoning" The crackdown on Gulenists pressed on unabated on Friday. Turkish soldiers detain Staff Sergeant Erkan Cikat, one of the missing military personnel suspected of being involved in the coup attempt, in Marmaris, Turkey, July 25, 2016. In the central city of Kayseri, a stronghold of Erdogan's ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, police detained the chairman of furniture-to-cables conglomerate Boydak Holding and two company executives as part of the investigation into the "Gulenist Terror Group", Anadolu reported. Prosecutors in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir issued orders to detain 200 police on Friday as part of the investigation targeting Gulenists, the Dogan news agency said. In the Netherlands, a spokeswoman for the Gulenist community said supporters feared for their safety after dozens of death threats and acts of arson and vandalism in Dutch towns and cities in the past two weeks. Saniye Calkin said supporters in neighboring Germany were reporting similar incidents. Germany is home to Europe's largest Turkish diaspora, while the Netherlands also has around half a million ethnic Turks. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, again maintained his innocence during an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper, saying he had himself suffered from previous coups in Turkey. Asked why his once-warm ties with Erdogan and the AK Party had turned sour, Gulen said: "It appears that after staying in power for too long, (they) are suffering from power poisoning." Gulen, whose Hizmet (Service) movement stresses the need to embrace scientific progress and inter-faith dialogue, said he still strongly backed Ankara's bid to join the EU, saying this would buttress democracy and human rights in Turkey. Damarcus Alexander spent more than seven hours in police custody after three Baton Rouge officers were killed, locked up in what he described as a grueling ordeal that only grew more painful when he was released and learned his cousin was one of the fallen. Alexander had missed dozens of calls from his parents and other relatives trying to deliver the news that his cousin Cpl. Montrell Jackson had been killed in an attack outside an Airline Highway convenience store. But his cellphone and other personal belongings had been confiscated by police who arrested him and his best friend and held them for hours, thinking they were somehow involved in the police killings. Alexander said police didn't allow him and his friend, Den'Trell White, to make phone calls after they were taken into custody. A 26-year-old diabetic, Alexander said he nearly went into a diabetic coma when authorities refused to give him his medicine while they were being detained, including after officers were made aware of his medical condition. "I felt like the law enforcement officers were playing with my life," said Alexander, a Baton Rouge native who now lives in Oklahoma City. His cousin -- a 10-year veteran of the Baton Rouge police force -- was one of three officers fatally shot by during Gavin Long's targeted attack on local police the morning of July 17. Long, a Missouri man who fired his assault-style gun at law enforcement officers outside the B-Quik convenience store on Airline Highway about 8:40 a.m. that day, also killed another BRPD officer and an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy, as well as injuring three other lawmen, before he was gunned down by police. When Alexander finally got his cellphone back after he was released from the hospital, he said the first thing he saw when he opened his Facebook app was his father's post about Jackson's death. "I just shouted, 'Oh my God!' My best friend asked me what was wrong, and I told him that one of the officers that was killed that day was my cousin," Alexander said. White and Alexander, who first told his story to the website The Daily Beast, had been driving across Louisiana on their way to a Belle Rose church. White was going to sing during the service. But that trip ended abruptly when they became "persons of interest," detained by authorities at a gas station in Addis about two hours after the shooting. Doug Cain, spokesman for the Louisiana State Police, said Friday he could not speak on any specifics regarding anyone the agency has talked to about the investigation into the police shooting. "All I can say right now is that they were questioned and released with no charges filed," Cain said, in reference to the pair. In response to Alexander's claim of mistreatment, he added, "No complaints or concerns have been brought to our attention." A spokesman for the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, which had been involved in the initial detainment of Alexander and White, did not respond to a request for comment. On July 17, the day the officers were killed, authorities in West Baton Rouge Parish said they had received several 911 calls that day about two black men who walked into the Port Allen Wal-Mart on La. 1 dressed in camouflage pants and black T-shirts who quickly left after changing their clothes. Authorities by that afternoon said Long was the sole gunman during the attack on police. But they also told reporters they believed Long may have had help carrying out his plan. Alexander said it appeared investigators thought those accomplices were him and White, who has a military background like Long. But the reason they stopped at the Wal-Mart was innocent, trying to make themselves more presentable for church. "(Den'Trell) needed a dress shirt for the church program he was invited to sing at in Belle Rose, so we stopped at the Wal-Mart in Port Allen," Alexander said. "He went in to buy a shirt, and I decided to go inside and change since we were about an hour away." Alexander was wearing camouflage pants and black T-shirt. White had on gray dress slacks and a T-shirt. The pair had driven into Louisiana that morning from Dallas, where White lives. Alexander said they were traveling down La. 1 South when they were pulled over by an Addis police officer. He says the officer first confirmed they were the two men who had just changed clothes at the Wal-Mart in Port Allen before he asked if they knew what had happened in Baton Rouge that morning. "We told him: 'We have no idea.' Then he told us there was a shooting involving police and that my friend's car matched the description of the shooters, which he said had a Texas license plate," Alexander said. White was driving a 2012 silver Nissan Maxima. It was later revealed by authorities that Long had rented a Chevrolet Malibu from Missouri. In less than a minute after they were stopped, Alexander said law enforcement officers from nearly every agency in West Baton Rouge Parish swarmed into the gas station's parking lot. They were questioned at the gas station about their whereabouts at the time the shooting occurred. Alexander was able to provide them with a receipt from a convenience store in Alexandria where they made a pit stop. The receipt, a copy of which he provided to The Advocate, was time stamped 8:43 a.m. July 17. Despite that, Alexander said, they were handcuffed but never read their Miranda warning, which informs somebody in custody they don't have to speak to officers. About an hour later, they were put in separate squad cars belonging to the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office and transported to the Louisiana State Police complex on Independence Boulevard in Baton Rouge, where they were placed in separate holding cells. During the first few hours of his detainment, Alexander said he tried to get information about the officers involved in the shooting, telling deputies he had several family members who worked for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office and BRPD. At one point, he even asked if he could call his father, who is a retired sheriff's deputy, and was ignored. Both White and Alexander told The Advocate they were intimidated into signing consent forms that allowed police to search through their cellphones. They say State Police investigators were working to obtain surveillance footage from the Alexandria store while they waited to be questioned further. Alexander said one deputy was rude, calling him a "dick" when he refused to shake hands as the officer was trying to talk him into signing the consent form. The deputy told one of his colleagues to throw Alexander back into the squad vehicle and leave him there for four hours, he said. "He told me they would just get a court order to go through my phone," he said. In the meantime, Alexander's health was quickly declining and his repeated requests for his diabetes medicine were being ignored by law enforcement, he said. He said a West Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy refused to let him take his pills because he didn't trust Alexander not to try to overdose on them. And once he got to the State Police complex, he says the officers were apathetic about his condition until an Emergency Medical Services worker showed up and tested his blood sugar, which had risen to dangerous levels by approximately 5:30 p.m. "Around 5:45 p.m., they finally let the EMS transport me to Baton Rouge General," he said. "When your blood sugar is really high, you get very sleepy. They were talking to me, and everything they were saying just started to sound all mumbled to me." Alexander, who works in export controls for a national defense contractor, said he was never questioned by State Police about his involvement in the shooting. White, a business account manager, said he was in custody for hours by himself until about 5 p.m. after they obtained the surveillance footage from the store. He was released by State Police shortly after Alexander was transported to the hospital. Law enforcement questioned him for about 20 minutes, he estimated. "They just asked me what we were doing in town, and they kept saying they were looking for two suspects," White said. "They never asked me specifically if I knew Gavin Long, which I don't." White said he wasn't specifically asked about Long until Monday when he was interviewed by FBI agents. "I really don't sleep that well anymore since all of this happened," White said. "I keep thinking I'm still under surveillance. I really don't feel safe in my own home anymore." A 43-year-old Zachary man who prosecutors claim terrorized Baton Rouge's homeless population was acquitted Friday in the killing of two homeless men within days apart in the summer of 2014. Marlon Romaine Carter, who remains behind bars on an unrelated gun charge, was found not guilty of two counts of second-degree murder after three hours of deliberation by an East Baton Rouge Parish jury of seven women and five men. The jury voted 10-2 and 11-1 to acquit Carter in the slayings of Travis Jones, 22, of Baton Rouge, and 59-year-old Charles Vincent, respectively. "The jury made a courageous and correct decision based on the law and evidence," Carter's attorney, Carson Marcantel, said outside state District Judge Beau Higginbotham's courtroom. Marcantel, who spoke privately with the jury after it reached its decision, said the panel "wanted more evidence." Marcantel had theorized for jurors earlier in the day why prosecutors chose to try the separate murders together. "They're combining two weak cases to make you go back and say, "Well, he must have done something,'" Marcantel suggested in his closing argument. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said witness problems hamstrung prosecutors. "We respect the jury's decision and recognize that it was a difficult case due to the failure of one eyewitness to appear to testify and the recantation by another witness," he said. Jones and Vincent were gunned down within days and blocks of each other, and each was shot in the back. Vincent also was shot in the chest. Jones was found fatally shot July 10, 2014, in the middle of South 17th Street between America Street and Louisiana Avenue. Vincent was shot to death July 14, 2014, across the street from a Greyhound bus station on Florida Boulevard. +4 Police: Jailed man linked to deaths Marlon Romaine Carters luck ran dry in an alley about two weeks ago when Baton Rouge police The bullets that killed both men were fired from the same gun, but the weapon was never found. Prosecutor Leila Braswell told the jury Friday that Carter's blood was found on Vincent, who was shot three times. "Beyond all doubt Marlon Carter was there," she argued. "Charles Vincent got into it with this guy, but you know it wasn't self-defense because he was shot in the back," prosecutor William Jorden added. Jorden described Jones and Vincent as "the forgotten," those who "live on the fringe of society." "He's (Carter) bankin' on don't nobody cares about what happens under the bridge," Jorden said, referring to the Interstate 110 underpass frequented by homeless persons. "I care," he said passionately with a raised voice, standing just feet from the jury. Braswell argued that Carter "terrorized the homeless population of Baton Rouge." "These two men matter. Don't forget Travis Jones and don't forget Charles Vincent," she urged jurors. Marcantel took aim in his closing argument at one of the state's chief witnesses, 21-year-old Keithan Jamaal Turner, an inmate who testified he was walking with Jones when Carter came up behind them and shot Jones. Marcantel described Turner as "completely damaged goods" because he is a drug dealer with pending charges of attempted second-degree murder and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Turner has convictions for obscenity and marijuana possession, he added. Two public charter schools that focus explicitly on preparing children for college are opening their doors in Baton Rouge. Apex Collegiate Academy is the first out the gate, opening Monday with 100-plus sixth-graders in space it is renting from Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church in Scotlandville. Eight miles to the southeast, in an office building near the intersection of Florida Boulevard and North Foster Drive, Laurel Oaks Charter Academy is opening two weeks later on Aug. 15 with at least 60 kindergartners. Both schools were approved as charter schools in December by state leaders despite objections from East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake. He argued that neither school offers anything that isnt already available in Baton Rouge and they will be a financial drain of nearly $3 million annually from the school system. BESE overrides EBR school board, authorizes creation of two new charter schools Louisianas top school board Tuesday overrode a decision by the East Baton Rouge Parish Scho The two new schools bring to 23 the number of charter schools public schools run by private groups via contracts, or charters in Baton Rouge. East Baton Rouge School Board worries state may again override its decisions on charter school applications Nine months ago, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board rejected two charter schools only On Friday, Apex teachers sat around a table on the second floor of Mount Pilgrims Family Life Center, staring at laptops, fine-tuning the lessons they will teach when school starts. Theyd been at work since July 11 getting ready for the school year. The goal is to have two weeks of lessons ready to go, explained Eric Lewis, Apexs founder and executive director. The first week of school will focus on getting the incoming students invested in Apexs way of doing things. For instance, one of the things the boys and girls will learn is how to tie the necktie they will have to wear as part of their uniform. Both Apex and Laurel Oaks have their roots in a fellowship program through the Boston-based Building Excellent Schools, or BES, which mentors would-be charter school leaders in part by having them spend time working at other high-performing charter schools. Both Lewis and Laurel Oaks founder Shafeeq Samsid-Deen started as fellows, though only Lewis finished the two-year program. Three other charter school leaders in Baton Rouge were also BES fellows. Both Apex and Laurel Oaks are starting with one grade and adding a new grade every year. Apex plans to expand until it spans grades six to 12; its first graduating class wont be until spring 2023. Laurel Oaks is starting with kindergarten and by 2024 will extend to eighth grade, a common grade configuration for a charter school. Apex said its reached its enrollment goal, after getting commitments from 120 students and has already had 96 students take pre-tests to gauge their academic level. Laurel Oaks is reporting 60 students enrolled but is hoping to enroll more than 70 by the start of school. At Apex, the college emphasis is unmistakable: Near the entrance, long lines of college pennants hang from the ceiling like stalactites. The goal at Laurel Oaks, Samsid-Deen said, is to have every student reach eighth grade with good enough grades to gain admittance to a public magnet school in Baton Rouge. He said he will also eventually hire a counselor to help students navigate the high school admissions process. Our goal is to really tailor where they go to high school to places that have a track record of students going to college, said Samsid-Deen. Lewis grew up in Baton Rouge, earning a bachelors in electrical engineering from Southern University in 1996 and later a masters in business administration from LSU. He became an advocate for school choice and for three years served as the state director of the Black Alliance for Educational Options before deciding to form a charter school. Samsid-Deen in 2008 earned a bachelors degree in history and political science from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. After college, he joined the Teach for America program, landing in rural New Mexico. He went on to spend three years with New Mexicos department of education, overseeing the development of a new teacher evaluation system, before deciding to start a charter school. The two schools have some commonalities. Both will teach computer coding from the get-go. Both have purchased relatively inexpensive Chromebook laptops for their students. Apex has enough laptops for all its students, while Laurel Oaks is supplying a smaller number. Apex is planning a more overt focus on STEM, short for science, math, technology and engineering. For instance, its launching a robotics team. The school wont use a cafeteria, at least not right away. Students will eat breakfast and lunch in their homeroom, and teachers will rotate in and out through the day. They wont get to eat in the cafeteria until eighth grade, Lewis said. Laurel Oaks, which has leased the first floor of the office building at 440 N. Foster Drive, is renovating a room to be used for a performing arts class that will double as a physical education class. The school will also have students learn a second language, Spanish, from the beginning, Samsid-Deen said. I think we have a very innovative program, something that people can latch onto, Samsid-Dean said. As Type 2 charters, these schools are allowed to attract students from across the state, not just East Baton Rouge Parish, which would be the case with other types of charters. Apex is the more visible of the two schools. Lewis said he has enrolled a number of students from the city of Baker, and even has one student coming from West Feliciana Parish and one from Livingston Parish. Lewis's calm, unflappable demeanor betrayed no nervousness about the start of school just around the corner. He said the school has already taken pains to get to know its students. We've done visits with every kid at home or at school, he said. "I feel like I know them already." We don't win them all, but Louisiana has enormous advantages in the competition recently revealed for another big expansion of the Mississippi River petrochemical complex. Our friends in Texas are also eager for the investment and jobs of the new project, described as a "world-scale" petrochemical complex to be built by ExxonMobil Chemical Co. and the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. Ascension or St. James parishes along the river are reportedly in contention for the project. An ExxonMobil spokeswoman said the company is working with state and local governments to identify a site. The company has met with officials from Ascension and St. James parishes, as well as leaders from Victoria and San Patricio counties in Texas. Victoria is within two hours' drive of Corpus Christi, Houston and Austin. San Patricio is near Corpus Christi. We would welcome this new project. In the worldwide industry of petrochemical manufacturing, Louisiana has two big areas, counting the Calcasieu River region, but the Mississippi between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is one of the world's leaders. This investment being considered would have a transformational economic impact for the region and entire state of Louisiana, said Adam Knapp, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. It is a volatile time for the energy industry, with some major projects in the state, including the Lake Charles area, slowed by low oil prices or other factors. So to be line for a major new project in the state is a welcome change. We are hopeful that Louisiana's team, including Economic Development secretary Don Pierson, will put together a competitive package of incentives for this new plant, that won't break the bank. In Texas where property taxes are much higher than here industries pay school taxes, without the 10 years of exemptions typically granted in Louisiana. Gov. John Bel Edwards wants to play more or less by Texas rules, and that doesn't strike us as something that will be seen as unreasonable by these companies. Few mega-deals really turn on cash bonuses from states but are driven by business fundamentals, and that is why we are optimistic that the Mississippi River region's capacity to transport products by water, rail and pipeline will be huge advantages for new investors. Our industrial construction sector is second to none and has shown its capacity to make big projects work. Finally, it's clear that Louisiana would be a welcoming environment for the new facility. We keep our fingers crossed for this new opportunity. Middendorfs Restaurant is famous for its razor-thin fried catfish, which for generations has lured diners to its door in a rural, marshy stretch of Tangipahoa Parish. Soon, that door will be a bit higher up. In August, Middendorfs will begin elevating its original dining room to guard against flooding around its waterfront property. Today, the original dining room is joined with a second room that was built in 2011 about 5 feet off the ground. When the work is finished, the old dining room will be at the same level as the new one. Given the age and construction of the original building, it cannot be jacked up but must be rebuilt piece by piece. Its a major project, but its one that co-owner Horst Pfeifer said is necessary for the historic restaurants future viability in the face of repeated flooding. We are on our own out here and have to prepare, said Pfeifer, who bought the restaurant in 2007 with his wife, Karen Pfeifer. Weve spent a lot of money building floodwalls ... on pumps and generators. We have to do this to make sure we are around for the future. First opened in 1934 by Josie and Louis Middendorf, the restaurant is a landmark in Manchac, a settlement about 40 miles from New Orleans on the waterway connecting Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas. Middendorfs made it through hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 intact, but it was badly flooded by storm surge from Hurricane Ike in 2008 and again by Hurricane Isaac in 2012. Through each round of repairs, the Pfeifers have tried to make it more floodproof by elevating the main kitchen and raising other components of the sprawling old restaurant. Middendorfs will serve its final meal in the original dining room on Aug. 14. After that, Pfeifer said, work will begin by stripping out the vintage cypress planking, cypress knees, heart pine lumber and other architectural features, which will be incorporated into the new dining room. The work is projected to take four to five months. Plans call for a new bar and a gift shop for the restaurant. There will be a lift for handicapped access. The restaurant will remain open with regular hours and a full menu throughout construction, serving in the upstairs dining room and on the deck and patio areas. Pfeifer said more fans and misters will be added to the outdoor areas, where full table service will be available. Its a way to keep his employees working even as a big part of the restaurants old floor plan is out of commission, he explained. Were trying to do everything we can to do it right and take care of our people, he said. We have to do this, but you dont want to lose good people. Pfeifer is a German-born, classically trained chef. Before Katrina, he and his wife ran the posh riverfront Italian restaurant Bella Luna in the French Quarter. When repairs to that building lagged, they switched gears and bought Middendorfs from the descendants of its founders. In the years since then, the Pfeifers have greatly expanded Middendorfs, which now has a dock on Pass Manchac and a beach volleyball court next to the open-air dining patio and deck. Theyve also added attractions and annual events to boost the road-trip draw of their remote restaurant, like Oktoberfest menus and a road race in the fall. However, menu staples of thin fried catfish, stuffed flounder and broiled shrimp have remained unchanged and are sacrosanct for Pfeifer. I didnt buy a restaurant. I bought a shrine, he said. When 80-year-old people come through and tell you they remember eating here the first time and thank you for carrying it on, well, that means something. Thats why we want to make sure we can stay here. Western governments have established the international norm of online hacking and should not be surprised when foreign governments do the same, a Harvard University government IT expert says. Adjunct professor David Eaves said as some cyber security experts and US officials blamed Russia for the hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee, the question could also be asked whether the Australian government was tapping into foreign government or parties' servers. Harvard University government IT expert David Eaves says Western administrations have helped make hacking acceptable. "If they are (and we have good reason to believe they do), shouldn't we expect other governments will try to access our own?" he said. "While Western governments are often critical of China and Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and others have been complicit in establishing the international norm that such behaviour is at best acceptable and at worse, necessary, for governments to do." Charles Bean wrote the first two volumes of Australia's official World War I history at a place of healing and picturesque diversion he chose over Yarralumla, a historian said on Friday. Jenny Horsfield said the journalist who had spent eight months in Gallipoli and four years with the Australian soldiers embraced the rural setting at Tuggeranong Homestead as a home for himself and his small staff. The Gabriel Singers of Canberra Girls Grammar School. Charles Bean's poem on war, Non Nobis, inspired a new musical composition which was performed publicly for the first time on Friday night. Credit:Jamila Toderas "The property was remote enough from big settlements to make unwelcome interruptions unlikely, well-served by the railway connection fo Goulburn, and there were regular postal deliveries from Queanbeyan," she said. "Bean found the clear views of the distant Brindabella Mountains uplifting to the spirit but also distracting when he was working; he moved his study to a room with a different view." Canberra's late night industry has claimed victory over the government's scrapped liquor reforms, celebrating at a rally originally intended as a protest against the now-dumped plans. Keep Canberra Open organisers changed Saturday's event from protest to party after Cabinet agreed on Tuesday not to pursue the reforms, which would have seen nightclub and bar fees hiked for venues that provided service past 3am. The planned Keep Canberra Open rally changed to a party after the ACT government backed down over the lockout laws. Credit:Jamila Toderas Taking to the stage at Westside Acton Park, Keep Canberra Open spokesman Ryan Sabet said the group had successfully told the government that DJs, performers, bar staff, club owners and patrons were overlooked during consultation of the reforms. "We've had a huge success in achieving a very big thing for Canberra that hasn't been done in Sydney or Brisbane," he said. It should come as no surprise to the ACT government that an appeal has been lodged over the Dickson redevelopment. The plan to turn the Woolworths car park into two supermarkets and 140 apartments was controversial from the start. The fact the first proposal was comprehensively knocked back by the ACT Planning and Land Authority last year showed the proponents' ideas were not up to scratch. It was an unexpected move by the authority given that most developments of this nature are green lighted. But it sent a clear message at the time that Coles and Doma needed to make serious improvements on their plans before the government would consider approving them. In the midst of torrential rain, just after midnight in the early hours of Friday, four men marched onto a sodden prison ground in Indonesia to be executed by firing squad. Indonesia's stubborn insistence on carrying out this cruel and unjust practice of capital punishment is to be condemned, but this latest episode amounted to an especially tortuous farce. Another 10 prisoners had expected to meet the same fate at the same time. They had each said a final goodbye to distraught loved ones, been segregated and locked into special isolation cells, and told their bodies would be delivered to their families soon after the fatal shots were fired. But at the last possible moment, Indonesia's authorities granted the 10 prisoners a temporary reprieve. No proper explanation was offered publicly, although the reason is painfully clear. The Indonesian system for administering the death penalty is woeful and arbitrary. Capital punishment can never be justified. State-sanctioned execution requires the kind of perfect evidence and unimpeachable judicial process no system can ever guarantee, and plainly not in Indonesia. President Joko Widodo has permitted these executions, each convicted of drug offences, claiming it will send a message of deterrence. The only message is regrettably of Indonesia's inhumanity. State-sanctioned execution requires the kind of perfect evidence and unimpeachable judicial process no system can ever guarantee, and plainly not in Indonesia. This round of executions has not generated the same level of international outrage as those carried out last year, which included the killing of Australia's Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and others from the Netherlands and Brazil. Those killings were the first to break a longstanding national moratorium against carrying out death sentences. But it would be wrong for Indonesia to interpret the more muted international reaction as acquiescence to the country's continued practice of capital punishment. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also stressed Australia's opposition to the death penalty last week during a regional summit meeting in Laos with her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi. The government has pledged to campaign to abolish capital punishment around the world. Yet Australia should be more vocal in condemning Indonesia's actions, and make clear a diplomatic cost. It would indicate the strength of principled opposition to the death penalty in all cases, not only those involving Australian nationals or from other wealthy nations. The planned execution of the 14 condemned prisoners was to be largest mass killing of convicted drug offenders in Indonesia eight Nigerians, four Indonesians, one Indian and one Pakistani. Three of the Nigerian men and one Indonesian were put to death on Friday, while the others find themselves again in the brutal limbo of death row. As a Catholic priest who acted as a spiritual adviser for the condemned remarked, "they have died half a death already." Especially worrying is the case of Pakistani national Zulfiqar Ali, found by an Indonesian internal investigation to be the victim of a conspiracy. Despite the bizarre circumstances of the last-minute reprieve, it does not appear to be the pleas for clemency from the governments of each of the foreign prisoners that won support. Those calls were undermined by the imposition of the death penalty in their home countries, which demonstrates the need for universal opposition to capital punishment. Aborigines from northern Australia should be appointed co-commissions of the royal commission into juvenile detention to guard against perceptions it was not independent of the Giles government, the Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten said in Darwin on Saturday. His call came as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said conventions on the rights of the child and torture may have been breached by bashings and torture in the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Mr Shorten said Aborigines had expressed fears about the independence of former Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Martin appointed by the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. "This royal commission has to be done with, not to, Aboriginal people," he said. More than a century ago, when the Children's Court in Surry Hills was under construction, someone hid a lucky charm in the building. In those days, Surry Hills was a slum and the children brought before the court were some of Sydney's most impoverished.They needed all the help they could get. The boot was uncovered behind the fireplace at Children's Court in Surry Hills, more than a century after it was hidden. Credit:Steven Siewert The anonymous gesture of goodwill only came to light last month, during the NSW government's redevelopment of the Albion Street site. Construction worker Todd Tregent was demolishing internal walls and discovered an old boot in a void behind the fireplace. Meet the three Brisbane women wanting to shake the crusty old construction and energy industry disputes in a completely new direction. And the trio want Brisbane's most innovative industry collaborators to help break new ground. Looking to shake up construction law is (front) Janelle Kerrisk, with new business partners, Sarah Roach (left) and Dayna Gilbert (right). Credit:Tony Moore Former law firm partner Janelle Kerrisk, corporate counsel Sarah Roach and experienced personal assistant Dayna Gilbert were at Brisbane's newest CBD Innovation Hub in the Queen Street Mall on Friday to unveil their new venture, Helix Legal. The major outfitting at The Capital begins on Monday. When he first settled in Australia in 2002, Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff was known as a social activist fighting for the right of Singapore's schoolgirls to wear the Islamic headscarf. In an interview with The Age, the newly-arrived Zulfikar was enthusiastic about his new home. "In Australia you can think independently and speak freely. You don't have that in Singapore," he said. But when the 44-year-old Australian resident returned to Singapore this month, he was arrested for "terrorism-related activities", which included supporting Islamic State through Facebook posts. It is now alleged that during more than a decade in suburban Melbourne the Singapore-Australian dual national became increasingly radicalised. After holding him this month under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Singapore Government ordered Zulfikar be jailed for two years. Over the same period, student numbers have nearly doubled, and the school which was once avoided like the plague is now over-subscribed. Mr Adamou believes that in revolutionising his school, he is offering a brighter future for his students. "Education is the only way out of poverty, and we do have a lot of that here," he said. "This is why I work in schools." A Fairfax Media analysis has revealed that schools which have most improved their VCE completion rate that is, the number of students starting their VCE in year 10 that actually finish the course in year 12 are located in working class areas. The most improved schools (nearly all are state schools) have improved by up to 10 per cent over the past five years. They include Carrum Downs Secondary College, Epping Secondary College and Wyndham Secondary College. These schools are not snagging the state's top VCE marks. But they're quietly raising the profile of their students, by boosting the number of students doing their VCE, and by extension, broadening their students' tertiary and career options. They're doing this by offering students mentors, introducing helpful learning apps and computer programs, applying principles of "positive education" (a fusion of positive psychology and best practice teaching), and with the help of Gonski funding, investing in youth workers and education consultants. Teaching experts also believe that the sector has experienced a "sea change" in the past decade, as younger teachers adopt a practice Melbourne University's senior lecturer in education policy, Dr Glenn Savage, called "clinical teaching". "It's this idea of diagnosing and understanding where a young person is at, and taking them forward using strategies that are based on evidence. Across Victoria and nationally, we are seeing a difference in the way principals are trying to measure the impact of learning in the classroom." Dr Savage said teachers are being held "more accountable" by principals and parents, for their students' results. "Teachers are being asked to provide evidence to show how young people are going, and how the evidence can be used to plan ways forward and make improvements for those students. While this should always have been the bread and butter work of teachers, I don't think it has been." Mr Adamou admits that he expects a lot from his staff. As the school grew in size, he hired a fresh crop of talented teachers, and asked them to start tracking their students' performance from year 7 to year 12, in order to identify areas where students were consistently struggling. The teachers would involve careers counsellors in the process of working with students and their parents, in helping them develop their strengths. Mr Adamou also launched an accelerated program and a vocational course for non-English speaking students, and word quickly spread about changes at Geelong North. Families from Golden Plains, West Geelong, Manifold Heights, Essendon, Reservoir and Dandenong started enrolling their students. The school still has a "long way to go" in terms of achieving competitive grades, the principal said. But to have catapulted from a 50 per cent participation rate in VCE to achieving VCE marks that nudge the top ten per cent in the state, is no small feat. "We are now concentrating especially on getting students study scores above 40. It's not going to be long, this year will be the beginning of outstanding results." Education academic Dr Savage said there was a common misconception that teachers at poorer schools had low aspirations for their students. While there were unfortunate cases of this occurring, he said many schools in poorer areas were being run by passionate principals and teachers who were trying to change the culture in their community. The best teachers were continually changing their teaching methods to suit the individual needs of the students, he said. Richard Jones, who has been principal at Laverton College P-12 for the past 14 months, applies that principle at his school, where 30 per cent of the students are refugees from Sudan and war-torn countries in the Middle East. These students come to class with varying levels of knowledge, and yet the school's VCE completion rate hit 100 per cent for the first time in 2014. There were screams and even tears as a 15-second countdown marked the end of a long wait for hundreds of Melbourne Harry Potter fans who had queued from 5.30 on Sunday morning. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child went on sale at precisely 9.01am. At Readings in Carlton, Muggles stretched throughout the aisles of the bookstore and up Lygon Street. The lines at the Readings store were tamed by servings of "polyjuice" and "butter beer" (beer and champagne) for adult witches and wizards. Readings managing director Mark Rubbo said 850 people had requested copies of the book. "My vision is for a united emergency services that is 100 per cent committed to tackling the challenges that we face: climate change, more extreme weather events, longer bushfire seasons and population growth It's up to all of us to be united, for our ultimate reason for being and that's community safety." "I'm optimistic, but I don't underestimate the task before me," the Monbulk MP says in his first extended interview since taking on the tricky portfolio. But if new Emergency Services Minister James Merlino is worried about the political powder keg he's just been handed, don't expect him to show it publicly. He's the right-hand-man Daniel Andrews appointed to clean up the Country Fire Authority mess although any missteps could cost him dearly in the fire-prone area that happens to be his marginal seat. Months since the Andrews government was plunged into crisis after the Premier intervened in an industrial stoush between the career-based United Firefighters' Union and the volunteer-based CFA, the scars from the battle still run deep. Gone is the previous CFA board, which Mr Merlino sacked in one of his first acts in the job. Gone is the former chief executive Lucinda Nolan, and gone is the former chief fire officer Joe Buffone. And Jane Garrett, who couldn't bring herself to sign a deal she believed handed too much power to the UFU and its controversial boss, Peter Marshall, has left cabinet. Yet for all the urgency of ending the dispute including escalating the issue in the middle of a federal election campaign Mr Merlino admits the EBA is still "weeks" away from being finalised. He also says he doesn't have an exact figure on how much it will cost taxpayers, but references Treasurer Tim Pallas, "who is on the record as saying it will be in the order of $160 million". He's also unable to spell out what concessions, if any, the union made as part of the agreement. What Mr Merlino is more certain about, however, is the damage the issue has caused firefighters and their families, which he says is a result of a "disgraceful campaign of misinformation by the Liberals and others". Yes, there are "consultation dispute resolutions" in the agreement, but there's no union veto, Mr Merlino says. Yes, there's a clause that requires seven paid firefighters to be dispatched to a fire, but it only relates to 34 integrated stations. And sure, there were concerns about gender diversity, but the agreement now contains a diversity clause. A convicted arsonist who escaped a jail sentence on Friday later launched a heated verbal attack on a Seven News crew while making "gang signs". Scott Morris was given an 11-month suspended sentence for setting fire to a derelict Chicken Treat restaurant in Midvale and several other bushfires. Scott Morris making "gang signs" outside the Supreme Court yesterday. Credit:Seven News Seven News Perth reporter Jamie Freestone said after Morris was convicted last year the 27-year-old had been placed on a pre-sentencing order involving counselling for drugs, personal and psychological issues. He said Supreme Court Judge Michael Corboy described Morris' behaviour while on the order as exemplary. A Swan View man has been charged over alleged sex attacks on a five-year-old girl. Detectives from the Child Abuse squad arrested the 31-year-old on Friday. Police have charged a Swan View man over sex attacks on a five-year-old girl. Credit:Michelle Smith Police say the man indecently assaulted the girl, who was known to him, at a residence in Perth's northern suburbs on Sunday July 24. Afterwards the girl told her parents what had happened. A 78-year-old woman has died after she was hit by a car on Stirling Highway in Perth. The woman was walking along Stirling Highway, beside Methodist Ladies College, when she was struck by a vehicle around 6pm on Friday evening. She was seriously injured and was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital where she later died from her injuries. The driver of the car has been cooperating with police investigating the incident. Off-duty Swedish police officer Mikaela Kellner was sunbathing in a Stockholm park this week when one of her friends' mobile phones went missing. Kellner, who was dressed in a bikini at the time, quickly realised that the most likely suspect was a man who had just passed by pretending to sell newspapers. So she didn't hesitate, and chased him with a colleague, then tackled him to the ground and arrested him. Because this is 2016, the ordeal was caught on camera, and Kellner posted it on Instagram, where it has already been liked more than 15,000 times. The Oil Industry Has Been Poisoning Us For Decades, and They've Always Known It Oil industry has more ways to kill us than global terrorists... but wait, they are them! Highly explosive gasoline, tetraethyl lead, MTBE, toluene, benzene, and the deadliest of all...WAR! These are some of the ways that the petroleum oil industry has killed us. By "us" I mean Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, Uruguayans, French, British, Irish, Swedish, Polish, Rooskies, Itais, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Sudanese, all of the these have been killed by or for petroleum oil fuels. Numbers not in the thousands or tens of thousands, but in the millions. Tetraethyl lead's deadly characteristics have been known for years, even though the oil industry tried everything possible to hide the truth from the public, much in the same way that the tobacco industry tried to hide how dangerous tobacco smoking and chewing can be. But tetra-ethyl lead hasn't always been a component of gasoline, and in most instances in America it hasn't been used very much during the past two decades. Health concerns were finally addressed. Unfortunately, for the public, what is still used in gasoline is benzene, and the oil industry would like to increase it's use by eliminating the use of ethanol (which was primarily adopted in recent years in place of tetraethyl lead and then MTBE). So, what's wrong with benzene? Oh, everything. In the late 1940's the American Petroleum Institute sponsored a study of benzene. I presume they were hoping for a miracle finding that would absolve them of any guilt or responsibility for killing people. What they did, instead, was shoot themselves in the foot...well, both feet, and then they stepped on their own male anatomical part at the same time. The report, called the API TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW, was published in September 1948. It "summarizes the best available information on the properties, characteristics, and toxicology of benzene. It offers suggestions and tentative recommendations pertaining to medical treatment, medical examinations, and precautionary measures for workers who are exposed to benzene. It was prepared at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass., under the direction of Professor Philip Drinker." The report was made available to me by the people at FixOurFuel.com and UrbanAirInitiative.com. The complete report can be found at http://fixourfuel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/API-Benzene-Toxicology-Review-2.pdf. The report cites various symptoms of exposure to benzene, including the final ultimate symptom of exposure to benzene...death. It discusses possible treatment for exposure, and it also sets forth the levels at which benzene can cause these symptoms and/or death to occur. The quantities range from very high exposure to relatively minute quantities, as permitted by government laws. It can go from 20,000 ppm (parts per million) in the air we breathe, to just 50 or 100 ppm. The upper quantities can result in immediate death, the lower quantities take a little longer. The most critical part of the report, I think, is the part in which they give what they believe is a safe ppm amount of benzene in the air we breathe. The report states: "Inasmuch as the body develops no tolerance to benzene, and as there is a wide variation in individual susceptibility, it is generally considered that the only absolutely safe concentration for benzene is zero." Zero, as in NO safe level. As in there shouldn't be any concentration of benzene in the air we breathe. As TACH's editor-in-chief, Mark Fulmer, says about this, "Benzene is what helps give gasoline it's unique odor...it's the smell of death." There are some who claim that we (the editorial "we") owe a debt of thanks to petroleum oil fuels; that we wouldn't have enjoyed such advanced living conditions without petroleum oil fuels. Their underlying supposition is that the cost of achieving such advanced living conditions is the price of an insignificant number of humans (100 million dead, for example, is statistically meaningless compared to the 100 billion that have lived since the invention of petroleum oil fuels). The problem with that kind of thinking is that we don't owe any gratitude to petroleum oil fuels or the people who make it, we owe all the thanks to the people who invented the machines that use the fuel. The people who invented the original machines didn't invent them to be powered by petroleum oil fuels. Samuel Morey's internal combustion engine - perhaps the first internal combustion engine - was powered by a mixture of wood turpentine and alcohol. Rudolph Diesel didn't invent diesel fuel, he invented the diesel engine, which was powered by peanut oil. Nicholas Otto's more advanced internal combustion engine was also powered with an alcohol fuel. It's only because petroleum oil fuels were given huge financial advantages that kerosene, gasoline, and petroleum diesel fuel became the primary fuels. They were not needed to advance the state of engine technology. In fact, gasoline could not and cannot be safely used in advanced engines (high compression engines) without the inclusion of ethanol or some other additive that emulates ethanol's anti-knock characteristics. And what are those non-ethanol additives? Tetraethyl lead, MTBE, benzene and toluene - all poisons. The oil industry would like to turn back the clock on how and why ethanol was re-introduced into common use in America; they want to replace ethanol with more benzene and toluene (incidentally, there's equally alarming studies about how dangerous toluene is, such as https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-03/documents/toluene_toxicology_review_0118tr_3v.pdf. The bottom line is that petroleum oil fuels were never needed; alcohol fuels could have done the same job and without all the loss of life attributed to the petroleum fuels and their additives. We don't need petroleum oil fuels now, but as long as they're there, for the foreseeable future, there's no reason why we have to suffer from the full consequences of that poison. The immediate acceptance of higher blend levels of ethanol-gasoline fuels will make it possible to meet all environmental/health goals almost immediately, not in 10 or 20 or 30 years. It will be a tremendous boost to our domestic financial condition, and it will diminish the threats from foreign terrorists. We may still have had to fight a Great War, and then the 2nd World War, and the two Gulf Wars, and the War in Afghanistan, but maybe they wouldn't have been so deadly and so prolonged. How dangerous are benzene and toluene? Watch these videos to see: What surprises me is that with all the legal firms across America who are active in filing law suits against companies for asbestos poisoning, or faulty breast implants, or any one of a dozen other class-action issues, that the oil industry continues to sell their poisons with relative impunity. SEE ALSO: Truth About Ethanol. One of the main concerns with our United States of American is the lack of respect and allegiance to the laws that have governed us over the great years we have enjoyed over my lifetime. This lack of respect has shown itself in the destruction of the family and all it stands for. Also, the lack of respect for our law enforcers and those in authority, this has been demonstrated so inhumanly by the deaths of our police officers in the line of duty. Those who put their lives on the line every time they put on their law enforcer uniforms need to know that there are those who appreciate their dedication and will back them up in prayer and our voices. It is our prayer that through the Christians Praying for Charleston group that meets monthly, we can totally united as Christian set aside a time we can all meet and pray for our protectors. We are asking that all Charleston and nearby churches to set aside Sunday Morning August 21st as a time to unite together and pray for any person serving in the law enforcement responsibilities. Let them know we are behind them all the way and want them to know we can rest in our homes and city because you are available and trained to protect us come what may. Thanks and God Bless you. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 29/07/2016 (2282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A two-year cocaine trafficking and importation investigation ended in multiple arrests after police searched a property in Rosenort yesterday, Manitoba RCMP say. Four men from both Manitoba and Ontario were arrested after a lengthy investigation revealed a criminal group moving large amounts of cocaine from Mexico into Canada. Police seized over two kilograms of cocaine and identified sophisticated concealment methods which enabled the cocaine shipments to cross international borders undetected. On July 28, officers from the Manitoba RCMP searched a rural property near Rosenort. The same day, Ontario RCMP, along with members of the Canadian Border Services Agency, Essex County OPP, and the Chatham-Kent Police Service searched several properties in the Leamington area, in relation to the investigation. Frank Banman, 35, from Rosenort was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and cocaine possession. Daniel Tiessen, 48, from Leamington, Ontario was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and conspiracy to kidnap. Jacob Thiessen, 29, also from Leamington was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and conspiracy to kidnap Jay Shanks, 56, also from Leamington was charged with conspiracy to kidnap. The result of this joint investigation demonstrates that provincial and international borders do not insulate organized crime from prosecution, said Manitoba RCMP Insp. Tim Olmstead in a release. This also re-enforces the fact that the RCMP and its partner agencies work effectively together to keep illicit drugs out of our communities. The investigation is ongoing, RCMP say. ASPEN, Colorado Pressure is mounting on the Obama administration to publicly identify the source of a cyber attack against the Democratic National Committee, which law enforcement and intelligence officials say has been traced to Russia and appears to be part of a campaign to meddle with the presidential election. This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakersas well as former intelligence officials, retired military officers, and security expertsurged President Obama to call out Russia for the hacking campaign. After all, these experts say, thats what he did when North Korea was blamed for a damaging cyber attack against Sony Pictures in retaliation for a satirical film. That hack was seen as an assault on core American values of freedom of expression. Similarly, the breach of the DNC is viewed as an affront to the U.S. electoral process that cannot go unanswered. Officially, the White House and intelligence agencies have taken no public stance on who is behind the attack, which was first revealed in June and took on new urgency when DNC staff emails were leaked last week, showing that the organization tried to undermine the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign amid the scandal. And the email leak cast a shadow over the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. But six U.S. officials and security experts have told The Daily Beast that the evidence linking Russia to the hack appears conclusive. Obama himself stepped closer to pinning the hacks on Russia when he told NBC News that experts have attributed this to the Russians and that it was possible the leak was designed to help the Trump campaign. Three U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that it is too early to discuss possible retaliation against Russia, noting that the FBI is still investigating the breach. But privately, the officials said, there are discussions underway about a response that is at least as public and as aggressive as the U.S. response to the Sony hack, in 2014. The Russians may do this to other countries, but they cannot be allowed to do it to us, a former senior U.S. official told The Daily Beast, speaking privately because of the sensitivities surrounding ongoing discussions about when and how to publicly blame the Russian government. In an unprecedented move after the Sony hack that many now see as a model, Obama called a press conference at the White House and publicly denounced North Korea. FBI Director James Comey later revealed sensitive technical information about how the U.S. knew the Hermit Kingdom was to blame. The evidence was gleaned from classified U.S. intelligence operations tracking the North Korean hackers. In January 2015, the U.S. placed sanctions on North Korean businesses and officials. And as The Daily Beast reported, the U.S. also launched retaliatory cyber attacks on North Korean computer networks. A senior U.S. intelligence official said this week that the FBI and the National Security Agency, which monitors global computer networks and has the authority to launch offensive cyber operations, are in the lead on the DNC hack investigation. The question of how and when to respond took on new urgency on Friday with news that a DNC computer system also used by the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had been compromised. An analytics data program maintained by the DNC, and used by our campaign and a number of other entities, was accessed as part of the DNC hack, Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement late Friday after the breach was reported by Reuters. Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts. To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised, Merrill said. On Thursday, Reuters reported that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises money for House races, had also been compromised. Hackers were able to divert donors away from the DCCCs website to one that the hackers controlled. Its not clear if the operation was intended to gather information on the donors. This wave of attacks is absolutely unprecedented. This is quickly transitioning from a partisan problem, to a national security emergency, Justin Harvey, the chief security officer of computer security company Fidelis, told The Daily Beast. The company has analyzed the attack on the DCCC system and found that it traces back to Russia. I am hoping that the FBI will share the threat intelligence it collects with the public and cybersecurity firms so we can help other organizations that may have been affected by these actors, Harvey said. In an interview at the Aspen Security Forum, CIA Director Brennan on Friday warned of foreign actors looking to manipulate the foundation of our democracy, which is an election. He declined to say who was behind the attacks on the DNC and others. Russian officials have denied being behind the attack. Earlier this week, while meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry in Laos, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the allegation by saying: I dont want to use four-letter words. It is so absurd it borders on total stupidity, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly said. On Thursday, a group of 32 former intelligence officials who have served in Democratic and Republican administrations, as well as retired military officers and security experts called on President Obama to ensure that the attacks are attributed and take prompt actions sufficient to hold those responsible accountable and deter foreign actors from pursuing such tactics in the future. The experts, many of whom convened with top U.S. officials in Aspen, Colorado, this week for an annual security forum, warned that the hacking of a political organization could presage an attempt to skew election results by attacking electronic voting systems. Election officials at every level of government should take this lesson to heart: our electoral process could be a target for reckless foreign governments and terrorist groups, wrote the members of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group. Earlier this week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees wrote to Obama urging the administration to consider declassifying and releasing, subject to redactions to protect sources and methods, any Intelligence Community assessments regarding the incident, including any that might illuminate potential Russian motivations for what would be an unprecedented interference in a U.S. Presidential race The lawmakers also asked for intelligence about why Putin could potentially feel compelled to authorize such an operation, given the high likelihood of eventual attribution. The statement presupposed that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, as well as private computer security companies, would be able to determine who was behind the attacks, and that such information wouldnt stay secret for long. Security, law enforcement, and intelligence officials havent reached a consensus on whether the hack and subsequent leak of DNC emails was intended to benefit one presidential candidate over another, current and former U.S. officials involved in the deliberations said. That lack of clarity is making administration officials move cautiously in holding Russia to account. But with new hacks being announced by the day, it seems only a matter of time before Obama is compelled to call out Moscow for its mischief. Ironically, the call for disclosure from former intelligence officials and top lawmakers is mirrored by Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker now living in Moscow. During the #Sony hack, the FBI presented evidence, he tweeted. Evidence that could publicly attribute responsibility for the DNC hack certainly exists at #NSA. with additional reporting by Noah Shachtman History was made, Bill Maher smirked Friday as he led off an epic post-conventions Real Time episode filled with Trump shade, Hillary critique, and love for special guest Bernie Sanders. One of our major parties nominated a woman, and the other nominated a pussy. A day after Hillary Clinton officially accepted the Democratic Partys nomination for President, Maher welcomed her runner-up, live via satellite from Burlington, Vermont. He didnt quite make it to the nomination, Maher gushed, but in my lifetime I have never seen a candidate as beloved. Hailed as a patriot by Maherunlike some of your supporters, the HBO host snarked (shout out Bernie Bros!)Senator Bernie Sanders dutifully stumped for party unity. Bernies review of the tumultuous, balloon-filled 2016 DNC? I think it was a good convention. I think it brought together people with different points of view within the Democratic Partythe progressives, the more conservative, the moderates, he said. But I think what comes out of that convention is the understanding that Donald Trump is the most dangerous presidential candidate in the modern history of this country. Sanders blasted Trumps absurd views on everything from climate change to tax breaks for the rich to his stint as an anti-Obama birther. But above all of that, this guy is running his entire campaign based on bigotry, based on trying to divide us up, based on trying to insult Mexicans, Latinos, and women, and African-Americans. This, Bernie continued, underscoring the urgent need to thwart a Trump America, is a guy who is dangerous. Bernie agreed with Khizr Khan, the Muslim-American father of a fallen Army captain, who slammed the Republican nominee on the DNC stage over his inflammatory anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant rhetoric. Somebody like Trump does not understand the Constitution of the United States, Sanders said. This is a guy who must be defeated. Bernie is only 74 years young, Maher pointed out. He asked Sanders point blank: why not run for President again? Well, Sanders didnt say hed never run again. He gently smiled. Thank you very much, but four years from now is a long time from now my term ends in two years as a United States senator from Vermont. Everything being equal, I intend to run for reelection from Vermont, a state that I love very, very much. Whatever my political future may or may not be I will be fighting as hard as I can to stand up for a declining middle class, to take on the grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality that were seeing right now, he added. To demand that the United States join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people, as a right to make public colleges and universities in this country tuition-free. Those are the issues we have got to continue to fight for. Bernie promised to keep fighting for those issues from Hillarys corner, to make sure she sticks to the lane he nudged her toward over the course of the Democratic primary. What I intend to do the day after Hillary Clinton is elected President of the United States is to do everything that I can to make sure she goes forward as progressively as she can, maintaining a very strong Democratic-progressive platform that we passed together, he vowed, drawing applause and whistles from the studio audience. Sending a subtle message to his most vocally anti-Hillary supporters, Bernie encouraged his people to keep stoking the energy they put into backing his movement, even with him out of the race. Its not just the right thing to do for the moment, he urged. What we have got to do is we must continue the political revolution. We must continue to bring millions of people into the political process to stand up, to take on the billionaire class, to fight for economic and social and racial and environmental justice. And that fight must continue the day after the election because fundamental changestransformational changestake time to happen. They dont happen overnight. Later in the show, a lively panel dissected the presidential field as it now stands, with guest Barney Frank tangling repeatedly with Dr. Cornel West over Hillary, Bernie, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Jill Stein doesnt go to jail, Frank shot at Stein booster West, she goes to dinner. Hillary is brilliant, shes smartshe just doesnt have a whole lot of integrity, West shouted. Maher got into it with West, skeptical of Steins draw as a third-party nominee, and described backing Trump as boarding a train to utter destruction. Let me give you an analogy, he said. Youre at a train station right here in L.A. You want to go to San Francisco. Theres one train that goes to San Francisco, but its a little slower than you want. Theres one other train leaving, but its not going to San Franciscoits going to hell. In the end, it was Trump who brought everyone together. Frank decried Trumps playing footsie with Putin, describing Russias president as one of the worst people in the world. The notion that hes going to sit back and encourage this vicious thug to impinge on new democracies is a disgrace, said the co-chair of the DNCs rules committee. Maher closed out the show with a suggestion for Hillary, whose stiff politician act warmed up Thursday night when she unleashed the beast and started dragging Trump: give up on the nice grandma act and lean into every scary image the GOP has conjured around her. Hillary has to embrace all the nasty things the haters say and run as the Notorious H.R.C., Maher said. After all, its working frighteningly well for Trump. He even wrote a tagline for Hillarys new PR campaign. Im Crooked Hillary, and not only do I approve this imageI will cut a bitch. MOSCOW Russias bravest performance artist, best known for nailing his scrotum to Red Square and setting fire to the door of the secret police headquarters, says he thinks Russians are terrorized by the monstrous phantom of the security services, by arrests, and by prison terms. His acts of art, as Petr Pavlensky calls them, clearly are acts of defiance, and he expects to pay a price for them, he told The Daily Beast after his release from seven months behind bars. On the November night last year when the 32-year-old artist poured gasoline onto the door of the FSB security service headquarters on Lubyanka Square, a place Russians feared for generations as the dread home of the KGB, he knew perfectly well that the punishment could be anything from 15 days to several years behind bars in a penitentiary system where prisoners often are beaten and tortured, and sometimes die unaccountable deaths. Pavlensky said his work of conceptual art, which he called Threat, focused specifically on interrogators, on punishments and those punished, and every element of his experience, from hi arrest to the day of his release, became part of the intellectual construct. Police grabbed Pavlensky while the Lubyanka door was still on fire. For seven months he traveled through multiple corridors, cells, police vehicles, court rooms and psychiatric wards, where he talked with prisoners, young drug users, murderers, businessmen, and former officials. Most prisoners supported me and my actions, because people today realize that the system is ultimately wrong, Pavlensky said. As far as I see it, the FSB is in power in Russia, as the KGB or NKVD were in power decades ago; these thugs send people to jail for many years for a gram of hashish or for one post on social media or for expressing their opinion, and they do that with only one goal: to make the masses obey, to break peoples spirit and will. The experience of incarceration, Pavlensky said, reminded him of the Soviet school he attended, all part of a system: an enormous center for taming Russian citizens. While Pavlensky was in jail, human rights defenders reported multiple violations in the federal penitentiary service: four detainees died from brain injuries or other signs of violence in Moscow SIZO # 4 in one month. Of course I was afraid, I am human like anybody else, but I am convinced that it is even scarier to live in a country where authorities liquidate unwanted individuals, take over businesses, where FSB rule the state and terrorize citizens, Pavlensky said. The fire over the door was symbolic; I illuminated the darkness of repressive power, he said. Things are not getting better. On Tuesday the State Duma, the lower house of the legislature, discussed a bill to make criminally liable anyone who shows disrespect for Russia and the authorities of the country. As its last move before summer vacation, the State Duma also voted for a package of counter-terrorist amendments that activists say can be used against anyone. The repressive chill of Soviet-era laws is coming back. Beginning this year Russians will go to prison for failing to report a crime, and Russians as young as 14 can be prosecuted as adults. Pavlensky began to disobey rules many years ago. In 2004 as a student in his last year at Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy he had a conflict with one of his professors. He pretended to be one of us free thinkers, but actually he rejected any rebellious ideas, the artist recalled. The methods are always the same: officials reject, punish and humiliate people. So he painted a 2.5-meter-long vagina for his art exam. His work was not accepted, and Pavlensky never received his diploma. But he quickly became known for his provocative stuntsincluding nailing his scrotum to the cobblestones of Red Square, stitching his lips together to protest the imprisonment of Pussy Riot members, and slicing off his earlobe in a Van Gogh-like act atop the Serbsky psychiatric clinic, where the Soviets used to lock up their dissidents. In prison this year, the artist said, up to 60 percent of the inmates he saw were teenagers. Men in uniforms command thousands of young prisoners what to do, so the individuals would stop thinking, Pavlensky said. There is also violence. The artists shoulder and knee still hurt, he said, after the beatings he experienced in jail. Before my hearing at Moscow City Court, eight guards beat me up, he says. They kicked me; some hit me around the liver, so I could not breath for a long time. Beatings are normal before Moscow City Court hearings. On June 8, the Moscow court set the rebellious artist free, but fined him $7,700 for the cost of repairing the damaged FSB doora huge amount of money for a struggling artist. If Pavlensky fails to pay the fine, authorities could ban him from traveling abroad: See, they just moved our relations to a different field of financial pressure, he said. While still free to travel, Pavlensky flew abroad. For his first trip he chose the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, where he was received as a national hero. Here, Pavlensky met with another former Russian prisoner, Nadia Savchenko, a military pilot. And although Pavlensky normally opposes the military with its orders and its wars, he found his conversation with Savchenko about her almost two years in Russian prisons important. Nataliya Gemenyuk, the editor-in-chief of the Hromadske International television channel, invited the artist to read a lecture at Kievs Center of Visual Arts. Our audience received Pavlensky with flowers and ovations, because he is seen as the symbol of a free Russian, Gumenyuk told The Daily Beast. Maybe he is the only one, but in our hearts we hope there will be more Russians like him. From appearances on the big screen to glass-enclosed shrines in art museums, almost everyone today is familiar with the gleaming, curved blade of a majestic samurai sword. In the fierce world of weaponry, the samurai sword holds a place of honor as the pinnacle of craftsmanship, blending functionality and beauty to create something like a practical piece of art. Japanese swordsmiths have been fashioning these delicate and deadly blades, also known as katana, for over a millennium, but there is none that has matched the sword known as the Honjo Masamune. Considered one of the best swords to have ever been crafted, the Honjo Masamune has lived a storied life over the past seven centuries. It has been wielded by samurai, passed down through generations of a Japanese shogunate, and been honored as an official National Treasure of Japan. But the one test it has yet to overcome is the invasion of American soldiers during World War II, when it was seen for the last time. As with all good tales of mastery and adventure, the Honjo Masamune and its creator, Goro Nyudo Masamune, have entered the world of legend. It can be hard to distinguish fact from myth in the life of Masamune, but it is widely believed that he lived and plied his trade from the mid-13th century through the turn of the 14th, during the golden age of swordsmithing in Japan. During this era of Japanese history, known as the Kamakura Period, the samurai ruled Japan and fought off a series of Mongol invasions aided by their deadly weapon, which was commonly said to be the soul of the samurai. Well before modern tools or technology, Masamune was crafting some of the finest swords Japan had ever seen. The only man said to rival him was a fellow master of the craft known as Sengo Muramasa. While Muramasa was considered a top-notch blacksmith, he was also allegedly a troubled man, and these traits of violence were thought to be melted into the blades that he forged. Legend has it that one day, the two swordsmiths decided to go head to head to see whose creations were truly the best in the world. Masamune and Muramasa each dropped one of their swords, point down, into a nearby river. Muramasa was sure that he had won after his blade sliced through everything the current sent its way. But a passing monk disagreed. He awarded the win to Masamune, whose blade had only sliced through the leaves, sparing the innocent lives of fish and other living things that had come its way. Of all of Masamunes creations, the Honjo Masamune is considered to be his finest. Its not clear who the sword was made for, but one of its earliest ownersand the man who contributed the first half of its namewas a warrior by the name of Honjo Shigenaga. The story goes that Shigenaga was attacked in a battle by a warrior wielding the blade. He was hit on the head and the sword cracked his helmet in half. But he quickly retaliated, killing his attacker and taking the prized weapon for himself. After Shigenaga, the blade passed through a series of hands, lost and won in battles and sold by owners in need of some cash. It eventually landed in the hands of the Tokugawa family, who ruled Japan for over 250 years. Because of the swords prestige, it became a symbol of the Tokugawa Shogunate and was passed down through generations of the family long after their rule ended. The Honjo Masamune was awarded the distinction of being named an official Japanese National Treasure in 1939. When World War II blazed onto the scene, the sword was still a prized possession of one branch of the Tokugawa family. But that all changed when the fiery burst of atomic destruction brought the war to a sudden end. Japan surrendered, and the victorious Allies led by the U.S. army entered the country. In a somewhat puzzling move, the U.S. decreed that all Japanese families must turn over their weapons, including the samurai swords that were long-time family heirlooms for many of the countrys top clans. This ruling was eventually overturned, but not before many swords were disappeared or destroyed. One of these was the fabled Honjo Masamune. The Tokugawa family, deciding to set a good example by abiding by the American decree, relinquished their famous sword to the U.S. military. It has never been seen since. Many believe it was given to an American soldier, who presumably took it back to the U.S. as something of a spoil of war. But the only name that was ever suggested as a possible lead was a Sgt. Coldy Bimore, a man who extensive efforts have failed to identify or locate. Adding to the lack of viable leads is the fact that Masamunes swords are notoriously difficult to identify and locate. The practice of signing the metal hilt of the sword was popular during his heyday, but, whether out of humility or preferred style, the most famous blacksmith in Japan often refused to follow this practice. The whereabouts of only a handful of his creations are known today. In 2014, an expert at the Kyoto National Museum identified the first Masamune blade in over 150 years, one known as the Shimazu Masamune. Another sits in the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, gifted to the 33rd president by an American general who was given the sword by a Japanese family during the occupation at the end of WWII. But the most famousand greatestof all the samurai swords has yet to be located. It remains hidden, most likely sitting in a home somewhere in the U.S., languishing as an unknown and forgotten treasure of a long ago war. Albeit, a treasure that is now worth a serious amount of money. Billy Name, who died aged 76 on July 18, was William Linich when he met Andy Warhol in the late 50s. It was at Serendipity 3, a seething spot in the East 60s where regulars included such future Warhol-stars as Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, but Warhol was still a highly successful commercial artist and Linich, a lighting designer and performer of 20 or so, was a waiter. Robert Heide, the playwright and collector of Mickey Mouse memorabilia, who appears in a couple of Warhol movies, remembers him well. I met him at the San Remo Cafe on Bleecker, he says, referring to what was one of the totemic art bars in what was still part of Little Italy. Jack Kerouac, Edward Albee, Allen Ginsberg, [the actress] Judith Malina and [her husband] Julian Beck might all be there. He was incredibly good-looking and he had an aura I would compare to Edie Sedgwick, Andy was very smitten. Warhol and Linich had a fling but it was short-lived. Linich had been a relatively recent arrival from upstate, the son of a Poughkeepsie barber. He was living in Greenwich Village, fully immersed in the intense downtown bohemia of the period, performing with the Judson Memorial Dance Theater, which operated out of the church on Washington Square, and with the minimalist composer, La Monte Young. Also, Linich was getting known for an appropriately Fluxus-era enterprise, his Haircut Parties, where you could actually get a haircutso known indeed that the artist Ray Johnson brought Warhol to one. Warhol was enormously impressed to find the apartment swathed in silver foil, with its accoutrements silver-painted, so much so that he asked Linich to come and make over his new space, a fifth floor loft at 231 East 47th Street. This Linich duly did. Thus the first Factory became the Silver Factory. And Linich fixed the electricity too, because by his own later account there hadnt been any and Warhol had been working in natural light beside a window. He also moved into a cubicle there, which has usually been described as crashing, but Linichs own believable account is that he felt that he was needed. Tim Hunt, formerly an agent for prints and photographs at the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, agrees. He was Andys favorite at the Factory, Hunt says. He was a steadying force, the gatekeeper, and Andy really valued him for that. Oh, yes, and he acquired his superstar identity. While he was filling in an official form, his pen hovered Name Billy He wrote. He had become Billy Name. He also found a role. In the early 60s Warhol was increasingly focused on becoming a moviemaker, so handed his Honeywell Pentax 35 mm over to Billy and told him he was now the house photographer. Name procured the manual, studied it, turned one of the bathrooms into a darkroom and became a remarkable documentarian of the amphetamine-laced tragi-comedians that flowed through the Silver Factory. Warhol shot 21 films in 1963 and Billy Name was in three of them: Haircut I, 2 and 3. He also appeared in The Nude Restaurant, along with the Warhol superstars Viva and Taylor Mead. By the time this was released on November 1967 the Factory had moved to a new space on Union Square. On June 3, 1968, Billy Name was in his cubicle when he heard odd popping sounds. He walked out to see Warhol lying puddled in blood. He rushed to him, gathered him into his arms and began weeping. He later reported that Warhol said Oh Billy, dont make me laugh, it hurts too much. Valerie Solanas, the shooter, author of the SCUM Manifestofor The Society for Cutting Up Menhad failed to kill Warhol but had effected huge changes. Obviously I shall avoid unstable people, Warhol later wrote in Popism], but he fretted that without the crazy, druggy people around jabbering away and doing their insane things I would lose my creativity. But the 60s Factory was a goner. Billy Fame complained about what he called the new Cardboard Andy and the more businesslike culture. Then suddenly he was gone, leaving only a note pinned to his door. It read: Dear Andy, I am not here anymore, but I am fine really. With Love, Billy. His departure was not brushed off. He was a very special person, says Vincent Fremont, former manager of Warhols studio and a co-founder of the Warhol Foundation. He says that Warhol had asked him to pack all Names leavings into a chest. There were so many books I put into that silver chest. Astrology books, God knows what. We never opened it again. After Andy died we gave it to Billy. Some of its contents are now on loan to the Andy Warhol Museum. And Billy Name? Not long before his death he gave Dagon James, who edited Billy Name: The Silver Age, some details of his departure from the Factory. It had been night when he walked out, but he had been in a dark closet for so long that the street lamp he looked up at looked like sunlight to him. He stayed for a week with an ambassador he knew, then fell in with some people he didnt know, and went down to Georgia with them and picked fruit for a week. He then went on to New Orleans, then to California and stayed for a while with the poet Diane Prima in Topanga Canyon, where he hung out with a group of Californian artists and writers, like George Herms and Wallace Berman. He then settled for a year in San Francisco, studying Buddhism and taking no photographs. And in the 1980s he headed back to his hometown, Poughkeepsie. Billy Name became pretty well-known there and in such neighboring towns as Woodstock. I never saw his eyes, says the artist, Paul McMahon. He always wore wraparound sunglasses. John Adams, a Poughkeepsie based artist, met him at the Mid-Hudson Arts and Science Center and became his closest friend. We would go to art shows and poetry readings, Adams says. Nothing was too small. Sometimes we would just drive until we saw something that interested us. Names own working days were behind him, but he would sometimes do readings. He is never known to have taken more photographs. His connection with Adams strengthened after Adams and his wife separated. Sometimes we would go to New York and stay in the Gershwin Hotel, Adams says. And occasionally they would run into characters from Names past, like Wayne aka Jayne County. The painter reunited with his wife, but his friendship with Name continued. The first Warhol generation, alumni of the Silver Factory, such as Taylor Mead and Ultra Violet, became very liable to lay into Warhol, both before and after his death. Paul Morrissey indeed insisted to me that there was no such thing as a Factory, that it was a media invention. But not Billy Name, his barbs at the later Cardboard Andy aside. All the others from the 60s group would beat up on Andy a bit, says Hunt. Or magnify their roles. Billy was always gracious. He would never talk about his contribution. He would say he was privileged to have been around a genius. Fremont says, Billy never attacked Andy. He and Brigid Berlin were the only ones. Billy Fame would also occasionally attend various Warhol-related events, such as the 20th anniversary of the Warhol Museum. In October 2014 there was a show at Milk Studios in West Chelsea of photographs from Billy Name: The Silver Age. We spoke. He was larger than life, apparently hale. But not. It was widely known that Billy Name had been increasingly ill for several years, but nobody seems to know anything more precise. Years of amphetamine addiction might have played a part, but there are also rumors of a bad fall, and he is said to have had several small recent strokes. Shiv Mirabito was well aware of this. Mirabito, a Woodstock-based publisher, had been originally introduced to Name in 1900 by Allen Midgette, a denizen of the Silver Factory who Warhol had sent out to impersonate him on a notorious 1967 college tour. Recently Mirabito made an edition of prints of photographs Name had taken of Midgette that same year, and which Warhol had stamped with his own name. Mirabito had asked Midgette to sign them and asked Name to sign a few too. Which he did. Mirabito wrote me: Soon he wasnt feeling well and pronounced that he was going home a few days later he was gone. Theres an irony here. Billy Name had had it with Poughkeepsie, where he was in an assisted living facility. He wanted to go back to San Francisco. I was in the process of moving him out, Dagon James says. So what now? Well, one horror of Billy Fames last years was the disappearance of a trusted agent, Kevin Kushel, to Hawaii with the bulk of his negatives. James, who is the designated heir to Billy Names estate, is currently building a website to display Names photography. He believes that he has managed to reconstitute about 30 per cent of his work. As for the rest, he believes these negatives exist. So the remarkable story of Billy Fame is very far from over. This is the second of three articles investigating what may have been a savage crime or a tragic accident. In addition to a trove of documents and photographs revealing hitherto unexamined aspects of the case, The Daily Beast has consulted several top sleuths in fields as varied as wilderness survival and photographic analysis, including forensic anthropologist and best-selling author Kathy Reichs. *** Find hundreds of hours worth of longform stories like this, read by audiobook narrators, in the Audm app for iPhone. Listen to a sample below: After four days of focus on the Democrats, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah ended his week in Philadelphia Friday night by examining how Donald Trump responded to the near-constant barrage of attacks he received from the DNC stage. But first, he played some highlights from Michael Bloombergs Donald Trump diss track. In his speech, the former New York City mayor said, Trump says he wants to run the nation like hes running his business? God help us and later The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy. One of the biggest discussions this election year has been, does Donald Trump have the temperament to be president? Noah asked. Because being a president, especially of a nation in control of nuclear weapons, requires that you have measured responses. As a leader of democracy, you cant just lose your shit at the slightest provocation, the host continued. It appears, though, Cinnamon Hitler didnt get the memo. Noah proceeded to play some disturbing clips from a press conference Trump gave in Iowa that better resembled the old Trump, the one his most delusional supporters believe he left behind months ago. Trump ranted about wanting to hit a couple of those speakers so hard, adding that he wanted to hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. It was in that same presser that Trump practically joined the Lock her up! chants coming from his biggest fans. You can bait Donald Trump into doing practically anything, Noah said. For instance, he said if you say, Hey, Donald, I bet your hands are too small to give me a handjob, the candidate would reply, Oh yeah? Drop those pants! This Daily Show segment is just the latest in a line of increasingly political statements from Trevor Noah to his audience. On Wednesday, the host used his show to argue that Hillary Clinton would objectively be a far better president than Trump, saying, Its embarrassing that this is even a contest. That same night, according to UPROXXs Andrew Husband, who was in the audience for the shows taping, Noah made an even more direct plea to his audience off-camera. Dont vote for Donald Trump come November. Just dont do it, Noah told the crowd after the taping was over. Do not let him become the next president of the United States. Seriously. On July 30, 1866, taking our country back left our country bloodied and scarred in a now-forgotten event called the New Orleans Massacre. One of Reconstructions deadliest days started over the refusal to accept civil rights as a verdict of the Civil War and, more broadly, because whites left behind tried to turn back the clock with violence. The New Orleans Massacre left 48 men dead and over 200 injured, nearly all African Americans. The massacre was naked political violence, organized beforehand, and directed at black delegates to the Louisiana constitutional convention of 1866. Attackers included policemen led by ex-Confederate Mayor John T. Monroe. On a hot summer day, a gathering of over 200 African-American New Orleanians marched to the Mechanics Institute (now the Roosevelt Hotel on Canal Street and Roosevelt Way) where 30 of them planned to take part in drafting a new state constitution that included the right to vote for all men. It is welcome news that PBSs Masterpiece strand will be bringing Mike Bartletts witty, pacy, and strangely moving play, King Charles III, to American TV screens. The play, which began life in London before moving to Broadway, imagines a future Prince Charles now-made-monarch following the death of the Queen. Tim Pigott-Smith will be playing Charles in the Masterpiece version, as he did on stage (the rest of the casting is still to be announced), and Rupert Goold will direct, as he also did on stage. Bartletts play, written in free verse and with the ancient and traditional clashing with the very modern and political, imagines that Charles reign may be exceptionally short-lived if Prince William and a very Lady Macbeth-ian Kate Middleton have their way: the couple knows William is more popular than Charles and scheme to displace him before he has a chance to get used to wearing the crown. What the play does cleverlyin imagining a party-loving Prince Harry toois dramatize in very vivid terms the unknown relationships at the top of the Royal Family, while also wrong-footing us about what may be the real characteristics of its protagonists. Kate is not just doe-eyed and smiling, but hard and calculating; Camilla is no smiling consort, but vital in trying to ensuring Charles fights for his interests and ideals. Missing from the play is Prince George, which is fair enough asat 3he is presently too young to have any say about anything. But that hasnt stopped social media and the press pillorying him in very adult terms to mark his third birthday. As the Daily Beast reported earlier this week, first he was slammed for giving family dog Lupo a lick of ice cream; and then on Facebook, underneath where someone had posted a picture of himwhich the author thought made the Prince look like a fucking dickheadBritish Council employee Angela Gibbins posted this message: 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 is now the subject of a disciplinary procedure. The British Councils patron is the Queen, and it receives almost $210 million in public money every year to promote British language and culture around the world. Gibbins received both opprobrium and mockery online and in the pressin one picture she is seen holding a champagne glass, the ridiculous implication being that she couldnt object to the classism enshrined by the Royal family if she earned a decent wage and enjoyed the odd glass of fizz herself. Responding to her critics (accusing her of hating on Prince George) on Facebook, Gibbins was extremely clear, non-inflammatory, and reasoned in her views. I have a multi-faceted political opinion, she wrote to one. 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. Whether one agrees with Gibbins or not, debating the point and future of a monarchy in a modern Western democracy is hardly new and arguably more salient than ever as Britain prepares to shape its post-Brexit future. The Royal family itself knows that its position in a pluralist societywith class divisions becoming ever more porous and the public feeling ever more financially squeezedis increasingly precarious. The public, especially at the moment of succession as identified in King Charles III, will ask, ever more urgently, why they are funding the Royal family. The irony that cute pictures of Prince George turning 3 were the backdrop for Gibbins pointed remarks on class and privilege is that the pictures were presumably sanctioned for release to warm public hearts to the little princeand to satisfy a ravenous press who are otherwise kept well away from him. The pictures of Prince George do not make him look like a normal 3-year-old. Hes dressed in an upper-class toddler uniform. He looks like a Royal-in-the-making, far from a regular kid. The online insults flow from what seem to his critics as a vivid display of wealth and privilege. Besides carefully managed photo opportunities, and the release of photographs as on his 3rd birthday, Prince George and Princess Charlottes childhoods are being conducted away from the prying eyes of the media. Prince William has an understandable wariness of the media, after the treatment afforded to his mother, Diana, Princess of Walesand he clearly wants his family to grow up with more privacy than she had, especially in her all-too-brief post-divorce-from-Charles life. But too cloistered and private, and William will run the gauntlet of critics who want to see a more public and publicly engaged monarchy, if Britain will continue to have a monarchy at all. This week, a new Will and Kate tour of Canada was announced, and certainly the Royal brand travels well in their care, just as it does with the Queen. But are Royal tours to friendly Commonwealth countries enough? Even those bonds will fray as younger generations grow older and question the meaning, depth, and practical benefits of those bonds. What King Charles III does so well is not just dramatize the intrigues of the future Royal court, it also askswith empathy as well as criticallywhat a modern Royal family means. Gibbins many critics may deem it unforgivable that she criticized a three-year-old child, but her more trenchant questioning of the system that underpins Prince Georges privilege was sober and reasonableand, one imagines, its substance underpins many of the discussions of family members and their strategists and advisers at Buckingham and Kensington palaces. They are also questions whose answers will one day shape the reign, if it comes to be, of the future King George himself. 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 ... Its a Friday morning, and Paul Jarrett is a bundle of energy. Bulu Box, the startup he moved from San Francisco to Lincoln, is ahead of schedule. What he once considered challenges to growing a business -- attracting talent and investment dollars -- he now chalks up as lame excuses. Just another thing for the entrepreneur to solve. Jarrett moved Bulu Box, which ships samples of premium health products to monthly subscribers, because Lincoln was home, but also because the mathematical equation didnt add up in the Silicon Valley. Dollars for capital add up to more, much more, in Lincoln. Thats obvious. But whats surprised him is the grit and toughness that drives the next generation of entrepreneurs in the Midwest. Yes, Jarrett has a high level of admiration for tech pioneer Steve Case, but he can still talk bottom line about the AOL cofounder and tech pioneers visit to Lincoln this fall. Hes helping in a way thats shining a spotlight on all of us, Jarrett said on Friday. But hes also helping himself to great deals. Case, now chairman of venture capital firm Revolution LLC, announced Thursday that he will visit Nebraska on Oct. 3 to kick off his fifth Rise of the Rest bus tour. Other stops include Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque and Phoenix. Each stop includes a $100,000 pitch competition with a panel of all-star judges who decide which companies Case will invest in. The ideas were already flowing Friday inside the offices of startup companies and inside the minds of potential pitchmakers. When you give me a chance to talk about my business and what Im passionate about, that brings out something different. Theres normal Justin and theres pitch Justin, said Justin Kyser of DivviMap, a software provider for drone mapping. Already this month, Kyser pitched his startup at NMotions fourth annual Demo Day, where everyone in the room knew the realities of surviving as a startup but still shared in the excitement. Ive only been in the startup community in Lincoln for two years now, but no matter what the day is, theres always good news out there somewhere, Kyser said. And we celebrate the good things. Thats how Case sees his bus tour, a pep rally of sorts to celebrate the success stories and build a sense of possibility in how local startup companies are viewed. In Lincoln, that sense of possibility is as easy to see as ever as a new headquarters for tech startup Hudl rises in the West Haymarket. The dynamics seem to be exactly what were looking for in these Rise of the Rest cities, where there is some momentum building but most people outside of Lincoln arent aware of that, Case said. And as Hudl grows up, it can help to build the next five to 10 Hudls in Nebraska. Cities need some breakout successes to really inspire interest and to really shine a spotlight around the country and even around the world on whats happening in their city, Case said. When investors invest in one company in a city, then they have a reason to get back to that city every quarter for board meetings, and while theyre there, they learn about other companies. Its the classic case of momentum begets momentum. Case plans to work both Omaha and Lincoln into his Nebraska schedule. There are more details to come, but the tour plans to kickoff in Omaha with a breakfast and tour of startups there. The pitch competition is set for Lincoln that afternoon, along with what Case likes to refer to as a fireside chat with entrepreneurs and an after party. Jarrett, of Bulu Box, said beyond Cases feedback to local startups, theres great insight he can share with local investors, many of whom hold true to the guiding principles that made Warren Buffett billions. Investing is startups is different, Jarrett said. When a lot of these investors put money in, they ask how soon they can expect their money back and how many dollars that return might be, Jarrett said. Startups, if theyre doing it right, should be focused on customer growth. Its not all about profit. And Cases visit isnt all about winning the pitch contest. Its the ripple effect that could be worth exponentially more than a $100,000 investment. If Steve Case tweets your name, if you can get him to start talking about your product and talking to other investors, then you can pick and choose your best investors, Jarrett said. Broadlawns offers ketamine therapy for those with treatment-resistant depression Ketamine treatment has offered one Saylorville, Iowa, man the best relief he has found for his depression in nearly 20 years, he said. Buyers at the trade deadline for a change, the Miami Marlins believe they now have enough starting pitching to make a playoff push. The Marlins acquired the rotation reinforcements they sought in a trade Friday that cost them four players. Right-handers Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea were sent to Miami by the San Diego Padres in the seven-player deal. Miami also will receive pitching prospect Tayron Guerrero and cash for right-handers Jarred Cosart and Carter Capps and two minor-leaguers, pitching prospect Luis Castillo and first baseman Josh Naylor. "The one message it does send is that we're trying to win," Miami manager Don Mattingly said. "We're not trying to go backward. We have an opportunity here." The Marlins are in contention for their first playoff berth since 2003 despite a shaky rotation. Aside from ace Jose Fernandez, their starters are 23-24 with an ERA of 4.40. Rea will start Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Cashner will start the series finale Sunday. Cashner is 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA in 16 starts, including a 2.55 ERA in his past three outings while being showcased for a trade. Rea, who is in his second major league season, is 5-5 with a 4.98 ERA in 19 games this year. Royals reinstate Cain Kansas City Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain has been reinstated from the disabled list after missing a month with a left hamstring strain. With Cain rejoining the Royals before their game Friday night in Texas, rookie outfielder Brett Eibner was optioned to Triple-A Omaha. Cain hit .290 with eight home runs and 39 RBIs in 73 games before missing 25 games. He had been on the disabled list since injuring his hamstring while trying to beat out a single in a June 28 game against St. Louis. Giants hope Nunez can boost offense In sore need of an offensive boost, the San Francisco Giants believe they may have found it in All-Star infielder Eduardo Nunez. With 10 losses in its last 12 games the timing couldn't be better for manager Bruce Bochy's ballclub. "He's a nice player," Bochy said Thursday night after San Francisco's 4-2 loss to the Washington Nationals. "He's versatile, he can play anywhere in the infield. He's been swinging the bat well so we're hoping he can help this offense." The Giants acquired Nunez from Minnesota earlier Thursday night in exchange for minor-league pitcher Adalberto Mejia. Nunez was batting .296 with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs this season for the Twins and was leading the American League with 27 steals at the time of the trade. The move adds some much-needed depth to San Francisco's injury-plagued infield. Cleveland reliever Manship on DL The Cleveland Indians placed reliever Jeff Manship on the 15-day disabled list Friday because of tendinitis in his right wrist. Manship is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 37 appearances. He has struggled in seven games since the All-Star break, allowing seven runs four earned and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. Right-hander Zach McAllister was activated from the disabled list. He has been sidelined since July 7 because of a sore right hip. McAllister is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 30 appearances. Connecticuts shoreline along Long Island Sound is dotted with lighthouses, from Greenwich to Stonington. While some are open to the public, most are best viewed by boat or from the shore. Luckily for lighthouse aficionados, there are several organizations in Connecticut that put on lighthouse cruises to give a closer look at the beacons that welcome ships to our shores. The Greenwich Parks Ferry, Norwalk Seaport Association, Captains Cove, the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Mystic Seaport and more. Click through the slideshow above to see some local houses and scroll down for information on even more Connecticut lighthouses. Unless otherwise noted, these lighthouses are not open to the public for tours and are best viewed by boat. __________________________________________________ Great Captains Island Lighthouse Great Captains Island, located 1.5 miles off the coast of Greenwich, has a rich, storied history. Captain reportedly refers to Captain Daniel Patrick, Greenwichs first military commander. Both New York and Connecticut claimed ownership of the island until 1879, when jurisdiction was officially awarded to Connecticut. The lighthouse on Great Captains Island was first built as a wooden structure in 1829, and was later replaced by a handsome stone structure in 1868. Today, the island is open to the public and accessible by ferry from Greenwichs Arch Street dock in the summer. www.greenwichct.org __________________________________________________ Greens Ledge Lighthouse Greens Ledge Lighthouse is located off the southwest end of the Norwalk Islands. The sparkplug lighthouse was built in 1902 to replace the Sheffield Island Lighthouse. In 1990, the Greens Ledge Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The lighthouse is not open to the public, though it serves as the starting point for the annual Ladrigan Lighthouse Swim Race. It is best seen by boat. www.newenglandlighthouses.net __________________________________________________ Stratford Shoal Lighthouse The Stratford Shoal Lighthouse is so far from shore that there has been debate about whether the lighthouse belonged to New York or Connecticut. It is best viewed from the decks of the Port Jefferson Ferry. www.newenglandlighthouses.net __________________________________________________ Faulkners Island Lighthouse Located off the coast of Guilford, the Faulkners Island Lighthouse is the second oldest surviving lighthouse tower in Connecticut. Built in 1802, it remains an active beacon to incoming ships and is maintained by the group Faulkners Light Brigade. www.faulknerslight.org __________________________________________________ Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse The Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse is the tower depicted on Connecticuts Preserve the Sound license plates. It is located at Fenwick Point near Old Saybrook. It is one of two lighthouses built off Lynde Point and is known as the pairs Outer Light. www.newenglandlighthouses.net __________________________________________________ Lynde Point Lighthouse The Lynde Point Lighthouse is known as the Inner Light of the pair of lighthouses built off Lynde Point near Old Saybrook. Together, the lighthouses highlight the channel at the mouth of the Connecticut River. www.newenglandlighthouses.net __________________________________________________ New London Harbor Light The New London Harbor Light is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Connecticut. It is maintained and operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. It is open to the public on a limited, appointment-only basis. Call 860-447-2501 to inquire. www.nlmaritimesociety.org __________________________________________________ New London Ledge Lighthouse The New London Ledge Lighthouse is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Ernie, its former keeper. Legend has it that Ernies wife ran away with the captain of the Block Island Ferry, driving Ernie to jump from the roof of the lighthouse. His body was never recovered, but it seems that Ernie never left Ledge Lighthouse. The lighthouse is maintained by the Ledge Lighthouse Foundation, which offers guided tours of the lighthouse. Call 860-445-9007 for more information. www.ledgelighthouse.org __________________________________________________ Avery Point Lighthouse The Avery Point Lighthouse is positioned on the University of Connecticut campus at Avery Point in Groton. It was the last lighthouse to be built in the state and serves as a symbol of the U.S. Coast Guards duty to lighthouse keeping responsibilities. Thanks to the efforts of the Avery Point Lighthouse Society, it was relit in 2006 after being deactivated nearly 40 years prior. The grounds are open to allow an up-close view of the lighthouse. www.averypointlight.com __________________________________________________ Stonington Harbor Lighthouse The Stonington Harbor Lighthouse marks the entrance to Stonington Harbor in Connecticut. It was first built in 1823 and now serves as Stoningtons Old Lighthouse Museum, which is open to the public. www.stoningtonhistory.org Connecticut had the highest total number of foodborne illness outbreaks in New England from 2005 to 2014, according to federal data. Its a distinction that experts say is fueled by better reporting, while higher rates of certain pathogens also may contribute. An analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that Connecticut had 2,259 cases of foodborne illness in 154 single-state outbreaks in that 10-year period. For five of those years, Connecticut reported more single-state outbreaks than any other New England state. For eight years, its outbreak count exceeded that of its more populous neighbor, Massachusetts. And for nine of those years, it topped New Jersey. The data show that norovirus, salmonella, and E. coli were the top three illness-causing offenders in Connecticut, with outbreaks most commonly linked to contaminated foods prepared at restaurants and in private homes, and, to a lesser degree, at banquet facilities and caterers. Less commonly, outbreaks occurred at colleges, camps, and nursing facilities, although those incidents often sickened larger numbers of people than the ones occurring in restaurants and homes. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), in a 2015 report, ranked Connecticut among the top one-third of states in reporting foodborne illness outbreaks. Its analysis found that Connecticut reported the same or more outbreaks per million people than 34 other states, including all other New England states and New Jersey. In CSPIs view, this is a positive. A high per-capita outbreak reporting rate probably reflects a robust public health system, the report says. Outbreaks David Plunkett, a CSPI senior staff attorney, said that since most food manufacturing is regulated at the federal level, states will have largely similar underlying rates of illness-causing food contamination. If youve got a problem with an outbreak among tomatoes in Connecticut, youve probably got a problem with an outbreak among tomatoes in Florida and elsewhere at the same rate, he said, suggesting that state-by-state variations are tied to how well public health officials detect and report outbreaks. A foodborne disease outbreak is defined as the occurrence of two or more similar illnesses resulting from the ingestion of a common food. Connecticut participates in two federal foodborne disease surveillance programs FoodNet and FoodCORE which have helped to ensure robust detection and reporting systems that are similar to the systems in Oregon and Minnesota, said Dr. Matthew Cartter, state epidemiologist for the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH). Oregon and Minnesota have a history of high detection and reporting of illnesses. FoodNet, in place in 10 states, is a program that actively surveils for nine disease-causing foodborne pathogensmeaning that investigators try to count every person who visited a doctor, had a sample tested, and was diagnosed with one of the pathogens, whether or not the case came to the attention of state public health officials. FoodCORE, also in place in 10 states, is a collaborative effort to improve detection. State-by-state differences in outbreak rates also may be influenced by factors other than reporting, such as geographic location, water sources, proximity to cattle, and food-handling practices, according to the CDC and recent epidemiological studies. In 2014 and 2015, according to FoodNet data, Connecticut had a relatively high rate of Campylobacter, a common foodborne bacteria found in raw and uncooked poultry and unpasteurized dairy products. The number of reported cases rose in Connecticut from fewer than 500 in 2007, to more than 700 in 2015--higher than the counts in more populous states, such as Maryland and Tennessee. State DPH data show that Fairfield County had the most reported cases of Campylobacter in 2015 (245), followed by New Haven County (172) and Hartford County (153). To combat Campylobacter, state health officials and other groups developed a strategic plan that includes educating consumers on food-safety practices and ensuring appropriate training of food-safety workers. Over the 10-year period in which Connecticut reported 154 single-state outbreaks, Maine reported 133 outbreaks, Massachusetts reported 123, Rhode Island had 54, New Hampshire had 44, and Vermont had 17, according to the CDC data. Food recalls Food safety experts note that the vast majority of foodborne illness cases fly under the radar. With salmonella, for instance, the CDC estimates that for every case of infection detected by a lab, there are 29 others. A report in June by the federal Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not have an efficient and effective food recall initiation process that helps ensure the safety of the nations food supply. The report cited several outbreaks of salmonella and listeria in which the FDAs lapses left consumers at risk of illness or death for several weeks after FDA knew of potentially hazardous food. Some food-safety advocates, including U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., have been pushing for more funding to improve the FDAs ability to institute and oversee recalls. A 2011 law gave FDA power to order recalls in cases that have the potential for serious harm. CDC spokesperson Brittany Behm said that in the case of E. coli, a foodborne pathogen that occurs in beef, actual differences in rates of illness might depend on how close people are to cattle, water sources, and differences in how much E. coli the cattle carry and shed. Recent studies point to other factors. A 2014 study in the journal Epidemiology & Infection found that northern states experience more E. coli outbreaks than southern states. The authors noted that cattle tend to shed more bacteria during daylight hours, and that northern states have longer daylight hours in summer. The same study also suggested that lower rates of infection in cattle-dense areas could mean that residents in those areas are exposed to low levels of the bacteria and eventually develop immunity. Behm said the CDC cannot quantify how much each factor plays into the different reporting rates of foodborne illness, particularly in any given state. The CSPI report noted that over its 10-year examination period, through 2012, overall outbreak reporting went down nationwide, and fewer outbreaks were solved -- trends the authors said were related to public health budget cuts. C-HIT Senior Writer Lisa Chedekel contributed to this story. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org). Gov. Pete Ricketts has urged state Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion to resign if allegations are proven true that Kintner exchanged sexually explicit video of himself using his state computer. A source familiar with the situation said Kintner told investigators about the video when he asked the Nebraska State Patrol for help with computer problems in July 2015. The patrol confirmed Friday that Kintner had sought help for "what he believed to be a potential internet scam that occurred while the senator was in Massachusetts using his state computer." Kintner, who was attending an American Legislative Exchange Council meeting in Indianapolis, didn't return calls to his cellphone Friday afternoon. He told The Associated Press he wouldn't comment "until there is some finding, if any," by the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, which handles ethics complaints against public officials. The patrol says it turned over its investigation to the commission in November after consulting with the state attorney general's office. Accountability and Disclosure Commission Director Frank Daley declined to comment Friday, but the commission is expected to weigh in during a meeting Aug. 5. Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage said the governor learned of the investigation "shortly after" Kintner contacted the State Patrol. In a statement issued Friday, Ricketts said he had phoned Kintner last summer and urged him to resign "if the allegations were true." "Due to the ongoing investigation of this issue, I have been unable to say anything publicly," Ricketts said Friday. "If the allegations are true, Senator Kintner needs to resign. Nebraska law forbids public officials from using their state computers for nonessential personal activity. Democrats quickly chided the Republican governor for his handling of the situation. "It is not enough for Sen. Kintner to resign in shame. Anyone that knew this information and continued to let him sit in office must also resign," said Jane Kleeb, chairwoman-elect of the Nebraska Democratic Party, in a text message. "Did Gov. Ricketts or his staff look the other way so they had (Kintner's) vote in the Unicameral?" Investigators haven't described the video or said whether a permanent copy or other evidence was ever obtained. But another senator said he contacted the State Patrol last fall after a woman offered to sell what she called a sexually explicit video of Kintner. And Omaha Sen. Bob Krist said he informed Ricketts' chief of staff, Matt Miltenberger, around the same time that a sexually explicit video involving Kintner had been brought to senators' attention. Kintner, 55, has been married for about seven years to Lauren Kintner, the governor's chief policy adviser. Considered one of the Legislature's most conservative senators, Bill Kintner once told the Journal Star that his parents "taught me the moral absolutes of Christianity, and I just applied those to everything." Asked during the same interview what he considers the biggest mystery, Kintner replied: "Women. No one understands them. They don't even understand themselves. Books and books and books have been written about it, and no one understands it." The senator has drawn criticism from colleagues and observers outside the Legislature for his controversial statements and perceived lack of decorum since he took office. Speaker Galen Hadley chastised him in February for likening fellow senators to monkeys in his regular column published by the Plattsmouth Journal. His Twitter page, where he frequently posted candid remarks about colleagues and issues of the day, had apparently been shut down after Friday's news broke. Kintner represents an area south of Omaha that includes all of Cass County and parts of Sarpy and Otoe counties, including portions of Papillion and Nebraska City. Because of a quirk in election law, he stands to be among the longest-serving state senators since voters enacted term limits in 2000. He claimed his seat after defeating incumbent Sen. Paul Lambert in 2012. Lambert had been appointed by then-Gov. Dave Heineman after Sen. Dave Pankonin resigned to return to business. Kintner was re-elected in 2014, and because his first term lasted just two years essentially finishing Pankonin's term he would be eligible for re-election to another four-year term in 2018. The Maryville Board passed an ordinance for spending appropriations for corporate purposes. The total amount approved by the trustees was $14,093,100, but the number is not an accurate reflection of what the village will actually spend. Mayor Larry Gulledge said the village has no intention of spending $14 million. This ordinance simply sets legal limits for spending. We as a board do an annual budget and our budget revenues are around $7 million, he said. This is a state requirement that merely sets limits. The Illinois Municipal Code requires the passage of an annual appropriation ordinance sometime within the first quarter of each fiscal year. Because of the legal restrictions on revising the appropriation ordinance, items are inflated beyond the amounts that would be actually necessary for expenditure purposes. In addition to the appropriations ordinance, trustees approved the estimated anticipated revenues for fiscal year 2016/17. The village anticipates $7,209,800 in revenues in the coming year. The village has speculated that it will generate $3,677,805 in taxes, $194,335 in licenses and permits, $193,160 in intergovernmental income, $267,000 in services, $315,450 in other, which includes fees, fines, grants and interest income, and $2,562,050 in water and sewer income. Trustee Rod Schmidt said the figures in the revenue ordinance are more accurate than those in the appropriation ordinance. You can see we anticipate revenues just over $7 million, he said. There is no way this village will be spending anywhere near the $14 million that was in the appropriation ordinance, Schmidt said. In the 2015/16 fiscal year the village anticipated $7,194,534 in revenue and actually generated $7,268,214.36. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 Unbeknown to some, there are popular Korean dramas that were actually adapted from the countrys webtoons (web cartoon). Here are four examples of famous, or soon-to-be famous dramas. Check out if your favorite is included. (Read also: Five fresh Korean dramas to obsess over) Cheese in the Trap (2016) Though it ended on a rather unsatisfying note, the 16-episode Cheese in the Trap is one of the most talked about adaptations of the year. It was adapted from a webtoon of the same name by author Sunkki and tells the story of Yoo Jung (Park Hae Jin), a handsome college senior who seemed perfect but actually has a darker side, and Hong Seol (Kim Go Eun), a smart girl who can see through him. Knowing that Seol knows about him, Yoo Jung becomes interested in her and asks her out, which then leads to the two discovering each other a little closer. Misaeng (2014) Based on a webtoon of the same name by Yoon Tae Ho, the 20-episode Misaeng went far outside the Korean drama cliches and gripped the nations interest as it focuses solely on the stressful realities of the Korean working class, without any love storylines. Jang Geu Rae (Im Si Wan) is an adult who is having a hard time finding a job as he only has a high school diploma. Although he finally gets accepted as an intern at a multinational company, he struggles along the way due to being regarded as incompetent. (Read also: K-drama 'Descendants of the Sun' to be adapted to big screen) Flower Boy Next Door (2013) Based on I Steal Peeks at Him Every day by Yoo Hyun Sook, the 16-episode Flower Boy Next Door is a romance drama that tells the story of Go Dok Mi (Park Shin Hye), a copy editor who refuses to leave her apartment but spies on her neighbor Han Tae Joon (Kim Jung San) after falling in love with him. Even though she decided to live her life in solitude, one day everything changes as men start to live in her surroundings: a video game developer and Tae Joons cousin, Enrique Geum (Yoon Shi Yoon), a rookie webtoon artist Oh Jin Rak (Kim Ji Hoon) who is in love with her, and her new neighbor Watanabe Ryu (Mizuta Kouki). Lets Fight Ghost (2016) Hyun Ji (Kim So Hyun) is a girl who has studied hard throughout her 19 years of life and looks forward to taking her college entrance exam. However, she is unable to take it as she passes away in an accident. Later as a ghost, she meets exorcist Park Bong Pal (Ok Taec Yeon). They then work together to send ghosts to the afterlife, which eventually brings them closer to each other and to Hyun Jis freedom. This drama is made based on a webtoon of the same title by Im In Seu and just began airing on tvN on July 11. It is expected to have 16 episodes. (kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 Activists and fishermen voiced on Friday their concern over newly appointed Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitans plan to review the Jakarta Bay reclamation project, which they assumed would be continued. Weve seen that currently, the government takes the side of the investors, the Peoples Coalition for Fisheries Justices (KIARA) deputy head for information management, Parid Ridwanuddin, said. He said it was better for the government to improve the quality of life of people who lived around Jakarta Bay, in which many of them were still illiterate, rather than continuing to push forward its infrastructure development plan. With more optimism, Iwan, a representative of the Traditional Fishermens Association, said he expected Luhut to completely halt the reclamation project to protect the source of the traditional fishermens livelihood as they used to go fishing in the area where artificial islets were set to be built in the project. On June 30, Luhuts predecessor, Rizal Ramli, decided to temporary halt the development of Islet G, one of 17 islets being or to be developed as part of the reclamation project in Jakarta Bay. He argued the islet's development endangered the environment and maritime traffic as it was being built in between shipping lanes. (wnd/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Intan Soeparna (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya Sat, July 30 2016 President Joko Jokowi Widodo has stated that the government will take into account the fate and livelihood of tobacco farmers and workers before deciding on signing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). He is mindful of the national interest and export priorities, as well as the serious trade obligations and policy implications of joining the global treaty. In 2010, Indonesia filed a World Trade Organization complaint against the US, which wanted to ban kretek (clove cigarettes). In 2012, the WTO ruled in favor of Indonesia, stating that a ban on kretek would be discriminatory. However, some countries are still considering similar bans on the use and import of kretek from Indonesia. Singapore, in a public consultation earlier this year, suggested banning all flavored cigarettes including traditional flavors such as kretek and menthol. This could mean the end of kretek. 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 Endy M. Bayuni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has survived its first serious test as a new community, one could even say with flying colors. Against all odds and predictions, the regional group this week came up with a common response to the ongoing maritime and territorial disputes that four of its members have with China in the South China Sea. The wording of a joint statement by their foreign ministers meeting in Vientiane on Monday may not carry much weight to change the situation on the ground, or more precisely in the sea. Nevertheless, it is a position that all 10 member countries openly subscribe to, although they have different interests and approaches in dealing with China, including in addressing the South China Sea disputes. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, July 30 2016 Scientists will soon confirm that Donald Trumps ego is now the fourth largest object in the Solar System, after Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. But unlike them, its still growing at rapid speed, and could overtake Uranus as early as 2017. Or so I reckon. But while one expects business people to have massive egos, there are even bigger egotists I reckon in the so-called creative professions. Maria Montez, one of the top actresses of the 1940s, was a case in point. When I look at myself, I am so beautiful, I scream with joy, she said. She must have been rather difficult to live with. I guess her family would have had to explain to guests: Dont worry about the screaming, it happens every time Maria passes a reflective surface. I imagine her husbands (she had two) never took her to the mirrors department of the local department store: Aiee! I am so beautiful. Arrrggghhh! 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 Sat, July 30, 2016 Bank Indonesia (BI) has predicted the countrys economy will grow by 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2016 as government spending is projected to increase. We forecast Indonesias economic growth in the third quarter will stand at 5.2 percent, so economic growth will be 5.09 percent for the year, BI governor Agus Martowardojo told journalists in Jakarta on Friday. The central bank projected Indonesias economic growth would stand at 4.94 percent in the second quarter of this year, a slight increase from the first quarter, which stood at 4.92 percent. Based on BIs assessment, Rp 128 trillion (US$9.7 billion) of capital flowed into the country as of July 22. Agus further said funds expected to arrive from the implementation of the tax amnesty program would hopefully help the countrys economy grow better, especially in 2017. As instructed by the President, the funds coming from the tax amnesty program will be used to finance productive sectors, Agus said. (vny/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 Bank Indonesia (BI) hopes that its partnership with the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will cover a wide scope of areas, not just in information exchanges. BI governor Agus Martowardojo said the central bank and the Fed had been coordinating on the capacity building of human resources, which they had conducted through the organizing of several events, including exchanges of information. We hope that in the future, BI and the Fed will be able to conduct more than information exchanges, such as developing joint-research activities, Agus said. BI has been appointed to chair the Executives Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks in Bali on July 30 to 31. Representatives of central banks from eleven countries are set to attend the meeting. They include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, BI and the Fed are set to hold an international conference in Bali on Aug.1 to discuss global and regional monetary economics. (vny/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ina Parlina and Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 The Attorney Generals Office (AGO) has executed four death row inmates out of its announced roster of 14, but a lack of information about the reasons behind the change of plan still overshadows the executions of Indonesian Freddy Budiman, Nigerians Seck Osmane, Michael Titus and Humphrey Jefferson, despite the fact that their deaths have again put Indonesia in a harsh international spotlight. Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said the remaining 10 convicts were granted stays of execution because of ongoing legal processes involving their cases. Speaking to the press on Friday, Prasetyo said that his office had been set to execute all 14 announced convicts at the scheduled time, but it had also been prepared for unexpected last-minute changes. You, of course, still remember the case of Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines. The government of the Philippines filed a last-minute request to stay her sentence because she was still needed to testify in court as a victim, Prasetyo said. And it did happen. When the execution was about to take place, the junior attorney general for general crimes [Noor Rachmad] reported back to me that after conducting a thorough study involving relevant parties, we only needed to execute four people, he added. Prasetyo highlighted that he took judicial and non-judicial aspects into consideration to finally delay executing the sentences of the other 10 death row inmates, but he denied that international pressure was part of the reason. Dismissing the outcry from the international community for the government to review its insistence to impose the death penalty on drugs traffickers, Prasetyo made assurances that he would still put to death the remaining 10 convicts and many more who were involved in drug trafficking. Prasetyo, however, again assumed a secretive attitude, leaving the public to wonder about the details. There were limited details available even in the hours approaching the executions that took place in the early hours of Friday. Information about the executions that were about to take place on that day reached the public on Thursday afternoon only because detailed preparations were seen to be taking place around the secluded prison island of Nusakambangan. By late Thursday evening, AGO officials, relatives and lawyers of the convicts remained convinced that all 14 convicts were still on the list. Relatives and spiritual mentors of all 14 also got ready around the execution site as they were informed that their family members were to be put to death in the early hours of Friday. In the hours nearing the planned executions, former president BJ Habibie, who is known for his strong stance against the death penalty, sent a letter to President Joko Jokowi Widodo to ask him to impose a moratorium on capital punishment. In his letter, a copy of which was circulated to the press, Habibie cited the injustice experienced by Pakistani Zulfiqar Ali to tell Jokowi that insisting on carrying out the executions was too risky. Habibie also assured Jokowi that, It is possible to fight narcotics-related crime without imposing the death penalty. Prasetyo, however, declined to comment on whether Habibies request was behind the governments decision to reconsider killing 10 of the convicts. The legal system in this country has often been marred by uncertainty, particularly because of confusing legal procedures which appeared to also overshadow the recent planned executions. Citing a provision that had actually been scrapped as the basis of his argument, the attorney general said he had decided that the clemency request of one of the four executed convicts had been invalid. The provision in question, which was contained in the Clemency Law, used to limit the right to appeal for clemency to within a year of the reading of a verdict, but it was overturned by the Constitutional Court in June. Amid a lack of transparency concerning Jokowis rejections of clemency appeals, a ruling by the Central Information Commission (KIP) issued in May provided a legal basis for the public to demand that the government release any documents related to proposals for clemency filed by inmates facing the death penalty. Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung declined to comment on whether the State Palace had intervened in the AGOs plans. Pramono said he had asked Prasetyo for the reasons behind the stays of execution, but he later refused to reveal Prasetyos answer. That is under the authority of the attorney general and therefore he is the one who can explain, Pramono said on Friday. _______________________ Apology: The Jakarta Post made a serious error of judgment on Thursday night when it decided to run on its front page a headline story for the Friday edition with the title Firing squads kill convicts. The lead paragraph claimed that 14 people had been executed and the caption to the photo also said that Zulfikar Ali, the brother of the woman in the photo, was among the 14. We learned later that four were actually executed and the other 10, including Zulfikar Ali, were spared, but the paper had already gone into circulation, as had the electronic version of the paper. The failure to conduct verification before running the story is completely unprofessional and a serious violation of the main principles of good journalism. The Jakarta Post sincerely apologizes to all our readers, particularly to all those affected by the story, for this major failure. The Editor ___________________________________________________________ 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 Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 Private lender Bank Danamon has introduced a new facility that allows customers to access banking services through the outlets of its multi-financing subsidiary to provide services to those with no access to banks. The publicly listed lender, which is owned by Asia Financial, a unit of Singapores Temasek, expects to market its branchless banking products through the outlets of its subsidiary, Adira Finance, one of the countrys largest automotive financing firms. 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 Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 As a country that has championed the upholding of human rights, it needs to further review its implementation of the death penalty and whether if it is still needed. Criminal law experts say that the death penalty should be a special punishment, not a general punishment, so that judges will still have two more options apart from capital punishment and life sentences--or 20 years imprisonment. Then, the judges final decision should be based on a lengthy case review and in consideration of convicts legal efforts. Muzakir, criminal law expert with the Indonesia Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta, Central Java, said on Friday that the country should not execute people without any comprehensive, transparent and legal process, because the arbitrary decision to impose the punishment violated the Constitution. If the death sentence became a special law, Muzakir added, the judges would have options to lessen the punishment if convicts could prove their reformed character. There should be many reasons to support the punishment and the implementation should be strict. Moreover, [judges] have to ensure that convicts have the opportunity for legal recourse, such as filing an appeal or for clemency, and the completion of these processes, Muzakir said. However, he emphasized that the nation still needed such a punishment, otherwise it might open the door for more extraordinary crimes, such as drug smuggling. The House of Representatives is currently deliberating the revision of the Criminal Code, where capital punishment has become one of the most debated articles. Many rights activists have called on the legislative body to remove the death penalty from the law, as it violates human rights and, purportedly, has no impact on reducing the drug trade. Law expert Ganjar Laksamana Bondan from the University of Indonesia (UI) said the death penalty was still relevant in Indonesia, but the implementation must be restricted. Moreover, law enforcers and judges should be more careful in sentencing the penalty. The punishment cannot be arbitrarily imposed. But if its omitted from our law, it means we open the door for extraordinary crimes, Ganjar said. Deliberation of Article 88 of the Criminal Codes revision is still in deadlock as lawmakers are split on whether the death penalty should be a general or special punishment. United Development Party (PPP) lawmaker Arsul Sani said the punishment could still exist but the government should also build a review team to audit all cases before imposing the death sentence. The team may consist of officials from the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) or from the LPSK [Victims and Witnesses Protection Agency], Arsul said. However, NasDem Party politician Taufiqulhadi objected and said such a team was not needed as it would interfere with the judges independence. Technically its not allowed to let any individual or team get involved in the decision-making process of judges, Taufiqulhadi said. Meanwhile, Democratic Party lawmaker Benny Kabur Harman said the death penalty should be omitted from the law as it was not an effective deterrent for drug rings. Moreover, no data proved that drugs smuggling cases were falling after the governments two rounds of executions. Its not effective. Its better for us to comprehensively debate whether to keep the law or not. If we have to have it, we should at least limit it to only certain crimes, Benny said. However, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung seemed to neither support nor oppose the idea, but signaled that there might be a time for such deliberation in the future. __________________________ 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 (The Jakarta Post) Sat, July 30 2016 Lian is the most famous brand ambassador for the city of Jakarta that you probably dont know about. CNN Travel said he is the go-to guy for foreigners who want to discover Indonesian history and the influences behind the countrys modern identity. He has a cunning knack of quickly figuring out what you wanted and producing attuned piles of discs, CNN Travel wrote in 2011. In 2015, CNN included Lians shop as one of 10 best shopping destination for travelers, in the same category with New Yorks Other Music and Chicagos Dusty Groove. Many more foreign publications appeared to have been intrigued by the praise. In the same street as the Antique/Flea Market [Menteng] you will find this tiny store. Its so small it looks more like a storage [] it does not have a name, just a number painted on the boarding, record store directory recordjunkie.com writes about Lians shop in its edition of the worlds best record stores. Facebook caught the bug in 2015 and decided to profile him as a character for its television ads to promote its non-profit Internet.org, Mark Zuckerbergs initiative designed to offer affordable internet access in developing countries. The ads were produced by Facebooks in-house creative agency, The Factory. The spot was aired in Canada and Australia and automatically played when you opened the Facebook website a while ago. All the publications made him something of an internet celebrity. These days, backpackers are not the only ones who make the obligatory visits to his record store tucked between the upscale neighborhood of Menteng and the business district of Cikini in Central Jakarta. Many high-profile musicians who performed for the Jakarta crowd always check out his store and after bagging some of the countrys rarest old LPs, merrily snap a selfie with him. Recently, Lian nearly broke the internet when a picture of him taking a selfie with blue-haired Katy Perry circulated on social media. Three years ago, fans of the Icelandic post-rock outfit Sigur Ros turned green with envy when a group photo of band members with Lian also circulated on the internet. But Lian is probably the last person to know about his internet fame. He remains computer illiterate and that is the way he has been running the record store for the past 40 years. He inherited it from his father, Amil Rudin Nasution, who set up the store in the late 1950s and ran the establishment with the help of Lian, who initially thought that he was just having fun in the store; cleaning records, dropping needles into the grooves and cranking up the volume. The internet was the latest technological progress that Lian has witnessed throughout more than 40 years of running the record store,. He has seen the demise of vinyl, portable 7-inch player, 8-track tape and recently compact disc (CD). Now with the resurgence of vinyl as the most-preferred music-carrying format, Lians journey has come full circle. I remember selling used vinyl records for Rp 200 [12 cents] back in the late 1960s, Lian said in a recent interview at his store, an interview that was interrupted by the din and chaos that came from the traffic snaking along the one-lane Jl. Surabaya, one of the main arteries connecting Senen and Manggarai, both busy, working-class neighborhoods in Central Jakarta. Today, he makes most of his profits from selling original copies of Indonesian classics, such as Koes Plus To The So-called The Guilties, AKAs Shake Me, Shark Moves Gedhe Chokra and the Ariesta Birawa Groups first album, which have become some of the most sought-after records following the release of the Those Shocking, Shaking Days compilation by the Los Angeles label Now-Again, which introduced some of the most incendiary funk, progressive and psychedelic rock from the Indonesian music scene in the 1960s and 1970s to an international audience. In doing business, Lian stuck to the old ways, which involved buyers coming and thumbing through his collection personally or having their order delivered to their hotels by ojek (motorcycle taxis). Last time I got an order, I had to make the delivery to the airport as the buyers were rushing to catch their flight, he said. 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 Old Stone Church marks 150 years St. Johns Lutheran Church in Auburn, also known as the Old Stone Church, will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding on Aug. 7. The celebration begins with a 10:30 a.m. worship service, followed by lunch. People planning to attend the lunch are asked to RSVP by calling Joyce Gerdes at 402-274-5896 or emailing stonechurch150@hotmail.com. St. Johns Lutheran Church is located at 63289 725 Road, just outside of Auburn. The Journal Star will feature the church in the 402 section on Aug. 7. Bill Chrastil performs Sunday Tribute artist, musician, songwriter and producer Bill Chrastil will present a free concert at 7 p.m. Sunday at Havelock Christian Church, 6520 Colfax Ave. A watermelon feed precedes the concert at 6 p.m. Chrastil, of Lincoln, is well known for his musical tributes to Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Neil Diamond, as well as his wide range of rock 'n' roll, country, and original music. The concert is sponsored by Havelock Christian and Northeast United Church of Christ. Cat adoption fees reduced Through Sept. 5, adoptions fees for cats and kittens are reduced at the Cat House, 3633 O St. The fee is now $50 for the first cat or kitten and $25 for the second. All cats and kittens have been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and tested. Approximately 100 cats and kittens are currently awaiting adoption at the Cat House. The no-kill shelter is open from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Available cats can been seen online at thecathouse.org. The Cat House also is seeking donations to cover the cost of new furnaces and air conditioners needed for the facility. Donations to the Maintenance Fund may be made online, in person by by mail to P.O. Box 23145, Lincoln, NE 68542. Hastings social to benefit four First St. Pauls Lutheran Church in Hastings will hold its 65th annual Ice Cream Social with Car and Motorcycle Show at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Funds raised will go to four area families facing high medical expenses for serious health issues: Sabrina Andersen, who received a bone marrow transplant; Grayer McPhail, a toddler suffering from complications from Down Syndrome; Lucy Nash, an infant who suffered a stroke in the womb; and Joni Calhoun, an adult with various medical issues. The car show will feature classic and vintage cars as well as motorcycles. First St. Pauls Lutheran Church is located at 501 N. Burlington, Hastings. For information call 402-463-1329 or go to firststpauls.org. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 A justice reform watchdog has urged the government to publicly reveal information about stays of execution for death row convicts. The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) regretted the governments decision to execute four drug convicts on Nusakambangan prison island in the early hours of Friday. A firing squad killed Indonesian Freddy Budiman, Seck Osmane from Senegal and Nigerians Michael Titus and Humphrey Ejike, despite international and local pleas to halt the executions. Three of the convicts Freddy, Ejike and Osmane had requested pardons from President Joko Jokowi Widodo, ICJR executive director Supriyadi W. Eddyono said on Friday, lambasting the executions. The 2010 Clemency Law stipulates that the death penalty cannot be carried out before a convict receives a presidential decree declining clemency. The government used reasons of confidentiality to protect information on whether the President granted or declined the convicts requests. We already filed a lawsuit against the State Secretariat with the Central Information Commission [KIP] on the openness of information. We won, but the State Secretariat appealed to the State Administrative Court, he told thejakartapost.com. The Attorney Generals Office announced on Friday that the executed convicts had judicial reviews of their cases rejected twice by the Supreme Court, which made their sentences final and binding. It was a different situation for 10 other drug convicts who were initially listed for execution but still had ongoing legal processes. The four executed convicts were major drug traffickers, which lead to the decision to execute them by firing squad on the notorious high-security prison island. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 In densely populated cities, a lack of space will always be a problem, with many forced to pay high costs for decent abodes. In Jakarta, the issue not only affects the living but also the dead. Based on data from the Jakarta administration, around 100 city dwellers pass away per day, with cemeteries fast running out of space. With its Muslim-majority population, cremation is not the answer that many people are looking for. The condition of cemeteries in South Jakarta suggests there is a sepulture crisis in the capital that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. South Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency head M. Iqbal said about 10 percent of spaces were still available at 18 cemeteries in the municipality. He said the problem had forced him to treat expired graves as new burial plots by moving corpses a few inches and putting new bodies into the graves. In Jakarta, graves need to be extended by a deceased persons family member every three years. Upon failing to extend for six years, the grave will be considered expired, Iqbal said. The issue of overcrowded graveyards has been used by some to create an underground yet lucrative business. Over the past two weeks, the Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency has found at least 53 graves without corpses, with another 376 also suspected to be empty. Agency head Djafar Muchlisin said civil servants who worked at cemeteries had for years run side businesses, offering vacant burial plots that appear to be occupied to residents for prices far higher than the official fee of Rp 60,000 (US$4.60) to Rp 100,000. Since May, at least 48 civil servants have been punished for carrying out such practices, he told The Jakarta Post recently. We will continue to crack down on fake graves to eradicate this kind of practice. Achmad Amir, head of a community unit in Menteng, Central Jakarta, said some residents in his area had paid Rp 1.7 million to secure burial spots for relatives at short notice. However, he said things had changed recently. Since Ahok took office, the administrative fees are much lower, he said, referring to Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. Despite the situation, Djafar said Jakarta residents should not be worried about grave availability as the city still had copious amounts of land. Djafar said that only 385 of 596 hectares at 67 public cemeteries in the city were occupied, leaving around 211 ha of available space. However, he admitted that only 48 ha of the space could be used immediately as the rest was still being prepared. And dont forget, we are still expanding the land so we can accommodate more, Djafar said. He added that the practice of grave stacking had been in place for years, but emphasized that it was only approved under strict conditions, including that the two corpses were related. Nonetheless, like other metropolitan cities, Jakarta is inching closer to full capacity every day and land expansion will not be able to meet the demand for burial space forever. _____________________________ 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 Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 In densely populated cities, a lack of space will always be a problem, with many forced to pay high costs for decent abodes. In Jakarta, the issue not only affects the living but also the dead. Based on data from the Jakarta administration, around 100 city dwellers pass away per day, with cemeteries fast running out of space. With its Muslim-majority population, cremation is not the answer that many people are looking for. The condition of cemeteries in South Jakarta suggests there is a sepulture crisis in the capital that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. South Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency head M. Iqbal said about 10 percent of spaces were still available at 18 cemeteries in the municipality. He said the problem had forced him to treat expired graves as new burial plots by moving corpses a few inches and putting new bodies into the graves. In Jakarta, graves need to be extended by a deceased persons family member every three years. Upon failing to extend for six years, the grave will be considered expired, Iqbal said. The issue of overcrowded graveyards has been used by some to create an underground yet lucrative business. Over the past two weeks, the Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency has found at least 53 graves without corpses, with another 376 also suspected to be empty. Agency head Djafar Muchlisin said civil servants who worked at cemeteries had for years run side businesses, offering vacant burial plots that appear to be occupied to residents for prices far higher than the official fee of Rp 60,000 (US$4.60) to Rp 100,000. Since May, at least 48 civil servants have been punished for carrying out such practices, he told The Jakarta Post recently. We will continue to crack down on fake graves to eradicate this kind of practice. Achmad Amir, head of a community unit in Menteng, Central Jakarta, said some residents in his area had paid Rp 1.7 million to secure burial spots for relatives at short notice. However, he said things had changed recently. Since Ahok took office, the administrative fees are much lower, he said, referring to Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. Despite the situation, Djafar said Jakarta residents should not be worried about grave availability as the city still had copious amounts of land. Djafar said that only 385 of 596 hectares at 67 public cemeteries in the city were occupied, leaving around 211 ha of available space. However, he admitted that only 48 ha of the space could be used immediately as the rest was still being prepared. And dont forget, we are still expanding the land so we can accommodate more, Djafar said. He added that the practice of grave stacking had been in place for years, but emphasized that it was only approved under strict conditions, including that the two corpses were related. Nonetheless, like other metropolitan cities, Jakarta is inching closer to full capacity every day and land expansion will not be able to meet the demand for burial space forever. ___________________________ 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. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Lita Aruperes (The Jakarta Post) Manado Sat, July 30 2016 Indonesian authorities are working to clarify the citizenship status of more than 8,700 Indonesians who have lived for generations in the Philippines southern province of Mindanao, but remain stateless. Information on the presence of the thousands of Indonesians in Mindanao was revealed during an informal meeting between Brig. Gen. Sulaiman Agusto, chief of the 131/Santiago Military Command in Manado, and the Indonesian Consulate General in Davao, Mindanao. It was during this visit that the consulate gave information about the presence of 8,745 Indonesians in Mindanao. The status of their citizenship was not clear, the 131/Santiago Military Command spokesman Maj. Fathan Ali said on Friday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Lolita C.Baldor (Associated Press) Washington Sat, July 30, 2016 The Pentagon on Friday flatly rejected allegations by Turkey's president that the US military was somehow involved in or in any way supported the recent failed coup in that country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the US Friday and criticized a senior military commander who had expressed concerns that the violent July 15 coup could have longer-term impact on US relations with the Turkish military. Erdogan said the US was taking sides with coup plotters. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said any suggestion that the US.supported the coup was absurd and wrong. He said Defense Secretary Ash Carter received assurances from his Turkish counterpart that the fight against Islamic State militants won't be affected. The US launches airstrikes, surveillance aircraft and other missions out of Turkey's Incirlik air base. Cook said that while US and Turkish officials "talk every day," he could not say whether or not any senior US defense or military officials had reached out to Erdogan Friday to specifically discuss or refute the latest accusations. Erdogan at a speech Friday criticized Gen. Joseph Votel, the top US commander for the Middle East, who noted that some Turkish military leaders whom the US had relationships with have been jailed in the wake of the attempted coup. "So I'm concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue to move forward," Votel said during the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday. Cook echoed Votel's comments, saying the key point is that "we have excellent military-to-military cooperation, have had for some time with the Turkish military. If you are no longer able to talk to a counterpart that you've dealt with for some time, there's a concern that there might be some breakdown in communication. We are trying to work through that with the Turks and have every confidence we'll be able to do that." Senior US leaders, including President Barack Obama, have spoken with their Turkish counterparts in the last two weeks since the coup attempt. Erdogan has accused the US of harboring the coup's alleged mastermind, Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Turkey has demanded the US extradite Gulen. There were 290 people killed in the coup, and thousands have been detained. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 Following the sad news of the passing of The Jakarta Post senior journalist Yohanna Constance Ririhena close to midnight Thursday, on Friday a crumpled blue shawl and a mug were still on her messy desk, witnesses to her routine like everyone else on the often-freezing second floor of the office. The 51-year-old died around 11:45 p.m., which doctors at St. Carolus Hospital attributed to a brain hemorrhage, leaving an only son, Gunar Kasim, a recent high-school graduate and husband Ifdhal Kasim, a former chairman of the national rights body. 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 Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30 2016 Narsih, a 40-year-old housewife from Sidoarjo, East Java, spent more than 5 minutes in front of an ATM set up inside the main hall of the Sidoarjo regency building. She was trying to withdraw her social assistance fund, disbursed by the Social Affairs Ministry under its Family Hope Program (PKH), from the ATM. Narsih is among the first recipients of the non-cash social assistance fund from the ministry, which selected 350 low-income families in Sidoarjo and 30 families in Malang, East Java. The scene marks a monumental shift in the countrys long fight against poverty, where over 80 percent of the population lives on less than Rp 32,000 (US$2.40) per day. Usually, the government disburses social assistance funds to poor families by cash through post offices or local banks. But in most cases, the recipients of the financial aid will spend all of their money right after receiving it as a culture of saving is still uncommon among low-income families. 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 Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 Following her return as finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati says she will focus her attention on making the implementation of the 2016 state budget, set by her predecessor Bambang Brodjonegoro, more credible. She also said she would strive to draft the 2017 state budget in line with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's vision and mission. "We will sit down together to look at the targets set not only in the tax amnesty program, but also the state budget. In general, the state budget is more important. So, both tax amnesty and the entire state budget must be credible," Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta on Thursday. She said the ministry would review the agreed targets of the tax amnesty program in the revised 2016 state budget, as well as tax revenues in general and non-taxation revenues. "This aims to reveal which targets are most vulnerable and most likely to be considered, so we can anticipate the development and management of the 2016 state budget," she went on. The ministry would also coordinate with related ministries, such as the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, the National Development Planning Ministry and the State Enterprises Ministry, she added. At the same time, Sri Mulyani said, her ministry would also prepare the 2017 state budget, which would focus on the adjustments to the fiscal sector policy and the state budget in line with President Jokowis mission. "These are instruments to reduce poverty and inequality and to create job opportunities," said the former World Bank managing director. In the 2016 revised state budget, the government expects to get Rp 165 trillion (US$12.62 billion) in tax revenues from asset declarations and tax redemptions from the repatriated funds parked overseas during the implementation of the tax amnesty program. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Suzan Fraser and Elena Becatoros (Associated Press) Ankara, Turkey Sat, July 30, 2016 Turkey's president slammed the United States on Friday, claiming it was not standing firmly against a failed military coup and accused it of harboring the plot's alleged mastermind, as a government crackdown in the coup's aftermath strained Turkey's ties with key allies. Turkey has demanded the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania whom it accuses of being behind the violent July 15 coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead. It is accusing Western nations of not extending sufficient support to its efforts to counter further threats from followers of the Gulen movement, which it says have infiltrated the country's state institutions. Turkey considers Gulen's movement a terrorist organization. Gulen has denied any prior knowledge of the plot and says his movement espouses interfaith dialogue. The United States has asked Turkey for evidence of his involvement, and said the US extradition process must take its course. "Instead of thanking this nation that quashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary, you are taking sides with the coup plotters," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an angry speech Friday at a police special forces headquarters in Ankara. The facility was bombed and fired upon during the attempted coup, and 47 police officers were killed. "The putschist is already in your country," Erdogan said. The president also lashed out at an American military official who expressed concern that the failed coup may have longer-term effects on the US-led fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. Gen. Joseph Votel said Thursday the unrest could affect US relations with the Turkish military, noting that some of its leaders have been jailed. "We've certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular. And so I'm concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue to move forward," Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum. Erdogan criticized the comment. "It's not up to you to make that decision. Who are you? Know your place," he said, and hinted the United States could be behind the failed plot. "My people know who is behind this scheme ... they know who the superior intelligence behind it is, and with these statements you are revealing yourselves, you are giving yourselves away," he said. Speaking later in the evening at an event in Ankara to commemorate the dead and wounded, Erdogan said nobody from the European Union or the Council of Europe had visited Turkey to express their condolences for those killed in the coup. He noted the West simply offered condolences and then followed up with messages of concern about those suspended or fired. "You simply send a message of condolence, and you follow it up with nine kinds of advice?" Erdogan said. "Keep that to yourself." The president insisted a broad crackdown on the Gulen movement was necessary and would continue. "Some say 'you've dismissed 10,000, 20,000.' We will purge tens of thousands of whomever they are," Erdogan said. "It is not possible for them to remain in this country's institutions, those who rained bombs purchased with taxes on my pristine people," he added. Speaking earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey wanted Gulen's extradition process to conclude rapidly and has asked the United States to make sure he does not escape to another country. He also criticized Turkey's European and Western allies for their stance on the government's broad crackdown, which has included a purge of the civil service, military, judiciary and education sectors, and the closures of hundreds of schools and dozens of media outlets. "We are disturbed by our European and Western friends' approach," Cavusoglu told reporters. "Very few have given us clear support against the coup. They started to give us lessons in democracy, to talk down to us, to warn us." The European Union and other countries, as well as human rights groups, have voiced increasing concern about the crackdown. According to recent figures from the interior ministry, more than 18,000 people have been detained since the coup attempt. Of those, more than 3,500 have since been released, a senior government official said. More than 66,000 people in the wider civil service have been suspended from their jobs. Ankara has also been seeking to extend its crackdown on the network of schools and institutions abroad connected to his movement. In Germany, the governor of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said his regional government received a letter from the Turkish consul-general in Stuttgart asking it to check and "reevaluate" organizations, facilities and schools "which in the opinion of the Turkish government are, it says, 'controlled' by the Gulen movement." "That surprised me greatly," Winfried Kretschmann told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "Of course we will not do that." Kretschmann said he has seen no evidence to back Turkey's assertion that the Gulen movement was responsible for the coup attempt or that Islamization is taking place at schools in Germany. Germany's foreign minister said it was good that the coup had been foiled "but now the reactions are getting far out of proportion." "When tens of thousands of civil servants, teachers and judges are dismissed, thousands of schools and education facilities shut and dozens of journalists arrested without any direct connection with the coup being discernible, we cannot simply stay silent," Frank-Walter Steinmeier was quoted as saying Friday in the Ruhr Nachrichten paper. Steinmeier said bringing back the death penalty would be "a major step backward" for Turkey. In his Friday night speech, Erdogan said that "I hear the people chanting about the death penalty and we are a democracy." He said the issue would be discussed by Parliament. Cavusoglu, in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to be published Saturday, raised the possibility of a referendum on reinstating capital punishment. This decision should not be taken "in the heat of the moment," he was quoted as saying. "Perhaps the decision on this will be taken in a referendum. These are very serious questions." He argued that officials are getting thousands of tweets and texts saying "'if you don't reintroduce the death penalty, we won't vote for your party anymore.'" "The EU doesn't have the right to give us lessons on this matter," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. ___ Becatoros reported from Istanbul. Cinar Kiper in Istanbul, Lolita Baldor in Washington DC and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 The Culture and Education Ministry has ensured that it will not close nine Indonesian educational institutions accused of being affiliated with Fethullah Gulen, who has been labelled a terrorist by the Turkish government. Since 2015, these schools have been operating independently. Their Turkish teachers are not working under the Pacific Countries Social and Economic Solidarity Association [PASIAD] but on their behalf, under cooperation with foundations of the schools and in line with work permit procedures as foreign workers, Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy said after he visited Sekolah Kharisma Bangsa in South Tangerang on Friday. On Thursday, the Turkish Embassy in Indonesia stated nine Turkish international schools in the country were related to Gulen, who had been accused by Ankara of having masterminded the recent coup attempt in Turkey. It was stated the schools were operating under the PASIAD, a foundation associated with Gulen. The schools are Kharisma Bangsa bilingual boarding school in South Tangerang; Pribadi bilingual boarding school in Depok, West Java; Pribadi bilingual boarding school in Bandung, West Java; Semesta bilingual boarding school in Semarang, Central Java; Kesatuan Bangsa bilingual boarding school in Yogyakarta; Sragen bilingual boarding school in Sragen, Central Java; Fatih boys school in Aceh, Fatih girls school in Aceh and Banua bilingual boarding school in South Kalimantan. Muhadjir further said even though education was his responsibility, he would also coordinate with the Foreign Ministry in responding to the Turkish Embassys statement because it was related to inter-state affairs. (wnd/ebf) The week Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and five Dallas police officers were shot and killed, my friend Logan pulled out a mixing bowl and a recipe, turned on her oven and made a batch of blueberry lemon squares. When the squares had cooled, she cut them, arranged them on a plate and wrote out a card. Dear Neighbor, we have never met, but I want you to know that for the past year I have been praying for you every time I drive by your home, the note read in part. Logan then gathered her kids into her mini-van, drove across the bridge between her own primarily white neighborhood and the neighborhood comprised primarily of people of color across the way, and knocked on the door of the house shed driven past and prayed for all year long. Logans dream was to figure out a way for that bridge to connect more than divide. When Sue and Charles opened their door, Logan introduced herself, handed over the plate of blueberry lemon squares, and, after chatting for a bit, shared her vision with them. By the time the conversation ended, the three had a plan to host a Bridge Party between their two neighborhoods -- a block party during which neighbors who dont ordinarily intersect will have the opportunity to get to know one another. Because, as Logan pointed out, To love our neighbors is so much better when we know our neighbors. Its so much easier, isnt it, to make broad statements about us and them when we dont know the them? Its so much easier to judge and generalize people when they are simply nameless, faceless groups blacks, whites, Muslims, Christians, atheists, gays, Republicans, Democrats, police officers than it is when the people in those groups become individuals with faces and names, stories and histories. My friend Logan was right. To love our neighbors is better when we know our neighbors because knowing creates the potential for a richer, fuller experience. Knowing opens the way to relationship. But, honestly, loving our neighbors is also easier when we know our neighbors, because when we know a person, we more easily see ourselves in his or her story; we more easily see our commonalities, instead of our differences. Logan left Sue and Charles home that afternoon with the beginnings of a collaborative plan. She also left with an invitation: Sue offered to teach Logan how to make biscuits the following week. A few days later I saw the photo on Facebook: Sue and Logan in Logan's kitchen, holding a tray of biscuits hot out of the oven. The week Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the five Dallas police officers were killed was a terrible week, a hopeless, despairing week fraught with anxiety and unrest, a week filled with political statements, angry rhetoric and bitter exchanges on social media. But for some, it was also a week of first, tentative steps toward real empathy, compassion and relationship. It was a knock on a strangers door, a plate of blueberry lemon squares, a slightly awkward conversation that birthed the beginning of a new friendship. I hear hope and love in that ordinary story. I hear Gods invitation to take a step with him toward bringing heaven to earth. Above all, I hear a call in that story to move from the general to the specific, from the nameless, faceless them into real relationships with our neighbors. I hear a call to each of us not only to love, but to know. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra Sat, July 30, 2016 Hundreds of people plundered and burned down several Buddhist temples or vihara in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, on Friday evening. No fatalities or injuries occurred in the anarchic acts, which took place until early Saturday. It is estimated that the attacks have caused billions of rupiah in losses. North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Rina Sari Ginting said the riots began when a 41-year-old of Chinese descent, only identified as Meliana, reprimanded an administrator of the Al Maksum Mosque to lower its microphone volume. Rina further said Meliana had previously conveyed similar warnings to the administrator, hence, the mosques congregation members visited her house following her complaint for the umpteenth time on Friday evening. The meeting between Al Maksum congregation members and Meliana heated up, forcing Tanjung Balai Police officers to safeguard Meliana and her husband at the police station. Angry mobs continued to flock to Melianas house, however. Some had even attempted to burn down the house but it was prevented by people living in the neighbourhood. People who had been seized by emotion later moved to the Juanda Vihara, which is located approximately 500 meters from Melianas house. The mob attempted to set ablaze the vihara but the police managed to prevent them. They could only pelt the house of worship with projectiles, damaging it. This was the start of the anarchic acts, Rina told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. The police officer said that in the riot, the angry mob damaged and burned down several vihara and Chinese temples or pagoda. They comprised one vihara and three pagodas on Jl. Pantai Amor, one vihara on Jl. Imam Bonjol and one pagoda on Jl. Ade Irma. Onsite at the vihara and pagodas, Rina added that the mob destroyed prayer equipment, Buddha statues, tables, chairs, lamps, and several cars and motorbikes. Seven people were taken into custody for allegedly plundering the houses of worship when the attacks occurred. Meanwhile, Rina said, Meliana and her family were still in protection at the Tanjung Balai Police station. The situation in Tanjung Balai reportedly has calmed down. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, July 30 2016 The unfolding chaos in Iraq is very similar to biological processes in nature. A book entitled Serengeti Rules The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters by Sean B. Carroll, a molecular biologist, which was recently published, is unlikely to be able to explain the Iraq war. Serengeti is a national park located in Tanzania and Kenya. In the early 1960s, the park saw a rapid explosion of buffalo, wildebeest and giraffe. After analyzing data, biologists concluded that the cause was rinderpest, a virus that kills cattle, wildebeest and buffalo. After the outbreak of rinderpest, an eradication campaign in the 1950s succeeded in reducing cases of rinderpest. There appeared to be a correlation between rinderpest and the rise and fall of wildebeest and buffalo. When rinderpest is down, wildebeest and buffalo are up, vice versa. This gives us some idea of the Serengeti Rules, which are relevant to the Iraq war. First, elements/players in ecosystem/societies correlate with each other following certain rules. The change of one element can be followed by the rapid change of other elements. Saddam Hussein was in only one element in Iraqi society. The ramification of Saddams removal lead to the rise of ISIS and a Sunni-Shiite sectarian war. 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 Intan Tanjung (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, July 30, 2016 Home to the endangered Komodo dragon, Komodo National Park in East Nusa Tenggara offers plenty of exciting activities for tourists who enjoy the outdoors. For those interested in navigating the waters surrounding the park, here are some things we recommend. Watch the flying bats in Kalong Rinca Ask your captain to stop at a spot called Kalong Rinca before sunset to watch the bats fly out to hunt. Aside from the mesmerizing scene, the soft-toned velvet sky is another thing you should not miss. Enjoy a stay on in luxury yacht There are a lot of yachts sailing around the waters of the national park. Among them are Expedition Yacht MV Salila and the luxury phinisi Alila Purnama. The former is a 56-meter privately chartered luxury yacht that boasts a large outdoor Jacuzzi, a sky lounge, swimming platform and water sport equipment. Meanwhile, the latter focuses on combining style and sustainability, featuring furniture made from locally sourced materials from Indonesia. Alila Purnama also features 180-degree views, a private fully licensed PADI dive center, spa therapist and plenty of space for activities such as dining, relaxing or just enjoying the magnificent views. (Read also: 16 fun facts about Komodo National Park you probably don't know) Exterior view of the Alila Purnama. Consisting of three decks, the ship is handcrafted in the traditional style of a phinisi, the traditional vessel used by seafarers from South Sulawesi.(Alila Hotels/-) Watch the sunset from the bay of Gili Lawa Darat Not many people know about Gili Lawa Darat, an island in the north east of the Komodo National Park, and those who sail and stay there will be given the privilege of exploring the vast savanna that exposes different colors in every season. After finishing a trek there, stay afloat in the protected bay area to wait for dusk to approach. Gili Lawa Darat is famed for its sunset at the park, so taking a sunset trek is most recommended. The surrounding water itself is calm with no current. No wonder many diving tourists choose to stop here for a night dive. Expedition Yacht MV Salila sails in waters of the Komodo National Park.(Courtesy of MV Salila/-) Snorkeling at the Twin Atoll Another famous area to anchor is the Twin Atoll. Its coral reefs are very beautiful, and those who snorkel can expect to play with manta rays. Relaxing in Seraya Kecil This exotic resort on a tiny island can be reached by a short cross from Labuan Bajo. Its worth a visit, especially for those who want to step on land before continuing their sea voyage. Dont forget to snorkel around the island too! (Read also: Komodo park favored among cruise ships) The master cabin of the luxurious Expedition Yacht MV Salila. This cabin features a king-size bed, a bathroom with a bathtub and facilities such as a flat-screen TV, a DVD player, a working desk and a large viewing port.(Courtesy of MV Salila/-) Explore the mangrove in Ginggo Bay Rinca Aside from komodo dragons, those who come to Rinca Island can also spot crocodiles. Ride a small boat and enter the bay to get a closer look at the reptile. Take a stroll to the mangrove forest, but do not swim here, because the place is full of crocodiles. Watch dolphins jump in the Papagarang strait Most boats will likely pass Papagarang strait during the sail out to the Komodo National Park from Labuan Bajo. If so, ask the captain to slow down, since this is a playground for young dolphins. They will jump around the boat stream and follow the boat until a certain point. (kes) (lead article) Socialist Workers Party is revolutionary party we need Working class is capable of reorganizing society Militant/John Staggs SALT LAKE CITY Workers need a revolutionary party to educate and organize the working class to fight for political power, Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy told a news conference here July 22. Thats what the Socialist Workers Party is. Last night Donald Trumps Republican Party convention ended, Kennedy noted. Next week it will be the coronation of Clinton in Philadelphia. Neither the propertied rulers nor their candidates Trump and Hillary Clinton have any solution to the irresolvable crisis of capitalism. Instead they aim to make us believe the fantasy that we the workers and the capitalist owners are all in this together. Kennedy has joined party supporters across the country knocking on doors in towns, cities and farming and ranching areas, talking with working people about the impact of the world social and economic crisis, and building a working-class movement to confront it. During recent campaigning in seven counties in Utah, 210 people bought copies of Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? Class, Privilege and Learning Under Capitalism by Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes and 179 subscriptions to the Militant. Reading communist literature is an essential part of understanding the partys perspective and to be better able to think socially and act politically in defense of the interests of the working class. Journalists from the Salt Lake Tribune, Fox13 television and the Militant covered the conference, and Kennedy and Socialist Workers Party national campaign director John Studer were interviewed on KRCL radio. At the Republican Party convention, Trump added a law and order theme Make America Safe Again to his America First and Make America Great Again slogans. He continued scapegoating immigrants, falsely accusing workers without papers of being criminals, while saying he alone will create millions more jobs. More than 30 million tuned in to Trumps acceptance speech. He pledged to bring back coal, steel and other industrial jobs and keep the U.S. out of foreign wars. Trump said working people are being devastated and blamed poor trade deals, not capitalism. I am going to turn our bad trade agreements into great trade agreements, he said. Clinton claims that America never stopped being great and blames any economic difficulties on Republican Party opposition to the Barack Obama administration. She has attacked Trump for being anti-immigrant, leaving out that she has backed to the hilt the anti-immigrant policies of the Obama and previous administrations that have made it harder for workers without papers to get jobs and easier for the government to put them in jail, resulting in thousands being locked up for the so-called crime of coming to the U.S. to look for work. It makes no difference to working people which of the two is elected, Kennedy said. The day after the election, the ruling rich will still be pushing the capitalist economic crisis on the backs of working people and escalating imperialist military intervention in the Mideast, scapegoating immigrants and undermining democratic rights. The war against workers here and spreading wars against workers and farmers abroad will deepen, the candidate said. For decades we have been battered by low and stagnant wages, plant and mine closings, speedup on the job and assaults on our unions. The rulers try to divide us with attacks on immigrant workers and on a womans access to abortion and to contraception. Washington has been engaged in nonstop wars in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere, Kennedy said. Millions have been forced to flee, many seeking to get to Europe, exacerbating the crisis of the rulers there and their European Union, which is coming apart. Gains are not won at ballot box Both Clinton and Trump say, I will solve your problems, Kennedy told the Fox13 reporter. We say its working people ourselves who will solve our problems. Gains are not made at the ballot box, theyre made by workers struggles, she said, citing union coal miners successful fight to win black lung benefits in the 1960s. Kennedy was part of the first wave of women coal miners in the early 1980s. She later worked at the Co-Op mine in Huntington, Utah, where she helped lead a union organizing drive from 2003 to 2006 together with co-workers who were immigrants from Mexico. The SWP takes part in working-class struggles from building the Sept. 8 march on Washington, D.C., called by the United Mine Workers union to defend pensions and health benefits from assaults by the government and mine bosses; to protesting police brutality in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Salt Lake City and elsewhere; to defending womens right to choose abortion. Through these fights and bigger battles to come, working people will gain the class consciousness and confidence to build a revolutionary movement that can overthrow todays dictatorship of capital, establish a workers and farmers government and join in the worldwide struggle for socialism, Kennedy said. Javier Segura, a medical interpreter who met Socialist Workers Party campaigners when they knocked on his door, came to the press conference to meet Kennedy and support the partys ballot effort. Campaigners collected nearly 1,700 signatures, two-thirds more than the 1,000 required by the state. But several counties, after checking petitions submitted earlier in the month, rejected more than half as invalid. It is simply not credible that so few of those who signed for us are eligible, Studer told the reporters. In Washington state, after our protest, authorities found 200 more valid signatures and certified the SWP on the ballot. Our attorneys in Vermont and Chris Wharton here in Utah are working with us to win a similar result. In a July 21 letter to the office of the lieutenant governor, which supervises elections, Wharton wrote that the signatures collected at workers doors demonstrate broad support among working people in Utah for my clients candidates to appear on the ballot. When reporters asked why the SWP is encountering these obstacles Kennedy replied, The election laws are designed to keep the two capitalist parties in power and to make it difficult for a working-class party to get on the ballot. Several workers sent messages in favor of the Socialist Workers Party candidates winning ballot status. The time has come to start hearing and listening to the voice of the working men and women of Utah, wrote John Haight, a former copper miner and longtime unionist from Kearns. I signed the petition to put Alyson Kennedy and Osborne Hart on the ballot for president and vice president. They have won workers support across the state of Utah. More than $1,100 was raised in Utah to cover campaign expenses. Additional funds are needed to keep going. (front page) US govt tries for military deal on Syria with Moscow Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington hopes to soon reach agreement with Moscow for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing in Syria. This is the Barack Obama administrations latest step to try to advance U.S. imperialisms interests in the Mideast through collaboration with the Russian and Iranian governments. According to the Washington Post, the pact the White House is seeking would establish a joint command center staffed by U.S. and Russian military and intelligence officers in Amman, Jordan, to coordinate joint airstrikes in Syria against Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Al-Nusra is militarily the strongest of the opposition forces fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Smaller opposition groups backed by Washington often collaborate with and depend on al-Nusra, and would be greatly weakened as a result. In return, Washington wants Moscow to pressure the Assad government to ease off bombing areas held by opposition groups aligned with Washington, and to step up attacks against Islamic State forces. After talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Laos July 26, Kerry told reporters that he hopes by early August to announce a deal that would make a difference to the course of the war. Responding to press reports that many in the U.S. military and spy agencies are uneasy about sharing intelligence with Moscow, Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said July 25, Were not entering into a transaction thats founded on trust. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter echoed the point at the same press briefing, stressing an agreement with Moscow would be based on mutual interest to the extent were able to identify that. Meanwhile, Assads forces, backed by Russian airstrikes and Iranian militias, are continuing a major offensive in Aleppo, Syrias largest city. Some 300,000 people in the eastern half of the city, which is controlled by opposition forces, have been cut off from food and other supplies. Schools, hospitals and markets are being eradicated by Syrian and Russian planes dropping barrel bombs and incendiary cluster munitions. The civil war in Syria, which began in 2011 after the government crushed mobilizations of hundreds of thousands of Syrians demanding political rights and an end to Assads regime, has left half a million dead and forced millions from their homes. Asked in a July 13 interview with NBC News to respond to charges that he had blood on his hands, Assad replied, If you have a doctor who cut the hand because of a gangrene to save the patient, you do not say he is a brutal doctor. Hes doing his job. The U.S. and Russian governments brokered a cease-fire in February, and Washington put aside its demand that Assad must go. But the cease-fire rapidly fell apart and proposed talks on a political settlement stalled. Talks between the Assad government and many of the opposition groups that have been involved in the civil war are now projected to restart in Geneva in late August. Offensives against Islamic State As it seeks Moscows help to try to stabilize the situation in Syria, the Obama administration is looking to further push back Islamic State. Defense and foreign ministers from more than 40 countries met in Washington July 20-21 to discuss projected military offensives by U.S.-allied ground forces later this year to retake Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, the two main cities still held by the reactionary group. As they met, fierce combat was underway in Manbij in northwest Syria, where Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, were battling to retake the town from Islamic State. Manbij has been a strategic link in the IS supply line from Turkey to Raqqa, its de facto capital. Islamic State troops have prevented many of the towns 80,000 residents from escaping, using them as human shields. Taking Manbij would bring the Kurds an oppressed people in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran closer to controlling a continuous stretch of territory in northern Syria, along the Turkish border. Because of this, the Turkish government until May had refused to let U.S. planes fly from its Incirlik air base to back Kurdish forces in Syria, and had threatened to bomb any advance on Manbij by the SDF. Some 300 U.S. special operations forces on the ground in Syria will help conduct the offensive, reported the Wall Street Journal. According to Syrian human rights groups, U.S. airstrikes on villages near Manbij killed more than 50 civilians July 19. The situation facing refugees is dire. Since May 25, nearly 40,000 civilians fleeing the fighting in northern Syria have arrived in the Kurdish town of Afrin after the Turkish government closed its border. Turkey refuses to allow aid across the border. In the west, Jordan closed its border following a suicide bombing June 21, blocking food and medicine from reaching 70,000 refugees in desert camps on the Syrian side and barring access to medical treatment in Jordan for injured fighters and civilians. Russian airstrikes targeting Assad opponents hit one of these refugee camps July 12. Press estimates put the number of Iranian troops and militia members killed while fighting for the Assad regime at 700 over the past several years. Previously quiet about its military activities in Iraq and Syria, Iranian authorities now publish the names and photos of those killed and honor them as defenders of the shrines of the Shiite saints, part of an effort to promote public patriotism behind the military interventions. One goal of the July 20-21 meeting in Washington was to garner greater support from U.S. allies in preparation for an assault on Mosul by Iraqi and Kurdish forces. Washington is sending 560 more troops to Iraq to help prepare the assault. Paris said it would deploy an aircraft carrier, London pledged an additional 50 military trainers, the Canadian government offered 40 to 50 medical personnel and Australian officials announced they would boost training of Iraqi police. Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) Free speech victory! Florida prisons reverse Militant ban In a victory against censorship and for First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of the press, Florida prison authorities have rescinded the impoundment of the May 30 issue of the At least two prisons in the state, the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution and the Northwest Florida Reception Center, had refused to give subscribers that issue of the paper because of an article titled Prisoners Strike to Protest Abuse and Little or No Pay in Alabama, claiming that it was a threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system. The Florida Department of Corrections library administrator informed the Militants attorney David Goldstein July 22 that the prison Literature Review Committee had reversed its decision. On a similar pretext and an absolutely baseless charge of hang/gang signs, Santa Rosa banned the June 13 issue, citing a page that included an article on the fight to free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez. After Goldstein from the law firm of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman wrote to the review committee, they said the impoundment of that issue had been an error. Literature is not what causes disruption, a prisoner in Santa Rosa said in a letter to the Militant, after the impoundments. Nowhere do I recall literature causing physical violence. This is not just a victory for the Militant, said the papers managing editor, Naomi Craine. Its a victory for all those who believe that prisoners have the right to read anything they want, to keep learning about the world and being part of it, regardless of the prison bars. We will never stop defending that right. The prison authorities gave baseless justification that images of prisoners or their supporters asserting their rights would lead to prison chaos, said Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan, president of the National Lawyers Guild, in a July 21 statement calling for reversing the impoundment. The National Lawyers Guild works closely with prison communities and our jailhouse lawyer members to ensure wide dissemination of engaging reading material, and calls for the full distribution of the Militant. Stop Prison Abuse Now, a prison reform organization located in Miami, Florida, believes that the First Amendment rights of prisoners should be respected, including having access to The Militant newspaper, said a statement from the group. We do not believe that this access conflicts with operating prisons in a manner that will protect the safety of both prison staff and prisoners, which all fair-minded citizens support. Benjamin Stevenson, staff attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, wrote to the Literature Review Committee opposing the impoundments. Florida-based Prison Legal News spoke out against them, as did the San Francisco Bay View, a national Black newspaper. The July issue of Bay View was recently banned from prisons in Pennsylvania for an article about the possibility of prisoners participating in a work stoppage. The issue was also banned at the Menard Correctional Institution in Illinois. We call on prison authorities in Pennsylvania and Illinois to lift the ban on the San Francisco Bay View, said Craine. Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (editorial) Capitalism cant be reformed We are living through an irreversible crisis of the capitalist system a slow-burning depression that is building toward an even greater catastrophe. This drives never-ending imperialist interventions and wars in the Middle East and elsewhere as the old order continues to unravel with no end in sight. The capitalists have no solution. Thats why the two main bourgeois parties are in crisis, the Democrats even more than the Republicans. The Obama administration denies there is a problem. The economy is doing great, the president says. This is echoed by Hillary Clinton, who vows to continue the great progress of the last eight years. Many workers ask, What progress? Donald Trump wins a hearing because he talks about the crisis: high unemployment, low wages, women without access to childcare. But his answers are anti-working-class demagogy: promising to make America great again and safe again, and to create jobs by putting America First and negotiating better trade deals. Scapegoating immigrants and blaming all Muslims for terrorism in fact the largest number of victims of Islamist terrorists are Muslims serve to divide working people. Blaming trade pacts for the economic crisis obfuscates the real enemy: capitalism. The Bernie Sanders campaign and the Occupy movement that hopes to gain control of the Democratic Party is no better. Their mantras campaign finance reform, more liberal Supreme Court judges, tax the rich also take workers eyes off the real problem. There is no better, more humane capitalism. It cant be tweaked or reformed. It must be replaced. Working people, the producers of all wealth, can see our potential power reflected in the fear the rulers have of us, and how hard they try to convince us to accept our lot in life. The Revenge of Unrealistic Expectations is the title of a July 24 opinion piece by Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post, attacking all those who pine for a romanticized world of higher wages and low unemployment. But workers and farmers will not accept the rulers vision of the world. All the bourgeois candidates, from Trump to Clinton and Sanders, assert that it is your vote Nov. 8 that matters. Their message is have faith in the elections. Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy is spot on when she says that whoever wins the election, the bosses will keep trying to boost their falling profit rates on our backs, the worldwide capitalist economic crisis will continue, the imperialist order will keep unraveling. The only road out of this crisis is for working people to act to end the rulers class dictatorship, like workers and farmers did in Cuba in 1959. The party joins every battle that increases the self-confidence of working people, our discipline in struggle, our class consciousness and understanding of our own worth. This includes union fights to improve wages and conditions, protests against police brutality and for a womens right to abortion, and actions like the Sept. 8 United Mine Workers union march on Washington, D.C., to that demand health care benefits and pensions for retired miners be maintained. (feature article) Cuban revolutionaries speak to workers across UK Gonzalez and Hernandez: Join campaign to end US economic war, return Guantanamo to Cuba LONDON Our victory is your victory. You were on the right side of history. Up and down the country, thousands heard this message from Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, two of the Cuban Five, thanking working people here for support in the fight against their imprisonment in the U.S. We are not naive imperialism hasnt ceased being imperialism, they said, explaining how the U.S. rulers have turned to different methods to try to achieve their decades-long goal of overturning the socialist revolution in Cuba. At event after event, they urged participants to campaign for Washington to end its economic war against Cuba and to return Guantanamo, which it occupies and uses as a U.S. naval base and prison camp. Along with Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez, Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez were framed up by the U.S. justice system for their work monitoring counterrevolutionaries in Florida who have carried out violent attacks against the Cuban Revolution and its supporters. The last of the Five won their release after more than 16 years in prison and returned to Cuba on Dec. 17, 2014 a victory for the Cuban Revolution and those who fought worldwide to win their freedom. During their July 9-17 tour, Hernandez and Gonzalez spoke at two annual union-organized festivals that drew thousands: the Durham Miners Gala in northeast England and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, hosted by the Trades Union Congress. The latter commemorates the 1834 railroading of six agricultural laborers for trade union activity and the massive working-class campaign that won their freedom. Hernandez and Gonzalez also addressed the Unite unions policy conference in Brighton, and spoke to public meetings numbering hundreds in London and Manchester, England; Cardiff, Wales; and Glasgow, Scotland. The tour was organized by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, with backing from a number of trade unions, and included a meeting with members of Parliament. Cuban Ambassador Teresita Vicente and other embassy representatives were present at each event. Adriana Perez, wife of Hernandez, and Olga Salanueva and Irma Gonzalez, wife and daughter of Rene Gonzalez, spoke at various meetings. I was supposed to have died in prison twice and then serve another 15 years, Hernandez repeatedly joked. But they didnt take into account people like you. When people ask me what I think about them stealing years of our lives, I say that we stole a lot more back! Weve discovered the real U.K. through your solidarity, added Rene Gonzalez, who the British government had twice previously denied a visa. He and Hernandez spoke warmly of the continuous river of letters theyd received from the U.K. while in prison. I could see the respect they have gained by what they have done, commented Adam Herring, a young factory worker, after the meeting of 300 in Manchester. Many people at these events were learning about the case of the Cuban Five for the first time and snatched up Cuba Solidarity Campaign literature. Participants also bought more than 200 copies of Its the Poor Who Face the Savagery of the US Justice System: The Cuban Five Talk About Their Lives Within the US Working Class a book-length interview with the Five published by Pathfinder Press. Cubas internationalism in Angola Bakers union member Hubert Mbongo Mpasi learned about the Cardiff meeting when he was on strike in June over low pay at the RF Brookes food plant in nearby Newport. From the floor at the meeting, he saluted the contribution of Cuba to the struggle in Angola, which consolidated independence for Angola, won independence for Namibia and without which Nelson Mandela would have died in prison. Angola was the greatest experience of our lives, Hernandez told the Manchester meeting during a lively question-and-answer session. He, Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez were among the 425,000 Cuban volunteers who went to Angola to repel two invasions by the apartheid regime in South Africa. That experience prepared us for our time in prison the Cuban leader explained. It made us more solid in our principles. He recounted how fellow prisoners, especially African-Americans, had rallied round the Five when they learned about Cubas internationalist mission in Angola. Rene Gonzalez told the gathering how much he appreciated being in Manchester, the birthplace of the modern working class and the class struggle written about by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. The hatred of the Five, the hatred of the Cuban Revolution is part of that same class struggle, he said. Solidarity vs. values of capitalism Only the working class can forge the society humanity needs, Gonzalez told the Tolpuddle Festival. He contrasted the solidarity and internationalism of the Cuban Revolution with the terrorist action that had just taken place in Nice, France, and the broader values of capitalism. Capitalism emphasizes egoistic tendencies. The only antidote is solidarity and socialism. The imperialists have tried everything possible to destroy the socialist revolution in Cuba, Gonzalez said in response to a question, and are now targeting the government of Venezuela. Ruling families in Venezuela have been controlling that country for years. They dont want to lose that control. At a side meeting during the Unite union conference, the two Cuban leaders were joined on the platform by Rocio Maneiro, Venezuelas ambassador to London, and by Luis Primo of the Venezuelan National Union of Workers. I liked the way they spoke about the battle to win youth in Cuba, said Jonny Forbes, a young factory worker at the Manchester meeting. This is a big challenge, Hernandez had said in answer to a question. Youth today dont have Girons in which to participate, he said, referring to the massive mobilization of working people in Cuba that defeated the U.S.-organized mercenary invasion at Giron Beach in the Bay of Pigs in 1961. But we have a lot in our favor, the heritage of the Cuban revolutionary struggle over decades. Young people are drawn into and engaged in the political process, he said, including international solidarity, through which theyre developing their consciousness. Speaking from the floor at the Manchester meeting, Garry Gallagher spoke of his experience as a bakery worker on strike at Hovis in 2013, fighting to win permanent status for agency workers. When youre in struggle you break down barriers, Gallagher said. I can relate to how you know inside that youre right. And you are right in what youre fighting for. Tony Hunt and Olof Andra Proppe contributed to this article. Related articles: Vancouver meeting discusses struggles of Chinese overseas Shared history of China and Cuba began in 1800s Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home Suitable for an afternoon at the beach. Reads like a seduction. Smart, witty, hilarious, raunchy, irresistible. Reviews give the impression that Monsters: A Love Story is a romance novel. A light, fun read full of sassy banter, sexy flirtation and the fantasies of every woman. Omaha author Liz Kays debut novel is all those things -- and it is much, much more. Between and beneath the lines of an improbable, only-in-your-wildest-dreams love story is the all-too-real look at gender expectations, sexual politics and the ever-present double standard of whats acceptable for the gander not necessarily being acceptable for the goose. Monsters is intended to be fun, entertaining and thought-provoking. Much like 41-year-old Kay. She is a poet by trade. The founding editor of Spark Wheel Press and the journal burntdistrict, Kay holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize and the Wendy Fort Foundation Prize for exemplary work in poetry. I never intended to write a novel, Kay confessed during an interview in an Omaha Old Market coffee shop. In fact, Monsters was to be a poem. But poetry didnt fit. So she simply wrote. I was just playing around, she said of writing the novel. I told myself: This isnt real. It doesnt have to be good because I dont do this. She took chances. Can you put dark and funny together? It didnt matter. I had no expectations. It was very liberating. I was able to have a lot of fun with it, Kay said. A subversive perspective A self-described Army brat, Kay grew up all over the country. But she calls Utah her home state -- it is where she went to high school; it is where her parents retired and still live. She met Omaha native, David Kay, while working in a Utah call center. They married. Moved to Omaha. Had three sons: Devon, 15; Ashton, 13, and Brandon 11. When Brandon was 2, Kay enrolled in UNOs master of fine arts program. She told her husband she intended to pursue her doctorate. A reader and poet for as long as she can remember, Kay never considered herself a romance writer. But the fact that Monsters is a love story doesnt really surprise her. Ive always been drawn to love stories, Kay wrote in an authors statement accompanying the June release of Monsters. I remember feeling like my favorite series, Nancy Drew, would be even better with just a little more Ned (Nancys boyfriend). -- Poor, Nancy, with her action-packed life and so very little action. Her sophomore year in high school -- a Catholic school in Utah -- her English teacher only taught banned books. We didnt just read the standard Catcher in the Rye variety. We read Lolita. We read (and hated) D.H. Lawrence, Kay recalled in her blog earlier this month. She has always been intrigued by the subversive perspective. That was especially clear with her series of poems retelling the story of Hansel and Gretel from the witchs perspective. It was very dark. Very feminist, she recalled. It examined violence, marginalization and the pursuit of power. And it was well received. Students at East Washington University in Cheney, Washington, turned it into a stage production. Students at Mankato State University in Mankato, Minnesota, produced a video. In many ways it was unnerving to see others perform her work, Kay recalled. Poetry is so solitary. So private. Even to listen to others read it out loud was uncomfortable, she said. Intellect vs. experience Out of the experience -- and the poetry -- came Monsters continuing the exploration of gender disparities and expectations, of power struggles and personal desires; of loss of control and the sacrifices one makes in order to regain a bit of that control. Monsters became a sort of culmination of obsessions, Kay wrote in her authors statement. A way of working out and through things Id been thinking about for years: gender expectations, sexual politics and the weight of desire. Im particularly interested in the power of enculturation, how even those critical of the culture are incapable of escaping its influence because, much like Stacey (the main character in Monsters), you can be smart, feminist, intellectual and still obsess over your appearance and struggle with an eating disorder, she wrote. And so, I wanted the novel itself to capture that tension between intellectual understanding and lived experience. For Monsters to be a satisfying love story even as it raised questions about whether it was a problematic kind of story to tell. I wanted to subvert the messages, but I wanted to do it while still playing by the rules. The real drama in Monsters lies just beneath the surface. Which apparently has been lost on some readers expecting an enchanting summer beach read along the lines of a Harlequin romance. While good reviews outweigh the bad -- some online reviewers at Amazon have taken Kay -- and Monsters protagonist Stacey Lane -- to task for her profanity, her drinking, her promiscuity and her ease of leaving her sons in the care of her sister. Criticisms of Stacey -- but not of Tommy DeMarco, the Hollywood star and male lead in Kays novel. Which is exactly the point of the novel. The book specifically questions why women are held accountable for behaviors that dont seem out-of-bounds for men, Kay wrote in her blog. ... Stacey, like all women, has internalized a lot of these judgments, and as the narrator, she brings her own flaws sharply into focus while usually letting her love interest, Tommy, off the hook. Its button-pushing as my agent calls it, and in some ways, its difficult to find the right readers. It is fun enough not always be taken serious, and dark enough to be an easily consumed and forgotten read. In all honesty, Kay said she wasnt sure she could pull it off. By the time I hit 100 pages, I thought this might be a novel," she said. "Then I worried if I could even finish it. It was not the goal I had in mind. I never intended to write a novel or pursue publishing it. Once it was done, she faced another hurdle: What do I do with it? Her author friends told her to find an agent. I queried 127 agents, Kay said. Some replied and wanted to read it. Some I never heard from. The publishing process can be disheartening -- an agonizingly long game of wait and wonder. But I was used to it, because poetry is hard to sell, Kay said. In the end, I received three offers it was very exciting. One offer was with publishing giant, G.P. Putnams Sons. Its unheard of for a first novel to find that kind of publisher, she said. It still makes her giddy. But it is also somewhat terrifying. Will her next novel measure up to expectations? Yes. There is another novel in the works, Kay said. It is the story of a woman caught in the patriarchy of corporate America. She is at the top of the ladder but has to choose how to fit into that environment. She has two options, Kay said. She can take the carrot and essentially question everything, or would she rather just be taken care of? And like her characters, Kay finds herself making personal choices. Pursue the doctorate or pursue publishing? Write novels or poetry? I could still write poetry if I wanted to. But fiction is so much more fun, Kay mused. Im sure at some point I will go back to poetry -- when I get tired of fiction. But she is certain of one thing: I couldnt not write. Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: Home Page Breastfed babies and their mothers have fewer lifelong health issues than those who do not breastfeed -- including lower incidence of obesity, diabetes, and, for the moms, ovarian and breast cancers. Yet, despite the benefits and efforts to encourage women to breastfeed their babies for the first 12 months of their lives -- fewer than half of Nebraska moms breastfeed for as long as six months and fewer than 20 percent of them continue for the recommended first year. They start with good intentions, said Dr. Bob Rauner of the Partnership with a Healthy Lincoln. In fact, 90 percent of moms checking in to deliver say they intend to breastfeed. However, there is a dramatic drop in the first couple of weeks -- especially among low-income and cultural minority mothers, he said. Frequently cited reasons are difficulty nursing, employment conflicts and cultural and social issues. But the numbers are improving thanks to the Lincoln Community Breastfeeding Initiative and its Community Breastfeeding Educators. The program employs a culturally diverse group of breastfeeding women to provide peer-to-peer support to immigrant and minority women, helping them overcome the fear, stigma and challenges of breastfeeding. Piloted in 2015 with seven trained educators representing Asian, Sudanese, Latin America, African American and Hispanic communities, the program recently graduated a second class of Lincoln educators. In addition, it is beginning a new program in North Omaha, where the infant mortality rate is nearly twice the national average. The programs success is earning national attention. Recently, initiative coordinator Tami Frank and a community breastfeeding educator spoke at the International Lactation Association meeting in Chicago. And in August, she and Sara Brown, a registered nurse and assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, will present the program at the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee conference in Washington, D.C. Funded by the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln, the Lincoln Community Foundation, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Arbor Health, the program is a collaboration between Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, MilkWorks nonprofit breastfeeding center and the Asian Community and Cultural Center. Confusion over breastfeeding is compounded by mixed messages from health groups. If you are low income we give you free formula, but then say breastfeed your baby, MilkWorks founder Ann Seacrest said in an interview earlier this year. Too often, women are told to breastfeed and expected to know what to do. But breastfeeding can cause pain from producing too much breast milk, cracked nipples and babies who fail to latch on, Seacrest said. My first breastfeeding experience was really horrible, recalled Khamisa Abdalla, who immigrated to the U.S. from Sudan. Women who don't have a mother, grandmother or mentor to teach them the tricks and techniques can be emotionally devastated by the challenge. It can consume your life. You are your childs food supply, she said. And then there are the cultural issues. Among the Chinese, breastfeeding is a private matter not to be openly discussed. To get around the taboo, community breastfeeding educators meet one-on-one with moms, said Rebecca (JueYeZi) Reinhardt. In some cultures, myths prevail over science. For example, some believe a mothers milk will dry up if she gets hot from standing too close to the stove or ironing clothes. In others, husbands or boyfriends dont approve. Through the Lincoln program, breastfeeding educators remove the stigma: Hi, Im Julie and Im a nursing consultant. ... Do you nurse? Heres my card. They just put it out there. If they are not afraid to talk about it, moms, dads, grandmas and others feel less uncomfortable, the educators say. In addition to teaching breastfeeding techniques, they can help families address other needs including food, diapers or other assistance. Because they share a culture, the educators address long-held myths. Among immigrants, there is a belief that formula is better and more American than breastfeeding. A problem I see with young moms is that they feel in America it is cool to just give a bottle, Abdalla said. We tell them the breast is the best choice. Michelle Dediego, a lactation consultant and breastfeeding educator, addresses social obstacles -- from women believing they cannot breastfeed in public to not understanding that federal law guarantees them the time and the right to breastfeed or pump at work. Sometimes patients are just told they need to do it but not why, Abdalla said. They need to be taught how to hold the baby the right way and how that can help reduce nipple soreness and bleeding, educators say. And they need to know how they can stimulate milk production, thus assuring babies are adequately fed. Breastfeeding takes patience, they said. That goes for nurses and doctors as well. Too often, when new mothers struggle -- particularly when there are language and cultural barriers -- medical professionals encourage them to use formula, the educators said. They need encouragement to keep trying, not excuses to give up, said Dedeigo. They need someone to be there physically and emotionally, she said. And to dispel the falsehoods. In China, it is not a natural thing for my generation, she said. In cities, nobody hardly breastfeeds. They feel they are educated moms and dont want to spend their time breastfeeding. Seacrest agreed. Some people think breastfeeding is backward or culturally inappropriate. Or they are afraid of being judged more harshly, she said. There is an attitude in the United States that formula is modern and therefore better for babies, Rauner said. But its not, he said. Every baby should be able to get human milk." Two employees with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services are charged with having illegal relationships with inmates. Cindy Huber, a food service specialist at the Lincoln Correctional Center, was charged Friday with second-degree sexual abuse of a 52-year-old inmate. In the other case, Erin Harris, 32, also was charged Friday with having unlawful communication with a 30-year-old inmate serving time for burglary. Harris was a caseworker at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. Court documents say a Corrections Department sergeant saw Huber kissing an inmate in a storage closet in the dining area at LCC early Wednesday morning. Her shirt was pulled up and her pants undone, the sergeant told investigators. He said he told them to stop what they were doing and told the inmate to put his hands behind his back. The inmate had to zip and button up his pants before being handcuffed, documents say. Huber, 57, of Crete, resigned and turned in her equipment as she was being walked out of the building, documents say. The inmate told investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol that he and Huber had formed a relationship spanning the past two years. Federal and state laws bar police officers or jail guards from having sex with anyone under arrest or in custody. Nebraska law says consent cannot be used as a defense. Huber declined to speak with investigators when she was arrested at her home Wednesday. She remained in the county jail in Lincoln Friday and Lancaster County Judge Thomas Fox set her bond at $20,000. The inmate is serving a 35-year sentence for two charges of sexual assault of a child. Harris, who also has resigned from the Corrections Department, is charged with having unlawful communication with a 30-year-old inmate serving time for burglary. Court documents say a Corrections intelligence officer found numerous phone and email communications between Harris and the inmate. The two talked over the course of two months, with Harris using a pseudonym, documents say. She was released from jail Friday after posting her $10,000 bond. Fix Phuket sea gypsy land problem now, national assembly told PHUKET: The ongoing dispute between the Phuket sea gypsies in Rawai and claims to land in their village must be resolved now before the same dispute rears its head at other sea gypsy villages in Phuket, National Reform Steering Assembly (NSRA) officials were told yesterday (July 29). landpropertycultureeconomicsenvironment By The Phuket News Saturday 30 July 2016, 12:29PM NRSA Committee on Social Reform Chairman Anothai Ritpanyawong said he supported the proposal for the government to buy the land for Rawai sea gypsy villagers. Photo: PR Dept If we do nothing now, in 10 years Phuket will still have this problem and the sea gypsies livelihood will not improve. If we solve the land issues, other issues will be easy to tackle, Phuket Vice Governor Prajiad Aksornthammakul told the NRSA Committee on Social Reform members at a meeting at Provincial Hall. The committee officials, led by Chairman Anothai Ritpanyawong, were in Phuket to hear the latest status of the ongoing dispute involving claims by Baron World Trade Co Ltd and 13 other individuals to land at the sea gypsy village on the Rawai seafront. (See story here.) Among the many people present at the meeting were Preeda Kongpan of the Committee for Sea Gypsy Problem Integrating Solution and Baron World Trade Co Ltd representative Chatri Mardsatul. There are five sea gypsy communities in Phuket at Hinlukdiew, Leam La, Sapam and Laem Tukkae and Rawai and they all face different issues in their areas, V/Gov Prajiad said. Speaking specifically about the sea gypsies at Rawai, V/G Prajiad explained, The land that the Rawai sea gypsies are living on is claimed by many people. This land issue has been discussed in court. In some cases, the court has already ruled against the villagers, while other cases are still being heard. However, he added, Besides the land issue, villagers are also facing other problems, such as they have to pay higher rates than other areas for electricity. The villagers need to be the rightful owner of the land they live on and need public utilities in place. Right now, we cannot help them with their living condition issues because of the problem with the land ownership, he said. We have proposed that the central government buy 20 rai of land from the people whose claims to the land are upheld as one possible solution to the problem, and suggested to develop the area into a community for sea gypsies, V/Gov Prajiad added. After many meetings, the people who claim the land agreed to sell their land (sic) to the government for more than B90 million. If we decide to develop the area with public utilities, we will need a total budget of more than B250mn for this, he said. NSRA Committee Chairman Mr Anothai said, I am in favour of the proposal for the central government to buy the land to settle the land dispute and pay the rightful owners of the land. I have already proposed this idea to the committee once, which they all favoured. I will bring all the information from this meeting today back to my next meeting with them. I think it will take too long to wait for the investigation into the land ownership, so we must work on both projects (buying the land and installing public utilities) at the same time, he added. Regarding the specific dispute with Baron World Trade Co Ltd, we will have to discuss this again at a later date. Kuwaiti man dies at Patong Beach PHUKET: A 71-year-old Kuwaiti man has died after a group of people carried him out of the water unconscious at Patong Beach yesterday afternoon (July 29). patongmarinedeathpolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Saturday 30 July 2016, 10:25AM Patong lifeguards administered CPR, but to no avail. Photo: Pattama Patong Police received a call at 4:30pm reporting that a tourist had drowned near Loma Park. Pol Lt Yingyong Chuaykit arrived with Kusoldharm rescue workers to find people gathered around as lifeguards administered CPR to an unconscious man, identified as Abdullah Almusawi. Mr Abdullah was taken to Patong Hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival. Lt Yingyong said that according to witnesses Mr Almusawi was staying in a hotel in Patong with his wife and children for nearly two months. The man had a disabled arm. People at the beach told us that he loved to swim and came to the beach every day with his family, said Lt Yingyong. They said that Mr Abdullah went into the water alone and ignored the red flags in the area. When they saw him struggling in the water, they shouted for help and a group of people went out to help him and carry him out of the water, he added. Mr Abdullahs family were not with him at the time of the incident, soon arrived to see what was going on when they saw a group of people gather on the beach and saw him unresponsive on the beach, Lt Yingtong said. No photos or selfies during vote, says EC BANGKOK: The Election Commission (EC) has warned referendum voters against taking selfies in polling stations because they risk breaking the law. By Bangkok Post Saturday 30 July 2016, 05:30PM A document to assist blind voters in the Aug 7 referendum is shown at a seminar hosted by the War Veterans Organisation of Thailand and the Election Commission on Wednesday. Photo: Bangkok Post / Chanat Katanyu Do not bring mobile phones to take selfies while casting votes or take any other photos in polling stations because the act is bound to violate the law, Election Commissioner Prawit Rattanapian said. He was giving a lecture to students attending the political development and high-ranking election course at the EC office on Friday (July 29). Mr Prawit said campaigns for the referendum have received good feedback from the public. He is confident that voter turnout will exceed 57 per cent, the 2007 referendum turnout. The EC has set a goal of a 80% voter turnout and efforts will be made to persuade people to vote to meet that target. He expressed confidence there will be no cheating in the referendum. Referring to debates on the draft charter in the provinces, he said there have been no reports of problems. Several media channels have now opened the floor for people to voice their opinions on the draft charter, which will be useful in shaping the electorate's understanding on the issue and what their vote means, he said. There is no problem with politicians expressing their opinions on the charter, and how they intend to vote, as long as they make it clear this is their personal view, with that view based on fact, he added. Members of the public can report to authorities anything deemed to be in breach of the referendum law, Mr Prawit said. Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said it is not necessary for people to have a complete understanding of the weighty draft charter before they go to vote, and that people should only know the key elements of it and decide how best they should vote. The EC should haul into question its methods if the voter turnout falls short of 57%, he said. It could take about three days after the referendum to announce the official result, however, the unofficial count could be known as quickly as four hours after the vote, or at about 8pm on the day. If the yes and no votes are close, people may need to wait for three days for the official results, but if either side has a winning lead of more than one million votes, there is no need to hear the official results, according to Mr Somchai. Meanwhile, Constitution Drafting Committee spokesman Amorn Wanichwiwatana said he received information that voice clips and messages had emerged persuading Muslims in the three southernmost provinces to vote down the draft charter. This is the work of the Wada faction of politicians from the far South, he said. However, no Wada representatives could be reached for comment at press time yesterday. The materials suggest the draft charter is aimed at empowering Buddhism and will overshadow other religions while deliberately making it harder for those practicing Islam, he said. This is untrue because Section 67 of the draft constitution stipulates that the state is required to sustain and support Buddhism and other religions, he said. Upon talks with security officials, Mr Amorn said the voice clips are bound to distort the contents of the draft charter and could affect people's decision to vote, and the officials must decide how to deal with the matter. The two-minute clips disseminated in the three southern border provinces contain elements attacking the draft charter and calls for Muslims in the southern border provinces to overthrow this constitution. The clips use central Thai dialect, said Mr Amorn. Metropolitan Police Bureau acting commissioner Sanit Mahathavorn said he has told his team to boost efforts to ensure peace and security ahead of the vote. Read original story here. Premsak asks regulators to investigate reporters BANGKOK: Embattled Ban Phai mayor Premsak Piayura on Friday (July 29) asked the broadcasting regulators to investigate five news reporters for alleged intrusion and harassment over a story about him and a teenage girl. politics By Bangkok Post Saturday 30 July 2016, 09:26AM Ban Phai municipality mayor Premsak Piayura is besieged by reporters in Khon Kaen after submitting a letter to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha calling for media reform, as the scandal involving his alleged relationship with a teenage girl gathered pace on Friday. Photo: Bangkok Post / Patipat Janthong He accused them of violating Section 37 of the Broadcasting Act. Premsak said he wanted the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to investigate the roles of the reporters, who work for five media outlets. He alleged they intruded into his mayoral office and pressured him to provide information. He also also claimed they had published a news story that violated his rights. He urged the NBTC to revoke the licences of the five media outlets, or close them, if their reporters were found to have committed the alleged offences. Mr Premsak said he wanted the NBTC to follow guidelines given by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chief, as stated in an order issued under Section 44 of the interim constitution. The order covers false information, material potentially defamatory to the monarchy, news that could harm national security, dishonest criticism of the NCPO, confidential state information, information causing incitement and division, calls for an assembly to oppose state authorities, and threats against individuals. Mr Premsak, who was a Khon Kaen MP before entering local-level politics, took his case to the telecoms regulator after he was accused of ordering four municipal officials to strip the pants off Korsit Kongchum, a reporter for the Daily News, in front of four other Khon Kaen-based reporters, in a locked room at his office on July 26. The five reporters later filed a police complaint against him. The mayor was reportedly angry over a news story on the front page of the Daily News on Tuesday (July 26) that featured him beside a Mathayom Suksa 5 student with 400,000 baht in cash in front of them at the girls house in what looked like a Thai engagement ceremony. The picture went viral online. Mr Premsak is a married man. NBTC Secretary-General Thakorn Tantasith said on Friday that he would forward Mr Premsaks complaint to a sub-committee tasked with news content and news programmes, which would decide whether to accept the case for investigation. He insisted the NCPOs order had not given additional power to the telecoms regulator. The NBTC may invite those involved in the dispute to give details regarding the news story, he said. Mr Premsak also submitted a petition to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha via the public complaints centre, asking for media reform over the news story about him and the girl. The mayor also said it was not true that he ordered his men to strip the pants of the 64-year-old Daily News reporter. He said he would give the details to a Khon Kaen provincial investigation panel. He claimed to have evidence to prove his innocence. Mr Premsak refused to answer when asked by reporters about the photographs of him and the girl. He had previously said it was a personal matter and that he was helping her family. On Thursday, a civil group petitioned the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the conduct of the Ban Phai mayor over his harassment of the Daily News reporter. Srisuwan Janya, Secretary-General of the Association of Organisations Protecting the Thai Constitution, said Mr Premsak should have acted more maturely, given his education and career in politics. He denounced the treatment of the reporter as illegal. The activist said Mr Premsak should be a role model for society and youth. Dr Premsak is a public figure and it is normal that he is under public scrutiny. The media were not wrong to report the news about him, Mr Srisuwan said. Deputy Secretary-General Thawin Inthachamong said his office will look into Mr Premsaks treatment of the reporter and whether he is engaged to a young girl. Parents and alumni of Ban Phai Suksa School on Thursday called for Mr Premsaks removal from the schools education committee, where he serves as chairman, over his alleged involvement with the teenage student. The National Legislative Assembly also cancelled the planned presentation to him of an award for community service. Read original story here. The Andaman Seafood Feast Festival - Dinner Free for Mom Start From: Friday 12 August 2016, 06:30PM to Friday 12 August 2016, 10:30PM Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun. The Novotel Phuket Resort is proud to present this spacial night "The Andaman Seafood Feast Festival" on the Mother's Day August 12, 2016. The Mothers are welcome to join the Dinner for free on her special night! Reservation in advance is strongly recommended. Let's celebrate this special day together. For more information and reservation please contact 076-342777 ext F&B or 080-5226222. PHILADELPHIA -- Watching Hillary Clinton become the first woman to be nominated for president has inspired women at the Democratic National Convention to celebrate this singular moment. They put on temporary tattoos that said "Run like a girl" and "Pantsuit Up" and mugged for photos. They slapped stickers on their chests that read "A woman's place is in the White House" and "Women Can Stop Trump." They wore T-shirts featuring a donkey wearing red pumps and the words "It's time." It is time. In the soaring atrium of Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Emily's List, the Democratic group that backs women for office, held a champagne reception Wednesday afternoon with the theme "This is Our Moment." "The day has come!" said Nancy Pelosi, who 10 years ago became the first woman to be speaker of the House. "We have nominated a woman for president of the United States." Pelosi savored the moment to contemplate history. "I want to think about what our Suffragette mothers would have been thinking," she said, "all those years ago when, with great courage, they set out to get women the right to vote." It has been 168 years since Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her peers met in Seneca Falls, New York, 44 years since Shirley Chisholm ran for president and 32 years since Geraldine Ferraro was nominated to be vice president. If those women were alive today, they would see not only a woman as a major-party presidential nominee and a woman as the party's top legislator in the House, but also the Democrats' hopes of controlling the Senate resting on nine female candidates. They would see women serving as the convention chair, the convention chief executive and the convention secretary, and they would see that the just-ousted chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee has been replaced by another woman. "The Democratic Party is officially a feminist party," Nancy Cohen, a historian and author of "Breakthrough: The Making of America's First Woman President," told me Wednesday. The gender gap has grown in value to Democrats as women vote in higher percentages, particularly in presidential years. Women cast about 10 million more ballots than men in 2012 and 2008. This moment of women's prominence -- dominance, arguably -- could become permanent in the party. As more women gain power, they tend to create a virtuous cycle, Cohen argues: They promote policies -- equal pay, reproductive rights, crackdowns on domestic violence, paid family leave -- that in turn accelerate gains made by women, thereby elevating more women to power. Not all feel comfortable with the changes. Vermont Democrats, citing "strong-arm" tactics, complained to the DNC that rules requiring gender balance among delegates forced the removal of two male delegates. Affirmative action for women, adopted by the DNC in 1980, is almost certainly unnecessary now. According to Fusion, 2,887 of the 4,766 delegates are women -- and women have dominated the program. Michelle Obama stole the show on Monday night, when the number of male and female speakers was roughly equal. Tuesday night, almost twice as many women as men spoke; there was a segment for women in Congress and another for "Mothers of the Movement" -- moms whose children were killed under questionable circumstances. Bill Clinton was the top draw that night, but his speech was entirely in the service of his wife. "Bill Clinton Pours on the Estrogen," was the headline on Maureen Dowd's post in the New York Times. Wednesday night featured President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and vice presidential nominee Timothy M. Kaine but also included former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, abortion rights leader Ilyse Hogue and Stephanie Schriock, from Emily's List. "Hillary Clinton will be the first woman president, but she won't be the last," Schriock told the convention. "Once that barrier falls it will never, ever, ever be put back up." A distaff majority in the Senate, and a woman in the Oval Office? "I know about power," Pelosi told the crowd. "When Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States ... she will be the leader of the free world, the most important person in the world." When the speeches ended, women running for Congress took the stage, and over the loudspeakers came Beyonce's "Run the World." "Girls, we run this mother. Girls! Who runs the world? Girls!" 4 candidates seek two four-year terms on Codington County Commission Two of the three Codington County Commission seats have challengers this year. Here's what you need to know. Hillary Clintons speech at the Democratic National Convention was everything one would expect from someone who has spent virtually all of her adult life in the political arena. She was polished, with a delivery calculated to generate optimism and joy, winding up the night with a scene full of smiles and balloons bouncing in the air as she looked upward, her arms stretched to the heavens. Ninety-six years after women got the vote, Clinton is the first woman to be the nominee of a major party, an historic achievement that she is embracing in this run for the presidency. Thursday night, Clinton wasted little time before she sounded her campaign theme of Stronger Together. Donald Trump, she said wants to divide us - from the rest of the world, and from each other. He's taken the Republican Party a long way ... from 'Morning in America' to 'Midnight in America.' He wants us to fear the future and fear each other. The 2016 presidential campaign already has been full of ugliness even at the Democratic convention supporters of Bernie Sanders shouted, Lock her up and voters can expect more of the same in coming months. But if there is one thing Clinton has demonstrated over the course of her long career, its the ability and stamina to persevere. She has significant weaknesses as a candidate. The latest CBS News poll showed that just 29 percent of respondents believe she is trustworthy. Clinton has a demonstrated penchant for secrecy; her reckless decision to use a private server for her official emails as Secretary of State is a prime example. And she has not held a real press conference for months. Theres little doubt that the American public is restive with the status quo. Trump owes his ascension to the Republican nomination in large part to public dissatisfaction with politics as usual. Clinton, however, would be one of historys major disruptors as Americas first woman president. Clinton reminded Americans of the nations strengths and, more specifically, that Barack Obama as president had been able to right a national economy and financial system that has been flattened by the Great Recession. Predictably, she listed traditional Democratic Party policy objectives. In 2016, Americans face a choice between two major candidates who have the highest disapproval ratings in modern history. Voters will need to take their responsibility seriously in a campaign that will be full of misinformation and venom. Its a decision that some would like to avoid. Nonetheless its a necessary one for the future of the country. In the recent couple of decades it seemed like banks in Lincoln were consolidating, selling to ever-larger branch/chain banks and having troubles with banking regulations at a perplexing rate. This, however, has been the path of Nebraska banks beginning with the panics or depressions of 1857, 1890s, 1907 and 1929. The first bank in Lincoln was neither a national or even a state bank as it had no charter whatsoever. The Sweet & Brock Bank opened on the northeast corner of 10th and O streets in April 1865. The owners of the bank were James Sweet of Nebraska City, who, two years later, would become the first Nebraska state treasurer, and his nephew Nelson Brock. In 1867, J. J. Imhoff was part of the Nebraska City cartel headed by Sweet that pooled $15,000 to buy land at the state auction in Lincoln to finance the first months of Nebraskas existence. In 1872, Imhoff moved to Lincoln where he bought the Commercial Hotel at 11th and P for $5,000 and renamed it the Douglas House. He was also financially involved in the 40-acre Lincoln Driving Park, Union Savings Bank, Nebraska Stockyards, Nebraska Wesleyan and the village of University Place. In about 1890, he built a mansion on the southeast corner of 12th and J streets which was razed in the late 1960s for the 1201 Office Building. In June 1874, attorney Genio Lambertson arrived in Lincoln. Lambertson was city attorney in 1887 when the mayor and city council were charged as a body with contempt of court by U.S. Circuit Judge David Brewer and jailed in Omaha. Lambertson represented the council and mayor in the U.S. Supreme Court, which found in the citys favor and the principle of Home Rule became established, affirming the right of local self government. K.K. Hayden was born on a plantation in 1855, became the pet of his own slaves, lost everything during the Civil War, sold newspapers on a Baltimore street corner, came to Omaha in 1866 where he worked as a bell boy at $15 a month in the First National Bank of Omaha rising to cashier, and was then appointed a national bank examiner before resigning and moving to Lincoln in 1885. Nelson Brock, after establishing the Sweet & Brock Bank, went on to become the Lincoln city treasurer, deputy state treasurer and served on the Lincoln School Board. In January 1871, brothers J.R. and L.C. Richards established the State National Bank with a capitalization of $50,000 on the southeast corner of 10th and O streets. The bank was the 1,899th National Bank chartered in the U.S. and the 17th in Nebraska. In 1885, Lincoln mayor and attorney E.E. Brown dissolved his law practice, and, with K. K. Hayden, purchased the State National Bank, which moved to the southwest corner of the intersection to the Capital Block, while the First National Bank of Lincoln, which had been on the northwest corner of 10th and P moved into the southeast corner of 10th and O -- a sort of bank musical chairs. State Nationals board of directors, in addition to Brown and Hayden, consisted of Lambertson, Imhoff and Cashier Nelson Brock. In 1888, I.M. Raymond, Reverend Lewis Gregory, formerly minister of First Congregational Church, and S.H. Burnham established the American Exchange Bank at 1100 O St. The American Exchange received national charter 4606 in 1891. Because of the national depression which began about the same time, the State National underwent a voluntary liquidation merging into the American Exchange. 1893-94 saw the depression deepen followed by local crop failures. In June 1899, American Exchange then merged with the First National Bank which ultimately brought S.H. Burnham to the presidency. With about two degrees of separation in Lincoln banking circles, in 1945 First Nationals then president George Holmes contacted his nephew Burnham Yates, also S.H. Burnhams grandson, who moved to Lincoln. After learning the local situation from his uncle, Burnham Yates became First Nationals president in 1950, a position he held until 1969. The merging and failing as well as formation of new Lincoln-based banks continues today in an almost bewildering intricacy of Lincolns prominent business families. On Tuesday evening, Aug. 2, thousands of Racine residents plan to lock their doors, step outside their homes and join their neighbors in celebrating community, while taking a unified stand against crime. Theyll be participating in more than 55 National Night Out events planned throughout the city, as part of the annual nationwide community-building campaign that promotes police/community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer, better places to live (https://natw.org). Millions of neighbors in thousands of communities across all 50 states, the U.S. territories, Canada and military bases worldwide will be doing the same thing. And Racines 2016 National Night Out events which range from small gatherings to neighborhood parties that draw hundreds will be a special celebration, marking the 25 consecutive years that Racine Neighborhood Watch has coordinated NNO events and activities in our community. It is a longstanding tradition here in Racine, said Susan Feehrer, program director for Racine Neighborhood Watch. People look forward to it, like the Fourth of July parade. Some people have grown up with National Night Out. The event Racines Aug. 2 event will start with an National Night Out kick-off ceremony at 4 p.m. at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 728 Villa St. There, state and local government representatives, public safety officials and Neighborhood Watch personnel will announce the official start of the community-wide activities. And afterward, members of local police, fire and sheriffs departments, along with McGruff the Crime Dog, will go out and visit participating neighborhoods, community centers and other registered events. We organize and coordinate the events, but the police, sheriff and fire departments are right there, working with us, Feehrer said. Goals of the NNO program include increasing awareness about preventing crime, generating support for local anti-crime efforts and strengthening police/community relations. And one of the ways it does so is by bringing neighbors together with the men and women who protect them. Charlie French, executive director of Neighborhood Watch, said he feels it is especially important this year, in light of all the things happening nationwide, for us to recognize what a good police/community relationship we have in Racine. We are truly blessed to have the relationship we have, and it is directly because of the way law enforcement in Racine County handles itself, French said. National Night Out is also about connecting neighbors with one another, and sometimes the gatherings produce some unexpected results. At one double block party, for example, a group of families with young children living at one end of the area discovered that there were teenagers living on the other end, and voila! a babysitting relationship was born, Feehrer said. Those are the kind of connections we want people to make, said French. It is so important that neighbors get out and get to know one another. A love connection That certainly was the case for Susanne and Karl Fuller, whose NNO gathering served as a catalyst for romance. The couple, who recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary, first got to know one another through their blocks Neighborhood Watch meetings and soon found themselves working together on community projects including Racine in Bloom and planning childrens activities for National Night Out. Before they even realized what was happening, some of their neighbors noticed a spark between the two and people started talking, Karl said. One night, when they were walking home from a NNO event with a group of neighbors, after Karl said good night and went into his home, others began asking Susanne Whats going on between you two?, the couple said. We didnt even know we were together, Susanne said, laughing. We were really just great friends. Im just glad they saw it. The Fullers still live in their Jerome Boulevard neighborhood and are still active in National Night Out. Its a great way to bring people together, Karl said. We all get busy with our own lives, but on this one night we get together as neighbors for a common cause to raise awareness that our community is important to us and that there are things we can do to promote crime prevention. Learning experience National Night Out can also be a great learning experience for children, French said. It is really neat for kids to be able to see the inside of an ambulance or climb aboard a fire truck, without it having to be at a traumatic event, such as having broken their arm or seeing a house burn down, he said. Such experiences help them to realize those vehicles arent scary and that the people who come with them are there to help them, he said. Its more humanizing. Through the years, NNO events in Racine have evolved to include everything from block parties and cookouts to carnivals, movie nights, talent shows and more. Total attendance for the night in Racine is about 6,000 people annually, and individual events range from gatherings as small as a dozen people to those like Holy Communion Churchs neighborhood party, which draws as many as 500-600 people, Feehrer said. An event doesnt have to be fancy, or involve a lot of planning, she said. It can be something as simple as one person bringing a tub of ice cream, someone else bringing some toppings and setting up a table to serve it on. Its all about building relationships and creating strong community connections. Registration of National Night Out events in Racine is free, and Racine Neighborhood Watch can provide ideas for and information about organizing an event. Registration for this years NNO is closed, but information is still available from Neighborhood Watch at www.facebook.com/RacineNeighborhoodWatch/?fref=ts or by calling 262-637-5711. Racine Public Library RACINE The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., will hold the Novel Noshes book club at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11. Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo will be discussed. This is an outreach program for the Wild Root Market Co-op. For more information or to register for a program, call 262-636-9217 or go to www.racinelibrary.info. Waterford Public Library WATERFORD The Waterford Public Library, 101 N. River St., is offering these free events: Leave it, Move it, Roll it, Take it: Know Your Employer Retirement Plan Options, 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2. Ron Knaflic from Edward Jones will answer questions. Read to Chester, 10-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Aug. 2-16. Children may sign up for a 15-minute time slot to read to Chester the dog. Advance registration is required. Pokemon Go Safari, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3. Participants will learn about general Internet and cellphone application safety and travel throughout Waterford to check out Pokestops and learn to catch them all. To register or for more information, call 262-534-3988 or go to www.waterford.lib.wi.us. Graham Public Library UNION GROVE Graham Public Library, 1215 Main St., will host a Make n Take program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5. Preschoolers and an adult may make a self-directed craft project. Supplies and directions will be provided. For more information, call 262-878-2910 or go to www.uniongrove.lib.wi.us. Burlington Public Library BURLINGTON Burlington Public Library, 166 E. Jefferson St., is offering these free events: Time Out for Play, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays. Children may play with the librarys puzzles, books, puppets and toys or bring their own. Sensory Storytime, 10 a.m. Tuesdays, Aug. 9-30. In this hands-on program, children can explore their senses and get a little messy. The event will be held the park next to the library, weather permitting, or it will move to the basement of the library. Yarn Club, 3:30-5 p.m. Mondays. Participants ages 13 and older with an interest in crochet or knitting may drop in. There is no experience necessary. Beginners should bring one pair of size 15 needles, long or short; two skeins of super bulky yarn; and a crochet hook, size I or J. Hosted by instructor Lori Hintz. Another Roadside Attraction, noon Saturday, Aug. 13. In this family fun musical show, Jordan and Lucy have been playing to audiences since November 2009 as an all-acoustic, variety show with instruments from around the planet. The event will also include crafts. The event will be held the park next to the library, weather permitting, or it will move to the basement of the library. Born Learning Trail, during weeks of Aug. 15 and 22. The Born Learning Trail will be in the library for children and families to enjoy. This trail offers interactive activities and games that caregivers can play with young children. For more information, call 262-342-1130 or go to www.burlingtonlibrary.org/. Patriots Nation took Gillette Stadium by storm this week, with fans from across the country trekking to Foxboro for training camp. San Diego Police heavily armed police officers surround a house about a half-mile away, urging a man inside to surrender in San Diego Friday, July 29, 2016. One San Diego police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shootout following a late-night traffic stop, Friday night. A suspect was wounded and taken into custody a short time later and hours later police surrounded the home as they searched for man described as a possible accomplice. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with the Chief of general staff General Hulusi Akar during a meeting with the top-level military meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Friday, July 29, 2016. Erdogan met with Hulusi Akar, the four-star general who retained his position as chief of staff following a Supreme Military Council meeting, as well as other top military brass of the Turkish armed forces. (Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Service, Pool Photo via AP) YORKVILLE A 54-year-old Chicago man faces this third operating the under influence charge after the U-Haul truck he was driving overturned on Interstate 94 near Highway C Friday night, scattering personal possessions across all three lanes of traffic. Racine County Sheriffs Office and the Union Grove/Yorkville Fire and Rescue responded to the incident, which occurred at 10:55 p.m. Friday. They found the truck was on its side, blocking the right lane of the interstate, deputies said. The westbound lanes of Interstate 94 were shut down near Highway 20 because of the accident and resulting debris, and later reopened, deputies said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash. The driver, who was not named Friday night, was taken to Wheaten Franciscan-All Saints hospital in Racine and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, deputies said. He was released from the hospital and taken to the Racine County Jail; he faces a charge of operating while under the influence as a third offense, deputies said. The Cochin Chamber of Commerce & Industry has leapt ahead of its contemporaries by initiating an Aadhaar-based e-certificate of origin of exports, the first of its kind in India. A certificate of origin is issued to exporters by the Chamber of Commerce to avail duty benefits under Free Trade Agreements and to prove the place of origin. The user-friendly electronic certificate, which is in its pilot run now, will enable the Cochin Chamber to manage digital requests and sign electronic certificates of origin for exporters and freight forwarders. The president of the chamber, C.S. Kartha, told THE WEEK that this initiative was prompted by the rise in the number of fake certificates of origin. He explained that fake certificates with the chamber's seal and logo had been detected. The chamber gives certificates only to members, who are added after scrutiny. But, fake certificates allow non-members to export. The legality of their operations is not monitored. This will not be possible with electronic certificates, he said. The electronic certificates will be issued digitally to a secure vault created specifically to store certified documents. The vault is managed by Myeasydocs, the company implementing the project. This Chennai-based firm was incubated by IIT Madras. The company's clientele includes the Saudi Arabian embassy and Singapore's ministry of manpower. The CEO of Myeasydocs, Avira Tharakan, said the safety of the digital vault was being ensured by the best in the field such as Microsoft and Azure. The verification of export of origin is a major problem for importers and customs houses globally. Fake 'Made in India' tags are used to get duty exemptions reserved for India. This can be stopped by using the electronic system as the certificate can be verified instantly, he explained. Exporters agree that the facility is convenient. But most of them are waiting to see if there is a difference in cost along with the convenience. An official of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd, one of the largest exporters of tea in India, said that though charges had been retained at Rs 100 during the pilot period, the eventual cost was yet to be specified. When posed this query, Tharakan said: The charges would be based on volumes and usage during the pilot. There would be at least 70 per cent savings for exporters by moving documents electronically as compared to using expensive courier. Currently courier to foreign countries costs about $30 to $50 and delivery may take a week, he said. This new process comes as a blessing to exporters as it makes it easy to do business, and reduces export transaction costs and the time taken to avail export benefits. Restrictions on early and weekend voting implemented by Wisconsin Republicans over the last five years are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge James Peterson found a series of other voting changes signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker to be unconstitutional, but did not overturn the state's photo identification requirement. "Wisconsins strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease," Peterson wrote, before noting he is bound by earlier cases in Wisconsin and Indiana to reject the challenge to the law in its entirety. The decision will not affect the Aug. 9 primary election. Peterson issued a series of changes to the laws that will be undertaken as the state transitions from having its elections overseen by the now-defunct Government Accountability Board to a new elections commission. Laws that limited in-person absentee voting to one location, limited early voting hours and eliminated weekend voting are unconstitutional, Peterson ruled. The 2013 law limiting hours for in-person absentee voting "intentionally discriminates on the basis of race," Peterson wrote in a 119-page decision. "I reach this conclusion because I am persuaded that this law was specifically targeted to curtail voting in Milwaukee without any other legitimate purpose. The legislatures immediate goal was to achieve a partisan objective, but the means of achieving that objective was to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukees African Americans," Peterson wrote. Peterson who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2014 also overturned laws that increased the residency requirement for voters from 10 days to 28 days, prohibited distributing absentee ballots by fax or email and required "dorm lists" used as proof of residence to include citizenship information. The judge also overturned a provision of the voter ID law banning the use of expired but otherwise qualifying student IDs at the polls. Also addressed in Peterson's ruling was the state's ID petition process, or IDPP the system qualified voters use to obtain a free ID from the state. The lawsuit argued the IDPP is ineffective and has failed minority groups in particular. Peterson found the system does not require "wholesale invalidation," but that it does not act as an effective safety net for qualified electors who struggle to obtain proper IDs. "The IDPP is pretty much a disaster," Peterson wrote, later referring to it as a "wretched failure." Under Peterson's ruling, once a petitioner submits sufficient materials, the state Division of Motor Vehicles must "promptly issue a credential valid for voting, unless readily available information shows that the petitioner is not a qualified elector entitled to such a credential." The state must also "inform the general public" of that process. "Petitioners and the public must be informed that these credentials have a term equivalent to that of a driver license or Wisconsin ID, and that they will be valid for voting until they expire or are revoked for good cause," Peterson wrote. According to the state, 420,000 free state ID cards have been issued since July 2011, 127,000 of which were new IDs, while 1,389 IDPP petitions were filed. But 70 percent of the would-be voters who have gone through the IDPP process are non-white, plaintiffs' attorney Josh Kaul argued in court. And of 61 denials issued, he said, 81 percent of those who were denied were non-white. Plaintiffs in the case sought to overturn voting policies signed into law by Walker between 2011 and 2015, including restrictions on early voting hours and locations, the elimination of straight-ticket voting and a photo identification requirement. Laws left untouched by Peterson's ruling include provisions eliminating straight-ticket voting, statewide special registration deputies and the use of corroboration for registration. "We argued Gov. Walker made it harder for Democrats to vote and easier for Republicans to cheat, and the judge agreed," said One Wisconsin Institute executive director Scot Ross. Department of Justice spokesman Johnny Koremenos said the agency is reviewing and analyzing the court's "lengthy order," but based on an initial reading, plans to appeal it to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. A spokesman for the governor's office said they are still reviewing the order. "This is a liberal judges attempt to undermine our elections less than four months out," said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. "Its also an obvious attempt to usurp the power of the legislature. Im confident that the laws will be reinstated upon appeal. The measures did not disenfranchise voters; they protected the integrity of our elections and peoples right to vote." Michael Haas, interim administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said the decision is being reviewed in consultation with DOJ attorneys. "If upheld, this decision would make significant changes to election laws affecting voters, which will require the Elections Commission to work very closely with local election officials to implement the changes and to educate voters. We will be providing further guidance to clerks and the public early next week," Haas said. Attorneys challenging the laws said the state engaged in "targeted, purposeful racial discrimination" by implementing them. "The suite of changes only makes sense if explained by an intent to gain political advantage by disadvantaging racial minorities, disadvantaging young people," argued plaintiffs' attorney Bruce Spiva in his closing arguments last month. Spiva argued Republicans had "motivation and opportunity" to discriminate against likely Democratic voters, that there was no need for "sweeping changes" to the state's elections laws and that the state's articulated interests in implementing the changes were "paper thin." Attorneys for the state argued plaintiffs failed to establish standing for the case. Then-assistant attorney general Clay Kawski who has since been appointed by Walker as a Dane County Circuit Court judge accused plaintiffs' counsel of "cherry-picking" examples of problems with the laws. Kawski said plaintiffs sought the "home run" solution in asking for the laws to be overturned, but said they hadn't made an effective case for it. "Wisconsin has an exemplary elections system," Kawski said. "Wisconsin elections are fair, easy to navigate and open to all." Plaintiffs included One Wisconsin Institute, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund and individual voters. Also on Friday, a federal appeals court struck down North Carolinas photo ID law and reinstated an additional week of early voting. The court ruled that the laws were enacted with discriminatory intent. Earlier this month, a federal court found Texas' voter ID law to be discriminatory. And earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that Wisconsin voters without proper ID can vote using an affidavit to swear to their identity. Donald Trumps flurry of offhand remarks and abrupt zingers on Russia - praising Vladimir Putin, dismissing NATO have jolted the world, not to mention the U.S. presidential campaign. With Russias behavior rattling nerves in the U.S. and abroad, the Republican presidential nominee is accused of cozying up to a dictator. Of threatening the very underpinnings of Americas relationship with Europe. And of naivete. Yet for all that, Trumps words are consistent with some long-held U.S. views, many experts say. The idea of fostering U.S.-Russian cooperation isnt outlandish a after all, Hillary Clinton tried to reset relations with Russia as secretary of state. And past U.S. administrations of both parties have quietly complained that other NATO members should pay their share to the alliance. Its really Trumps way of expressing his views that has shocked many foreign policy experts. On Wednesday, Trump offered this vision for rosier U.S.-Russian relations: I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly but theres nothing that I can think of that Id rather do than have Russia friendly a as opposed to the way they are right now a so that we can go and knock out ISIS together along with other people and with other countries, he said. Wouldnt it be nice if we actually got along with people? Trump also praised the Russian president for having better leadership qualities than President Barack Obama and indicated hed consider lifting sanctions against Moscow and recognizing Russias annexation of Crimea. As for NATO, Trump said the basic idea of the alliance was OK but that its got to be modernized. And countries that were protecting have to pay what theyre supposed to be paying. Days earlier, he suggested that he would decide whether to protect NATO allies against Russian aggression based on whether they had fulfilled their obligations financially. And his offhand invitation for Russia to help unearth the deleted emails from Clintons State Department years appeared to violate a cardinal rule against foreign meddling in U.S. politics. Foreign policy experts of all stripes are left slack-jawed by Trumps pronouncements, said Derek Chollet, a senior adviser at the German Marshall Fund and former Pentagon official in the Obama administration. He looks at the world solely through the prism of business transactions, talking about allies as if theyre Atlantic City contractors that he can bilk, said Chollet, who spoke out in favor of Clinton during her Democratic primary campaign against Sen. Bernie Sanders. But Steven Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton and New York University, credits Trump for homing in on issues that are ripe for discussion. He said that while Trump talks elliptically and just cant wonk, the GOP nominee in his own way seems to be advocating detente, which Cohen sees as an admirable goal. Cohen said its time for critics to stop using McCarthyite language to demonize Trump and have a serious discussion about the issues hes raising. Its called a debate, said Cohen. Youre supposed to have them in a presidential campaign. And yet Democrats are not the only ones to recoil at Trumps remarks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, among other top Republicans, swiftly expressed disagreement with the nominee and promised that other NATO members can count on the U.S. to defend them. David Kramer, who was a State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said he and many other foreign policy thinkers see a Russia that poses a threat. He (Trump) sees a leader in Vladimir Putin who he thinks he can develop a good relationship with. Trumps comment about Crimea and Russian sanctions, says Kramer, sent terrible signals and will be interpreted not only as a betrayal by the United States of our allies but as rewarding aggressive behavior by Russia. In the 2012 presidential campaign, the dynamic over Russia was switched: Republican nominee Mitt Romney then criticized Obama for being too accommodating toward Russia. And Democrats were the ones faulting Romney for saying that Russia was Americas No. 1 geopolitical foe. Obamas early hope for that reset with Moscow had largely evaporated even before Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean peninsula and its military intervention in eastern Ukraine, which unnerved countries on NATOs eastern flank that fear they also may be targets of Russian intimidation or aggression. Against that backdrop, Trumps remarks raising doubts about honoring U.S. NATO commitments created an international uproar. Julianne Smith, a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said Trump doesnt seem to grasp the complexities of the U.S. relationship with Russia, reflecting both inexperience and a lack of strong advisers. Its not a question of whether Putin is good or bad, she said. Its about handling a very delicate and volatile situation that can go sour very quickly. Yet others note that even the current Obama administration depends on Russia and seeks its help with many world crises. In Syria, despite deep mutual frustration, the U.S. and Russia are trying to work together to end a five-year civil war that has led to global terrorism fears. Theyre even discussing a military alliance against the Islamic State group. Cooperation extends to the Iran nuclear deal, North Korea and more. (AP) The Pentagon on Friday flatly rejected allegations by Turkeys president that the U.S. military was somehow involved in or in any way supported the recent failed coup in that country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the U.S. Friday and criticized a senior military commander who had expressed concerns that the violent July 15 coup could have longer-term impact on U.S. relations with the Turkish military. Erdogan said the U.S. was taking sides with coup plotters. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said any suggestion that the U.S. supported the coup was absurd and wrong. He said Defense Secretary Ash Carter received assurances from his Turkish counterpart that the fight against Islamic State militants wont be affected. The U.S. launches airstrikes, surveillance aircraft and other missions out of Turkeys Incirlik air base. Cook said that while U.S. and Turkish officials talk every day, he could not say whether or not any senior U.S. defense or military officials had reached out to Erdogan Friday to specifically discuss or refute the latest accusations. Erdogan at a speech Friday criticized Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, who noted that some Turkish military leaders whom the U.S. had relationships with have been jailed in the wake of the attempted coup. So Im concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue to move forward, Votel said during the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday. Cook echoed Votels comments, saying the key point is that we have excellent military-to-military cooperation, have had for some time with the Turkish military. If you are no longer able to talk to a counterpart that youve dealt with for some time, theres a concern that there might be some breakdown in communication. We are trying to work through that with the Turks and have every confidence well be able to do that. Senior U.S. leaders, including President Barack Obama, have spoken with their Turkish counterparts in the last two weeks since the coup attempt. Erdogan has accused the U.S. of harboring the coups alleged mastermind, Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Turkey has demanded the U.S. extradite Gulen. There were 290 people killed in the coup, and thousands have been detained. (AP) Business leaders and trade unions were united this weekend in calling for the Government to press ahead with building the Hinkley Point nuclear plant as quickly as possible. Within hours of the Government announcing it would delay signing up for the new nuclear plant both the CBI and the TUC called for it be approved. CBI deputy director general Josh Hardie said it was needed to show that the UK is well and truly open for business. Earthworks: Preparation for the construction of EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C nuclear power station TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said the multi-billion pound project was needed to deliver thousands of jobs and needed the green light as soon as possible. The board of French group EDF Energy voted to go ahead with the plan last week, only to be stunned by the UK Government announcing it needed to review the deal for two nuclear reactors at a cost of 24.5billion. EDF boss Vincent de Rivaz once boasted that the British would be cooking their Christmas turkeys using power from Hinkley Point by 2017. But many believe it is the project itself that is the turkey. I doubt there is anyone outside EDF who would support this project the way it is structured, said an executive at another energy firm. Much criticised is the guaranteed minimum price of 92.50 per megawatt hour, which the Government agreed consumers must pay EDF for the electricity generated by the new reactors at the Somerset site. That is far higher than the wholesale price of electricity, which this weekend was 37 per megawatt hour. As long as the wholesale cost of energy is lower than this so-called strike price consumers will make up the difference with higher bills. Another energy source said: Look at the burden on our own customers that Hinkley Point results in. We are going to get the blame for that. Inside the industry weve stopped referring to it as Hinkley Point. We all call it Whats The Point? Were thinking of getting together and sending Vincent a turkey just to make sure he gets the message. 'Vital' to British economy: CGI image of Hinkley Point C, as the energy giant is set to make its long-awaited final investment decision on the planned nuclear power station at Hinkley Point The latest delay from the Government follows a decision-making process that has been at best tortuous, at worst chaotic, given that approval for new nuclear plants was granted a decade ago. But some are happy to see Ministers step back. Richard Black, head of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, said: Ten years ago Hinkley Point looked like an advantageous deal. Now that is arguable. I think the latest delay is quite pragmatic. While British bosses and trade unions appear united behind Hinkley, the same cannot be said of their equivalents inside EDF. French unions fear that because EDF will not receive any money until the reactors start producing power (not expected before 2025 at the earliest) the financial burden weakens the company in the meantime and puts French jobs at risk. French trade unionists on the EDF board voted against the deal last week, while its finance director quit ahead of the vote fearing the deal would be devastating for EDF. The delay is significant for a UK Government under pressure to show the UK is open to foreign investors after the Brexit referendum result. China General Nuclear is a partner to EDF in the plan and paying up to a third of the cost, though the exact terms of the deal have never been made public. Britain has said it will underwrite the deal by offering loan guarantees of at least 2billion. Prime Minister Theresa May is not uncritical of China. Her favoured adviser, Downing Streets joint chief of staff Nick Timothy, has been scathing of Chinas involvement in Britains nuclear programme. Criticism: EDF boss Vincent de Rivaz has been hit by the Hinkley Point C delay He wrote on the ConservativeHome website that Hinkley would allow the Chinese to use their role to build weaknesses into computer systems which will allow them to shut down Britains energy production at will. However, Black points to two other possible reasons for the delay. First, the new Government wants to work out how Hinkley Point fits into its plan to meet obligations to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 61 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030 in a carbon budget that must be signed into law by the end of the year. Second, if the Government delays the decision until next year, then a nuclear plant using the same design of reactor should come on stream in China, allowing the Government to see if it works. The only two other such reactor designs are at Olkiluoto in Finland and Flamanville in France. Both are many years behind schedule and billions over budget. A delay until after the French elections in the spring would also allow EDF to reduce the price and commit to building something cheaper and less controversial, experts reckon. Hinkley Point C is intended to supply 7 per cent of the UKs electricity. Without it there would be a big hole to fill. Hinkley Point A is being torn down and Hinkley Point B is due for decommissioning in 2023. The solution favoured by energy industry insiders is gas. Gas-fired power stations take as little as two years to build and produce half the carbon dioxide emissions of coal. Alternative energy sources such as wind and solar are becoming more attractive, though, like nuclear, they have been heavily subsidised, with their output enjoying its own minimum strike prices for years. Out on top: Asoss early adoption of a low-cost supply model that reacted rapidly to consumers changing demands continues to prove invaluable Despite deep concerns over the economic impact of the Brexit vote, the FTSE 100 has soared and may be about to hit a new 12-month high this week. This is largely because the index consists of many companies whose business is outside the UK and which benefit from the falling value of sterling. Outside the Footsie there are firms with a similar profile one is online fashion retailer Asos. The group has seen a recent increase in its share price, but there should be more rises to come, partly because of that beneficial relationship with a cheaper pound, but also because its fundamental business is well-placed strategically. The group was launched in 2000 under the name As Seen On Screen with a strategy of selling clothes that echoed the very latest fashions sported by celebrities, but at bargain prices. Since then, the name has been shortened to the acronym and the focus on television appearances has waned. But Asoss early adoption of a low-cost supply model that reacted rapidly to consumers changing demands continues to prove invaluable. Combined with the bigger trend towards shopping for clothes online, this has allowed Asos to deliver sales growth that traditional retailers cannot begin to imagine. Its latest figures for the three months to the end of May showed turnover up 26 per cent on the same period a year ago. And sales in its current financial year, which ends on August 31, are expected to reach 1.4billion, with underlying profit set to exceed 60million a near 50 per cent rise. Asos was a darling of many stock market investors, but its shares suffered a major setback in 2014. Having peaked at more than 7,000p in the early part of that year, the stock slumped well below 2,000p in the autumn, partly due to the strength of sterling. Bargain rails: Sales at Asos are set to reach 1.4billion this year with underlying profit set to exceed 60million More than half of Asoss sales are overseas, mainly in the US and on the Continent, but much of its costs are in sterling. The firm has its headquarters in North Londons Camden Town, but most of its 2,500 staff are at its fulfilment centre in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. A major fire here in June 2014 also contributed to the share price slump. The recent rise in its shares is again largely due to what has happened to sterling. Today its shares stand at 4,505p, and there is every reason to believe that over the long term they will continue their recent strong gains. Brexit may take a toll on Asos, particularly if, as some fear, it prompts a slowdown or recession in the UK. But the growth potential abroad should offset that risk. Currency fluctuations and the uncertainty of Brexit are also countered in the long run by the profound shift in shopping trends away from the high street and on to not just PCs, but more crucially tablets and smartphones. This is the area where Asos is continuing to grow sales rapidly among the vital fashion-conscious and technology-savvy younger generation. Midas verdict: Few companies will be immune if the current worrying economic outlook presages a genuine recession, but Asos is better placed than most with its foreign currency earnings. In the long run, its position as the UKs pre-eminent online fashion retailer makes it a clear strategic retail winner. Shares have risen strongly in recent weeks and, to be honest, it would have been really smart to have bought shares a few weeks ago. But there should still be very good gains to be had, particularly over the long term. At 4,505p, Asos shares are a buy. Critics shoot holes in widely cited gun study By Maxim Lott. July 28th, 2016. FoxNews.com A much-heralded and widely cited study of 171 countries over nearly a half century purports to show more guns mean more mass shootings, but critics say the report uses bad methodology in a way that rigs the results. The study by Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, was published in the journal Violence and Victims in January and has been cited by media outlets -- including The New Yorker, The Washington Post and Time magazine. But the study, formally published earlier this year after a draft was released in academic circles, has raised questions about what critics consider dubious methodology. "The Lankford 'study' is nothing more than junk science disguised as research, and never should have been published in a responsible scholarly journal," Florida State University criminology professor Gary Kleck told FoxNews.com. Lankford's analysis of mass shootings from 171 countries from 1966 to 2012 comes with the caveat "Complete data were available." In describing his research, Lankford offers only vague hints as to how he identified incidents in poor, non-English-speaking countries going back 50 years. ..... Here is (yet) another study which has been contructed conveniently to support the anti-gun groups. Rather than claiming skewed data as many so often do, it in fact seems that no significant data is even available for analysis, in order to be able to substantiate or refute supposed evidence. This is sadly another example of what we are up against in the fight against infringement of the Second Amendment. Guard against false messengers. "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. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Mark Hallum RICHMOND HILL Police from the 106th Precinct were looking for information relating to a stabbing which took place at 10 p.m. Saturday. According to the NYPD, a 31-year-old man was walking in the vicinity of 107-36 109th Ave., when he was struck with an unknown object on the lower left back. He then walked to Jamaica Hospital where he was treated with for a stab would, police said. The assailant was described as a black man in his 20s, police said. No arrests have been made. A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who calls contacts police with information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person responsible for the crime. The 106th Precinct can be contacted at 718-845-2221/718-845- 2260. All calls can be made with anonymity. Only a few residents of Syria\s Aleppo were able to leave encircled opposition-held districts through humanitarian corridors before rebels prevented them from fleeing, a monitor said Friday. Russia, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad, on Thursday announced the opening of aid passages for civilians and surrendering fighters seeking to exit the city\s rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods. Regime aircraft bombed eastern areas of Aleppo overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, without specifying casualties. Entrances to the corridors were effectively shut in rebel areas inside the city on Friday, the Observatory said. The other end of the passages, in regime-held territory, were open however, according to the monitor, which relies of a wide network of sources inside Syria for its information. Since they were established "around 12 people managed to use the Bustan al-Qasr corridor before rebel groups reinforced security measures and prevented families from approaching the corridors," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. Syria\s opposition High Negotiations Committee on Thursday criticised the corridors, saying Russia and the regime aimed to "alter Aleppo\s demographics and ensure forced displacement". Pro-regime forces have surrounded Aleppo\s eastern districts since July 17, sparking fears for an estimated 250,000 people who live there. Rebel-held neighbourhoods have been effectively besieged with food shortages and price hikes since pro-regime forces completely cut off the opposition\s main supply road into the city. Analysts say that losing Aleppo would be a major blow for the armed opposition and could signal a turning point in the conflict, which began in 2011 with the brutal crackdown of anti-government protests. Syria\s five-year war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions. SOURCE: AFP SHARE Sometimes, it can be fun to stumble across bizarre news stories that make you pause and question humanity. On Thursday, I found a story with the tease Woman claims toy at restaurant 'sexually assaulted' her while scrolling through various media outlets on Twitter. The particular story from the Houston Chronicle was about a Sherman, Texas woman eating at a hibachi restaurant in Tennessee on Monday. The cook, in what I assume was meant to be a joke and part of the normal show, brought out a toy figure and squirted water at the customer. The toy is made to look like a man pulling his pants down and peeing on someone. The police report from the incident states her husband told the officer the toy figure had a penis and his wife felt sexually assaulted. First things first. I never have and never will laugh at or doubt someone who says they were sexually assaulted. Its not a laughing matter and Im thankful to live in an area where local law enforcement takes the offense very seriously. But, by a squirt toy at a restaurant that never touched her physically other than the water? I have no doubt it could be considered an assault, but to call it a sexual assault feels extreme. The officer taking the report observed the toy to have no penis and just a hole for the water to shoot out. However, the husband told KTRK that fact doesnt change the situation. "Just because somebody cut off a piece of plastic to say Okay its not there anymore...doesn't change the fact that youre getting peed on," the husband said in the interview. However, the manager of the restaurant told KTRK he hasnt gotten any complaints in the past. "The kids like it. They think its a water gun, kind of like a water gun, you know," he said. But, when people laugh about this womans claim or about the toy, it undermines those who truly were sexually assaulted and want to seek justice for their attacker. As part of my beat, Ive read way too many affidavits of women and children being sexually assaulted, usually by someone close to them in their lives. Each case I read gets filed away on my desk for when I write a follow-up as the offender works his or her way through the justice system. Sadly, I dont need them usually because the details still remain vivid in my mind. Many of the victims are children, and it pains me to read their accounts of what they went through. As the media, I only get portions of what these victims truly went through, but its more than enough to get an idea of how traumatizing it must be. I can only imagine how tough it will be for them to learn to trust in the future, or how they can move forward. As a society, while its fun to laugh at strange stories like the woman in the restaurant, we must remember to support those who have been sexually assaulted. Here's what to know as the annual dove hunting season approaches Contributed photo Khaki weed proved an insidious threat to landscapes during the drought, and continues to invade North Texas even after rains returned. County and state researchers are now trying to identify the best chemical attack against the horribly resilient weed. SHARE By Becky Trammell Remember the drought? Those days of heat, the weeks of no rain, the dwindling lake levels, and the nationwide attention on Wichita Falls? And who can forget that weed of weeds, emerging from the sun-baked soil as the most drought tolerant of pesky plants? Yes, khaki weed is still hanging around and causing problems in turf in North Texas. Khaki weed (Alternanthera pungens Kunth) is a ground-hugging weed, returning with a vengeance each spring. It reproduces through burr-shaped seed pods capable of clinging to animal fur, shoes, clothing and car tires. Originating in South America, how and when the seeds arrived in the United States and North Texas is unknown. The weed is widespread in the southern U.S., from Georgia to Arizona, and has been called one of the fastest-growing weed problems in turf. Why does the khaki weed continue to grow even in the worst drought conditions? The weed is blessed with a thick, waxy covering to its leaves, causing it to hoard every bit of moisture it accumulates. And, of course, it has an aggressive taproot, burrowing deep into the ground. The deep tap root also allows the plant to return from even the smallest part of the root left after incomplete physical removal. There has been much research done on khaki weed prevention and removal. The usual types of chemical sprays may damage the leaves of the weed, but many of these substances don't affect the significant tap root. The problem? That type of chemical does not travel through the plant's circulatory system to the tap root. Mowing heights don't make a difference. Mow your Bermuda grass low and you stress the grass, giving Khaki and other weeds a better chance. Mow higher, and guess what khaki does well at that height, too. In 2015, a two-year study comparing khaki weed control methods was started here in Wichita Falls. The coordinators of the study are David Graf, Wichita County Extension agent; Dr. Matthew Elmore, Extension turf specialist in Dallas; and Benny Butler, horticulturist for the city of Wichita Falls. A location was found with abundant khaki weed with half of the site treated while the other half was left untreated. Chemical treatments were applied with a backpack sprayer, and nonionic surfactant (to assist in the absorption of the chemical) was included in post-emergent treatments. The study has used Gallery, MSM Turf, Dimension and Barricade with both pre- and post-emergent applications. What worked? Two applications of metsulfuron-methyl (MSM) provided excellent, season-long, khaki weed control when implemented in April and May of 2015. Using a pre-emergent plus a post-emergent did not make considerable difference in control of khaki weed. During this study period, however, there was also an extended time of no rainfall during the summer, which may have contributed to lack of germination of the seed pods of the weed. This study is ongoing. Further aspects of the study will explore the use of lower levels of MSM alone and its use with a pre-emergent. For more information about the study, contact Graf in the county Extension office at 716-8610. Schenectady A Bloods gang member from the Bronx was convicted Friday for the second time in four years of murdering 20-year-old Jerome Cannon in Hamilton Hill. Jeremiah Hamilton, 31, known as "Havoc," faces 42 years to life for killing Cannon, who was not Hamilton's intended target when he fired the .25 caliber shot that hit the victim in the head. The incident happened on Sept. 13, 2008, on Lincoln Avenue following a dispute that started with a game of dice. Hamilton was convicted of second-degree murder, attempted murder weapon possession and reckless endangerment the same charges he was convicted of at his first trial in 2012. Last year, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court overturned the conviction due to an error in jury selection by Schenectady County Judge Karen Drago, now retired. That gave Hamilton a new shot of freedom, one that seemed to be buoyed by the revelation by Hamilton's defense attorney, Frederick Rench, that police had destroyed the murder weapon since the first trial. Hamilton will be sentenced Oct. 3. Prosecutors said the defendant, who was visiting Schenectady at the time of the crime, played dice with a group of people that included Victor Toomer, the man he would later try to shoot. After the shooting, Hamilton fled and was later arrested in Pennsylvania. The retrial, which lasted four weeks, was before state Supreme Court Justice Michael Coccoma. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Peter Willis and Ramy Louis. Hoosick Falls Tempers flared once again in Hoosick Falls when many residents felt frustrated with their attempt to get more information on the health effects of their exposure to contaminated water. With tears in her eyes, Michele Baker said it's "another failure by the state" to provide answers about the suspected cancer-causing perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA that has leached into the village water and the town's private wells from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics. The problem arose on Saturday morning at an information session with a doctor from New York City's Mount Sinai hospital. It was promoted as an event for residents to discuss health concerns with multiple physicians. But when residents showed up at the Hoosick Armory Youth Center and Community Coalition (HAYC3), they were told by state Department of Health (DOH) employees to take a number and wait in line if they wanted to speak to the one doctor on duty, Mount Sinai's Dr. Cappy Collins. This caused many residents to leave without taking a number because they didn't want to wait. About an hour into the three-hour event, three people had talked with the doctor. A similar scene unfolded Friday night in Petersburgh, where the water is also polluted with PFOA from the Taconic plant, according to resident Loreen Hackett, who showed up at both events looking for answers. "This is a slap in the face," Hackett said. "I'd have to wait for hours before I can speak with the one doctor. I'm so sick of this." Some who took numbers and stayed at HAYC3 were so distressed by the wait that Collins took about dozen or so of them into a room to speak with them as a group. DOH staff would not allow the press to attend the discussion. When that group meeting let out, residents were even more upset because they say Collins told them Mount Sinai was not conducting an independent cancer study on the Hoosick Falls contamination, as they believed the state promised. DOH spokesman PJ O'Hare clarified later by phone that DOH has contracted with Mount Sinai to conduct an independent review of DOH's health outcomes study on the effects of PFOA on the residents of Hoosick Falls. The DOH said in a statement: "Mount Sinai hosted (Saturday's) event to give residents an opportunity to consult with one of the world's leading experts on environmental health in both small groups and one-on-one. Health consultations by Mt. Sinai will continue to be provided on an ongoing basis. DOH staff have been at the Armory to answer questions three times a week for the last six months, and they will be holding one of many public meetings to present updates to residents starting this Thursday." O'Hare said that everyone who stayed Saturday to speak with Collins, about 40 people, was accommodated. "Mount Sinai is proud to be helping the Department of Health communicating with residents of Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh about health concerns related to exposure to PFOA," the hospital said in a statement. "... We remain committed to ensuring that these families get the information they need. We will continue to make ourselves available so that residents are confident they are getting independent information about these issues." Standing by outside the event in Hoosick Falls was an emotional Baker. "We want answers immediately," said Baker. "You don't know the guilt we have over how PFOA affects our children. We watered down their juice. We gave them water to drink because we thought it was better for them than soda. We didn't ask to pollute our children." One couple, who had the No. 2 spot in the line, was satisfied by the doctor's answers. "We had a lot of concerns about the vegetables from our garden that were watered with tap water and about the steam from our showers, breathing it in," said Lorie Hassenpflug, who came to the center with her husband, Bryan. "He couldn't tell us a lot, but to the best of his knowledge, he doesn't believe it is harmful. But he only has data about a mouse. We are not mice." She did acknowledge that after "many tears" she must "think positively because no one knows the future." However, she added she and her husband won't drink the water. "We don't trust it," Lorie Hassenpflug said. PFOA was discovered in Hoosick Falls water in August 2014 by a village resident, Michael Hickey, who researched the issue after he noticed a high rate of rare cancer in the area. The typical level of PFOA found in the blood samples of more than 2,000 Rensselaer County residents is about 11 times higher than the national average. wliberatore@timesunion.com 518-454-5445 @wendyliberatore QUEENSBURY Three teenagers were arrested early Friday morning for allegedly breaking into Queensbury Elementary School and stealing ice cream, soda and cookies. State Police said they were responding to a burglar alarm at the school at 430 Aviation Road when they found Spencer M. Harding, 18, Ian A. Smith, 18, and a 16-year-old inside the building. The three teenagers, all from Queensbury, were charged with third-degree burglary. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Warsaw, Poland Pope Francis' visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday included an encounter with 25 Christian Poles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust a powerfully symbolic meeting that Poland's chief rabbi played a key role in orchestrating. Rabbi Michael Schudrich, a native of New York City whose grandparents all immigrated from Poland, had long hoped to see such a meeting in Poland between a pope and some of the remaining Poles who risked their lives during World War II to help and protect Jews. Yad Vashem in Israel has recognized 6,620 Polish gentiles who sheltered Jews among the so-called "Righteous Among the Nations." Today fewer than 240 in Poland are still alive. Remembering their sacrifices is an important part of Schudrich's mission as the spiritual head of Poland's Jewish community, and he has often said that one can never do enough for them. In a telephone interview on Friday, Schudrich said the pope's meeting with survivors was "something I have been thinking about for a while: what kind of non-material present, what kind of thank-you, can we give to the 'Righteous'?" He noted that a U.S. group, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, offers them some financial help. "But I wanted to come up with a spiritual gift and I thought that a special blessing from the pope would make them feel honored because of their unbelievable morality and humanity," he said. He said he approached members of the church hierarchy several months ago with the idea of including a meeting during the pope's visit to Poland this week. They were receptive and they organized the meeting, which happened Friday during the pope's visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Schudrich had tried to arrange a meeting between a group of Righteous and Benedict XVI when that pope visited Poland in 2006, but it did not work out. John Paul II had met with some at the Vatican during his papacy, but it was the first encounter at one of the former death camps. Francis met with them one by one and presented each one with a gift in a small red box. Schudrich said he was grateful the pope met with the Righteous and valued his silent homage to the victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau, most of whom were Jewish. [July 29, 2016] Blue Jay Wireless Partners with Carter BloodCare for in-house Give a Day CARROLLTON, Texas, July 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 27, 2016, Carter BloodCare's mobile unit made a stop at Blue Jay's corporate office so the staff could make life-saving blood donations. The majority of the Carrollton staff joined the effort to supply the much-needed donations. Not only will their efforts contribute to research in important areas, the estimation is that at least 30 lives will be forever changed with the blood raised during Blue Jay's in-house Give a Day. Community Relations Manager, Shannon Davis explained, "Giving blood is one of the most impactful efforts a person can make with their #giveaday. I think the best thing about this particular drive was that several people said this was the first time they had ever donated blood because they were scared. Those people stepped up to the challenge and donated and said afterwards that they would be giving more often because they know the process now." The corporate office will be hosting Carter BloodCare again in October so Blue Jay can continue their life-changing efforts. As the socially conscious technology provider, Blue Jay believes in making as many contributions to their community as possible. Mrs. Davis hopes that even more first-time donors will join the effort on the next drive. She notes, "Give a Day is not just about making a difference that day; it is about inspiring others to create ongoing change." Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354282LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-jay-wireless-partners-with-carter-bloodcare-for-in-house-give-a-day-300306452.html SOURCE Blue Jay Wireless [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 30, 2016] Playdom Forum Site Breach: Usernames, Email Addresses and Passwords Impacted GLENDALE, Calif., July 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 12, 2016, unauthorized activity was detected on the playdomforums.com website, resulting in an immediate forensic investigation of the incident by Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI). The investigation found that an unauthorized party obtained usernames, passwords and email addresses for approximately 391,000 playdomforums.com accounts. The unauthorized party also obtained the Internet Protocol (IP) address collected during user registration on playdomforums.com. The Playdom Forum website does not collect credit card numbers or other sensitive personal information, sch as Social Security numbers. No other DCPI websites, apps, or subscribers have been affected in any way, and this incident did not involve financial data of any kind. DCPI has shut down the playdomforums.com website and invalidated all user passwords for the affected accounts. New forums have been launched with enhanced security measures. DCPI is issuing this notice as part of the process to inform all impacted users and has reported the incident to law enforcement. For more information, please visit http://help.disney.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/Playdom-Notice . To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/playdom-forum-site-breach-usernames-email-addresses-and-passwords-impacted-300306538.html SOURCE Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media JD England reflects on time as Mayor of Mitchell before stepping down JD England reflects on his time on the Mitchell police force, his first term election by just four votes and his accomplishments in office. Australian Ambassador launches book by Yadav Australias Ambassador to Nepal, Glenn White released a book titled Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal: A Gender Perspective by Punam Yadav at a programme held at Yala Maya Kendra on Thursday. Caan calls bids for DPR for luxury airport hotel The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) has invited local and foreign consulting firms to submit expressions of interest to conduct a detailed project report (DPR) for a luxury hotel project at Sinamangal, Kathmandu. KEEP THIS TOWN TRENDING @ A 5-YEAR-HOMICIDE-HIGH A Kansas City man injured in a shooting Thursday at 35th Street and Benton Boulevard has died, according to police. The quotient of violence continues to rise in Kansas City as we count two more murders thatfor this point on the calendar.Tonight's killing:Consequence of a shooting earlier in the week:And so the body count continues during this exceptionally violent Summer as the chattering class remains focused on politics.Developing . . . Thanks, Donald, for reminding us who the adult is in this race. What will stick with many voters is the candidate Clinton showed herself to be, steeled and calm attributes that will make our country prevail against its many challenges. Indeed, Trumps antics make the reasons to shun Clinton appear petty. It may be true that voters want new blood, not another family returning to the White House as if its a dynasty. And yes, Clintons judgment was terrible in creating a separate email server at the State Department. Yes, she has not held regular news conferences as she should. She is not smooth before the cameras. Her past pecuniary relationships with Wall Street raise questions about her political affinities. Her vote as a senator for the Iraq invasion was simply wrong. But all these objections recede in the face of Trump. He is a candidate so unworthy of the powers of the presidency it is stunning. EXPLOSION TKC TIPSTERS REVEAL POLITICOS USING MAYOR SLY'S TASK FORCE AS A POLITICAL SOAP BOX AMID ELECTION SEASON!!! "TKC, these meetings of the Citizens Task Force for reducing violence in Kansas City have devolved into a really unfortunate joke. During the last meeting, members spent most of the session denouncing Donald Trump and I'm fairly certain that my participation in the event has led to me being added to at least three campaign mailing lists which have asked for donations every day last week. Also, there are elected officials on this task force who have constantly been pushing a candidate in this primary. I thought I could avoid the conversation by saying that I did not live in the same voting district so I couldn't support the candidate and then I was asked me to hand out campaign literature this weekend. I think I'm going to join at three of my friends who have already quit the task force because now I hear that they want us to prepare to start releasing statements before the Presidential election which was NOT part of the plan at the outset of this year. TKC, I know we disagree about role that guns play in the KCMO murder rate and violence and I will admit that I largely agree with some of the statements in support of more Missouri gun regulation. But including these statements and our findings so that we can support of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign will undermine our efforts and make our work seem like a ploy not the productive community forum that all of us have tried to create. I care about the work that we have done so far and I think our residents deserve a voice in the discussion of the growing crime problem. But this task force is becoming a Hillary Clinton political club and that's not why I decided to get involved in the effort. Your readers should know this and they should demand better from our leaders." This week has seen anof violence in the Midtown corridor, reports of hipsters targeted whilst playing Pokemon GO and an alleged "flash mob" committing mass robbery in an urban core convenience store . . . So far there hasn't been much of a response from Kansas City elected officials . . . Moreover, a recent note sent our way reveals that a commission formed to address this problem has been seized upon by political opportunists.To wit . . .Here's the word:Sadly,has been marked by low participation andand silence while the local homicide rate continues to trend above a five year high.Developing . . . Shell & MOH Aviation has launched on 20th July 2016 fuelling operations at Skyros Airport, strengthening its network with its appointment as the airports first sole fuel operator Shell & MOH Aviation has launched on 20th July 2016 fuelling operations at Skyros Airport, strengthening its network with its appointment as the airports first sole fuel operator, providing fuel and related services to airlines operating from Skyros Airport. Adam Harrison, General Manager of Shell Aviation Europe & South Africa said of the new airport entry: With their latest addition to the Shell Aviation network, Shell & MOH Aviation will provide our world-class safety and operational standards to yet another Airport partnership. We look forward to continuing this support to the transport infrastructure and the vital tourism and travel industry in Greece. Located in the northern Sporades Island in the Aegean Sea; within the military base of Trachi and 17 km from the town of Skyros, Skyros airport served more than 10,700 passengers in 2015, 29% more than in 2014. Air traffic at this location grew by 73% from 2014 to 2015 (source HCAA). Mr. Petros Zorapas, CEO of Shell & MOH Aviation said: We are proud to have started fuelling operations at Skyros Airport today. It is our commitment to further invest in, and support Greek Tourism during this difficult period for Greece. I would like to thank the support of the local community and authorities which was vital to the successful completion of the project. We hope this investment will encourage charter flights to bring new routes to the Island of Skyros, leading to an increase in tourism levels. 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 A selection of popular educational and interactive science theatre stage performances will be staged at Nakhool City in Bahrain from August 1 to 7. MTE Studios, a consultancy firm specialised in turn key solutions in the region for science related projects and events, will being the shows to Bahrain in collaboration with Bahrain Culture Authority & Antiquities. The shows will be held between 5pm and 9pm. MTE Studios CEO Ludo Verheyen said: Our team of experts offer value through people-centred science activities and we place great importance on the role events can play in supporting science educational programmes. Science theatre is a great way to teach children about innovations in a fun environment. MTE Studios has been part of numerous international industry events relating to science with a team of experts who have added value to science centres in different parts of the world through presentations, workshops, staff training and science theatre related projects. The performances at Nakhool City will see MTE Studios' veteran science theatre actor David Muller presenting a selection of three different science shows, he said. - TradeArabia News Service Florida authorities have reported the first sign of local Zika transmission in the continental US, concluding that mosquitoes likely infected four people with the virus that can cause a rare but serious birth defect. Governor Rick Scott said the state believed active transmission of the virus was occurring within an area of Miami about the size of a square mile (2.6 square km). Testing showed that one woman and three men had been infected, Scott said. While health officials have yet to identify mosquitoes carrying the virus, the state has ruled out other means of transmission, including travel to another country with a Zika outbreak, and sexual contact. "This means Florida has become the first state in the nation to have local transmission of the Zika virus," Scott said at a press conference. Zika appears to pose the greatest risk when it infects pregnant women, given its ability to cause microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by small head size that can lead to developmental problems. The current outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip said that health officials are not advising pregnant women to move out of the suspected transmission area. "We do not believe there will be ongoing transmission," Philip said at a press conference in Orlando, citing daily efforts to control the mosquito population in the area. The local health department is searching for other potential infections, with more than 2,300 people tested so far in the state, is ramping up mosquito control programs and is distributing Zika protection kits to pregnant women at their doctors' offices, Florida officials said. Federal authorities have already begun to treat the Florida cases as a sign of local transmission. On Wednesday, the US Food and Drug Administration ordered blood banks in Florida's densely populated Miami-Dade County and Broward County to stop collecting blood until they can test each unit or incorporate technologies that can kill blood pathogens. Residents in the trendy Miami neighborhood thought to harbour Zika said the local spread of the virus had been inevitable, given the large numbers of tourists from other countries with outbreaks. Damian Jose Delgado, a 35-year-old father of two, said news of Zika's arrival would make him think twice about expanding his family. "I think I might be done having kids," Delgado said. EARLY WARNINGS US health officials have cautioned for months that the summer mosquito season was likely to bring local outbreaks, with Gulf Coast states such as Florida, Texas and Louisiana on the frontlines. They expect Zika's spread will be more limited than in Brazil, given widespread US use of screens on windows, air conditioning and mosquito control programs. "As we anticipated, Zika is now here," Tom Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a conference call on Friday. "There may be occasional clusters" of mosquito-borne transmission in the continental United States, he said, but little likelihood of widespread transmission. Frieden said the agency was not recommending that people, including pregnant women, limit travel to Florida, including the neighborhood where people may have been infected. He said CDC would reassess that advice if there is evidence of Zika spreading rapidly in the area. - Reuters DP World, the Dubai-based operator of global shipping terminals, has signed a long-term lease agreement for the expansion and operation of the multi-purpose Rodney Container Terminal at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. DP World will start running existing operations on January 1, 2017 and work in partnership with the Saint John Port Authority on a planned expansion programme expected to be completed in 2021, with the lease continuing for 30 years after. The Rodney Container Terminal is a multi-purpose terminal handling container traffic in Saint John, the only Atlantic Canada port that is served by the countrys Class I railways, Canada National Railway (CN) and Canada Pacific Railway (CP) and is CPs only Atlantic gateway port. The lease will follow the Port Authoritys completion of the expansion works, which will create a 350-metre deep-water berth, an enhanced stacking area and a 12,000-foot intermodal rail yard capable of handling a full train, said a DP World statement. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO, DP World, said: We are delighted to further extend our presence in Canada to the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick. We believe that the future growth prospects for the port are strong and we are excited to be participating with Saint John Port Authority in their expansion plans. Our investments and commitment to Canada are for the long term, contributing to trade and the development of its national and local economies as well as providing employment for people with a leader of world trade. Our international experience and expertise will be further enhanced with this project. Jim Quinn, CEO, Saint John Port Authority, said: We are delighted to welcome DP World as the new operator of Rodney Container Terminal and to share in the expansion project for the terminal. The commitments that DP World has made to invest in equipment and systems, commercial promotion and sustainability are critical for the long-term success of the project. DP World is already a major investor in Canada operating the Centerm terminal in Vancouver, the Fairview Terminal in Prince Rupert and the Duke Point Terminal in Nanaimo. Its entry into Saint John will focus on Canadas trade with Europe and Latin America increasing sector competition in eastern Canada. DP World said its involvement in Saint John is expected to bring significant benefits to importers and exporters in New Brunswick and the Maritimes, a region of Canada that also includes other Atlantic provinces Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, through: * Immediate investment in modern container handling equipment capable of serving post-panamax container vessels; * Additional gantry cranes and container handling equipment in line with the Port Authoritys expansion works programme; * DP Worlds strong relationships with global ocean carriers and both Canadian Class I railways, CN and CP; * Access to DP Worlds world class productivity in container terminal development and operation; * Access to DP Worlds state-of-the-art supply chain security and safety practices; and * Enhanced competition through the entrant of a new terminal operator in the region - TradeArabia News Service Deuba braces for internal pressure The CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Nepali Congress (NC) will get the ball rolling on formation of a majority government next week as soon as the seven-day deadline set by the President to elect a consensus prime minister ends on Sunday. Madhesi leaders softer on joining new govt Some Madhesi leaders have hinted at the possibility of joining the new government if the NC and the CPN (Maoist Centre) made a written commitment to addressing their demands pertaining to the constitution. Management Edu Expo begins The second edition of Management Education Expo 2016 kicked off in the Capital on Friday. Tribune News Service Mohali, July 30 A three-member team of the World Health Organisation (WHO) visited Mohali Civil Hospital and other health facilities here and at Ropar today to get firsthand experience of injection safety being practised here. The purpose of the teams field visit was to observe the current practices with the conventional syringes so that the technical expert group is able to form guidelines for shifting to the reuse prevention syringes (RUPs). More or less the team expressed its satisfaction over the injection safety being practised in the hospitals. The little concern was over post-injection practises, including hand washing by some nurses and other staff, said Dr Shashi Kant, director of the NRM, who accompanied the WHO team to the local hospitals. It is to be noted that the WHO has selected Punjab for its Injection Safety Project. The WHO has selected only three countries - Egypt, Uganda and India - for the project and the Punjab is the first state in the country for the project. It was the first filed visit of the WHO team in the state today. More such visits will take place soon, said Dr Shashi Kant. WHO officials said as per the studies conducted worldwide and in the country, it had been found that a significant number of injections given were not required and many were unsafe that could lead to spread of infections such as hepatitis-C, hepatitis-B and HIV. Punjab would constitute a state technical expert group in collaboration of the WHO to prepare a timeframe and plan of activities to be undertaken for the implementation of the Injection Safety Project in Punjab. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 30 Leader of Opposition and INLD MLA Abhay Chautala today accused the state BJP government of duping farmers in the name of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Addressing a press conference, Abhay said the insurance scheme was being thrust down farmers throats. The farmer is the worst-hit in the BJP rule. We will raise the issue in the monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha scheduled for August 19, he said. Abhay, accompanied by INLD state president Ashok Arora and MLAs Jaswinder Sandhu and Zakir Hussain, said the BJP had burnt a hole in the pocket of the farmers. They paid very little compensation for the crop damage due to hail and drought in 12 districts and ignored most of the claims. Now, this insurance scheme aims to benefit three private insurance companies, which would earn Rs 900 crore from farmers, said Abhay. He was critical of the governments move to appoint good governance associates over and above the bureaucracy in every district. The government has no faith in the officers, its ministers or MLAs. These associates are associated with the RSS, who will report to the top brass and are being favoured with salaries and other benefits, he alleged. Stating Congress MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala had more than enough security cover, Abhay also sought a white paper from the government on the security provided to private individuals. Our Correspondent Jind, July 30 In the meeting of the Sarv Khap Panchayat held at Jat Dharmashala here today, Jat leaders said they had lost confidence in the state as well as the Centre and they will not go in for any negotiation with the government. The representatives of different khaps from the state, UP, Delhi and Rajasthan along with members of various Jat reservation bodies took part in the event. The meeting was held under the supervision of national convener of Sarv Khap Panchayat Tek Ram Kandela and its national spokesperson Sube Singh Samain. The Jat leaders also levelled allegations on the BJP-led state government for allegedly targeting Jat employees and officials in government offices. Samain said, We have met Union Minister Rajnath Singh and CM Manohar Lal Khattar for the release of innocent youths who were arrested in the February agitation, but our demand is still not accepted. Our next meeting will be held on August 7 at Kurukshetra, August 14 at Gohana and August 21 at Palwal. If government security agencies will target us, we will also take some action and launch a peaceful agitation, said the Jat leader. On Jat ministers of the state government, Samain said, We are receiving positive response from Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar, but Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu has maintained silence. Kandela said, We have faith in the Indian judiciary and we are hopeful that the Jat community will get reservation. He said, We have received support from members of Sangwan, Ram Kataria, Barwala and Yashpal Malik groups. We do not believe in the ultimatum of Yashpal Malik of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti. We will draft our own strategy. Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 30 It had become clear by noon today that former minister Capt Ajay Yadav was in no mood to quit the Congress though he had sent his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi hours ago. He is likely to be called by Sonia or Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for a meeting on Monday. Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar today told The Tribune, Capt Yadav is angry over something, but I am confident the matter will be resolved. I have flagged his concerns to the leadership. Capt Yadav, for his part, appeared calmer than yesterday and drew a distinction between Bhupinder Singh Hoodas Congress and Indian National Congress to indicate that he only wanted to meet Sonia and Rahul, and not wanted to quit the party. My fight is with Hoodas Congress and not national Congress. I have sent my resignation to Sonia and Rahul, and will meet them if they call me. Im sure they wont take action against me after seeing my letters, Yadav said in clear signs of how he had used his resignation to draw the Congress leaderships attention to his version of a controversy involving his recent meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. A minister in the previous Congress-led Hooda government, Capt Yadav said he wont join any other party nor form his own. I will work for my social outfit Haryana Bachao Sewa Samiti. Sonia Gandhi is like my mother. My loyalties are with her. Asked why he was again (he once quit the Hooda Cabinet only to return) using his resignation as a pressure tactic to get heard, the former minister said: On both occasions, I resigned on issues. My honour has been hit by Kamal Nath, Congress general secretary in charge Haryana affairs. I am hurt. The Congress leadership has not given me an appointment. What choice did I have? It has learnt that apart from humiliation Capt Yadav suffered after being asked not to attend a meeting to which he was invited earlier, he was threatened with a show-cause notice for his reported meeting with Khattar. I met Kamal Nath and he told me I would be issued a show-cause notice. I asked why not also showcause Hooda supporters who booed state party chief Ashok Tanwar at a Delhi rally; those who spoke against CLP leader Kiran Choudhry and those who burnt my effigies in Rohtak when I went there to meet a four-year-old rape victim. In the case of my meeting Khattar, Kamal Nath presented Hoodas version to the leadership, but not mine. I only flagged a land scam in Haryana. I have presented my case to the high command along with my resignation, Yadav said. Jain: Nothing political about Yadav-CM meeting Chandigarh: Haryana BJP in charge Anil Jain (in pic) on Saturday said former Congress minister Capt Ajay Yadav met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to lodge a personal complaint and there was nothing political about it. All residents of the state have a right to meet their Chief Minister. Capt Yadav met him to lodge a personal complaint, said Jain after a meeting in Haryana Niwas here. When asked whether or not Capt Yadav had approached the BJP after resigning from the Congress, Jain said the party had not received any request from him for joining the party yet. He backed a Khattars decision to replace two ministers with three new faces. Replacing ministers is the prerogative of the Chief Minister. At the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the departments of several ministers. Jain did not give a satisfactory reply about the reasons behind replacing the ministers. On the performance of the BJP government in Haryana, Jain said the government had done a good work and taken several initiatives for the welfare of residents, but party expected more from it. TNS Legal Correspondent Shimla, July 30 Himachal Lokhit Party president and Chief Kardar (caretaker) of Lord Raghunath temple Maheshwar Singh has challenged the governments decision to take over the temple in the High Court. Maheshwar contended in his petition that the temple was built and established by the Late Raja Jagat Singh and its a private property. It was further contended that the state could not take over this property by issuing a notification. The petitioner challenged the decision of the government on the ground that the action of the state was illegal, arbitrary and against the provisions of the Constitution of India. It was further contended that the government could not add the temple in the schedule of the Himachal Pradesh Religious and Charitable Endowment Act without proper inquiry and giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. He further contended that the affairs of temple had been managed by his family since its establishment. It was alleged that no complaint of mismanagement was there against the petitioner and his family. It was further alleged that the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, had submitted a report to the state government on June 15, 2016, regarding the false representation and complaints of mismanagement. The petitioner was never given any notice by the DC before undertaking the inquiry. After the notification by the government on the takeover of the temple earlier this week, the DC on July 26 had given seven-day time to Maheshwar Singh to hand over the records of the temple located in Sultanpur palace. The case will likely to come up for hearing before the court on August 1. Our Correspondent Nurpur, July 30 JP Naddas maiden visit to Kangra district today after becoming Union Health Minister gave new political vigour to local former MLA Rakesh Pathania and his supporters. Pathania had been sidelined by the party even after his re-induction into the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections over two years ago. Nadda, who addressed a gathering at Bodh in Nurpur, was given a warm reception by supporters of Pathania. Pathania honoured Nadda by presenting him with a sword at the public meeting. Assuring full support to Pathania, Nadda said that Pathania had a bright political future and if he moved in the right direction, the BJP was sure to win the Nurpur Assembly election next year. Accepting Pathanias demand, Nadda announced Rs 10 crore for strengthening health services and the dialysis centre in Nurpur. Nadda announced BJPs new slogan for the next Assembly election: a Bhrashtachar Mukt, Vikas Yukt (corruption-free, pro-development) government in the state and asserted that the overall development of the state was possible after the formation of the next BJP government in the state. Himachal Pradesh has wide scope of development, especially in horticulture and tourism sectors. As and when the BJP government comes to power in the state, new policies will be framed to usher in a new era of development in the state. But now, the state government will have to move fast in conjunction with the Modi government in Delhi for expediting development in the state. That is possible only if the BJP forms the next government here, he said. The Health Minister said the Union Health Ministry had earmarked Rs 156 crore to the state under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) programme, Rs 150 crore each for Tanda Medical College, Kangra, and IGMC Shimla in the current fiscal year. Besides these, distribution of free medicines to patients up to the Community Health Centre (CHC)-level had been proposed for the state. The Modi government has approved three new medical colleges in Nahan, Chamba and Hamirpur districts, but the state government so far hasnt provided land in Hamirpur for setting up the college, he said. Ram Saroop Sharma and Virender Kashyap, MPs of Mandi and Shimla respectively, were present. Rachna Khaira Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 29 The world seemed to have shattered for 41-year-old Kulwinder Kaur when she got the fateful call around 12:30 am this morning from the Indian High Commission in Jakarta that said that Gurdip Singh has been shot dead by a firing squad at the prisoners' island in Indonesia. But minutes later, another call from the same official seemed to have given a fresh lease of life to the whole family when it said that Gurdip's execution has been put on hold for some time. "Chamatkar ho gaya te tera Gurdip bach gaya. Mainu tan le gaye see oho shoot karan laye, pata nhe paanj - saat minutaan ch ki ho gaya. Ohna ne mainu vapis bula leya te kende ki innu shoot ni karna (It's a miracle that your Gurdip has been saved. I was taken for execution but within 5-7 minutes, I don't know what happened? They called back me back and told the officials not to shoot me.)," said Kulwinder Kaur, a visibly elated wife while offering traditional 'boondi ladoos' to everyone visiting her house. She said it was a sheer luck that the turned into Gurdip's favour this time. Four prisoners standing before him were executed in heavy rain and thunderstorm but his execution was put on hold. "Mainu taan hun darr lag reha ki mein kite khushi naal kamli na ho jaawan! (I am scared that I may go crazy with so much of happiness)", said Kulwinder. With the temporary suspension of Gurdip's execution in Indonesia, a ray of hope has emerged for Gurdip's family here at Khaira Mohalla in Nakodar. While speaking to The Tribune immediately after getting the news of the temporary suspension of his death penalty, Gurdip's wife thanked Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj for making strenuous efforts till the last minute to save him. "I appeal to the Indian government for his release from the Indonesian jail. Gurdip has spent almost 10 years in solitude and now deserves to be united with his family," said Kaur. Meanwhile, Gurdip's delhi-based brother Gurpreet Singh also shared the memories when he met his younger brother last in 2014 in an Indonesian prison. "He told me that initially they used to treat prisoners with care but later stopped giving them adequate meal. He is missing 'ghar di roti' badly as he is eating rice from the last 12 years," said Gurpreet Singh. While the family is elated and little relieved about the temporary suspension of Gurdip's execution, a fear still haunts their mind over his fate in near future. Seema Kaul Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 30 Blaming Pakistan for inciting unrest and revolt in Kashmir, speakers at a symposium, titled Peace, people and possibilities in Kashmir, today said the way forward in the Valley was through dialogue and development. The two-day symposium was organised by the Vishwagram (social organisation with RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar as chief patron) and originally scheduled to be held on the JNU campus. However, there was a last-minute change of venue to the IIMC campus. JK Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Education Minister Naeem Akhter were scheduled to participate in the symposium. However, due to the situation in the state they were unable to attend. BJP ministers from the state did, however, attend and address the symposium. The symposium was attended by JNU and other college students, academics and people from Kashmir. Confident that peace will come to Kashmir, Indresh Kumar said, Pakistan is encouraging terrorism and separatists in Kashmir, it will end. Indresh Kumar, RSS ideologue and chief patron, Vishwagram, adding that he was sure that peace would return to Kashmir. Kashmir will move towards peace and development. Now the slogan is all Kashmiris are of Hindustan and all Hindustanis are with the Kashmiri people. I think from this slogan, the Tiranga will fly in Kashmir and from there come to Hindustan. We will spread the light of education and development in Kashmir and India. That day will definitely come when there is peace in Kashmir, you will see it, he told The Tribune after the seminar. Have we not tried to talk? PM Modi tried so many times to talk, he also tried at Ufa. What happened? What reply we got? Udhampur, Pathankot attacks was the reply, said Major General (retd) GD Bakshi, while suggesting that India needed to take far more stringent action against Pakistan. Until you raise costs for Pakistan, nothing will happen. You will have to go beyond border and investigate. We have hope that the government will do something, he added. You need 483 million new jobs. There is huge unemployment. In Kashmir, Pakistan interference will have to stop. They better return PoK. We will not hand over Kashmir, ever, said Bakshi. Governance there in Kashmir is poor today. Thrown out Kashmiri Pandits. Where are we heading? A large number of people from Kashmir have been thrown out and forced to go to Jammu. We have to economically boost the state. But Indian Constitution Art 35 A does not allow outsiders to buy land. Business people are being stopped from setting up factories there. Build up whole area in terms of trade so Kashmiris prosper and put factories there, said Lieutenant General PN Hoon, adding that until people from outside Kashmir were allowed to set up factories and businesses, the local economy would not get a boost. Speaking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the seminar, JK minister Abdul Gani Kohli said the current unrest in Srinagar was likely to continue for another 10 days. We want situation to improve. They want to extend all this till August 15. It is always the case when there is a national day celebration coming up. The government is in touch with the people, it will settle down soon, he added. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, July 30 Two soldiers were killed and another was injured as they foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowgam sector of north Kashmirs Kupwara district. Two militants were also killed in the gunbattle, the second in the area in the past three days. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The gunfight erupted when a group of heavily- armed infiltrators was intercepted close to the LoC at Tutmar Gali Nowgam, 120 km northwest of Srinagar, during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. When challenged, they resorted to indiscriminate firing. A fierce gunfight followed in which two jawans Ashish Choudhary and Babloo Singh of 18 Jat Regiment were killed. One jawan was injured, defence spokesman Col NN Joshi said. He said the operation was underway and the Army was combing the thick forest. Sources said the Army had pressed choppers into service to hunt for any more militants hiding in the area. Besides ammunition, food items had been recovered. There have been Intelligence inputs that owing to the civil unrest in Kashmir in the past three weeks, Pakistan and militants handlers are trying to push more men into Kashmir. Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh, during his recent visit, had asked the soldiers to remain vigilant against infiltration attempts. Official figures show that against the total figure of 35 last year, 54 militants were able to infiltrate into Kashmir in the first half of 2016. And this may be the reason for the increase in violence in the Valley. Meanwhile, barring parts of Srinagar, Anantnag and Pampore towns, curfew was today lifted in Kashmir even as life remained disrupted because of the strike called by separatists. Far away, the United States, while expressing concern over the tension in the Valley, called on all sides to make efforts for lasting peace. Ncell seeks nod to capitalise its investments Ncell has submitted a new proposal to the Department of Industry (DOI), seeking the latters approval to capitalise its investments worth Rs73.95 billion. The company has so far got approval to take its authorised capital to Rs17 billion. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 30 A domestic help was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the house of a former minister, late Harnam Dass Johar, at Model Town here today. The deceased has been identified as Bhagat Singh (38), a native of Nepal. The victim was found hanging in a room on the first floor of the house. According to information, Ajay Johar, son of Harnam Dass Johar, has gone to Chennai along with his family. The family has three servants, including Bhagat Singh. This morning, one of the servants went to drop his children at school while another one was watching TV in the lobby. Bhagat Singh went to the first floor of the house and allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan. The incident came to light when one of the servants went to the first floor and found Bhagat Singh hanging from a fan. Meanwhile, the Model Town police reached the spot and initiated investigation. Surinder Chopra, SHO of Model Town, said: Bhagat Singh returned from his native village on July 24. He might have some problem in the family and was upset. We have filed proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC in this regard. The police sent the body to Civil Hospital for post-mortem. According to information, Bhagat Singh had been working in the house of senior Congress leader and former minister Harnam Dass Johar since 2013. Philadelphia, July 30 Indian-Americans are sleeping giants and can make a significant difference in helping first-ever woman US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton break the ultimate glass ceiling, according to her Indian-origin supporters. Indian-Americans in this campaign need to harness and galvanise the resources, especially in the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia, said Indian-American Frank Islam, a major fundraiser for the Clinton Campaign. I personally believe and Hillary (Clinton) believes that they can make a significant difference, if the people go out and vote, said Islam, who was present at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia where Clinton was nominated. He said if the Indian-Americans would go out and vote in these battleground states they could play an important role and tip the ballots. Islam, who was part of the delegation to travel to India with US President Barack Obama in January last year, exuded confidence that Clinton as President would take the India-US relationship to the next height. She would be an indispensable partner for India. She would advocate and embrace what President Obama has done so far, he said. I was so happy to be there at the historic moment when Hillary became our nominee. She has the potential to lead the nation. What is important as an Indian-American is that Hillary is focused on building bridges. She will go beyond all differences and unite people, said Palaniappan Andiappan, who was a member of the Credentials Committee. Andiappan attended the Democratic National Convention, saying it was a very energising and electrifying experience. Hillary Clintons nomination sends a powerful message that Americas major party is ready to give command of the most powerful nation to a woman. Her message of unity and holding each other resonates with majority of Americans, said Rajwant Singh, a Sikh community leader. Noting that Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate provides assurance to minorities, especially the religious ones, Singh said Sikhs are pleased with the nomination as she had been a long-time friend of the community. She has stood by Sikhs during the challenging times in the aftermath of 9/11. She has spoken emphatically that nobody should be made target of hate and this is exactly the kind of leadership required to lead this nation, he said. We are equally thrilled with the nomination of Tim Kaine, who is an ardent supporter of Sikhs being admitted in the US Armed Forces without any restrictions, Rajwant said. I have known Kaine for 10 years. His experience at every level--local (city councilman and mayor), state (lieutenant-governor and governor), and federal (US senator) would absolutely make him a wonderful Vice-President, said Anjan Chimaladinne, a delegate for Clinton from Virginia. New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra said US President Barack Obama in his speech at the convention recaptured Americas election away from Trumps terms of fear and hate and back to the audacity of hope for all of the people. PTI New Delhi, July 30 Over 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia are facing severe food shortage due to financial hardship after losing their jobs and the government has ordered its mission in the Gulf nation to provide food to them, besides other assistance. Late in the evening, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj appealed to 30 lakh Indians in that country to help their fellow brothers and sisters. We have asked @IndianEmbRiyadh to provide free ration to the unemployed Indian workers in Saudi Arabia, she tweeted. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Her initial response came following a tweet by a man who said around 800 Indians were starving for the last three days in Jeddah and sought her intervention. However, later, she said, The number of Indians facing food crisis was over 10,000, and not 800, as is being reported. VK Singh, MoS for External Affairs, will soon travel to the Gulf nation to assess the situation while his counterpart in the ministry MJ Akbar will take up the issue with Kuwait and Saudi Arabian authorities. My colleagues @Gen_VKSingh will go to Saudi Arabia to sort out these matters and @MJakbar will take up with Kuwait and Saudi authorities, she tweeted. The Indian Consulate, in association with Indian community in Jeddah, has already distributed 15,475 kg of food stuff and other items. PTI Bhubaneswar, July 30 At least 29 persons were killed after being struck by lightning in different parts of Odisha on Saturday, police said. While the maximum number of eight deaths were reported from Bhadrak district, there were seven casualties in Balasore district, five in Khurda, three in Mayurbhanj, three in Jaipur and one each in Kendrapara, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, police said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Expressing sorrow over the deaths, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the special relief commissioner (SRC) to immediately provide assistance to the bereaved families in accordance with the relief code, CM's office said in a statement. The Chief Minister has also announced Rs 50,000 as compensation to the victims. Of the eight deaths reported from Bhadrak, two women died in separate lightning incidents at Kusananagar and Panibhandar villages, while another woman was killed in Balichaturi village, police said. The rest five died at Bisalpata, Banta, Tihidi, Bansada and Chandbali areas of Bhadrak district, they said adding at least three persons were injured in incidents of lightning in there. In Balasore district, two persons were killed and another was injured at Angula village, while one person was killed in lightning at nearby Jaganathpur village in Soro block, said Priyabrata Parhi, Tahasildar of Soro. The mishap occurred while all of them were working in a paddy field. Elsewhere in the district, four persons, including a woman, were killed and at least 14 injured in different areas under Jaleswar block, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Jaleswar, Satya Ranjan Mallick said. Most of them were working in paddy fields, he said. In Mayurbhanj district, a Class X girl was killed in Thakurmunda area, while two farmers working in the field died in lightning in Suliapada area, police said. In Khurda district, one person died due to lightning at Jamujhari village, while four others were killed near Sundarpur village. Eight persons were injured in Balipatapur village of Khurda, police said. In Keonjhar district, a man was killed due to lightning in Dantia village of Ramachandrapur area, while five persons were injured at Angarua village, police said. In Jajpur district, a farmer died at Sodi village under Panikoili police station limit as lightning struck when he was working in the field. Similarly, one person was killed at Mangalpur village in Mahakalapada police station jurisdiction of Kendrapara district, police said. In Nayagarh district, one cyclist was killed and another injured after being hit by a thunderbolt during the day, district police said. Agencies Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 30 Conceding that ill-maintained drainage was the reason behind the waterlogging in Gurgaon, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today held the district administration partially responsible for bringing the Millennium City to a grinding halt. At a press conference after the all-party meeting to discuss the golden jubilee celebrations of Haryanas formation, Khattar said a clearer picture would emerge after senior officers Keshni Anand Arora and Alok Nigam submit a report. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He said while the Badshahpur drain had not been desilted, thereby reducing its water-holding capacity and resulting in overflow into the city, that very evening a big group of Kanwariyas passing through the city and the sudden rush after taxi drivers of Delhi called off their strike, led to the traffic build-up. Also, the administration failed to respond on time. Then, that very day, two gates of the drain taking the water from Haryana to Delhi were closed, Khattar maintained, adding that his government would take all short-term measures on a war-footing to ensure a repeat does not happen. Besides, it is not only in Haryana that the heavy rain disrupted life, Bengaluru and Assam, too, faced similar situations, he said. Sushil Goyal Tribune News Service Sangrur, July 30 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Delhi Naresh Yadav was today granted bail by Additional Sessions Judge Amarjit Singh Virk in the Malerkotla desecration case. He was released from the Sangrur District Jail in the afternoon on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 40,000. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Coming out of the jail, Naresh Yadav said AAP was afraid of none. The SAD-BJP government will commit atrocities on AAP leaders and workers for some months more. But the people of Punjab will give a befitting reply to the ruling alliance in the 2017 Assembly elections, he said. He denied links with Vijay Kumar, the main accused in the sacrilege case. Yadavs counsel Himmat Singh Shergill had filed a bail application in the Sangrur sessions court on July 28 after the court of Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Malerkotla, dismissed his bail plea. Yadav was arrested by the Sangrur police from Delhi on July 24 and produced in the Malerkotla court on July 25. While granting bail to Yadav, Additional Sessions Judge Virk said the applicant could not be kept in custody for an indefinite period as his guilt was yet to be proved. Therefore, without commenting on the merit of the case, the bail plea is allowed. Talking to mediapersons, Shergill acussed the Badal government of implicating AAP leaders in false cases as part of a political conspiracy. He said the prosecution could not produce any proof against Yadav today. Guwahati, July 30 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday promised adequate assistance to Assam and said the Central government will take an expeditious decision on the state government's demands, even as death toll due to floods in Bihar and Assam together crossed 50. Many rivers were flowing above danger level in Bihar as swirling flood waters continued to wreak havoc in the state with 26.19 lakh people affected. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Rivers which are flowing above danger level are Baghmati at Benibad, Kamlabalan at Jhanjharpur, Kosi at Baltara, Mahananda at Dhengra ghat and Jhawa in the state, the Disaster Management Department said in a statement. Rajnath Singh, who reached Assam earlier in the day, conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected areas with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. He also visited Bhagatgaon camp set up for the flood-affected residents in Morigaon district. Addressing the media later, Singh said at least 28 districts of the state have been affected by floods. Read: Delhi traffic crawls as city receives maximum rain in 10 years "I have been told that around 26 people have died over the past one week due to floods in Assam and state government has announced Rs 4 lakh compensation to the families of victims," Singh said. "The (Central) government will provide all assistance to the Assam government. I congratulate Assam Chief Minister and his state officers for arrangements in the flood-affected areas," he added. Read: 27 killed as lightning strikes several places in Odisha The Home Minister said he had asked the state government to "adequately utilise the money in the National Disaster Relief Fund." He also lauded the work of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Army in providing relief to the flood-affected people. Some 26 people died and 19 lakh people in 22 districts have been affacted by floods in the state. When asked if the Centre will declare the problem as national calamity, the Home Minister said giving a name to the problem will not help. "Declaring flood as national calamity is not a solution. We should address why floods take place, what steps we should take and how we will minimise the damage. "I will ask the state government to prepare an action plan on the problem. We have to address it through long-term planning. Only short-term measures will not help," he said. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the railways will provide free wagons for transportation of essential commodities to the flood-affected districts of Assam. In Uttar Pradesh, all major rivers of Terai region are in spate due to continuous rain in upper Himalayan reaches and excess water release from barrages. The administration has set up as 41 relief camps in the districts affected. The situation also remains grim in Bihar, where 26 people have died in flood-related accidents. Most casualties have been reported from Supaul, Purnia and Kishanganj. Mahanandas river-waters have spread to Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj, causing floods. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said the embankments would be constructed to check Mahananda in five phases. Flood alert has also been issued in Tamil Nadu, where heavy rain has hit normal life. Heavy rain in Karnataka has led to water, spilling over into the rivers and lakes in Krishnagiri and Salem districts of Tamil Nadu. Rain continues to lash Bengaluru. Floods have been reported in several parts of the city. Agencies New Delhi, July 30 Rains lashed northern and eastern parts of the country, aggravating the flood situation in Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and West Bengal, where 34 persons have died, while lightning claimed 27 lives in Odisha. Floods in Assam have killed 29 persons and affected nearly 37 lakh people across more than 3,300 villages in 28 districts of the state, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. Official reports said flood waters have risen following heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan as well as in the state. In Meghalaya, three persons were killed and two went missing as floodwaters submerged the West Garo Hills district today. Even as the back flow of Brahmaputra and Jinjiram rivers has gone down marginally, many villages were inundated due to incessant rainfall. In Bihar, many rivers are flowing above danger level, as flood continued to wreak havoc, affecting 26.19 lakh people. Two more districts of East Champaran and Muzaffarpur were declared as flood-hit. Two girls were swept away by waters of Burhidangi river in Kishanganj. PTI New Delhi, July 30 In a first, parents of around 16 lakh students studying in over 2,500 government schools in the national capital on Saturday attended a Mega PTM (Parents Teacher Meeting) organised to bring the quality of education at par with that imparted in private schools. From bad handwriting to poor calculations, improper usage of grammar to lack of concentration, good speed to excellent leadership skills, parents were updated about shortcomings and positives of their wards in the meeting, perhaps the first in country for government schools. As parents queued up in government-run schools across the national capital today waiting for their turn to listen to feedback about their ward's performance, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia visited several schools to see if all was in order and how were parents responding to this initiative. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) However, the initiative was overshadowed by an alleged suicide of a girl who ended her life after her mother received negative feedback about her during a PTM at Government Senior Secondary School in Khayala area. The BJP attacked the AAP government for making the PTM a "mega political show" alleging it resulted in suicide of the 12-year-old girl. "Today PTMs have been organised in all government schools and parents of 16 lakh students have been invited today to attend the meeting. This is a new experiment and parents are excited about it that they are being involved in the schooling of their children. "This is another step towards bringing the quality of education being imparted in government schools at par with that of private schools," Sisodia told reporters. Parents termed the initiative to be an apt "start" for working towards improved education standards in government schools. "We are unable to send our kids to expensive private schools and I am not educated enough to keep a check on my son's activities and performance. This will help me in being updated about his weaknesses and positives," said Ramkishan, a rickshaw puller whose son studies in the school in Nand Nagri. In order to make parents of government school students as "stakeholders" of education, Sisodia had earlier this week made an announcement for the Mega PTM which he described as first positive dialogue between parents and teachers. While senior officials of the education department, including directors, deputy directors, and assistant director have been directed to hold a meeting with parents of government schools' students from 12 to 1 pm on Friday every week to address their issues, the mega PTM will be held twice a year. "Our effort is that routine PTMs continue on weekly basis and a mega PTM conducted every six months. Parents should be welcomed in schools and they should be given proper feedback about their kid's performance," Sisodia said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to twitter to pat his Deputy's back for the initiative. "Congrats Manish for organising Mega PTM in govt schools. V heart warming stories coming from various schools," he said. At the Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RRPV) in Civil Lines, Sisodia met three alumni of the school who were not aware of the occasion and simply happened to be revisiting their alma mater today. "We are from the 1998 batch and came back today to revisit our memories of school. I wish we had this concept in our days. But we are thrilled to see it being implemented now," said Nitin, one of the alumni. Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister wrote an open letter to parents today asking them actively participate in the PTMs to nurture their ward's future. PTI Nepal should address transitional justice issues on its own: Sapana Pradhan Malla Supreme Court justice nominee Sapana Pradhan Malla has said that Nepal should find a lasting solution to the pending issues of transitional justice by setting up legal and institutional systems to give a closure to the conflict-era cases. Lucknow, July 30 For geologist Shiv Balak Misra its a moment of happiness wrapped in sadness. Hes happy that his 1967 discovery of a fossil in Canada has been recognised by Unesco, but sadly his name has not been mentioned. Simply put, the contribution of an Indian seems to have been ignored. Misra had discovered the fossil at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. The place is now better known as Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. Unesco has recognised it as a world heritage destination last week. Sitting at his modest flat overlooking the sprawling Ambedkar Park here, Misra recalls his days in Canada. He is happy that the world body has recognised the work, which he undertook many decades back as part of his thesis work that shed light on beginning of life on earth some 560 million years ago. But his name doesnt find a mention. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He says its not about his name as such but the fact that an Indians contribution has been omitted. It would have been a happier situation had the name been mentioned, as for generations to come a visit to the Reserve would have brought proud moments for Indians, he muses. Greetings, meanwhile, have poured in from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and from hundreds of his admirers in the fraternity and people at large. Recollecting the days he spent in Canada, Misra told IANS that when he chanced upon the fossils, the place was scantily populated and had only three families of workers at the Light House. He had gone there to study pre-Cambrian rocks, and the fossil discovery was a bonus. This was first published in Nature--a journal published from London. It was only after the discovery was published with photographs in an American journal in 1969 that the world took note of it as a serious and significant discovery. In an honour to Misra for his discovery, the 565-million-year-old fossil was named in September 2007 after him: Fractofusus misrai. The site he points out is crucial for educational purposes as it is a life record of the earth which is documented in the form of fossils which go on to tell that the life was not unicellular (as it was believed at that time) but a document of larger life of multi-cellular life, Misra says. The site is also important as it provides a vital link to Darwins Theory of Evolution, the septuagenarian says. He says that for ages the site would be of immense interest to biology students. Misra now has a wish that an Indians name be duly recognised at the Mistaken Point. IANS London, July 30 Islamic State terrorists are training the children of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq to create the next generation of militants, according to a latest European report. In its annual report on terrorism in the European Union (EU), Europol said children raised under the groups rule are of particular concern. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "In their propaganda, ISIS has often shown that they train these minors to become the next generation of foreign terrorist fighters, which may pose a future security threat to member states," the report said. "Some returnees will perpetuate the terrorist threat to the EU via facilitation, fundraising, recruitment and radicalisation activities. They may also serve as role models for future would-be violent jihadists," the Independent newspaper said, citing the report. More than 50 children from the UK are living in the so-called caliphate, where there are also an estimated 31,000 pregnant women, an investigation by the Quilliam Foundation had found earlier this year. Analysts say ISIS leaders see the children as crucial to secure the group's long-term success and consider them better and more lethal fighters because of their indoctrination and de-sensitisation since birth. Nikita Malik, a senior researcher from the Quilliam Foundation, said that children are being used as part of the terrorist group's "state-building exercise" in Iraq and Syria. They are an immediate threat and will become a much longer-term one. Their educational indoctrination breeds hatred against the West and calls all other states illegitimate these children will have no access to or memory of any other ideas, she told the paper. The report said girls are not yet permitted to fight but are trained to raise their children in line with ISIS ideology with the promise of "respect and affection" from male relatives. The number of children born to foreign fighters is believed to be increasing as a growing proportion of "jihadi brides" travel to join ISIS. Europol estimates that more than 5,000 Europeans have travelled to Syria and Iraq mainly to join ISIS but said the flow has slowed since an increase in counter-terror measures and intensifying air strikes and military defeats. PTI New Delhi, July 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit at Hangzhou in China on September 4-5, said government sources. Though the details of the meeting have not yet emerged, if it does take place, it would be the first meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Jinping after their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit held in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent, where the Prime Minister had urged China to make a fair and objective assessment of Indias application on merit for Indias membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Modi is also expected to hold a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama, which is likely to be their last official engagement with Obamas presidency set to end on January 20, 2017. Both the leaders are likely to discuss among other issues concerning terrorism and the NSG. ANI Washington, July 30 Expressing concern over reports of rising intolerance and violence in India, the US has asked the Indian government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrators. Responding to questions on reports of alleged violence against people eating beef and assault on two Muslim women carrying buffalo meat in Madhya Pradesh, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said, We stand in solidarity with the people and Government of India in supporting exercise of freedom of religion and expression and in confronting all forms of intolerance. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Were obviously concerned by reports of rising intolerance and violence... As we do in countries facing such problems around the world, we urge the government to do everything in its power to protect citizens and to hold the perpetrators accountable, he said. Kirby said the US looks forward to continuing to work with the Indian people to realise their tolerant-inclusive vision, which is so deeply in the interests of both India and the US. In an instance of cow vigilantism earlier this week, two Muslim women, who were carrying buffalo meat, were assaulted by people at a railway station in Mandsaur, MP, on suspicion that it was beef in the presence of police which arrested the duo. The incident came close on the heels of the attack on Dalit youths in Gujarat by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. The US also expressed concern over the violence in Kashmir and called on all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to the issue as it wants to see the tensions de-escalated. We encourage all sides to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to this, Kirby told reporters when asked about the ongoing violence in Kashmir. We have obviously seen reports of the clashes between protesters and Indian forces in Kashmir. And were, of course, concerned by the violence, as you might expect we would be, he said. Kirby said the US was in close touch with the Indian government over the issue. But were obviously concerned by the violence and we want to see the tensions de-escalated, Kirby said. Protests broke out across the Kashmir Valley on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces. In the ensuing clashes between protesters and security forces, 47 persons, including two policemen, were killed and 5,500 were injured. PTI Our Correspondent Jaipur, July 30 The Border Security Force has arrested a senior army auditor from near the border city of Dungargarh in Rajasthans Bikaner district after they found him carrying heroin worth Rs.17.5 crore and explosives on Friday night. The suspect, Samrath Lal Meena, who had been posted at Suratgarhs Army Cantt was found with more than 3 kg of heroin, while he was travelling by bus from Bikaner to Jaipur. A search operation conducted jointly by the BSF and police after they intercepted the bus revealed he was carrying explosives and detonators and Rs 35, 940 in cash in a bag hidden under his seat, a BSF PRO said on Saturday. He is currently being questioned. Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 30 Expressing concern over the attack on Dalits in Gujarat, BJP MP Dr Udit Raj, who is National Chairman of the All-India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations (AICSO), said nowadays incidents of attack on Dalits had increased manifold as their lives were valued less important than those of animals, he added. Addressing the 19th annual national conference of the AICSO, he said increasing attacks on Dalits were not just a law and order problem but social too. Whether it was NDA or UPA in power, attacks on Dalits had always been taking place; the only difference was in quantity. He said the insensitive attacks were due to a feudal mindset of the upper caste. It was responsibility of society to change the mindset. If we ourselves are able to change, then crores of Dalits and tribals from all over the country can come together to fight for their rights. When we reach such a situation, then we will be in a position to stop any such attack, Udit Raj said. Besides, Udit Raj said the issue of reservation in promotion has been pending for many years. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government brought into force three Constitutional Amendments to save reservation; the same should be expected from the present Narendra Modi government as well. A Constitutional Amendment was introduced and passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2012; the same could not be passed in the Lok Sabha. Tribune News Service Chandigarh July 30 Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia today challenged Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to agree to a day-to-day hearing in the defamation suit filed against him in an Amritsar court. Majithia said instead of showing the confidence to ask for a speedy trial, he sought long gaps between hearings in the case. In a statement issued here, he told Kejriwal: You do not have to wait for six months to put me behind bars. You can achieve that goal in a matter of weeks. All you have to do is to agree to a day-to-day hearing, prove your charges on drug trade and open the doors for a court conviction against me. Let people see who ends up where. GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 29 Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal today dared Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia to arrest him within six months (during the SAD-BJPs remaining tenure) or else he would have him (Majithia) arrested after that. It's a matter of aaj bail kal jail for this arrogant leader (Kejriwal). He cannot escape the law, the Minister hit back. I am glad the Delhi CM has been dragged to court for maligning my name, he said amid cheering by supporters. Thronged by a huge crowd, Kejriwal and his party colleague Sanjay Singh appeared in a local court and procured bail on a bond of Rs 40,000 each. The defamation case will now come up for hearing on October 15, said AAP leader and Supreme Court lawyer HS Phoolka. He said Ashish Khetan had already been exempted from personal appearance. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) It turned out to be a parallel show of strength between the Revenue Minister and the AAP convener. Policemen in large numbers were deployed en route the district courts. Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chahal himself supervised the security arrangements. About 15,000 - 20,000 AAP volunteers had gathered near the Circuit House by the time Kejriwal, who was accompanied by Bhagwant Mann, Sangrur MP, and Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur, arrived there. The police reportedly stopped AAP volunteers barely a kilometre from the court even as Akali Dal workers gathered there in large numbers. The AAP volunteers were seen carrying placards, which read: Main ek var nahin hazaar var kahanga, Bikram Majithia chitte da taskar hai (I will say not once, but a thousand times that Majithia smuggles drugs). Solely focusing on the drug menace, Kejriwal claimed that hoardings across Punjab describing Majithia as a druglord clearly indicated the people had made up their mind to oust the Akalis. Not just me, Ashish Khetan and Sanjay Singh, but lakhs of Punjabis call Majithia a drug trafficker. I ask Majithia, how many defamation cases will he file? he thundered. He said that when the Badal government could pressurise him, Delhi Chief Minister, by implicating him in a false case, he could well understand the harassment faced by the common man (aam aadmi) in Punjab. PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 30 The Amritsar rural police today claimed to have unearthed a nexus between drug smugglers and traders in which the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad trade route was used for making payments. A trader and four smugglers were arrested and 1.29-kg heroin was seized from their possession. Jasdeep Singh Saini, SSP, said they got a tip-off after the arrest of smugglers Dilbagh Singh alias Bagga of Dalluwal village and Rajpal Singh of Dauke village. The police recovered 50 gm and 40 gm of heroin, respectively, from their possession on July 20. Their interrogation led to the arrest of Ferozepur-based smugglers Kulwinder Singh alias Raman and Reena Kumari on July 23. Reena used her land located across the border fence for smuggling. The police recovered 700 gm and 500gm of heroin, respectively, from them. An investigation revealed that Kulwinder deposited the drug money with Naveen Bhatia of Medical Enclave here. The latter used to export spices, red chillies and chilli seeds to Pakistan through the trade route. He was arrested yesterday. Kulwinder was earlier arrested in 2007 with 4-kg heroin and sentenced to 10-year imprisonment. He was released on bail in 2012. Saini said Naveen and Surinder were earlier arrested with Rs 45 lakh hawala money in 2012. Naveen got bail after three months and began trading through the LoC. Their interrogation revealed that Bhatia exported goods to Pakistan-based trader Rana Rashid and took payments worth Rs 2 crore from various persons, including smugglers Harjinder Singh Jinda and Kulwinder Singh. The SSP said the special operations cell had earlier arrested Delhi-based smuggler Athar Sayyad with 500gm heroin and Rs 17 lakh. His interrogation revealed links with Pakistani smuggler Sayyad Chuha. The police officer added that several traders in the export business, especially through the LoC, were also on their radar. Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 29 Sandip Singh, 55, a resident of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar here, shot dead his wife Amandeep Kaur, 45, daughter Dinaaj Kaur, 17, and mother Bachan Kaur, 70, and then turned the gun on himself this morning. He was upset because of an ongoing property dispute, sources said. The familys domestic help told the police she was in Bachan Kaurs room when she heard gunshots. She rushed out and saw Sandip Singh with a gun. He warned her to stay away. Intimidated, she rushed to the roof of the house. Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said, It seems Sandip first shot his daughter, wife and then mother at 6 am. His body and that of his wife were found in the bedroom on the first floor, his daughters near the sofa in the lobby and of his mother on the ground floor. Bachan Kaur would write the vaak (thought for the day) after listening to Gurbani from Amritsar. This morning too she had written one. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The murders were discovered by another domestic help, who raised an alarm. Sandip could have been in depression because of a property dispute. He had two more weapons. There were no signs of forcible entry into the house, Aulakh said. The family, from Mangat village in Ludhiana, had been residing at BRS Nagar for the past five years. Sandip had both urban and rural property. Timothy is a copy editor for The Kathmandu Post. Previously, he was a reporter on the Features desk and deputy editor on the National News desk. Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Pathankot, July 30 CLP Leader Charanjit Channi today claimed that senior police officers were shielding prominent people in the Pathankot terror attack. Police officers were deliberately going slow as the suspects were influential. The cops had concrete evidence of their involvement but were shying away fearing a political backlash from their political masters, he alleged. Channi was in the city to address the PPCC Jan Sampark rally. He claimed that the US had given a document to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the terror attack proving Pakistans hand in the attack. Four militants were pushed into India by their handlers more than a day before the first shot was fired. They remained in Pathankot city for nearly 30 hours before entering the air force station. What was the police doing all this time? SP Salwinder Singh had informed his seniors on December 31 that he had been kidnapped by a group of four terrorists. Still the cops did nothing, he pointed out. The SPs car was found near the air force base a day before the ultras launched their attack. Still the police failed to trace the whereabouts of the militants despite the fact that the top brass of the police had arrived in the city. Why did the cops not take the SPs claims seriously? asked Channi. On AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Channi said his claims of arresting Majithia if his party came to power were mere rhetoric. Before the Delhi elections, Kejriwal had made a claim that he would arrest Shiela Dikshit within a month of coming to power. However, nothing happened, he said. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 30 Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh today challenged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to swear before the Akal Takht that his government had not ordered the acquisition of land for the construction of the SYL canal in 1978. In a press release, Capt dared Badal to deny the then Haryana CM Devi Lals statement in the Vidhan Sabha about his friendship (with Badal) and its influence on facilitating the SYL construction. On Badals statement that he (Capt) was spreading disinformation about the issue, Amarinder reiterated that it was the former who had issued a notification on land acquisition for the canal. Badal wants to wriggle out of his failures and now he will make the SC order against Punjab an excuse to resign. I am sure that was the reason why his government weakened the states case, he added. Rana Siddiqui Zaman On July 23, a tall body, wrapped in a white shroud and withered by weeks of constant fight amid life and death, finally lay resting in a transparent coffin... as if inviting visitors to see him one last time. A few steps further, on the way to the first floor of his one room-cum-studio at Safdarjung Development Area (SDA) in Delhi, a painting mounted on the stairs wall stood talking. Aarambh The Beginning, it was titled, ironically summing up the mortal journey he concluded on this day and that elusive new life beginning thereafter. Sayed Haider Raza, the last of the founders of the Progressive Artists Group, (PAG), died at 94. For 17 days, he fought death, almost defeated it 10 days later and then succumbed... This is very symbolic of the last few years of his life after his return to the capital in 2002 from Paris his country of residence since 1950 and his eventual shifting to SDA studio in 2010. Here, he created nearly 400 paintings. Almost like a candle, which shines bright before it extinguishes. And yet, the master colourist, who married twice once to a homely woman in Madhya Pradesh and a second time to French artist Janine Mongillat was extremely lonely. Soon after Janines death in 2002, he returned to India, permanently. His legendary bindu came home. Broken to the tee, here, the artist, with a legacy worth thousands of crores with him, was lapped up by a group of people, including artists, poets and research scholars. For long, he stayed at the India International Centre or the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, where a person would assist him 24x7. So much so that it would get difficult for a journalist to interview him, for, the aide wouldnt budge. The artist was losing on strength and his room would stink of urine. A look at his bedsheets revealed they hadnt been changed for weeks. He would come out of the washroom, managing his pyjamas, wet with water and urine. Still, Raza painted so swiftly. Or did he at all? There are many answers half rumour, half truth Some close to Raza say art interns assisted him on canvases. We are told connoisseurs wouldnt pick the newer works knowing they were not wholly Raza, the brand. However, there are those who say initial help is all he sought; the rest would be his job. Around 2010, after his seminal work Saurastra fetched nearly Rs 17 crore in a Christies auction, the artist found too many unwarranted protectors around him. He is known to have cried bitterly, holding the hand of an artist from MP, and said: I want to go back to my village, my home. Can you take me there? Because they wont! Who were they? In a rather informal interview to this writer in the beginning of this century, Raza opened up once and said: My first wife was nice. But she was not interested in my art. Our differences grew and we had to part ways. I felt lonely but remarried Janine in Paris a few years later. That was to mark the onset of the best period of my life. She opened a whole new world for me French history, art, music, cuisine and what not. She was my best critique too. After her death, I became so lonely. In Paris, a cook comes and prepapres food for me twice or thrice a week. I eat refrigerated food for many days. I never liked it. Women come to me. And I know why they do so. They know I need a female companion. Life is very tough without one. But they eye my money. They have no affection for me or regard for my work. I dont trust them. Last year, he broke his hip bone, fractured his leg. In that state, he visited Ajmer Sharif. This visit filled me with new energy, he told this writer and started painting with a new zeal. That was followed by his new show titled Nirantar, meaning in continuation, at Vadehra Art Gallery. He told me: I have suddenly started using colours and geometrical figures that I always chose to ignore. Triangles, squares, rectangular half, less than half or full, with or without bindu for the first time. I have used colours like light and dark blue and green. I have always avoided using those colours as I found them cold and less impactful. They were not my colours. I felt they withheld relationships. I was more into reds, oranges, yellows colours that were about exuberance and warmth. While making Aarambh, I thought I should not ignore these shades. Colours, for me, are living human beings. But one must come to terms with all kinds of human beingsI have made peace with myself According to Ashok Vajpei, poet, who, along with a few artists and a gallery, looked after him and his legacy since his return to India, says, Raza saab made nearly 400 paintings in the last few years. The distance between time and painting vanished. He painted to live and lived to paint. Razas life became a mystery with the many protectors around. The legacy, however, continues. No end to this bindu. Aradhika Sharma The setting of Yapas book is the 1999 Seattle WTO protests the famous 40,000 people strong mobilisation against globalisation. A WTO Ministerial Conference had been convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington, on November 30, 1999, to start conversations around setting a global agenda for trade negotiations into the new millennium. However, there was a strong anti-globalisation sentiment amongst various groups NGOs, students, consumer protection propagators, global poverty-alleviation initiatives, religion-based and labour-rights groups and this translated into an enormous street protest outside the hotels and the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. The protest, because of its magnitude and impact, came to be known as the Battle of Seattle. Yapa follows one day in the lives of seven people engaged in the protest in various ways protesters, a young marijuana peddler, policemen, a Sri Lankan minister all there on the fateful day, all irrevocably affected by the events the protest brought. The book, like the protest, has a gritty, grainy feel and Yapa captures the roughness of the day, which began as a peaceful protest but descended into bedlam. The advancing protesters raised slogans against free trade and corporate globalisation and the more radical of them got into standoffs with the militant-looking police force that resorted to the use of tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. The feelings and agendas of the seven protagonists are clearly etched out in separate chapters. Indeed, it does give the feeling of an ensemble cast that must connect together towards the end. Victor, the (black) young fellow, in a spiral of grief of the loss of his mother, who sets out to sell marijuana to the huge crowd, is the estranged stepson of the (white) police chief, Bishop, who is on the other side of the protest the face of the opposition and authority. Hes weary and cynical and dealing with his own grief at the loss of his wife and estrangement from his son. Then, theres the sophisticated Sri Lankan minister, Dr Charles Wickramshaw, who must reach the conference to present the trade schema of his country. It is imperative for him to get past the protesters, because not just his own, but the future of his country depends on the outcome of the conference. The irony is that only the minister stands outside the circle of the police-protesters and is a victim of the same protesters, who claim to speak up for third-world countries, his own, of course, being amongst those. Among the force that Bishop commands are two officers, Park and Ju. Among the protesters, Yapa profiles experienced activists John Henry and his kickass collaborator King. King, now a pacifist, has a violent past but she knows that No, revolution was not glamorous. Revolution was a sacrifice. A desperation. The last insane leap to some future where you might have the room to breathe Association with Henry and King embroils Victor into the demonstration. As is the case with very single life, the same incident has a different impact on each of the seven characters and they react in their separate ways as a slogan-chanting day turns into a raging riot. Underlying the novel is the exploration of what it is that validates violence as the demonstration that was aimed at displaying the power of the masses was disrupted by the violence of anarchist groups and an aggressive police, blurring the lines between the good and the bad. Still, Your Heart is a Muscle, juxtaposes anger with profound humanness. Yapa captures the urgency of activism, the breathlessness of fear as well as the unique bonding and the unexpected camaraderie that combined motivations in an unknown crowd can bring about. Rajnish Wattas The recent images of army tanks rumbling on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul in a failed coup were so jarring and remote from my memories of the beautiful city. It is a place where the mighty Bosphorus flows languidly and dreamy spires of domes and minarets atop rolling hills, float on the horizon. Indeed an idyllic venue for the 40th meeting of the World Heritage Centre to decide among many other nominations, inscriptions of architectural works of two most iconic 20th century masters of modern architecture: Le Corbusier and Frank Llyod Wright for the Unesco heritage list. Who would make it or probably both was the question? Eventually only one did. The The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland) chosen from the work of Le Corbusier, the 17 sites comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past read the final decision. While Wright was the older and more senior pioneer of modernism, he lost out more on procedural formalities than any questions of merit. There are huge similarities between the two icons in their lives, architectural philosophies and works; and some differences too. They were both visionaries who questioned the established order of pseudo, eclectic styles of neo-classical architecture then prevalent in America and Europe. Public buildings, homes and even high-rise buildings though built with concrete and steel structures had meaningless facades of classical Greek, Roman and Baroque elements. They in fact, defined the legendry skylines of New York and Chicago with their Chrysler Towers, Empire State building and the Chicago Tribune Tower and many such examples. Both Wright and Corbusier, along with some others pioneers like Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies Vandrohe, collectively changed the idiom of architecture in the 20th century world and truly represented the new machine age era of technology, changed materials human needs. Wrights life and works Frank Llyod Wright born on June 8, 1867, in Wisconsin, USA, was older to Le Corbusier almost by two decades and designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Starting out as an apprentice to then a leading architect of Chicago Louis Sullivan famous for his dictum, Form always follows function Wright eventually set up his own studio in Oak Park, Chicago. Every student of architecture has a favourite master architect whose work is inspirational. Though studying in Chandigarh where Corbusiers creations loomed as large as the Shivaliks and defined the city skyline, oddly enough it was Wrights projects like Falling Waters and the Robie House that were my favourites. The Robie House lookalikes with sleek, low, horizontal lines were then very popular in Chandigarh and the trend carries on even now. As such the significance of the Robie House built in 1910 lies in its being the harbinger of modernism. Just imagine that the time it was built, Edward Lutyens hybrid colonial style New Delhi project had not been even started, its foundation stone laid only in 1911! The term Prairie style of architecture for such houses was coined as they harmonised with the sweeping horizontal plains of the great Prairie of the American mid-west plains, where the sunsets could be seen over long horizons and there was a natural repose and linearity of the landscape. He designed structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called Organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by Falling Waters 1935, which has been called the best all-time work of American architecture. In Oak Park, Chicago, where many of his projects are located, among the public buildings his pioneering work includes the Unity Temple. It is widely considered as the worlds first modern building, because of its unique construction of only one material reinforced concrete. His last project was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City (1959). Crowded by sky-soaring skyscrapers all around this little oyster shell, pure white building stands out amidst the chaos of laissez faire commercial towers. Wright was recognised in 1991 by the AIA the greatest American architect of all time. Corbusiers global imprint Corbusier undoubtedly had the greater global footprint and impact out of the two. With his area of influence ranging from the country of his origin Switzerland and adopted home of Paris to far flung places like India, Africa, the Americas, Russia and Japan, besides Europe makes him the great adventurer of architectural space, who braved out and sought new territories for his creations. He redefined the built form discourse at these places whether his projects were built or not. His repertoire of work includes 32,000 architecture drawings, 8,000 art drawings, 200 paintings and 1.5 million memos and other documents. However, Corbusier, despite his intense keenness, could not obtain much presence in America, except for the Carpenter Centre building in the Harvard campus and an also ran team member tag for the UNO building in New York. Corbusier also keenly wanted to meet Wright, however, the latter politely declined! Yet quite incredibly, Wright was invited by the Calico Mills of Ahmedabad in 1950 to design a project for them, the design for which was displayed at a recent exhibition in Mumbai! Similarities and comparison Both Wright and Corbusier never obtained any academic qualifications in architecture both were self-taught, learning by apprenticeships. Both delved deeply into designing the truly ideal modern house. If Wright changed American homes with his Robie House; Corbusiers Villa Savoiye brought forth his Five Points of Architecture that truly revolutionised the world into modernism. Both thought deeply about urban issues and the future machine-age city. While Wright developed the Mile High Illinois, Illinois Sky-City, Corbusier conceived a vertical Ville Contemporaine intended to house three million inhabitants. Both projects remained on paper but sowed seeds for the future urbanscapes all over the world. Both believed firmly that there had to be a communion between man and nature in architecture. They believed in expressing the true nature of the material used and not having fake facade claddings. Both believed in art extending beyond mere architecture in their projects and designed furniture, lighting fixtures and other elements like tapestries, stained glass windows, grills, etc. too. Both were powerful personalities, prolific writers and speakers making impassioned pleas for modern architecture. They had colourful personal lives as well. The famous book by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead, was inspired by Wright. Another one, titled Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, describes his torrid affair with a clients wife. Corbusier too had female interests beyond his loving wife Yvonne! The inclusion of Le Corbusier to the Unesco inscription list in Istanbul over Wright is not a question of merit. Wright being 20 years older to the former, was in fact the real trailblazer of modern architecture, and not making it is merely a procedural matter. Actually they both won. Hopefully, the Americans will next time wrap their Wright nomination in the right Unesco red tape! Michael Cavna Of the thousands of artists I have interviewed over the years, few have been as demonstrably brave as Atena Farghadani. Farghadani was already an experienced activist in her twenties when she drew a cartoon mocking Irans parliament to protest her native nations anti-birth control policies. She was arrested by the Revolutionary Guard, a branch of Irans armed forces, in the summer of 2014 her freedom taken from her. When Farghadani was kept in jail for most of the rest of that year, she still would not be refused her art, as she flattened the disposable cups in her cell as makeshift canvas until her materials were taken from her. Two months ago, Farghadani was finally freed. Today, she vows to continue to make political art from within Iran, where her voice may have the greatest effect. You have become an inspiration to so many around the world. While you were in prison, how aware were you of the degree to which the outside world knew and was following your story? Was Mohammad Moghimi (her attorney) able to provide you with news in that regard during your case? When I was in prison, I wasn't aware of outside events and the news about me, especially in 2015, when I was on a hunger strike in the gruesome Gharchak prison. At that point, I was absolutely hopeless and thought I would die there, without my voice ever being heard. But I kept going with the strike, constantly thinking that even if I die, I have a clear conscience for I've died for my beliefs and goals. After my appeal to be transferred to Evin prison was approved and I ended my hunger strike, Mr Moghimi gave me all news in two very short visits, boosting my morale and giving me hope. Could you talk about what was hardest for you about your long detentions and imprisonment and whether you thought you might actually spend more than 13 years behind bars for your outspokenness and artwork? When I heard my sentence of 12 years and nine months' imprisonment, I thought it was unbelievable and very unjust. Since I was 29 at the time, I calculated that I'd have to be in prison till I'm 42. At first, I had a hard time accepting the sentence, but then I thought I could use this time, as much as possible, to draw and have an opportunity to put an exhibition of my works after my release. I considered prison my home for the next 13 years. My family could not accept this new attitude of mine towards prison and my beliefs and at times they were frightened by it and wept. At these times, I had no choice but to make faces for them from behind the glasses in the visitation cabin to make them laugh. These were the hardest and most bitter days I had during my incarceration. Why do you think you were ultimately awarded your freedom? What swayed the legal system? As the results of the efforts made by my family and my attorney, and pressures from the international community and human rights organisations, my sentence was reduced from 12 years and nine months to 18 months and a three-year suspended sentence for insulting the supreme leader of Iran. I am grateful to all those whom I don't know and to whom I owe my freedom. What art are you making now and will your art remain political, or might you steer your art and activism in a different direction? Right now, I'm painting and making a collection of artwork with political and social contents, and I intend to have an exhibition within a year, but I'm afraid I can't hold this exhibition in Iran, and thus I'm even thinking of having a street gallery, though it wouldn't be without consequences. I believe that criticism serves art. So, I have decided to use my art to challenge social issues as I have done before, like the cartoon I drew after I was released as an objection to the dean of Al-Zahra University, who expelled me and many other students. Do you feel safe now in Iran, and can you imagine coming to visit America? Of course, I could be more successful in developed countries, but when I witness the problems Iranians are dealing with, such as economic and cultural poverty and various limitations, I cannot leave them alone to live in another country in a better situation, despite all the constraints and issues I would possibly face. Many Iranians, though, have had to leave their homeland because of these constraints and have been active outside their country to improve human rights in Iran and are successful, too. But I don't see it in me to be able to leave my country because of my emotional attachments, which is perhaps a weakness of mine, but as long as I live, I will stay here, even if I have to go to prison again. The Independent Pushpa Girimaji For my daughters education loan, I had pledged my property and had given the bank the original papers pertaining to it. About three months ago, the loan was repaid completely and therefore I asked the bank to return the papers. Initially, the bank said it would take about a month to get the papers from their head office and now finally they have informed me that the papers have been misplaced. I am most distressed about this and want to lodge a complaint against the bank before the consumer court. What kind of relief will I be entitled to? In almost all these cases, the banks are directed to get the consumer, certified copies of the property papers and also pay compensation to the consumer. You must demand damages on two counts- for the financial loss caused on account of the loss of papers and also for mental harassment undergone. Please remember that without the original papers, you will find it difficult to get a loan from a bank or a financial institution and selling the property too becomes difficult and even if you do manage to get a buyer, you will probably end up selling it for a price much lower than its value. And then there is always the possibility of the papers getting into the wrong hands and being misused. So do bring up all these factors before the consumer court and seek a proper compensation based on the value of your property. Having said that I must observe that in future, before handing over original papers to the bank, do ask them about the arrangements for securing your papers. I would also suggest that you make a photocopy of the original documents and have it notarized so that you have at least a copy of the document. Have consumer courts decided such cases? If so, what kind of relief have they given ? There have been a number of such cases before the consumer courts at the district, state and the national level. In Indian Overseas Bank Vs K.Bal Reddy (FA No 620 of 2013) , for example, the Andhra Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the Indian Overseas Bank, Hyderabad main branch, to pay the consumer Rs 3 lakhs as compensation for the loss of the original property papers of the complainant., besides Rs 1 lakh towards mental tension. . In this case the bank had misplaced the property papers during the shifting of the bank premises. In Abdul Hafeez Vs State Bank of Hyderabad (RP No 3839 of 2012) the State Commission awarded Rs 1 lakh as compensation - it in fact reduced the compensation of Rs 2 lakhs awarded by the consumer court at the district level to Rs 1 lakh and the apex consumer court said it did not see any reason to interfere with the decision. Here too, the title deeds of the plot had been lost by the bank. More recently, the apex consumer court awarded a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the complainant, whose property papers had been misplaced by the bank, but said the bank had to compensate the consumer for any future loss suffered on account of the loss of title deeds by the bank. This particular case pertained to Citibank losing the sale deed and the link documents given by the complainant , Ramesh Kalyan Durg, at the time of taking a loan. Commenting on the negligence of the bank in losing the papers, the apex consumer court observed that the bank was terribly remiss in the discharge of its duty. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission also asked the bank to lodge an FIR with the police about the loss of the papers, issue advertisements in two newspapers as required and get the consumer, a certified copy of the property papers. (Citibank NA Vs Ramesh Kalyan Durg, FA No 100 of 2011). So to a large extent, the quantum of compensation depends on how well you argue the case and put forward your demand for compensation. In fact given the consequences of the banks negligence, the consumer courts should not only award damages that are more commensurate with the loss suffered by the consumer, but also ask the banks to identify those employees /officers responsible for the loss of the papers and recover the compensation amount from them. The courts should also direct the regulator to take a close look at the practices adopted by banks for keeping the original documents of customers and issue detailed guidelines on ensuring their safety- In fact you can make that plea in your complaint. Salil Desai Twenty five years after the re-unification, wounds of the infamous Berlin wall and the communist regime of the erstwhile GDR are still raw, but if one senses that Germany is finally at peace with itself after a turbulent 20th century, then it is because the Germans have chosen to shine a light on appalling, inconvenient truths through memorials like the Stasi Museum and Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which hide or justify nothing. The Stasi Museum lays bare the monstrous working of the much-feared East German Secret Police agency, Stasi. Located in the headquarters of former Stasi chief, Erich Mielke, the museum shows just how warped an ideologically-obsessed state can be, in controlling its citizens. The Stasi was a hydra-headed organisation, tasked with identifying non-conforming citizens, putting them under surveillance and neutralising them in whatever way necessary. The aim was to prevent these potential enemies of the statefrom infecting other citizens by spreading disaffection through democratic ideas that did not match the communist worldview. Through original displays documents, objects, pictures, audio-video recordings, the museum outlines how the system worked with ruthless efficiency. It started with identifying trouble-makers and misfits anyone who fell short of being the ideal socialist citizen. Even a wrong, punk-style haircut or the smallest streak of rebelliousness could land one into the category of undesirables. Musicians, artists, writers and other creative people almost always fell into this category as did just about anyone else who demanded civil or political rights, thought and acted independently, and did things that the state frowned upon. They became life-long targets of elaborate surveillance, harassment, intimidation, hounding and finally even death. The Stasi subverted the society by turning people into informers, including family and friends. It also shows how bias and prejudice can damage and destroy a society beyond measure. The official terms that the Stasi used to describe its targets is chilling betrayer, vermin, foreign to socialism, dissenter, hostile-decadent, harmful, deviant. The Stasi Museum deconstructs the various processes, methods and technology used to shadow and break targets. The privacy of many was blatantly invaded for years with all kinds of gadgets. Others were harmed, coerced, blackmailed, tortured, even killed. Against those whom the state couldn't dig up dirt, everything was done to make their lives hell. Victim testimonies reveal vividly what they had to go through. A respected priest, who spoke out against state excesses, had his reputation destroyed by a whisper campaign about his wife's non-existent affairs, initiated by Stasi. A young doctor was driven to near-insanity and finally suicide by the devastating psychological tool of simply entering her house daily and re-arranging things. Houses were bugged with such sophistication, that some surveillance gadgets were discovered years after the Stasi folded up. The museum also gives interesting insights into the propaganda machinery used to discredit targets, constantly create an atmosphere threats to the state from internal enemies and justify all actions of the Stasi as the pursuit of national interest. The recruitment and indoctrination of Stasi cadre is also an eye-opener as to how dangerous the concoction of ideology and policing is. Recordings of Stasi personnel show that these officers were absolute believers in the foul, totalitarian ideology of the state, not law and justice. What chance could a target have then, once he was branded as 'harmful'? The museum documents roles and pinpoints responsibilities of all Stasi top brass. There is also a secret recording of Erich Mielke, in which he chillingly endorses the practice of summary executions, as humanitarian. Complementing the Stasi Museum is the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, located near the famous border post between East and West Berlin till German reunification, which showcases stories of those who still managed to defy the GDR regime and escaped to freedom. It celebrates their spirit, daring and creativity. The museum is the rich repository of original artefacts, contributed by escapees and others, that bring alive the resistance and thirst for freedom displayed by East Germans against repression. Among the many extraordinary devices used to flee East Germany are a mini-submarine, a canoe, a hot-air balloon, a homemade hang-glider and even a loudspeaker box, which an American musician used to tow his East German wife to freedom, while she crouched inside in a foetal position. Other escape exhibits are no less innovative the bonnet of an Isetta car, a chair-lift, a cement mixer trolley, a baby suitcase. The museum also displays information panels, media stations and exhibits on successful mass escape bids through tunnels, historic demonstrations and protests by East Germans, artistic representations of the Berlin Wall, and the many security mechanisms deployed by the GDR along with bloody crackdowns in preventing its citizens from escaping. Indeed, for those of us who were old enough to witness live the historic footage of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 will be better able to fathom the raw sentiments of the Germans, after a visit to these two museums. Saba Naqvi Hami hua jo gaai ka ahle yakeen hai Samjha woh dil mein gaai ke sar par zameen hai (Supporters of the cow are the true believers, because they know that it is on the horns of a cow that the world rotates!) Akbar Illahabadi, 20th century Urdu poet and satirist The cows have now come home to roost and we are on the horns of the great dilemma. Its not a new debate. Personally, I find that I have written articles going back nearly two decades on matters bovine. But today, what adds a sense of urgency to the issue is the manner in which some emboldened cow worshippers have become cow terrorists. They pose a threat to the life, dignity and livelihoods of many citizens, some of whom would be Dalits and Muslims, but many are just farmers in distress who can no longer sell off their cattle. No disrespect meant, but I have many cow tales to tell. They begin in a gentler, kinder age. For instance it was in 1997 that no less a figure than Jan Sangh stalwart and RSS ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh explained the importance of gau-mata to me. A beginner on the BJP-RSS beat I had travelled to Chitrakoot, where Nanaji lived after stepping away from politics (he was one of the architects of Jan Sanghs merger into the Janata party that broke on the issue of dual membership of the RSS). In 1997 Nanaji was in Chitrakoot in a modest outhouse named Siya-Ram kutiya and engaged in multiple endeavours. These included putting up an ayurveda research centre funded by the Tatas, the Surendra Paul school that followed the gurukul system, named after the younger brother of industrialist Swaraj Paul, and the Ramnath ashram for 200 tribal students, named after his great friend Ramnath Goenka, founder of the Indian Express group. Nanaji was really quite a figure, one of the first to bring the clout of corporate India into the hindutva project. He was particularly fond of his gaushala where 10 breeds of Indian cows were kept along with some foreign breeds. That was the first gaushala I visited and watched the cow urine being collected for medicinal use. Nanaji told me, nearly two decades ago, that "scientists are now discovering that desi ghee made from the milk of Indian cows does not contain cholesterol". Later, I would meet members of the VHP who claimed that in their melas (fairs) there was a giant clock that ticked on from the electricity generated by cow urine. Giriraj Kishore, the late VHP leader, also gifted me soap and churan made from cow urine that he told me would clear my complexion. He was serious and he meant it (and in those days I had a few pimples) so I just kept a straight face and accepted his gift very graciously. For anyone interested, such products can be obtained from shops run inside premises of VHP offices. I would also discover that its not just members of the RSS and larger Sangh parivar who can aggressively promote the miracles of cow urine. Many ordinary citizens do so and that would include members of the Congress party. For instance, in 2003, towards the end of his decade long reign as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh went on record to say that he drank a litre of cow urine everyday (he told the Bhopal press that it then cost Rs 6 a litre). He also demanded a national ban on cow slaughter. The context in which Digvijay was posturing was the rise of the BJP in his home state at that time led by Uma Bharti. The irony was that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was then the PM of India and beef exports were going up, as they continue to do now. So the youth wing of the Congress in the state ran a campaign putting up posters that declared (Gau Hamari Mata Hai/ Atal usko khata hai (Cow is our mother, Atal eats her)" a variation on the standard communal slogan of Muslim eats our mother. Soon after that round of political cow wars Digvijay lost the state election in 2003 while Vajpayee lost the national election in 2004. Kamadhenu, the bovine goddess of the celestial realm, did not smile on either. Someone should ask Digvijay if he still drinks a litre of cow urine a day and how much it costs today? We have fought over cow for a long time. In 1882, Dayananda Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj, began a movement demanding the end of cow slaughter under the British Raj and one of the first recorded riots over cow took place in Mau in Azamgarh in 1893. Independent India had, by and large, found the answer in banning cow slaughter in most northern parts of the country and buffalo meat became our beef. Today after most of the lynching and beatings, including that of two women in Madhya Pradesh, the beef has turned out to be buffalo. Holy cow is just a pretext for thugs to show their might and they are on the loose in the countryside and towns of India. We cant cow down to them. Vandana Shukla in Chandigarh Syed Haidar Razas life defines the many trajectories of Indian modern art. It also became a source of cultural wellspring for the young Indian artists and poets in the pre-economic liberalization era, when being an artist meant living in penury. He helped many to change this status. His canvas encompassed many worlds; into a dot, triangle and geometrical abstractions; embracing philosophies, cultures, peoples and places. No one could use colour, as did Raza. In the words of Ashok Vajpeyi, his closest friend and associate, his uniquely personal style presented an alternative modernism, with consonances and harmony in the world of modern art obsessed with dislocations, tensions and stress. All departures take away a part of us, his took away an era when artists struggled to give a distinct Indian identity to the visual art, greatly under European influence. Strangely, his stay in Europe for 60 long years became the reason for deep inquiry into Indian culture, expressed intensely through his oeuvre. The last of the founders of the Progressive Artists; Ara, Souza and Husain, Razas contribution will pulsate, not alone on the thousands of canvases he produced, also in the works of young artists, poets, he helped, nurtured and promoted through Raza Foundation. He didnt want the foundation to be named after him, says Vajpeyi, on whose invitation he brought his first show to India. The entire show was bought by the government of MP, but Raza refused to take a penny. His generosity was spontaneous. The beginner After an exhibition of the Progressive artists in 1947, he got a scholarship to travel across India. A chance meeting with French photographer Henri Bresson, in Kashmir, who told him that his works were fluid and lacked construction, triggered a quest to find solidity to his canvas. He studied Paul Cezanne, the master of construction. On Bressons suggestion he applied for a French scholarship for a year. He worked so hard on his French that he was given visa for two years. He used the definiteness of spaces and shapes to transcend limits; used words and poetry to a new abstraction. The best example is, his masterpiece, based on Vajpeyis poem; Ma Laut Ke Aunga Toh Kya Launga? (Mother, what shall I bring when I return?). Heres what Razas associates and aspirants have to say: Manish Pushkale A geologist by training, Manish Pushkale could realize his dream of becoming a well respected artist by a unique bonding with Raza, a friend and mentor. Raza and I are true representatives of guru-shishya parampara, says Manish on his drive back from Mandla, a small town in MP, where Raza was buried with state honours, next to the grave of his father. My identity as an artist is because of Raza sahebs will, says Pushkale. He is not exaggerating. I was a part of a crowd of artists in 1994, when I first visited Bharat Bhawan and kept returning each year during Raza sahebs annual visits, says Manish. Raza acknowledged the work of this 23-year-old struggler in 1997. Manish lived in a 10x10 feet room in Shakarpur, a slum like area in Delhi. Raza would call him on his PP number, three houses away, on ISD from Paris, and they would chat for hours. On his visit in 1999, Raza climbed three flights of stairs to reach his room-cum-studio-cum kitchen and became the first buyer of his work. He asked me to quote a price; I blurted out Rs 7,000. He paid and put my work next to Tyeb Mehtas in his drawing room in Paris. More was to follow. In 2003, Manish won the Raza Foundation Award. In October 2016, there will be a joint show of guru and shishya in Paris. Razas absence would be felt. Akhilesh Verma In 1978, when he came to Bhopal for his first exhibition in India, Raza came to Fine Arts College, Indore, also to see an annual exhibition. He asked us to be left alone in the hall. He emerged after a while to declare that there was only one work in this show. That was my work. I was barely 21. He called me in and declared the same again; I felt myself afloat in the air, recalls Akhilesh Verma. When Akhilesh went to see his show in Bhopal, he asked Raza to explain his works; as I had never seen abstract works. On his direction, Akhilesh spent three whole days, just watching the abstract. I learnt to see by the end of the third day. In 1978, he wrote Raza a 14-page letter on his understanding of colour. I have hundreds of letters written by him. He was very uncompromising in his appreciation for quality, even though he never discouraged anyone. Akhilesh too received Raza Foundation Award. Oli doubts election by NC, Maoist coalition Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has doubted the conduction of election on March/April due to the deal reached between Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) to change government. BD Kasniyal Pithoragarh, July 30 Over 2,500 hamlets and 36 villages in the Kumaon region, including 29 along the borders with China and Nepal in Pithoragarh district, are likely to miss the electrification target of May 1, 2018, set by the Central Government. Sources of the Gramin Vidyut Pariyojana said the work on the scheme was running at a snails pace and only one per cent progress had been achieved till date in the border villages of Kumaon. Engineers working on the project said the work had been hit due to lack of funds and inclement weather. Sources said work in three of the 36 villages was in progress and work had just begun in another village. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15 last year had promised that 18,452 villages would get electricity by May 1, 2018. Residents of high-altitude villages situated along the borders with China and Nepal in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts say their children are migrating from their native villages due to various reasons, including non-availability of electricity. Villages along the border in Nepal are illuminated with power while residents of high-altitude villages on the Indian side are still using kerosene lamps. The use of kerosene is affecting the studies of our children and giving rise to eye ailments among the aged, said Mohan Singh, a resident of Chooka village on the Nepal border in Champawat district. The emphasis is being laid on over 31 non-electrified border villages in Uttarakashi district and 29 villages in Pithoragarh district, said Rakesh Kumar, Executive Engineer working on the rural electrification scheme at Haldwani. In Pithoragarh district, only nine villages have been linked with the power grid while the remaining 20 villages to be electrified by local means are being worked out to electrify them as soon as possible, said Rakesh. According to sources, besides 29 non-electrified villages in Pithoragarh district, there are four such villages in Almora, two in Bageshwar and one in Champawat district. The work on electrifying these villages under the Deen Dayal Upadhaya Gramin Vidhutikaran Yojana will not meet the target as the Central agency is not releasing funds required for the project in time, he said. SMA Kazmi Tribune News Service Dehradun, July 30 Harak Singh Rawat, one of the most mercurial characters of Uttarakhand politics, is in news again for a wrong reason. A woman has accused him of rape in New Delhi. A case of rape has been registered against Harak Rawat at Safdarjung police station. The complainant had earlier also given a similar complaint in 2014 but later withdrew it. It is not the first time that Harak Rawat had courted controversy, particularly concerning women. He had the distinction of becoming a youngest minister in the Uttar Pradesh government in 1991 in the ministry of Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. He had won the Assembly poll from Pauri on a BJP ticket. Harak was also a student leader of Hemwati Nandan University University, Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal. He again won the 1993 Assembly poll but lost the 1996 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. He joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1996 but later joined the Congress in 1999 before Uttarakhand became a separate state. After the formation of the state, he won the first ever Assembly poll in 2002 to become a minister in the ND Tewari ministry. A controversy soon erupted when an Assamese girl charged him with fathering her son. Harak Rawat had to resign from the Tewari Cabinet but defended himself against the charge. However, after a DNA test and a CBI probe, he was given the clean chit. Harak Rawat was again involved in a land scandal. He had bought more than 100 bighas of agricultural land in Dehradun district in the name of his wife Deepti Rawat and close associate Luxmi Rana. There were allegations that Harak Rawat being the State Revenue Minister acquired the land fraudulently. However, the matter did not go beyond initial investigations during the BJP rule. Interestingly, the Uttarakhand government restarted a probe into the land deal last month after Harak Rawat rebelled against the Harish Singh Rawat government and the Congress and joined the BJP along with nine other ruling Congress legislators. Harak Rawat won the 2007 Assembly election and become the Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha. He won the 2012 poll from Rudraprayag and become a minister in the Vijay Bahuguna ministry. He was involved in a running fued with state Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani after he had appointed his favourite woman officer from the Education Department in the Agriculture Department without taking the consent of her parent department. Harak Rawat had also been accused of occupying the chair of Chairman of the Terai Seed Corporation and had to resign as it was an office of profit. Known for riding rough for his whims and fancies, Harak Rawat fell with Chief Minister Harish Rawat and joined the BJP along with eight other rebel Congress legislators. It was believed that he was instrumental in getting a sting done on Harish Rawat in which the Chief Minister was seen talking about buying the loyalty of the rebel Congress legislators. He himself did a sting on Congress legislator Madan Singh Bisht in which both were talking about exchange of money by legislators with an aim to target Harish Rawat. Sao Paulo, July 30 Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the former chief executive of investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA will stand trial for obstruction of justice, documents from a federal court in Brasilia showed on Friday. Lula was previously under investigation in various jurisdictions in a sprawling corruption probe focused on state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) but is now officially a defendant. The case dates to last November, when former Senator Delcidio do Amaral and Andre Esteves, the founder and former CEO of BTG Pactual, were arrested for allegedly trying to stop a jailed former Petrobras executive from collaborating with Brazil's largest-ever corruption investigation. The executive's son recorded Amaral, who is collaborating now with prosecutors himself for a lightened sentence, saying judges could be influenced into freeing his father and that Esteves was willing to pay for his silence. The case had previously been secret, and less is known about Lula's alleged involvement in that incident. Lula's lawyers said in a statement that they had not been notified of the court's decision but intended to prove his innocence. Reuters Karachi, July 30 A 32-year-old Hindu doctor in Pakistan has been found dead under mysterious circumstances inside the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital here. Dr Anil Kumar was found dead sitting in a chair yesterday after he had gone inside surgical ICU early in the morning, senior police official Naeemuddin said. His death is being investigated as he was found dead in mysterious circumstances, he said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) According to the official, Kumar was discovered after he did not answer to knocks on the door of the surgical wing. The door was broken and he was found dead sitting on his chair. A syringe was found from the spot. It appears he had administered an injection on his hand as it was bandaged, Naeemuddin said. The body was shifted to the hospitals mortuary for chemical examination, while the syringe has also been sent to a forensic laboratory for examination. US lawmaker seeks changes in Pak blasphemy law Washington: In the wake of killing of a Hindu teenager in Pakistan and the arrest of a man from the minority community for allegedly desecrating a holy book, a top US lawmaker has called for immediate changes in the countrys blasphemy laws. Two Sindhi Hindu teenagers shot in Sindh. Another arrested for Blasphemy. Pakistans Blasphemy law needs to be changed. Now, Congressman Brad Sherman yesterday said in a tweet. A Hindu youth was shot dead on Wednesday as communal tension gripped a district in Pakistans Sindh province following alleged desecration of a holy book by a man from the minority community who was arrested for blasphemy. Tension ran high in Mehran Samejo village in Ghotki district after a Hindu man, Amar Lal, who was said to be mentally unstable, allegedly desecrated a holy book a day earlier. PTI Beijing, July 30 Undergoing radical transformation to increase its combat capability amid rising tensions over the disputed South China Sea, President Xi Jinping is pushing Chinas 2.3 million-strong PLA which turns 89 tomorrow to train hard to win wars as it expands its high tech arsenal. Reorganised from top to bottom by Xi in the last four years, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) - the world's largest - is bracing for major showdowns in its increasingly volatile neighbourhood triggered by the international tribunal verdict quashing China's expansive claims over the resource-rich South China Sea (SCS). Reform is a comprehensive and revolutionary change, and obstacles and policy issues that may hold back reform measures must be addressed so as to build a strong armed forces commensurate with China's international status, Xi has said as he consolidated his hold over the military to emerge as the most powerful Chinese leader in recent times. Operating under the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) unlike other militaries which function directly under governments, the PLA now enjoys a whopping over $145 billion annual budget, next only to the US military with whom it looks set for a confrontation in the SCS. Focusing his attention on the PLA the day he took power in 2013, Xi wanted the military to function under the command of the Party, increase its capability to win wars and operate in proper working style by weeding out corruption. Over 40 top commanders, including two retired military chiefs, faced investigation for corruption, which became rampant in the PLA with allegations of generals selling ranks for hefty bribes. On July 25, a Chinese court sentenced former military chief Guo Boxiong to life in prison for corruption. He was reported to have accepted bribes worth about $2.3 million mainly selling military ranks to highest bidders. Xi also carried out the biggest anti-corruption drive to cleanse the party in which thousands of officials have faced punishment. While firming up his grip on the military, Xi also stepped up PLA's reorganisation and brought the entire command and control under the Central Military Commission (CMC), the highest military body headed by him. On April 20, Xi appeared in public with a new title commander-in-chief of the newly-established CMC joint battle command centre which he inspected on the day dressed in camouflage fatigues. The centre belongs to a tiered command system including the CMC, theatre commands and others. It is part of the overall reform of the PLA's organisation, a culmination of Xi's military thought, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Other changes include the inauguration of a general command of the PLA Army, the PLA Rocket (Missile) Force, and the PLA Strategic Support Force to back the Rocket Force. The seven military area commands were regrouped into five theatre commands, and the four military departments staff, politics, logistics and armaments were reorganised into 15 agencies. "One of the changes has been to stress real combat drills," said Li Yinxiang, a professor in military strategy in the NDU. Over the past three years, the PLA held hundreds of drills at regiment and brigade level and above, simulating combat environments as realistically as possible. "In drills, we usually plugged coloured banners in all over the exercise fields before, beating drums and sounding gongs. It seemed to be very fierce, but it was not a real combat scenario at all," Li told Xinhua. Also Li said the new centralised command system responded to the need of a more centralised decision-making processes in modern warfare, while partition of responsibility would lead towards a more modern administration. "It is the biggest change to PLA structure since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949," said Li. PLA is also acquiring modern weapons. Since 2012 when China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" was commissioned, the PLA Navy has gained more and more experience in the utilisation of aircraft carrier strength through regular sea training. Two more aircraft carriers are being built. On July 6, the heavy-load air freighter Y-20 was commissioned, a crucial step for the PLA Air Force in improving its strategic power projection capability. The ongoing large-scale joint drill in north China's Zhurihe training base showed that the PLA is paying more attention to modernised combat, the Xinhua report said. More army aviation units joined in the drill compared to last year, and the PLA is taking advantage of new combat units such as special warfare, technical and space reconnaissance, electronic countermeasures and others, it said. PTI Kandahar, July 30 An important district in Afghanistan's southern poppy-growing province of Helmand has fallen to Taliban control after heavy fighting that killed or wounded up to 20 police officers, an official said today. Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy director of the provincial council, said Kanashin district has "fallen into Taliban hands." The fall of the district, which borders Pakistan and major poppy-producing districts, means "Taliban are in control of 60 per cent of Helmand," Akhonzada said. Much of the area of Marjah, Sangin, Garmser and Dishu districts have already fallen to the Taliban, he said. The district police chief and deputy head of the local branch of the national intelligence agency were critically wounded in clashes that began late yesterday, he said. Precise casualty figures can't be confirmed as bodies litter the ground and fighting was still underway, he added. Kanashin is a major smuggling route for opium. Helmand produces most of the world's opium, which helps fund the Taliban's insurgency. The fall of Kanashin follows a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction concluding that government forces have lost five per cent of the territory they held at the end of January. The report released earlier this week said that about 65.6 per cent of districts across Afghanistan were under government "control or influence" at the end of May, "a decrease from the 70.5 per cent" at the end of January. It said that of Afghanistan's 407 districts, 268 were under government control of influence, 36 or 8.8 per cent were under insurgent control or influence, and 104 or 25.6 per cent were considered "at risk." AP Melbourne, July 30 The United Nation Human Rights High Commission has called on Australia to give compensation to children abused in prison, after footage emerged of mistreatment. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in detention after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) earlier this week aired video showing prison guards teargassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded-boy to a chair. We are shocked by the video footage that has emerged from Don Dale youth detention center in the Northern Territory, the UN Human Rights office of High Commission said in a statement on Friday. We call on the authorities to identify those who committed abuses against the children and to hold them responsible for such acts... Compensation should also be provided. The Commission also called on the Australian government to ratify the Optional Protocol to Convention Against Torture, which would allow independent investigators to regularly inspect detention facilities. Turnbull has ordered a Royal Commission, the most powerful inquiry in the country, into the treatment of children in Northern Territory detention centres, although he has rejected calls for a broader national inquiry. The Northern Territorys corrections minister was sacked just hours following the broadcast and on Wednesday the territory suspended the use of hoods and restraints on children. U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez said that the use of hoods, restraints and teargas on Australian aboriginal children in youth detention centres by police could violate the U.N. treaty barring torture. The case highlights concern about the disproportionate numbers of aboriginal youth in custody, with indigenous leaders calling for politicians to deal with the wider issue of the treatment of Aborigines in Australia. Aborigines comprise just three percent of Australias population but make up 27 percent of those in prison and represent 94 percent of the Northern Territorys juvenile inmates. Australias roughly 700,000 indigenous citizens track near the bottom of almost every economic and social indicator for the countrys 23 million people. Reuters Rescue, relief and rehabilitation When netas talk about reconciliation, they are not talking about making it work. They mean working with whoever can partner with you to topple the government Special committee of Parliament set to decide on the appropriateness of the proposed 11 Justices Sunday The dateline to appoint proposed 11 Justices will expire on Sunday as the meeting of the special committee of the Parliamentary Hearing under the Legislature-Parliament slated for Sunday is set to decide on the appropriateness of the appointment. SLAUGHTERVILLE -- Municipal leaders on Tuesday unanimously rejected an animal-rights group's recommendation to change the town's name to Veggieville. About a half-dozen descendants of Slaughterville's namesake, James Slaughter, traveled from other cities to protest the request, said Carol Lance, the town's administrative assistant. The 5-0 vote from the Board of Trustees came after a representative from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told the panel that the Cleveland County town could benefit from the name change. "Even though we know that Slaughterville has never been a site for slaughterhouses, it's undeniable that the name still conjures up images of intense animal suffering," said U.S. Marine Cpl. Ravi Chand, Virginia-based PETA's vegan campaign coordinator. But "Veggieville would be a very positive, healthy and compassionate image for a town." PETA last week offered $20,000 worth of veggie burgers to an area school if the municipality would approve the name change. Chand, who said he returned last year from a six-month stint in the war in Iraq, classifies himself as a vegan, a person who refrains from consuming any animal product, including eggs and milk. He became a vegan after reading a book that detailed the "cruelty of factory farms and slaughterhouses," he said. "It made me realize that every time I was eating meat, I was supporting this violence and misery and paying people to abuse animals." Incorporated in 1970, Slaughterville derived its name from a grocery store run by James Slaughter in the early 20th century. Several Slaughter relatives, including his daughter, Oleta Alexander of Ada, showed up Tuesday in support of keeping the town's name. Slaughter's grandson, Elvis Slaughter, said the proposal was insulting. "I think it's wrong," said Slaughter, who traveled roughly 40 miles from Stratford. "What's in a name? A name doesn't bother nobody." Sonja Nicholas of Moore, a granddaughter of James Slaughter, said that "the name Slaughterville is history. . . . I think it should stay that way. "It sounds much better than Veggieville." Rhett Morgan 581-8395 A man arrested after shots were fired Friday in north Tulsa later admitted to fatally shooting a Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau counselor in June 2013, police said. Brennon Lovett, 32, was arrested just after noon on a report that he fired at someone in the 1400 block of East Third Street, Homicide Sgt. Dave Walker said. Police chased Lovett and recovered a .40-caliber handgun, he said. Lovett then began confessing to all kinds of things, Walker said, including his role in the June 28, 2013, shooting death of 48-year-old Wayne Bell and multiple other shootings in the city. He had information that only the shooter would know, Walker said, adding that the gun found on Lovett on Friday afternoon is the same caliber as the one used in Bells shooting. An arrest report for Lovett states that ballistic tests from the shootings and the homicide would substantiate his statement about the incidents. Tulsa World archives state that Bell was found dead near a trash can outside his home in the 4500 block of East Young Court. He had been a detention counselor for the juvenile bureau since May 10, 2007, and also worked as a substitute teacher at Jackson Elementary School. Walker said at the time of Bells death that officers had considered revenge as the motive behind the shooting, as Bell filed a report the week of his death stating someone fired multiple shots at his home. The report from Fridays arrest says Lovett told officers he shot at Bells house on two separate occasions before walking up to him and shooting him. The arrest report indicates Lovett said he tried to lure the intended victim of Fridays incident to a secluded area where he would kill him. He fired at the man once when the man turned and walked away, then fled after seeing someone he believed was a police officer, according to the document. He reportedly also confessed to participating in a June 20, 2015, shooting at Woodland Hills Mall in which he followed a man to his car and shot him once. Other crimes police claim Lovett admitted to include a June 22, 2015, shooting of a man at the Seminole Hills apartments, 1624 E. Virgin St.; a Sept. 24, 2015, shooting of a Mexican that was working on his house in the area of Third Street and Utica Avenue; and a shooting of another man near Wilsons BBQ, 1522 E. Apache St., on Nov. 11, 2015. When asked what his intent was with all of the shootings, Lovett stated that he intended on killing them, police wrote in the report. Preliminary (National Integrated Ballistic Information Network) information has linked three of these incidents to each other. Tulsa Jail records indicate Lovett is held without bond on one complaint of first-degree murder and five counts of shooting with intent to kill. Sri Lanka beat Australia in Pallekele; tourists set world record in defeat Sri Lanka beat Australia by 106 runs in Pallekele to claim only their second Test victory over the tourists, who set a Test match record in defeat. Tulsas wild bird jet engine this July has sounded more like a commuter plane as it swoops into town. Purple martins the sleek, purple-black and largest swallows in North America typically pour into downtown Tulsa in late July in numbers between 200,000 and 500,000. But so far this summer the roost is about 10 percent of its typical size. Tulsa Audubon Society canceled its first scheduled annual downtown roost-watch event, but a second event will be held the evening of Aug. 6, no matter the number of birds. Twenty thousand is still a lot of birds, said Tulsa Audubon chapter president John Kennington. They were just not in the best viewing location and the numbers werent all that great so we just canceled the first event. The exact time and location for the Aug. 6 event will be announced Wednesday, he said. Many more will arrive before that event, according to Dick Sherry, 68, Tulsa Audubons purple martin expert and a lifelong observer of the local population. The numbers are already up to maybe 40,000 or 50,000, and more will come, he said Thursday, referring to birds that will move into Tulsa from surrounding areas and states to the north. But this has not been a good year for our local martins between the weather and a lot more predators. The birds gather in large roosts as they prepare to migrate south, and watchers typically are treated to a show of thousands of birds swirling overhead before sunset. The flock steadily grows as the birds descend to rest in downtown roost trees with a growing cacophony, which slowly ebbs to silence after sunset. You get spoiled when you see several hundred thousand every time, Sherry said. The noise when theyre all singing and calling, is hard to describe, it sounds like a jet engine almost. The sight with 10 percent of what is normal still is amazing, but in a different way. Its more of a dont-blink-or-youll-miss-it experience, Kennington said. And theyre coming in much later. Sherry said the ebb in population and why they have changed behaviors are just more puzzle pieces in a series of continuing mysteries that martin enthusiasts watch and enjoy. They are coming in much later, almost at dark, and I dont know if that is a change in behavior because theyre trying to avoid the hawks near the roost or for some other reason, he said. Sherry observed that a cool, damp spring and martin-wise hawks, fish crows, European starlings and house sparrows hampered the nesting colony at his home. (The colony house) already looks like a maximum-security prison with the protective cages around them. I guess Ill have to come up with some more ideas, he said. Other nest keepers apparently had similar problems. He said he has seen only two or three successful martin colonies around town this summer where in the past he has seen 10 or 12. The birds arrive early in March and typically the first young leave the nests in late May. This year a lot that did have success didnt fledge until mid to late June. Things were pushed back two to three weeks on average over a normal year, and when you get into July the heat becomes a problem. A heavy rain event last August that left several hundred martins dead on a Tulsa street likely has little to do with the roost size this year, Sherry said. That was later in August so I dont think those were birds that nested in this area, he said. On a regional level, that weather event was one of many that added up to a tough year for the birds, said Joe Siegrist, director of research and outreach for the Purple Martin Conservation Association, based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Martin numbers across the country have fallen for years due primarily to predation by house sparrows and European starlings, which are invasive transplants brought to this country by early immigrants, he said. The cold snap in the South this spring, coupled with torrential rains that hit Texas about the same time the martins reached the Gulf Coast on their migration north from South America likely did not help in the south-central region. The wet 2015 season was hard on the birds in areas as well. I think its a number of factors stacking up on top of each other, he said. The good news is, in Texas and Oklahoma, the martins are able to rebound quickly. A good season or two and things can recover much more quickly than they can here. OKLAHOMA CITY A school group on Friday told its members that a budget cut to state agencies that has left $140.8 million on the table for possible teacher raises was illegal. Gov. Mary Fallin on Wednesday announced she is considering a special session to spend the money on teacher raises. While we appreciate the governors continued support for a teacher pay raise, it is our belief that a special legislative session to reallocate state general revenue funds which have already been appropriated to various state agencies in fiscal year 2016 is unwise, Ryan Owens, executive director for the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration, wrote in a note to his members. In the last session, lawmakers did not pass a teacher pay raise, although it was discussed. Due to a revenue failure, state-appropriated agencies saw two cuts in fiscal year 2016, which ended June 30. The second cut was too deep, resulting in the excess $140.8 million. The second cut was based on projections, rather than actual revenue, Owens said. We believe the director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services did not have the legal authority to reduce allotments to state agencies based on estimates that the state general revenue fund might fail, wrote Owens, an attorney. We respectfully request that the allocations that were unlawfully reduced from the state general revenue fund be immediately returned to the agencies from which they were cut. Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger, who oversees the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, said the allegation that the cut was illegal is as laughable as it is totally wrong. These reductions were made using the same statutory authority and procedures as all other revenue failure reductions in prior years, many of which also wound up being deeper than necessary and also resulted in excess funds being allocated either administratively by this agency or at the discretion of the Legislature, Doerflinger said. When this years midyear cuts were made, OMES pursued the only lawful avenue given that revenues and oil prices were in a freefall. Meanwhile, some lawmakers have taken to social media in an effort to get feedback on the proposal from constituents. Teachers want to see competitive salaries, but they are equally concerned about the schools operating budget and critical support for the families their kids live with, said Sen. A.J. Griffin, R-Guthrie. Most favor searching for a real solution with reoccurring revenue. During the Energy Chamber's Post AGM Event at the Hyatt Regency hotel Wednesday evening, the Finance Minister Colm Imbert offered an insight into how going to the supermarket has been for him since he announced the increase in the prices of gasoline and diesel in the 2023 Budget. Asian-themed streaming service DramaFever, is launching in Australia and New Zealand. The channel, which was acquired by Warner Bros. Digital Networks in February 2016, will have a library of more than 2,000 episodes available in Australia and New Zealand at launch. It kicks off with Chinese fantasy Ice Fantasy within 24 hours of its original broadcasts on Hunan TV in China. New episodes debut every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, with English subtitles. The series is based on the popular novel by cult Chinese writer Guo Jingming (Tiny Times) and stars Feng Shao Feng (Prince of Lan Ling) and K-pop songstress Victoria Song, part of group f(x). Other new Korean drama releases to follow include Cheese in the Trap and Oh My Ghostess. DramaFever has established itself as the go-to destination for fans of K-dramas and Asian content in particular, along with additional international programming, and we are excited to be launching in the region with such a strong line-up, said co-founder and president Suk Park. The companys content will be available on demand on its own website, on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs and PlayStation 4. Source: Variety Syria conflict: Deadly strike on Save the Children maternity hospital An air strike has hit a maternity hospital supported by Save the Children in north-western Syria, killing two people and wounding others. On Four Corners this week Quentin McDermott reports on Insult to Injury, a look at how the force damages cops who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ive gone from being a high ranking commissioned officer in a police force to basically being treated like a criminal. Greg, former police officer Across Australia the number of police suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is growing, damaged by the extreme situations theyre repeatedly exposed to. And untreated, they can be a danger not only to themselves but others. If youre a cop with a gun on your hip walking round the streets full of that much anger, its just not safe. Greg, former police officer But when they put their hand up for help, many of these police officers are being subjected to humiliating and harmful practices employed by insurers. Here I was trying to get my health back, mental, physical, everything, keep my family together, and all they were doing was tearing it apart. Greg, former police officer Claims for compensation and psychiatric treatment are being met with scepticism, resistance and lengthy delays. I just cant fathom why anybody would want to treat anybody like that. Its madness! Father of former police officer And insurers are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid payouts. Theyre about saving money and about profits. And I think that potentially drives what I would see as being unethical behaviour. Psychiatrist Four Corners has spoken to police around the country who have been spied on, their privacy invaded on an astonishing scale, with both physical and electronic surveillance. To learn that for 80 hours some guy in a car with a camera followed me around and took photos of me, followed my wife, took pictures of my kids at the beach, is absolutely humiliating. Greg, former police officer It can happen at any day at any time. Weve recently had a car sitting out the front taking photographs We have cameras around our house. We have six foot walls to try and keep some privacy but still they persist. Wife of former police officer For these police, the aggressive tactics exacerbate their mental illness, sometimes with awful consequences. What I wont accept is how the insurance companies drove me to a sense of no hope. Brendon, former police officer And psychiatrists are calling on insurers to change their approach. These organisations see this as simply a problem of compensation. This is not just a problem of compensation. Its about how humankind can only tolerate so much reality. Psychiatrist Monday 1st of August at 8.30pm on ABC. Missing Foyles War actress Honeysuckle Weeks has been found safe, UK police have said. Officers had been searching for the 36-year-old, from West Sussex, since Thursday. Police had earlier said they were concerned for her welfare and it was unlike her not to get in touch. She had recently told family and friends she was feeling anxious. Weeks, who plays Samantha Stewart in Foyles War, had last been seen 14 miles away in Chichester. Sussex Police said she was found safe and well at a relatives address in London. Her actress sister Perdita Weeks earlier tweeted: Safe and sound thank you all xxxx. A spokesman said: She remained with police as of 10.45pm on Friday, prior to being returned to West Sussex. Were very grateful to everyone who expressed their concern for Honeysuckle and assisted in our appeal to help find her. Weeks recently finished work on shooting Lewis and The Five. She has also appeared in The Bill, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Death In Paradise. Source: BBC Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it. I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends. More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it. The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity. About me: I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS. Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line). Age: 42 Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed. I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it). One Ukrainian serviceman was killed, one was wounded and another one was shell-shocked in ATO area in eastern Ukraine over the past day. Spokesman for the Presidential Administration on the ATO, Colonel Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. One Ukrainian serviceman was killed, one was wounded and another one was shell-shocked as a result of military operations over the past day, Lysenko said. He added that two militants had been killed and four wounded in last day. ol Two "polar" Lviv and Luhansk regions of Ukraine have signed the agreement on trade and economic, scientific and technical and cultural cooperation. This was announced by First Deputy Chairman of the Lviv Regional State Administration Rostyslav Zamlynsky, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. According to him, the agreement provides for a wide range of activities in all sectors of the economy, education, medicine, culture, sports, military strategy and, above all, in spread of successful experience of integrated territorial communities within the process of decentralization. Zamlynsky said the agreement became the road map for the regions, which will be used to achieve results in the development of the country. ol The day I painted on Kishunjis head Lok Chitrakar might be one of the most respected Paubha artists today, but religious art is not all that he is known for The State Duma Committee on International Affairs at its closed session has supported the appointment of Mikhail Babich to the post of the Russian ambassador to Ukraine, TASS has reported citing a source in the Committee, Ukrinform's own Russian correspondent noted. "The Committee has supported the candidacy of Babich", said the source. Earlier, the fact of hearings on the nomination of Babich by the Committee was confirmed to reporters by head of the Committee Alexei Pushkov. In turn, Babich has declined to answer journalists' questions by saying that "soon everyone will know." Journalists in the State Duma continue to hear the official statements on the matter. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to relieve Mikhail Zurabov of his duties of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. tl Twenty Ukrainian children, who belong to the most vulnerable segments of the population, will spend their vacations in Turkmenistan. This is reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Social Policy Ministry. "On July 28, a group of 20 Ukrainian children went to Turkmenistan for vacations," the press service informed. There they will have a rest on the coast of the Caspian Sea from July 28 to August 9. The group consists of the children whose parents were killed, wounded and are directly involved in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, orphans and children deprived of parental care and children from large and poor families. ol The electronic register of the internally displaced persons in Ukraine is planned to be launched in a test mode on August 1. Heorhiy Tuka, Deputy Minister of Ukraine for Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, said this in an interview with Ukrainian Channel 5, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "As far as I know, the register is planned to be launched in a test mode on August 1," he said. According to him, such a register will improve the accuracy of information about the registration of internally displaced persons. Tuka noted that the register was being prepared by the Social Policy Ministry. ol President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed the decree on annual awarding of the presidential prize Ukrainian Book of the Year to distinguish the authors, publishers and publishing houses for their significant contribution to the popularization of Ukrainian books and the development of domestic publishing industry. This is reported by the press service of the Head of State. "In 2016, the winner in the nomination "For outstanding achievements in the field of fiction literature" became one of the most popular and world-famous Ukrainian writer, Serhiy Zhadan for his book Mesopotamia, the statement reads. ol Think twice With Theresa May assuming prime ministership in the UK, Nepali students ought to stay informed about the pitfalls of the UK as educational destination Turkey's Erdogan to drop lawsuits against people who insulted him Turkey's president has said he is withdrawing all lawsuits against people charged with insulting him. Check out latest rumor on Google Nexus 2016 feature and specs roundup Google Nexus 2016 HTC: Fist Google Smartphone Compatible with Daydream VR? Previously, there's been a rumor swirling on Google project Daydream that could be the best VR headset released this year. Daydream allows users to navigate, launch apps, watch contents and games, all in VR mode. KnowYourMobile described the VR platform as a combination of impressive 'software and hardware' with specs much higher than its previous Cardboard. With the Daydream being developed; Google is partnering up with several smartphone makers including Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and LG to produce Daydream-ready devices. Google might also need its new Nexus series to have a device offering the compatibility mode. This leads us to the rumored Google Nexus 2016. The HTC-built phone set to launch this year, is rumored to be the first smartphone compatible with Daydream VR. Google Nexus 2016 rumors: awesome specs with special screens and sensors? As Google is rumored to launch two variants of HTC Nexus, named Sailfish and Marlin, these two smartphone variants are expected to be VR-ready to meet today's market. It should have special screen and sensor to be compatible with Daydream VR as well. Aside from that, fans should expect high specs and features. HTC Sailfish could sport 5.2 inch screen with 420 ppi pixel density, a full HD resolution screen display. It will likely to sport Snapdragon 820 processor and of course, the latest Android OS, Android Nougat. As for HTC Marlin, the handset will sport larger screen, 5.5 inch. Marlin and Sailfish will include USB type C. According to the previous leaks, Google Nexus 2016 rear camera will have 12 MP shooter and front camera will sport 8MP shooter. Based on the previous artists' renders, BGR claimed that the HTC Marlin design looks similar to HTC 10. Thus, the design of Google Nexus 2016 could be inspired by HTC 10 but we expect the new device would be thinner or lighter? TechnoBuffalo reviewed the renders and suggested the public to prepare themselves with a different outcome of the look of the image as this is only a speculation. Google Nexus 2016 HTC possible release date is in September this year. Amidst all the protest against the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Lucifer on the grounds of morality, it seems that Lucifer's season one was good enough to warrant a second season. At the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, a new teaser trailer for Lucifer's second season debuted, and the trailer confirmed Maze's return, and also implies that she may be the reason why Lucifer's mother escaped hell. Movie News Guide reports that the trailer also showed fans a glimpse of Charlotte Richards or "Mom," who is going to be played by Tricia Helfer. The scene involves Lucifer being face to face with her mother, who as his action implies, he fears more than anything he went up against over the course of the series. There are multiple scenes from episodes in season one riddled all over the teaser trailer, including Lucifer's first meeting with Detective Chloe Decker, who is played by actress Lauren German, along with scenes from their many adventures as a crime-fighting duo. The teaser trailer also delves into the fact that Lucifer's immortality has become an enigma; there were times when he was immortal, and then there were instances when he was not. The real kicker for the trailer was Maze, who was more than present in the teaser. Having the Lucifer and Amenadiel discuss whether Maze hand a hand in their mother's escape from hell, with Lucifer pointing out that Maze can be a duplicitous demon capable of doing anything, which seems to point that Maze will have a major part to play in season two. There are glimpses a tied-up man and hanging from a rope being interrogated by Maze. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Lucifer series creator Joe Henderson gave some incite on Charlotte's role in the upcoming season, saying that her confrontation with Lucifer will be "explosive," and that a possible physical confrontation may be expected. With regards to the relationship of the brothers, season 1 left us with Lucifer and Amenadiel setting aside their differences, at least for the moment. Can we expect them to reconcile for good in season 2, now that they are both in fear of their mother? Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne Florida ranked number one on having the highest population of international students enrolled. The ranking is based on the reported 2014-2015 academic year foreign student- enrolees. Florida Institute of Technology recorded a student body composed of 33 percent internationals. This ranking matches up significantly with last year's nationwide college enrollment count as American campuses received the highest amount of foreign student college enrollees summing up to a total of 1.13 million from different parts of the world. New School in New York City, formerly at the number one spot now places second with 32 percent reported international students enrolled. This data breaks their last year's winning record of 31 percent international student enrollees. To be nominated as the most international university, a school must have at least 15 percent international student enrollees. Campus diversity is one of the main factors that foreign students are looking for in a university. They are looking for schools that will give them the freedom to share their music, food, lifestyle and more with their American peers. That is exactly what schools with strong global presence are offering their local as well as foreign enrollees. They allow their international students to observe, exercise and share their culture and beliefs so as to break the barrier of citizenship between peers. Florida Institute of Technology was also reported to be allowing their students to participate in off-campus activities. They encourage their students to participate in celebrations held near their campus such as and IndiaFest and Taste of Greece Festival, International Business Times reported. Other campuses making it to the rank are as follows. Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois at number three with 30 percent foreign enrollees, University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma with 27 percent, Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida with 23 percent, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with 21 percent and Andrews University in Berrien Spring with 20 percent, U.S. News & World Report reported. This video shows one of the festivals held in Florida Institute of Technology. Wu says Chinas support to Nepal will continue Chinas support to a new government in Nepal will continue, Chinese Ambassador Wu Chuntai said on Friday, adding that Beijing would fully assist Nepal in its development endeavours. Jefferson Community College in Alabama was given the "Great College to Work For" award by the Chronicle of Higher Education. This is Jefferson State's second consecutive year to be recognized for the said title. The "2015 Great College to Work For" result was published through The Chronicle's eighth annual report on The Academic Workplace. Keith Brown, Jefferson State Interim President says they are proud to be given the said award for two consecutive years as it raises public awareness of the administrations' efforts in reaching out to the community as well as the faculty and staff's collaboration towards achieving Jefferson State's goal to serve. Jefferson State was the only one among universities and colleges in Alabama to be given such recognition and the first and only "Great College to Work For" awardee among the 18 community college in the whole United States. "Great College to Work For" awardee, one of the largest workplace-recognition programs in the United States is chosen through a survey. Institutions with a minimum of 500 enrollees were invited to participate in the assessment wherein over 46,000 people from 281 colleges and universities were selected to join. Out of the 281 participating institutions, 86 were chosen to be recognized for their best policies and work practices and were given the "Great College to Work For" recognition. Out of those 86 recognized, only 24 two-year colleges were given the honors. The survey was a two-part assessment over the nominees. The first part involved questionnaires given to survey participants to gauge their evaluations over their nominated institutions. The second was where workplace policies, benefits as well as the demographics are taken into consideration, The Daily Home reported. Jefferson Community College bagged the honors by winning in three different categories. They are the work and life balance, employees' compensation and benefits and the supervisor-staff relationship, The Tribune Interactive reported. Here is a quick tour on this year's "Great College to Work For" awardee. Oct. 26, 2022 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. Cadets got the unique experience of interacting with and learning from the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022 at the U.S. Air Force Academy Sept. 27-29. The National Character and Leadership Symposium sponsored the visit and three days of activities.The 12 All the latest Uttoxeter news Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. 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 The Cruiserweight Classic continues to grow and is becoming a stand alone attraction on the WWE Network with performers from all around the world putting on world class matches for a global audience. Despite having eight amazing athletes competing to advance into round two only four would prevail, some were left with disappointment while others bathed in glory. Zack Sabre Junior The British wrestling icon showed his talents to the world when he defeated the hard hitting Tyson Dux on the most recent episode of the CWC, but the 29-year-old was just relieved to have advanced into the next round. He said "It is a relief not to have gone out in the first round I think that would have been a bit of a nightmare, mainly I am just ecstatic that I got through and that I can wrestle another day." With the label of Harry Potter following the performer everywhere nowadays due to his magical like moves within the squared circle, ZSJ assured fans that he still has a few tricks left up his sleeve. He said "Well [that match] was just kind of dipping my toe in the water so to speak, obviously he [Tyson Dux] is a strong lad I really had to fight for some of those holds but I have a big bag of magical tricks, Harry Potter is not the only wizard from England so watch this space." Tyson Dux The hard hitting Canadian has endured quite a tough wrestling career in his years of performing as in 2004 he came so close to earning a WWE contract but a knee injury halted him in his tracks. Tyson Dux is convinced that the WWE Universe have not seen the last of him and he is desperate to overcome each setback after the next. He said "Is this the end of the road? I have been at this for 20 years, I had a minor setback after minor setback, been as close to the dream as a man could get and the CWC has made this dream just a reality again so I missed it this time, but there are always other opportunities that is what the WWE is all about. You have not missed the last of Tyson Dux." Drew Gulak One man who was taken to the limit was Drew Gulak who was forced to use every move in his arsenal against Harv Sihra in order to advance into round two. On why he uses such a brutal style he said "There is a high level of competition, you can expect a high level of brutality, I am known as the Technical Terminator the Minimalist Mutilator the University City Stretcher and that is for good reason; I like to hurt people and I like to get the job done, tonight was not easy by any means, but I got the job done. Round two right?" Gulak was right in many ways as despite battling hard against the Indian representative and one half of The Bollywood Boyz he advanced but with so many different styles of performers would he be forced into altering his game-plan? He said "If it is not broken do not fix it, right now I feel right as rain I am not broken at all so I am going to stick to my guns but I always like to have my opponents scouted though and I feel like what I do works well with everybody so in that sense I do not have to change a thing." Tony Nese The victory of The Premier Athlete was almost overshadowed by the injury to Anthony Bennett who seemed to have struck his head on the mat following a slam. However, the end was already in sight as Tony Nese had the youngster set up for the 450 splash that he hit to pick up the pin-fall victory. On his win he said "Tonights match went great because I am moving on to the next round, I mean it is unfortunate what happened to my opponent I understand but this is a competition, he said he wanted to continue so I continued and I hit him with my 450 and now I am moving on." Nese said in the build up to his first round match he "moves like a cruiserweight" but "hits like a heavyweight" and following the brutal beating that Bennett took he validated that statement, but would he have to change his style against his next opponent? He said "It depends on who I am going against next but I find myself to be a hybrid wrestler and I can adapt to any style in The Cruiserweight Classic I expect nothing less from my opponent and whatever it is, it is going to be big competition but I am ready for it." The Brian Kendrick The veteran and former WWE performer showcased a brutal and sadistic style to his game that the current fans are maybe not used to as his opponent Raul Mendoza was cut open very early. Kendrick forced the luchador's mouth onto the ring rope before kicking as hard as mouth as a river of blood flowed from the Mexican's mouth. Despite his victory the 38-year-old was keen to place high praise on his defeated opponent he said "I am in need of an ice bath right now. I had never heard of Raul Mendoza before this week but jeez Louise he has got me seeing double out of one eye, the kid is one heck of a talent." Just when it appeared that modesty would be Kendrick's main aim here, the rug was swept pulled away as he sent a message to every competitor in the CWC that was not him. He finished with "At the end of the day he is just Raul Mendoza and I am The Brian Kendrick so yeah I am a little bit beat up, but I feel great." Alberto Del Rio has been back with the WWE for just close to a year but its been a run of mixed results. The Mex-America angle with Zeb Coulter didnt seem to work and then neither did his time within the League of Nations. Del Rio is a talented performer who can hold his own on any WWE roster but needs the direction of WWE creative to give him a good storyline to run with. Now, according to reports from NoDQ, Del Rio reportedly has a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave the company if hes not happy with his situation. This is a clever clause to have in a contract, especially seeing the recent departures from the WWE in the forms of Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes. Del Rio reportedly makes good money in the WWE but for some performers, they could leave that on the table if it means getting to perform in good matches and storylines on the independent circuits or with other big companies such as New Japan, Ring of Honor and Lucha Underground. Is it likely Del Rio leaves? Its probably unlikely that Del Rio leaves as reports have suggested hes content with his standing in the WWE. One angle that could lead to a potential departure is that Del Rio is now on a different brand to Paige. The pairs relationship has been well documented but reports have suggested Del Rio is not happy with being on a different roster to Paige. With Del Rio being on SmackDown Live, theres a need for good heels on the Tuesday night roster. The SmackDown Live roster has talented performers but lacks true depth as there is a logjam of good guys and not many credible bad guys. Del Rios run as United States champion didnt last long. Photo: Bleacher Report. Where could Del Rio go? As noted, Del Rio could easily head back to Lucha Underground or back to a company like AAA in Mexico. Hes still a rather big name who will draw fans in. Its unlucky he would head to TNA after he put them down while doing media work recently for the WWE. Del Rio could also follow a Cody Rhodes like schedule where he heads all over the world, wrestling for as many companies as possible. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE A photo of the irrigation system used in the suspected illegal marijuana operation. By Marjorie Hernandez of the Ventura County Star Ventura County Sheriff's Office officials said they confiscated thousands of budding marijuana plants Friday from two businesses in an alleged multimillion-dollar illegal operation masked as a marijuana collective just outside of Fillmore. Investigators from the county Sheriff's Combined Agency Narcotics Task Force served search warrants about 9:25 a.m. Friday on two properties located in the 3600 and 2500 blocks of Grand Avenue. Officials said they located five plots of land on the property in the 3600 block of Grand Avenue which had seven greenhouses. The owner of a smaller plot of land growing about 200 marijuana plants came forward with proper paperwork which indicated the site was in compliance with the law, authorities said. The owner was found to not be involved or related to the suspected criminal operation, officials said. However, more than 2,700 plants were recovered and more than 100 pounds of processed marijuana were seized from the other four plots at that location, authorities said. A greenhouse with more than 1,100 plants was located at the property in the 2500 block of Grand Avenue, officials said. The plants and more than 50 pounds of processed marijuana were seized, authorities said. Pentis said investigators have known about the operation for months, but evidence collected at the scene showed the two owners were allegedly not licensed as legal cooperative operators, Pentis said. "One of them claimed to be a delivery and dispensary service, while the other was growing the plants," Pentis said. "Both were operating totally illegally and there were several code violations." Capt. Garo Kuredjian, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said the greenhouses had a "sophisticated setup," including irrigation and electrical lighting. Kuredjian said investigators found evidence the operators were illegally diverting water from Sespe Creek onto their own irrigation system. Pentis said the electrical components on the properties were also a hazardous because of their proximity to heavy brush and "back country." Fish & Wildlife and SoCal Edison officials were called to inspect the irrigation and cut off electrical power on the properties. Trailers found at the property with seven greenhouses also had been used as living quarters, officials said. Pentis said eight people were found at the site and questioned. No arrests were made Friday, but that could change pending further investigation, he said. "They were getting paid with money or weed, which is clearly a violation of the Compassionate Care Act," Pentis said. The estimated street value of the recovered marijuana was more than $7 million dollars, authorities said. California voters in November 1996 passed Proposition 215, which decriminalized the cultivation and marijuana use by seriously ill individuals with a physician's approval. On January 2004, Senate Bill 420 became law and required the state Health Department to establish and maintain a voluntary registration program for qualified medical marijuana patients. In August 2008, state provisions were passed for marijuana collectives and cooperatives and also provided guidelines for law enforcement. Pentis said one of the alleged owners of the operation is based out of Los Angeles and the other is from Texas. He refused to provide names of the alleged operators pending further investigation. The total weight of the marijuana confiscated was unknown as of Friday. After gathering information on scene, investigators cut down the thousands of marijuana plants, which will be destroyed off-site, Kuredjian said. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Sporting a traditional charro suit, Jordan Serrano waits to take the stage during Mariachi de Mi Tierra's second annual Mariachi Extravaganza. Jordan sings and dances with Mariachi Flor de Mexico. Thursday's free concert was at the Oceanview Pavilion in Port Hueneme. SHARE JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Mariachi Cihualteco's Isaac Hernandez (left), and Maricela Torres, both from Oxnard, perform "Mi Tesoro" during Mariachi de Mi Tierra's Mariachi Extravaganza on Thursday. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Mariachi Flor de Mexico takes the stage during Mariachi de Mi Tierra's Mariachi Extravaganza on Thursday in Port Hueneme. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Kaylanie Barrera of Oxnard, performs with Mariachi Cihualteco during the Mariachi Extravaganza on Thursday. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Miguel Angel Guzman of Oxnard, performs "Estos Celos" with Mariachi Cihualteco. By Anne Kallas, Special to The Star The note hung in the air, pure and strong, for much longer than seemed possible, especially coming from the diminutive frame of Kaylanie Barrera, 8. The child was rewarded with a huge roar of approval and a standing ovation from the 600 people gathered at Port Hueneme's Oceanview Pavilion Performing Arts Theatre by the Beach on Thursday for Mariachi de Mi Tierra's second annual Mariachi Extravaganza. Kaylanie was among the many traditionally clad mariachi performers from throughout the region who gathered at the theater to celebrate the summer session of a mariachi program for Oxnard Union High School District students. Singing has always been fun for Kaylanie, but some time back when she was 6 or 7, she said she discovered traditional Mexican folk music. "It gets the people happy, and I like it when people get happy," Kaylanie said before explaining her technique for holding a long note. "I get ready and take a big breath. They I blow it out slowly." Sharon Kloeris, executive vice president of the Oceanview Pavilion, said the concert is made for the venue by the beach. "Look at all of these kids," she said. "They could be out playing Pokemon or at home playing video games. Instead, they're incredibly involved with their music." The event was free, with money being raised through prize drawings and refreshments purchased with donations. "This is a fundraiser that will be used for the kids' high school uniforms, sheet music, transportation and instruments," Kloeris said. Dominic Rivera has been running the summer mariachi program with his brother Antonio for seven years and said it has been well-received. During the school year, the Riveras travel among the schools of the Oxnard Union High School District, teaching mariachi to eager youths. "Mariachi is really popular," Dominic Rivera said. "Most classes start with 30-plus students at the beginning of the year. What the kids tell me is it reminds them of their mom and dad. They remember mom singing a particular song while cooking dinner, or dad singing while he worked outside." Rivera said the program is open to everyone. "Mariachi has something for all cultures," he said. "It's open to all ethnic and cultural groups. We've had black, Filipino and Egyptian students take the classes." The students appreciate being able to perform at Oceanview Pavilion, he added. "It's everything to have this concert. We have all of the groups together showcasing their talents. And we're giving something back to the community," he said. Javier Gomez, founder and artistic director of Inlakech, a cultural arts center in Oxnard, said mariachi has become increasingly popular during the past 20 years he has been teaching it. For Thursday's performance, he brought 40 students to perform music accompanied by folklorico dancers in colorful dresses. He said he has seen many of his students go on to the Oxnard high schools' program, with mariachi music having hit a chord. "They get a sense of pride cultural pride," he said. "They identify with the music. And the music reflects their backgrounds telling stories of the various regions and states of Mexico." Jesus Ramierz, 15, and Jahir Covarrubias, 13, are trumpet players for Inlakech. A Pacifica High School student, Jesus said he enjoys mariachi "because it keeps me out of trouble." "And I'm inspired by my granddad, who played the trumpet in a band in Mexico," he added. "My dad tells me I'm the only one who the music passed on to." For Jahir, inspiration came from example. "Ever since I was watching other people play, I liked it," he said. "And I like the trumpet. It's really good to be able to play here like this." Patty Soria, 19, who teaches vocals in the summer program, said the music calls for strong feelings. "I tell my students to study the lyrics and express what they are talking about," she said. "The song brings out emotions and passion and that's what matters." Learn more: For information about the summer mariachi program, call 795-6021 or e-mail a.rivera@aol.com. SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE Garrett Stephen Smith is pictured in a 2014 booking photo. By Christian Martinez, christian.martinez@vcstar.com The Oxnard Police Department said it arrested a man on suspicion of sexual battery and burglary Saturday morning. Garrett Stephen Smith, 24 of Oxnard, was arrested at a convenience store sometime after 4 a.m., officials said. According to Oxnard police, Smith allegedly entered a residence early Saturday morning in the 2000 block of Langley Street after he removed the screen of an open window. Police claim he sexually battered a female occupant of the residence and fled the scene. Smith was allegedly followed by the victim's sister, officials said. Oxnard police said officers located Smith at a nearby convenience store and he was identified by the victim and a witness. Police claim he temporarily resisted arrest but was eventually detained. SHARE STOCK PHOTO Gavel. By Staff Reports An Oxnard man was sentenced to 17 years and 8 months in state prison after pleading guilty to a gang-related robbery and assault with a firearm, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said Friday. German Librado, 21, pleaded guilty to the charges in May, prosecutors said. He also admitted to the special allegations that the crimes were committed for the benefit and in association with a criminal street gang, prosecutors said. He also acknowledged that he committed one offense while out on bail for the other, prosecutors said. The first offense, the robbery, occurred on Aug. 26, 2013, when Librado and another gang member robbed two women in Oxnard, the District Attorney's Office said. His accomplice used a knife in the robbery and they both got away with the victim's vehicle which was later found abandoned and engulfed in flames, the District Attorney's Office said. While out on bail, Librado and three other gang members were involved in a shooting on Nov. 22, 2014, prosecutors said. An undercover Oxnard police officer saw the shooting and chased after Librado and the others as they drove away from the scene, prosecutors said. The vehicle crashed into a utility pole and they tried to run away but were apprehended by police, prosecutors said. WENDY LEUNG/THE STAR Aracely Preciado (left) and Ocil Herrejon of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy lead chants in opposition to the power plant proposal Thursday outside the Santa Paula Community Center. SHARE By Wendy Leung of the Ventura County Star The translation problems that occurred when the California Energy Commission held its first power plant meeting in Santa Paula did not deter residents from coming back for a do-over meeting Thursday. More than 300 people came to learn and voice their opinions about a power plant proposed on 10 acres of unincorporated property just outside of Santa Paula. The informational meeting is a preliminary step in a lengthy consideration process by the state commission that will end with a final decision next fall at the earliest. Calpine Corp., which owns 84 power plants in the country, is proposing to build a power plant that will have five natural gas-fired generators. The site, now used for vehicle and boat storage, is near the Santa Clara River and located on a floodplain. Nearly 60 speakers young children, teenagers and a Santa Paula resident of 90 years among them addressed a panel that included Calpine representatives and energy commission staff. "We don't want more pollution," said Emma Aguirre, 9. "Pollution is very bad for the environment and can cause extinction for some endangered species." Emma was among a group of young children who were allowed to speak at the start of the meeting so they could leave early for bedtime. Some children were reduced to tears talking about how scary a power plant would be in their neighborhood. State energy Commissioner Karen Douglas, who will eventually write an opinion on this project for the consideration of the entire commission, allowed each speaker three minutes but she didn't enforce the time limit. She apologized at the start of the meeting for inadequate translation services offered during the June meeting, during which more than 100 people walked out. This time, there were no complaints as three Spanish translators took turns throughout the five-hour meeting. The proposed project on Mission Rock Road is a peaker plant, a facility that generates power when the grid needs it most. Mitchell Weinberg, a representative of Calpine, said most of the company's peaker plants operate 300 to 500 hours a year. "They do a very important job for a very short period of time," Weinberg said. The power plant will contain five combustion turbine generators with exhaust stacks that are 60 feet tall. Construction of the plant will also require a new electric transmission line, gas pipeline and recycled water pipeline. The recycled water used for the operation would come from the Limoneira wastewater treatment facility. According to Weinberg, the power plant will employ 16 full-time workers. The operations will generate $3 million in annual property tax, with about half of it going to Briggs Elementary, Santa Paula High School and the fire district. If approved, the power plant will take two years to build and create 175 construction jobs, Weinberg said. Three speakers voiced their support for the project, citing job creation as an asset. Among them were Rodney Cobos, a member of a local plumbers and pipe fitters union. "The best economic justice we can give to this community are good-paying jobs," Cobos said. But a large majority of speakers vehemently opposed the project, saying Santa Paula is being taken advantage of because it's a mostly Latino community with a large farmworker population. Many said they would rather have a facility that produced clean, renewable energy. Liliana Gil addressed Calpine representatives saying she was speaking for the families in the community. "For any project at the beginning, they always talk about how good it is," Gil said in Spanish through an interpreter. "But when there's a disaster, the ones who are going to be hurt are the ones in Santa Paula because you won't be here." The commission staff is currently weighing data and collecting information on a host of potential impacts that this power plant can pose, including on wildlife, noise and air quality. "We're in the process of discovery right now," said Mike Monasmith, project manager for the commission. According to commission staff, building a power plant on a floodplain can be complicated. Staff also has some questions about the recycled water agreement with Limoneira. Staff will lead another workshop in Santa Paula in mid-September. After the discovery period closes in November, staff will publish a preliminary report outlining the potential impacts. According to a preliminary schedule, a final decision from the commission could come next August or September. However, that timeline is expected to change. To submit a comment on this project, visit www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/missionrock/index.html and click on "comment on this proceeding." CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SIMI VALLEY POLICE DEPARTMENT SHARE By Robyn Flans, Special to The Star "Enough's enough." In the aftermath of the recent high-profile police killings across the United States, Simi Valley resident Jennifer Martin, her friend Trisha Perez and Martin's daughter Lindsey Austin said it was time for a change. "My friend and I said, 'We're tired of hearing the negative,' " said Martin, who is married to an Oxnard police officer. "This has to stop. Everybody we talk to loves the police, so why are we all being quiet?" The women decided it was time for some positive reinforcement, and they got to work organizing several simultaneous Blue For You events on Friday to show support for local police officers. "Planning these events and seeing how many people have been so excited has renewed my faith in humanity," Martin said. Austin, a 17-year-old Royal High School student, was prompted to help her mother and Perez when she overheard them discussing their plans to coordinate Friday's celebrations. She's been handling all the social media responsibilities. "It's sad that some people don't appreciate what police officers do. Not all police officers are the same," Austin said. "Their main job is to protect and serve us. That's what most cops do. We're showing our appreciation and love for our cops because they haven't been getting it." Martin admitted the recent attacks against police have worried her. "I recently was talking with the wife of another Oxnard police officer about helping with the Oxnard-Ventura event," she said. "I've never met her before, and we were talking about how it feels lately. I think when you're married to an officer, you can't be a worrier. I said, 'I've never worried about him because I know how much they're trained and the precautions they take and how levelheaded my husband is. But after the Dallas shootings, I've been scared, and it's the first time.' And she said the same thing." The idea for Friday is to have local communities concurrently celebrate law enforcement. Participants are asked to wear blue. "Our officers do so many good deeds every day and no one hears about those, so we want the people who speak to highlight those," Martin said. Added Austin: "We realize that the news focuses on the minority of people who are mad at the police. The silent majority appreciate them, so we're giving them a chance to show that appreciation." Here are the events: Simi Valley: The event starts at 7 p.m. at Rancho Tapo Community Park. Participants will walk to the Simi Valley police station, where there will be speakers. Moorpark: Mayor Janice Parvin and her husband, Dale, are coordinating a rally at the Moorpark police station at 6 p.m. Camarillo: Participants will meet in the Ralphs parking lot at Las Posas Road and Ponderosa Drive at 7 p.m., then walk along Ponderosa to Carmen Drive, then to Constitution Park, where a vigil will be held for fallen officers across the country. Participants are asked to bring candles if they want to participate in the vigil. Westlake Village: Participants will meet at 7 p.m. at Westlake Village City Hall, 31200 Oak Crest Drive, then walk to The Stonehaus restaurant, 32039 Agoura Road. Ventura-Oxnard: Participants will meet at the office complex at 1001 Partridge Drive at 7 p.m., then walk to the corner of Telephone Road and Victoria Avenue for a vigil. "We've gotten people to organize in all their cities," Austin said. Martin said she wants to make this an annual event and hopes it expands across the nation. "Why make it little?" Martin said. "They deserve our appreciation." Check Facebook for the event near you: https://www.facebook.com/blue4you. PHotos by TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Leo Avila loads boxes onto a cart at the Assistance League of Ventura County's Bargain Box Thrift Shop in Ventura on Friday morning. After being on East Main Street for 26 years, the league is moving its thrift shop to a building it purchased at 3351 Telegraph Road. SHARE TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Walter Covarrubias (from left), James Whalley and Daniel Donaldson load boxes into a moving truck at the Assistance League of Ventura County's Bargain Box Thrift Shop on East Main Street in Ventura on Friday morning. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Daniel Donaldson helps pack up items at the Assistance League of Ventura County's Bargain Box Thrift Shop on East Main Street in Ventura on Friday morning. The store is moving. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR A sign identifies the new location of the Assistance League of Ventura County's Bargain Box Thrift Shop at 3351 Telegraph Road in Ventura. By Staff Reports The thrift shop run by the Assistance League of Ventura County, which has made its home in midtown Ventura for 26 years, is moving to a new location. Moving vans pulled up to the Bargain Box Thrift Shop at 1975 E. Main St. on Friday and began moving merchandise. The items will eventually end up at 3351 Telegraph Road in Ventura, a building the Assistance League has purchased, according to Rhonda Callahan, who does public relations for the organization. First, though, the building must be renovated so it complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other regulations. Callahan said the organization hopes to have the store open by mid-August. She said the move was prompted after the East Main Street building changed ownership and the rent increased. The Assistance League of Ventura County was founded 65 years ago. Its programs include a Girls Club/Teen Club on Santa Clara Street; Operation School Bell, which provides new school clothes to more than 20,000 children; assault survivor kits; Teens Helping Teens; and the Assistance League School. Most of these programs are paid for with profits from the thrift store, Callahan said. Visit http://www.assistanceleagueventuracounty.org for more information. SHARE Elena Brokaw By Arlene Martinez, amartinez@vcstar.com A Ventura County native whose very first arts internship was at the Museum of Ventura County has been tapped to lead the organization, museum officials said Friday. Elena Brokaw, who worked with the city of Ventura for 13 years, most recently as the director of Parks, Recreation & Community Partnerships, is now the museum's consultant and executive director. The goal is to spend six months as executive director on a part-time basis while continuing to work with staff, the board and a team of consultants to develop a long-term strategic plan, Brokaw said. In addition to getting the museum to be more sustainable, Brokaw said she hopes to "become more present in people's lives...I think a lot of people take the museum for granted." The museum is the one place in the county where people have to learn about themselves, their history and their culture, she said. The challenge is getting people's attention. Brokaw will take over for Pattie Mullins, who is leaving to head Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties. Mullins held the position for 15 months. As executive director, Brokaw will manage the downtown Ventura location as well as the Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula. "Her extensive background in the arts and with public cultural organizations is just what we need to strengthen our commitment to our 103-year-old mission, while serving present and future audiences," board chair John Orr said in a news release. Brokaw left the city earlier this year to be an independent consultant, working with government agencies, nonprofits and other businesses on fundraising and strategic planning, among other things. Before she joined the city, Brokaw completed cultural plans for the cities of Reno, Nevada; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Capitola, California. It was between her junior and senior year at Harvard University, where she received a bachelor's degree in art history, that Brokaw interned in the museum's research library. The experience shaped her professional life. "It led me to realize that there was an arts and culture scene in my downtown which I had not experienced growing up," Brokaw said. "It was one of the factors that led me to going back home." CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Ambassadors dedicated to raising awareness and funds to fight breast cancer speak at the official launch of the 2016 Real Men Wear Pink campaign. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Ventura hosted the fundraiser Thursday at MadeWest Brewing Co. in Ventura. SHARE CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Dr. Shawn Steen wears a pink shirt, tie and sunglasses at the official launch of the 2016 Real Men Wear Pink campaign on Thursday at MadeWest Brewing Co. in Ventura. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Blake Merryman speaks at the official launch of the 2016 Real Men Wear Pink campaign on Thursday. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Ventura hosted the fundraiser at MadeWest Brewing Co. in Ventura. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Guests applaud speakers at the official launch of the 2016 Real Men Wear Pink campaign on Thursday. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR A poster carries guests' signatures at the official launch of the 2016 Real Men Wear Pink campaign. By Alicia Doyle, Special to The Star Tasked with wearing pink every day in October during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Roy Glenn had a workaround. He wears a tattoo on his right inner bicep of a pink ribbon bearing the name of his mother, Bernadette. "My mother was diagnosed when I was 10 years old," said the Oxnard resident, whose mother is a 15-year cancer survivor. "She's my angel. That's why I have her on my arm." Glenn is one of eight local men involved so far with Real Men Wear Pink, which is raising funds to support the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Ventura on Oct. 8. "Whoever raises the most money among our real men wins a grand prize, so they're competing kind of against each other," said Monica Murrietta, senior manager of community events for the American Cancer Society's California Division. "Our events are 80 percent women, and so we're trying to reach that demographic of men and get them involved because they've all had somebody in their life that's been touched by breast cancer." Glenn's mom is a team captain. She became involved with the American Cancer Society shortly after her diagnosis, and she now serves on the community leadership council, is a legislative ambassador and volunteers as a mentor for Relay for Life, in addition to filling other roles within the organization. "Cancer doesn't care," said the Oxnard woman, who underwent a mastectomy and radiation. "It can happen to anybody. It's OK to be angry and afraid, but when you're connected with the American Cancer Society, you are not alone." Murrietta said another reason for men to get involved is because breast cancer does not affect just women. More than 2,600 men in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. "So we're asking them to fundraise ... to reach out to their social networks and raise awareness," Murrietta said. "And then we're asking them to wear something pink every day in October whether it's a tie, shoelaces, socks, a pin, a bracelet, a bowtie." Several of the Real Men Wear Pink ambassadors were introduced Thursday during a fundraiser hosted by Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Ventura at the MadeWest Brewing Co. in Ventura. Dr. Shawn Steen, director of surgical oncology at Ventura County Medical Center, wore a long-sleeve pink shirt and a tie with pink stripes for the occasion. "I have to buy more pink," he said. "Socks are a good way to go, though." Steen said he signed up for this year's campaign to support everyone facing breast cancer. "My job is mostly breast cancer surgery," he said. "It impacts everybody in the family. I have to deal with family members every day, and I know it's just as stressful for them." Radio personality Scott Alexander joined the Real Wear Men Pink campaign in honor of his wife, Sherri, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last August. "She was lucky because she was diagnosed very early," said Alexander, of Ventura, noting that his wife underwent two biopsies and two surgeries. "In May, she was diagnosed cancer-free, so she is a survivor one more survivor." Alexander has five shirts ready for October. "Men don't wear pink men wear salmon so I've got a couple of salmon shirts that I could wear," he said. "If there's anything I can do to raise awareness, I'll get some more pink shirts I'm in." Learn more: Call Murrietta at 701-8150 IF YOU GO What: Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Ventura 5K Fundraising Walk When: Oct. 8; registration at 7:30 a.m., walk starts at 9 a.m. Where: Harbor Cove Beach, 1878 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura Fees: None Information: venturacastrides@cancer.org; 644-4237 COURTESY PHOTO Ventura County delegate Bette Empol, of Oak Park, caught this balloon-filled moment with her phone after Hillary Clinton gave her speech Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. SHARE COURTESy PHOTO Ventura County delegates Bette Empol (left) and Martel Fraser (right) pose with former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Rosalind Wyman at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. By Wendy Leung of the Ventura County Star Bette Empol, an ESL coordinator for Conejo Valley Adult School, saved her money for a year to pay for her trip to the Democratic National Convention. For four days, Philadelphia was unbearably hot and crowded with unreliable transportation. Was it worth it? The answer was a resounding "yes." "Right before Hillary went on, I looked around and just absorbed it all," Empol said. "It was just magical." Eleven delegates from the Ventura County area arrived in Philadelphia about a week ago and few have had a full night sleep since. Because the California delegation was the largest, many of the big name speakers came to address the West Coast group directly. Bernie Sanders and Minnesota Sen. Al Franken were among speakers who showed up to the California delegation's breakfast. Events began at 8 a.m. and didn't end until after midnight. On Wednesday, the hotel where the California and Florida delegations stayed had a "coast to coast bash" after Barack Obama's speech. The convention was partly overshadowed by Sanders supporters, many of whom staged protests and voiced their opposition to Clinton throughout the convention. Empol, a Clinton delegate, said that during Clinton's speech, Sanders backers all around her shouted in protest. In turn, Clinton supporters tried to drown them out by shouting "Hillary for USA." There was a long list of highlights for the Oak Park resident. She, along with a delegate from Ventura, Martel Fraser, got to chat with Rosalind Wyman, a former Los Angeles city councilwoman. Wyman was the second woman elected to the council. Empol said watching the roll call was another big highlight and an emotional moment. She said being there when Clinton was officially nominated made her realize that her own grandchildren are now growing up in a different era. "They're growing up knowing that anybody can be president," Empol said. "They grew up with Obama as president and now with Hillary possibly becoming president." SHARE In 1966, Medi-Cal California's version of the Medicaid program was launched. As the state celebrates its 50th anniversary, Ventura County will celebrate the five-year anniversary of the Gold Coast Health Plan. In 50 years, Medi-Cal went from being a welfare program to being the state's largest health insurer, providing coverage to one of every three Californians. Similarly, Gold Coast has come a long way in its short history. On July 1, 2011, the plan began operations with less than 25 employees and welcomed nearly 100,000 members into a newly created County Organized Health System. With little funding and as a complete unknown, Gold Coast weathered numerous storms and grew into a mission-driven organization that today serves nearly 207,000 members, has nearly 200 full-time employees and has contributed just under $2 billion to support the work of more than 3,000 doctors, specialists, pharmacists and other health care providers in its network. This improved access was made possible by the expansion of Medi-Cal through health care reform, which brought coverage to millions of low-income people. In Ventura County, Gold Coast now covers half of all children 5 and younger and one in five adults. Studies have shown that working adults covered through these programs have fewer sick days. Medi-Cal's expanded coverage is a smart investment that keeps communities healthy and productive. At the same time Gold Coast added thousands of new members, it also raised the quality outcomes of care. Our employees come to work thinking about ways to better serve members. We've even taken steps that some might consider outside the normal boundaries of health care to maximize our limited resources. In May, Gold Coast announced a new initiative to partner with community and provider organizations. The goal of the Alternative Resources for Community Health program is to invest revenue in the health and wellness of members through provider incentives, expanded treatment options, and sponsorships. The initiative addresses factors beyond clinical treatment that influence wellness, including social, economic and environmental factors. Through program sponsorships, Gold Coast has already contributed more than $100,000 to provide meals to seniors, fund overdose-reversal kits and start a recuperative care center for the homeless. We have also budgeted $1.4 million for a program that rewards providers for developing strategies to improve access to care for children. We work closely with statewide and national trade associations, such as Local Health Plans of California and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, that represent publicly financed, not-for-profit health plans. Whether it's problems involving the impact of high-cost breakthrough drugs, the crisis of opioid abuse or the lack of behavioral health benefits for our members, Gold Coast will continue to work with lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington so our members will continue having coverage they can count on. As Medi-Cal turns 50 and Gold Coast turns 5, I can assure you that both programs are committed to ensuring that our most vulnerable members receive the best possible care through innovation, finding ways to maximize limited resources and good old-fashioned elbow grease. Dale Villani is chief executive officer of the Gold Coast Health Plan. SHARE I'm so glad that SOAR and SUSTAIN VC have enough signatures to be on the ballot this fall, because I'm looking forward to voting against both of them. You should, too. I'm in favor of affordable housing. I don't mean government programs that require developers to set aside a certain number of units for people with limited means. Those are important but not very good at making homes generally affordable. The best way is to let people build homes when the price indicates it's profitable to do so. That's not just my opinion. Last year, the California Legislative Analyst's Office said high housing costs in coastal California are driven by too little housing. The LAO even noted that programs for low-income Californians don't address the broader issue: too few houses where people want to live. Part of the reason why the quantity of housing in Ventura County is too low is geography. In a 2010 paper in the Quarterly Journal of Economics examining the U.S. housing supply, economist Albert Saiz used satellite data on terrain elevation, lakes and streams to estimate how much land is developable in each metro area. In the most geographically constricted metro area with a population of 500,000 or greater, only 20 percent of the land was sufficiently flat and water-free to build on. What housing market was so dreadfully constrained by water and sudden changes in elevation? It was the Ventura metro area. Saiz also measures how restrictive the zoning and project approval regulations for residential development are within each metro area. The Ventura metro area has the sixth-most-restrictive regulations on housing development among areas with a population greater than 500,000 in the U.S. Geography alone both usable land and our fantastic location makes housing more expensive here than in other parts of the country. But city and county laws that restrict the use of the physically buildable land only serve to drive prices up further. Perhaps you're willing to concede that regulations create artificial constraints on the quantity of housing and drive up costs for everyone, but you care about open space. Remember, 80 percent of the land in this county isn't buildable. Open space will still be there. What SOAR, SUSTAIN VC (better than SOAR but still too restrictive) and other regulations primarily prevent is the conversion of arable land into residential land. Perhaps you're worried about converting acres of agriculture into housing due to environmental or community impacts, such as water conservation or traffic. I agree those are important issues, but the solution to both is the same: pricing the use of water and roads at the true cost to society (charging all water users the same, scarcity-based price and charging drivers for the traffic and air pollution to which they contribute), not restricting housing. Laws like SUSTAIN VC and SOAR prevent land throughout our area from being put to its highest-valued use. This artificially raises the price of housing, hurting the poorest members of our community and excluding others from joining us. It's both inefficient and wrong. And as an economist, that just leaves me sustainably ... sore. Jared Barton is an assistant professor of economics at CSU Channel Islands' Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics. SHARE At 5:30 a.m. on June 23, my family was awakened by a sickening smell. A 75-year-old pipeline I did not know existed next to our backyard in Ventura spilled 45,000 gallons of crude oil into the Prince Barranca. Since then, I have educated myself about crude oil pipelines, how they are regulated, and how little the pipeline industry answers to anyone, including the counties, cities and neighborhoods they contaminate. Since that morning, our neighborhood has learned that much of the spilled oil cannot be removed. To do so would create too much instability in the canyon, and homes would be compromised. This oil has left behind permanent and long-term injury to this wildlife corridor. To justify this damage, the "Unified Command" has asked our neighborhood to accept a new definition of "clean." After two community meetings, a neighborhood meeting with Crimson Pipeline's president and countless hours of research, I have no confidence in the integrity of Crimson or in the aging pipeline that still pumps hazardous and flammable liquids through our city, crisscrossing under streets, near homes and schools. But don't take my word for it. Look at Crimson's record and the regulatory framework that is supposed to have oversight over this pipeline. Crimson Pipeline was established in 2005 to transport crude in "legacy" pipelines. Its record of spills reflects the problems commonly found with these aging lines. Many of its pipes are too old to be tested with the latest technology. Crimson can say it is highly regulated and that the age of a pipeline is irrelevant, but the truth is it regulates itself and the pipelines do not get stronger with age. A 2014 audit by the Office of the Inspector General found that the federal agency charged with regulating pipelines "lacks effective management and oversight of hazardous liquid pipelines." The California agency charged with regulating these lines doesn't conduct its own independent inspections it is stretched too thin. Instead, it signs off on inspection plans provided by pipeline companies, allowing these companies to do their own testing or hire their own private companies to inspect their lines. Regulatory oversight is nothing more than a theory. Ventura is left sitting atop an ancient line operated by a company with a dismal record of spills and a president who plays fast and loose with the facts. Oil spills are just a cost of doing business, and its business model is to keep these old lines running instead of replacing them. Maintenance instead of replacement means more spills, leaks and ruptures. Another cause for concern is the secretive nature of the industry and its lack of transparency. A report in April by the Ventura County Grand Jury found that "no single government entity (in Ventura County) has a complete grasp of critical information such as (pipeline) test history, test validity and risks associated with the total pipeline array in the county ... and the county does not have a thorough understanding of the state of the total crude oil pipeline array within the county." If you request a copy of Crimson's "oil spill response plan," you will receive a heavily redacted document that blots out maps of pipeline locations, worst-case scenario plans and other important information for the health and safety of Ventura's residents. This spill should be a wake-up call to Ventura. With all that we know, much more action should be taken to ensure that our residents and environment are safe. Mary Haffner is an attorney and a Ventura Unified School District board member. SHARE It is time for the city of Simi Valley to pay its lawyer. A Superior Court judge has endorsed an arbitration ruling that the city owes $533,000 in back legal fees to James Negele & Associates. The city asked Negele, who has represented Simi Valley for more than 30 years, in 2009 to handle a lawsuit it filed in a legal dispute with a contractor. The city ultimately agreed in 2013 to settle the case and pay the contractor more than a quarter of a million dollars. It then refused to pay Negele, saying he padded his legal bills and did not properly keep the City Council informed of his actions. A three-member panel of the Beverly Hills Bar Association sided with Negele, saying he did nothing wrong and that his fees were reasonable. Even though it was supposed to be binding arbitration, the city took it to court, and now a judge has come down firmly on the side of Negele. The city has filed a separate lawsuit against Negele and also is seeking sanctions against him with the State Bar. It is time for the city to stop tilting at this windmill. Pay the man and move on. VEGAS Magazine, Las Vegas premier luxury, lifestyle publication, celebrated its September Fall Fashion issue with cover star Cat Deeley (Photo credit: Scott Harrison/ RETNA/ www.harrisonphotos.com). In true runway style, falls hottest trends came to life on September 12 on the runway at Fashion Show. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/ RETNA/ www.harrisonphotos.com. The fall fashion preview event showcased Fashion Shows newest and most sought-after retailers including Vince Camuto, Halston Heritage, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macys Mens Store to name a few. Photo credit: Scott Harrison/ RETNA/ www.harrisonphotos.com. Las Vegas resident and Broadway in the HOODs own Moya Angela is one of the many talented contestants on Season 11 of Americas Got Talent. A true powerhouse says Mel B, judge from Americas Got Talent. Her audition moved the crowd to a standing ovation while singing a Celine Dion cover of Its All Coming Back To Me Now. The audition was so captivating that Simon Cowell states Im gonna remember this for a long time to come. Angela is a vocalist and an actress who enjoys singing from R&B to gospel to country music. She began singing fearlessly at the age of 14 and today, she says nothing is holding her back! Passionate about her community, Moya Angela is a local teacher for Broadway in the H.O.O.D (Helping Others Open Doors), a Nevada based non-profit organization that provides educational training in acting, singing, dancing, technical theatre as well as stage and production management. Broadway in the HOOD will be kicking off their second season at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts with the soulful musical play The Wiz, then performing Steel Magnolias, The Mountaintop and Aint Misbehavin. Moya Angela is a wonderful teacher who has willingly and unselfishly given her support and love to the children and everyone at Broadway in the HOOD. She represents hard work, dedication, and has a talent that is undeniable! We love her and we are anxious to follow her success on Americas Got Talent, says founder Torrey Russell. Tune in to Americas Got Talent on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8pm on NBC and vote for Moya Angela as she represents our Las Vegas community. Club goers at TAOs Worship Thursday partied for a cause as the night benefited Generosity Water, a non-profit that provides clean, safe drinking water around the world (Photo credit: Brenton Ho/Powers Imagery). Jason Kennedy from E! News hosted the night alongside the charitys executive director Jordan Wagner, and TAO donated $1 for every person through the door. Photo credit: Brenton Ho/Powers Imagery. Kennedy and Wagner hosted a dinner at TAO attended by a number of local influencers as well as Kelly Bensimon of The Real Housewives of New York. After enjoying signature items from the Asian bistro, they hit the club, taking over a VIP table for the night. Earlier in the day Bensimon was spotted at TAO Beach. Photo credit: Brenton Ho/Powers Imagery. Moorea Beach Club at Mandalay Bay was smokin hot on Sunday, September 5, 2010, as triple threat and gorgeous model Carmen Electra hosted Labor Day Weekend (Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com). Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. First stop was the red carpet where Electra, looking spectacular in a Jay Godfrey dress, black Fendi heels, and Tom Ford sunglasses, posed for photos and conducted interviews. Excited fans and guests of Mandalay Bay lined up along the rail to catch a glimpse and take a photo of Electra as she made her way down the red carpet. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Also making an appearance was Electras beau, Rob Patterson. The two quickly took a photo together before Patterson hurried off the carpet to let Electra work her magic. Why did she come to Moorea Beach Club over Labor Day Weekend? I have a great relationship with Mandalay Bay, Electra said. They always invite me out to their parties and were here to celebrate and have a good time! Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Following the carpet, Electra, carrying a chic black Chanel handbag, walked into Moorea Beach Club where an electric pulse surged through the veins of party-goersboth men and women instantaneously turned to catch a glimpse of the beauty as she waved and smiled at adoring fans. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Electra finally made it through the crowd to her own Moorea pavilion, a 250 square-foot cabana which boasts a private pool and lounge area complete with waterfalls. Each unit includes a television, MP3 docking station, cushioned chaise lounges, ceiling fan, telephone, and personal server. After a few more photos, Electra sat down to relax on the large daybed in her pavilion and chatted among friends. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. After spending the afternoon at Moorea Beach Club, Electra retired to her 1,020 square-foot Sky View suite on the Penthouse level of Mandalay Bay, taking time to relax after her high-energy Labor Day celebration. The elegant suite affords gorgeous views of the strip and includes an extended living room, wet bar, glass-encased shower, and twin vanitiesthe perfect way to unwind after exciting Labor Day festivities at Moorea Beach Club. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com. As one of many celebrations around the world, Caesars Palace proudly supports LIVESTRONG DAY by placing a large replica of the iconic yellow LIVESTRONG wristband on the giant statue of Augustus Caesar and prominently displaying LIVESTRONG messaging on the resorts marquee, both will be seen by thousands of passersby along Las Vegas Blvd. on October 1 and 2 (Photo credit: Ethan Miller). Photo credit: Ethan Miller. LIVESTRONG Day is an annual global day of action, celebrating cancer survivors and heightening awareness of the organizations overall goal, a world without cancer. In honor of the day, employees of Caesars Palace will wear yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands. The NIKETOWN Store in The Forum Shops at Caesars will sell wristbands for a $1 donation benefiting LIVESTRONG. Photo credit: Ethan Miller. Many of our friends, family and employees have been affected in some way by cancer. We hope that the yellow wristband display at the center of Las Vegas Boulevard will call attention to the global fight against the disease, said Gary Selesner, President of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Photo credit: Ethan Miller. For those who would like to make a donation to the LIVESTRONG organization or to learn more about events across the country, visit www.LIVESTRONG.org. Comme Ca, the sensational French brasserie brought to The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas by acclaimed Chef David Myers, will celebrate New Years Eve with an exquisite prix-fixe dinner created by Myers and Executive Chef Brian Howard on Saturday, December 31. Located in the heart of Las Vegas Boulevard with floor-to-ceiling windows and a patio that offers striking views of the iconic Strip, Comme Ca is an ideal location for partygoers to enjoy a one-of-a-kind dining experience. Diners will catch all the excitement of the New Years Eve festivities and firework displays as they toast farewell to 2011 and welcome the New Year. The popular eatery will offer two seatings for the special New Years Eve. The first seating will be available from 5:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. and the second seating will be available from 8:00 p.m. until midnight. The first seating features a decadent five-course dinner priced at $125 per person. Diners will indulge in a Poached French Kiss Oyster with winter melon, escargot pearls, oyster broth and pearl flowers; Marinated Yellowfin Tuna served with osetra caviar, granny smith apple and aerated tarragon; Chestnut, Foie Gras, Salsify with white truffle; and Slow Braised Beef Cheek with celeriac cream and mushrooms. Guests will have the option to tailor their dinner based on personal preferences as Myers and Howard offer various a la carte dining selections throughout the course of the meal as well. The dinner will conclude with a signature Comme Ca creation made with brown butter ice cream, carrot sponge, vanilla gelee, white chocolate and cinnamon. The second seating features a decadent seven-course meal priced at $195 per person. In addition to the selections from the first seating, Myers and Howard will add a delectable Langostine Ravioli with thermidor of lobster, smoked bacon and lobster cracker; and Fleur de Marquis en papillote with douglas fir toast and buckwheat. Comme Ca offers an array of wine pairings for the prix-fixe dinners to truly complete the New Years Eve experience. The problem related to the Ministry of Industry and Trade Circular 20 that requires importers of complete built up units (CBUs) with less than nine seats to show proof that they are authorised dealers for foreign automakers, with a certification of qualified auto maintenance centre granted by the Ministry of Transport. The circular, which came into effect in June 2011 and was to become invalid on July 1 this year, was aimed at tightening the import of CBU cars and compelling businesses to ensure that after-sales services such as warranty and maintenance matched the manufacturers' standards. The circular was invalid but its contents were retained in the draft decree by the industry and trade ministry, which has been sent to the Government for approval and to relevant agencies for their ideas. While waiting for the Government's decision, a huge argument erupted between auto businesses about retaining or dropping the circular's contents. One side includes businesses who have qualified conditions to import automobiles, such as members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) and Vietnam Car Importers' Association (VIVA). They want to keep the circular's contents after clarifying that it was needed to be extended to protect the customers' right and interests about quality and maintenance service, limiting the unofficially imported auto market. The opposite side, which consists of many small and medium enterprises, said the circular's regulations had created barriers for them, giving rise to an unfair business environment. They did not have the chance to join the imported automobile market. This circular created a monopoly for auto businesses which imported cars from official suppliers. Nguyen Tuan, director of Thien An Phuc Company Ltd, said his business and about 200 auto importers of vehicles such as Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, and Daewoo began business in 2006. By 2011, after five years, these businesses had developed the market, marketing and advertising, but the Circular 20 was issued, stopping them from importing automobiles. "Now, only the automobile firms who are qualified as per the circular's requirement, have placed their agents in Viet Nam and sold imported cars without any cost on the developing market," Tuan said. "We understand that at a certain economic stage, the circular is suitable, but every circular should be in use for a certain period and should be changed when the economy becomes stable. The Government should return to the market economy which has competition from price, and customers' service to guarantee in order to help customers choose the most suitable products," Tuan said. The reaction became drastic when representatives of many businesses recently hung banners in front of the Ministry of Industry and Trade headquarters in Ha Noi with content supporting the abrogation of the Circular 20's regulations. The maintenance of the circular's content did not receive support from Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong. In a talk with dautuchungkhoan.vn, the deputy minister said that if new businesses' joining the market were limited, it would end the market's competitiveness. He said buying a specific car or from a firm of choice was the option of the customers and the market as well, and the State should not intervene in this issue. As for the quality of imported cars, it was the duty of the Registrar Vietnam. In addition, each automaker would have the right to choose its import agents. Chairman of Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc said it needed to remove the circular's regulations to ensure that all businesses could join the market in an open and fair manner, especially the small and medium enterprises Loc said that if the regulations were dropped, it would push up competition and customers could enjoy a lower price. In an interview with the Vietnam Economic Times, he said the Government was considering proposals on auto imports from the industry and trade ministry before giving its final decision. "We believe the Government will consider and make a decision which will ensure general benefits and healthy competition and business environment not only for the business community but also for the interests of the customers," Loc said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker attends a debate on the achievements of the outgoing Dutch Presidency at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on July 5, 2016 AFP/Frederick Florin "The risk is big. The success so far of the pact is fragile. President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan has already hinted several times that he wants to scrap it," Juncker told Austrian daily Kurier. "(If that happens) then we can expect migrants to start coming to Europe again," he told the paper in an interview to be published on Saturday. The March accord between the European Union and Turkey succeeded in stemming the flow of migrants but there are concerns that it could fall apart after a failed coup against Erdogan on July 15. A subsequent purge in Turkey has seen thousands of arrests among the army, the police and judiciary, and hundreds have lost their jobs in every major Turkish ministry. Three days after the attempt on the government, a group of Turkish officials assigned to monitor the migration deal on the Greek side returned home, and have yet to be replaced. In a wide-ranging interview, Juncker also said he was "very concerned" about developments within the 28-nation EU, particularly with regard to Poland and Hungary. "In Poland the government's course of action has damaged the rule of law... I am watching with concern preparations for Hungary's referendum on migration," Juncker was quoted as saying. On Wednesday the European Commission handed Poland's right-wing government a three-month deadline to reverse changes to its Constitutional Court or face sanctions for breaching EU norms on the rule of law and democracy. The move by the EU's executive arm is the second step in an unprecedented procedure which could eventually see Warsaw's voting rights suspended in the Council of Ministers, the EU's highest decision-making body. Hungary meanwhile has refused to accept a single migrant under a mandatory EU quota plan to share them around the bloc, and will hold a referendum on the scheme on October 2. Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban this week called migration "poison" for Europe and said that his country "does not need a single migrant". "If referendums are going to be organised on every decision of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, then legal security is in danger," Juncker said. "The Commission should really -- although we're not that far yet -- launch a breach of treaty procedure against Hungary. Mr Orban though would then claim that the Commission is taking the Hungarian people to court." Many tourists have complained about being stung by jellyfish and they had to buy medicine to treat it. Local people said that more jellyfish have come to the shore than previous years. Jellyfish often appear on the beach in the morning and the late afternoon when many people prefer bathing in the sea. Beach guards have used nets to catch the creatures and bury them. Phan Minh Hai, deputy head of the management board of Son Tra Peninsular and beaches in Da Nang, said the city mobilized the coastal rescue forces to collect jellyfish every day. The forces worked from 7-10am and collected about 1 ton of jellyfish every morning. Hai said the volume of jellyfish on the beach had dropped. Da Nang authorities did not know why such huge volumes of jellyfish washed ashore. In the long term, the tourism industry has proposed to drop fishing nets to prevent jellyfish from being washed onto beaches. There is currently no vaccine on the market to prevent the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which first emerged in 1947 but has recently exploded in Central and South America (Photo: AFP/Yuri Cortez) Officials have been investigating four cases of Zika in southern Florida that were not thought to be linked to travel to affected regions outside the country. "The Florida Department of Health has gathered enough information as part of its ongoing investigation into non-travel related cases of Zika in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to conclude that a high likelihood exists that four cases are the result of local transmission," the department said in a statement. "At this time, the department believes that active transmission of the Zika virus is occurring in one small area in Miami-Dade County, just north of downtown," it added. Governor Rick Scott told a news conference that one of the cases involved a woman, and the other three men. "They are all active Zika cases, and have not exhibited symptoms to be admitted to the hospital," he said. Officials had been testing mosquitoes in the small area of southern Florida where the cases are located "for about two weeks," he added. "While no mosquito traps have tested positive for the Zika virus, the Department of Health is aggressively testing people in the affected area to ensure there are no other cases of this virus," he said. The health department had urged residents and visitors to participate if asked for urine samples in the areas being investigated, to help determine the number of people affected. Zika is spread via mosquitoes and by sexual contact. Pregnant women who are infected face a higher risk of bearing an infant with microcephaly, a birth defect that causes an abnormally small head. Florida has already seen almost 400 cases of Zika, all involving people who were infected while traveling to parts of the world where the virus is circulating. For Zika to become a homegrown virus in the mainland United States, a mosquito would have to bite a Zika-infected person and then bite another person, passing on the virus. Health officials have warned of possible localized Zika outbreaks in the United States, particularly since the virus has spread quickly throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean in the past two years. However, mosquito control measures such as air conditioning, use of window and door screens and bug repellant are likely to prevent Zika from becoming established in the United States. The patient is a 54-year-old Khmer woman, who was hospitalized in a state of severe exhaustion, difficulty breathing when lying as her belly was very big. Through examination, doctors discovered a lot of fluid in her belly. A CT-scan showed a giant tumor that occupied the entire abdomen, compressing other organs, and her kidneys full with water. Dr. Huynh Thao Luat, Deputy Director of Can Tho Oncology Hospital, said doctors withdrew about 20 liters of fluid from the tumor, cleaned the abdomen and cut the tumor. After successful surgery, the patient gradually recovered. The patients family said the woman saw doctors and knew about the tumor over 6 years ago. She did not go to hospital for treatment but took herbal medicines. Due to improper treatment, her belly got bigger and bigger. Garrix gained fame through his own solo song Animals released June 16, 2013 on Dutch record label Spinnin' Records, which rapidly climbed and became a smash hit on the European music charts. In addition, he released a remix of Project T by Sander Van Doorn and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, which quickly hit No 1 on the Beatport charts. Martin Garrix has also won a number of honourable awards including a Dance Music Award in 2013, a Buma Award and NRJ DJ Award in 2014, YouTube Music Award and MTV Europe Music Award in 2015, and an MTV Millennial Award in 2016. Afghan officials and Taliban sources in Afghanistan confirmed the Islamist insurgency has overrun another district in the southern Helmand province, which borders Pakistan. Taliban fighters staged a surprise assault on Khanashin overnight and fighting was still continuing in parts of the district, a provincial government spokesman told Afghan media Saturday. However, a Taliban spokesman claimed the group has captured the entire district after clearing it of enemies. In a brief statement sent to VOA, he said the insurgents inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan security forces before they abandoned Khanashin. It was not possible to verify Taliban claims. Khanashin is adjacent to the porous border with Pakistan and it has fallen to the Taliban for a third time within a year. Speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, Afghan security officials alleged that heavily-armed Taliban insurgents sheltering on the Pakistani side also took part in Thursday night's assault. They confirmed the regional security commander was among those wounded in the fighting. Both sides have reportedly suffered casualties but no confirmed details are available. Helmand is Afghanistans largest province and is notorious for being a major poppy-producing region. It has been persistently under attack from the Taliban, prompting the United States military to deploy soldiers to the restive region to assist and advise Afghan forces. On Friday, a U.S. federal oversight agency reported the Taliban was in direct control of four districts in Helmand. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that the Afghan government has lost control of approximately 5 percent of the countrys districts in the first five months of this year. The report also noted that high attrition within the Afghan national army is affecting the experience level of front line troops. "Annually almost one-third of the force is lost to attrition," the agency said. The assessment attributed to the U.S. military is part of SIGARs latest quarterly report submitted to the U.S. Congress. It said that the Taliban have been exceptionally active in 2016, particularly after launching their annual spring offensive Operation Omari. Despite U.S. expenditures of nearly $70 billion to build and sustain the Afghan Defense and National Security Force (ANDSF), challenges remain, and the force intended to stand on its own by now still needs help, according to SIGAR. One policeman was killed Saturday by gunmen barricaded inside a police station in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, as the security service warned the group to lay down their arms and surrender or law enforcement would open fire. Armenia's National Security Service said the option to resolve the conflict peacefully had been exhausted. Nearly 30 gunmen seized the police station on July 17, killing a police officer, wounding two others and taking nine officers hostage. Three gunmen inside the station were wounded Friday in an exchange of gunfire with police. Authorities said that the gunmen shot first and the wounded inside the station were being treated by three members of an ambulance crew who were being held hostage. A tense standoff between riot police and armed supporters of an imprisoned politician continued Saturday next to the police station. Police used truncheons, stun grenades and tear gas to stop a crowd that was approaching the police station. One-hundred-sixty-five people were detained during the unrest. More than 20 opposition supporters were later arrested. The rest were released. The standoff has set off a series of anti-government demonstrations, held almost every evening. The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said in a statement that it was "deeply troubled by the ongoing hostage situation." Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland urged both sides to "put an end to this dangerous situation without delay." The gunmen have demanded the release of jailed opposition politician Jirair Sefilian, accused of plotting civil unrest, and the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan. A former military commander, Sefilian has accused Sargsyan of mishandling the long-running conflict between Armenian-backed separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and Azeri forces. A Moscow-brokered cease-fire halted four days of violence in the region in April, the worst confrontation in years, but sporadic shooting has continued and some deaths have been reported. Authorities in Paraguay raided the jail cell of a Brazilian drug lord and found instead a three-room luxury suite. The "VIP cell," as it was known to prisoners, had a library, kitchen, conference room and even a plasma television. Jarvis Chimenes Pavao, considered one of the most dangerous drug traffickers in South America, was being held at Tacumbu Penitentiary after receiving an eight-year sentence for money laundering. Reports say Pavao was scheduled to be released in a year and would then face extradition to Brazil on drug charges. However, he was allegedly planning an escape using plastic explosives to blow a hole through the prison walls. The explosives were discovered and that led officials to raid the prison. Pavao has now been transferred to a cell in a police special operation unit. Reporters from the French News Agency (AFP) said Pavao's suite had "air conditioning, stylish tiled walls, plush furniture" and DVDs that included the complete TV series Pablo Escobar about a Colombian drug lord killed in 1993. Pavao's lawyer said corruption in the Paraguayan penal system allowed her client to make the necessary renovations in his jail cell. Micah Johnson, the gunman who killed five police officers earlier this month in Dallas, Texas, during a peaceful demonstration about the recent shootings of black men by police, was found to have kept an unauthorized grenade in his barracks when stationed in Afghanistan in 2014 as an Army reservist. Johnson's belongings were searched following a complaint from a female solider that someone had taken four pieces of her underwear from her laundry bag. The Army released a heavily redacted account Friday of its investigation into the complaint. The panties were found in Johnson's room. He later tried to discard them in a dumpster. He was quickly relocated to another base. The grenade, along with some ammunition, and medication prescribed to another soldier, were found by soldiers packing the items he left behind. Retired Sgt. Gilbert Fischback, Johnson's squad leader before the soldier deployed, told the Associated Press the grenade should have been "a red flag," but the Army instead dropped the woman's sexual harassment complaint and her request to have Johnson psychologically evaluated. Johnson was honorably discharged from the Army. The Dallas Morning News newspaper recently reported that in 2011 Johnson turned to police for help when he was dismayed about an incident with a female friend. The newspaper says he walked into the Mesquite, Texas police headquarters "visibly upset and bouncing from side to side," according to a police report. The newspaper says the police described Johnson as displaying "unstable mental faculties." Johnson was upset, the police report said, because his friend had lied to him and he "did not want to get in trouble." Johnson joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps while still in high school and enlisted in the Army Reserves after graduation. At age 22, he was deployed to Afghanistan as a carpentry and masonry specialist. But he returned home several months later in disgrace after the complaint from the female soldier. Army friends told Dallas Morning News he stopped socializing with anyone outside of his own race. Johnson is African American. His mother said he returned a very different man; once an extrovert, he became a hermit. Johnson, cornered by police after the Dallas ambush, told a police negotiator he wanted to kill white people specifically white police officers as retaliation for two black men who died earlier in the week at the hands of police in the U.S. states of Minnesota and Louisiana. Police killed the gunman with a robot bomb after negotiations to bring him in peacefully failed. A top pro-independence politician in Hong Kong has been barred from running in the territory's September legislative elections. Andy Chan, the founder of the Hong Kong National Party, was one of at least 13 pro-democracy candidates who refused to sign a new required pledge stating that Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China. The city government announced Saturday that he has been disqualified from running. Chan's party, which backs independence for the city-state, issued a statement saying it was "honored" to have a candidate disqualified for political reasons, and called on other parties that support democracy to boycott the election. Declarations of outright independence from China represent the political extreme in Hong Kong, where most parties still embrace the "one-country, two-systems" model championed by Beijing. China's stance allows for the territory to be self-governed, while remaining part of mainland China. However worries that Beijing is exerting too much control and undermining Hong Kong's democratic liberties, have led to growing separatist sentiments. Hong Kong and Chinese officials say that independence is inconsistent with Hong Kong law, and activists could face legal consequences for their views. A rare public opinion poll on the issue conducted in mid-July by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found some 17 percent of Hong Kong residents support the territory becoming independent after 2047. Under the terms of Hong Kong's 1997 hand-over from British to Chinese rule, the territory is to enjoy a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years. The school randomly polled 1,010 Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents who were at least 15 years old. Nabaz* carefully poured the red wine into one glass, then another, set the bottle down gently and smiled. He looked around the small living room with the wide glass windows overlooking the city, and at the small group of guests he had never met, and offered them his wine. It was the first time Nabaz had personally introduced his homemade production. I was a little anxious to see the reaction, he said later. Obviously, this to me is a work of art, and art all depends on how people see it and evaluate it. As the guests started to roll the red wine in their glasses and sip it, his worries began to disappear. Very fruity, said one guest, Sara. With quite an alcohol kick, she added. Its a mellow wine, very usable, added another guest, Stephen. For Nabaz, the small informal wine tasting was more than just judging the wine. It was, to a certain extent, a triumph. I felt that this was extending a hand of friendship, of offering something unique from Kurdistan, and offering something for the very first time by Iraqi Kurdistan to the outside world, he said. The backstory Nabaz had graduated as a civil engineer when Iraqi Kurdistan came under attack by then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. It was during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and some Kurdish militants had sided with Iran against the dictator. Saddam retaliated by dropping chemical weapons on Iraqs Kurds, killing thousands in the Kurdish city of Halabja, then launched a seven-month offensive in which an estimated 50,000-100,000 Kurdish villagers were killed or disappeared. Nabaz left everything behind and joined the Iraqi Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga in the mountains to fight against Saddam. Even today I believe it was a just cause to sacrifice for, I had no doubt that what was happening was wrong. What Saddam was doing was beyond comprehension, Nabaz recalled. On a quiet afternoon a few weeks before the tasting event, Nabaz had spread out old photographs of himself on his dining room table: black and white snapshots of another life. He had longish brown hair then, and a full moustache - all gone now. I was a civil engineer with a life in front of me, but nothing was as valuable as to be on the mountain, he said. We were friendless at the time; we were on our own. If we didnt fight, who would? The most meaningful period of my life For eight years, Nabaz stayed in the mountains. It was the most meaningful period of my life, he said. It was during that time that he noticed that his native land produced grapes, a lot of grapes. Most were used to make juice or raisins. But wine? I love wine myself. So I thought this is an advantage, lets explore it, he said. For the last six years, Nabaz has been experimenting, using different grapes, fermentation processes, tasting, adjusting. Now he has his own wine: 21 Rays, named for the rays on the Kurdish flag and the sun that shines intensely on the region. He has had contacts take the wine to London, and said it received favorable reviews there. So far, whoever has tasted it, they always say it is a unique taste, and I am so glad about this, because that was my purpose, he said. Clandestine operation But in Kurdistan 21 Rays is a secret. The wine is not available in stores. The grape growers dont even know their grapes are being used for wine. When Nabaz buys the grapes, he does so in small quantities, bringing them to his land in his car or a small pick-up truck. Sometimes he buys the grapes through intermediaries. No one except his immediate family is involved in the making. Even the guests at the small wine tasting were carefully chosen. This is the art of secretly making wine, then remaining anonymous. But why? Imported wine is actually openly sold in Kurdistan, but only in the Christian neighborhoods and by Christians. But Nabaz is by culture a Muslim, and even if he doesnt subscribe to every tenet of Islam, many in Iraqs conservative Kurdish society do. For observant Muslims, the making, selling and drinking of wine is forbidden. Even some members of his extended family, if they knew, would not approve. Respect is keeping Nabaz from going public. But so is fear. Daesh is only a few tens of kilometers away, Nabaz said, using the local name for Islamic State extremists who are less than an hour's drive away. One has to be discreet. So even though most of the guests at the tasting bought one or two bottles to take back to their homes, and one guest ordered another four, Nabaz seemed a little lost as to what to do next. Its very hard, he said. I dont know, really. Nabaz has plans to produce more wine in the upcoming harvest, but no more than a few hundred bottles, because nothing is mechanized - his close family members are the ones he trusts to take the grapes and stomp them. So for now, 21 Rays will remain a Kurdish secret, known only to the chosen few. * Nabaz is not the subjects real name. It has been changed at his request due to security considerations. Nearly eight months after overhauling its strategy to curtail the Islamic State terror group's success in cyberspace, U.S. officials admit it is hard to know if they are making much headway. "This arguably is the most complex challenge that the federal government and industry face," said George Selim, director of the office for community partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security. "There's not an overarching measure." The new approach laid out in January shifted some of the focus away from government-led efforts to counter IS and placed greater emphasis on working with communities and local organizations. The goal was to find and amplify voices that might better resonate with young people at risk of being sucked in by IS propaganda. While several studies are underway hoping to gauge the impact these efforts are having, Selim said Friday at the Aspen Security Forum that one thing has not changed. "The number one threat to the homeland is [Islamic State's] ability to recruit and radicalize," he told an audience in Aspen, Colorado. The lack of progress in efforts to counter online efforts by Islamic State contrasts with successes by U.S. and coalition forces on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, where the terror group has lost control of almost 50 percent of the territory it once held in its self-declared "caliphate." No ripple effect Many U.S. officials had hoped those gains on the ground would have a ripple effect, building skepticism about IS social media boasts among would-be jihadists. So far, that has not happened. The House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Representative Ed Royce, worries that counter-IS efforts will not be successful as long as the extremists "can point to an existing concept of a 'caliphate.' " "Those ideas are in the pipeline, and they're being spread all over, from Indonesia to West Africa," the California Republican said at the Aspen forum. "That makes it very, very credible that this could be the future." Researchers say there are other reasons that Islamic State's military reverses are not having more of an impact. "You can't bomb the American kids who are finding a way to turn themselves into heroes by killing people in ISIS's name," said Jessica Stern, a fellow at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of ISIS: The State of Terror. ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State. Stern said studies have shown risk factors for radicalization among Western youth often have more to do with feelings of alienation, from country and community. Researchers who followed Somali refugees targeted by Islamist extremists showed clearly that "time on the internet is a risk factor," she added. Power of propaganda Despite social media operators' efforts to block terrorists from influencing their networks, each new terror attack spawns more chatter, more imagery and more propaganda. Facebook and Twitter have been criticized for not doing more, and some U.S. lawmakers have urged them to implement automated technologies to identify extremist content much more quickly. "We do see people praising attackers. We do see them praising ... extremist ideology," said Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management. Removing such content is a challenge, since Facebook has about 1.6 billion user accounts, she says, and "even if Facebook and Google and Twitter were perfect at removing this content ... immediately, you have literally thousands of websites, gaming platforms, messaging services" that can distribute similar material. The Facebook executive says racing to "scrub" that type of material from public view on social media can backfire in the long run. "When you do take down that content at the very initial stage, when somebody's interacting with it, then you do lose that ability to see the rest of that escalation," Bickert noted. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security hope to gain new funding to allow them to hone their efforts. DHS has requested an additional $20 million for fiscal 2017, which begins October 1, split between a $10 million grant program and funding for community partnerships and for research, training and analysis. "Compared with the amount of money we spend trying to take out the bad guys, kinetic operations, this is a drop in the bucket," said Harvard's Stern. "It's nothing." Ivory Coast is the world's top producer of cocoa, but hardly any of it is processed into chocolate there. Instead, the cocoa is sent abroad to chocolate makers in Europe and elsewhere. This is a general problem throughout Africa massive exports of raw materials but few finished goods. In Abidjan, several Ivorian entrepreneurs are working to change that formula one 100 percent Ivorian chocolate bar at a time. The Ivorian flag proudly embroidered on her cook suit, chocolate maker Suzanne Kabbani is putting the latest touches on a special selection of chocolates she made ahead of the upcoming independence day. "This year, were using molds shaped as a traditional mask, the national coat of arms and the CFA Franc," Kabbani explains. Kabbani is one of a few Ivory Coast chocolate makers, and also one of the first ones. Ten years ago, Kabbani wanted to prove that it was possible to make high-end chocolate in Ivory Coast from local products. But it was hard to convince Ivorians it could be done. "I started creating various flavors adapted to local tastes, to encourage the population to eat their own product," she says. Ginger, cashew nut, coconut - the products are locally sourced and Kabbani works with the providers to enhance the quality of their raw products, especially the cocoa beans. Customers of La Maison du Chocolat Ivorien are mostly middle-class Ivorians and expats. Kabbani plans to open a second shop in Abidjan soon, and roll out a more affordable chocolate bar to cater to a wider customer base. Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara has said he wants the country to process half its cocoa production by 2020, versus about 30 percent at the moment. Recent billboards were put up around Abidjan to encourage consumption of Ivorian chocolate. Young entrepreneurs, like former banker Axel Emmanuel, are also making chocolate, but learning the trade is not yet popular. Emmanuel says people falsely believe chocolate is complicated and expensive to make. Emmanuel says they wonder, "Why make something that doesnt interest people? Who will buy it?" He says that they prefer to make cakes, because they know theyll sell them. But his business is booming and he recently launched a more affordable chocolate bar that he sells in the street and claims he didn't compromise on the quality. "Good evening Madam, chocolate made in Ivory Coast, 200 francs," calls out a vendor, toting an ice cooler and sporting a printed T-shirt. At 30 U.S. cents, the 50-gram bars have been selling fast. At a nearby cafe, three men at a table sit in front of a pile of chocolate they just bought for their children. "The price is very competitive. For that chocolate bar, 200 francs, its very cheap," says one man. At a nearby table, a young man rips off the package and cracks a chocolate square. "We want to see what chocolate made in Ivory Coast tastes like. Yes, its good!," he says. "We can feel the natural taste of cocoa, thats good! I really like that!" adds his friend. Emmanuels next bet is to raise enough money via crowdfunding to attend the Salon du Chocolat in France, and prove that Ivorian-made chocolate can rival chocolate made abroad. More than 120 high schools throughout Kenya have been set ablaze since early June, amid a government crackdown on cheating on national exams. The conflagrations, which reportedly have caused some injuries but no fatalities, have heated up conflict between authorities and educators, even though the perpetrators and their motive for setting the fires remain unclear. This week, with fires reported in 10 more schools, the governments Teachers Service Commission ordered principals and their deputies to move into school compounds as a deterrent to arson. Teacher unions have refused, saying their members are not security experts. Government investigation Authorities have arrested dozens in connection with the fires. Teachers and students arraigned in court have denied involvement. The government has formed an eight-person committee to investigate. A school in Meru County in central Kenya on Thursday became one of the latest to be torched. No deaths were reported there or at any of the other schools since the incidents began, though some students reportedly have been injured while trying to retrieve belongings from burning buildings. In a story published Thursday, the French news agency AFP cited a confidential report, prepared by the police and the Education Ministry, that said the fires mainly affect dormitories where students sleep, and appear well-coordinated because so far students have never been caught by the fire, meaning they escape well in advance with prior knowledge. It remains unclear who is responsible and what they hope to gain by burning down school buildings. Kenyas education sector has been in turmoil lately. Education Minister Fred Matiangi recently visited several schools, and in some cases he found that teachers were absent without permission. Clan politics, bad management blamed Responding to questions from Senate Committee last week, Matiangi blamed clan politics and bad management for some of the chaos in Kenyan schools. In some regions, communities fight over who and how many people should represent them in school leadership, leading to unrest and some school closings. It also has been suggested that a change in the school calendar, shortening the typical one-month holiday in August to just two weeks, may have angered students or teachers. Omboko Milemba, chairman of a teachers union, said he had called upon the government to close schools for a period so that we can ease the tension. But Matiangi said classes would continue until the current term ends in mid-August. We will not close schools early, he said. The program and the term date will go on as planned to the logical conclusion. Anger over national test? Some observers say students, parents and teachers are unhappy with government efforts to prevent the national exam from being leaked before testing begins in October. In past years, many students were caught possessing copies of questions and answers before the exams began. AFP reported that some believe the fire attacks may be retribution from a cartel formerly linked to the countrys exam-setting body, which used to profit" by charging for advance copies of questions on the test. AFP reported the cheating ring, which involved several senior members of the government testing office, was broken up in March 2015. Chacha Nyaigoti-Chacha, a professor and education expert affiliated with Mount Kenya University, says students try to cheat because they are not being properly taught. The students we have now in schools are not being given mentorship," he said. I think the challenge we have as a country is those who are responsible for these schools should put more effort into making sure they know their students well and address their problems. The Pentagon is vehemently rejecting remarks by the Turkish president that the U.S. military was siding with plotters of the failed military coup in Turkey. "Any suggestion anyone in the department supported the coup in any way would be absurd," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters Friday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized U.S. General Joseph Votel after the general voiced concerns about "the longer-term impact" of the coup on U.S. relations with the Turkish military. "Who are you? Know your place! You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt," Erdogan said. Votel leads U.S. Central Command, which overseas U.S. military operations in the Middle East. The general issued a statement Friday refuting "any report" that he had anything to do with the coup attempt in Turkey as "unfortunate and completely inaccurate." "Turkey has been an extraordinary and vital partner in the region for many years," Votel said. "We appreciate Turkey's continuing cooperation and look forward to our future partnership in the counter-ISIL fight." ISIL is an acronym for Islamic State. 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 Islamic State would "proceed unabated." 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. Multiple accusations The back-and-forth between the U.S. and Turkey comes just days after the top U.S. military general denounced a report by a Turkish daily alleging that former General John Campbell, who led NATO forces in Afghanistan before retiring earlier this year, had organized the failed military coup 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 in response to the article by conservative Turkish daily Yeni Safak. The U.S. Army and Campbell also categorically denied what the Army called "irresponsible assertions" in the Turkish press. Pope Francis condemned the "devastating wave of terrorism" and war that has hit the world as he neared the end of his visit to Poland late Saturday, and he urged a huge crowd of young people pray for Syria and other places in conflict. The pope was in Krakow, Poland's second-largest city and a center of Catholicism in the country, where John Paul II served as a cardinal before he became the first non-Italian pope in centuries. Before celebrating World Youth Day with hundreds of thousands of young Catholics in an enormous park near the center of the city, Francis made an unscheduled stop at one of Krakow's churches to recite a prayer for peace: "Touch the hearts of terrorists," the pope prayed, "so that they may recognize the evil of their actions and may turn to the way of peace and goodness ... regardless of religion, origin, wealth or poverty." Listening to young people tell stories of struggle, conflict and redemption later at the World Youth Day gathering, Francis heard a young representative from war-torn Aleppo in Syria ask: "God, where are you? Do you exist?" In response, the pope asked everyone to pray for Syria. He urged young people from peaceful and prosperous places not to remain distant from the suffering of others. "The times we live in do not call for young 'couch potatoes,' " he told his young audience. 'Open doors to the heart' Earlier Saturday, the pope addressed Polish nuns, priests and bishops, asking them to live simple lives, shun worldly ambitions and focus on those in need. All Catholics, he added, should leave their "comfort zones," be attentive to the needy and "open doors to the heart." Francis spoke at a shrine to the memory of John Paul II, built on the site of a stone quarry where Nazi German occupation forces forced young Karol Wojtyla, the future pope, to work during World War II. John Paul became one of the most popular and widely traveled Roman Catholic leaders during his time at the Vatican, from 1978 until his death in 2005, and he remains a national hero in his homeland. Many Poles see the pope's moral leadership as a decisive factor in the nation's rejection of communist rule in the 1980s. Pope Francis, 79, will return to Vatican City on Sunday. He has had a busy schedule in Poland since Wednesday celebrating Mass each day before large congregations; meeting with Polish political leaders, clergy and many ordinary Catholics; and also paying a somber visit to the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Auschwitz, preserved as a memorial to the Nazis' victims more than a million people at the camp, most of them Jews is in southern Poland, not far from Krakow and the small city of Wadowice, John Paul's birthplace. Flying high from making history at the Democratic National Convention by becoming the first woman candidate for U.S. president, Hillary Clinton began her campaign Friday by telling voters in the convention city of Philadelphia that they have a lot of work to do. "I can't think of an election that is more important, certainly in my lifetime," she told supporters before starting out on a bus tour of Pennsylvania, which is regarded as a key battleground state in the November 8 election. With husband and former President Bill Clinton's arm around her shoulder, Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine climbed aboard a big blue bus with the campaign slogan "Stronger Together" painted on the side. They stopped in the state capital of Harrisburg before heading to the industrial cities of Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio places where she said people "are making things." No more 'nice guy' Meanwhile, Trump, whose often insulting rhetoric has become a trademark, said he was "taking the gloves off" and would no longer be a self-described "nice guy" when dealing with Clinton. He spoke Friday to a crowd in Colorado Springs, Colorado, calling Clinton's nomination acceptance speech "average" and a "sad situation." He also said it was full of lies about him. When he mentioned Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state and why the FBI chose not to prosecute her because of the way she'd handled classified information, the crowd began chanting "Lock her up," suggesting Clinton should be jailed. Trump refrained from embracing the same sentiment during the Republican convention, but he said Friday that he was starting to agree with it. Poll bounce Presidential nominees can often expect an immediate rise in the polls, called a post-convention bounce, when the acceptance speeches, balloons, and parade of personalities are still fresh in voters' minds. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll showed support for Trump jumping after his convention last week from 42 percent to 48 percent, his best showing since last September. But a CBS poll out the same day showed no net bounce for Trump at all. It is too soon for polls to assess any bounce for Clinton. She accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president Thursday night with a message stressing the need to unite in order to confront the nation's challenges. "It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we will all work together so we can all rise together," Clinton said in an address on the final night of the convention. Two weeks after an abortive coup attempt in Turkey caused an upheaval in military ranks and throughout much of the government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be slowly easing some of the purges instituted since rogue members of the armed forces plotted to overthrow him. Other signals from his administration, however, show no letup in post-coup reprisals. More than 750 soldiers arrested since the coup attempt are being released, state media reported Saturday. Another 231 members of the military remain in custody, however. And another 1,700 military personnel have been expelled dishonorably discharged since July 15, when a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets and attempted to take over the government. Also Saturday, 60 employees of the Constitutional Court were suspended. The measures taken at the country's highest court will remain in effect until the employees' possible links to the coup attempt are assessed, the court said in a statement. Eight other employees had already been dismissed and were detained July 18. Sweeping purges Clashes during the short-lived coup bid killed more than 235 people and wounded nearly 10 times that many, but the major impact of the attempt to remove Erdogan has been the wave of detentions, firings and suspensions. In addition to sweeping purges in the military, more than 66,000 public sector workers have been removed from their positions, two-thirds of them from the educational system. Through Saturday, Erdogan said, 18,699 people have been detained in connection with the coup attempt, and 10,137 have been placed under arrest, meaning they have been charged with criminal acts. About 3,500 have been released. Turkey's Western allies condemned the coup as soon as it occurred, and have restated their support for Erdogan repeatedly since then. However, as the purges expanded, the allies also have become concerned about the scale of the crackdown. Erdogan has responded sharply to any perceived criticism from abroad this month. Speaking from his presidential palace Friday evening, he accused the West of deserting Turkey in its hour of need: "Some people give us advice; they say they are worried. Mind your own business! Look at your own deeds!" Erdogan indicated some of his future plans in a wide-ranging interview Saturday with the private Turkish news channel A-Haber. He announced parliament would soon receive "a small constitutional package" that would bring the country's National Intelligence Organization and the chief of staff of the armed forces under the president's direct control. Academies to close In a further reshuffle of military affairs, the president said all of Turkey's military training academies would be shut down, to be replaced by a single national defense university. Defense Minister Fikri Isik said Friday that the military academies were expected to face "cleansing." Turkey's military, the second-largest in NATO, has been hard hit by the coup and the ensuing purges, with about 40 percent of all generals and admirals having been dismissed. Those gaps are being filled in slowly; on Thursday, 99 colonels were promoted to general-officer ranks. The internal turmoil comes at a time when Turkish forces are already stretched, facing violence from Kurdish separatists in the country's southeast and from Islamic State extremists along the border with Syria. Military authorities said they killed 35 Kurdish militants early Saturday during an attempt to storm a government base in Hakkari province. The purges have largely been targeted against supposed followers of exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in exile in the United States since 1999, well before Erdogan came to power. Although the two men once were close allies, Erdogan has denounced Gulen as the "mastermind" of the coup attempt, and declared Gulen's supporters in Turkey were carrying out his direct orders in the attempted coup. Gulen has denied all charges against him, and Erdogan's critics suggest the president is using his crusade against the elderly exile as a cover for policies aimed at quashing all dissent. US wants evidence Erdogan has demanded the United States must either hand over Gulen or extradite him to Turkey. Authorities in Washington have said they will review any extradition request, but indicate they will be moved only by clear evidence of the cleric's involvement in an anti-Erdogan plot. A senior Turkish official who briefed reporters Saturday in Ankara, insisting he not be identified, said Turkish intelligence has been intercepting and decrypting messages between Gulen's aides and his network in Turkey for more than a year. The Turkish official said the government identified almost 40,000 of Gulen's followers in the country, including 600 ranking military personnel, by intercepting messages sent through byLock, a cellphone communications application. ByLock claims to use military-grade encryption techniques to ensure secure, private communications of all kinds text, documents, email and voice-over-internet telephone calls. The app's developer claims that even the firm's own engineers are unable to decipher data sent via byLock. The U.N. Security Council on Friday authorized a 228-member international police force to deploy to Burundi to prevent human rights violations and provide stability for an intra-Burundian dialogue. The council said it hoped the police presence would help create a positive atmosphere for substantive talks so the country could move beyond its political impasse. Given an increase in violence and tension, the Security Council must have eyes and ears on the ground to predict and ensure that the worst does not occur in Burundi, said French Ambassador Francois Delattre, whose delegation drafted the resolution. Violence erupted in April 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza sought what many viewed as an unconstitutional third term. Since then, more than 450 people have been killed and 270,000 have fled to neighboring countries. Disappearances, torture There has also been an increase in disappearances and acts of torture. In the latest troubling report, Human Rights Watch said this week that the youth wing of the ruling party had been gang-raping women with connections to the opposition. It is hoped that the presence of U.N. police can deter such human rights violations and provide early warning should the situation escalate. But we should not harbor any illusions that this will fix Burundis problems. It will only, at best, observe those problems, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the council. Police are not being deployed to protect civilians, even though civilians are in dire need of protection. That should embarrass us, she added, saying the police were effectively being sent as human rights monitors because that was the most the 15 council members could agree upon. Government not on board Nkurunziza told the U.N. in a letter earlier this month that his government would consent to a force that included only 50 U.N. police officers. Friday's resolution was adopted with 11 votes in favor and four abstentions from China, Angola, Egypt and Venezuela. These members noted Bujumburas lack of consent, saying its cooperation was necessary to make the mission a success. In April, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the council with three options for Burundi: a force of about 3,000 police; 228 individual police officers; or a smaller deployment of between 20 and 50 police. At the time, he said that only the first option of 3,000 could provide some degree of physical protection to the population against increased threats. The government previously agreed to an increase in African Union human rights observers and military experts to 100 each, but the council noted the significant delays in those deployments. So far, only 32 human rights monitors and 15 military observers have been sent to Burundi. Political team The resolution strengthens and expands the U.N.s small political team in Burundi, while authorizing Bans office to continue making contingency plans, should the situation deteriorate further. The council also reiterated its willingness to impose targeted sanctions on those who obstruct the political process and instigate violence, and it urged the government to fulfill its February pledge to release all political detainees and reopen all media outlets. The 15 members of the U.N. Security Council have made two trips to Burundi in the past year to try to quell the violence, and the U.N. chief traveled there in late February. The visits signal U.N. fears that the country could slip back into another ethnically based civil war, like it saw from 1993 to 2005. The United Nations has extended its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan until August 12, amid increasing reports of renewed violence in the country's southern states. The mandate for the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) had been due to expire Sunday. Friday's unanimous vote by the Security Council in New York was seen as a short-term gesture while world powers consider either sending in more troops or imposing an arms embargo on the world's newest nation, or both. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said there had been "very disturbing reports of significant violence" in South Sudan's Equatoria states. The reports followed intense fighting in Juba this month that killed more than 300 people. The U.N. mission, made up of 10,000 troops, was unable to intervene in the battles in the capital between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and others who back the former first deputy vice president, Riek Machar, because both are equipped with heavy weapons, including tanks and helicopters. However, thousands of civilians gathered at UNMISS bases in search of a safe refuge during the street battles. On the edge "All of us need to be on alert this weekend because events could spiral rapidly out of control yet again," Power said before the Security Council vote late Friday. The violence in Juba was "horrifying but, sadly, not unexpected," she noted, because South Sudan's leaders are unable to work together. "Let us not be fooled that time is on our side," she told fellow council members. "It is not." Unrest in South Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million since December 2013. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Security Council to fortify the peacekeeping mission. He also supports an arms embargo and sanctions against political or military officials in South Sudan who block implementation of last year's peace deal. In South Sudan, meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced new travel restrictions for most foreign diplomats and all U.N. officials coming to Juba. All travel plans to South Sudan's capital must be presented 72 hours in advance, along with reasons for the visit and the duration of the travelers' stay, ministry officials said. Authorities instructed passport and immigration control officers to refuse visas to anyone arriving at Juba International Airport who has not complied with the new regulations. The only exceptions are diplomats from South Sudan's neighbor states in East Africa. Focus on security Thomas Kenneth, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the regulations were not intended to hinder the work of U.N. officials or foreign diplomats, but to improve security, "to monitor things carefully," following the Juba fighting. Machar left the capital after the clashes began, saying he would return only after international troops were deployed as a buffer force to separate his forces from Kiir's. However, the president announced this week that he had removed Machar and appointed a new first vice president. By doing so, Kiir defied a U.N. warning that any political appointments must comply with the peace agreement Kiir and Machar signed nearly a year ago in Addis Ababa. South Sudan has its own rules and regulations, which must be respected by the foreign diplomats [and] UNMISS," Kenneth said. We are in a very critical time. A South Sudanese legal expert in South Africa said Juba is creating problems for itself by banning visitors. Remember Miamingi, a professor in the law department at the University of Pretoria, said UNMISS represents the international community, and any move to restrict U.N. officials' movements would be "a diplomatic blunder." Kuwait, which is hosting peace talks between Yemen's Sunni government and Shi'ite rebels, said Saturday that stalemated negotiations had been extended to August 7 at the request of a top U.N. peace envoy. The announcement came hours after the Yemeni government said it was withdrawing from the monthslong talks, which have stalled over recent attempts by Houthi rebels to legitimize their gains in the embattled country. Houthi leaders who back former President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Thursday that they were forming a coalition administration. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon immediately criticized the Houthi move, saying the Houthis' "unilateral decision was not in line with the peace process, and endangered substantial progress" made during the Kuwait talks. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and ambassadors from 18 other nations supporting Yemeni peace efforts endorsed the continuation of the Kuwait talks and condemned the Houthis' announcement that they were forming a "supreme political council." Envoy offers plan The agreement to extend talks until August 7 capped a day in which U.N. peace envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who requested the extension, offered what he described as a framework for a solution to nearly two years of fighting between government forces and the Iran-backed rebels. He did not offer details. The U.N. sponsored two rounds of peace talks last year neither successful but those efforts collapsed in December under the weight of an outbreak of fierce fighting. Fighting has slowed since the Kuwait talks resumed in April. The government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has demanded that rebels withdraw from all territories gained since conflict erupted in September 2014, when Houthi fighters seized the capital, Sana'a, after years of complaints about alleged discrimination against them by the government. Monitors say at least 6,500 people have been killed during the past two years, including more than 3,200 civilians. A Houthi offensive in southern Yemen temporarily gave the rebels control of the port of Aden and sent Hadi into months of exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The Saudis responded by forming a regional coalition of Sunni governments, which last year began launching airstrikes in defense of Hadi's presidency. Syrian state media report dozens of families have been fleeing the besieged city Aleppo after government forces opened a humanitarian corridor. The city had been sealed off for weeks as Syrian forces bombarded the city. U.N. officials and aid groups have demanded the Syrian government open routes to the city for aid deliveries, warning the estimated 300,000 people there are facing dire food shortages. Meanwhile the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State forces has reported more airstrikes on a key city outside Aleppo, where militants have been fighting to retain control of the city center. The U.S. military reported 11 airstrikes near Manbij, targeting Islamic State tactical units and fighting positions. The coalition also reported some nine strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq. VOA's Kurdish Service reports that fighting in the center of Manbij is continuing amid the airstrikes. An anti-IS militia is battling the militants in the city, street by street, as coalition forces tighten a circle around Islamic State's stronghold in the city. WATCH: US-backed Forces Advance Despite IS Resistance One fighter told VOA he saw the bodies of several militants killed in Friday's clashes, which started in the afternoon and continued after dark. Separately, the U.S. military is assessing a third allegation into civilian casualties caused by a coalition airstrike near Manbij. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters Friday that assessment of those claims is in an early phase. Rights groups claim about 25 civilians were killed by an errant airstrike Thursday, following two similar incidents that are already under investigation. The Pentagon official said the military's own internal reporting triggered investigation of the incident. He added: We will continue to work hard every day to execute our mission, while doing our best to minimize the risk to innocent civilians, and to be transparent and accountable about those efforts. Aleppo humanitarian corridor Although Syrian state media reported the Aleppo humanitarian corridor open on Saturday, U.N. officials have expressed skepticism that it will be useful while fighting rages on. The special U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Friday urged Russia to let the world body take charge of any humanitarian corridors in and around Aleppo, allowing civilians to escape the embattled city. Russia has proposed opening up four corridors - to be administered by Russian and Syrian government forces - to allow civilians and fighters willing to lay down their weapons to leave rebel-held eastern Aleppo. But skepticism remains over the plan. How do you expect people to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing, fighting, De Mistura said. "The clock is ticking for the Aleppo population," the U.N. envoy said, adding there is probably only enough food in Aleppo to last three weeks. "There is a strong sense of urgency, and that sense of urgency, I want to believe, was one of the reasons, if not the reason for the Russian side to come up with an initiative." De Mistura echoed calls by the U.N. humanitarian aid chief, Stephen O'Brien, for a 48-hour humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow emergency deliveries of food and other supplies into Aleppo, which has been cut off by pro-government forces since July 17. He also praised a statement from the International Red Cross that welcomed the Russian proposal, but noted such corridors should have the "consent of all parties on all sides. De Mistura said he was awaiting clarification from Russian authorities on how the plan would work, while reiterating the U.N. position that no civilian should be forced to leave Aleppo. Details of Manbij investigations A coalition spokesman announced Wednesday that the U.S. military was formally investigating claims that an airstrike in Manbij on July 19 killed between 10 and several dozen civilians. The military also is assessing whether avoidable civilian casualties occurred during a July 23 strike on a village east of Manbij. The coalition has conducted more than 520 airstrikes in support of the SAC push to reclaim Manbij from Islamic State fighters. Until now, the U.S. military has said its operations against Islamic State militants have resulted in 55 civilian deaths and 29 civilian injuries. According to a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, there have been a total of 202 allegations of civilian casualties during operations against Islamic State, but only 59 of those have been deemed credible by the military. Foreign exhibitors attending the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) have expressed concern over the countrys stringent laws on promotional and donated material saying this is devastating the book industry. Speaking during a Traders Day at the Book Fair, publisher Naren Bisseru of VUGA Publishers and Book Distributors of Germany, said customs regulations are too prohibitive in boosting the availability of reading material. Bisseru challenged guest speaker at the official opening ceremony of the Book Fair, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora, to seriously consider looking into the customs system as a matter of urgency. Bisseru shocked the minister when he told him that their book consignment was impounded by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority at the airport. Minister Dokora said his ministry will look into the issue. ZIBF spokesperson, Blazio Tafireyi, said ZIMRA is acting outside the law since Zimbabwe is a signatory to a United Nations convention that governs the circulation of books in the world. Tafireyi said exhibitors are not supposed to pay any form of taxes, save for Value Added Tax on books sold at the show. Bisseru said Zimbabwe is the only country in the world that demands duty on promotional and donated goods. Tafirenyika said the situation is being made worse by the fact that ZIMRA refused to pre-clear exhibits as is the norm in countries like Zambia and Malawi. Officially opening the Book Fair, Minister Dokora assured participants that his ministry would not allow the proliferation of book piracy at schools. He said his ministry will soon send a circular to more than 9,000 school heads, ordering them to stop photocopying books. The Book Fair whose theme is: Igniting Interest in Reading for Sustainable Development kicked off on Monday and ends on Saturday. A Zimbabwean magistrate on Saturday remanded a top liberation war veteran accused of insulting President Robert Mugabe in custody pending a bail ruling on Monday. The prosecution, led by Tapiwa Kasema, opposed the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association's spokesperson Douglas Mahiya's bail application filed by the defense. Kasema told the court that Mahiya was a national security threat and should not be released. "He might clash with the police and the military if he is released on bail and therefore the state urges the court to dismiss the application", said Kasema. But lead defense lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, argued that there was no reason to deny the accused bail saying Mahiya was not a security threat. "The accused person is alleged to have committed the offence between 7 April 2016 and the 27th of July 2016 during which time he could have disturbed peace in the country. That alone demonstrates that the accused person is a good candidate for bail," said Nkomo in reply. Magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe said he needed more time to make a decision on the matter. He deferred proceedings to Monday when he is expected to deliver judgement. Mahiya is accused of issuing statements through a communique of the war veterans' body that allegedly insulted or undermined the authority of Mr. Mugabe. Secretary general of the former freedom fighters' group, Victor Matemadanda, who was arrested at his Gokwe home on Thursday, has not yet appeared in court to face similar charges. The former freedom fighters have called on Mr. Mugabe to address a myriad of economic issues affecting the majority of Zimbabweans. They also vowed not to campaign for the 92 year-old strongman saying his candidature was going to be difficult to support in the 2018 national elections. They further accused the president for allegedly running a once vibrant economy and paralyzing the social welfare scheme and related issues. Mr. Mugabe responded by calling a rally with a few veterans at his ruling Zanu PF party's headquarters where he attacked the war veterans and vowed to stay put claiming that Zimbabweans still like him. Photo: HBO HBOs The Night Of was created as a miniseries, but HBO isnt ruling out the possibility of a second season, executive producer Steven Zaillian said at the shows Television Critics Association press day on Saturday. Were thinking about it, and if we come up with something that we all feel is worthy, well do it, he told journalists during the shows panel discussion. This was designed as a stand-alone piece. That being said, there are ways of certainly taking what it feels like its about and doing another series. The show which follows a young Pakistani-American college student, Nasir Khan (Riz Ahmed), accused of murdering a girl is building up to a finale in which we will discover whether or not he did commit the crime. For those still wondering: No, the first season of Serial did not impact the story for The Night Of. Ahmed said they were in the middle of filming episode seven when Sarah Koenigs podcast began, and they thought, Isnt that weird? Photo: Courtesy of HBO HBOs new president of programming, Casey Bloys, was in the hot seat Saturday morning as fired-up journalists drilled the executive about the way women and sexualized violence are portrayed in the networks series specifically in Game of Thrones, The Night Of, and the highly anticipated new sci-fi Western, Westworld. Bloys was asked to comment on the violence seen in the series the perceived-to-be-gratuitous and pervasive rape and murder of female characters, but not of their male peers. Bloys admitted, The violence is pretty extreme on all fronts on HBO dramas. I take your point so far there arent any male rapes, he said. But the violence is spread equally. I would hope the violence is not intentionally against women. Violence against women in Game of Thrones became a topic of debate among fans and critics when Sansa (Sophie Turner) was forced to have sex with her new husband in season five. The networks current critically acclaimed miniseries The Night Of opens with the grizzly stabbing murder of a young woman in New York City. And there are many hints that Evan Rachel Woods female-robot character in Westworld which premieres October 2 is also the victim of rape, according to the pilot episode. Is there a lot of violence in Westworld? Yes, but its not isolated, Bloys said, closing with a joke: Eventually were going to kill everybody. Slightly less awkward was the topic of HBOs all-male talk-show lineup, headlined by John Oliver, Bill Maher, and Bill Simmons. Vulture asked Bloys to address this as well: Are there plans for a female-led talk-show format? There is no plan as of now, but there is interest, he said. We need more than white males [doing these shows]. We sure do. Fly easy fly Waco is Waco Regional Airports slogan, and its advice Winston Edwards takes often. But occasionally, he finds its not so easy. Last Sunday afternoon, Edwards, the brand ambassador for Balcones Distilling, learned after an hour-and-a-half layover at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that his flight was canceled and was not rescheduled until the next day. He knew the drill: spend $140 and rent a car to get back to Waco. This is probably the fourth time this has happened to me, Edwards said. If I can fly out of (Waco Regional Airport) I prefer it so I dont have to drive two hours each way to DFW. But its kind of a zero sum when flights get canceled. Nine flights between Dallas and Waco have been canceled in July about 7.8 percent of the months total. Maintenance issues caused morning and noon flights Friday to be delayed until afternoon, but they were not classified as canceled. American Airlines officials said the higher-than-usual cancellation numbers this summer were an anomaly due largely to weather. That included the Sunday flight Edwards saw canceled. Waco Regional Airport officials say cancellations are the enemy of their goal to expand airport usage, and they want to see fewer. But numbers provided by American Airlines show that the cancellation rate at Waco Regional Airport has been within the normal range for regional airports in Texas in the past two years. Between Jan. 1 and July 26, there were 33 canceled flights out of 1,006 scheduled from Dallas to Waco a 3.3 percent cancellation rate. Thats slightly higher than the 2.5 percent average for the 14 other regional airports that American Airlines serves, according to airline numbers the Tribune-Herald analyzed. Of those regional airport destinations, only Killeen had a higher rate, with 3.3 percent of flights canceled. Last year, those same airports had an average cancellation rate of 4.6 percent, and Waco had a rate of 4.3 percent. Wacos 2014 rate was 4.5 percent. But even if flights between Waco and Dallas are as reliable as other regional Texas airports, its a small consolation when a passenger has to drive home in the middle of the night, Waco Regional Airport manager Joel Martinez said. Adverse effect Especially on the return trip to Waco, that really has a very negative impact for our travelers, Martinez said. If it happens to be someone who travels not as often and they make a complaint to a friend or relative, it gives us a negative connotation, even when statistically its like any other airport. It can really have an adverse effect on our marketing. Martinez said airport officials have had ongoing discussions with American Airlines about improving the reliability of flights in and out of Waco, and he is compiling more data to see where improvements can be made. Since January 2014, the Dallas-to-Waco route has had an average on-time rate of 74 percent, though it has increased to 79 percent this year. American Airlines serves Waco with five flights a day each way, with regional jets provided by its affiliate, Envoy, and a third-party contractor, Express Jet. Martinez said the new Express Jet flights, added in recent months, seem to have better on-time performance. Martinez said American Airlines officials have been responsive to Waco officials requests, including a recent move to push back the last flight from 8:45 p.m. to 10:40 p.m. They do listen, and there has been a positive response as far as scheduling, he said. Now we need to address cancellation delays. . . . If we can continue to show our marketing effort, I think we have claim to demand more reliable service. Martinez said reliability has improved since mid-2013, when turboprop planes were replaced with more reliable regional jets. If you go back to 2013, those turboprops were a nightmare for cancellations and delays, he said. I couldnt spend money marketing then, because I knew I couldnt back up the claims. Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines, said weather has been a big factor in reliability this year. He said weather was responsible for four of the nine Dallas-to-Waco cancellations this month, while the rest were maintenance-related. We dont want to cancel flights ever, but were never going to operate a flight unless we deem it safe to do so, Feinstein said. Even when weather seems fine at the Dallas airport, Feinstein said, rough weather along routes coming into the airport can cause delays and cancellations. And when theres a backlog of flights, priority goes to routes that have limited flights and cant be easily rescheduled. Several airports in Texas have fewer daily flights than Waco does, he noted. Feinstein said some passengers think flights get canceled simply because theyre half-full. Theres kind of a myth that were going to cancel for flight loads, he said. On a good weather day, we dont cancel flights because theres not enough passengers. Flight loads solid Martinez said load factors for Waco flights have been averaging a solid 72 percent this year. For the first half of the year, the Waco route had 63,871 passengers, up about 2 percent from the comparable period last year. Martinez said he thinks Waco may be able to attract a second route to Houston in the next few years, but it will depend on the public demonstrating the demand for it. McLennan Community College President Johnette McKown said that for her the rewards of using the Waco airport outweigh the risk of cancellations or delays. I always prioritize flying out of Waco, McKown said. I want to support our community. You know theres a risk, but theres a risk flying anywhere. McKown found herself stuck in Dallas on June 28, coming back from a symposium in Washington, D.C., and she decided to rent a car with others on the trip. She said the last flight was indefinitely delayed and ended up flying back after midnight, by which time she was already home. But McKown said she will not hesitate to fly to and from Waco again. I always have an alternative plan, she said. Edwards, the whiskey ambassador, said he has learned to book his rental cars on his phone while walking through the airport rather than at the rental counter, where the price tends to be higher. Edwards said he also intends to stick with Waco Regional, which he said has easy parking and accommodating staff. Driving to and from DFW is such a hassle, he said. Id really prefer not to do that. Its a trade-off, and theres no ideal middle ground. In 20 years and four months working for the city of Waco, David Harris has patched potholes, ridden garbage trucks and stacked convention center chairs. Now he works every day cleaning the four floors of City Hall, but he sees it as more than a paycheck. I take pride in what I do, said Harris, a tall man who towered over his mop in the City Hall basement. This is my building. I tell people if they need something, come to me. If theres a toilet overflowing or they need paper towels, Ill try to take care of it. But now Harris is worried that this job, and those of two dozen other city janitors, will be swept aside. City Manager Dale Fisseler is asking Waco City Council to seek bids to outsource janitorial services. He said a private contractor could be in place as early as February if the council agrees. Fisseler said he thinks the city could cut janitorial costs from $950,000 to $656,000 a year, an annual savings of $294,000. The change would eliminate 22 full-time positions with health, retirement and vacation benefits, as well as three part-time positions. Fisseler said he hoped that employees could be absorbed by the for-profit contractor or by the city itself. This is the time when you have to look at these efficiencies, he said. We have more than 100 positions open right now. If you wait until we have a recession, we wouldnt have those vacancies. When times are good, thats when you look at outsourcing. Fisseler hasnt included the janitorial cuts in this years budget in case the council decides to keep the status quo. The council hasnt yet had a discussion on the proposal beyond a brief presentation in a finance committee, but reactions appear mixed so far. Councilman Jim Holmes has said the savings make outsourcing almost a no-brainer, and Councilman Dillon Meek said he supports the move to free up money for other priorities. But Councilman Wilbert Austin disagrees. We have these people working for us who have worked all these years and cant find another job, Austin said. Im not for contracting it out. Theres some of these people who cannot qualify for those (other city) jobs. Theyre going to be out of work. Theyve got homes, light, water and gas bills to pay. Ive heard from a lot of them, and they are afraid that theyre going to lose their jobs, going to lose their homes and everything else. Harris and about 10 other janitors showed up at a recent city council meeting to express their concern about the cuts. Community activist Robert Aguilar also addressed the council, saying the proposal would be a betrayal of the citys Prosper Waco effort to lift people out of poverty. Why are they balancing the budget on the backs of the lowest-paid people? Aguilar said later. In an interview, Harris said he is not sure what other job in the city organization he could get, and he wouldnt take a job with a contractor unless he got benefits, such as insurance and paid vacation. I still have family I want to be able to go on vacation with, he said. Harris said he already qualifies for city retirement, but he worries more about younger janitors who are breadwinners. A lot of people come to the city with the expectation of being able to retire, Harris said. They turned down other jobs because they looked at city benefits. . . . There are a lot that have kids and depend on these jobs. Custodian Lynette Stefka said she and her family depend on her hourly wage of $9.93 for their monthly payment on their Axtell house. Her husband, a state highway worker, has insurance for himself, but Stefka said it would cost $600 a month to put her and their 5-year-old son on his insurance. Stefka said she doubts she could get by working for a private contractor. I need the benefits, and I cant take a pay cut, she said. Stefka said she has scouted other janitorial positions, including one at Midway Independent School District that pays $8.73 an hour, but she is still looking. I want to better myself, she said. Im not going to wait around. If I can find something between now and then, Im going to go for it. Stefka has worked for the city for nearly 10 years, and she now is the only full-time custodian at Hillcrest Tower, the new police headquarters. A private firm does most of the work at the police department, and Stefka said it does a good job. But she said its still important to have city employees in a high-security situation. Its better to keep your janitorial staff and have reliable people, she said. You never know what a contractor is going to do. Aguilar and Harris met separately this week with Deputy City Manager Wiley Stem to air their concerns. Stem said afterward that the city isnt planning to abandon its loyal employees. I think we have a long history of valuing our employees, he said. There are lots of opportunities to move to another position. The city cares about its employees, and were going to do all we can to help them. Another Road Closed sign went up this week, marking the fourth McLennan County bridge within a year deemed impassable this time before it fell. The county issued an emergency closure for a bridge on North Old Bethany Road crossing the South Fork of Cow Bayou, between North Old Bruceville Road and Mackey Ranch Road. County leaders once again cited erosion caused by increased water flow as the root of the problem. Precinct 1 Commissioner Kelly Snell said crews put up signs Tuesday to block the regularly used bridge southwest of Lorena. Commissioners officially declared it closed Friday. The bridge was already on the Texas Department of Transportations list for repairs. Snell said TxDOT crews were surveying the bridge when they realized damage was worse than they thought. All the paperwork has been started, he said. Weve already been dealing with buying right of way around the bridge. Even with work underway, Snell said, that area could be closed to traffic for nine months to a year before crews start tearing the bridge out. This is the fourth bridge closure in the past year, and all four remain closed. There are 156 bridges in the county, of which, 28 are in Precinct 1, 35 are in Precinct 2, 34 are in Precinct 3 and 59 are in Precinct 4. The county closed bridge access at Bull Hide Creek southeast of Robinson on May 31 after the bridge collapsed. County leaders said recent heavy rains eroded the dirt around the support of the two-lane, 24-foot-wide Crunk Bridge, built in 2000. Since June 2015, Cottonwood Creek Bridge, at South 12th Street near Loop 340, has been closed after rainwater washed away part of the structure. The 30-foot bridge was used for access to Loop 340 or downtown Waco. The South Czech Hall Road bridge in Precinct 3 also collapsed during heavy rains in 2015 and remains closed. Snell said TxDOT is also working on the design and specifications of a new Cottonwood Creek Bridge. Once TxDOT completes its project review, the county will begin acquiring right of way and relocating utilities along 12th Street. Also on 12th Street, TxDOT is inspecting Flat Creek Bridge, Snell said. Work is expected to begin soon on repairs. Basically nothing Snell said the 30- to 40-foot bridge on North Old Bethany Road has so much erosion from previous heavy rains, basically nothing is holding it in place. The area is heavily traveled and serves as a pass-through road from Moody to Lorena and from Bruceville-Eddy to Lorena, he said. When I came into office nearly eight years ago, it was on the TxDOT bridge replacement program, but it wasnt high enough to get replaced yet, Snell said. Oddly enough, the two I have that are laying in the bottom of creek beds were not on the bridge replacement programs. Snell said county bridges are old and constantly under maintenance and being repaired. Bottom line, we have 30 bridges in our precinct. Every one of them are old, he said. I dont have enough money and personnel to do as much needs to be done. County Engineer Steve Hendrick said there are several McLennan County bridges on TxDOTs bridge replacement program. Its nothing that can be done quick, Hendrick said. Many of the failing bridges are now too small to handle the amount and speed of water that passes below them, he said. Increased construction over the years and the additions of parking lots and shopping centers increase the runoff into the rivers, he said. If you get 50 years out of one, thats not bad, Hendrick said. Everything out toward West, that used to be cow pastures. Now its all malls and highways and its all built up. Tax concerns Snell said a county full of old bridges is just another reason for commissioners to keep McLennan Countys fund balance healthy. While hed love to give residents more of a tax break, infrastructure needs to be addressed, he said. Snell said $300,000 has been cut from his precincts road budget since hes been in office. I have been spending about 89 to 95 percent of my budget every year, he said. I have the guys out there really pushing to get these roads fixed. You can only do what you have time for. Its just a balancing act is what it is. Snell said the state faces the same battle, and is working on the Twin Bridges over Lake Waco. If you could look underneath that bridge you might really flinch when you went across it, Snell said. Nothings forever except for taxes and dying. McLennan County commissioners unanimously proposed Friday to lower the property tax rate, which will still result in a boost in tax revenue since property values increased. With the decision, county leaders have filed a proposed fiscal year 2017 budget for public review ahead of public hearings. Commissioners plan to adopt the budget Aug. 26 for fiscal year 2017, which starts Oct. 1. The proposed rate of 52.5293 cents per $100 property valuation is 1 cent less than the current 53.5293 cents. A McLennan County homeowner with a house valued at $100,000 would pay $525 in taxes to the county, $10 less than a year before. With the almost 8.4 percent increase in the tax base, from about $13.2 billion last year to about $14.3 billion this year, the county would collect about $4.5 million more in property taxes with the proposed lower rate. County Auditor Stan Chambers said now that commissioners have established a proposed tax rate, they can lower but not increase the figure between now and when the county adopts the budget. Chambers said increasing the rate would start the timetable over for public hearings and adopting the budget. The proposed budget includes an increase in economic development funding and to the countys emergency reserves. Commissioners also put $3 million toward a $41 million debt owed to the Texas County & District Retirement System. Commissioners Friday also agreed to implement a merit-based incentive pay program for fiscal year 2017, along with a 4.35 percent cost-of-living salary adjustment. The new merit program will allow elected officials and department heads to reward staff based on performance reviews throughout the year. Unlike the cost-of-living salary adjustment, the merit pay will be one-time payments and wont carry over year to year. The 2 percent incentive program would make $900,000 available countywide. Also new is the inclusion of a step-structured pay plan for the sheriffs office. The program, which will cost about $486,000 for 2017, takes tenure and uses it as the basis for a step adjustment pay schedule within each position. The move was made to address lower-than-market salaries in the office. Despite filing the proposed budget Friday, commissioners did not make a decision on funding requests from the Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce and the Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Representatives of each approached the court Wednesday with requests. The Hispanic chamber asked for $50,000 from the county, and the African-American chamber requested $68,000. Neither organization has received money from the county before. The county has more than $2.23 million up from $1.84 million in fiscal year 2016 included in the economic development section of the proposed budget. Commissioner Kelly Snell said he wasnt ready to make a decision about funding either entity after requesting additional financial information from both chambers and not getting the documents until late Thursday. Commissioner Ben Perry said his main concern is duplicating services. The county has already planned to give the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce $165,000 for fiscal year 2017, up from the $129,045 in fiscal year 2016. Perry said the Waco chamber is supposed to be reaching out to the African-American and Hispanic chambers and it might be worth reviewing whether that outreach is happening. County Judge Scott Felton said the city of Waco has reviewed similar requests from the two chambers and has a preliminary placeholder as the city council works through its budget. Also during the meeting, commissioners approved increasing one more salary. The court moved to increase Park Caretaker Danny Tates salary from $33,395 to $40,000. County Administrator Dustin Chapman said Tates supervisor reported Tate does quality work, works odd hours and will respond at any hour of the night. Jones said he has visited Tradinghouse Lake Park several times this summer, and it is well-kept. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is the latest state leader to propose extending hate-crime protections to law enforcement officers in the wake of the recent police shootings. Louisiana did it earlier this year and similar proposals are being considered in Massachusetts, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The desire to provide greater protections to police officers is a perfectly understandable response to a seeming epidemic of violence against police. But we should objectively evaluate legislation crafted as a response to a horrible tragedy. With the recent slayings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, there is no better time to reinforce the public bond between the men and women who put their lives at risk each day and the citizens they protect. Still, however well-intentioned the Abbott proposal is, designating these crimes as hate crimes does not actually provide police officers with any greater protection than current law. Hate-crime designations criminalize thought and criminalizing thought sets a dangerous precedent that leads to inconsistent application of penalties and unnecessary value judgments about life. Instead of creating a special category of hate crimes, the Texas Legislature should evaluate existing laws. If increased penalties are needed, then simply increase penalties. The same result would be achieved without the troubling aspects of hate-crime laws. Criminal statutes universally take into account the intent and the act of the offender when specifying the penalty for a given crime. When it comes to intent, penalties increase based on the degree of intent the offender had at the time of the offense. Thats why intentional murder carries a greater penalty than a killing caused by criminal negligence. While criminal statutes for centuries have looked at the degree to which the offender intended the outcome, they do not consider the offenders motivation for the crime. Hate crimes, on the other hand, presume to look into an offenders mind and impose a greater punishment on them depending on what the individual was thinking at the time of the crime. While public empathy with police officers might lead many not to care about criminalizing thought in this instance, where do we draw the line? If we criminalize hate, should we criminalize other emotions? If we justify it in one instance, its easier to justify it in others. Criminalizing thought also can lead to inconsistent application of punishments and unnecessary value judgments about life, which is one reason why conservatives have been skeptical of any type of hate-crime legislation. Why should one criminal receive a lesser punishment if he killed someone because of greed, while another killer gets the book thrown at him because he hated a certain class of people? Same act (killing), same intent (intentional), but different punishment. Even the notion of a hate crime is nonsensical when it comes to murder. Arent all murders motivated by some form or degree of hate? And does anyone believe a hate-crime designation would have prevented the Dallas police killings? The truth is, there is no need for a special hate-crime designation. While it may make us feel good to do something, this something will not accomplish its desired goal. Texans have already determined that crimes against police officers justify heightened penalties over killing civilians. Murdering a police officer is capital murder, which is punishable by life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or by death. Since you cannot put someone to death more than once, or put a person in jail longer than his whole life, tacking on the hate-crime label would not actually increase the penalties for these heinous crimes. If the goal is to increase penalties, then again the Legislature can simply increase penalties. The hate-crime designation is simply unnecessary. Lawmakers should stop trying to peer into the thoughts and emotions of offenders and instead examine the act and punish it accordingly. Wade Emmert is a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Innovation, an independent, nonprofit public policy research organization based in Dallas. S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Without Graphite, There Would Be ZERO EV Batteries! (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Without Graphite, There Would Be ZERO EV Batteries! (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps World shares lower, led by 3.7% drop in Hong Kong S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Without Graphite, There Would Be ZERO EV Batteries! (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Without Graphite, There Would Be ZERO EV Batteries! (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps World shares lower, led by 3.7% drop in Hong Kong S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Without Graphite, There Would Be ZERO EV Batteries! (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Without Graphite, There Would Be ZERO EV Batteries! (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps World shares lower, led by 3.7% drop in Hong Kong S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Elon Musk Claims Solar Will Soon Power the World (Ad) Zim Integrated Shipping Services Stock: High Yield or High Risk? Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Elon Musk Claims Solar Will Soon Power the World (Ad) Zim Integrated Shipping Services Stock: High Yield or High Risk? Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs A $226B Copper Spending Jackpot (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Elon Musk Claims Solar Will Soon Power the World (Ad) Zim Integrated Shipping Services Stock: High Yield or High Risk? Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps 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 5 Diamonds in the Rough (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities These 5 Microcap Stocks (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps How major US stock indexes fared Thursday 10/27/2022 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 5 Diamonds in the Rough (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities These 5 Microcap Stocks (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps How major US stock indexes fared Thursday 10/27/2022 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 5 Diamonds in the Rough (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities These 5 Microcap Stocks (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps How major US stock indexes fared Thursday 10/27/2022 Melburnians will be unsurprised a person was sleeping in the Bank of Melbourne's well-lit, comparatively warm and CCTV-protected foyer. This is an issue that we failed to confront and as such, homelessness has reached crisis levels. The failure of successive governments, both federal and state, to properly fund public and community housing has left people who are experiencing disadvantage at high risk of homelessness. But with a public relations storm brewing, the bank then came out and cited safety concerns as a justification for the sign. The Bank of Melbourne claimed customers had experienced "aggressive behaviour and intimidation" while trying to do their banking, and assured media sources the person had been linked in with appropriate services. Sadly, the sign has now been replaced with security guards, who patrol the foyer at night to keep the homeless out. The bank's initial response was to apologise for any offence that I might have taken. And happily, the sign was taken down. This week I put a post on the Bank of Melbourne's Facebook page, criticising it for a sign in the window of its Footscray branch. The sign, which was put up late last week, explained the ATM area at the front of the branch has been closed "due to an inconsiderate person using the foyer as a place to live and litter". The ignorance of the sign was almost comical; the notion that the bank (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Westpac, which posted a record profit of $7.8 billion last year) was the victim in that scenario was clearly ridiculous. There is currently a 10-year wait for public housing and almost no emergency housing. Further, rapid gentrification has meant low-cost housing such as St Kilda's Gatwick Hotel is being lost to development. The number of rough sleepers in the city has almost doubled since last year. I can concede the Bank of Melbourne cannot be expected to single-handedly fix this issue. But the type of society we live in is determined by the actions companies and people take in response to these situations, and in my view the action taken by the bank has been troubling. First, many have said the bank has a right to ask the person to move on to ensure its customers feel comfortable and safe accessing the ATM. While it is obvious it is neither sustainable or ideal for the person to sleep in the bank foyer, it is completely indefensible for the bank to put up a sign that demonises and belittles a person because of their lack of housing. In my view, the bank has failed to see the humanity of the person, and has failed to treat them with dignity. Secondly, the Bank of Melbourne has now employed security guards to make sure people experiencing homelessness can't access its foyer at night. This type of action is akin to the "homeless spikes" that have been used to prevent people from sleeping out the front of Tesco supermarkets in Britain, and sloping park benches that can't be slept on. These are actions that show hostility towards poverty and social difference, and discriminate against the use of public space by the poor. The Bank of Melbourne has been quick to cite its support for a number of charities, including Melbourne City Mission's "Sleep at the G" fundraiser. But the message is clear: the Bank of Melbourne is supportive of the homeless as long as they do not invade the realm of its business, so long as they take their distress elsewhere so as not to upset the sensibilities of its customers. He also wanted less restrictive targeting rules for airstrikes. In a recent Quarterly Essay, James Brown, a former Australian Army officer, reveals that Abbott's unilateral instincts came close to having Australia commit troops to the riskiest of conflicts on three continents. Firstly, he says, after 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko-Haram, Australia's special forces were put on standby, ready to join the effort to track down the kidnappers. Secondly, shortly after MH17 was shot down, Abbott considered deploying up to a battalion or 1000 troops to Eastern Ukraine. Thankfully Australia's leading military planners argued against the proposal, pointing out that it had serious problems. As Brown says, "The logic of deploying large numbers of troops into an active war zone alongside the border of a major global military power was entirely shaky". Thirdly, in August 2014, as ISIS was consolidating its hold on Mosul, Abbott mused on deploying large numbers of Australian troops. One report suggested 600 troops should go. A week ago it was reported that Abbott considered US President Obama too soft in the fight against ISIS. We can only be thankful that there was a level head in the White House. But it is not just in relation to the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine and China that Abbott has blundered. In December 2014 he asked Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to build eight submarines in Japan and sail them ready-built to Australia. This was despite the fact that in the 2013 election the Coalition had promised that the submarines would be built in Australia. In February 2015, attempting to get himself out of the mess, Abbott announced a competitive evaluation process to select an international partner to design and build the submarines. Abbott was deposed as prime minister in September 2015 but his meddling in this matter did not end there. In February this year, only weeks before Turnbull was to announce the winner of the competitive process, Abbott addressed the Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo. In a speech that an Australian expert on Japanese affairs told me was appallingly insensitive and embarrassing, Abbott continued to lead the Japanese to believe that they were going to win the contract. He said the latest example of trust between Japan and Australia was the submarine partnership Japan was prepared to enter with Australia. "For Japan, this submarine deal is strategic; for the other bidders, it's commercial," he claimed. The Japanese submarine was the world's best large conventional submarine and Japan's willingness to share defence technology of such sophistication and the US willingness to work with both Australia and Japan on the installation of the most advanced weapons systems was a sign of the complete confidence that the countries had in each other, he said. Only eight weeks after Abbott delivered this speech, Turnbull announced that the $50 billion contract would go to France. Like any other bidder, the Japanese accept that they can't always win. But it has to be remembered that they only ever got involved in our submarine project because Abbott asked them to do so. After the decision there was talk of Australia's betrayal. For Turnbull the question remains: What does he do with Abbott? While there seems little chance that he will make a comeback as prime minister, as long as he remains on the backbench, Abbott is a rallying point for the conservatives. But with a bare majority in the House of Representatives, Turnbull is in no hurry to have a byelection for Warringah. The 12 per cent swing required to lose the seat looks large, but byelections produce such swings. Not happy, Barrie: former prime minister Kevin Rudd. Credit:Andrew Meares How could it not be a decision about Rudd? The Prime Minister himself said that it was. "This is a judgment about Mr Rudd's suitability for that particular role," Turnbull said on Friday, the only explanation he offered for his decision to refuse to nominate Rudd to enter the contest for the post of UN Secretary General. Perhaps it wasn't clearly explained to Turnbull. It's not a job offer; it's a nomination to an international competition. It's not Turnbull's place to decide the suitability of the next secretary-general. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday. Credit:Louise Kennerley He's not even on the interview panel. There are 15 nations that will choose the next secretary-general. They are the members of the UN Security Council. The five permanent members, each with veto power, have the biggest say. Australia has one point of potential input, and only one. Does it want to nominate a candidate? Australia has now decided that it will not. Does Turnbull insist on personally vetting the members of Australia's Olympics team? Of course not. He waves them farewell and wishes them luck. The athletes have to qualify, of course. So did Rudd. In his case, the Department of Foreign Affairs advised the government that he was a credible candidate. Julie Bishop did her job as minister in carrying that advice to the Cabinet and making the case to nominate him. After qualifying, the athletes go off to compete. In Rudd's case, he would have joined the field of a dozen candidates for a contest to be decided by the Security Council in October. But the Turnbull government has decided, without assessing the dozen others, to prejudge the contest and prejudge the Security Council. There is a persistent misconception that, if not Rudd, Australia can support New Zealand's candidate, Helen Clark. Of course, any country can say what it likes, but this is really a nonsense and Tony Abbott was its originator. When he was prime minister, Abbott said he would support Clark merely as a mechanism to spite Rudd. It's a measure of sheer provincial political bile that Abbott, a proud supporter of the ANZUS alliance, would rather support Clark. As prime minister, Clark continued the NZ boycott of ANZUS. The current leader, John Key, has relaxed it and is returning his country to the alliance. In any case, there is no provision in the UN processes for any such thing. The Security Council's five permanent members the US, China, Britain, France and Russia will choose from among the candidates according to their own interests. The job certainly won't default to Clark. Based on last week's informal straw poll of council members, she's ranked sixth. Portugal's former prime minister, Antonio Guterres, is the clear leader. Following Abbott's lead, in recent weeks the right faction of the Liberal Party ran a bitter campaign of public vitriol against Rudd. It became deranged. The former elder statesman of the conservative faction, Eric Abetz, now a backbench senator, put out a press release headed "Don't inflict Rudd on UN". It's touching, incidentally, that the traditionally UN-sceptic conservatives have suddenly discovered such concern over its choice of bureaucrats. Abetz's opening line: "According to his former colleagues, Mr Rudd is a narcissist, a micro-manager, an impulsive control freak and a psychopath just to name a few." His conclusion: "If Mr Rudd lacked the capacity and temperament to be Labor leader, by his own colleagues' assessment, he lacks the qualities to head the UN." So Abetz's lodestar is suddenly Labor's judgment? This is a new position for him. On this logic, we should assess all politicians according to the insults of their internal enemies. Even you, Eric. This is ridiculous stuff. In the approach to Thursday's cabinet debate, the Liberal right faction ramped up the anti-Rudd theatrics, a political haka performance. Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison, huffed and puffed and stamped and posed intimidatingly. They carried the fight into the cabinet room, determined to overturn the recommendation of Julie Bishop, a moderate, and to spite Rudd and the Labor Party. It was rampant personal and partisan politics. Turnbull presided as a neutral chairman, showing no inclination, as he listened to the arguments for and against. In the face of a divided cabinet, he asked his colleagues for a "hunting licence" permission to take the decision himself and was given one. He should have applied the national frame to the decision. He is Prime Minister for all Australians, including the 4,311,365 who gave primary votes to Rudd's Labor in the 2013 election. Rudd himself was capable of playing hard partisan politics, but he was also notably bipartisan in making appointments. He appointed the former Nationals leader Tim Fischer ambassador to the Vatican, Brendan Nelson ambassador to NATO and the EU and Peter Costello to the board of the Future Fund. Had he wanted it, there was a solid case available to Turnbull to make the national decision. Instead he chose the political. Why? He fears for the unity of his government. He is acutely conscious that he was narrowly returned to power, that he is subject to a lot of biting internal criticism over the campaign, that a small knot of his party's conservatives Abetz, Cory Bernardi, George Christiansen, Kevin Andrews - will enjoy making trouble for him if they can. And he knows that some difficult decisions lie ahead. His authority may be tested on matters including his proposed superannuation reforms, which have generated some heated anger among the party's base. The same sex marriage plebiscite will also test his powers of internal political management. Before the election, when Turnbull imagined his future self to be in a stronger position, he was committed to supporting Rudd in the national interest. As Rudd wrote to Turnbull in a letter he released on Friday night: "You in fact sent me a message on your preferred Wickr system [encrypted message service] where you stated that you and the FM [foreign minister] were 'as one' in your support for my candidature." Newly anxious, Turnbull has preferred to appease his right faction, to yield their personal and partisan vitriol, than to support his deputy leader and foreign affairs minister. He allowed himself to be bullied rather than advised. This is a decision taken in fear. It's a decision about preserving the personal political position of the leader. It's not a decision to enlarge the possibilities for Australia, to allow the country to see one of its own in an international post of some profile and prestige. If Turnbull is so sensitive about his position in the first flush of a new term, it is a poor omen for the three years ahead. If he weighs the national decision against the political and prefers the political, it's a bad sign for the country. The only winners from this decision are the exuberant partisans and bitter haters in the Liberal Party. Turnbull is right that the UN secretary-generalship is not the most important matter before the government. It's not an especially powerful job, certainly not the "leader of the world" as some reporters have misunderstood it. The secretary-general is the chief administrative officer of the UN and answers to the force-wielding Security Council; he does the council's bidding. He can raise matters for the Council but cannot decide any. The wife of a former president should definitely be the next leader of the United States. It's just a pity the wrong woman is running for election. "When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can't make snap decisions," declared Michelle Obama in what amounted to a tremendous speech to the Democratic faithful this week in Philadelphia. Illustration: Jim Pavlidis Credit:Jim Pavlidis Just imagine if her words had been a pitch for her own candidacy at this time of great global uncertainty, and what another Obama presidency could mean for countries like ours with such strong ties to America. Malcolm Turnbull's political fortunes could well be hostage to the decision US voters make in a few months time, and how the next US leader chooses to deal with China's aggression in the South China Sea, almost daily terrorist attacks, or a sick man in Europe suffering from a bad bout of Brexit. Coal seam gas developer Santos and the Baird government communicated closely at the time new laws curbing protest activity were being drawn up, with the office of Energy Minister Anthony Roberts supplying a draft of a key speech hours before he read it in parliament, documents reveal. The information, mostly in emails covering the first four months of 2016, was obtained under freedom of information laws by The Wilderness Society. Communications are mostly from Santos to Roberts' advisers Adrian Pryke and Nick McDermott and are always informal and addressed to "Adrian" or "Nick". "It was clear that they were communicating about the protest that was occurring on the ground," Naomi Hodgson, a Wilderness Society campaign manager, said. "They are suggestive of a very close and cosy relationship between Santos and the NSW government." There were several notable exchanges on March 8, including one asking Mr McDermott for "details of arrests" of protesters opposed to CSG in the Pilliga. Biswajit Banik and his wife Sarmin Sayeed knew it wasn't easy raising a child with autism, but were happy doing it in Australia after moving from Bangladesh in 2007. But the Monash University lecturer and his GP wife were devastated when they learned late last year that their dreams of living permanently in Australia would be shattered because of the disability suffered by their son, 12-year-old Arkojeet. Dr Biswajit Banik and his wife Dr Sarmin Sayeed with their autistic son Arkojeet Banik. Credit:Chris Hopkins Immigration officials have told Dr Banik his application for permanent residency has been denied, despite nine years in the country, solely because of his son's disability. The family now faces an uncertain future, not knowing if they will be ordered to leave Australia. "The uncertainty of our future, it is pretty difficult," he said. "Our battle with immigration is overwhelmingIt's quite devastating because the whole of our lives we have believed in a fair and equitable society. A sailor is lucky to be alive after jumping off his yacht during a storm off Hamelin Bay. Augusta Marine Rescue Commander Paul Higginson said sailer Larry Barber must have been absolutely desperate to make the jump from his 46 foot ketch onto a small tender. Augusta Marine Rescue Credit:Volunteer Marine Rescue WA "The weather conditions off Hamelin Bay were absolutely horrendous overnight. The wind was hitting 50 knots and he would have been getting thrown around on his boat," Mr Higginson said. "Conditions must have been awful in order for him to take the risk of jumping onto a small tender in the hope it would wash him onto Hamelin Island, which it did." The alarm should have sounded a couple of months ago when Chinese commentators began quoting Vladimir Putin, that "if a fight is inevitable, go and fight first". But warning bells are ringing loudly now after China declared this week Russia will send warships into the disputed South China Sea to conduct joint navy exercises. A Chinese guided missile destroyer takes part in a week-long China-Russia navy exercise in the East China Sea off Shanghai in 2014. Credit:AP The startling development will bring yet another great power into what has fast become a global flashpoint right in Australia's neighbourhood. And you shouldn't be surprised that Australia is seen very much as a player in this growing dispute. A public meeting was held Thursday evening about future changes to 31-W, and now we're learning more about those plans. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to put a 2 + 1 highway close to South Warren High School, toward Simpson County. Wes Watt with KYTC District 3 said the highway will have two lanes going in one direction and one lane going the opposite way, alternating back and forth for about four miles. "This is something that has been used in other states and has been for years, and so they've seen great success with it, and it's not meant to be placed in every type of area." The first full 2 + 1 roadway in Kentucky is being built in Somerset. The KYTC says they don't have a timeline for 2 + 1, but groundwork on that portion of the 31-W project won't begin anytime soon. by Adrian Gibson Long Island is in desperate need of governmental assistance and year-round economic stimulus but, unfortunately, its economy has stalled. Before last Octobers Hurricane Joaquin disrupted the way of life of Long Islanders and caused the island to suffer an infrastructural setback that it has yet to recover from, settlements south of Clarence Town in the south and Oneils in the north had, unfortunately, become ghost towns. Many of the residents there are either elderly, dying out or have relocated to other parts of the island or moved to New Providence and elsewhere. This is unfortunate because there is little incentive for these Long Islanders to return home. Long Island suffers from high unemployment and underemployment. I have yet to hear this government propose a plan for Long Island, instead treating it as an unsupportive out island post that they could not be bothered to support. We Long Islanders pay taxes like everyone else, yet our island is left to linger in the dark ages. I often travel to Long Island to visit family and attend to my business interests and I can attest to the fact that the hurricanes impact on the island has been life altering. Whenever I speak to people like Bernard Adderley and Elias Cartwright (Deadmans Cay) and Edward Gibson (Bunches) and so many other Long Islanders, I am convinced that they all believe that the central government, with all their pathetic self-praise in the House of Assembly, could care less. That is sad and unacceptable. The government continues to strike the wrong note. The Administrators Offices in Clarence Town (the capital) and Simms are crumbling ignominies. The roads - particularly in places like Oneils, Salt Pond and Deep South - are pothole ridden. The side roads are a crying shame and one could easily catch a severe back pain upon riding them. One such rugged side road leads to Deans Blue Hole, one of the wonders of the world and a site were world diving competitions are held. Yet that track road remains unpaved. At the blue hole, there is no concession stand, no cabanas, no nothing! Whats more, the beach in Clarence Town is a mess, with uprooted trees strewn along the beach and items from the sunken El Faro cargo ship littering the shoreline. These items range from needles to bottles and so on. There has been no effort to properly clean up that beach or cut the trees. I was heartbroken when I discovered that until recently, a family who lost their house in the hurricane were living and sleeping in their boat - a small skiff. They purportedly cooked on three rocks. Today, I am informed that they have only recently been provided with a mobile home. This is shameful. Unlike Exuma, Abaco and several of the other major islands, Long Island does not have an international airport. What a disgrace! As it stands, Bahamasair and Southern Air fly into Deadmans Cay once per day and Southern Air flies into Stella Maris once per day. Both airports are rundown and face logistical challenges, ranging from a short runway to flooding to swampland. A new airport is long overdue. I have long proposed that a new airport should be constructed in Grays, a relatively central location where there are large swaths of crown land. A new international airport would greatly assist in the turnaround of Long Islands economy. The dock in Salt Pond is also problematic, with the mail boat unable to access it at low tide. There is a need for dredging at that port of entry. I am reliably informed that although the mail boat Mia Dean purportedly has the contract to service Clarence Town and although weekly radio announcements state that that boat is taking in freight, another boat - KCP (owned by Tom Hanna) - travels to Long Island with a trailer. Long Islanders tell me that the Mia Dean hasnt been to Long Island in nearly ten years. So, who receives the governments subsidy? Does the department with oversight of these mail boats not inspect them? I am told that anyone travelling to Clarence Town by mail boat would not be able to purchase water or snacks as none are available unless they bring it onboard themselves. Where are the ambulances and fire trucks? Given the length of Long Island, there should be two of each, one situated at either end. The medical clinics are deteriorating day by day. Prior to the storm, there was a dentist who catered to the entire island. However, the government never provided him with transportation and, after the hurricane, he left. Interestingly, neither the Health Centre in the south nor the Simms Clinic in the north have consistent supplies of medication. In recent months, the local pharmacist died and Long Islanders, I am told, are again forced to send to Nassau for medication. Whats more, islanders must spend $220 on a round-trip ticket to visit a medical lab because the local clinics cannot perform simple blood tests. And yet the government talks about NHI and splurges our hard earned tax dollars on Junkanoo Carnival! The dumps in Deadmans Cay and Oneils pose a serious environmental and health hazard to residents. In Deadmans Cay, the public dump sits on wetlands, poisoning the water table and destroying the habitats of all the organisms that live there. After the hurricane, the dump at Deadmans Cay extended nearly to the main road. Only recently, it was pushed back using a tractor. In Oneils, mounds of garbage have piled up. Whats more, residents of that and surrounding northern settlements must rely on well water as Water and Sewerage has yet to extend its services further north. Here again, the dump is close to the main road. Tractors are used to pile up and flatten the garbage, which is dangerous given the fact that combustible items such as old refrigerators with compressors are all tossed on these sites. Why was the bridge from Newton Cay to Long Island never re-constructed after it collapsed? It has been 15 to 20 years now. I am told that the police in Long Island are desperately in need of leadership. When will a no-nonsense Superintendent be sent to oversee policing on Long Island? One resident told me that for police officers, its like a free ride up here. I am told that there are several retired officers on Long Island who have returned to the force on year to year contracts and who do nothing except live off the fat of the land and enjoy a pension and a salary. Perhaps, the Commissioner of Police should make urgent inquiries. I am told that, recently, there was a celebrated opening of a purported new police station in Deadmans Cay. By all accounts, a new police station was not constructed. Rather, the governing PLP purportedly rented and renovated the island home of Forrester Carroll, Bahamas Consul General at New York and a staunch PLP. Apparently, the building formerly utilised by the police was also owned by Mr Carroll. Although the police have now been provided with a fully air conditioned station, I am told that there has been little to no improvement in service. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force has, since the hurricane, deployed a number of officers to assist with Long Islands recovery. Some islanders have complained to me about questionable behaviour on the part of these officers as it relates to the distribution of hurricane relief supplies. Whats more, I am informed that the rebuilding process is moving at a snails pace as there are a number of homes in south Long Island with blue tarpaulins on the roofs, nearly one year later. This includes 93-year-old Edner Wells, whose roof was damaged in the hurricane and she has not returned home since. I recall writing to the administrator and reporting that my grandfathers church roof was damaged in the hurricane. Based on what Im told, none of the assessors ever visited him. Although we are in hurricane season, the government learned nothing from last years devastating storm. Many of the essential service providers in Long Island still do not have satellite phones. When will the clinics, police, utility companies and other essential service providers be outfitted with these much needed phones? Long Islanders just want fair and equal treatment. No more, no less. _________________________________________________________ First published in the The Tribune under the byline, Young Man's View, here View Adrian Gibson's archive here ____________________________________________________ The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of WeblogBahamas.com (which has no corporate view) or its Authors. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 30, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 30, 2016 | 11:11 AM | PADUCAH, KY Kids (and many grown-ups) will enjoy the chance to meet many of their heroes from TV and movies in downtown Paducah today. Princesses, characters, villains & super heroes will be available at the Pretty Super Smashing Summer Saturday from 10 am until 4 pm. Autograph books can be made for free at MAKE Paducah (while supplies last). Free Cinderella Carriage Rides will be available, along three dozen characters throughout downtown and near the Carson Center. You can end the day with a Super Hero movie at Maiden Alley Cinema - tickets only $5 and get a FREE popcorn. Characters available at the event include: 1) Cinderella 2) Sofia the First 3) Rapunzel 4) Black Widow 5) Spider-Man 6) Star Lord 7) Iron Man 8) Captain America 9) Batman 10) Batgirl & Robin 11) The M&M's will be there too 12) Tinker Bell 13) Pinkilicious 14) Elsa & Anna 15) SUPER GIRL is flying in for the day 16) Wonder Woman 17) Yoda 18) Princess Leia 19) Darth Vader 20) Storm Troopers 21) Fairy God Mother 22) The Flash 23) Snow White 24) Joker and Cat Woman 25) The Thing 26) Mr. Fantastic 27) The Joker- "stump the Joker game"at Silent Brigade Distillery 28) Dead Pool - the Polite version 29) Poison Ivy 30) Snow White 31) Sleeping Beauty 32) Belle & Beast 33) Pocahontas 34)Fairy Queen Nyla 35) Cruella de Ville 36) Prince Charming By WestKyStar and WKCTC Staff Jul. 29, 2016 | 07:59 PM | PADUCAH, KY Participants can learn about topics such as: +How to take better advantage of a smart phone's features (both iPhone and Android), become more familiar with social media apps and how to guard their privacy +The history of the Columbia Theatre in downtown Paducah, including plans for the restoration and what lies ahead for the magnificent movie palace +Group travel opportunities available in our area, day trips, cruises, regional and international trips +Bobbie Ann Mason and her roots in western Kentucky as an acclaimed writer of American fiction in her novels and short stories +The latest in stroke and heart care at Baptist Health +Whats new at the Paducah Police Department, and much more. Attendees will also have lunch at Mr. Bills in Grand Rivers and attend a matinee at the Badgett Playhouse December 6. They can enjoy decorations for the holiday season at the Pattis 1800 Settlement and then enjoy a holiday matinee featuring Christmas favorites from Rudolph to O Holy Night. Arrive for lunch at Mr. Bills no later than 11 a.m. Total cost for ticket and lunch, $42.00. Space is limited, first 40 guaranteed a slot. Deadline for reservations is September 15. No transportation will be provided. Checks can be mailed to the WKCTC Workforce Solutions, P.O. Box 7380 Paducah, Kentucky 42002-7380. Individuals can also register in WKCTCs Emerging Technology Center business office, room 133. Programs are scheduled based on the number of people registered. No registration confirmations will be mailed. Participants will be notified if programs are full or cancelled. To register for the Seniors Learning for Fun fall offerings call 270-534-3335. Registration for fall classes at WKCTC is also underway. Call 1-(855) GO-WKCTC or visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu for class offerings. Fall classes begin August 15. West Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges Seniors Learning for Fun Program is set to kick off its fall season of offerings for senior learners.Participants who are 55 or older are encouraged to register early for the variety of program offerings, which begin August 18 and run through December 6. Individuals can register for one or all courses for $30. Advertisement By Richard Nelson, Commonwealth Policy Center Jul. 29, 2016 | CADIZ, KY By Richard Nelson, Commonwealth Policy Center Jul. 29, 2016 | 05:39 PM | CADIZ, KY Missionaries of Secularism Target Judge - By Richard Nelson A far Western Kentucky judge landed himself in hot water earlier this month when the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) threatened a lawsuit over his refusal to perform a secular wedding. Trigg County Judge Executive Hollis Alexander was asked to perform nuptials for a Tennessee couple with an unusual request: they insisted the ceremony have no reference to God, someone Alexander believes is part of every marriage covenant. Alexander told the Cadiz Record "I include God in my ceremonies, and I won't do one without him." The belief that there is a Creator who has something to do with marriage was once widely held and noncontroversial. However, just a year after the Supreme Court rewrote the understanding of marriage, such beliefs are being marginalized. Full disclosure: Alexander is a friend. I talked with him the other day and learned of the verbal attacks all of which are coming from outside of Trigg County. He's been threatened by FFRF attorneys to change the language of his marriage ceremonies, but opted instead to stop performing them altogether. FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel is confident the Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court is on their side. He told Alexander in a letter that the Court has interpreted the First Amendment as a mandate for governmental neutrality between religion and non-religion. And "Moreover, it has stated, 'the preservation and transmission of religious beliefs and worship is a responsibility and a choice committed to the private sphere.'" Just where exactly in the Constitution does it say citizens can force elected officials to perform their marriage ceremony and dictate the language they use? All kinds of legal theories can be conjured up by crafty attorneys but boil down the Tennessee couple's argument that would force Alexander to capitulate his religious beliefs and let the dross of frivolous attacks be strained out. It's hubris for a group like FFRF to demand Alexander promise in writing that any future marriage ceremonies he performs exclude God, unless requested. Alexander took his oath of office with his hand placed on the Bible. Where was FFRF then? His belief and practice regarding marriage is consistent with his oath based on a higher law ordained by the Creator. He isn't imposing his values anymore than FFRF is imposing theirs. He was simply doing his job as he has always doneaccording to his conscience. This is precisely what the First Amendment protects. Secularism's heavy hand, ready to slap down any semblance of faith in the public arena, hurts us all. Consider what the missionaries of secularism have recently accomplished in Kentucky: censoring elementary school kids in Johnson County from reciting a Biblical passage in a Charlie Brown Christmas; discriminating against religious organizations like Answers in Genesis from receiving state tax incentives that other businesses would receive without a fight; and jail time for elected officials like Kim Davis whose conscience wouldn't permit her name to affirm a homosexual marriage license. Secularism is a belief system in and of itself. Its doctrinal statement is that God has no place in public life. Missionaries of secularism seek to convert those who publicly follow His ways and preach they must keep their light under a bushel, or at least in their church pews. Congregants in the Church of Secularism are certain the important questions of life can be answered through materialistic philosophy. The tragedy is that they leave no room for religiously informed views. In my part of Trigg County people call this intolerance. In this summer filled with hatred and violence we decry immorality and injustice and long for righteousness in our streets. We demand our public officials to be honest and trustworthy, yet when they abide by a higher moral code they are harshly criticized and somehow viewed as a threat. To what? The real threat isn't too much religion in the public square or people with convictions like Alexander's; the threat is a public square sanitized of religious influence, leaving the rest of us without a basis for the things we long for, including our religious freedom and right to do our jobs in good conscience. Richard Nelson is the Executive Director of the Commonwealth Policy Center, a nonprofit public policy group. He resides in Cadiz with his wife and children. CTV(NEW YORK) -- A gnome "kidnapped" from its Canada home nearly eight months ago is now back with its owner, who said the lawn ornament was returned along with a photo book of its apparent travels to the U.S. and Mexico. The gnome, which went missing in December of last year, reappeared this Tuesday in a bag left on the driveway of its owner, Bev York of Highlands, British Columbia a rural town in southwestern Canada, CTV News reported. "I opened up the bag, and it had a beautiful book and story, and it just brought a smile to my face," York told CTV News. "It was so cute." Whoever returned the small statue, named Leopold, appears to have put together a travelogue filled with photos of the gnome's adventures, such as along U.S. Route 66, at the Grand Canyon and on the beaches of Mexico. When in gnome: Victoria womans lawn ornament kidnapped to Mexico and back https://t.co/SFHu2WJ0yM pic.twitter.com/K7oPLdg5le CTV News VI (@CTVNewsVI) July 28, 2016 York told CTV News that she has no idea who was behind Leopold's trip through North America. The only hint she got was a photo showing a toddler cuddling with the gnome, but she said, "I don't recognize the little boy at all."And though Leopold came back a little more worn looking than when he left, York said she wasn't upset."He had, it looks like, a big margarita, so he might've been damaged after that," she joked.She added with a laugh that perhaps "they could've taken me instead of the gnome."York did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for additional comment.Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. SABMillers board unanimously recommended Anheuser-Busch InBevs improved US$104-billion takeover offer, paving the way for the biggest acquisition in the history of the beer industry and capping a tumultuous week in which the Budweiser maker bowed to pressure to sweeten its offer. The board of London-based SABMiller proposed its two biggest shareholders, Altria Group Inc. and Bevco Ltd., be treated as a separate class of stockholders and allow other SABMiller investors to vote on the new offer separately, the company said in a statement. AB InBev said it welcomed the recommendation in a separate statement. CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS files A merged SABMiller-AB InBev company would control about 30 per cent of global beer sales. SABMillers board faced the choice of backing a bid chairman Jan du Plessis said was at the lower end of what he deemed acceptable, or risk letting the industry-transforming combination fall apart. AB InBev gave in to some investors when it raised its bid once more this week to factor in the pounds plunge in the wake of the U.K.s Brexit vote that put minority and institutional shareholders at a disadvantage. The boards decision was difficult, du Plessis said in the statement. Various factors have affected the value of the offer, most importantly the impact of the Brexit vote on the value of sterling and the re-rating of comparable companies. This has made the boards decision more challenging. SABMiller shares rose 2.1 per cent Friday in London, while AB InBev rose 4.6 per cent in Brussels. I think this is a further step toward successful completion, but by splitting the shareholders into two groups, it makes it somewhat more difficult to gain the necessary level of acceptances, Andrew Holland, an analyst at Societe Generale, said by phone. You need a higher percentage of SABMiller shareholders to get it done than if the shareholders hadnt been split into two groups. AB InBevs latest cash offer was 45 pounds (US$59.50) a share, US$1.32 more than the prior proposal. Bloomberg News Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. ITS been deemed one of the 10 leading risk factors for death, but it turns out physical inactivity also comes with a hefty tab: US$67.5 billion. The first study quantifying the global costs of sloth was published Thursday in the scientific journal the Lancet, finding what researchers labelled a conservative estimate of the economic burden caused by inactivity. More than 40 per cent of that total, US$27.8 billion, is attributed to the United States, illustrating a gap between high- and low-income countries. Lower- and middle-income countries shared 75 per cent of the disease burden but less than 20 per cent of the economic burden, said Melody Ding, lead author of the study and a senior research fellow at the University of Sydneys school of public health. The most striking finding is not the actual number, its the distribution of the economic burden across regions, Ding said. In wealthy countries, people pay with their pockets. In less wealthy countries, theyre paying with their lives. The researchers estimated the costs by looking at expenses, productivity losses, and disability-adjusted life-years for five major diseases related to inactivity-coronary heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer. Type 2 diabetes was the most expensive disease, accounting for US$37.6 billion of the economic burden, a 70 per cent share of all direct health costs. To make sure the costs were attributable to physical inactivity, the researchers used previous estimates of how physical inactivity affects the diseases and the prevalence of inactivity in each country to calculate country-specific costs. Ding said there are 22 diseases and conditions linked to physical inactivity, but the researchers looked at only the five major ones because of a lack of data in many countries. They studied 142 countries representing 93.2 per cent of the worlds population. Since the number of conditions related to inactivity (defined by the World Health Organization as not meeting its recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week for adults) is so much higher, and there are more productivity costs that werent measured, the real cost is at least two to three times larger than what researchers found, Ding said. Bloomberg News Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Last weeks column about the U.S. move to label foods made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) prompted a call from a reader. It says in here that the science is pretty clear there is nothing wrong with GMOs, she said. You might want to do further research. The caller went on to say GMOs are the reason so many people are switching to gluten-free foods. The protein has been altered in the genetic modification process which is what gluten is, and millions of people are reacting badly to it. If GMOs are so safe, why are millions of people getting sick from the bread? she asked. Its hard to say why so many people feel they can no longer eat gluten, but one thing is for sure, its not because of GMOs. The gluten in bread comes from wheat, and there are no GMO wheats in commercial production. So if gluten is making people sick, its because of another cause. The amount of protein, or gluten, in varieties of wheat used to make bread has changed over time as researchers select for traits that improve yields, disease resistance and processing quality. There are high-protein wheats, which are the most popular for bread-making, and lower-protein wheats, which are used for noodles or flatbreads. In a peer-reviewed study, which means other scientists have reviewed how the research was done, University of Saskatchewan researchers Ravindra Chibbar and Pierre Hucl show the nutritional composition of the protein in wheat has changed by less than one per cent over the past 150 years. The researchers selected seeds representing common varieties from each decade dating back to the 1860s. They grew them out and compared their nutritional composition against the varieties commonly used today. Our results substantiate that the wheat grown by Canadian farmers today is nutritionally similar to wheat grown in 1860, said Chibbar in a release from the Healthy Grains Institute. There is no evidence to suggest that the increased incidences of obesity, diabetes or other health conditions in todays society are related to the wheat varieties developed during the recent decades, as claimed by some critics. Research support for this work came from the University of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Canada Research Chairs program, none of which have a vested interest in skewing the results. Some have linked increased use of the herbicide glyphosate to rising levels of gluten intolerance and a host of other health issues, but the evidence supporting this is largely anecdotal. Worldwide use of glyphosate has increased 100-fold since GMO crops such as corn, soybeans, canola and cotton came to market two decades ago. Again, no one is commercially growing GMO wheats, which are the main source of gluten in foods. Glyphosate is sometimes used by farmers on mature wheat crops to kill green weeds prior to harvest, but grains are tested to ensure residues are within allowable limits. However, the surge in use and the fact it is now being used in crops that will be harvested for food has prompted a group of 14 medical researchers and biologists from the U.K. and U.S. earlier this year to call for more research into how changing use patterns affect the risks it poses and whether allowable limits should be tightened. Late-season, harvest-aid use of glyphosate-based herbicides is an important new contributor to the increase in residue frequency and levels in some grain-based food products, they say in the open-access paper published on the website BioMed Central. They list multiple concerns with increased exposures, but gluten intolerance isnt among them. As yet, no authority has taken up the call for more independent studies. Whether gluten intolerance is as widespread a problem as some believe and what might be causing will continue to be hotly debated. But even if it is on the rise, the evidence we have today is that its not due to changes in the genetic makeup of wheat itself. Laura Rance is editor of the Manitoba Co-operator and editorial director for Farm Business Communications. She can be reached atlaura@fbcpublishing.com or 204-792-4382. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipegs retail sector is getting its mojo back, with some new European clothing stores set to open and everything from brewhouses to pizza parlours looking to enter the market or expand their operations. The sector hit a rough patch in the past 18 months as a spate of national store closings and downsizings, led by the collapse of Target Canada last year, drove up the vacancy rate in the city to its highest level in 16 years 5.8 per cent. Industry officials say the worst appears to be over. They predict the vacancy rate should begin to decline during the second half of the year, as vacant storefronts in regional malls and power centres get filled by newcomers and existing players who are adding more stores or are moving to bigger, better locations. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Peter Deyong prepares wallpaper for the new Mountain Warehouse store in Kildonan Place mall for next months opening. Mountain Warehouse is a U.K.-based outdoor clothing chain. That, in turn, is allowing retailers who cant afford mall rental rates to move into their old digs. When the Target situation happened, that needed to kind of resolve itself. In large part, it has, save for the one in Polo Park, said Ken Yee, senior vice-president in the Winnipeg office of Cushman & Wakefield. There is steady (leasing) activity, and it is encouraging to see Winnipeg continue to grow in the right direction. Michael Stronger, a retail sales and leasing specialist with Shindico Realty Inc., agreed theres lots going on now. Were as busy as weve ever been. Were actually filling up a lot of our (strip malls) that historically had some vacancies, he said. Now theyre full for the first time in a number of years because there is a lot of demand for smaller space. With all of the new leasing activity, Stronger predicts the retail vacancy rate will start to decline in the second half of the year. Wayne Johnson of Royal LePage Dynamic, author of the biannual Johnson Report on commercial vacancy rates, agreed. Johnson said while the vacancy rate edged up one-tenth of a percentage point in the first half of the year, it should start to drift down in the second half. The activity level is still decent, and some of the (vacant spaces) which have been problems seem to be resolving themselves now. So my bet is that it will get back down to about five (per cent). Yee rattled off the names of several retail chains he and his colleagues are working with who want to expand their presence in Winnipeg. They include newcomers such as Canadian Brewhouse, restaurant chain Ben & Florentine, Za Pizza, and fitness club Orangetheory; and long-established players such as Tim Hortons and Starbucks. He said Canadian Brewhouse, which opened its first Winnipeg outlet earlier this year on Kenaston Boulevard, wants to add two more one downtown and one around Regent Avenue in east Winnipeg. The properties are there, and were working on it, he added. Wed like to announce them this year. He said Ben & Florentine wants to open at least one more restaurant in the city, while Za Pizza, which opened its first quick-serve Winnipeg outlet about a year ago, plans to add two more in the near future. Orangetheory, meanwhile, has opened fitness centres in Sage Creek and on Taylor Avenue. Yee said there are two other quick-serve pizza chains looking for locations in Winnipeg, but he wouldnt reveal them. He noted that, as previously reported, B.C.-based Save On Foods will open three new grocery stores in Winnipeg later this year, in the Northgate Shopping Centre, the Bridgwater Town Centre and on St. James Street. And Jollibee, the largest fast-food chain in the Philippines, is opening two restaurants one at 1400 Ellice Ave. and the other in Northgate. Some of the new arrivals are coming from across the Atlantic. U.K.based outdoor clothing chain Mountain Warehouse is opening its first Winnipeg store in mid-August in Kildonan Place mall. Mall general manager Peter Havens said the retailer plans to open a second store next year in the fashion outlet mall under construction at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway. The Denmark-based Bestseller retail group is opening four stores in September in the CF Polo Park Shopping Centre. They include two womens clothing stores Vera Moda and Only and two mens clothing shops Jack & Jones and Premium by Jack & Jones. St. Vital Centre is busy filling some of the storefronts that became available earlier this year when a number of national and international retail chains, including Danier Leather, West 49, Carlton Cards and International Clothier, either shut down or reduced their footprint in Canada. General manager Cheryl Mazur said some of the space is being filled by local players, such as Kite and Kaboodle and home-decor store Pieces of Paradise. Others are being snapped up by national retailers such as Charm Diamond Centres. Weve got a few more (tenants) coming in. We just dont have them quite yet signed, she said, adding the malls vacancy rate is 1.8 per cent compared with 3.2 per cent earlier this year. Kildonan Place had its vacancy rate spike last year when it lost its 120,000-square-foot Target store. It plans to subdivide that space into four larger storefronts and eight smaller ones. As reported earlier this year, HomeSense and Marshalls are taking two of the larger spots. H&M was reported to be taking another, but Havens said he cant confirm that. He said although the low value of the Canadian dollar is discouraging American retailers from expanding into Canada their Canadian sales numbers dont look as attractive when theyre converted into U.S. dollars European players such as Mountain Warehouse are willing to take the plunge. Some of the stronger Canadian chains are continuing to open new stores if they can find the right location at the right price. All of the retailers are making all of the landlords sharpen their pencils and making sure the prices that are out there are the right fit, he said. Everybody is being a bit conservative, but thats never a terrible thing. murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Five days after dozens of Port of Churchill workers received two-week layoff notices, there has still been no word from officials of Omnitrax Canada, the company that owns the port and Hudson Bay Railway. Emails and phone messages to Merv Tweed, the Winnipeg-based president of the company, continued to go unanswered. Ron Margulis, the spokesman for Denver-based Omnitrax, which owns and operates 19 short line railroads across North America, continued to remain silent. He did not respond to an interview request Friday. COURTESY CHURCHILL GATEWAY DEVELOPMENT CORP. / OMNITRAX The northern town of Churchill and the surrounding area have been hit with a crisis this week: the layoff of workers at the port, effectively ending the short shipping season, and a cut in rail service to one train per week. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, who has the lead in the file for the Trudeau government, has also not been available all week. The Free Press was told he was on vacation at the time of the cuts. Carr is scheduled to make a public appearance in Winnipeg Tuesday on behalf of Melanie Joly, minister of Canadian heritage. Community leaders from Churchill and other northern communities said they were trying to organize a meeting with Carr. The layoffs at the port have effectively ended the 2016 shipping season even before it began and has left the future of the countrys only deep sea Arctic port in doubt. The 14-week Churchill shipping season typically runs from early August to late October or early November. In addition to the layoffs which also ends work prospects for the year for at least another 30 workers who are usually called back to work once the ships start arriving Omnitrax has told customers it was cutting back rail freight service to Churchill to one train per week from two. On Friday the National Farmers Union blamed the crisis on the former Harper government for passing legislation that ended the Canadian Wheat Boards marketing monopoly for Prairie grain in 2011. The wheat board was responsible for about 95 per cent of the grain shipped out of Churchill. The group said the Tory government knew the port could not survive the end of the wheat board, and $25 million worth of subsidies for grain handlers, which is to end next year, would not be enough to make the difference. How can Omnitrax unilaterally decide to close a port that is of such strategic importance to Canada? president Jan Slomp asked. The federal government should intervene. Terry Boehm, the groups past president, said privatization as an economic strategy often hurts the greater interests of the Canadian economy. The closure of Churchill is another huge example of this, he said. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. When it comes to the economy, Manitobans arent exactly doing cartwheels. If you look at the trending graph for optimism, it looks more like a tumble. According to a Probe Research poll released Friday, the percentage of Manitobans surveyed who said they were somewhat or very positive about the local economy has fallen to 64 per cent in July 2016 from 83 per cent in June 2009. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files It (the graph) almost looks like a cartoon, like its not real, Probe president Scott MacKay said. Its a ski slope. var embedDeltas={100:673,200:511,300:477,400:417,500:417,600:400,700:400,800:400,900:400,1000:400},chart=document.getElementById(datawrapper-chart-jzSaH),chartWidth=chart.offsetWidth,applyDelta=embedDeltas[Math.min(1000, Math.max(100*(Math.floor(chartWidth/100)), 100))]||0,newHeight=applyDelta;chart.style.height=newHeight+px; The province-wide survey of 653 respondents was conducted by phone from June 30 to July 4. Because its a non-probability sample, no statistical margin of error can be ascribed. However, a margin of error on a probability sample of 653 is typically plus or minus 3.9, 19 times out of 20. The increase in pessimism has steadily risen during one of the strongest housing markets in the citys history. John McCallum, professor of finance at the University of Manitoba Asper School of Business, said the sentiment is likely the result of outside forces both international economic crisis and national wage and growth stagnation. Remember Greece? Or Spain? Then factor in the record debt loads many Canadians, including Manitobans, are carrying regardless of the price of their home. So while it looks like theres lots of economic activity in town, and there is, the people who answer these questions may have a lot of personal debt, he said. Their wages havent gone up very much, and the Canadian economy and Manitoba economy are very slow in showing growth. Its kind of a world where lots of stuff is going on around you, but its your own situation that youre worried about. MacKay agreed, pointing to the rise of U.S. presidential candidates such as Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic runner-up Bernie Sanders, who tapped into the anxiety of Americas struggling and shrinking middle class. Its like middle-aged people are really feeling distressed in the U.S. and maybe here, MacKay said. They might have kids in school or paying mortgages. Theyre worried about job security. Almost every industry is facing some kind of disruption. The middle-aged, middle class have the most to lose, the pollster added. Theyre supposed to be in their prime earning years, and they have a lot of responsibilities. Indeed, the respondents between the ages of 34 to 55 were both the least optimistic (61 per cent) and most pessimistic (33 per cent). Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Loren Remillard noted the provinces rising debt load, combined with an increase in PST to eight per cent, might weigh in the sentiments. Failing to arrest our deficit growth just added to that anxiety, he said. McCallum and MacKay agreed attitudes can influence economics, and visa versa. I think there are really economic consequences in this sentiment, MacKay said. It would show in retail sales and the amount of money people are borrowing. When the numbers get bad, (consumer) behaviour starts to change. Its not nearly as bad in Canada, but if youre watching (bad economic news) on TV every night, its not going to put you in a good mood when a surveyor calls, McCallum said. randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @randyturner15 Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Jim Blanchard is the author of Winnipegs Great War: a City Comes of Age. Two years ago, he wrote about the onset of the First World War and its impact on Winnipeg. Blanchard returns to examine life in Winnipeg two years into the Great War. By 1916, no one had any illusions about what the war in Europe was really like. Every day, the papers carried pictures of those who had died in the fighting, and badly wounded men were coming home, bringing their memories and nightmares. A Pte. Cary told the Winnipeg Telegram one scene was always with him. I see a big fat fellow aiming. I get him, and he jumps like a big jackrabbit performing in a pantomime. I laugh as I see him come down on his shoulder with his heels sticking up and wiggling. But nevertheless I fire again the wiggling stops. In April, the second Canadian division went into action for the first time. In March, the British had exploded six mines under the German trenches near the village of St. Eloi, south of Ypres. The mines created a moonscape of craters and tangled wreckage. The British had pushed forward to a line between the craters and the German position. On April 4, they were relieved by Canadian troops including the 27th City of Winnipeg Battalion. The battalion came under heavy German shelling and suffered many casualties. On April 6, the Germans counter-attacked, and during the confused fighting, commanders were often unsure where the Canadian line actually was in relation to the various craters. The lips of the craters obscured the view of the artillery, and the weather prevented aerial reconnaissance. The battle, from April 4 to 16, cost the Canadians 1,373 men killed and wounded and ended with the Germans in control of all the craters. MANITOBA ARCHIVES Main Street Winnipeg, North from William Avenue. The commander of the 27th Battalion, Col. Irvine Snider, from the Portage la Prairie area, was a veteran of the 1885 fighting in Saskatchewan and the Boer War, but nothing he had experienced in those conflicts prepared him for the Western Front. After six days without sleep trying to lead his men in a chaotic situation, he suffered a nervous breakdown. His medical file recorded that he naturally felt the loss of his men personally. On retiring to billets felt naturally depressed and fatigued, but it was only when he saw his bed that he went all to pieces and broke down and cried. After spending time in hospital, he was transferred to England to command replacement troops during their training. St. Eloi was a fiasco, and some called for the removal of two Canadian generals, R.E.W. Turner, the division commander and Huntley Ketchen, commander of the 6th Canadian Brigade. Ketchen had been stationed in Winnipeg before the war, and he would return to the city where he was in command of the 10th Military District during the General Strike. It was decided, however, that to avoid conflict between the Canadians and British, it would be politic for the overall commander of the Canadian Corps, British Gen. Edwin Alderson, to take the blame. Gen. Julian Byng, who led the Canadians through the next period of fighting, replaced him. Back home in Winnipeg, about the same time the 27th went into the line, there was a soldiers riot. During the winter of 1915-16 there were thousands of troops stationed in and around the city, training and waiting to be moved to England. On Saturdays, there was not much to do other than drink in the hotel bars along Main Street. On the afternoon of Saturday, April 1, city police attempted to arrest an intoxicated soldier who had fallen down in the doorway of the Imperial Hotel at Alexander Avenue and Main Street. The officers on the scene had a difficult time getting their prisoner the three blocks back to the main police station on Rupert Avenue, where the Manitoba Museum now stands. The area was crowded with troops who believed they were answerable to the military police and not to the city constables. A crowd of some 3,000 soldiers and civilians soon filled Main Street, blocking traffic. There were several pitched battles between the police, armed with their billy clubs, and the crowd armed with stones, ice chunks and bricks. The police station cells were soon full. Finally troops arrived from Fort Osborne barracks and things calmed down. The next morning the crowd was back, demanding the release of the prisoners. There was another melee, during which all the windows in the station were broken. The city later presented the Department of Militia and Defence with a bill for $600, but it was never paid. When military police brought the prisoners out to be moved to barracks, some of them were grabbed by the crowd and hurried away. The military did its best to downplay the incident, not wanting it to cause a rift between Winnipeggers and the soldiers, nor discourage recruiting. Magistrate Hugh John Macdonald handed out relatively light fines to rioters. But Canadian newspapers and the Associated Press in the U.S picked up the event. Stories in many American papers sensationalized the scene. Manitoba archives This is file photo dated July 1, 1916, shows British infantrymen occupying a shallow trench in a ruined landscape before an advance during the Battle of the Somme. Politically, 1916 was a very active year. One of the busiest legislative sessions in Manitobas history opened on Jan. 6, 1916. The Liberal government of Tobias Norris had been elected on Aug. 6, 1915 with a record 40 seats. The ruling Conservative party was reduced to five seats from their former total of 25. The collapse of the Conservatives was the result of the Legislative Building scandal. A Royal Commission had uncovered massive corruption in the awarding of government contracts for the construction of the legislature and other public buildings. Inflated invoices were submitted and paid and then the contractor, Thomas Kelly, donated large sums of money to the Conservative party. The scandal was in the headlines for much of 1916 as investigations and trials unfolded. Kelly was tried in June 1916, after having been extradited from the United States. He was convicted of the theft of $1.25 million from the province and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. He was also ordered to refund the money but only about $30,000 was ever recovered. Ex-premier Rodmond Roblin and two of his cabinet ministers, J.H. Howden and George Caldwell, were arrested and charged with conspiring with Kelly and several others to defraud the Crown through the inflated invoices scheme. They went to trial in July 1916 but the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. A year later the charges against them were dropped because both Roblin and Howden were seriously ill. Another former cabinet minister, Dr. W.H. Montague, had also been charged but had died before the case went to trial. There were a number of other royal commissions during 1916, examining the alleged wrongdoing of the Roblin government. They revealed in some detail how old-style politics had been conducted. The tremendous sacrifices of Canadas young people in Europe made voters at home less tolerant of political corruption; people were in a mood to clean up things. The Norris Liberals had made common cause with a number of reform groups in the years leading up to their election in 1915. The Political Equality League, working for womens suffrage, allied with Norris and Nellie McClung. Other League members were effective campaigners for the Liberals in the 1914 and 1915 provincial elections. Norriss government passed the legislation to give women the vote and the right to hold office in Manitoba on Jan. 28, 1916. The Temperance movement also supported the Liberals, who promised that if they were elected, prohibition would replace the Roblin governments policy of strict regulation and the local option, which allowed individual municipalities to ban drinking within their borders. Prohibition came into force in Manitoba on June 1, 1916 and was the law until 1923. The Norris government also moved to end a long-standing controversy by removing section 258 from the Manitoba Schools Act. That section embodied the principles of the Laurier-Greenway Compromise of 1896. In 1890 the government of premier Thomas Greenway had abolished the separate Catholic and Protestant school boards that had overseen public schools in Manitoba, replacing them with a secular, English-speaking system. Several years of court challenges and disputes followed as the French population attempted to overturn Greenways changes. The Laurier-Greenway agreement established a compromise that ended the strife. Among other things the agreement said that when 10 pupils in any school district spoke French, or any language other than English, they would get bilingual instruction in that language as well as English. MANITOBA ARCHIVES Henry looking east from Main Street. By 1916 this provision had resulted in a school system that had 126 French bilingual schools with 7,393 students, 61 German, mostly Mennonite schools with 2,814 students and 111 Ukrainian and Polish schools with 6,513 students. One in six Manitoba students were enrolled in bilingual schools. This situation was not popular with the provinces English-speaking majority and the Liberals had promised to end the system. The Roblin government had refused to change the Schools Act and their position cost them votes as well as the support of the Orange Lodge, long a Conservative bulwark. Because of the education question, four of the five Conservative members elected in the for them disastrous 1915 election were from predominantly French-speaking ridings. The minister of education, Dr. R.S. Thornton, introduced the bill to repeal section 258 in early February 1916. He argued that the bilingual policy made it extremely difficult to administer the school districts and to provide competent teachers for the different languages. This administrative argument was made along with loud declarations that Canada was a British country where every child should be fluent in English as well as learning British culture, values and history. Nativist feelings were running high because of the war and this influenced discussion of the schools issue. The Winnipeg Tribune editorialized that Our soldiers are fighting for British ideals. Are our legislators less patriotic that they should shrink from promoting British Canadian ideas by establishing English schools in every section of this British Canadian province. There was a bitter fight over the measure with French, Mennonite, Ukrainian and Polish organizations and leaders eloquently defending the existing system. French groups made the bilingual nature of the country an important part of their argument, invoking the British North America Acts and their rights as one of the founding peoples. In a pastoral letter, Archbishop Belliveau of St. Boniface said that he Would never cease standing for the rights of the French minority so long as they had not been recovered. Mennonites referred to the original agreements under which they had come to Manitoba, claiming the right to teach their children in their own language was guaranteed. The government claimed no such promises had been made in the 1870s. Because of the changes in the Schools Act, several thousand Old Order Mennonites eventually left Manitoba, resettling in Mexico and Paraguay. Polish and Ukrainian, or Ruthenian (as they were sometimes called at the time) advocates stressed the importance of learning their national languages for their childrens general welfare. The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Bishop Nykyta Budka and secular groups represented by people such as young Winnipeg lawyer J.W. Arsenych argued for retention of the existing system. This brought a barrage of nativist attacks down on their heads. J.W. Dafoe of the Free Press wrote We can say with perfect propriety to the Ruthenian and Pole that if he is dissatisfied with our educational laws he can pack his trunk and go back to his happy home in war-torn Europe. Bishop Budka was accused, not for the first time, of being a traitor and an Austrian-Hungarian sympathizer. MANITOBA ARCHIVES Construction of the Legislative Building, the centre and west end of the North Wing on September 15, 1915. At the front, the last half of 1916 was dominated by the horrendous Battle of the Somme that raged in France from July 1 to the end of November. The Canadian Army went into the line on Sept. 21. Thousands died in the mud of the Somme battlefield. Particularly costly were the attempts to capture a line called the Regina Trench. On Oct. 8, it was the turn of Winnipegs 43rd Cameron Highlanders to attack. Led by their pipers they moved across the muddy no-mans land. They were caught in the barbed wire and they suffered losses of 11 killed, 226 wounded and 125 missing, most of whom were also eventually reported killed. The Battalions colonel, R.M. Thompson, was wounded and died shortly after, when the ambulance he was being evacuated in was hit by a shell. Most of the Camerons, including Thompson, were Winnipeggers and many were members of St. Stephens, their chaplain Charles W. Gordons Church. The Canadians did eventually capture Regina Trench and another Winnipeg Battalion, the 44th, endured heavy losses in the fighting there. On Oct. 25 they felt they were let down when they went into an attack that was poorly planned and had insufficient artillery support. Close to half their number were mowed down by German machine guns. The battalion history Six Thousand Canadian Men describes Regina Trench at this stage as A flattened, shattered, meandering depression in the chalk in many places blown twenty feet wide, and for long stretches, filled to within a foot of the top with debris and dead bodies Canadian and German alike. It was another year of terrible slaughter and loss for Winnipeg. But the bravery of the Canadian Army was widely recognized and it would be in 1917 that they began to be rewarded with victories that, in the words of Manitoba Lt.-Gov. James Aikins, Led Canadas astonished foes and admiring allies to realize that a new power had entered the lists. And 1917 was also the year when the country ran out of willing volunteers to replace the men who died. This would lead, after a long and divisive struggle, to the imposition of conscription at the beginning of 1918. Jim Blanchard is a local historian whose book, Winnipegs Great War, was published by University of Manitoba Press in 2010. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. My wife noticed her first. We had been in the Exchange District having breakfast on a sunny Sunday summer morning and now, as we stopped at a downtown intersection for a red light, Athina said something in an excited voice that made me turn and look in the direction she was looking. At a white-haired white woman, dressed all in white, standing on the street corner, talking with two men who appeared to be indigenous. What got Athinas attention was what the elderly woman was doing: she had handed each of the men a small brown paper bag and by the time I turned to look, one of them had already taken a banana from the bag and was eagerly eating it. Meanwhile, the woman in white was scurrying across the street in front of us. And I was out of the car chasing after her. Who was this woman? And why was she handing out breakfast bags to street people so many Winnipeggers would be afraid to speak with, much less approach with an offering in a brown paper bag. As it turned out, I didnt have to go far to catch up to her. She had stopped at a nearby bus shelter, where she was giving another bag to the only person inside, a First Nations man in a wheelchair. There were two young indigenous women sitting outside on a bus stop bench, and before I could get the woman in whites attention she had handed out two more brown bags. She didnt know either of the young women; but, as it happened, I do. Five years ago, Rita Koostachin was recovering from surgery when a friend of hers called and I went to visit the then-32-year-old at St. Boniface Hospital. The friend was hoping someone who read her story would help buy the mother of three girls a new mattress and box spring for when she returned home to recuperate. The story was about tragedy seemingly without end. Eight of Ritas relatives had died in the preceding two years. Among them the foster mother who raised her, a younger brother who overdosed while staying at a Toronto homeless shelter, another brother who was beaten to death on the street earlier that year. And then, mere months earlier, her husband took ill and died four days after having foot surgery. Of course, as I was suggesting, the woman in white knew nothing of Ritas background when she gave her a snack bag. And I still knew nothing about the woman in white. So I introduced myself. She responded by saying she knew where I lived. She meant the street in St. James where I grew up and where in that weird Winnipeg way people are so closely and coincidentally connected she had also lived as a young woman. For the next 10 minutes and then later on the phone the 84-year-old related her life story in detail. None of which as I promised her I will share. Except, perhaps, to say it helped me understand who she was and, in a way, why she cares so much about the disadvantaged What I will report, though, is what anyone passing by might have seen that morning and inquired about. Starting with what else she put in the snack bags. Baby cookies or other kinds of biscuits, usually, four to the bag. Last Sunday, though, for the first time since she began her mission this year, she had filled the bags with breakfast cereal. Cheerios were on sale so I thought, Thats good. And I always buy whole wheat. As for the bananas, she buys them in bulk, and then has to give them away quickly before they go bad. Theyre doing me a favour. I tell them that, she said of the people to whom she gives a banana in a bag. I cant stand waste. How does she approach people? I say, Would you like a snack. And some have said in the past, No. She recalled an incident around the time she first started handing out snacks when a young woman took the snack bag. Then she threw the food on the ground with great rage. Oh, that just hurt me so much. I just said, I thought youd like a banana. And with that the anger faded from the young womans face and she reached down and picked up the elderly womans offering. It wasnt much, anyway, the woman in white said. Just a banana and a biscuit or a cookie. The woman in white didnt want me to write about her. Its not about me, she said. But I told her her story was something that could inspire others. It was at the end of our 10-minute conversation on the sidewalk when I asked her why she distributes snack bags she answered in a way that suggested who inspires her. God asked me to. And with that, she said she had to get going. But as she was walking away, Rita Koostachin the woman on the bus stop bench who had suffered so much loss called out to her. Thank you for the banana and Cheerios, Rita said. You look like an angel. gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 30/07/2016 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. It wasnt long ago that Siloam Mission could provide almost everything the homeless required: hot meals, a bed, a warm refuge during Winnipegs cruel winter months. But theres something that for many years the shelter could not supply a reprieve from summers oppressive heat. That is, until a decade ago when air conditioning was installed in the shelter and, more recently, in the existing drop-in centre and kitchen. Such a development might not seem significant to those who take air conditioning for granted in their homes, workplaces and vehicles, but for vulnerable homeless people it can be life-changing, if not life-saving. We dont see a lot of that anymore in Winnipeg, people dying from heat, said Siloam CEO Garry Corbett. With so much air conditioning its stopped that sort of thing from happening. In addition, the mission also distributes extra water during heat spells. Meanwhile, the new dining room and drop-in centre now being constructed at Siloam will further protect homeless from extreme weather conditions, he said. During heat waves, once thats finished, we wont have to worry about people having to stand outside waiting for meals or beds, he said. Angelica Fletcher, who runs Siloams medical clinic, said air conditioning has significantly reduced the number of head-related issues. Its affected a lot of people, Fletcher said. If all day long its as hot inside as it is outside, theres no reprieve. The air conditioning is a night-and-day change. Its a huge impact if you cant cool off anywhere. In some ways, the Winnipeg shelter is a microcosm of the affect air conditioning has had on society in general. In an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune last year, Dr. Cory Franklin laid out the case for air conditioning curbing heat-related fatalities in the previous 25 years. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The outdoor air conditioning unit for the Saulsair Health Centre in the Siloam Mission. Franklin, the longtime director of intensive care at Chicagos Cook County Hospital, referred to a heat wave in 1995; 800 people died, he noted. Some residents looking for help died at the hospital, which had no A/C. The role of air conditioning in preventing heat-related deaths cannot be overestimated, Franklin wrote. Since 1995, Chicago has had several sweltering summers, but the mortality has not been close to that seen that July. This is due to greater awareness of the danger and public health measures including outreach to vulnerable citizens, combined with an effort to provide those at risk with access to cooling centers and air-conditioned buildings. Studies have indicated that mortality during American heat waves has dropped by 80 percent since 1960, with virtually every study concluding the decline in deaths is explained by the adoption of air conditioning. As one study that examined the drop in American heat wave deaths concluded, Residential air conditioning appears to be the most promising technology to help poor countries mitigate the temperature-related mortality impacts of climate change. Still, deaths from extreme heat conditions in North America continue, including six in the Midwest and eastern U.S. alone last week when temperatures soared. Even Canada, with a predominantly cold-weather climate, is not immune to heats deadly effects. According to theCanadian Environmental Health Atlas, a research group that studies national health data, there are about 120 heat-related deaths each year in Toronto, 121 in Montreal and 41 in Ottawa (no Winnipeg stats were available). Both Toronto and Montreal, is should be noted, have established cooling centres facilities that are made available to the public during prolonged heat waves. In fact, when temperatures in Toronto were forecast to reach 33 C earlier this week, heat warning were issued. Seven cooling centres were opened and public pool hours were expanded. It wont be quite that hot here this weekend. But just wait. According to research from the Prairie Climate Centre, based at the University of Winnipeg, temperatures in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta are expected to rise significantly in the next 50 years if global warming is not addressed. Everything is magnified on the Prairies, said Ryan Smith, a research assistant at the PCC, which opened last fall. Were on track for some pretty profound warming. For example, the average mean temperature in Canada is expected to rise 2 C by 2050. On the Prairies, it will increase 4 C, he said. That includes winter months, too, which Smith concedes many Manitobans might relish. Winnipeg currently averages 11 or 12 days above 30 C each summer. On that current path, that number will rise to 26 days in 2050 and 46 days by the turn of the century. To people who live in Winnipeg, that might sound impossible, Smith said. But in Kansas City, Oklahoma and Nebraska who arent too far south of us thats normal. Which is why air conditioning is not a luxury down there. You have to have it. But theres a complicated rub. Climate scientists point out that some gases emitted from air conditioners contribute to the global warming problem. A Washington Post article this week noted that European nations in particular are also looking with growing anger and skepticism at the United States heavily reliance on air conditioning. If the second, fourth and fifth most populous nations India, Indonesia and Brazil, all hot and humid were to use as much energy per capita for air conditioning as does the U.S., it would require 100 per cent of those countries electricity supplies, plus all of the electricity generated by Mexico, the United Kingdom, Italy and the entire continent of Africa, Stan Cox, a researcher who focuses on indoor climate control, said in the article. In India, more than 2,000 heat-related deaths were recorded in 2015 and climate change studies predict the number of deaths directly from heat in that country could double annually by 2080. So whats the answer when the cure is likely to add to the cause? Smith doesnt consider air conditioning a solution. Thats an adaptation measure, he noted, not a mitigation measure. The reality is that while air conditioning might be preventing hundreds, if not thousands, of heat-related deaths worldwide, the big picture is more daunting: Preparing for the inevitable rise in temperatures if global warming isnt addressed We havent really started that conversation on the Prairies, Smith said. We never really talk about getting ready for climate change. Dr. Heejune Chang, medical health officer with Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, stressed the need for altering urban design to better protect city dwellers from extreme heat. That could mean everything from development that allows for better air flow between downtown high-rise buildings, to more green space, to the use of colours and materials that dont trap heat, Chang said. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Cool air blows out of air condition vent in Siloam Missions Emergency Overnight Shelter. The most vulnerable are homeless and elderly people and people with with heart or respiratory conditions who dont have air conditioners. Theyre the ones who are most at risk and theyre also the ones who have the most limited access to air conditioning or even cool spaces, said Dr. Elise Weiss, deputy chief provincial public health officer. Weiss and Chang also cited public awareness and response as factors in reducing the risk of heat-caused deaths: monitoring symptoms, making sure people are staying hydrated and checking in on elderly who live alone. The provincial Heat Alert Response System made up of medical health officers, emergency responders, shelter providers and the Red Cross, among others has also established levels of action based on forecast heat events. This also includes extending public pool hours, distributing water and opening cooling stations. The chief provincial public health officer issues a heat advisory whenever Environment Canada forecasts humidex values of 40 C or higher for a day or more, or when forecasts include average temperatures with daytime highs of 33 C and a overnight lows of of 20 C. Medical studies conclude that the number of cold-related deaths far exceed those recorded during warmer months. But Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, of the University of Manitobas faculty of kinesiology known as Professor Popsicle said those numbers can be misleading. He said there are more deaths caused by heat stroke each year than from hypothermia in extreme cold. You can avoid the cold, but when youre in the heat you can strip down, but thats all you can do, he said. Every house has a heater, not every house has an air conditioner. The only way youre dealing with cold 24 hours a day is if youre lost (in winter) or passed out in a snowbank. randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @randyturner15 Air conditioning units at 880 Arlington. How typical of an American is Khizr Khan, the man who stole the show on the last night of the Democratic National Convention? Answer: pretty typical. U.S. Muslims are much more mainstream than many Americans might think. Khan brought down the house in Philadelphia when he told the story of his sons heroic war death in Iraq and excoriated Donald Trump for spreading religious intolerance. Kahns son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, died in 2004 as a result of a car bomb explosion near Baquba, Iraq. Capt. Kahn was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Earlier, he got his degree from the University of Virginia, where he enrolled in the ROTC program. The Khans embody the material and educational success of the roughly 3 million American Muslims who make up about 1 percent of the overall population. Almost 60 percent of Muslims in this country report on surveys that they have college degrees. That compares with less than 30 percent of all Americans. The elder Khan, who is 65 and an immigrant from the United Arab Emirates, was born in Pakistan and attended a masters program in law at Harvard University. He works as a legal consultant in Charlottesville, Va. When it comes to earning power, some 45 percent of Muslims report family income of $50,000 or higher. That compares with a national average of 44 percent. Many American Muslims are professionals. Surveys show that as many as 5 percent of U.S. doctors are Muslim. As I noted in my 2007 book, American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion, some in the U.S. harbor misconceptions about their Muslim neighbors. For example, most arent of Arab descent, and most Americans of Arab descent arent Muslim, but Christian. The largest group of American Muslims are of South Asian descent, namely Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. About a quarter of the American Muslim population are of Arab descent, and less than one-quarter are African Americans, many of whom are converts from Christianity. The remaining American Muslims are immigrants, or children of immigrants, from such places as Africa, Turkey and Iran. American Muslims, in other words, are incredibly diverse. Politically, Muslims have been on the move. In 2000, some 80 percent reported voting for George W. Bush. By 2008, after the backlash following the Sept. 11 attacks, two-thirds told pollsters they backed Barack Obama. Trumps proposal to bar Muslims from coming to the U.S. may drive an even larger proportion to vote Democratic at least, thats what Hillary Clinton is hoping. There are strains of fanaticism running through some American mosques and a tiny minority of Muslim American homes. The Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attacks illustrate those exceptions all too vividly. But weighing heavily against such incidents is a larger Muslim population proudly represented by Khzir Kahn and his family. In Donald Trumps dark view of America, violence and crime are rampant. Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administrations rollback of criminal enforcement, Trump declared July 21 at the GOP convention in Cleveland, where he accepted the Republican Partys nomination for president. Homicides last year increased by 17 percent in Americas 50 largest cities. Thats the largest increase in 25 years. In our nations capital, killings have risen by 50 percent. They are up nearly 60 percent in nearby Baltimore. Murders in some cities, including Milwaukee and Chicago, have recently increased. Thats correct. But the very criminologist who crunched the numbers Trump cited Thursday night rejected his conclusion that the nation is awash in violence. Thats way off base, said Richard Rosenfeld, a University of Missouri criminology professor who wrote the U.S. Justice Department paper containing the figures. Even with the homicide increase in large cities last year, the country is still experiencing violent crime rates that are far lower than they were 20 years ago, Rosenfeld told Tribune News Service on Friday. Crime is actually lower under the current president than it has been under his predecessors going back to and including Ronald Reagan. (Not that presidents are on the front lines of local law enforcement decisions. Thats the job of mayors and police chiefs.) Recent mass shootings, including of police officers, in America and around the world are scary. Presidents are supposed to protect us from terrorism. But Trumps diatribes and lack of policy prescriptions arent reassuring. Trump told Republican delegates and a national television audience that Obama has failed Americas cities in every way and on every level. Actually, in Madison and many other communities, progress has been made on jobs, economic development, health and safety. Madisons crime rate has been on a general decline since the 1990s, despite a string of shootings earlier this year. And an increase in gun-related arrests involving young people isnt much different than population growth. Never one for subtlety, Trump said Obama has overseen a domestic disaster, including violence in our streets and chaos in our communities. Trump claimed his Democratic opponent for president, Hillary Clinton, is proposing mass lawlessness. Trumps simple solution is to elect him in November, magically restoring safety. Just dont ask him what he would actually do. Nobody knows the system better than me, the real estate developer and television star said Thursday, which is why I alone can fix it. Its hard to blame a president, much less a secretary of state, for a sudden increase in murders in some cities but not others especially when such numbers fluctuate over time. Crime researchers look for sustained trends, not one year of deviation. But when you are running for president claiming your opponents legacy is death, destruction, terrorism and weakness, you need some numbers to try to exploit. Hence, Trumps cherry-picked crime statistics. Americans shouldnt fall for the brash billionaires trumped-up rhetoric and accusations. EDITORS NOTE: This is the second of three articles that describe the services of Church Health Clinic, which serves residents of Dodge County. It was written by Church Health Services staff. Good mental health is not something most of us think about very often, even though it is a necessary component for good overall and physical health. Feeling stressed or anxious can affect you and your body in potentially negative ways. Stress can also be very positive and it is important for you to recognize when your stress or anxiety becomes negative and potentially damaging to your health. A mental illness is a condition that disrupts a persons thoughts, feelings, social skills, and/or daily living. Mental illnesses impact thousands of Wisconsin residents each year. Mental health and physical health are closely connected; people with mental health disorders have higher rates of smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, substance abuse and dependence. A 2016 Wisconsin Department of Health report estimated that in Dodge County there were 12,705 adults and 3,021 children who suffered from any mental illness. Of this number only 1,183 adults and 235 children received needed mental health care services. In Dodge County, Mental Health Counselors and Therapists are few in numbers for those residents who are employed and have health coverage. For the 8,923 of Dodge County residents living with incomes at federal poverty level, it is even more difficult to find help due to the inability to pay for services. For those with medical assistance available, mental health counselors are limited in how many clients they can see or treat. With this profound need for mental health counseling in the Beaver Dam Area, Church Health Services, a local free and charitable clinic applied and was approved by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to be a certified mental health clinic. This certification assures that patients receive a standard of care determined by the state of Wisconsin and that the clinic adheres to all laws related to the delivery of mental health services. At CHS both adults and children receive counseling services. Counseling options for children may include play, animal, and talk therapies. Eligibility for services requires clients to have proof of household income not exceeding 200 percent of the federal poverty level. All counseling fees are income based and on a sliding fee scale. CHS and other area mental health care providers accept some forms of Medicaid/Badgercare. Counseling sessions may take place in Beaver Dam or in Mayville. CHS has a site in Mayville, through the generous donation of space from a local business and counseling is offered there two days per week by appointment. CHS, a state certified mental health clinic offers children counseling at seven school sites in the Beaver Dam Unified School District. Social workers at BDUSD voiced concern for children who are not receiving needed counseling services, due to transportation and insurance barriers. Recently the Daily Citizen reported that more than 50 percent of students at Beaver Dam Unified School District qualify for free and reduced lunch program. Beaver Dam has been determined to be a high poverty area. CHS collaborated with BDUSD and Dodge County Human Services and Health Department to develop policies and procedures to implement this program. Information is available through school social workers and County social workers for families with children who may benefit from counseling services available at school. Licensed therapists have many therapy options to use for successful sessions. The goal is to overcome the barriers that prevent many children from receiving services, such as parents needing to take off work, transportation challenges, and children missing school to attend counseling. It is especially difficult for parents with low-paying jobs to take off work on a regular basis to take their child to multiple counseling sessions. The services provided by CHS to students in the schools operate independently from the school district and do not provide on-site crisis management or crisis intervention. If you or someone you know could benefit from mental health counselling or services contact CHS by calling 887-1766 or email info@churchclinic.org. FOX LAKE Arthur E. Streich took a chance 100 years ago on a new product that was all the rage and started Streich Brothers Implement and Auto, now a landmark in downtown Fox Lake. Streich Motors was honored for its accomplishment Wednesday night during the Fox Lake Chamber of Commerce. It is the citys longest running business. Anita Streich, Arthur Streichs great-granddaughter, said Arthur started the business in Johnson Creek on Nov. 1, 1916. What places this business in history is that my great grandfather started it when the car industry was just starting to be something in America, Anita said. He grew up in Farmington, right outside of Johnson Creek, Anita said. Arthur was from a farm family and he did farm for a while. There were a lot of boys in the family and not everyone could farm, so some of the younger siblings looked for other ways to make money, Anita said. Arthur went into business with John Grahlmann selling items that would become common needs for many area residents cars and tractors. At the time many people did not yet own vehicles and farmers were still using horses for farm work. Arthur wrote the first contract with the Buick Motor Company in 1916 and became affiliated as a dealer. In 1917, Arthur wrote the first contract with the Oakland Company, the forerunner of Pontiac. They also sold International Harvester farm equipment. The family moved to Juneau in 1918 and had the business in what is now the parking lot of the Dodge County Administration Building. Arthur was in partnership with his brothers Louis, Frank and Emil. The first advertisement I found showed that they were now dealing with trucks, Anita said. The partnership was short-lived though. The location of Streich Brothers was not long lasting either. They traded land in Juneau for the property they have owned ever since in Fox Lake. In 1919, Streich Motor found its home at 411 W. State St., Fox Lake. The building existed before that point, Anita said. Louis Streich remained in Juneau while Frank, Emil and Arthur Streich moved the business to Fox Lake. The cars that were sold had to be purchased in Michigan and driven back to Wisconsin. The roads were not like they are now, Anita said. They were mud paths. If they were not able to drive the vehicles, they would have to leave them and go back and get them later. They would go in caravans of dealers from Wisconsin and Illinois. It wasnt until they invented the car hauler that they would be able to get them to the area easier. The partnership dissolved in 1926. Emil started operating a milk route and Arthur remained at Streich Motors. When Arthur Streich died, Anitas grandfather Howard took over the family business. Anitas father, Dean (now a co-owner in the dealership), was 2 at the time. Howard Streich sold Buick, Pontiac and GMC Trucks. He also sold Maytag Washing Machines, Zenith TVs and Mercury Outboards. I think in 1959 or 1960 was when they went to just vehicles, Anita said. Dean said his father always spoke of 1957 and 1958 being the heyday for the dealership. No matter what the business climate was, the entire family was involved. I think the whole family has worked here one way or the other, Anita said. Anitas father started in grade school washing cars. Anitas grandmother, Charlotte, worked there for more than 50 years. Howard and Charlottes daughter, Suzie Streich Lange, worked in the business office. There have also been many improvements over the years. Three different properties to the left of Streich Motors were purchased in the 1980s and buildings were knocked down to make the lots. The building was improved at various times as well. Through all the changes, family has been constant. I use to come here on Saturdays and play in the junker cars, Anita said. We used to play Dukes of Hazzard. Tim Streich, who is the general manager and co-owner, said there are normally 10 to 12 new cars, and double the number of used cars on the lot. Customers may also special order the vehicles to get exactly what they want. In 2008, Streich Motors faced a challenge when GMC closed many of the smaller dealerships. Allen Tamar, General Motors dealer network regional manager, was assigned to evaluate Streich Motors and found that customer satisfaction of the dealership was extraordinary. After two years of scrutiny, Tim was notified in 2010 that the business was reinstated. The dealership never closed, but we certainly were in limbo for a while, Dean said. Today the shop is still going strong. Dean said they are currently updating the new service facility. We are about 90 percent done, Dean said. Sometime in the mid-1930s, my mom met Helen Drath and they became best friends. That friendship lasted nearly 70 years until Mom died in 2006. Helen died recently at the age of 101. When they were a lot younger, Helen and her husband, Augie, and my parents, Chet and Gladys, did a lot of things together. They loved to go dancing at Green Valley and Spruce. They enjoyed going out for dinner, playing cards, whatever. They were great friends from the 1940s on. When Augie died in 1981, my parents continued to do things with Helen, and the tie between Helen and Mom became even stronger. In the late 1990s, when my parents, at age 83, moved to Florida to be near my sister, Mom and Helen remained friends, even though they seldom saw each other. They talked on the phone and wrote to each other. In 2004 when Hurricane Charley crashed ashore at Port Charlotte where my parents home was located, it completely destroyed their home along with almost every other home in Port Charlotte Village. So my parents came to live with us in Beaver Dam for a short time. While they were here with us, we made a couple of trips to Oconto Falls to visit Helen, and she and my mom were like two school girls, talking and laughing and having a great time reminiscing. Then Mom and Dad moved back to Florida - because Mom said, I dont want to see snow again! So Mom and Helen never saw each other again, but they continued their correspondence and phone calls until Mom died in 2006. After Mom died, Dad decided he wanted to go back to Oconto Falls, his home for 83 of his 91 years. He couldnt live alone, so he went to a nursing home, and while he was there Helen came to visit him often, and wed sometimes take the two of them out for lunch. After Dad died in 2007 we visited Helen whenever we came back to Oconto Falls for any reason. She was always very happy to see us. She kept a picture of my mom in a small frame right next to her front door. It seemed that no matter when we stopped in Helen was always busy. She had baskets full of donated yarn which she knitted into thousand of colorful hats, mittens, and scarves which she gave to family and friends. But more than that, she shared her work with thousands of needy people all over the world through her church. She was also a wonderful quilter, and she shared her quilts with many who were less fortunate than she. The last time I saw Helen she had passed her 100th birthday and was still going strong. My sister Joyce was with us that day and Helen told us many stories about how she and Mom had shared such a great friendship. Helen was a wonderful lady, always cheerful and smiling, always very welcoming to Marilyn and me whenever we dropped in unexpectedly. Her love for my mom spilled over onto us. She was an inspiration. Her enthusiasm for life and her great spirit will stick with me for a long time. I know that she and Mom are together again, young girls, laughing and telling stories. Curtain! Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Between 6:37 a.m. Monday and 7:27 a.m. Friday police responded to 161 calls New Pinery Road: Police on Wednesday at 12:14 a.m. stopped Carolyn Miller, 19, of Portage for driving with a defective taillight. Miller was cited for driving with an open intoxicant. West Cook Street: Police on Wednesday at 10:16 a.m. responded to a call of an unattended girl running near St. Marys. Terrence Edwards, 34, of Portage, was issued a misdemeanor citation for child neglect. East Conant Street: Police on Wednesday at 10:33 p.m. responded to a disturbance where Travis Harris, 30, was arrested for disorderly conduct. West Wisconsin Street: Police on Thursday at 6:06 a.m. responded to a vehicle accident, where Jonathan Foster, 25, of Portage was cited for inattentive driving after hitting a parked vehicle. Both vehicles were towed. East Conant Street: Police on Thursday at 8:31 p.m. issued a city ordinance citation to Danielle Walhovd, 24, of Portage, for telephone harassment. West Franklin Street: Police on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. responded to a report of four males entering a vacant home, where Donald Yeadon, 19, was arrested and cited for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and criminal trespassing. Two 16-year-olds were released to an adult in Portage, another 16-year-old was transferred to Deforest. West Cook Street: Police on Friday at 1:46 a.m. responded to a disturbance where a 30-year-old man was arrested and cited for domestic disorderly conduct, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two counts of possession of prescription drugs. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 60F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight A clear sky. Low 32F. Winds light and variable. 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 The play will premiere in England, with possible plans for New York Producer Colin Callender has revealed that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is heading for Broadway in a two-part play. The new production, set 19 years following the events of J.K. Rowlings films and books, will premiere in Londons West End on July 30th. Callender and fellow producer Sonia Friedman are also working on bringing the play to New York. Callender explained to the Daily Mail: Weve got to take a very big breath now and get through the weekend. Then well deal with what the next stage looks like and hopefully Broadway will be part of that. The play portrays Harry Potter as an overworked employee at the Ministry of Magic. The main plot, however, revolves around his son Albus. Author J.K. Rowling recently asked fans not to reveal or spoil the main plot in a YouTube video. Youve been amazing for years at keeping Harry Potter secrets so you dont spoil the books for readers who came after you. So Im asking you one more time to keep secrets and let audiences enjoy Cursed Child with all the surprises that weve built into the story. Potter fans have always had each others backs, she said. Daniel Radcliffe, who played the iconic main character in the movie franchise, said he is reluctant to see the play for fear that his presence might distract audiences. He added: It would be a weird one. I could be completely wrong in this, but I feel like if I went to see it, theres going to be a lot of Harry Potter fans there in the audience obviously and would that then become a thing? Would it be more about them watching me watch the show or would it take away from the show. I would never want to do anything that would distract or take away from the show. LOS ANGELES (TNS) When it comes to combating the nations opioid epidemic, politicians of all stripes say they are fully committed. President Barack Obama wants to spend a billion dollars on new treatment programs. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump talk about the ravages of addiction and the need for solutions. And Congress earlier this month passed a package of legislation to prevent overdoses, bolster law enforcement and improve recovery programs. But this spring, with little attention and virtually no public opposition, lawmakers approved and the president signed a new law that makes it more difficult for government to take action against a key player in the crisis: the pharmaceutical industry. The law allows companies accused of failing to report suspicious orders of dangerous drugs to submit a corrective action plan to persuade the Drug Enforcement Administration to postpone or abandon proceedings against them. The law also raises the bar for the DEA to temporarily suspend their licenses. The measure was backed by manufacturers, wholesalers and pharmacy chains, including some targeted by the DEA in recent years for not doing enough to keep drugs from addicts and drug dealers. Supporters maintain that the law, the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016, keeps medication available for legitimate patients and will encourage cooperation between industry and law enforcement. Critics say it takes pressure off companies to detect and report drugs flowing to the black market. The top DEA official for regulation of pharmaceutical firms left the agency last fall, in part, he said, because of a bitter dispute with members of Congress over his view that the bill was misguided and would worsen the epidemic. They are taking the word of industry rather than the governments expert in diversion control, said Joseph Rannazzisi, who stepped down in October after nearly a decade as DEA deputy assistant administrator. A Los Angeles Times investigation published earlier this month revealed that drugmaker Purdue Pharma, which has reaped more than $31 billion from the painkiller OxyContin, collected extensive evidence suggesting illegal trafficking of its drug and, in many cases, did not share the information with law enforcement or cut off the flow of pills. One drug ring that Purdue monitored was operating for several years in the district of Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. Chu co-sponsored the bill in the House. She has received more than $31,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. A spokesman said Chu was unavailable for an interview. In a statement, she said she was deeply concerned about the lack of reporting by Purdue, but believed the new law would result in the guidance needed to end the prescription drug epidemic. More than 194,000 people have died since 1999 from overdoses involving opioid painkillers, and abuse of the drugs has contributed to a national resurgence in addiction to heroin, another opiate. The new law does not alter the agencys ability to pursue criminal charges or civil penalties. But it provides a way for companies to try to avoid the DEAs administrative penalties, which can include the loss or suspension of a federal license, known as a registration, that allows them to make, sell or dispense controlled substances. The push for a new law followed action the DEA took in 2012 against a major national wholesaler, Cardinal Health Inc., over millions of painkillers supplied to two CVS pharmacies in Sanford, Fla. Data showed enough pills flowing to the small city for every man, woman and child to have 59 doses, according to court records. One CVS pharmacist described her oxycodone customers as shady and told DEA agents she had to set a daily limit on opioid prescriptions to ensure there would be enough for real pain patients, the records stated. The DEA accused Cardinal and CVS of failing to maintain effective controls against diversion as required by the federal Controlled Substances Act. Cardinal was banned from shipping prescription drugs from a Florida facility for two years and CVS paid a $22 million settlement. In the wake of the investigation, Cardinal and CVS, along with many others in the industry, began lobbying for the new law, which changes parts of the Controlled Substances Act. It allows companies accused of violations to submit a corrective action plan that addresses the DEA allegations before the DEA decides on any enforcement action. Federal officials must consider the plan in deciding whether to move forward with enforcement action or stop or postpone it. Under the new law, companies have little incentive to take steps to prevent abuse of their drug unless and until the DEA accuses them of violating the law, said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Our concern at this point is we have 40 people a day dying of opioid abuse, he said We think the bill goes way too far. D. Linden Barber, a former DEA lawyer who now represents manufacturers and wholesalers, said the law still gives the DEA the option of revoking a companys license. The law doesnt require the agency to say, OK, Im walking away. It just says, consider it, he said. Another part of the law imposes a higher standard for suspending licenses temporarily while awaiting court approval. Previously, the DEA could shut companies, pharmacies and doctors down if it determined there was an imminent danger to the public. The new law defines that danger as a substantial likelihood of an immediate threat of death, serious bodily harm or drug abuse. Former DEA official Rannazzisi said the change offered total protection against temporary suspension for manufacturers and wholesalers. It often takes weeks for drugs to get through the supply chain from manufacturer to distributor to pharmacy, making it difficult for the DEA to argue that a failure by those companies to report and reject suspicious orders constituted an immediate threat, he said. Barber, the industry lawyer, said the change prevented the agency from shutting down companies for problems employees had already identified and fixed, something he said has occurred in the past. The fact that someone did something wrong, realized it was wrong, took action to correct it that doesnt give the agency the right to come in four to six months later and seek a suspension, he said. Scam Warning Over Fake Officials This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jul 30th, 2016 People in Wrexham are being urged to guard themselves against fake officials after an elderly couple in Buckinghamshire lost 900,000 in scam involving a bogus trading standards officer. The pensioners, who had already been fleeced for 300,000 by cowboy roofers, believed their fortunes had changed when the bogus official came calling. However, the crook, thought to be part of the same gang, tricked them out of a further 600,000 in up-front fees with promises to recover the money. Gary Andrew Booker, 55, of Surrey, was jailed for three-and-a-half years for his part in the crime, earlier in Scams Awareness Month, which ran throughout July. Other recent cases across the UK include: an 83-year-old woman who was taken for 30,000 by fake police officers; a women who lost 170,000 to conmen posing as trading standards officers; and a number of elderly people who were caught out by crooks who pretended they were NHS workers. Organisers of Scams Awareness Month, Citizens Advice and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), are citing such cases as a warning to others. Wrexham Councils Trading Standards Team is backing the campaign and David Kelly, Lead Member for Place Planning and Public Protection, said: As an authority that provides a trading standards function these kind of cases concern us. I have been discussing this issue with our Trading Standards Team and whilst there have been no incidents locally of conmen posing as trading standards officers, over the last year or so they have investigated incidents relating to fake officials. Wrexham Council provided a list in relation to the above: An elderly lady living alone in an affluent area of Wrexham was approached by men purporting to be from the gas board/water board gained entry into her home and whilst distracted by one male, money from her purse was stolen. Police later arrested two men over the incident. In an isolated area of Wrexham, a vulnerable man was approached in the day time by men claiming to be Council workers. They told him they needed to clear his path way in his garden as the greenery was obstructing the path. They then demanded payment for this. Council workers all display badges, turn up in council marked vehicles, and would never demand payment. A local business decided it would enhance his profit if he purported to be affiliated with Wrexham Council. He used the Wrexham Council logos alongside his own. He later pleaded guilty at Magistrates Court to offences of using this logo and was consequently fined. Leon Livermore, chief executive of CTSI, said: All too often criminals pose as charity workers, trading standards officers, government officials and even the police, to gain peoples trust. But if a genuine person comes to your door they will be only too happy to wait while you check their identification, or if you tell them to come back another time because you are unsure. The campaign is also urging people to follow a simple three-step rule to guard themselves against scams get advice, report it, and tell others about it. Advice to guard against doorstep callers: A tribute to Wisconsins Vietnam War dead will be on hand throughout the Jackson County Fair. Bruce Thayer, a member of the Jackson County Historical Society, worked to bring the paper wall memorial to the Milt Lunda Memorial Arena Aug. 3-7 in an effort to allow fairgoers an opportunity to see the names of the 1,244 servicemen and women from the state who were killed in action or went missing in action during the conflict. Hopefully there will be a lot of people who come through and view this thing, said Thayer, who is a Vietnam-era veteran. I believe that we need something that shows, well, yes, there are people that make the supreme sacrifice and never return. This is one way we can do it, and we can honor people and have the general population see it. The 115-foot-long display will be split in two parts and will be in the middle of the arena. Those killed in action or missing in action are separated by county and their obituaries will hang on a backdrop for onlookers to view. Jackson County has five individuals who died in Vietnam, including Lt. Peter Carlson, Army Spc. Roger Goldsmith, Leonard Dutcher, Master Sgt. Orlan Nelson and Lance Crpl. Steven R. Ott, according to a book written by the late Bob Teeples. Local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Post members will help watch the exhibit while its on display. Randy Bjerke, Jackson Countys veterans service officer, has volunteered and said he also looks forward to having the display at a local event like the fair. I give (Bruce) a lot of credit for doing it, Bjerke said. I think its important for people to see it this is Wisconsin veterans, these are Wisconsins killed in action. I dont think itll be too somber, but I think its a good thing for people to see and realize. I appreciate all the work and expense to bring it to Black River. Written and directed by Matt Ross Writer-director Matt Ross Captain Fantastic is a semi-anarchistic tale about a familys off-the-grid existence in the Pacific Northwest. Ben (Viggo Mortensen), father of six children aged between eight and 18, more or less, is bent on raising his family away from mainstream society and all its toxicity. In pristine and mountainous woods, the family undergoes rigorous physical exercise by day and vigorous intellectual training by night. They grow their own vegetables, respectfully kill their sources of protein and sleep in a communal teepee. The broods father, a former professor, and his wife Leslie (Trin Miller), a former lawyer, believe they are recreating Platos Republic and that their children are destined to be philosopher-kings and -queens. They shun Christmas but mark the anniversary of Noam Chomskys birth, celebrating, in their view, a great humanitarian. The eldest son, Bodevan (George MacKay), chastises his father for using the term Trotskyitea Stalinist-type insultnot Trotskyist. The familys usual call-and-response is: Power to the people Stick it to the man. Fascist capitalist is an epithet freely bandied about. But the familys seclusion is interrupted when Leslie, who suffers from acute mental illness, must reenter civilization for treatment. Concerning this traumatic event, Ben and his children have the following, fairly typical exchange: Kielyr (Samantha Isler) But you said hospitals are only a great place to go if youre a healthy person and you want to die. Zaja (Shree Crooks): You said Americans are undereducated and over-medicated. Kielyr: And you said the AMA [American Medical Association] are avaricious whores only too willing to spread their fat legs for Big Pharma. Ben: All those things are true. But mom does not have enough of the neurotransmitter serotonin to conduct electrical signals in her brain. When Leslie tragically kills herself, Ben and the kids decide to attend the funeral, in another state, traveling in their ramshackle bus named Steve. But Leslies wealthy parents, Jack and Abigail (Frank Langella and Ann Dowd) have taken over and are organizing a traditional Christian service and interment. In fact, Jack blames Ben for Leslies premature death, and orders his son-in-law to stay away. But, although the powerful control the lives of the powerless, the family decides to rescue Leslies body from the Christians. They intend to honor a mother who had become a Buddhist, despised organized religion and stated in her will she wanted to be cremated. Interacting with the outside world involves a clash of values for Ben and his children, in the first place with Jack and Abigail, who at one point threaten to file for custody of their grandchildren. Ben and his budding geniuses also find themselves at odds with his sister, Harper (Kathryn Hahn), and brother-in-law, Dave (Steve Zahn). The more conventional couples computer game-addicted sons are witless compared to one of Bens youngest, who is able to explain the Bill of Rights, as well as the significance of Citizens Unitedthe 2010 Supreme Court decision that abolished restrictions on big business political spending. The superiority of the education Bens offspring have received is further underscored by their ability to speak several languages fluently. Bodevan has been accepted by a slew of Ivy League universities. Captain Fantastic, whose title obviously spoofs comic book action movies, puts forward its own conception of a hero. Along the same lines, it may be that Ben initially believes he possesses the formula for creating a new race of super-beings. However, by the movies end it is an open question whether he will continue to espouse his radical views. Mortensen comfortably and intelligently inhabits the role of Ben, and the actors who play his children are striking and appealing. Langella is convincing as a wealthy man not averse to siccing goons on his grieving son-in-law; Dowd renders an emotionally poignant performance. Ross, who has been best known until now as a talented actor in series like Big Love (2006-11), seems to have certain good intentions and critical thoughts. Although the politics here is generally not good (indicated by the 1988 Jesse Jackson for president t-shirt that Ben wears at one point), some of the impulses may be. The director is clearly hostile to certain aspects of official American life, including a terribly deficient education system and a generally miserable cultural level. In an interview, Ross elaborated on his hostility toward the theocratic element in present-day American politics, noting that we live in a country where no one can be elected president of the United States without talking about their deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ, and yet we are supposed to have a separation of church and state. Unfortunately, Captain Fantastic suffers from serious flaws, associated in part with the character and outlook of the middle class radicalism promoted by the film. In this day and age, the notion that running off to the woods embodies Power to the people and Sticking it to the man seems extraordinarily threadbare. One would have thought that a little ideological water had flowed under the bridge since 1967 or so. It is simply wrongheaded to identify living in complete isolation with opposition to the status quo, as though withdrawing has ever generated change. As Ross himself observes in an interview, this sort of individualism and semi-anarchism has as muchor moreof a right-wing pedigree (libertarianism, survivalism) as it does a left-wing one, Bens admiration for a left anti-establishment figure like Chomsky notwithstanding. Moreover, outside of Ben and his children, the rest of humanityin their eyesare either overweight, brain-dead or dictatorial. In general, the familys sympathies seem reserved not primarily for suffering humanity but for themselves. A chief difficulty is that figures like Ross are sincerely dissatisfied with the existing state of things, but cut off from any sense of how it might be altered. Not seeing any objective source for change, the writer-director creates a largely fantastic or artificial one. Ironically, his American individualist outlook is closer to that of the comic book moviemakers than he would like to think. Like other Hollywood liberals and radicals, Ross is far removed at this point from wider layers of the American population, which seethe with anger and discontent. This restive mass of people is the genuine agent of change. But the directors antennae are not pointed in that direction. Unable or unwilling to base himself on real life, Ross is obliged to flesh out and dramatize stale conceptions about some latter-day hippie alternative to inhuman capitalism. And along the way, he tends to blame the population for its troubles. Nevertheless, Captain Fantastic contains a dose of healthy disgust, and that is something, despite the rather childish prescriptions. Nearly three weeks after the onset of intense flooding in northern China left hundreds of people dead and missing, anger has erupted among survivors. According to the Asia Times, media and internet users are accusing officials of negligence, with irate villagers declaring that they were not warned in advance of the impending deluge. At least 273 people have died and 218 are missing amid catastrophic flooding along the Yangtze River. The state news agency Xinhua reported the flooding to be the worst in a decade. About 330,000 homes have been destroyed and economic damage is estimated at $US8.5 billion. During the first week of heavy rains, Hubei Province, along with its capital Wuhan, a city of 10 million people, was hard-hit with a record 600mm of rain. On the weekend of July 910, typhoon Nepartak made landfall in Fujian province, after earlier lashing Taiwan. The typhoon forced more than 200,000 residents in 10 mainland cities to be relocated and 1,900 homes were destroyed. Power was cut for hundreds of thousands of households, while five airports were closed and hundreds of high-speed train journeys cancelled. Chinas ministry of civil affairs said flooding and rain associated with the typhoon had impacted on over 31 million people in 12 provinces, submerged more than 2.7 million hectares of cropland and caused 67.1 billion yuan ($US 13.4 billion) in damages. Meteorologists blamed the floods on a particularly intense El Nino weather pattern that has resulted in an increase of up to a 50 percent in rainfall in some areas. Residents in flood-hit areas of Hebei Province, where more than 160 people were killed, have accused the authorities of negligence and inaction. After the floods destroyed the village of Daxian, residents told Al Jazeera that officials had failed to warn them in time about the incoming storm. Chinese-language posts on Twitter, which is blocked in China, included pictures and videos showing the devastation in Daxian. One video revealed water cascading over homes, turning streets into rivers and apparently sweeping several people away. Some images showed corpses in farm fields. The Qi Lie River near Daxian had months earlier been blocked by a building contractor but no action was taken by officials. As the river swelled, residents said the local government chief had told them not to worry, because if it was serious senior officials would have contacted him. It seems many people here had more idea about the imminent danger they faced than local officials did, an Al Jazeera correspondent reported. As thousands of soldiers and police officers were dispatched, ostensibly to join the relief efforts, residents complained about their extensive losses and the indifference of the authorities. I dont know who I can talk to. No one listens to me, Zhang Erqiang, father of two missing children, told Al Jazeera. Instead, Zhang was questioned by police demanding to know what he had told the media. A flash flood near Xingtai, in Hebei Province, sparked outrage after local officials were accused of failing to warn citizens of the imminent deluge, and then trying to cover up the cause of the disaster. Not to notify villagers about the Xingtai flood wasnt just an abandonment of the officials dutyit was essentially manslaughter, one person wrote on Chinas Sina Weibo microblog. Public anger intensified after pictures of drowned children being pulled from the muddy floodwaters circulated online. Residents raised suspicions that the sudden flood, which struck while villagers slept, was the result of a deliberate release of water from a local reservoir, rather than the breaking of a levee in a nearby river, as officials claimed. A local deputy Communist Party secretary absurdly suggested that there had been no casualties in the flood. The Asia Times reported a video of him kneeling before wailing relatives who lost family members quickly spread on social media. It showed three distraught women clutching his arm while asking how many had died. Other online footage revealed locals clashing with police trying to prevent them from taking complaints to central authorities. Provincial leaders have announced that four local officials in Xingtai were suspended for being ineffective in flood prevention and rescue and relief work. Beijings standard response to every disaster is to prosecute low-level local officials in order to divert public criticism from the Stalinist Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. The devastating impact of the floods is due to criminal negligence and corruption at the highest levels in the state, business and the CCP. No serious flood mitigation action has been taken by government authorities since disastrous flooding in 1998, when 4,150 people died, or in 2010, which left 3,900 people dead or missing. Residents, meanwhile, have continually made scathing criticisms of the inadequacy of preventive measures. The floods are not just a natural disaster. In the past, extensive flood plains were uninhabited, forming a natural defence against rising waters. A proper system of flood control was a popular demand of the Chinese Revolution in 1949, and under the Maoist regime a limited system of dykes and water reservoirs was built, providing some protection. These measures, however, have been completely overwhelmed by the anarchic development of China following capitalist restoration over the past three decades. The indifference of the ruling elite to the conditions of ordinary people, including their exposure to floods and earthquakes, contrasts starkly with the enormous sums spent to prop up the financial system. Beijing responded to the 2008 global financial crisis with a stimulus package of half a trillion dollars and a massive expansion of credit, estimated to be the equivalent of the entire US financial system. This has been used to fuel a frenzy of speculation in property and shares, deepening the vast social gulf between a privileged ultra-wealthy layer and hundreds of millions of workers and rural poor. Following the recent strike activity by sections of the working class, Beijing is worried about the potential for deepening political unrest. Despite tighter state censorship, the explosion of Internet and cell phone use has enabled hundreds of millions of people to communicate more freely. The regime has further clamped down on any independent reporting of what it deems sensitive current affairs topics. Online portals will be permitted to publish such material only if sourced from government-controlled news agencies. Last Monday the governments Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) revealed that it had moved against at least five major news web sites for publishing stories based on their own reportage. The self-edited web sites, according to the CAC, had engaged in actions that seriously violated regulations and had a completely vile effect. Qiao Mu, a journalism professor at Beijings Foreign Languages University, told the Guardian last week that recent events meant that the Chinese government was nervous about losing control of the media narrative. This has not been a quiet summer authorities are worried that reporting [on the floods and The Hague tribunals rejection of Chinese claims in the South China Sea] might have an effect on social stability, he said. The Republican convention sought to present the billionaire racist Donald Trump as the champion of working-class Americans, an exercise in falsification that the Democrats attempted to match by presenting Hillary Clinton, the consensus candidate of the Wall Street elite and the military-intelligence apparatus, as a combination of Mother Teresa and Mother Jones. In the aftermath of the Democratic convention, the issue that columnists of various stripes focused on was that the Democrats had captured the themes of patriotism and national security that once were the focus of Republican electioneering, with the Democratic Party convention awash in flags, tributes to the military and police, and chants of USA, USA. In their view, this made Clinton a more credible commander-in-chief for US imperialism than Trump. Conservative David Brooks, in the Times, declared that Trump has abandoned the great patriotic themes that used to fire up the G.O.P. and hes allowed the Democrats to seize that ground. If you visited the two conventions this year you would have come away thinking that the Democrats are the more patriotic of the two parties Pro-Clinton columnist Paul Krugman, also in the Times, hailed the same trend, in a column headlined, Who Loves America? which directly linked the Democratic conventions embrace of identity politics and its espousal of militarism and patriotism. He branded opponents of Clinton as tribalists, not patriots, people who didnt love America, but rather only their tribe, as defined by race and gender. The implication, peddled previously by Krugman in numerous columns, is that white men are offended by the prospect of the first African-American president being succeeded by the first female president. He smears the widespread working-class hostility to the Democratic Party, a right-wing, corporate-controlled party that bailed out Wall Street at the expense of working people, as nothing more than white racism. Krugman referred in passing to the WikiLeaks revelations about corrupt support for Clinton by the Democratic National Committee, at the expense of Bernie Sanders, in order to raise again the unsubstantiated allegationsheavily promoted by the Timesthat DNC emails were hacked by the Russian intelligence services to help the Trump campaign, in return for Trumps support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He wrote: What strikes me most is the silence of so many leading Republicans in the face of behavior they would have denounced as treason coming from a Democrat. Times online columnist Timothy Egan chimed in with a filthy McCarthyite diatribe slandering WikiLeaks for allegedly working with Russia to hijack a great democracy. In The Real Plot Against America, Egan wrote that the plot started with a stooge, a fugitive holed up in London [WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange], releasing stolen emails on the eve the Democratic National Convention, in the name of transparency. Cyberburglars rely on a partner in crime to pick up stolen goods. And WikiLeaks has always been there for Russia, a nation with no transparency. Never mind that Assange has been hounded by the Obama administration for exposing the crimes of American imperialism. Egan did not bother to provide an ounce of substantiation for his allegations. He went on to dismiss the content of the leaked emailswhich show the efforts of the DNC to undermine the campaign of Sanders, among other underhanded and possibly criminal dealingsas ho-hum. He denounced lefty extremists for booing Clinton and for booing the call by Bernie Sanders to unite to save their country from a monster. According to Egan, opposition to Clinton from the left is the equivalent of treason in support of Russia and Putin. If enough angered lefties wont go for the Democratic nominee, a longtime foe of Vladimir Putin, it will be just enough to put a Putin puppet in the White House. Two conservative columnists for the Washington Post gave similar post-convention appraisals backing Clinton over Trump as the more effective advocate of the global interests of American imperialism. Charles Lane, a regular panelist on Fox News, defended the US alliance structures in Europe and the Far East against Trumps criticism that US allies were not paying their fair share of the military cost. He warned that popular support for US military commitments overseas was waning, to the point where a major-party candidate for president finds it advantageous not to assuage public ambivalence about collective security, but to weaponize it, politically. While expressing concern over the radicalism, or the destabilizing potential, of Trumps attacks on long-standing U.S. security doctrine, he expressed relief that: To be sure, the 2016 Democratic nominee is an internationalist former secretary of state whose husband, as president, began NATOs eastward expansion. Hillary Clinton undoubtedly subscribes to the 2016 Democratic platforms unequivocal pledges to stand by NATO and deepen alliances in Asia. Even more explicit is the endorsement penned by neo-conservative columnist Anne Applebaum, a longtime apologist for US war moves in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Under the headline, Why we need a President Clinton, she wrote: [W]e do need to elect Hillary Clinton for president. If we dont, as we learned in recent days, well be led by a man who appears bent on destroying the alliances that preserve international peace and American power, a man who cheerfully approves of hostile foreign intervention in a U.S. election campaign. And please remember: If thats how he feels about Russia, theres no guarantee that hell feel any different about China or Iran. Applebaum is linked both personally and politically to the ultra-right factions in Eastern Europe who have been agitating for a warlike posture by the US and NATO against Russia: her husband, Radoslaw Sikorski, has been foreign minister and defense minister of Poland, and now is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Center for European Studies. These commentaries, published within hours of the close of the Democratic convention, demonstrate the real constituency of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party. Far from representing the interests of working people, as Clinton claimed in her convention speech, the former secretary of state seeks to be the consensus choice of the military-intelligence apparatus, and has tailored her campaign explicitly to its dictates. Three employees each of two state departments were officially added to the list of defendants to face prosecution by Michigans attorney generals office over wrongdoings in the Flint water crisis. At a Flint press conference yesterday, Attorney General Bill Schuette made the announcement after making a promotional pitch for the existence of equality under the law in Michigan. The families of Flint will not be forgotten. We will provide the justice they deserve. And in Michigan, the system is not rigged, Schuette proclaimed, adding for effect, There is one system of justice. It applies to everybody. Equally. No matter who you are. Period. Each of the newly announced defendants faces a combination of felony and misdemeanor charges which could mean prison sentences of 11 years, on average. All six officials consciously covered up the health dangers posed by Flint water after the city was switched from a safe water source to the toxic Flint River. One of the more notorious of those charged yesterday was Michigan Department of Environmental Qualitys (MDEQ) former Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance Division chief Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired in February. In a meeting last August, she bragged to residents LeeAnne Walters and Melissa Mays, whose families had both been severely damaged by lead poisoning, that Miguel Del Toral, a water expert from Region 5 of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, who was seeking to expose the real situation with the water, had been handled. Adam Rosenthal, an MDEQ water quality analyst, faces 14 years for his role in falsifying the sampling of Flints water for lead. Rosenthal directed Mike Glasgow, former water plant manager, to find good samples in order to prove Flints water was in compliance. Glasgow, who was indicted last April, entered a plea of no contest and is cooperating with the investigation. Patrick Cook, of the MDEQ environmental health programs unit, was indicted for interfering with the proper sampling of Flint water. From the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), three other employees were indicted: Nancy Peeler, director of the program for maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting; Robert Scott, data manager for the healthy homes and lead prevention program; and Corrine Miller, former director of the bureau of epidemiology and state epidemiologist. The MDHHS defendants were charged with burying an internal report showing increased blood-lead levels in Flint children and creating a falsified report. These six indictments bring the number of criminal indictments to nine, including the indictments of Glasgow and former MDEQ officials Stephen Busch, who was a district supervisor in the MDEQ Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, and Michael Prysby, a former MDEQ district engineer. In response to a question from the press, Schuette professed not to understand the motivations of those charged beyond part arrogance, part viewing people in Flint as expendable and handed the question over to Special Counsel Todd Flood. He claimed to have a good idea, but he wouldnt get into that right now. Another question was raised about whether Governor Rick Snyder would be indicted. That question was fielded by Chief Investigator Andy Arena, former FBI Detroit chief, who explained that in his history of investigating organized crime, you dont start at the top, but have to work upward through the channels. Schuette and his team insisted that Nobodys off the table in pursuit of the truth. That remains to be seen. The forcing of Flint off its longstanding source of safe water was a result of the bankruptcy operation in Detroit. This was carried out by both Democrats and Republicans and had the full endorsement of the Obama administration. The crimes committed by officials being prosecuted were in line with the narrative that Flints water was safe to drink, no matter how much the people of Flint protested and complained, and even died, over the toxic water being pumped into homes and hospitals from the Flint River. The breaking up of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department was done to override the safeguards to both employees and ratepayers in the city charter and prepare for privatization of one of the largest water systems in the country. Losing its largest customerthe city of Flintplayed into the scheme to monetize the citys assets. But the account that Detroit mayor Mike Duggan presented to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia the day before Schuettes latest indictmentsthat the bankruptcy in Detroit gave the city new opportunities to bring in new decent-paying jobs and encourage vibrant growth and prosperityis of the same cloth as that of the corrupt state officials being charged yesterday. Asia China: Beijing police detain hundreds of protesting teachers Beijing police used 18 buses to forcefully remove hundreds of school teachers demonstrating outside the State Council complaints office on Monday. More than 1,000 former teachers were protesting over years of service with unequal pay. The teachers called on the government to retroactively implement its promise to award them civil service pay and benefits, which include a retirement pension and healthcare. Teachers in China can be hired on civil service or non-civil service contracts. Those on the latter frequently complain that their wages are below minimum living standards. A directive issued by the central authorities in 1997 called on local governments to put all teachers on civil service contracts, which carry higher wages and more benefits. Many local authorities failed to implement the new rules. Protesting teachers were appealing to the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing after being turned away from complaints offices closer to home. Cambodia: Picket at Chung Fai Knitwear factory in fourth week About 200 workers at the Hong Kong-owned Chung Fai Knitwear factory in Phnom Penhs Meanchey district are maintaining their 24-hour vigils outside the factory amid suspicions the company is bankrupt and trying to sell off assets. Workers caught a transportation company removing equipment from the factory on July 1. Around 100 workers protested outside the municipal courthouse on Monday demanding the court issue an arrest warrant for the factory owners who fled the country last month without paying wages and benefits. Workers said they would maintain the protest in front of the building until arrest warrants were issued along with an injunction on the factory assets. Lockout at Cambodian footwear factory Aerosoft Summit Footwear workers in Battambangs Sampov Loun district struck on July 1 and protested outside the factory to demand permanency and entitlements. After 300 workers protested outside Battambang city hall on July 18, and city officials agreed to mediate their case if they returned to work, Aerosoft has locked them out and is ignoring a court order directing management to end the lockout. Workers demands include an $18 attendance bonus, $7 for transportation and accommodation, an end to wage cuts when workers are sick or protesting, and for the company to accept responsibility for any accidents that occur at the factory. Bangladesh: Chittagong police attack striking garment workers Ten workers were hospitalised and others injured when police used tear gas in an attempt to break up a demonstration by 300 striking workers at the Chowdhury Apparels factory in Chittagong citys Bayezid area on July 21. Workers were forced back into the factory seeking refuge. The strike was sparked due to the sudden sacking of two supervisors in the morning. Sri Lanka: Non-academic university workers on indefinite strike Following their two-day strike and mass rally in Central Colombo on July 13-14, 130,000 non-academic workers at universities throughout Sri Lanka walked off the job on Wednesday to demand an increase in wages and other entitlements. Workers want an increase in the monthly compensation allowance, a 2,500-rupee salary rise, medical insurance scheme, reinstatement of the language-proficiency allowance, the pension age increased to 60 and a new agreeable pension scheme. Their action followed several unsuccessful appeals to the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government. A representative from the University Trade Union Joint Committee said they would continue the strike until demands are met. India: Karnataka public transport workers end strike The state-wide strike by 125,000 workers of four public transport corporations of KarnatakaKSRTC, BMTC, NEKRTC and NWKRTCended on the third day on Wednesday after unions reached agreement with the Karnataka government for a wage increase. Bus drivers and other public transport workers struck on Monday demanding a 35 percent wage increase. The government initially offered just 8 percent, later increasing it to 10 percent. In talks on Wednesday the unions accepted a pay rise of only 12.5 percent. Nearly 25,000 buses were off the road during the strike. Fifty workers were dismissed when the government enforced the draconian Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), which provides for arrest without bail against government employees if they refuse to show up for work. The arrested employees could face a year in jail, a fine of 5,000 rupees (US75), or both. Tamil Nadu garbage workers protest Hundreds of garbage workers demonstrated in front of the collectors office in Madurai on Monday to demand regular work. The workers, who collect rubbish door to door, are part of solid waste management in village panchayats. Protesters demanded that the government keep a promise made when employees were recruited into the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The workers were told that they would be given permanent jobs, 300 days work and 203 rupees a day. They have now been told that they will be terminated after 100 days while the remaining 200 days will be covered by another two batches of workers, with each covering 100 days. Their work is labour intensive, backbreaking and also nauseating. Former workers of closed Tamil Nadu spinning mill seek compensation Close to 50 workers of the Salem Cooperative Spinning mill demonstrated outside the Salem collectors office on Monday to demand the reopening of the mill and payment of outstanding wages. Some 252 workers lost their livelihoods when the mill closed in 2004. The protest was sparked when workers heard that the government had called for tenders for the sale of the mills machines. Punjab government transport workers protest Punjab Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) workers demonstrated in front of the PRTC workshop in Bathinda on Monday to protest over the governments failure to pay pensioners their entitlements. Several transport unions, including the PRTC Retired Workers Bhaichara Union, formed an action committee to demand the immediate payment of pensions to all retired workers and an increase in pension in line with a 2011 order that lifted all state pensions by nearly 30 percent. Other demands included retired and working employees gratuity, a medical allowance, general provident fund and leave encashment owing since January 1. The workers also complained that after January 15 although, all newly-recruited employees would receive basic pay, they would not get any travel, dearness and medical allowances, or grade pay, house rent and other benefits. Pakistan: Punjab government hospital doctors call off strike The Young Doctors Association (YDA) representing hundreds of government hospital doctors in Punjab province withdrew its call for a strike at outdoor departments on July 22 after the health department agreed to some modifications to its Centralised Induction Policy (CIP). The policy enforced a merit-based selection for training and that postgraduate positions in the province would only be filled on a needs basis. Three hundred doctors had rallied in Lahore on July 21 calling for the strike and declaring that the policy was a step toward privatisation and restricted the number of seats for postgraduates to 400. In last-minute talks with the government the YDA accepted amendments that would increase the postgraduate positions to 1,132 for 2016, decentralise the application procedure allowing applicants to choose which hospital they wanted to be trained at, and gave a guarantee that trainees could move to specialty training after two years under the PG training process. Australia and the Pacific Victorian mental health employees stop work Mental health nurses and support staff at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne stopped work for two hours on July 26 as part of ongoing enterprise bargaining negotiations with the Victorian state Labor government. Health and Community Services Union members have been conducting rolling regional half-day stoppages in support of demands for improved safety and wages. Their log of claims calls for more mental health beds and staff, especially in Melbournes population growth areas. This includes one nurse for every two beds in high dependency units, regardless of the number of patients, to reduce pressure on the system and violence. A 2014 report revealed that 88 percent of mental health employees experienced violence at work. Workers also want Victorian mental health salaries on par with their counterparts in New South Wales. Melbourne supermarket warehouse workers on strike Around 650 workers at a Melbourne distribution centre for one of Australias largest supermarket chains Coles walked off the job on Wednesday for an indefinite period in a dispute over a new work agreement. National Union of Workers (NUW) members employed at the Polar Fresh warehouse site in Truganina are demanding more pay and better job security. Workers established pickets outside the companys warehouse and at secondary sites in Melbourne set up by Coles. At least 70 delivery trucks were left stranded on the side of the road unable to make deliveries. Supreme Court injunctions against the pickets were issued on Thursday that remain in force until Monday. Polar Fresh workers want a $3 pay rise to increase their wages to $30 an hour and for an end to the increasing casualisation of the workforce. They are demanding a zero-casual site, saying that casualisation is a model of under-employment and which leaves casual workers struggling to survive on short shifts and unpredictable rosters. NUW delegates and organisers met on Thursday night with Polar Fresh management and said a mass meeting was scheduled for Friday morning. Hearings on the dispute will resume in the Fair Work industrial commission on Monday. Coles claim the pickets were illegal and the Victorian Farmers Federation has demanded that the Victorian state Labor government intervene in the dispute. Following whistleblower Chelsea Mannings recent suicide attempt, the US Army is vindictively threatening her with indefinite solitary confinement. Manning is incarcerated at a military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. She is serving a 35-year sentence for releasing 700,000 classified government documents, revealing widespread criminality, to WikiLeaks. Manning has been subject to nearly continuous harassment by military and prison authorities since her detention in 2010. On Thursday the former intelligence analyst, previously known as Bradley Manning, was informed that she could face charges related to her July 5 attempt to end her life, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The possible charges include resisting the force cell move team, possessing prohibited property and conduct which threatens. If convicted of these charges, Manning could be punished with indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification into maximum security and an additional nine years in custody. A conviction could also block any chances for parole in the future. This is pure and unadulterated cruelty. The army investigation is part of an ongoing campaign by the Obama administration to harass and torture Manning as punishment for her decision to expose crimes, and part of an effort to intimidate others from exposing government and military wrongdoing. The US military has used a range of methods to psychologically abuse Manning. Prior to her trial, she was put on suicide watch, forcing her to be confined to a small room for the majority of the day for roughly nine months. Manning later described the conditions in isolation as cruel, degrading, and inhumane, and effectively a no touch torture. A February 2014 study by the American Journal of Public Health found that there was a pronounced tendency toward suicide and self-harm among people placed in solitary confinement. The researchers noted that prisoners in New York City jails were seven times more likely to commit an act of self-harm than someone in the general population. The report also revealed that 73 percent of suicides in California prisons took place inside isolation units. Following the months of solitary confinement, Manning has continued to be hounded by the army and been forced to spend lengthy periods of time in solitary for minor infractions. Last year, the army almost sentenced Manning to be placed in solitary confinement indefinitely for possessing unauthorized reading material and an expired tube of toothpaste. The panel at the Fort Leavenworth military prison only decided to issue a lesser sentence of 21 days of restrictions on recreational activitiessuch as access to the gym and library and going outsideafter over 100,000 individuals signed a petition demanding that the charges against Manning be dropped. ACLU attorney Chase Strangio told the Huffington Post that Mannings big fear is formal isolation. She relies on access to phones and written communication. If that were cut off, Id be even more worried. Manningwho is a transgender woman, but is forced to serve her sentence in an all-male prisonhas also explained that she is extremely depressed as a result of the prisons refusal to provide treatment for her condition, known as gender dysphoria. She filed a lawsuit last year against the Department of Defense in order to receive treatment. As part of the lawsuit, Mannings lawyers stated in court documents that she suffered continued pain, depression and anxiety and is at an extremely high risk of self-castration and suicidality if she were not provided with some form of treatment. She was later provided with hormone therapy. The constant persecution has had a devastating effect on her mental state. The ACLUs Strangio explained, Now, while Chelsea is suffering the darkest depression she has experienced since her arrest, the government is taking actions to punish her for that pain. It is unconscionable and we hope that the investigation is immediately ended and that she is given the health care that she needs to recover. The ACLU has also stated that, The Army continues to deny Chelsea access to basic health care, including inadequate medical treatment after her suicide attempt. While Manning has been the victim of ongoing persecution, it cannot be discounted that the recent charges are part of an effort to further intimidate whistleblowers following WikiLeaks recent release of roughly 20,000 Democratic National Committee internal emails. Since the most recent release, the New York Times has denounced the leak as part of a convoluted plot between Russia, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Similar statements have been made by the Hillary Clinton campaign, which has sought to bolster Clintons credentials as the most reliable candidate on military and intelligence questions. At an extraordinary press conference on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a nine-point plan beefing up internal security. It will include more money and more personnel for the security authorities; closer collaboration with European and international secret services; joint exercises of the police and Bundeswehr (Armed Forces); the introduction of a national entry and exit register as well as the expedited deportation of asylum seekers. Merkel interrupted her summer holiday in order to hold the press conference and used the media- fomented hysteria following recent attacks in Germany to announce a law-and-order programme. Although the police investigation is still underway, Merkel spoke of Islamic terrorism, and described the attacks in Wurzburg and Ansbach as a breach of civilised taboos. Those pulling the strings, she threatened, would feel the full force of the law. In one breath, Merkel spoke of the attacks in Wurzburg and Ansbach, about the terrible terrorist attacks in Nice in France, of the attack in Orlando, USA and the murder of a French priest. The aim of the terrorists was to destroy our way of life, she said. They were sowing hatred and fear between cultures, and were sowing hatred and fear between religions, the Chancellor said. Merkel has so far been cautious in using the term war on terror. But now, she said Germany was fighting on the side of France and its other allies against terrorism. This was a fight or war on terror. Germany was making an important contribution with the Bundeswehrs Tornado jets. Merkel repeated her statement, We can do it! from last year, which at that time was seen as part of the so-called welcoming culture towards refugees. But at Thursdays press conference it sounded quite different. Merkel established a direct link between the attacks and the refugee issue, and thus contributed to the agitation against refugees. She found it shocking, distressing and depressing that the attacks in Wurzburg and Ansbach had been committed by refugees who sought protection in Germany or pretended to seek shelter. The perpetrators derided the country that has accepted them. Merkels political intentions can be seen by the fact that she equates the latest attacks in Wurzburg und Ansbach with the heinous attack in Nice on July 14when a 31-year-old drove a lorry into a crowd celebrating Bastille day, killing 84 people from 21 countries and injuring more than 300, some seriouslyand the attack on a gay club in Orlando on June 12 in which 49 people were killed and 53 injured. She is stoking up the fear of terrorism and whipping up xenophobic sentiments in order to implement the long-planned expansion of the powers of the security authorities, a stronger secret service and the deployment of the Bundeswehr domestically. While no doubt brutal, the attacks in Wurzburg and Ansbach had a different dimension than those in France and the US. In the German attacks, there were terrible injuries, but the only people to lose their lives were the perpetrators. In Wurzburg, a 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan attacked a group of travellers with an axe and a knife in a regional train, injuring four people. Shortly afterwards he was shot by SWAT officers. In Ansbach, an apparently mentally ill 27-year-old man, who had fled Syria to Germany last year, carried out a suicide attack. At the entrance to a music festival, he detonated an explosive device, killing himself and injuring 15 people, four seriously. Merkel referred to these attacks as breaching a civilizational taboo and linked them directly with the attacks in France and the US in order to justify stepping up domestic security and the deployment of the Bundeswehr within Germany. It is noteworthy that she only mentioned in passing the recent most serious act of violence in Germany, the shooting spree by an 18-year-old in Munich last Friday. A young man killed nine people, mainly youngsters, and injured 27 others, 10 of them seriously, in a McDonalds restaurant and a busy shopping centre in the Bavarian capital; then he shot himself. With reference to this, Merkel remarked only that murderous violence can happen to anyone and that is precisely why it is so terrible. The Munich killing spree does not fit into the propaganda war against Islamist terror. Initially, the media had speculated about a terrorist and Islamic background to the attack in Munich, but it soon became clear that the attack was the action of a right-wing radical individual who took his example from Anders Breivik, the far-right assailant responsible for the attacks in Oslo and Utoya. It is now known that the German-Iranian youth was an admirer of Adolf Hitler. Citing those close to the investigation, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the youth regarded it as a happy coincidence that he shared his birthday with the Fuhrer. His xenophobic utterances and expressions of sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) had not gone unnoticed. Merkel did not speak of a breach of civilizational taboos in this regard. She said not a word about the fact that the extreme right-wing and fascistic orientation of this young man cannot be understood separate from social developments, the constant fanning of anti-foreigner sentiments and the witch-hunting of Muslims. Instead, Merkel praised the behaviour of the Bavarian police and the security agencies. In reality, the Munich killing spree was utilised to carry out a massive police operation. This trivialisation and concealing of right-wing terror has a tradition in Germany. For example, in 1980 at the Oktoberfest terror attack in Munich, 12 people died and more than 200 were injured, some seriously. Despite much evidence pointing to the fact that a right-wing network was behind the attack, the investigators quickly decided on the narrative of a lone assassin. And between 2000-2007, the so-called National Socialist Underground (NSU), in the periphery of which the intelligence services and police had stationed two dozen undercover agents, murdered nine immigrants and a policewoman. Where state activities ended and right-wing terrorism began could not be clarified in several parliamentary committees or the NSU trial in Munich. Again and again, files were destroyed, witnesses died under mysterious circumstances and the domestic intelligence agents were not authorized to provide witness testimony. Now, a security apparatus that is riddled with links to the far right will be further expanded and strengthened. On the morning before Merkels government statement, the Bavarian state administration, which was holding a cabinet meeting at Tegernsee, announced its own extensive security package. It includes more posts and improved technical resources for the police, more staff at the prosecutors offices and courts and an expansion of video surveillance in public places and roads, at railway stations and on trains. In addition, the retention of internet data would be expanded. As well as telephone companies, those providing email services and social media will also be required to store traffic data. Moreover, the 10-week time limit for storing data will be significantly increased. Penalties for resisting police officers will be raised from six months up to five years imprisonment. When asked about the Bavarian security package, Merkel told the press conference: In these matters, we have much common ground. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull effectively ended the bid by Kevin Rudd, former Labor foreign minister and prime minister, to replace Ban Ki-moon as UN secretary general when he steps down in December. He bluntly told reporters yesterday that, in his considered judgment, Rudd was not qualified for the role. Turnbulls decision was not only a blow to Rudd, but was a slap in the face to Liberal deputy-party leader, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who had publicly declared that the former Labor leader was qualified for the UN job. At the first full cabinet meeting of the newly-elected Turnbull government on Thursday, Bishop, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, presented a submission supporting Rudds nomination. The issue has not only highlighted the deep divisions within Turnbulls fragile Liberal-National Coalition government, which is back in office after the July 2 election with the slenderest of marginsone seat in the lower house of parliament. It also raises the question as to Washingtons hand in events, amid mounting tensions between the US and China over the South China Sea. Rudd hit back yesterday by releasing correspondence with Turnbull dating back to April, which indicated that he had the prime ministers verbal support for his bid. He stated in his April letter that he had reasonable grounds for support of my candidature in critical capitals. After Turnbull changed his position on May 1, Rudd again wrote, pointing out that you have always said to me that the Australian government would be mad not to support my candidature. Despite Turnbulls opposition in May, Rudd continued his campaign. He claimed in a letter this week, seeking a last-minute meeting with the prime minister, that he had reached an agreement with Bishop to proceed with exploring my possible candidature. Turnbull turned down the request. Opposition within the Coalition to Rudds bid spilled into the open this week with a series of public statements before the cabinet meeting by senior ministers. Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos said on Monday that there would be a lot of people on our side of politics who say they have reservations about supporting Kevin. In remarks on Tuesday designed to make clear his opposition, Treasurer Scott Morrison declared that he couldnt possibly comment on whether Rudd was not eminently qualified for the job. Supporters of Tony Abbott, whom Turnbull ousted as prime minister last September, have been bitterly opposed. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton declared in April that Rudd was behaving like a pest. Kevin was never happy just running Australia. He believed he was always destined to run the world, he said. Kevins ego makes Donald Trumps look like a rounding error. The issue raises broader questions for the ruling elite about the ability of the Turnbull government to implement far tougher measuresin particular the austerity agenda being demanded by big business. The fractious first cabinet meeting of the new government made no decisions on any matters. The Australian s foreign editor Greg Sheridan, who has supported Rudds UN bid, wrote a scathing comment today declaring: The Liberals under Malcolm Turnbull now resemble Labor at its worst in the Rudd-Gillard yearsill-disciplined, rancorous, incapable of producing or sticking to good process, making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons, essentially paralysed. If the government can get itself into this much trouble over the simple matter of nominating Rudd for the UN, God help us when it confronts genuinely challenging decisions that require toughness, courage, skill and cabinet solidarity on matters of more importance to the national interest. Turnbull refused to elaborate yesterday on why he regarded Rudd as unqualified for the UN job. On paper at least, he has considerable experience firstly as a career diplomat fluent in Mandarin, then as foreign minister and prime minister. Former Liberal minister Eric Abetz, an Abbott loyalist, branded Rudd a narcissist, a micro-manager, an impulsive control freak and a psychopath. These remarks recall the accusations against Rudd as dysfunctional that were used by Julia Gillard to oust him as prime minister in mid-2010 in an overnight inner-party coup. Rudds removal, however, had nothing to do with his administrative skills. Rather he had alienated the Obama administration by calling for an accommodation between the US and China, right at the point when Washington was preparing to confront China and announce its pivot to Asia. Rudd was ousted by a handful of factional strongmen, including present opposition leader Bill Shorten, who were regarded by the US embassy as protected sources, behind the backs of the Labor cabinet and party, as well as the Australian population as a whole. Six years on, the US pivot and military preparations for war against China are far more advanced. Tensions between Washington and Beijing have sharply escalated following the ruling on July 12 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague finding in favour of a US-backed Philippine case challenging Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea. Rudds response was highlighted by an Asia Times comment yesterday entitled China-friendly Aussie ex-PM fails in UN Secretary General bid. In an interview on July 13, Rudd declared: Look I believe in the UN. I actually believe in multinational institutions. But the key issue we face is what do we do now in terms of resolving disputes in the South China Sea? And that, I think, is now a practical case of diplomacy and negotiations. The last thing that Washington wants is a resolution of disputes that it has been exploiting for the past five years to drive a wedge between Beijing and its neighbours and to justify a US naval build-up in these strategic waters. Last week former Labor opposition leader Kim Beazley, who was Australian ambassador to Washington and is well-connected in US ruling circles, urged a military response to The Hague ruling. He called on the Turnbull government to work back in freedom of navigation exercises within the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit around Chinese-administered islets in the South China Sea. Significantly, as well as proposing that Australia join the US in provocations against China, Beazley poured cold water on Rudds UN bid. Pointing to the push in the UN for a woman and someone from the Eastern Europe, he said: I dont know if it would be a sensible thing to stand against that and force through a candidate. The US Vice President Joe Biden was also in Australia last week for an unplanned visit following The Hague ruling to press the government to undertake freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. It is certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility that in his discussions with Turnbull and Bishop that Biden let it be known that Washington frowned on Rudds campaign to become UN secretary general. In a new US atrocity in Syria, American warplanes on Thursday bombed a market in the ISIS-controlled village of al-Ghandour near the northern city of Manbij, killing at least 28 civilians, including seven children. According to a report by one monitoring organization, an additional 13 people, possibly ISIS fighters, were killed in the airstrike. The latest mass killing occurred in the same region where, nine days before, the US military bombed a group of houses in the village of Tokhar, where nearly 200 people had gathered to seek refuge from fierce fighting between US-backed forces and ISIS militants near Manbij. Virtually all those inside the houses were killed or injured, with the reported civilian death toll varying from a low of 56 to a high of more than 200. That massacre was the single most deadly bombing attack on Syrian civilians inflicted by any warring party since the US launched its war to overthrow the Russian- and Iranian-allied regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad five years ago. Over 400,000 people have been killed and millions of civilians have been displaced and turned into refugees as a result of the US-instigated civil war. Thursday's deadly airstrike in al-Ghandour came one day after the US military announced it had initiated a formal inquiry into the July 19 bombing of Tokhar. Such inquiries are cynical whitewashes. It takes on average seven months for the release of a redacted version of the findings, which inevitably minimize the scale of the war crime and attribute it to inadvertent errors. Following the attack on al-Ghandour, the US Central Command issued its standard, pro forma denial: We take all measures during the targeting process to avoid or minimize civilian casualties or collateral damage and to comply with the principles of the law of armed conflict. The contempt of the US government for the Syrian people and indifference to the mass suffering it inflicts are summed up by the absurdly low figures it gives on civilian casualties from American airstrikes. The US Central Command this week released the results of its investigations into civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria over the past year and concluded that only 14 civilians had been killed in six separate US attacks. Washington claims its bombs have caused a total of 55 civilian deaths since the US-led air war against ISIS was launched two years ago. But groups that maintain a tally of the civilian toll, such as Amnesty International and Airwars, say the real figure is at least 10 times the US number, and could be far higher. Amnestys researcher for the region, Neil Sammonds, puts civilian deaths from attacks by the US-led coalition at over 1,500 across Iraq and Syria. Following Thursdays attack on Tokhar, Sammonds told the Guardian newspaper, Levels of civilian killings from the coalition are so high now, we are edging towards the 1,000 figures, and they dont disclose it, they are covering it up They dismiss evidence pointing to civilian casualties if it hasnt been captured from the sky by their own operatives, so even if there are photographs of scores and scores of dead bodies, with names, its still discounted. The Syrian Network for Human Rights, which is part of the anti-Assad opposition, says coalition strikes have killed more than 400 civilians in Syria alone. In 2015, a London-based group of journalists released a report saying that in the coalitions first 12 months of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, it killed 459 civilians in 57 incidents. Even US-backed opposition groups in Syria denounced Thursdays attack as a massacre. The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in a statement posted on Twitter declared, The international coalition committed a new massacre in the Manbij countryside when it bombed the area of Al-Ghandora yesterday, killing dozens of people, among them children. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the civilians in Tokhar were killed when the warplanes of the international coalition committed a massacre in the town of al-Ghandour in the northwestern countryside of Manbij city east of Aleppo province and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation. The US claim that war crimes such as the July 19 bombing of Tokhar and the July 28 attack on al-Ghandour are merely accidents is a lie. Following the Tokhar airstrikes, the SNC sent a letter to the foreign ministers of the coalitions member nations demanding immediate suspension of the coalitions military operations to allow for a thorough investigation of that attack. The US flatly refused. Washington considers winning control of Manbij, a strategic transit point in the governorate of Aleppo between Turkey and the ISIS capital of Raqqa, to be critical to the campaign against ISIS. It is backing Kurdish-dominated forces fighting ISIS in the region. More importantly, the US is desperate, whatever the cost in Syrian lives, to prevent Russian-backed Syrian government forces from driving Washingtons Islamist proxy forces out of Aleppo, the most populous Syrian city before the outbreak of the civil war. Assads forces in recent days made a strategic advance in their battle to take control of the besieged city by closing off the last remaining supply route to the rebel-held eastern half. In response to government gains in recent weeks, the US has sharply escalated its lethal attacks on both military and civilian targets. Chris Woods, director of Airwars, told the Guardian, We tracked a huge increase in civilian deaths [from coalition airstrikes] in Syria in June above May, a rise of 72 percent from the previous month. Woods says at least 210 civilians have been killed by coalition airstrikes in the battle for Manbij alone. On Thursday, the leader of the al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, announced that the group was reconstituting itself under the name Levant Conquest Front and severing its formal ties to Al Qaeda. He said the decision, which was praised by the Al Qaeda leadership, was aimed at ending US and Russian bombing of its forces in Syria. Al-Nusra is the main fighting force opposing Assad and a de facto ally of the United States, although Washington lists it as a terrorist organization and agreed to formally exclude it from a partial ceasefire it reached with Russia last February. In practice, various supposedly moderate Islamist groups openly backed by Washington fight alongside al-Nusra against Assad. Also on Thursday, Russian and Syrian officials announced a plan to allow opposition fighters and civilians in Aleppo safe passage out of the city. They said the plan included an offer of amnesty to insurgents who laid down their arms and food and accommodation to any of the 300,000 civilians trapped in the devastated and food-deprived city who chose to leave. The United States immediately denounced the plan, with US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power calling it chilling. What Washington finds chilling is not the prospect of more bloodshed and perhaps thousands dying of starvation and lack of fresh water, but a decisive defeat of its Al Qaeda-linked proxy forces. The Jackson County Sheriffs Department will offer a child identification program at this years fair. The department will offer the free SafeAssured ID child program Wednesday through Saturday of the fair in the Milt Lunda Memorial Arena. The SafeAssured ID system allows local law enforcement the necessary information and tools to assist parents with being prepared for unforeseen and unfortunate crimes against their children. The SafeAssured privacy-protected mini-CD offers a single repository of important information: All 10 electronically imaged fingerprints. A digital photograph. Streaming video showing mannerisms and gait with linked audio file providing the childs voice inflection and accent. Private information general physical description, street address, date of birth, life-threatening medical conditions, identifying scars or marks and tattoos. The ability to create missing person poster from the mini-CD. Families also receive a full-color photo data card and a parents guidebook with prevention tips, written in conjunction with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The departments arena booth will be open from 6-10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 3, from 1-4 p.m. on Thursday and from 1-5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The department also plans to again hold a K-9 demonstration that will showcase the departments K-9 handlers and their partners trailing and drug detection. Specific dates and times for the demonstrations have not yet been set. For more information, call the sheriffs department at (715) 284-9009. According to statistics made available by the University of Texas at Austin, nearly 7,000 people have died in police custody or in prison in Texas since 2005. The information is contained in an online database published by the schools Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis (IUPRA). The Texas Justice Initiative was created by Amanda Woog, a postdoctoral fellow in IUPRA. The data set spans 11 years and contains interactive features, including the names, ages, demographics, time and cause of death. The release of the data comes amid a relentless campaign by the media to delegitimize protests against police violence in the wake of the shootings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. However, it further substantiates the case that the systematic and endemic brutality on the part of the police against the US population is on the rise. According to the latest figures available, police have killed 551 in the US so far this year. Virtually no one has been held accountable for this toll. This includes officers in Baltimore involved in the death of Freddie Grey, who have now been cleared by the prosecutors office. According to the University of Texas study, 6,913 people died in custody in the state between 2005 and 2015, an average of 628 per year. Of those deaths, 1,900 were individuals who had never been charged with a crime. Sixty-eight percent of deaths occurred in prisons. Significantly, 1,118 people died in police custody before booking. Of those, 562 deaths were classified as justifiable homicides, a catch-all category that includes victims of police violence. Another 16 percent were classified as suicides and 7 percent as accidental injury. Ninety percent of these victims had not been charged with any crime. And deaths in police custody are rising. The year 2015 saw the most deaths in custody, with 683 fatalities. Justifiable homicide was the leading cause of nonnatural death for African-American and Latino men, accounting for 30 and 34 percent of nonnatural deaths respectively. Suicide was the leading cause of nonnatural death for white males, accounting for 411 deaths since 2005. According to the database, 41 percent of those who died in jails had been in custody for seven or fewer days. Altogether 772 people, 11 percent of the total, died from suicide; 275 (4 percent) died from alcohol or drug intoxication and 255 (4 percent) from other reasons. While whites made up 31 percent of the Texas prison population they accounted for 42 percent of prison deaths. Ninety percent died of natural causes, but the median age of those who died was far lower than the 72-year life expectancy of the average Texan. The huge fatality rate points to the extreme brutality of the criminal justice system in the United States, where those accused of crimes, mostly poor and working class, are treated with cruelty and indifference. Texas in particular is known for its harsh treatment of prisoners. The state carries out more executions than any other US state. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Texas has carried out 537 executions since 1976 with a current death row population of 263. Between 2005 and 2015, the time of the study, the state executed 195 people. According to the Sentencing Project, Texas has a prison population of 158,000, with a prison incarceration rate of 584 per 100,000 people. Another 66,000 are held in jails. Jennifer Laurin, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin spoke with the World Socialist Web Site Friday about the Texas Justice Initiative. I am proud of the work that has gone into this project and that the University of Texas can lay claim to this important initiative, she said. I think it is an extremely significant project that contributes to the understanding about police use of force and deaths in custody. The state of Texas required after the last legislative session that reports be submitted on deaths in custody to the attorney generals office. It is unusual for police departments to make that data available. The contribution of the Texas Justice Initiative was to make that data usable. What this does is render it comprehensible to researchers and the public who want to know what police departments are doing. By way of contrast she pointed to the Obama administrations open data initiative. It is useless, she said. It is not in an intelligible format. She said that, from her experience, obstacles to the prosecution of law enforcement personnel relating to deaths in custody were difficult for plaintiffs or prosecutors to overcome. The existence of more data can create leverage, she added, especially if you can see a consistent uptick over time. In a recent highly publicized case, Sandra Bland, a vocal opponent of police violence, died in an East Texas jail in July 2015 under mysterious circumstances. According to the official version of events, she used a trash bag to hang herself in her jail cell. A few days earlier police had arrested her in a brutal manner, without cause, following a traffic stop. Her death was included in the total of 1,111 who died in jail during the time covered by the study and is listed as suicide. Blands family, however, rejected the possibility that she committed suicide. Whatever happened in that Texas jail cell, the police are ultimately responsible. The harsh treatment meted out to Bland is not atypical. According to a report, in the 17 days following Blands death another four black women died in police custody in states across the US. Most had been in jail for two days maximum, held on minor charges like shoplifting. Researchers compiled the data used in the IUPRA study from figures reported to the Texas attorney generals office. The only other state where similar data has been compiled appears to be California. According to those figures 684 died annually in police custody between 2005 and 2014, about the same annual number as Texas, although the population of California is 50 percent larger (38 million) than the population of Texas (26 million). Of the 6,837 deaths in custody in California, 984, 14 percent, were at the hands of law enforcement officers. Minnesota Democrats headed home Friday from their national convention with plenty of questions about how presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will affect down-ballot contests in November. There are no statewide races in Minnesota this year. But feelings about Clinton, as well as Republican nominee Donald Trump, could influence voter turnout and the results of some congressional and legislative races. Clinton supporters see her as a strong candidate who will help other Democrats on the ballot. They also believe negative feelings about Trump will help their cause. In the metro-area 3rd Congressional District, Lana Slavitt, a Clinton delegate from Edina, noted that Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen has said he would support his partys presidential nominee. Congressional District 3 is not a district that is going to go for Donald Trump, Slavitt said. So I actually think Hillary Clinton really helps us in that district. It could be a much different story in parts of rural Minnesota, where opposition to Clinton and support for Trump are stronger. Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin said the presidential campaign is already factoring into legislative races. As much as our candidates would like to talk about local issues, what were already seeing at the door is that theyre pulled into conversations about the national issues and the presidential race. So, theres no doubt it will have an impact on those races. The presidential race drives voter turnout. Thats a point of concern for Democrats who have not yet achieved the unity they stressed this week in Philadelphia. Many Bernie Sanders supporters say they still arent ready to commit to voting for Clinton or helping her get elected. Karl Keene, a Sanders delegate from Moorhead, said the party has a lot of work to do to reach those people. A lot of the people Ive talked to are not happy with either candidate and are going to go another option, whether its Libertarian or Green Party, Keene said. Some are going to just write in. Some have also threatened to sit out the election. Thats why Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton spent time in Philadelphia this week imploring Sanders supporters to get past their disappointment and support Clinton. Dayton said their support is crucial. These are party leaders, also influence leaders in the party, the governor said. What they say about the convention, what they say about the experience they had, what they say about Secretary Clinton is going to influence a lot of people back in their home districts. Back in Minnesota, legislative leaders from both parties are trying to calculate the impact of the presidential race as part of their campaign strategy. All 201 seats are on the ballot, and majority control of the House and Senate is on the line. Republican Senate Minority Leader David Hann of Eden Prairie is predicting that Clintons unpopularity will help his caucus pick up seats. Obviously shes going to get the hard core, committed Democrat vote, the 30 percent of the people who vote Democrat no matter who is on the ticket, Hann said. But you look at the people who are uncommitted, the undecideds, the people who are independents. Im not sure Hillary Clinton is going to attract many of those people. Clinton is doing better in the suburbs than in rural areas, said DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook, Minn. But Bakk said he thinks the DFL incumbents in greater Minnesota will be fine. I think theyll be judged on their own record, he said. I dont think theyre going to be judged on Secretary Clintons record either as a senator or first lady or a secretary of state. Having incumbent members, I think, distinguishes them from other candidates. Bakk said he thinks Clintons popularity over Trump in the suburbs could help the DFL pick up some districts. His list includes Hann, the Senate minority leader. You look at the people who are uncommitted, the undecideds, the people who are independents. Im not sure Hillary Clinton is going to attract many of those people. David Hann, Republican Senate Minority Leader YAKIMA, Wash. -- More people are working in solar energy jobs in Yakima County in 2016 as increasing numbers of homeowners, businesses and non Coulee Region kids are invited to show off their dance skills, refuel with a healthy treat and snap pictures with Daniel Tiger during the annual Get Up and Go Day on Aug. 6 at the La Crosse Public Library. The PBS and Wisconsin Public Television promoted event is free and focuses on physical activity and healthy lifestyles. Mistys Dance Studio, Root Down Yoga and the YMCA will lead activities including Zumba and karate, while Mayo Clinic will offer tips on healthy eating and provide snacks. Crafts will also be available. A library staff member will suit up as Daniel Tiger, a cartoon character with his own spin-off of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Daniel Tiger continues the tradition of make believe and imagination, said Jewel Aagaard, assistant to youth services at the La Crosse Public Library. I dressed up as Word Girl last year, which was thrilling. You cant help but have a good time. The event has attracted 150 to 400 kids ranging in age from 3 to 12 in previous years. Aagaard encourages parents and older children to come along. The little kids have a good time with the Zumba and the yoga, but the big kids can really excel at them, she said. Its fun to see how animated the kids get. There is a lot of energy and exuberance in one location. Three lots are gleaming white on a mountain range peppered with olive trees. Several weeks ago, a power shovel disrupted the pastoral quiet as it worked to prepare the ground near Umm al-Fahm for farming. But while the land has now been deemed fit for agricultural use, it has not been qualified by law. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The development of these lots was done without the proper planning and permits. After all, why does one need building permits when no one enforces the law? A large house stands next to the three new lots, 600 square meters (some 6,500 square feet) in size, whose illegal construction began in 2003. 13 years later and despite demolition orders and a series of judicial decisions, the house remains standingfor the glory of the State of Israel. As stones do, the house built by Sheikh Abed Aghbariyya remains silent, but its walls laugh in scorn at the police, the court and the State Attorney's Office. It was State Attorney Shai Nitzan who put the house in the spotlight. "You cannot overstate the importance of carrying out the (demolition) order in a case that has become a touchstone for our ability to maintain and protect the rule of law and enforce the law without fear or bias," Nitzan wrote to former Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino in December 2014 in a long letter titled "Police assistance in carrying out a demolition order in Umm al-Fahm, Abed Aghbariya." Abed Aghbariya's illegal house near Umm al-Fahm (Photo: Regavim NGO) The order Niztan is referring to is a judicial demolition order issued back in 2007. Not only was it not executed, but Aghbariya has since built a second floor and even populated the house despite a court order prohibiting the use of the building. The District Court rejected Aghbariya's appeal against the demolition order, determining that "It is impossible not to marvel at the audacity of the petitioners on the one hand, and the inadequacyor perhaps weaknessof state authorities on the other, which has resulted in a public and open violation, for many years, of both the prohibitions set out in the Planning and Building Law and of judicial decisions." The problem is that authorities have continued exhibiting laxness and repeatedly asked for a postponement in the execution of the demolition, to the point where the courts had to intervene: "One must remember that failing to carry out the judicial demolition order for years constitutes a violation of the rule of law and is tantamount to contempt of court orders. The longer it takes to execute the judicial order, the bigger the damage done to the rule of law." The criminal is rewarded So what prevents law enforcement authorities from carrying out the demolition order? Nitzan's letter clearly points to thisthe lack of police assistance. "I ask, therefore, that you instruct the relevant bodies to provide police assistance as soon as possible ... if the order is not carried out, it would be a disgrace to the rule of law!" the state attorney wrote to the police commissioner. What kind of police assistance is needed? When there is concern that the demolition of an illegal structure could deteriorate to violence, the inspectors need to be accompanied by police. The police, low on manpower and wary of setting the area aflame, is not keen on providing assistance for the demolition of illegal structures. Over the years, this has gradually led to the chaotic situation that exists today. According to Yishai Hemo of the NGO Regavim (The National Land Protection Trust), which tracks illegal constructions in the Arab sector, the situation in northern Israel and especially in Wadi Ara is rather grave. Hemo claims that over 50,000 illegal structures have been built in northern Israel, 10,000 of which in Wadi Ara alone. Every year, the construction of some 3,000 illegal structures begins. Regavim even petitioned the High Court of Justice in early 2015 against Haifa's District Planning and Building Committee, demanding that the demolition order against Aghbariyya be enforced, but the court decided not to intervene. And it's not just right-wing organizations that are worried about the lack of enforcement. "For several years now, illegal structures have not been demolished in our area," says an Arab member of another District Planning and Building Committee in northern Israel. "When there are no demolitions, there is no deterrence, and when there is no deterrence, dozens of new illegal structures are built every year." It's the general Arab population that pays the price for this. "In recent years, there has been a significant attempt to advance construction in our sector, but by the time the plans were approved, they were no longer relevant, because illegal structures had already been built on that land. This reality left authorities with no choice but to prepare new plans, at the expense of taxpayers. This means that a criminal who built his home illegally, for example where a road was planned to serve all residents, is being rewarded. We have to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, most of the chairpersons of the District Planning and Building committees are politicians afraid of confronting (those who build illegally) who refrain from signing demolition orders. And when they do sign these orders, the police doesn't help carry them out." Israel's governments throughout the years have also tried to combat the phenomenon with a series of decisions meant to give the Israel Police the tools it needs to assist in the enforcement of these orders. A government decision from 2004 titled "Increasing Enforcement of the Planning and Building Law" instructed the Israel Police to form a special unit called the Coordination Directorate of Land Law Enforcement. The unit was allocated a generous budget of 26 million shekels a year and manned with 114 police officers. According to the government decision, the unit's police officers were to deal strictly with land law enforcement. The government also set clear objectives for the unit, namely, "Aiding in structure demolition operations by providing the required police force to carry out the demolition, with no less than 501 demolitions a year." In 2007, the State Comptroller examined the implementation of the decision. The comptroller found that in certain areas in the north, particularly in Wadi Ara, "most of the requests made by supervisory bodies for police assistance remained unanswered and as a result the demolitions were not carried out." In general, the comptroller determined, "the Coordination Directorate of Land Law Enforcement was not meeting its objectives." The comptroller, however, did not put the blame on the unit, but on the various police districts that failed to grant the necessary approvals for the operations. In light of the comptroller report, the government increased the unit's required amount of demolitions, further requiring the police to file a report every quarter detailing the demolitions that were carried out and threatening to close down the unit should it continue failing to meet its objectives. And then, like magic, reports with imaginary numbers appeared on the government's desk. For example, a letter submitted on behalf of the police commissioner to the Public Security Ministry claimed that in 2012, Israel Police was tasked with demolishing 666 structures but demolished 1,671meaning, a 251 percent execution rate. "These numbers do not conform to realityand I know what happens on the ground well," said a building supervisor in the north. "The police count every pillar in a building, or every little shed as an illegal structure." The unit, meanwhile, claims the numbers are not inflated and that every structure that was demolished was only counted once. Over the years, the unit presented the following numbers: In 2013, police were required to demolish 732 structures but managed to demolish 2,906. In 2014, police were required to demolish 805 structures and demolished 2,481. In 2015, the police were required to demolish 886 structures and demolished 1,904. The police refused to provide information on how many structures were demolished in each district or sector, and so the data presented included all the demolitions carried out throughout the country. At a directorate conference, however, entirely different numbers were presented. A screenshot obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth, Ynet's sister publication, from a PowerPoint presentation shows that in 2014, for example, only 19 demolitions were carried out with the assistance of the Israel Police. What could be behind this gap? For one, the reports that the unit produced for the police commissioner specifically stated that the numbers released publicly included demolitions carried out by the owners of the illegal structures themselves. In 2014, for example, 59 percent of the demolitions were done by the illegal home owners. But somewhere along the journey from the police commissioner's desk to the Public Security Ministry and from there to the government, the distinction between demolitions carried out by the home owners and those done with assistance from the police disappeared. The bottom line is that the Israeli government, which receives inflated data, continues investing 26 million shekels every year in the unit in return for police assistance in less than 20 demolitions a year. This while documents obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth show that in 2015, the government also received a report claiming the unit's success rate stood at hundreds of percents. Zero demolitions The Coordination Directorate claims that the demolitions done by the illegal home owners are included in the report because the Israel Police invests resources in negotiating and encouraging them to carry out the demolitions themselves. To examine the validity of this claim, we look again to Abed Aghbariyya. On May 5, 2015, after Shai Nitzan's scathing letter and after court orders ruled the house must be demolished, a meeting was held in secret, kept from the State Attorney's Office. Evidence of this meeting can be found in an internal document that leaked and was obtained by the Regavim NGO. Abed Aghbariyya and the commander of the Umm al-Fahm police station were both present at the meeting. "The Umm al-Fahm station commander, Chief Superintendent Rami Yadaan, agrees to refrain from carrying out the demolition before May 30, 2015," the document summarizing the meeting stated. "On the other hand, the gentlemen, on behalf of the entire family, commit to demolishing the house themselves if the legal procedure is not successful by the aforementioned date, without the involvement of police or other authorities." The agreement signed between the Umm al-Fahm police commander and Aghbariyya. Had this agreement been honored, it would have been a wonderful example of how police force encourages illegal home owners to carry out the demolitions themselves. Except that May 30, 2015, has come and gone, and for over a year now the police has been avoiding enforcing its part of the agreement by demolishing the house. Some are angry not just about the violation of the agreement, but about the very fact such a meeting took place. "It's very serious that the police are holding meetings that are being kept from us," an official from the State Attorney's Office said. "This meeting constitutes negotiations with a criminal after the court has already ruled on the case. We demanded that the police clarify the matter, but have yet to receive a response." According to officials in the supervisory bodies, police are not involved in most of the demolitions done by the illegal home owners. "The police call us asking for information on demolitions by illegal home owners because not only do they not know the process, they don't even have a clue as to how many such demolitions have happened," a senior official said. "It's really easy to count every farming shed or balcony in Ra'anana that were demolished without police assistance. Of course, demolitions by the home owners are preferable to a confrontation and cost the state a lot less, but the numbers point to a considerable drop in such demolitions. Demolitions by illegal home owners don't happen where there is no enforcement." "In Umm al-Fahm, it's been three years now with not a single demolition. Zero demolitions. Why? Because there are planning and building committees that don't function and there is no police assistance. That's what the Coordination Directorate was created for. And the problem is not necessarily the unitwhich is trying to meet its objectivesbut the police district commanders. They're the ones who need to authorize the demolition operations and command over them. But a district commander wants peace and quiet, not to set the area ablaze. We've had instances where a large-scale demolition operation was organized, bulldozers were rented for hundreds of thousands of shekels, but the information about the impending operation leaked and the police canceled it at the last moment." Nabil Dahar, the Chairperson of the Lev HaGalil Planning and Construction Committee, has given up on receiving police assistance. Several months ago, Dahar decided to carry out demolitions without police assistance. He hired the services of a private security company and demolished several illegal structures. During one of these demolitions, matters deteriorated to serious violence and police had to intervene. Following that incident, and after Dahar insisted he will not stop carrying out the demolition orders, the local police started fully cooperating with him. "Today we have excellent cooperation with the police and we can already see the results on the ground. Take, for example, Arrabaevery month we'd find 10 new illegal structures there. Today, it's barely one a month," he said. A team appointed by the Attorney General to examine solutions to the problem of illegal construction filed its report in January 2016. The team, led by Deputy Attorney General Erez Kaminski, was asked to examine the issue of police assistance, among other things. "The State Attorney's Office, the Coordination Directorate of Land Law Enforcement, and the Israel Land Authority have repeatedly emphasized the difficulty in receiving police assistance ... the information presented did indeed point to requests for police assistance that received no response, mostly in the non-Jewish sector ... the team was unable to bridge the gap between claims on the lack of proper assistance from the police in the execution of the orders, and the Israel Police's claims that it provides optimal assistance in accordance with requirements. Furthermore, the team had difficulty obtaining accurate information on the issue." "This is a conciliatory report," said one of the members of that team. "We realized there was no point in reprimanding the police for inflating the numbers because we have to keep working with them." "Yes, the information from the different bodies did not match," Kaminski confirmed. "Everyone realizes there is a problem and everyone wants to change things. Our goal is to point to cases in which there is a systematic violation of the law, to which the police will commit at the beginning of every year to demolish under the supervision of a special team made up of representatives of all enforcement authorities. We've started working under this framework and we can already see the difference." Is Aghbariya seen as a sort of symbol? "Aghbariya's house symbolizes the bad reputation of the Planning and Building Law, which turned into the 'Building and Planning Law.' First, illegal structures are built, and then the planning is done around them. Eventually, the aggressive conduct of that gentleman, as a systematic violator of orders, made the planning and building committee lean in his favor. Unfortunately, the Umm al-Fahm planning authorities have already recommended authorizing a plan that would legalize his house." With this recommendation, Aghbariya turned to the Hadera Magistrate's Court last March and demanded to freeze the demolition order because, he claimed, there is a chance his house will receive legal status. Unlike the district court, the Magistrate's Court judge accepted the request and froze the demolition order for a year. The State Attorney's Office was quick to appeal the decision to the Haifa District Court, which then overruled the decision and determined the house must be demolished. Law enforcement authorities have been trying to carry out the demolition, but once again the police force prevented it. This led the Regavim NGO to send a harsh letter to the police. Meanwhile, Aghbariya has been pressuring the District Planning and Building Committee to legalize the house. Kaminski sent a letter to the committee, urging it not to legalize the structure. "However, I fear that in the end it will," said Kaminski. "And I want to tell planning authorities that they too should safeguard the rule of law. It is particularly acute in Aghbariya's case, as he became a symbol of undermining the rule of law." The Israel Police has responded by saying, "The Coordination Directorate of Land Law Enforcement combines activities in the field of planning and building and land offenses all over the country, including carrying out demolition orders alongside encouraging illegal home owners to carry out the demolitions themselves. The results of these activities indicate the unit is meeting its objectives, even beyond the objectives set in its work plan by the government. Any attempt to distort the work and create gaps in information by presenting partial data from one body or another while leaving out the Israel Police's professional cooperation with all of its partners and especially its encouraging illegal house owners to carry out the demolitions, sins against the truth and presents a false display that should be rejected out of hand." At the entrance to the small military courtroom in Jaffa, on a heightened platform, stands a video projector. It shows a video that was taken during the Hebron shooting involving Sgt. Elor Azaria . Prosecutor Lt. Col. Nadav Weisman occasionally interrupts the cross-examination of Azaria by having the video shown again. Its projected on the courtrooms back wall, in front of the judges. Azaria moves away so as to not block the lights path. He tries not to watch. Hes bored. Weisman asks Azaria what the video tells him. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Azaria doesnt look at Wiesmans face. You can show me the video frame-by-frame, you can show it to me a thousand times, he tells the prosecutor, I will only testify about what I saw. Its heart-wrenching in a way. Azaria went through a long interrogation at the IDF's Criminal Investigation Division (CID). Then he went through testimony training with his lawyers. They prepared him by repeating questions they would be asking, and questions they thought the prosecution might ask. Repeatedly. Sgt. Elor Azaria in court (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Then all manner of supporters joined in, offering their advice: Family members, political activists and politicians, assorted well-wishers. Questions and answers, suggestions and ideas. Say this, dont say that. And by the time Azaria reached the stand, it all mixed into a mush in his head. I dont remember, he has repeatedly answered the prosecutor. Why are you squirming? Col. Maya Heller, head of the judging panel, castigated the sergeant, If you dont answer, we wont understand. But Azaria held his ground: I dont remember. In Hebron he acted like a forward thinker. In Jaffa, he cant think very far back. Thats what hes been told to do, and hes doing it. Its not really Azaria whos on trial in Jaffa, but his commanders, and in factthe entire defense establishment. From the defense minister at the time of the incident (Moshe Yaalon), down the ranks. The decision to go on the (legal) offensiveto shift the blame from Azaria to the establishment, to turn the suspect into a victim, is a matter of routine. Defense lawyers have always done it. But in Azarias case its especially significant. From day one, Azaria received a lot of public adoration. Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to his father on the phone; Avigdor Lieberman appeared at the courtroom; the media, quick to adopt any shift in public opinion, embraced the family. Marx said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. The Azaria sympathy campaign is a repeat of the Gilad Shalit campaign : The same tear-inducing images, the same spirit of populism. Azaria has become our boy. The defense has been successful with getting the Israeli street on its side. This means, among other things, that hundreds of thousands of shekels were donated to Azaria in just about two days, and will keep his defense lawyers financially secured for a while. The question is how much will public opinion influence the court. Azaria could have based his defense on the argument that says he was confused and made a mistake. He said this in his testimony as well, but it was a marginal part. His main claim is, basically, that he is a scapegoat. The guard at the gate whose lying commanders are covering their own behinds and leaving him to take the blame. Hes basically Alfred Dreyfus. Head judge Col. Maya Heller (Photo: Yariv Katz) Legally speaking, this is a gamble. Supposedly, the defense is forcing the judges to decide between Azaria and IDF Chief of Staff Eisenkot: If one is clean, the others dirty. But the court could, of course, ignore this and act as if the accusations leveled at the IDFs high command dont exist. The public campaign surrounding the trial puts part of the Israeli political right in opposition to the IDF. This should not surprise us: Settlers have been conducting a campaign opposing the IDFs authority for years. But this is something deeper and more far-reaching. The state and its institutions are losing their sacred halo, not just in the eyes of the radical left, but also with the right. Chief of Staff Eisenkot warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the dangers of politicians interference in strictly military matters. These warnings are better said by a prime minister or defense minister, not a man in uniform, but Eisenkot is nonetheless correct. Those who wish to have a gang ethos should say so, he said. And indeed, that is what the campaign for the Hebron soldier tells us: A gang ethos is what the people desire. Two Chicago officers involved in a shooting that left a suspect dead were relieved of their police powers even as the case is still being investigated, police say. The shooting occurred during a stolen vehicle investigation. Chicago police said that officers stopped a stolen Jaguar convertible Thursday evening in the city's South Shore neighborhood and were exiting their own vehicle when the driver sped away, sideswiping a squad car and a parked vehicle in the process. The two officers fired their weapons, wounding O'Neal, who was pronounced dead at a hospital. The department said some officers were injured, but that their injuries were not considered life-threatening. "At this moment the department has, unfortunately, more questions than we do answers," Guglielmi said. O'Neal was black; police have not provided information on the officers' races. A 27-year-old detainee at the "Holot" asylum seeker detention center has been evacuated in severe condition via Air Force helicopter. The man, originally from Eritrea, collapsed after complaining of feeling ill. He was transferred to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva for treatment. At present no more is known about his condition. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech Friday that was broadcast in South Lebanon, warning against deteriorating ties between Arab nations and coming out against talks with Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "We are currently in the worst official state the Arab League has known in the last hundred years. There are, in fact, no nations, countries, Arab League or national Arab security." Hezbollah Secretary General Nasrallah (Photo: AFP / AL MANAR) Nasrallah criticized the Arab League's softening stance regarding Israel, saying, "Based on the Arab League's summit meetings, these days Israel is (no longer) officially considered the Arab League's enemy, while Palestine has become an obligatory burden." Saudi Arabia was particularly mentioned in Nasrallah's speech, as he said that "the worst and most important development in this matter is Saudi Arabia taking its relationship with Israel from a clandestine connection to a public one." Nasrallah mentioned retired Saudi general Anwar Eshki's visit to Jerusalem , reportedly to promote the 2002 Arab peace initiative, as one example of warming ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. He also referred to meetings between Saudi Prince Turki al- Faisal with Israeli officials. "None of this could have happened without the Saudi government's approval," said Nasrallah. "We know how things are run there, where people are punished with lashes for tweeting." His speech emphasized that the current change lies not in beginning talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but in making their existing talks public. He stated that "Saudi Arabia is set to recognize Israel" and while it is moving to normalize its connection to Israel, Saudi Arabia is setting conditions for Yemen, Bahrain and Syria before doing the same with them. He also claimed that Saudi Arabia has a vested interest in continuing the fighting in the abovementioned countries and is therefore postponing any dialogue between themselves and the Arab countries. "The Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs (Adel al-Jubeired.) has declared himself to be the one controlling Syria," said Nasrallah. "His proposal to Russia, (suggesting to divide Syrian controled.) is embarrassing and laughable. We are here to tell the Saudis they cannot win this war or impose their rules upon us." Nasrallah placed the blame for the recent terrorist attack in Europe on Saudi Arabia. "The man who slaughtered a priest in France may have been from ISIS, but he comes from culture. Those attacking in Nice, Germany, Iraq and Kabul, as well as those killing Palestinian children in Aleppo were all raised on your Wahabi culture. Your plan in this area has no future." He called upon Saudi Arabia to refocus its energy on working with its Arab allies. "Do not condescend and do not let hatred blind you. Be a partner in the effort to find a regional solution." Hamas has begun handing out plots of the land to 40,000 civil servants loyal to the Islamic militant group, to make up for millions of dollars in salaries it owes them for the past two years. The land giveaway is the latest sign that Hamas is struggling financially after almost a decade of uncontested power in the coastal strip. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Gazans grumble about a lack of jobs, constant electricity shortages and a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt that has confined the territory's 1.8 million people to the tiny strip. The World Bank has rated Gazan unemployment at 38 percent. Building materials in Gaza (Photo: AP) Since 2014, Hamas' main problem has been a dire lack of cash amid Egypt's clampdown on smuggling tunnels underneath Gaza's border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Before the tunnels closed, Hamas received millions of dollars from taxes on smuggled consumer goods, including subsidized Egyptian fuel. Earlier this week, earth-moving equipment dug into a high hill near Khan Younis, scooping out sand and loading it into trucks at the site designated for the Al-Isra 2 housing project. The new land giveaway allows each group of four Hamas employees to share a 500-square-meter plot that they can either build on or sell. Even the sand collected on the land can be sold for about $100 a truckload. About 13,000 civil servants have already signed up for certificates attesting to their ownership of the plots. Bulldozers are working to get three initial projects launched in August. Most of the land was once a part of Jewish settlements in southern Gaza, near the towns of Rafah and Khan Younis. The settlements were demolished when Israel pulled settlers and soldiers from the coastal strip in 2005. Riham Khalil, one of the civil servants, said Hamas owes her 64,000 shekels (about $17,000) in back salaries. Last month, she and three of her colleagues were allocated a 500-square-meter plot in Al-Isra 2. "We had to accept it on a 'bird in the hand' basis because there was no cash," she said. "I wish I could find someone to buy the land and get the money." Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said the land giveaway is a temporary fix and "not yet a strategic one," which would solve the group's financial problems for good. After West Bank-based Fatah leader and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas lost Gaza in 2007 following the Hamas' takeover, he agreed to form a unity government with Hamas for both Gaza and the West Bank as an attempt to heal the split. The deal stalled, though, in part because Abbas refused to add the 40,000 employees hired by Hamas since 2007 to the payroll of his Palestinian Authority. In time, Hamas resorted to paying its loyalists 40 percent of their salaries at 50 day intervals. If Abbas had put Hamas employees on his payroll, he would have likely encountered major problems with donor governments, including the United States, suspicious of money ending up in the pockets of Hamas, which much of the West considers a terrorist group. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has voiced its criticism of the land-for-money program. "No one has the authority to issue decisions to privatize government-owned land in the public interest, except for President Abbas," said PA spokesman Jamal Dajani. He dismissed Hamas' claims that Abbas has neglected Gaza, as the Palestinian Authority still pays the monthly salaries of some 70,000 civil servants in Gaza who are loyal to Abbas and left their posts after the Hamas takeover. Gazans presently live with rolling power cuts of 12 to 18 hours a day and the strip's water is polluted and undrinkable. The Gulf Arab state of Qatar has bailed out Hamas in the past and recently announced it was giving about $30 million to help pay a full month's salary to all Hamas employees in Gaza. In October 2014, Qatar sent cash to half of Hamas' public employees, excluding the security forces. Hamas has been spending some of its new revenue to fund summer camps, where children are exposed to its militant anti-Israeli ideology, or for large communal evening meals known as iftars during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. After an Israeli-Turkish reconciliation deal in early July, Turkey sent an aid ship to Gaza through an Israeli port and a delegation that met separately with Israeli, Palestinian and Hamas officials to explore Gaza's energy crisis and outline possible solutions. Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, said that attention should now be given to how the average Palestinian reacts to the move and reported plans for improvement. "Time will tell if these promises are enough to convince the Palestinian citizen to keep silent over his living conditions." Jerusalem Police responded to a call Saturday morning reporting a fire at Haoman Street club. Following an initial inquiry, an investigator for the Firefighting and Rescue Commission ruled that the fire was the result of arson, and an investigation on the incident was opened. As the club is not operational on Saturday, no one was hurt. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Firefighters managed to contain the fire, keep it from spreading to nearby buildings and eventually to extinguish it within one hour. Preliminary evidence found that the fire was started by unidentified arsonists who had poured a large amount of flammable liquid into the club and lit it on fire. Jerusalem club Haoman Street following the fire (Photo: Jerusalem Fire and Rescue Service) (: ) X Haoman Street is located at the spot where the legendary Jerusalem Club Haoman 17 originally stood. After Haoman Street was opened, a contentious legal battle began between its owners and Haoman 17's owners, who claimed that the new club's name was misleading and would likely make club goers mistakenly think that Haoman 17 had reopened in Jerusalem. Haoman 17's Tel Aviv branch is still operational. 7167436 Site of Hoaman Street fire (Photo: Arik Abulof, Jerusalem Fire Brigade) Site of Hoaman Street fire (Photo: Arik Abulof, Jerusalem Fire Brigade) Haoman Street's owner is Yaron Segev, a business partner of Jerusalem nightlife leader Guy Cohen, who had fled Israel after accumulating millions of shekels in debt. A few hours prior, the well-known Eilat restaurant Eddie's Hideaway also caught fire. The incident is similarly being investigated as a result of arson, and one suspect has already been arrested. No one was hurt in the fire. Eddie's Hideaway has been active since 1979. In a third, perhaps unrelated incident, the Neveh Tzedek home of noted Chef Chaim Cohen also caught fire. There were no injured parties, and the family dog was safely rescued by the firefighting team from the burning house. Cohen attributed the fire to "a ray of light that must have reached the dining room's many glass surfaces." Two brothers have been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced Saturday. The police searches were carried out at the request of a magistrate specializing in terrorism investigations, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. It said that according to preliminary information, the brothers may have been involved in plans to commit an attack in Belgium. Officials said that in the search of seven houses in the Mons area and Liege, no weapons or explosives were found. SPRING GROVE After 7 hours, the all clear was given Friday after a bomb threat resulted in the evacuation of a portion of this Houston County town. A call was placed to the Houston County Sheriffs Office around 1:25 p.m. about possible explosives inside a vehicle. The downtown area was evacuated by 6 p.m., and Houston County government buildings were placed under lockdown. Although only part of the downtown area was sectioned off, the entire town was not under a lockdown, said Spring Grove Police Chief Paul Folz, yet movement was limited. The Spring Grove Police Department made the decision to evacuate the downtown as an extra precaution as the investigation continued throughout the day. Soon, businesses closed and residences near the downtown area were emptied. Everyone was evacuated, and we had to call in extra assistance since we dont have the equipment to handle a situation like this, Folz said. We did an evacuation that was extended for a little bit. Ten agencies assisted with the threat, including a bomb squad from St. Paul that brought a small remote control robot. It was later determined that the owner of the vehicle and the vehicle itself were not related to the threat in any way, Folz said, and no explosives were found. The different agencies cleared out of the area and the signal was given that the area was safe around 9 p.m. No arrests were made, and there is no ongoing threat toward the towns residents. The person who claimed to be involved in the incident is talking with law enforcement. The investigation is still considered open. Were continuing to talk to him, Folz said. Thats as much as Im going to talk about it right now. For hours, residents and drivers who were passing through Spring Grove were stunned to see heavy police presence in the small town of 1,330 people. Many of those attempting to get home or to pass through were redirected away from the area by the Minnesota Department of Transportation workers. They let me leave, but when I went to go back they werent going to let me in, said Mike Swank of Lyle. I told them I had to take my friend home, so they let me do that. Otherwise, they were turning everyone away. While visiting his friend in town, Swank noticed that the roads going east and west were blocked off. Main Street from the school to the Corner Cafe were also blocked off. He described seeing SWAT teams along with different vehicles around the area. Asked if he was surprised that a threat like this was made in a small southeastern Minnesota town, Swank wasnt taken off guard. Not really much of anything just because usually its just a threat is all, he said. Although, with all the things going on nowadays, you just dont know. The combat draft season is currently at its height, and multitudes of youths with their families are filling the enlistment center in Tel Hashomer during July and August. Amongst the youths last week were also some new immigrants that came to Israel alone and who don't intend to waive a meaningful combat service. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Noam Atlan, 19, left his parents and two sibling in Paris, and in a fortnight, he'll be a regular combat soldier. "Life in Israel is very different than in France," he said. "I immigrated alone to Israel. My family stayed in France; I have a 15-year-old brother there and a 17-year-old sister." Daniel Ragolsky (: ) X "I wanted to immigrate to Israel and enlist in the army, just like my father did," said the 19 year old, whose father came to Israel in 1989. "He served in the 51st Battalion in the Golani Brigade, and I want to serve there, too. After serving, my father returned to France, but I want to stay in Israel." Atlan said that his family supports his plans: "They were really proud that I wanted to immigrate to the country. I intend to stay in Israel and, after the army, start studying business management at the Netanya Academic College. Noam Atlan speaking with Ynet Atlan spend eight months at the Ami-Chai mixed-gender mechina (pre-army preparatory program), which is run in party under the Zionist Council in Israel and the World Zionist Organization. Yaakov Hagoel, Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Head of the Department for Activities in Israel and Countering Anti-Semitism, said, "We are proud of the dozens of youths that have come on a mission and with devotion to serve the State of Israel with love. Today, we embrace you and thank you for being a significant part for us of the mosaic of Israel, made entirely of love for the land of Israel Atlan told Ynet that the security situation in Israel was not a consideration for him: "I knew that it's dangerous in Israel, but we have our army and soldiers, and in another fortnight, I'll be just like those soldiers, with a uniform and a weapon, and I'll defend the nation of Israel. It took me five years to take the decision, and I'm sure of it and am impatient to enlist already." Asked if his entire family will follow the path set by their father, Noam replied, "We're already talking about the entire family coming here and immigrating when my siblings finish school. My brother wants to follow in my footsteps, to enlist and come to Israel." Daniel Ragolsky speaking with Ynet Daniel Ragolsky immigrated to Israel from the US two years ago, and in August, he hopes to join the most intense combat unit that he can: "I'm alone in Israel; my entire family is in New Jersey. At first, I didn't know a lot about the country until I came here with Birthright Israel for ten days, and then I fell in love with it and decided that I would come back." Even though Ragolsky's parent's support his decision, the security situation in the country worries his mother. "They're happy and helped me get here, but because I wanted to enlist in the army and to be a combat soldier, my mother is always worried." Daniel is still uncertain if he'll remain in the country after his military service. For now, he said, "There's no other place that I'd rather be; this is the right place for me to be right now." According to data published by the Defense-Social Branch at the Ministry of Defense, 45 percent of all foreign persons enlisting are from France, and 29 percent are from the USA. Hebron-shooting in the background This past week, Vered came to the enlistment center to accompany her son, Dor, who is enlisting in Nahal. "It's a very emotional day for me," said the mother. "I've enlisted two daughters, and it's not at all like enlisting a son, and certainly not to combat service; it's very hard, but if he wants combat service, then I'm with him." Dor discussed the shooting of the neutralized terrorist in Hebron by Sgt. Elor Azaria, who is currently on trial for manslaughter for that incident: "I don't think that such a situation should have existed at all. I think that I can show a bit more responsibility, and that's enough to prevent my being in such a situation." Golani Recruits at induction center (Photo: Motti Kimchi) His mother added, "We talked about it at home. I trust his standards and judgment; I believe in him. Perhaps we sound judgmental, but we really believe in common sense. Sure, there's an army and there are decisions, but a person also has to use common sense in a situation. It's the kind of thing that's served at home, along with food." Ronen Denotsky enlisted last week to the Kfir Brigade, to which Azaria also belongs. He also spoke on the Hebron shooting affair: "It's possible that I'll also have to be in situations like that; it's not scary. In my opinion, the soldier shouldn't go to jail for that; he was defending his country." Ronen's father, Sergei, added, "It's emotional that he's enlisting, but I know that my son will be okay. He'll go and also return in peace." Shahaf enlisted to the elite special-forces unit Shayetet. "I'm confused, also happy, and also sad, but excited about the event. I'll give my all, and we'll see what happens. I heard about what happened in Hebron, but I didn't really get into it. It's a scary situation, and I don't know right know how you should handle a situation like that; you have to know what to do, and I believe that, if we get there, we'll know what the right thing is to do in the moment." Unknown vandals have defaced a memorial in Romania to the six members of the Israeli Air Force who died in a helicopter training exercise in 2010. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The vandals covered the monument with swastikas, a drawing of a pig, and "You're pigs," transliterated from Hebrew into Roman characters. On learning of the desecration, Israel's ambassador to Romania, Tamar Samash contacted the Israeli police attache in Bucharest. He in turn contacted the Romanian police authorities and discovered that the incident had not yet been reported to them. They subsequently opened an investigation. The deface monument The memorial is located in a secluded area outside the city of Brasov, so the local authorities have little-to-no information on what happens there. The ambassador sent letters to the Romanian president, prime minister, and foreign minister to inform them of the incident. She also asked for their swift action. The accident memorialized by the defaced monument took place on July 26, 2010. According to Bucharest media reports, the Romanian Defense Ministry said the helicopter, a CH-53 Sikorsky, crashed during Blue Sky 2010 an 11-day joint Romanian-Israeli aviation exercise. The Israelis on board the chopper included four IDF pilots and two airborne mechanics. The Israelis killed in the accident were Lt. Col (Res.) Avner Goldman, 48, Modi'in; Lt. Col. Daniel Shipenbauer, 43, Kidron; Maj. Yahel Keshet, 33, Hatzerim; Maj. Lior Shai, 28, Tel-Nof; Lt. Nir Lakrif, 25, Tel- Nof; and Sgt. 1st Class Oren Cohen, 24 of Rehovot. Four years after the Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen, which is close to Hezbollah, published the dramatic footage of the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the channel broadcast on Saturday night a three-part series with new testimonials on the kidnapping from the Israel-Lebanon border, which led to the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In the first episode, fighters for the organization are seen training for the kidnapping in summer and in winter. Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah's international operations chief who was assassinated in 2008 in a joint Mossad-CIA operation in Damascus, is present in the last training before the kidnapping in an area that was similar to the actual scene. He is seen giving instructions to fighters. Training for abduction X In addition, footage is shown from Hezbollah operatives that followed IDF patrols along the route used for the kidnapping. In this episode, Khaled Bazzi, the commander of the cell that captured the two soldiers and who was killed in fighting in the ensuing war, also appears. Al Mayadeen also broadcast voices from IDF radio communications in which Ehud Goldwasser is heard a short time before the car in which he was travelling was taken. Scenes from the kidnapping scene (Photo: As-Safir) Training for abduction X This episode stated that three months before the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, the terrorists from Bazzi's cell came more and more frequently to the scene of the kidnapping. Israel reportedly noted suspicious movements but was unable to put its finger on the plan. "Israel had information on the desire and attempts by Hezbollah to abduct a soldier, but as for the question of where and when, it didn't have an answer." Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser (Photo: AFP) Israel raised its level of alertness, but it was unable to pinpoint the exact mission of the cell. The raid began an 8:40am when Israeli outposts were attacked to throw Israel off. Imad Mughniyah instructing soldiers (Photo: As-Safir) Burned IDF Humvee in 2006 (Photo: Gil Nachoshten) Shortly afterward, the two IDF humvees were shelled, and the cell responsible for the abduction acted. The two reserve soldiers, Goldwasser and Regev, were taken, and it later turned out that they were killed . The newspaper concluded its article, "The matter ended at 9:04. Before the leadership in Israel knew the details of the kidnapping, Hezbollah personnel and the soldiers were already in a safe place far away." This Account has been suspended. There is no better way to remember the Forgotten War than by putting a face and a name to one of the many people who offered their service to their country during the Korean War. This Eisenhower jacket from the Korean War era once belonged to Howard Thiel. Although Thiel never served overseas during the war, he was stationed with the Army from 1951-53 at Fort Hood, Texas. From one of the patches on his jacket, we can tell that Thiel belonged to the 1st Armored Division. This division, nicknamed the Old Ironsides, was one of the first divisions in the Army to integrate black soldiers throughout its ranks. After nuclear warfare became a major concern in the 1950s, the 1st Armored Division was one of the first to participate in tests of the Atomic Field Army at Fort Hood. Thiel married Rose Marie Seemann in December 1950, shortly after war broke out. Their first daughter, Barbara, was born at the Fort Hood Army Hospital during Thiels time in service. When he returned to La Crosse with his family in 1954, Thiel started work at his father-in-laws company, Seemann Lumber Co., managing lumberyards in Sparta and La Crosse. Thiel continued to serve his community in many ways outside the military. He was a member and, at one time, president of the Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) in Sparta, receiving one of its highest honors, the distinguished service award, for answering more than 50 fire alarms as a volunteer of Ervin Edwards Rural Fire Fighting Company. Thiel also was a member of the Boy Scouts of America for more than 14 years, receiving one of their highest honors shortly after his service in the military: the God and Country Award. While Thiel survived the war and lived a fulfilling life with his family and community, we cannot forget the more than 70 people from the La Crosse area who were not so fortunate. In remembering Thiel, let us remember that he was able to live the life he did because of those who gave their lives in Korea. Earlier this week, the Korean Veterans War Memorial was dedicated at La Crosses Veterans Freedom Park. This summer, the La Crosse County Historical Society is conducting a survey of its military artifacts. In the process, stories like this one are researched and added to our data base. Watch for more stories of our regions military contributions in weeks to come. News Washington, DC - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead the U.S. delegation to the sixth round of the U.S.-Colombia High-Level Partnership Dialogue (HLPD) at the Department of State on Monday, August 1, 2016. Deputy National Security Advisor Avril Haines will lead the U.S. delegation to the fifth U.S.-Colombia High-Level Strategic Security Dialogue (HLSSD), which will also be held at the Department on Monday. Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin will lead the Colombian delegation for the HLPD. Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas and Foreign Minister Holguin will lead the Colombian delegation for the HLSSD. At the HLPD, delegations from the two countries will hold discussions on expanding cooperation in five working groups: Democracy, Human Rights, and Good Governance; Energy; Social Inclusion and Economic Opportunities; Environmental Protection and Climate Change; and Education, Culture, and Sports. At the HLSSD, the delegations will discuss bilateral, regional, and global security issues. The annual dialogues are the flagship opportunities for the United States and Colombia to deepen our cooperation across a broad range of bilateral issues. Latest News Washington, DC - In the lead up to the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with the International Paralympic Committee, is launching Paralympians #WithoutLimits, a social media campaign to raise awareness that persons with disabilities can and should be employed on an equal basis with others. With an estimated global unemployment rate of more than 80 percent for people with disabilities, the campaign will feature past, current, and aspiring Paralympians from around the world who are making a positive impact in their professional careers. Latest News Boston, Massachusetts - Young patients, their families and invited guests were treated to a visit with a prehensile-tailed porcupine from Zoo New England earlier today (July 29, 2016), at a gathering at Boston Childrens Hospital. This special event was presented to announce a groundbreaking collaboration of the San Diego Zoo, Zoo New England and Boston Childrens Hospital, with the arrival of San Diego Zoo Kids. Funded through a generous gift from businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, San Diego Zoo Kids is an innovative closed-circuit television broadcast channel that provides family friendly, animal-oriented programming that is both entertaining and educational. The channel is available on TV monitors in every patient room, as well as in waiting areas at Boston Childrens Hospital. Creating special patient experiences every day is our priority at Boston Childrens Hospital, said Sandra L. Fenwick, President and CEO of Boston Childrens Hospital. San Diego Zoo Kids allows us to provide one more comfort to our young patients while they are in the hospital. We want to thank Denny Sanford and the Sheryl Lee Osborne Foundation for making this programming available, and recognize our local partner, Zoo New England, for their support in providing animals for todays announcement. San Diego Zoo Kids offers up-close video encounters with animals, including a wide variety of short video vignettes hosted by San Diego Zoo Global Ambassador Rick Schwartz. Viewers can see video from the San Diego Zoos famous Panda Cam and other online cameras, as well as content from other zoos across the country. San Diego Zoo Kids has the ability to bring the zoo to young patients who dont have the opportunity to visit, said Douglas G. Myers, president and chief executive officer, San Diego Zoo Global. The stories we tell through this channel not only entertain children and their families during what can be a stressful time, but hopefully inspire a new generation to appreciate wildlife and their natural habitats. The channel also will feature animal stories from Zoo New England. Zoo New England is thrilled to partner with San Diego Zoo Global and Boston Childrens Hospital to deliver heartwarming and educational animal stories to children who are unable to visit our zoo, said John Linehan, president and chief executive officer, Zoo New England. Animals and children are our passion at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and Stone Zoo in Stoneham. We have dedicated our lives to connecting children with the wonders of the animal kingdom. San Diego Zoo Kids debuted in 2013 at Rady Childrens Hospital in San Diego. Since then, it has been installed in almost 70 children's hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses in 23 states across the U.S., and in three countries. Latest News Washington, DC - Scientists increasingly rely on computers to gain insights about the world through simulations, data analytics or visualizations. These computational investigations typically rely on scientific software that makes it possible to perform virtual experiments and explore laboratory research data with reliable, reproducible results, whether one is using a desktop computer or the nation's most powerful supercomputers. Today, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced two major awards to establish Scientific Software Innovation Institutes (S2I2). The awards, totaling $35 million over 5 years, will support the Molecular Sciences Software Institute and the Science Gateways Community Institute, both of which will serve as long-term hubs for scientific software development, maintenance and education. "The institutes will ultimately impact thousands of researchers, making it possible to perform investigations that would otherwise be impossible, and expanding the community of scientists able to perform research on the nation's cyberinfrastructure," said Rajiv Ramnath, program director in the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at NSF. Molecular Sciences Software Institute The Molecular Sciences Software Institute, led by Daniel Crawford, professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, will fund an interdisciplinary team of software scientists who will develop software frameworks, collaborate with code developers and cyberinfrastructure centers, and partner with industry in support of the computational molecular sciences community. "The Molecular Sciences Software Institute will serve as a nexus for science, education and cooperation serving the community of computational molecular scientists -- a broad field that includes biomolecular simulation, quantum chemistry and materials science," Crawford said. "Ultimately, the institute will enable computational scientists to tackle problems that are orders of magnitude larger and more complex than those currently within our grasp, and will accelerate the translation of basic science into new technologies essential to the vitality of the economy and environment." Software developed by the Molecular Sciences Software Institute will expand scientists' understanding of the molecular phenomena that underlie chemical processes, leading to solutions that will improve citizens' health and security and grow the nation's economy. Internationally recognized scientists from Virginia Tech and eight other universities will head up the institute. These include Rice University; Stony Brook University; the University of California, Berkeley; Rutgers University; the University of Southern California; Stanford University; and Iowa State University. The institute will comprise a team of software scientists at Virginia Tech, together with a cohort of software fellows from across the U.S. Science Gateways Community Institute The second award, led by the University of California, San Diego, establishes the Science Gateways Community Institute, a multi-institutional consortium that will increase the capabilities, number and sustainability of science gateways. Gateways are mobile or web-based applications that provide broad access to the nation's shared cyberinfrastructure to scientists and citizens alike. "Gateways foster collaborations and the exchange of ideas among researchers and can democratize access, providing broad access to resources sometimes unavailable to those who are not at leading research institutions," said Nancy Wilkins-Diehr, associate director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and principal investigator for the project. "Sharing expertise about basic infrastructure allows developers to concentrate on the novel, the challenging, and the cutting-edge development needed by their specific user community." In astronomy, bioinformatics, nanotechnology and many other disciplines, science gateways have greatly expanded the number of investigators who can perform computational research on cutting-edge cyberinfrastructure. The institute will transform the way science gateways are developed by incubating new gateways, improving the usability of existing ones and training young gateway developers. The new institute brings together expertise from a wide range of partner universities and institutions, including Elizabeth City State University; Indiana University; the University of Notre Dame; Purdue University; the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at the University of Texas, Austin; and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Strategic support NSF's Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) program, launched in 2010 to fund software research at multiple scales, is supporting the two awards. SI2 aims to transform innovation in research and education into sustainable software resources that are integral to cyberinfrastructure. The S2I2 awards are the first large-scale institutes funded by the program. NSF also awarded $500,000 to Princeton University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to fund the conceptualization of a software institute to accelerate research enabled by the High-Luminosity Upgrade at the Large Hadron Collider. The announcement of the awards coincides with the first anniversary of the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI), with which the SI2 program is closely aligned. Announced by the Administration in July 2015, NSCI is an effort to create a cohesive, multi-agency strategic vision and federal investment strategy in high-performance computing (HPC). The institutes address NSCI's stated goals of improving HPC application developer productivity and making HPC readily available. Above and beyond these goals, the awards acknowledge that the maintenance, modernization and improvement of scientific software requires sustained investment and a steady flow of developers skilled in computer science, software engineering and domain-specific knowledge. These awards, and the SI2 program broadly, aim to improve the ecosystem in which such software is created and sustained. Latest News Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Education today released guidance to states and school districts on the new provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for supporting homeless youth. The new provisions address the needs of homeless individuals, and ensure educational rights and protections for homeless children and youth. The guidance released Wednesday will assist state and local partners in understanding and implementing the new law in order to better protect and serve homeless students and help schools in providing these students with much needed stability, safety, and support. The guidance was informed by the input of a diverse group of stakeholders to best address the needs of homeless youth. Homeless children and youth face a number of barriers to getting the education they deserve and the services they need to succeed in school and beyond, said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. As a kid, home was a scary and unpredictable place for me and I moved around a lot after my parents passed away. I know from my own experience and from my conversations with homeless students that school can save lives. It is our hope that the guidance we are releasing today will serve as a tool to help states and districts better serve homeless children and youth we can and we must do better. During the 2013-14 school year, more than 1.3 million homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools. Research shows that these students experience significant academic, social, and socio-emotional challenges, and that being homeless is associated with lower school achievement and increased risk of dropping out of school. In addition, students who experience high mobility and attend many different schools over the course of their education often slip academically with each move. Recognizing these challenges, this guidance offers technical assistance on promising practices for helping homeless youth through the implementation of homeless education requirements at the State and local levels, focusing particular attention on changes under ESSA. The Department of Educations guidance will provide schools and school districts in Washington state and across the country with critical tools and resources to increase the educational success of homeless children and youths from preschool to higher education, said Senator Patty Murray, ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee. I was proud to fight for these improvements in our new education law and I thank the Department for working with me to prioritize and serve these students so they can achieve at the highest levels and secure a pathway to the middle class. NAEHCY members include the school district liaisons who are on the front lines in the struggle against family and youth homelessness, said Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. In many communities, liaisons are the only adults focused on helping homeless students meet their basic needs, and access the education and early care that is their best path to a better life. Todays guidance will help ensure that liaisons are able to carry out their duties, per the ESSA amendments, so they have the time and the training to identify and support these all-too-often invisible students. In December 2015, ESSA reauthorized the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youths program, which protects and serves homeless students. The amended McKinney-Vento Act provides new protections for homeless youth, and equips local partners with an essential tool for implementing new provisions in ESSA. The guidance released today helps states, districts, and local partners understand the new provisions, which take effect October 1, 2016. Among other changes, the amended McKinney-Vento Act includes new requirements focused on: Identification of homeless children and youths; Making sure that preschool-aged homeless children have access to and receive supportive services; Ensuring coordination with other service providers, including public and private child welfare and social service agencies; law enforcement agencies; juvenile and family courts; agencies providing mental health services; domestic violence agencies; child care providers; runaway and homeless youth centers; providers of services and programs funded under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act; and providers of emergency, transitional, and permanent housing, including public housing agencies, shelter operators, and operators of transitional housing facilities; Providing professional development and technical assistance at both the State and local levels; Removing enrollment barriers; Providing school stability, including the expansion of school of origin to include preschools and receiving schools and the provision of transportation until the end of the school year, even if a student becomes permanently housed; Protecting privacy of student records, including information about a homeless child or youths living situation; Improving the dispute resolution process for decisions relating to the educational placement of homeless children and youths; Increasing the emphasis on college and career readiness; and Establishing a new authority for local liaisons to verify the eligibility of homeless children, youths, and families for HUD homeless assistance programs. To accompany the guidance released today, the Department will also release a fact sheet for teachers, principals, counselors and other school staff to provide an overview of the unique needs of homeless students, a summary of the protections for homeless children and youths under the McKinney-Vento Act, and recommendations for how educators can help. The Department of Education also recently announced changes to streamline the way homeless students gain access to financial aid for college. Included in the changes, all students who indicate on the FAFSA that they're homeless will automatically have the option to select that they've already received an unaccompanied homeless youth determination which means they will be considered independent for the purposes of financial aid eligibility, and wont need to provide their parents financial information. The Department also released a fact sheet to help homeless students navigate the FAFSA. In response to the growing number of homeless students enrolled in public schools, President Obamas fiscal year 2017 budget also calls for a 21 percent increase to the Education for Homeless Children and Youths program, which helps reduce and eliminate educational barriers for homeless children. 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.